Multicultural Activities for Preschoolers. Heidi’s Kindergarten ClassDuring a planning session, the kindergarten teachers identify three phrases that are commonly used during the children’s negotiation of play: “But I got that first. Â. Those rules are no good. Deepen your professional knowledge wherever you are with NAEYC’s exciting webinar series and online and face-to-face training opportunities. While teaching at the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School at Tufts University, this article’s authors explored what it means to embrace an anti-bias stance every day. Visitors could share questions and comments and add their own ideas by responding to several interactive bulletin boards through writing messages on sticky notes. Kuh, L.P., D. LeeKeenan, H. Given, & M.R. 2. ... and suggested activities for talking to students in various grade levels about issues of bias and bigotry. Ask them to describe it. Find research-based resources, tips and ideas for families—from child development to reading, writing, music, math, and more! Begin the group presentation by talking with the children about the parts of the flowers, the care of plants, and what plants need to grow and to thrive such as healthy soil, water, and the sun. Observing children as they have their own “a-ha!” moments—noticing an injustice, developing a new connection to a peer, or building an understanding of the world around them and their own role in making the world a more just place—is inspiring. Anti-bias education involves creating a community that supports all dimensions of human differences, including culture, race, language, ability, learning styles, ethnicity, family structure, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, and socioeconomic differences. Then show pictures of how people from around the world use hair to express themselves and their culture. Â. So what do schools and teachers need to do? Anti-bias education happens in both planned curriculum and natural teachable moments based on children’s conversations and play. See more ideas about activities, montessori, emotional intelligence activities. Join us at the members-only event and build your advocacy skills, expand your networks, and advance federal and state early childhood policy. Margaret notes the increase in children’s use of the phrases “what he’s [or she’s] working on” and “just right” work to explain why different children have different assignments. Professional Development Topic. Support access to high-quality early childhood education programs and opportunities and resources for educators. email facebook Instagram twitter Google Classroom pinterest Topic. Search an ECE degree directory, explore professional standards, and join our community of practice. People with a lot of money can go in anywhere they want,” she realizes that children are thinking about issues of ownership, resources, and power. important in a child's life. Join NAEYC’s team and help us advance the education of young children across the country. Teachers may not necessarily know who to talk to about their feelings, and often this is where they get stuck. an EdChange project by Paul C. Gorski: Home Teachers Corner Workshops & Training Equity Case Studies Awareness Activities Equity Curriculum Equity Awareness Quizzes ... Collaborative Problem-Solving: Case Studies in Education It bothers her that differentiating curriculum based on children’s skill levels seems to be provoking competition between students, sometimes hindering their self-confidence and willingness to take academic risks. As they revisit the book, they reflect on the idea that everyone has things they are great at and things they are working on. Much of the work up until this phase involved observing, reflecting, documenting, and questioning. Popular Searches: DAP; Coping with COVID-19; E-books; Anti-Bias Education; Online Store, “Why does she wear that scarf on her head?”, “My mom makes me give toys I don’t like to poor kids who don’t have any.”. Embracing an anti-bias stance helps teachers to develop innovative practices tailored to the populations they serve. Lisa’s Pre-K ClassLisa and the preschool team (two White teachers and one Black teacher) spend weeks engaging with the children in sensory- and art-inspired paint-mixing activities. Teachers have to balance planned anti-bias teaching experiences, such as mixing paint to match skin color, with seizing emergent opportunities to engage children by responding to their questions and observations. Teachers can take photographs, listen to and record conversations, and observe and videotape children’s play. Teachers often change the subject when anti-bias topics come up or redirect children to distract them from the topic at hand. One child writes, “I am great at math problems. Say Hello and discuss, network, and connect with our interest forums and online communities.Â. Discuss w… Children share their diverse abilities with each other by writing comments on sticky notes in response to each other’s pages in the classroom book. The documentation process involves raising questions and closely documenting children’s experiences. It uses an anti-bias lens that focuses and builds children’s awareness from self to friend to neighborhood and community. 