As you engage an any work atmosphere you hear the following quote (or a version of) over and over again:
" You must leave your personal life a the door and separate your personal feelings from work."
It is a great ideal is it not? The idea that we can actually do this however, is not very probable. In fact, in some cases personal life experiences and feelings is exactly what fuels our passion.
In other cases it can get in our way especially when as an educator biases and "-isms" rear their ugly heads within the classroom.
When thinking of my own personal experiences I do not have to think very hard to a time this has happened to me. As we all know, you can get a 100 compliments but the 1 mean response can stay with you and hurt you for a long time ever.
I admittedly look much younger then I am. I know in twenty years, I will love this. But in the field of early childhood, I have had parents talk down to me. In actuality, I am about the same age as most of the parents in my classroom, I just look 16. One situation, happened not to long ago. A new parent told me she wanted to talk to someone older who was a teacher. She went to my younger co-worker who is intern to ask her question.
My co-worker redirected her to me explaining I was not as young as I looked. I was very insulted by this because I was judged solely on how I look.
I would like to say that this has not affected the way I work or teach, but it has. It has made me, almost feel like I have to prove myself and my creditably before every meeting with a parent. I use to feel more comfortable just letting my skills as a teacher show, but now I feel like I need to let people know I am not an intern.
I think more then anything, like every bias, it has affected my confidence level. It makes me over think things I do and say. But it also helps me to see how it feels to be judged and makes me work harder to make sure others do not feel that way. It also helps me see the importance of teaching anti-bias practices in my classroom.
You are right Hailey in years to come, this will not be a problem for you1 hahaha
ReplyDeleteAnything that discredits who we are and what we do chisels away at our identity. We had a seemingly fantastic gentleman apply for a teaching position at our school a few years back and he was rejected by the owner because of his sexual orientation. Public opinion is coming along here and we do have a male male homosexual on staff now. Perhaps, by the way one of the best teachers we have ever had.
Assumptions and public opinion do carry a great deal of weight in how people are treated in any society.
Thanks for your post.
Hailey,
ReplyDeleteYou mentionned two important factors in your post that all professional teachers must have and make sure to apply in their classrooms in order to be be an effective anti bias teacher and to have a welcome, accepting classroom that embraces and diversity. The first one is
leaving the personal life at the door and separating personal feelings from work (Stewart, 2012), and the second one is being judged help us as teachers to work harder to make sure others do not feel that way (Stewart, 2012). I am sure that if every teacher will implement these two points in her teaching strategy, every child will feel visible not only in the classroom, the school, the community, but the world.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I remember so many people telling me the same thing about leaving your personal life at home and leaving you professional life at work. This may work for some professions but in the education field, it would be hard to do! Even if something happened before going into work that upset you and you try to hide it, the children will know. They can pick up on many cues that we didn't realize we were giving.
ReplyDeleteI, too, hate to be judged solely on how I look. As a matter of fact, I had someone who was in an administrative position say to me that I might need to put in for a transfer due to the fact that he thought I needed to be in a position where I wouldn't get hit on by any of the young men. I was hurt behind that comment because I think I am great at what I do and would not jeopardize my job because I was doing something unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your example. It is a fantastic reminder of how we can judge someone and really hurt them holding a bias against how they look or how we perceive they are.
ReplyDeleteI think you are doing a great job and this degree program will only elevate you to greater heights as a professional educator. Great post and example!