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One huge thing I took away from this class is that I want to be more curious around children and less restrictive of them. I want to allow them to explore their surroundings as freely as possible without interrupting them. Essentially, I want to enable them with as much agency as possible. Secondarily, I want to stop praising them for everything they do and looking at them as cute/adorable. I have learned from this class that it is much more beneficial to me to view children as scientists. I now know that there is so much to learn from young children. Another thing I learned is that I should not avoid talking about important topics such as race, gender, and culture. It is important to acknowledge that racism, sexism, and xenophobia exists, and that they are immoral and harmful to everyone in the world. In general, I will treat children a little less like babies and a little more like adults. I will genuinely listen to them and do my very best to understand what they are trying to communicate to me rather than assuming that they don't know what they are trying to say. I recognize now that just because I don't understand what a child is saying to me, that doesn't mean that they don't know what they are trying to say. There is always something they are trying to communicate and it is worth doing your best to try and figure it out. I have learned so much from this class. I view children so much differently and I can't wait to interact with them in these new ways.

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Technology had a relatively small role in my childhood. The only technological device that I owned in my childhood was a PlayStation console, which my parents only allowed me to use on the weekends. The next technological device that I was able to own was a cellphone, which my parents bought for me at age 13.  And I did not even use that phone very much because it was not a smartphone. I owned my first smartphone at age 15. Technology was not used very much in school, especially in elementary and middle school. In high school, I rented a laptop from my school, which I used mostly for schoolwork. Since graduating high school and leaving my parents' house, technology began playing more of a role in my life. And I know that future generations of children will use technology far more than I did as a child.

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I loved Javier's lecture on Tuesday. I learned so much. I realized how uneducated I was about East Austin and its history. I certainly left the lecture motivated to learn more and think critically about claims of "green" projects in Austin. I find the four principles that I learned about in our lecture to be very valuable. In elementary school, i never believed I had enough recess time, and that is something that I really believe should be changed in our schools. In thinking about how my family and I ended up in Austin, Texas, I first think about where my parents came from. Both of my parents were born in Iran and moved to Houston, Texas in their early adulthood. My twin brother and I were born in Houston, and our family moved to Pflugerville, Texas before my brother and I's first birthday. When my brother and I were 10 years old we moved with our parents to Austin. I do not have any relationship with the indigenous people who are from the land I currently live on. I am not sure I have ever met an indigenous person in Austin.

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In answering what role biology played in my life growing up, I would say that I went through all 4 of Piaget's stages of cognitive development. After reading Piaget's descriptions of each of the 4 stages of cognitive development, I think I can safely say all of them were accurate in describing my development as a neurotypical child. As I was growing up though, I was not aware of my cognitive progression, let alone Piaget's 4 stages of cognitive development.

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As I mentioned in my first iteration of my autobiography, I was raised a bilingual speaker of English and Farsi. Growing up bilingual allowed me to connect with other bilingual children, whether they spoke Farsi or not. Growing up a bilingual child also made it much easier for me to  start learning a third language (Spanish)  in middle school. I remember it coming much easier to me than it did to monolingual students in my class. My brother and I did have to enroll in a couple of ESL classes in Elementary school because we grew up only speaking Farsi in our household. But I truly say I am so incredibly glad to have been raised speaking a language other than English. My fluency in Farsi has always made me feel connected to my culture as an Iranian. Watching the TedTalk entitled "No child left monolingual" only strengthened by belief that all children should be raised bilingual, not only to break down language barriers, but to feel more connected to other cultures and create unity amongst all people.

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Week 7: Impact of Gender ,, Sexism, and Race on play

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Week 7: Impact of Gender ,, Sexism, and Race on play

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When I first created my  autobiography, I wrote that my identity as a boy came along with certain activities such as wrestling and playing with action figures. I also stated that being a boy might have been a reason that I didn't make any female friends until middle school. In reading LaFrance's article entitled "How to play like a girl", I learned that research has shown that toys that are usually seen as appropriate for boys are viewed as more competitive, aggressive.." and that "Boys are more likely to given vehicles, balls and toy guns, while girls are more likely to get domestically oriented toys like baby dolls and tiny vacuum cleaners". This certainly aligned with my childhood. And as I mentioned in my first iteration of my autobiography, I never had to think about my race growing up, and this was because I never stuck out as a minority. For this reason, I fit in with all the other kids around me and allowed me to make friends easily.

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Racism and white supremacy did not play a role in my life growing up. I am very grateful that I was never treated differently because of my ethnicity. I am especially grateful of this fact because I know racism and prejudice to be very real and destructive to people who face it. While I was not personally affected by racism or white supremacy when I was growing up, I do remember witnessing it and being aware of its presence. I remember hearing racial slurs towards african americans and hispanics and asking my parents what they meant and why they were used. And I remember my parents very briefly explaining that, unfortunately some people, most notably african amerians and hispanics, are treated badly by some unintelligent and hateful people. I don't know if I would say that I benefitted from white supremacy but I certainly acknowledge that my life would have been much more difficult had I been born a minority.

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This Thursday we learned the importance of providing children with agency. I remember having a lot of order in elementary school and not many decisions to make. We had to remain quiet in class, walk in lines with our hands behind our backs, and essentially not do or say anything until we were told to. So I don't believe I had much agency in school as a kid. In the home though, my parents provided me with agency. I was allowed to hang out with my friends, watch TV, and play video games. I learned that it was okay to think and act on my own when in the household. I think that is very important in a child's development. I don't believe they should ever be scared to trust themselves and act on their own accord.

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I grew up speaking both English and Farsi, the national language of Iran. For this reason, I grew up accustomed to hearing languages other than English. While monolingual English-speaking kids might have felt uncomfortable making friends with kids who spoke a language other than English, I was not. Growing up I had many friends who spoke languages other than English.

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My parents never educated me about religion or the concept of God so I never had any holy influence in my life. So every time saw someone praying or talking about God I felt highly uncomfortable. But that didn't stop me from making friends who were religious. To this day I'm not sure whether there is a higher power. I'd consider myself agnostic.

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Being the son of two Iranian immigrants, I grew up attending many local Iranian gatherings where I would make friends and play with other Iranian kids my age.

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I grew up in an upper-middle-class family that afforded me the opportunity to play on recreational soccer teams. This allowed me to make new friends and develop my social skills.

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I never had to think about my race or skin color growing up. I fit in with all the other kids around me. This allowed me to easily make friends that I could play with and have fun with in elementary school.

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Being a boy, I grew up wrestling, playing tag, and playing with action figures when I was alone. Being a boy might have also been a reason why I didn’t have any female friends until middle school. I was too afraid to even speak to girls in elementary school.

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Growing up attending well-funded public schools, I had access to regular physical education and sports equipment. This allowed me to start playing soccer in elementary school, which led to me joining my middle school and high school teams.

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I grew up here in Austin, Texas. I’m often complimented on my kindness and hospitality which I could have developed partially because I grew up in a southern state. Growing up in Austin, the “Live Music Capital of the World” definitely kicked off my musical interest as a kid. This musical interest has carried on into my young adult years.

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Week 2 Reflection Post