Teaching and Learning in a Diverse World by Patricia G. Ramsey
Author:Patricia G. Ramsey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Published: 2015-07-14T16:00:00+00:00
LEARNING AND CHALLENGING WHAT CHILDREN KNOW, THINK, AND FEEL ABOUT ECONOMIC CLASS AND CONSUMERISM
Children are not likely to talk explicitly about economic class since they probably have only a vague awareness of what it means. However, as teachers, you can observe to see how economic backgrounds are affecting children’s social contacts and play themes and ask more direct questions to learn what economic concepts and attitudes children are developing. In contrast to their ideas about economic class, the role consumerism plays in children’s lives may be obvious in children’s conversations about possessions they have and wish they could have. As explained in Chapter 4, all of these observations and conversations with children can lead to activities that broaden understanding and challenge assumptions and misinformation, as seen in the following examples:
To get an idea of how economic class might be affecting children’s relationships, you might observe grouping patterns and playmate choices to see if there are economically based divisions. If so, what factors seem to be contributing to it (e.g., after-school activities, play styles, possessions, friendships among parents)? If there is evidence of class-based divisions, you might organize children in cross-class groups for projects or snack and in those contexts encourage them to talk about shared experiences such as an upcoming event or ongoing project in the classroom. Although I generally discourage promoting movies and television programs, they do have a wide appeal and talking about them may foster initial connections. Children’s family books (see Chapter 3 for a description) provide opportunities to learn about each other’s lives and see how every family has an interesting story and does fun activities regardless of economic circumstances. Discussions about what children did on vacation or over the weekend can generate competitive stories about exciting trips and activities. To deflect this dynamic, you can ask them to talk about who was with them or describe one particular activity, and be sure that an afternoon at a grandmother’s apartment gets as much acclaim and interest as playing on a beach at a resort. If children start competing about their glamorous trips (e.g., “I’ve been to Disneyworld three times and have ridden the …”), shift their focus back to describing why a particular activity was fun rather than rattling off lists of places and experiences. Using the funds of knowledge approach (González et al., 2005), talk to parents and invite them to visit and share their skills and hobbies with the children. Be sure that numbers of parent visitors are balanced across income groups.
To learn what knowledge and beliefs children are developing about economic class, show children photographs of people who have different kinds of jobs and represent different levels of affluence (with a good distribution of different racial, gender, and ability representation across occupational and income groups to avoid reinforcing stereotypes). Ask children to describe what they notice and/or to tell a story about a person in the photograph to see what (if any) characteristics, especially stereotypes, they associate with particular jobs and income levels.
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