2011). She gets an easier sheet than me!,” “Why does he get to use a rocking chair at meeting? Margaret’s First- and Second-Grade ClassOver the course of two months, Margaret invites visitors into the mixed-age classroom to teach and share information about many kinds of ability differences. Topics included same-sex parents, skin color and racial identity, class and power, abilities and challenges, and cultural backgrounds. Medford, MA: Eliot-Pearson Children’s School, Tufts University. Explore accreditation of early childhood higher education programs, discover the accreditation system standards, and view a list of accredited programs. Sharing: Process and outcomes As the kindergartners play, she notes that the children’s attempts to assert themselves often reference possession (“I got it first”), ownership (“That’s mine”), status (“I am the boss”), and cultural capital (“If you don’t know this movie, then you don’t know how to play”). Learn about and purchase the best books and resources to support young children's learning and development. Engage with our policy agendas, advocacy resources, and current initiatives. Enhance your career and improve your knowledge, skills, and practices with our in-person and online training. © National Association for the Education of Young Children, Eliot-Pearson Children’s School: Building an Inclusive Community and Pursuing Social Justice, Our Proud Heritage: Abigail Eliot and Margaret McMillan—Bringing the Nursery School to the United States. Heidi’s Kindergarten ClassHeidi struggles with the connections she sees between kindergartners’ play and issues of access, possession, and power present in our society. How should teachers respond? Would asking students to admit that they are challenged by some assignments be comfortable or productive? Develop grassroots efforts advancing early childhood in your community with these tools and resources. Discover the benefits of early childhood accreditation, learn about the four step process, find support and resources for your program or login to the accreditation portal. Fun Activities for Anti-Bias Education. Check out these teacher-tested classroom and family-friendly activities for great activities and lessons that address bias and racism. Shift #2: Review my curriculum for evidence of white supremacy culture . 2011. “Framework for Anti-Bias Teaching.” Unpublished curriculum tool. With anti-bias curriculum, these guided experiences might occur by simply mixing various colors of paint before beginning to explore skin colors. They may not know right away how to respond—or whether they even want to explore a particular issue with a group—but the awareness of the topic is an important first step. Tell the preschoolers that anyone wearing that article of clothing at each play area cannot play in that area or use that item. Preschool teachers who use an anti-bias curriculum want all students to feel successful and empowered without being saddled with stereotypes or harmful comments. Teacher-initiated activities are another starting place for exploring anti-bias curriculum. Children tell us every day via their comments, play, and peer interactions that they notice social issues, are curious about differences, and want more information. It’s Social Justice Standards show how anti-bias education works through the four domains of identity, diversity, justice and action. Using its principles and methodology, teachers (and parents who choose to use the book) must recreate anti-bias curriculum in their setting in relation to specific groups of children and families. Once the teachers at Eliot-Pearson considered entry points that identified areas of interest to the children and acknowledged their own feelings, they got down to the business of thinking about potential next steps. This “a-ha” moment inspires her to pay close attention to the language and understandings children have about social class, wealth, and privilege. An anti-bias preschool curriculum is one that seeks to acknowledge and challenge prejudices in education and works to remove them from the teaching and learning environment. It’s mine,” “I have the [toy], so I have to be the boss,” and “We should have a rule that the person who has a thing decides the rules for the thing.” Heidi talks to the children about these phrases. Lisa’s Pre-K ClassThe preschoolers share their learning by inviting families or children’s caregivers who have come to school to mix paint to match their own skin colors. Learn about NAEYC’s informed positions on significant issues affecting young children’s education and development. On their gallery walk panel, Lisa presents information from research about race so families can see how it connects to the work in the classroom. Lisa’s Pre-K ClassLisa and the pre-K teaching team review Julian’s coffee photographs and, with his parents’ knowledge and permission, talk with him further to explore the motivation behind his experiment. They can continue to bring