It is honestly hard for me to picture a pre-k or kindergarten classroom without holidays and season changes being recognized. It has been this way for so long and my bias here is that I participated in these activities as a child and enjoyed them. But what this reading has shown me is that the holidays took up a greater deal of the curriculum than I recall and that can create a deep sense of isolation for those children who do not know, understand or celebrate the traditional Western Holidays.
The continuing lack of communication between the home culture and the ESL teacher and classroom teacher is troubling. They are both noticing that the children are not socially fitting in and the ESL teacher realized how little she knew about her students but neither did anything about it. There were times where the remarks made by Peley or Raji were simply ignored when what they were communicating might have been cleared up if the teachers had pressed harder and asked more probing questions without being intrusive, just curious and interested. I think if the questions about their home life and home cultural were discussed and a genuine interest was shown the attention would have been deemed positive and the children might have opened up.
It's frustrating to see them get so close to the right thing to do but not to follow through and ask the questions and get to know these two students better. The focus is just on a set curriculum without any thought on adapting the curriculum to the students which is an essential element of a true inclusive education for all students.
There just was not enough effort and reaching understanding of the holidays meanings and a complete lack of understanding of what holidays are celebrated or not in the homes of these two children.
Do you think that removal of all celebrations and seasonal activities is the best way for a school to run, instead of continuing to use the mainstream culture to help shape early childhood education?
Would there still be value in discussion of just seasonal changes as a scientific reasoning of the world the children live in?
- Elizabeth Francescotti
I feel that celebrating national holidays is a fantastic idea. The children, especially at the younger level, should be aware of these holidays because they are often times the holidays that define who we as a nation are. Seasons too, with building of paper snowpeople, turkeys, leaf prints on wax paper, etc. are great ideas!! I just find it uncomforting to celebrate a holiday like St. Patricks day in a classroom. That is a personal holiday to me and one people can choose to celebrate as a family or as they get older.
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