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"There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all." ~ Michel Foucault This quote best exemplifies my learning over this course.

After this course I am reminded of the flower basket that I make at the beginning of each kindergarten year. Each child's beautiful face is the center of each flower with petals of different shapes, sizes and colors...freely flowing around each face. Each flower comes from a different home. Each flower must be cared for differently and each one has its own unique style. If we were to put each individual flower together in the same pot and expected them all to grow the same, we would be disappointed in a few months to find that some of the flowers did not meet expected growth. Would it be the flowers fault for not producing to expectation or our own fault because we did not reflect on each individual difference, background and need?

My mind has also gone back to a non-supportive, non-understanding assistant I once had in kindergarten. In her opionion, all children had to be treated exactly the same...sit totally still and be seen but not heard. Even the chilld that I allowed to sleep after being abused the night before should have never been treated differently. He was an "outcast"...a poor child from an ignorant home. I have read that it is better to understand than to be understood. If we understand our children then won't we in return be understood by them? Is it then that our children are ready to learn?

After reading these books I have found a sense of affirmation for the individualized/reflective way in which I teach. I love to hear the low rumble of my chidren talking and their movement within the classroom. I love to hear their stories each morning when they come running through the door. I love the multi-cultural children and the various socio-economical status children. All these different unique flowers fill my classroom with such beauty. I also feel a sense of urgency to teach all children, to continue listening and growing professionally in courses such as this one in which we are called to search deep within our souls.

Finally, at the same time that I was reading these two books, I was also reading a book about Mother Teresa. Ironically, this book helped put this course in perspective. Mother Teresa was a teacher who crossed racial, gender, class and religious barriers. She believed and lived the statement from Hicks' book, "Rather, change also has to entail a moral shift, a willingness to open oneself up to the possibility of seeing those who differ from us. This is very hard work, but work that lies at the heart of teaching." Mother Teresa said, "The biggest disease today is the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody. Outcasts are found at every stage of life from the aged to the newborn infant. I have never refused a child, never. Not one." When we fail to accept a child due to his/her race, gender or class are we exposing him/her to this disease? Have we then refused a child?

In life it is absolutely necessary for one to think differently and perceive differently if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all. We can never refuse and child. All those beauiful flowers that bless our classrooms and our lives each year...how vivid and unique each petal is. It is indeed hard work to understand each flower's origin and to understand how each flower grows best but that is truly the heart of teaching. And oh, how joyous it is to watch each beautiful flower dance to the music of learning!

Donna Byrd-Wyatt