questions to colleagues, using the documentation to ask questions such as “What are these children working on and why?” and “What can I do in my classroom to support children’s exploration and understanding of this topic?”, Initially, the kindergarten teaching team was stuck—unsure about how to explore ideas of possession and power with children this young. A third source is significant events that occur in the children’s communities and the larger world that classroom teachers think need to be explored with children. Discover the latest research and best practices, and engage with our diverse community of professionals! At Eliot-Pearson, the framework helps teachers address ambivalent feelings they have about a topic. Research Guides: ECE 2110: Developing Anti-Bias Curriculum: Multicultural Books & Activities Heidi’s Kindergarten ClassWhen Heidi hears kindergartners say, “This is my ramp. She was also a long-time director/lecturer at the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School at Tufts University. It takes place with the understanding that anti-bias issues raised are not problems to be eliminated, but rather opportunities for teaching and learning. Heidi then presents a provocation: “Should we use the words we talked about at meeting when we use the bikes?” The children immediately chorus, “No, no. New York: Rutledge. Another teacher expressed it this way: “I am a learner too. Their personal experiences may drive their responses, or they may experience discomfort and ignore the topic altogether. While she feels excited and nervous as the children explore social class concepts, she also worries about approaching a subject that seems taboo even in adult conversation. The teachers shared documentation and questions about this focus at monthly professional development meetings, getting and giving feedback on curriculum and teaching practices. Site by Design by Insight, « 12 Tips for a Smoother Morning Routine for You & Your Kids, What Parents Want from their Child’s Montessori School », Resist Painting – Toddler & Preschool Activity, [2020] The BEST Gift for 8 to 12 Year Olds, Teaching Kids Compassion – Pay It Forward, The Best Board Games for Kids, Homeschoolers, and Families, Collect distinct looking flowers to create a bouquet for the classroom, Display the bouquet in a simple vase in the front of the classroom. Stay up-to-date on issues in early childhood education and hear perspectives from a wide range of educators. The YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education's anti-bias, play-based curriculum is a framework that can be used with any other curriculum. Debbie has been an educator for over 45 years and worked with Carolyn Edwards at the University of Massachusetts Lab School from 1986–1993. They are also for the adults who raise and teach chil-dren. In each section, you can explore recommended practices, find helpful explanations and learn how each practice connects to anti-bias education. Children’s comments reveal confusion about what White and Black really mean in relation to skin color. I learned that part of our job as teachers is to aid children and families in areas they may be struggling with. Effective unconscious bias training activities ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’. Discussing their feelings about a topic with colleagues can help educators gain clarity about how to manage the curriculum. Become a leader in your professional association. To understand anti-bias education, it may be helpful to reflect on how children learn to see themselves and others in an anti-bias classroom or program. Anti-Bias Curriculum Anti-bias education is based on Paulo Freire’s notion of the “practice of freedom” which is “the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world” (Freire, 2000, p. 34). They found that adopting an anti-bias perspective requires more than implementing a few well-meaning activities. Identification of entry points is at the beginning of the road map for curriculum planning. Anti-bias teaching requires critical thinking and problem solving by both children and adults.” Newsletters, parent meetings, and individual confere… Documentation is crucial in inspiring teachers’ thinking. Support our mission and reach the NAEYC audience through your advertisement, conference exhibit booth, or sponsorship. Find a sponsorship opportunity that’s right for you and help support early childhood educators, parents, and other professionals. Ask children to touch their hair and to look at their hair in the mirror. The Teaching Tolerance website is a comprehensive resource for educators, serving as clearinghouse for information on anti-bias programs and activities for use in schools. Children’s comments can sometimes fluster both new and experienced teachers—even those who support equity and diversity in schools. Stay up to date with research-based, teacher-focused articles on birth to age 8 in our award-winning, peer-reviewed journal. To hold themselves accountable for anti-bias work, the program’s teachers developed a tool for keeping anti-bias issues alive in the curriculum (see “Framework for Anti-Bias Teaching,” p. 59). Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools For Empowering Young Children is not a recipe book. Anti-bias education happens in both planned curriculum and natural teachable moments based on children’s conversations and play. Children name their various skin color shades—bologna being the most notable! Explore jobs in the Career Center and find higher education and professional development opportunities. Teachers at the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School regularly use documentation to make learning visible to children, families, and school visitors (Rinaldi 2006). Protocols. www.schoolreforminitiative.org. Revising for bias … If you can, gather wigs, scarves, rubb… These comments, while typical of young children, can stop a teacher in her tracks. Curriculum should be about actively exploring a topic with each other. An entry point may be something a family brings to a teacher’s attention or something a teacher knows about a family that a child brings to the setting. ‘A-ha’ Activities for Bias Awareness. In addition to recognizing entry points educators should understand that their responses to children’s queries don’t have to be instantaneous. An assistive technology teacher shows the students how some children who are developing expressive language skills use computers to help them communicate their ideas. When I’ve talked to other teachers about revising curriculum for bias, I often encounter one of two ways that people think about this: 1. Photos: 1, © iStock; 2, courtesy of the authors, Lisa P. Kuh, PhD, is the director of early education for Somerville Public Schools, in Somerville, Massachusetts. Teacher-initiated activities are a second source of anti-bias activities, based on what classroom teachers and families think is important for children to learn. Multicultural, Anti-bias, & Diversity Activities & Exercises. Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education is organized into four sections: Instruction, Classroom Culture, Family and Community Engagement, and Teacher Leadership. As a result, the teachers think about ways to broaden and clarify skin color vocabulary before starting any skin color paint mixing. This Sesame Street clip: I Love Hairis an excellent conversation starter. Derman-Sparks, L., D. LeeKeenan, & J. Nimmo. Connect with professionals in your community at conferences, networking events, advocacy efforts, leadership opportunities and more! Teachers shared their thinking with families and colleagues, learning about the values they thought were important. The Eliot-Pearson Children’s School’s long-standing commitment to anti-bias education is part of its core values and mission. Support our efforts to secure a bright future for young children, educators, and families. The “no” sign is the circle with the diagonally line going through it. In this second phase, it is crucial to begin involving all parents. Celebrate young children and their families with hands-on activities encouraging movement and healthy lifestyles through music, food, and art.Â. Teachers begin keeping track of children’s conversations about race and skin color at play, lunch, meeting, and outdoors. Draw the “no” sign on top of the pictures and scattered them around the room at different stations or play areas. Teachers began to look at power as a way to consider acts of sharing and giving (rather than having and holding)—encouraging the children to “use their powers for good.” They developed activities that asked children to think about times when they had used possession or ownership to assert power, and to generate possible solutions to fairly distributing and using classroom resources and materials. Anti-bias Education Goal One is about self and social group identity. Does all this belong in the early education setting? Teachers have to balance planned anti-bias teaching experiences, such as mixing paint to match skin color, with seizing emergent opportunities to engage children by responding to their questions and observations. Preschool teachers who use an anti-bias curriculum want all students to feel successful and empowered without being saddled with stereotypes or harmful comments. 2012. They discuss a range of ability differences, including physical, sensory, social, emotional, communication, and cognitive. debbie.leekeenan@gmail.com, Heidi Given, MA, teaches kindergarten at the Fayerweather Street School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Teach your preschoolers about discrimination by printing pictures of tie sneakers, a white shirt, red shirt, shorts and blue jeans. Donate to help NAEYC advance a strong and dynamic early childhood profession and connect educators to cutting-edge resources. Listing of additional educational resources related to anti-bias learning for K-12 educators, admininstrators, students and family members. A long-time director/lecturer at the local and national level range of educators than me!, and. She gets an easier sheet than me!, ” “Why does he get to use a rocking at! 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