Anti-bias Family Daycare Center

In my child care home I would have several areas to for children and families to explore.  Below I will outline the areas, the materials that would be in the areas, and why I would choose these things.

Entrance:

On the outside front porch of my house I would provide a similiar environment to Adrianna's.  I would have a dramatic play kitchen with pots, pans, and plates.  I would have an area with blocks with pictures of the children and families taped to some to allow children to interact with thier own characters.  I would have a writing area with child and family pictures with words to describe each.  I would provide various writing utensils and books that I have made depicting the children and thier families, community members, as well as some other appropriate pictures that depict other cultures (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2010).  I would also provide a basket with photo albums for each child with pictures of thier families, pets, and also pictures of them playing at school.  There would also be an area of cubbies with each child's name, pictures, and picture of their family.  This would be their area and would be where parents and children would hang cloths, store backpacks, and other materials from home.   I would also have my sign in and family information board by the entry way.  During inclement weather I would move this area into the entry of our home.  These two areas are homey and have enough room for easy movement, but aren't too big and overwhelming to scare children and families away.

Quiet Area

This area would be accessible at all times for children.  It would be an area with soft furniture, blankets, stuffed animals, family photo albums, and books for children to look at.  This area would be an area that would be welcome to all children and families and a place where children can be alone if they want to be, or where a parent or caretaker can come an have some one-on-one time with the child.

Dramatic Play Area

In this area I would have household items such as kitchen items and accessories, bedroom items such as beds, blankets, living room items such as couch and chairs, babies and dress up cloths.  Each of these items would need to be taken into consideration in relation to the cultures of the children and their families.  Babies would be of various ages, genders, and colors.  Dress up cloths would represent different genders, cultures, and occupations.  Even the kitchen items would need to represent the cultures of the children and those of other cultures.  This area is a great place to explore the cultures of our families and those that we may encounter in life.  I would discuss with families their decor and traditions when it comes to setting up their household to try to incorporate them into this area.

Group Area

In this area I would have carpet squares with children and their families on them.  This would give children the opportunity to take ownership and responsibility in where they sit, and bring their family into our group times.  This area would have a book of children in our class that we can use to see who is here and who is at home.  It would have music that is representative of home cultures, and wall hangings that also represent the cultures of our families. 

Sensory Area

This area would have different sensory activities that go along with what the children are interested in exploring.  Whether that be water, sand, seeds, playdough, etc.  I would ask families to share recipes and traiditions for this area to bring familiar items into the classroom as well as pieces of family culture. 

Puzzles and Games

This area would have a mix of puzzles and games that are both representative of the cultures of our families as well as traditional games that families play.  I would have puzzles made of the child's photos as well as puzzles that have pictures that represent other cultures and concepts making sure all are respectful and not tourist curriculum.  I would also include a match game of faces of children in the care home.  This would allow for discussion of similarities and differences as well as being interesting for the children whose faces are on the game pieces. 

I would also incorporate other areas in to the daycare home, but they would probably have to rotate as I don't think I could fit anymore into my house.  I would just ensure that families are a constant part of the care of their child and the set up of the center.  To be anti-bias and culturally sensitive I would have to partner with families to ensure each is being represented equally and correctly.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2010).  Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves.  NAEYC. Washington, DC.

What I Have Learned

I hope that in working with families and children from diverse backgrounds that I can be sensitive to their unique needs and points-of-view.  I hope that I can use all I have learned to help other staff to better serve the children and families in our programs and the community.

My one goal is to bring the Anti-bias philosophy to my agency.  There is so much 'multi-cultural' but so little anti-bias curriculum.

Thank you all for your posts and input this semester.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: Creating Art

The picture I decided to make for this representation was of a flower garden.  The flowers represent people.  The soil is the foundation that has been laid by the family the child has grown up with.  This foundation has created a foundation for the roots that the child has to fall back on and navigate the world.  These will dictate how the child reacts to flood or drought.  The different flowers represent how depending on what goes into the child the flower is unique.  All of the flowers are close, or in the same community, but they have each experienced unique soil, rain, sun, diseases, etc.  The different experiences have caused a different flower to blossom.  The lightning represents trauma, and the bee represents the passing experiences that may only fly by in an instant but causes a lasting impact.  There is so much that can be interpreted from this picture.  What do you see that can represent what we have learned so far in this course?

