Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades
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Starting Small Teaching Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades TEACHING TOLERANCE ® A PROJECT OF THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER TEACHING TOLERANCE Teaching Tolerance was founded in 1991 to provide teach- ers with resources and ideas to help promote harmony in the classroom. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit legal and education foundation based in Mont- gomery, Alabama. The Center’s co-founders are Morris S. Dees Jr., and Joseph J. Levin Jr. Its directors are Julian Bond, Patricia Clark, Frances Green, Vic Hackley, Howard Mandell and James McElroy. © COPYRIGHT 1997 SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 97-60329. THIRD EDITION 2008 Contents Foreword v Bookshelf 99 Introduction vi Contributors 123 Chapter 1 Everybody’s Story Chapter 5 These Little Hands SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 1 NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 49 REFLECTION 1 Racial and Ethnic Awareness 7 REFLECTION 9 The Inclusive Classroom 56 APPLICATION 1 Affirming Identity 9 APPLICATION 9 Responding to Special Needs 58 REFLECTION 2 Family Diversity 10 REFLECTION 10 Play and Work 59 APPLICATION 2 Respecting All Families 12 APPLICATION 10 Integrating Play and Work 61 Chapter 2 A Wider Circle Chapter 6 Peace Takes Practice APTOS, CALIFORNIA 13 NORTH MIAMI, FLORIDA 63 REFLECTION 3 Fairness 19 REFLECTION 11 Classroom Rules and Discipline 70 APPLICATION 3 Nurturing Justice 20 APPLICATION 11 Encouraging Self-Discipline 72 REFLECTION 4 Gender Awareness 21 REFLECTION 12 Little Utopias 73 APPLICATION 4 Fostering Gender Equity 23 APPLICATION 12 Creating a Child Haven 75 Chapter 3 From the Ground Up Chapter 7 Layers of Meaning SHAWNEE, OHIO 25 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 77 REFLECTION 5 Friendship Connections 32 REFLECTION 13 Childhood Losses 84 APPLICATION 5 Building Friendship Skills 33 APPLICATION 13 Coping With Loss 85 REFLECTION 6 Sameness 34 REFLECTION 14 New Visions 86 APPLICATION 6 Discovering Diversity 36 Chapter 4 A Sense of Wonder DENVER, COLORADO 37 REFLECTION 7 Prejudice Formation 43 APPLICATION 7 Facing Prejudice 45 REFLECTION 8 Heroes 46 APPLICATION 8 Supporting Children’s Power 47 | iii Acknowledgments Grateful acknowledgment is made to the stu- dents, parents, teachers and administrators at the following schools: Happy Medium, Seattle, Wash.; Cabrillo College Children’s Center, Ap- tos, Calif.; Maria Mitchell Elementary, Denver, Colo.; Elmwood Elementary, Shawnee, Ohio; Edgewood Elementary, New Haven, Conn.; North Miami Elementary, North Miami, Fla.; State Pre-K Demonstration Center, Chicago, Ill. Special thanks to Vivian Gussin Paley, who contributed the foreword, to Rosa Hernández Sheets for research and commentary, and to Gabrielle Lyon and Maria Fleming for resource reviews. Gratitude also to Eddie Ashworth, Rich- ard Cohen and Erin Kellen for their guidance, and to Margie McGovern, Alex Earl and David Summerlin of Margie McGovern Films, San Francisco, for their invaluable research, patience and vision. iv | Foreword By Vivian Gussin Paley The teachers of young children who speak to us so ear- A flicker of a smile crosses Martin’s face. He sees nestly in the following stories work in different com- that these kindergartners who do not even know him munities but share a common vision: that children can recognize his sense of loss and are ready to befriend learn to care about every other person’s feelings, beliefs and comfort him. and welfare. The children are ready. They come to school wonder- The notion may seem commonplace, something ing how those so different from themselves can have the surely found in most classrooms. Yet, given the number same feelings and desires. And we, in turn, must learn of sad faces, hurt feelings and lonely outsiders in our how to help them put their intuitive knowledge of com- schools, the empathy factor may be more talked about monality into words and actions. This is what children than systematically pursued. In the hearts and minds enjoy doing and can do well; it is guaranteed to make of the teachers described here, it is a full-time commit- our teaching come alive with purpose and meaning. ment that begins anew with each child and family. The teachers we are about to meet also understand The dictionary defines empathy as “understanding that even within a seemingly safe classroom, someone so intimate that the feelings, thoughts and motives of can feel lost and frightened at any moment. They are one are readily comprehended by another.” It is a word prepared to stop everything and get everyone to pay often seen on lists of goals but rarely employed as the attention, to listen to what the other person says and core curriculum. become keenly aware of what to say in response. Promoting empathy would be a major undertak- In so doing, they give credence to our ultimate goal ing for any classroom, but the teachers in this book as teachers in a democratic society: helping children go