Chandra Farmer
EDUC 6358-Strategies for Working with Diverse Children
September 6th, 2022
Week 1/Post1: Formulating Goals
- The two professional goals you developed related to anti-bias education and your work in an early childhood setting.
- Goal 1: Developing relationships to form inclusive communities in the classroom
- Goa1 2: Develop an awareness of how unconscious bias can impact the classroom.
- The ways in which the readings and media segment from this week have influenced the formulation of your goals. Be sure to support your comments with specific references to and/or examples from the Required Resources.
According to Walden University (2011) “The world today is a world in which children are going to grow up side-by-side with people who are very, very different from them. The notion of growing up in a community of people very much like you is gone” (pg. 1). I also came across a website “Teaching Tolerance,” where it discussed critical practices for anti-bias education and teacher leadership. This article was about the importance of valuing and embracing multiple perspectives to reach the best and most comprehensive approach to leadership. The author suggests teacher leaders reflect on what they still don’t know and need to learn about something to seek out professional development for growth in those areas; the author really promotes the idea of having self-awareness to diminish bias and become culturally aware in teacher leader practices (Learning for Justice, 2022). Both the “Walden and Teaching Tolerance” sources are about the road and progression to becoming an anti-bias educator.
- The ways in which the implementation of these goals will help you to work more effectively with young children and families.
I aspire to be an anti-biased channel in which students will experience culture in a vast and more comprehensive way. Children’s experiences in education should teach the four goals of anti-bias education (i.e., identity, diversity, justice, and activism) and promote the ultimate goal of equality and social equity for all (NAEYC, n.d.). I am, the compilation of everything experienced in my life. With this, we are constantly growing, changing, adapting new view and discarding others. Each experience builds on the last to continue to reinforce the structure you are each day. As future educators, it is our job to be the future of knowledge. What we say, do, actions we take directly reflect what our students see. Choose your curriculum wisely, but choose your words even more carefully. Take the wealth of knowledge you and only your life has accumulated and share it with each class you have the chance to influence. Be the spark of change and the advocate to every child that walks through your door.
- Challenges you might encounter on your journey to become an early childhood professional who understands and practices anti-bias education.
Culture and family have substantial implications regarding how it behaves and is viewed in society; culture and family impacts how individuals relate to others that are different from their culture; culture and family also affect how members of the family deal with conflict from others to including listening skills; culture and family are essential in the eyes of society since culture is established from our society (Walden University, 2011). When you factor in culture, we have to consider the levels of it to includes sets of behaviors or how each family lives coupled with right or wrong; when you think about this, there is where the term “cultural issues” comes from; those same issues come from groups of individuals who believe that another group is deemed wrong based on their behavior; you must then consider occupations, gender, religious views, and language (NAEYC, n.d.). My goals created will and can improve upon cultural issues. My goals will also permit my students to be accommodating where there is a difference, appreciate cultural difference, be open to try new things, and learning about another student’s background (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). When you have a solid understanding of different social and cultural groups, the community, students and families are able to valuable connections to their lives and others (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Empathizing and teaching diversity enhances cultural competence and allows more students to be more compassionate to the experiences of their peers; having access to effective anti-bias resources can represent cultural groups in an unbiased manner (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).
References
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Learning for Justice. (2022). Critical practices guide for anti-bias education. https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/publications/critical-practices-for-antibias-education/teacher-leadership
NAEYC. (n.d.). Understanding anti-bias education: Bringing the four core goals to every facet of your curriculum. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2019/understanding-anti-bias
Walden University, LLC. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Thinking deeply about diversity and inequity. Baltimore, MD: Author.