"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

A time when I witnessed an adult reprimand or silence a child after he or she pointed out someone they saw as different was when I was at the mall. a couple of weeks ago.  While at the mall I watched as a father shamed his son for asking a double amputee why he didn't have any legs.  The boy was about five years old and approached the man in the wheel chair and simply asked, "Why don't you have any legs?"  The man began to answer when the dad stepped in front of his son, apologized to the man in the wheel chair, and then yanked the boy by the arm away from the man, and told him to never point out why people are different.  He asked the boy how he would feel if someone asked him about how he was different.  The man went on and on shaming the boy until he was in tears.

The message the man communicated to his child was, its not okay to be different.  It is something to be embarrassed about and definitely not spoken about.  My own daughter asked why the man had no legs, and we discussed the possible reasons.  We also talked about how life would be different for him without legs.  Our conversation lasted about three minutes, and ended with my daughter shrugging her shoulder and saying, "Huh, he must really have fun wheeling around in his rolly chair!"  The boy and my daughter both were curious and trying to make sense of the world around them (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  However, my daughter got the message that its okay to ask questions and be different, while the boy received the message that it is shameful to be curious, and not okay or safe to be different.

In my classroom I would have allowed for the boy to ask the question of the man.  I would have listened to the exchange and allowed for more questions.  After listening I would have figured our what the boy really wanted to know about the man in the wheel chair.  For example, my daughter was more interested in knowing about the rolly chair.  I would have then talked about what the boy learned and talked about how he approached the man and what he learned form asking the question.  I think this would be appropriate for anti-bias education.


Reference



Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and

            ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

 

"Start Seeing Diversity Video" Blog: Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Children build schemas constantly that provide them with the information they need to decipher the world around them.  Their families, communities, and classrooms all influence how they interpret the world.  Gender identity and how they view sexual orientation are two areas that are always hot topics in the early childhood field.

When in comes to the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families I think if that represents the culture of one or more of the children in the classroom it is important that it is represented in the literature in the classroom.  As in the media segment, in my classroom we begin the year with a home visit where we make family scrapbook pages.  These pages are placed in a area of honor that children often refer back to.  This year I had a same-sex couple that had a child in my class, so of course their family picture included two moms.  It was posted, and we had other children's books that represented this type of family.  It was never an issue.  Children asked questions sometimes, but our staff and the child just answered their questions.  It was a simple as that.  We talked about our families and their similarities and differences.  However, had we left the books that had same-sex families we would have alienated the family, and caused a lot more biases to form.  So, if it represents the culture of a family in your class, or if children have questions about same-sex couples I do believe the literature should be available. 


If a parent/family asked me to ensure that their child was not cared for by anyone that was perceived or self-reported to be homosexual or transgender I would begin with a discussion.  I would ask why.  I would respect their opinion, even if it was misinformed, and then present my opinion on the situation.  I believe in all of my staff, they have passed all background checks necessary, and are highly qualified.  I would then tell them if they do not feel comfortable with their child being in our care due to a staff member being homosexual or transgender that I would refer them to some other exemplary programs that their family may feel more comfortable with. 

Adjourning

As I look back on my adult life I can see many times when I was asked to work in a group.  When I think of the adjourning phase it is difficult to remember how each unique group finished.  It seems that many simply disbanded with no clear end or finally.  The most difficult group for me to leave was the first staff I worked with when I came to Head Start.  This group wasn't the most high-performing group I was a part of, and I didn't have too much in common with each of the members.  However we had come to know each other by working closely with each other everyday.  We worked through a lot of change and helped each other overcome some difficult circumstances.  When it came time for us to go our separate ways we said farewell with a simple luncheon, and that was it.  Many of the groups I have worked with end in this way, and I wish there was more of a recap of sorts.  A way to gauge what was done and how well the group stayed true to its purpose.  As for the group of colleagues I have become a part of through this master's degree; I'm not sure how this will adjourn.  It is certainly different from my cohort group for my undergrad degree.  What end could it have?  I just can't imagine it yet.  Adjourning is essential because it brings the work full circle.  From the beginning to the end it brings closure and makes progress on the goals that were set out in the early stages.  

Conflict Resolution

A recent disagreement I had with a colleague at work had to do with her having very little confidence in herself.  She would often put herself down with negative self talk when working with the children, and when I confronted her she was embarrassed and angry that she was called out.  

To help to resolve the conflict more productively we could have used two of the basic ideals of the center for nonviolent communication vision statement.  We could have used the ideal that "every individual embraces self compassion," if she would have compassion for herself she could forgive herself for the mistakes she makes and not be so critical of herself.  We could also use the ideal that "people joyfully and compassionately contribute to each other and resolve conflicts peacefully."  If we both came to the table with this basic premise the whole conversation could have been approached and resolved joyfully and peacefully.  

How would you deal with this situation?