After taking a long hiatus from working on this blog but continuing to prepare for Camp Kesem this summer, I am officially back with even more knowledge on camp counseling, as training has officially begun for this summer! I am super excited and have already learned so much that I want to share!
One thing that Camp Kesem strongly emphasizes is the need for culturally responsive counselors. Obviously, cancer can affect anyone and everyone, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and any other background, so we want to make sure our counselors are equipped with the skills that enable them to be culturally responsive to their campers, no matter their background. Cultural responsiveness, according to Sonia Nieto, the author of Finding Joy in Teaching Students of Diverse Backgrounds: Culturally Responsive and Socially Just Practices in U.S. Classrooms, focuses on the ability to behave in ways that respect and honor campers’ cultures and experiences (Nieto, 2013). She says that the best way to act culturally responsively is to take any previous misconceptions about certain groups of people and throw them out the door. Additionally, another incredibly important aspect of being a culturally responsive counselor, according to Geneva Gay, the author of Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory Research and Practice, involves recognizing the importance of racial and cultural diversity. With these ideas in mind, according to Camp Kesem, the best way to be a culturally responsive counselor is to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout camp. While diversity, equity, and inclusion seem like words people throw around like a Frisbee, they really are essential to being a successful camp counselor. Every camper is diverse in every aspect of the word; none of them are the same, and it is important for counselors to honor these differences. With certain diverse identities come various inequalities than can manifest even at a young age. Stressors such as poverty, racism, and homophobia, among others, can definitely take a toll on campers’ behaviors, and it is important to recognize such difficulties that may contribute to the need for campers to have a little extra attention. I have mentioned the importance of inclusion in various other posts because it really is so important for campers to feel like they are part of the group because they might not experience this feeling of belonging outside of camp. Exclusion can lead campers to feel worthless, lonely, and rejected, which can be detrimental to their self-esteem levels. Now, with these principles in mind, how can we ensure that we are being culturally responsive and that our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion are upheld? The first thing that should be done, even before the start of camp, is that we should acknowledge our own privileges and recognize that we might have different life experiences and may not know exactly where our campers are coming from and that is okay. Once camp starts, if we have acknowledged our privileges, it will be much easier to be aware of the need to be culturally responsive and where we might be falling behind. During camp, it is important to set guidelines from the start that emphasize our aforementioned principles. The guidelines should be kept to positive statements, so that kids know what they can do instead of what they cannot. (As we all know, kids love being told what they can do, but they don’t react so well to when they’re told what they can’t do.) Use phrases like, “We will respect each other” and “We will only say nice things to one other.” That way, when kids break the rules, (which they inevitably will) they can be reminded of what they should be doing and not what they should not be doing. Little Jimmy would react much more constructively to someone telling him, “Hey bud, remember we are nice to each other here at camp” than he would with someone saying, “Hey bud, we don’t hit here.” Reminding him of how he should be behaving not only implies that what he is done is wrong, but it also reiterates the rules that everyone should be following; whereas, telling him what he did wrong never reminds him of what he should be doing, as it is fairly possible that he may have simply forgotten. In addition to creating specific guidelines, culturally responsive counselors should model good behavior. Children will copy anything and everything they see (that’s why they love to play that awful Copy-Everything-You-Do game), so if they see their counselor being a culturally responsive role model, they will more than likely follow suit. Even doing something as simple as saying, “Wow I love how different each-and-every-one of us is” and then pointing out different likes and dislikes that every camper has, will really show kids that it is important to acknowledge their friends’ differences and—more importantly—that being different from one another is a good thing, not a bad thing. It will also show them how they can all come together and have fun in a group, even if they are different from the other campers, which is certainly an important life lesson to learn. With these guidelines in mind, it is important to be understanding if campers do mess up, knowing that mistakes can provide powerful lessons for kids. Sometimes kids really don’t know that something they may have said is wrong or that it can be hurtful to others. I have had a camper who once said, “This is so gay!” when we were unable to do an activity simply because it’s a phrase he has heard tossed around at school. When I took him aside, I explained that saying “That’s so gay” is like saying “That’s so Michael” (I used his name in the phrase, but I picked a random one for this post.) when something you don’t like happens; essentially, you are calling a whole group of people “stupid,” or “dumb,” or “messed up” when you say these things. After this conversation, he completely changed his perspective and promised never to say something like that again. Although in this situation I was able to rationalize with him, it is important to never get into a debate with a camper because they will not always get it. If he had still not understood, I would have just left it alone and said, “We don’t use that phrase at camp.” Not only is debating a camper unproductive, but it can also cause counselors to become heated and emotional, so they would have to calm their negative emotions before dealing with the situation at hand, which is particularly unproductive. Additionally, there will likely always be a camper who is on the receiving end of an offensive comment, and it is even more important to make sure the hurt camper is okay, even before talking to the camper who made the inappropriate comment. Sometimes, campers need to be reminded that it is okay to feel hurt and upset when someone says something mean to them and that they are justified in feeling however they feel. Also, campers should not be forced to confront the other camper who said something inappropriate to them, especially if the plan is to get them to help explain why what was said was wrong. Furthermore, while it is essential that the hurt camper doesn’t make inappropriate comments back to the other camper, they should also know that they are justified being upset with the other camper, as long as they do not to anything malicious. Thanks for sticking with me, even after my three-month hiatus! As per usual, below is an overview of everything I covered in this post.
Thanks for reading, Logan **Thank you to Camp Kesem for providing the necessary information on prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion at camp.** References: Gay, G. (2010). Pedagogical Potential of Cultural Responsiveness. In Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory Research and Practice (2nd ed., pp. 22-46). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Nieto, S. (2013). From Dispositions to Actions: Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers. In Finding Joy in Teaching Students of Diverse Backgrounds: Culturally Responsive and Socially Just Practices in U.S. Classrooms (2nd ed., pp. 137-144). Heinemann.
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Logan DechterUniversity of Maryland student by fall and spring, camp counselor by summer. Archives
February 2018
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