Week 5-Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practic

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practic

Regarding my personal development, I have reflected on my biases and what I learned about “-isms” during my coursework. Behaviors that become a pattern are more likely to transform into an –ism, which is a much more ingrained form of prejudice. When patterns can be identified early, quite possibly the –ism can be avoided. I believe that education is the key to breaking patterns that manifest into –isms. I feel that I have been given the opportunity with my position as an early childhood professional and with my educational background from my Master’s Degree to help make a difference in the lives of the children in my classroom.

            Reflecting back on what I have learned about “-isms” prevalent in our society I have found that these “-isms” influence people’s well-being.  Stereotyping can cause people to have misperceptions about others. People that fall into an –ism category may not have all characteristics of that group but may be treated like they do. This can cause both positive and negative influences on personal well-being.  Thinking about an “-ism” that has affected my own life and resulted in consequences for children and families that I work with while experiencing this “-ism”, is ageism. Ageism is discrimination, which can be unintentional or intentional towards a person’s age different than one’s own. Ageism occurs when an individual feels as if his/her age is superior over another’s. Stereotyping is a common ageism attack. It is the assumption that all individuals of a certain age have the same attributes. I got a teaching job right out of college. I turned twenty-three before the school year started. I had parents of my students who did not respect me though because they saw me as being too young. They did not acknowledge that I had a college degree in Education and Child Development. It took time and effort to gain their trust and respect. Now that I am older and a mother myself, I see the difference in how I am treated by students’ parents. The consequences presented from ageism for children and families that I worked with were that some parents did not value my advice, and they talked about my age in front of their child, which demeaned my authority in the students’ eyes. For example, when I gave advice to them about their child, some parents made comments about how I don’t have children of my own, and one student’s mom made a comment about me being the same age as her oldest child. He thought of me as a college student like his brother. This program has allowed me the opportunity to learn more about “-isms” and how to help others and myself overcome those biases/”-isms”. “Knowledge is power-or perhaps more accurately, knowledge gives you tools to act powerfully” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 157).

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.