further. They believe that perceiving the feelings, become kind and caring participants in a world that thoughts and motives of another person is the first step includes everyone. These wise and compassionate in building a bridge. What must follow is the discov- teachers who are “starting small” will uncover and ery, day by day, of how to move — in both directions model for us the amazingly large moral dimensions of — across that bridge. the classroom. v Luckily for those who despair of society’s ever being made into a kinder place, young children are far more empathetic by nature than we are prone to believe. They are enormously interested in being in the company of other children and are persistently curious about those who seem different. By the time children enter pre- school, they are experienced people-watchers, and they know what makes someone laugh or cry. “Come quick, teacher!” Cynthia calls. “A big boy is crying!” We follow her to a bench in the hallway where a dis- traught and dishevelled child is wiping his eyes, embar- rassed by our sudden appearance. I recognize him as a 2nd grader who often gets into trouble. “Martin? What’s wrong?” I ask, but the children rush to supply the answers. “He’s lost,” says one. “He wants his mother,” says another. “Someone was mean to him.” “They didn’t pay attention. They losed him.” | v Introduction By Jim Carnes Community begins in the classroom. For most young White teacher of Black children. At Sharing Time in children, being a “classmate” — at day care, at a place a Seattle primary class, you will find children comfort- of worship or at school — constitutes their first active able enough to voice their deepest concerns. And you participation in an ongoing social structure outside the will visit a Denver school in which practicing simple family. The vision of community that the classroom pro- hospitality helps kindergartners become citizens of the vides can color a child’s ideas and expectations about world. In myriad ways, these classrooms demonstrate equity, cooperation and citizenship for a lifetime. that lofty ideals like tolerance, justice and peace often We ask a great deal of children when they enter the begin as child’s play. classroom: to leave the familiar environment of home; During the lengthy process of identifying some 300 to encounter peers and adults who may look, act, speak groundbreaking early childhood educators across the and think differently from themselves and their family; country, we encountered many we regret to omit from and to “fit in” successfully with these strangers as learn- these pages. Our aim for variety in geographical dis- ers and friends. Although such tasks involve unique tribution, school setting, student population, curricu- developmental dimensions in young children, pub- lum content and teaching style led us to the exemplary lic life presents all of us with a similar challenge. The group presented here. capacity to thrive in diversity is a lifelong practice of This book has seven chapters, each centered on an discovery and adaptation, as new differences unfailing- in-depth classroom narrative. Two kinds of sidebars ly arise. More and more early childhood teachers have supplement the main stories. “Reflections” are research- come to recognize that teaching tolerance outright in based essays addressing specific themes or develop- the curriculum is as fundamental and as far-reaching as mental aspects of teaching tolerance, such as racial teaching children how to read. awareness, gender equity or friendship. “Applications” Such an endeavor raises serious questions: How can offer practical ideas for incorporating these concepts teachers acquire the necessary skills and tools? What into classroom activities. It is important to acknowledge kind of peer, administrative, parental and community the inherent overlap among many aspects of diversity support do they need? How are they supposed to add that we have chosen to highlight. Our intention is to “tolerance” or “multiculturalism” or “character educa- treat these as complementary themes rather than as tion” to an already overcrowded curriculum? The real independent constructs. In addition to the sidebars, an challenge, perhaps, is less a matter of expanding the job extensive annotated resource list surveys the best mate- than of re-imagining it. What follows is a close look at rials available — both comprehensive and specialized — a number of individual and team teachers whose effec- in the field of early childhood diversity education. tiveness derives not from extraordinary talents, condi- Tolerance, justice and peace are lofty ideals. Most tions or resources but from extraordinary visions of adults find them difficult to realize. For capable and possibility in an imperfect world. confident teachers at any level, the goal of dispelling This book profiles seven classrooms in which teach- stereotypes and prejudice, fostering respect for differ- ers are helping young children build inclusive, equi- ences and building community in the classroom can be table, caring communities across differences that too a daunting one.