Due today in 8 hours...... please read first
beyoncelx562
Chapter10class.pptxChapter 10: Learning about Economic Class
Debrief on Spent
Did you make it through the month?
If not, how far did you get?
What sacrifices did you have to make (e.g., getting rid of pets, losing health insurance, etc.)?
Did you make unethical choices in order to survive?
How would this have actually worked in real life?
Recognize that this is real life for many people.
What did you learn by playing the game?
What are the implications for our work with children and families?
To Do:
Discussion 1
What Do Children Know about Class?
“How to talk to your young children
about economic and social class differences”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAdchegxpRI
Watch Video
Learning about Economic Class & Fairness
Goals for Children:
Children will feel pride in their family’s efforts to care for them and earn a living, regardless of the family’s economic conditions.
Children will appreciate that material possessions do not define them or anyone else, and that all people are valuable regardless of their material possessions.
Children will be aware of the many kinds of work that family members do, paid and unpaid, both in the home and in the wider world.
Children will recognize wasteful behaviors and will feel pride at their ability to conserve and recycle.
Children will recognize unfair or untrue messages (including invisibility) about children and families based on their economic status.
Children will stand up for themselves and others against teasing
or rejection based on economic status.
“Look, Teacher! Look! I got new shoes. I was good, so Mama bought me princess shoes! Do you like ‘em?”
“How pretty you are today, Rhianna! Is that a new dress?”
How handsome you look, Jason. Is that a new outfit?
Preschoolers are selecting magazine pictures of families for a collage project. The teacher notices how frequently they select pictures of families in fancy clothes and with new-looking furniture and cars, and that they are passing over pictures of families in dirty gardening clothes (with dirty), in crowded spaces, and in buses. She asks them about this and is surprised when they tell her, “They don’t look happy,” even though all the family pictures have smiling people.
“Princess, princess, I’m the princess,” Celia sings as she puts on her costume in the dramatic play area. “You can be the maid,” she tells Emily. “You have to do everything I tell you.” The teacher wonders what connections, if any, Celia is making between her play and the reality that her mother works cleaning houses.
“I got lots more toys than you did. I got a new tricycle and a new Candy Land game and two new dolls and lots more! What did you get for your birthday?”
“But Mama, I want to be strong like Superman! Rodney complains, quoting the commercial for a sugary cereal. “You gotta buy it!”
Children’s Understanding of Economic Class
Children pick up social messages about the value and importance of different kinds of work.
Children receive messages that material thing are proof of love and approval.
Children learn attitudes of entitlement and superiority or inferiority related to their economic class.
Children do not yet have the skills to sort out advertising messages that tell them that they “need” to have various material things.
Children pay close attention to how adults interact, and they pick up key messages about class differences.
Young children can (and do) develop resiliency and the skills to handle challenging economic realities.
To further explore the disparities in wealth in America, I encourage you to view “Age 7 in America,” a documentary that profiles children across the range of family incomes. It is part of a larger work to look at children over time and includes follow-up documentaries. Don’t be distracted by the age of the film; not much has changed in our country. “Age 7 in America”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW-EpDhPvuE.
Strategies for Exploring Economic Class
Have the same expectations for children from every family.
Create beautiful environments for all children.
Be mindful of all families’ concerns about clothing.
Be cautious about introducing activities to “help poor people.”
Avoid using food for play or art.
Avoid focusing on children’s new possessions.
Create persona dolls to challenge hurtful stories and behaviors.
Find and make books that honor “invisible” work.
Work with children on recycling.
Focus on homemade gifts rather than purchased gifts.
Challenge Your Own Biases
Myth: Families with low incomes are
unsupportive of education.
Myth: People are poor through their
own fault.
Myth: Families who are low income and
working class are not good parents.
Myth: Only low-income families contend with substance abuse and incarceration.
What do you believe?
Adopting New Strategies
Find books that honor the “invisible” work done by members of the families in your program and others in the community: waitresses, bus drivers, secretaries, cooks, cashiers, cleaning staff, etc.).
Locate images of the support people who keep ECE programs going: mail carrier, janitor, garbage collector, gardeners, cook).
Design a recycling program for children. Discuss how to reduce waste, reuse materials, and recycle. Include the use of recyclables.
Discover the many places where people live in our community (apartments, houses, mobile homes, subsidized housing, etc.).
Identify children’s books that tell stories about working-class people’s efforts to improve their lives.
Create a Persona doll who faces challenges because of his/her economic class: Consider age, ethnicity, family configuration, home life, and parents’ employment status.
Deepening Our Understanding Assignment: Classroom Design
Equip a classroom to help children explore the issue of economic class and fairness.
See Files, Assignments.
Identify materials and equipment in the educational supply catalogs that will facilitate children’s play and conversations about economic class.
List the items on the worksheet.
List additional items you would include that are not available in the catalogs provided.
To Do:
Assignment
&
Discussion 2
Next Week: Learning about Different Abilities
Read Chapter 11
