My one hope that I have when I think about working with children
and families who come from diverse backgrounds it that I have the knowledge
about others and myself to help them feel welcome. I want to provide them with
a place where they feel comfortable and a part of. I want to provide an
appropriate and safe environment for children to learn, develop and grow. An
environment where all families feel welcome and a place that represents each of
my family’s cultures. To do this I need to understand myself first. I need to
peel away my layers and figure out who I am and how I became the person I am.
“No one escapes learning stereotypes and misconceptions…These lessons begin
when we are very young, taught initially and most powerfully by our family…all
of us still carry inaccurate and negative messages-even if we no longer believe
they are true-that can keep us from seeing each person as a unique, whole
person fully deserving of our respect” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012,
p. 23). If I want every one of the
families in my care to feel excepted and welcome I need to uncover my personal
biases, discomforts and misconceptions.
A goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related
to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to educate parents,
caregivers and other professionals on anti-bias education. What it is and how
you can accomplish it. Every person has misconceptions, biases, and
discomforts, no person can say they are free of these things. Many people do
not even realize they have misconception, biases and/or stereotypes. Anti-bias educators
hope that the “day will come when the ‘anti-bias’ part of that journey is no longer
needed because all children are growing up fully nurtured and able to be fully who
they are, with no barriers of prejudice, discrimination, poverty, or war. Then learning
about and valuing one another’s diversity will be a natural part of growing up”
(Derman-Sparks & Edwards,
2012, p. 157). It all starts with ourselves. If more people looked inward at
themselves they would begin to stop the perpetuation of biases, stereotypes and
misconceptions.
I would like to say thank you to all of my colleagues. These last 8
weeks have been a very rewarding learning experience from me. I have enjoyed reading
your blogs and discussion posts. They have helped me look at many topics from a
new perspective. A perspective I would probably never have thought of! Thank you
again and I wish you all success in your educational journey for your Master’s Degrees
and in life!
Brandie
References
Derman-Sparks, L., &
Edwards, J. O. (2012). Anti-bias
education for young children and ourselves. Washington D.C.: National
Association for the Education of Young Children.
Brandie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. Your comment that no one is without biases resonated with me because it reminded me of a conversation I recently had with my mom. I was telling her about this course and how we always have to do something dealing with our biases; however, I feel like I am truly unbiased when it comes to different groups of people. She stated that she raised me to respect all and that is why I have such a diverse group of friends and associates. Her comment "you are not biased against people, but ignorance" was an AH HA moment for me. I am not biased against people, but the ignorance that comes from all people such as racist or derogatory comments and those that refuse to acknowledge another's point of view. I saw a meme on Facebook last night that sums up the issue of today's society. It stated 5+4=9, but so does 7+2. When people realize there is more than one way of doing things, we would all be better off.
Junell
Brandie,
ReplyDeleteIt does all start with ourselves! We need to see our flaws and our biases before we can start to help others see theirs. We need to know what we need to change before we can start becoming anti-bias educators. I think once we work on ourselves then we can set forth in helping families and children tackle their own bias. I hope that one day all children and all families will see that just because you do not see eye to eye on a topic does not mean you cannot be friends or even just treat each other with respect and dignity. I loved your post and had yet another great class together. We are almost there! Keep up the hard work and I wish you all the best!
I really appreciate your post and hope and pray for a future where we no longer need anti-bias educator training, but based on today’s political internet comments we have a long long way to go. I am with you though, in this Cycle of Liberation (Harro, 2008, f.7.1, pg 53). I will be working on “educating and reframing reality” on my campus in the near future as I have requested school wide professional development in the area (Harro, 2008, f.7.1, pg 53).
ReplyDeleteHarro, B (2010). The cycle of liberation. In M. Adams, W. Blumenfeld, C. Castaneda, H W. Hackman, M. L. Peters, & X Zuniga (Eds). Readings for diversity and social justice (figure 7.1, p. 53, 2nd. ed.) New, NY: Routledge.
Hi Brandi
ReplyDeleteYour post was a great delight to read. i enjoyed reading it and I agree that learning start with yourself first. I think all teachers need a course like this one. This course has helped me to understand that how the classroom environment should meet the needs of all students. Anti-bias classrooms is the most important piece to creating learning environment for all students.