Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves

Book: Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Ch. 2/Children’s Identity Development/Keeping the Promise: A Mother’s Story (Page 18)/Beginning to Begin (Page 19)

From page 18 read “Keeping the Promise: A Mother’s Story”, and it recommended that you read all of chapter 2 before you respond to this post. As you read the story, this mom asks, “How can we in early childhood education say we educate the whole child if we overlook the racial/ethnic, gender, and ability aspects of children’s identities? Can you imagine what it felt like for me to see some of my son’s sparkle diminish that day, and what might have been different had his teachers, and his school, followed through on their anti-bias promise?”

Retain the numbering and the questions while responding to the following:

1. Why was the mom disappointed about the teacher’s response and the school’s response to the teasing of her son?

2. Why do you think that the mom believes that all of the children “lost out” due to the teacher’s and director’s inaction?

3. If the teacher and school keep their anti-bias promise, how might they have responded to the teasing and to the topic of hair? (This are two separate issues, so when you respond, please address separately.)

4. As you read “Something happens” on page 19, you have the opportunity to start thinking about the never-ending possibilities for your persona doll presentation. “You recognize the harmful effects of misinformation, stereotypes, biases, prejudice, and fear on young children. And because you care about children, about helping them live proudly and joyfully in a diverse world, you feel you have to do something. The question is, What to do? If you keep silent, you leave the children alone to make sense of a hurtful world. If you wait until you are completely sure of yourself, until you know “enough,” the moment will pass, and the children you work with will have more deeply learn negative attitudes toward themselves and others. Sometimes you just have to begin.” Please share the “ism” that you believe you will present to the children in your persona doll skit and explain why this is important to you. It is suggested that you talk to the teacher about issues that might be present in the classroom. If you have not done this yet, go ahead and select an “ism” that you believe is important as you advocate for children’s identity development.

How to Create the Assignment:
1. Retain the numbering and the question(s) and type your responses after the numbered question in a word document; spell and grammar check the document.

2. Save the document to your computer. If your computer or Internet connect fails before you click on submit or if you accidentally paste it to the incorrect forum, you have the saved and finished document that you can easily copy and paste into the appropriate submission area.