Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

   The first thing that came to mind with this topic is when I was student teaching and a child in my class asked "why is that boy walking like that?" about a student who was using braces to walk because of his prosthetic legs.  The teacher quickly reprimanded the student and told him that he was moving his clip to yellow because he was talking in the hallway.  Never again did I hear the teacher explain to the student what was so different about the  boy with braces.  
     The problem in this situation is that the teacher was represented a teachable moment and she turned it into something that made him feel ashamed for asking.  The teacher's reaction may also have caused the boy to rely on his own perceptions about the other student which could have been wrong as well.
     An anti-bias teacher would have explained that some people including children have illnesses and other medical conditions that cause them to lose parts of their body.  Doctors can make new parts out of different materials, but they are not as easily controlled as our legs and arms are so they use braces to help them.  Students need to learn that there is not a difference in people on the inside due to physical differences on the outside.