Araceli Allala

HD390 Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

Instructor: Shey Quinton
July 25, 2016

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

In order for us teachers to be able to offer an anti-bias curriculum in the schools we

ourselves need to be aware of our biases. We need to be humble to recognize that we to are
sometimes being bias in order to become aware of what areas we need to work on. For us to
maintain an anti-bias environment we need to know who we are, and be aware that all children
have different forms of identity and that we need to respect that. It is very important that we as
teachers get to know the children that we care for, but it is also extremely important that we
know their families. We need to know who they are, where they come from, what they believe in,
what their values are so we can best integrate children. Managing an antibias curriculum is
definitely not easy to do because it is hard to change and to make things different. To make a
change we need to involve the children and their families by showing them that we care, respect
and support them. We as teachers have no right in telling parents what is considered right or
wrong; what we need to do is accept each family for who they are because we all have different
beliefs and ideas and lot of the social norms that we believe on are because of the social pressure
in society. Antibias education is not only about race and ethnicity it is about to be able to treat
everyone with respect, dignity, equally fair regardless of the differences among us. Our goals as
educators for an anti-bias education are: To make sure each child will be able to demonstrate
self-awareness be confident and be proud of where they come from. Also making sure that each
child will be comfortable with the diversity of people and languages in the classroom; and that
each child is able to recognize when someone is being treated unfairly and able to speak up when
people are being prejudice or discriminating against someone. In order for us to be able to reach
our goals of creating an anti-bias environment we need to understand what identity and social
justice is and the importance of parent communication.

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

It is extremely important that we understand the different identities of the children in the
classroom. Identity is the qualities and beliefs that make each and every child a unique individual
different than others. This can greatly impact the diversity because everyone has some kind of
biases of gender, sexuality, religion, race, beliefs, physical disability and social economics status.
The issue here is that we all have biases, teachers and students and we all need to respect
everyone because all of these social identities go much further that just knowing who one is.
Identities play a big role on how we treat others and also on how others treat us. Being aware of
the stereotypes and biases that we have in our classroom should help us in creating a better
learning environment, because we will learn to respect and value everyone for who they are and
what they believe in. Biases exist in all classrooms and act as filter that often keep us from
seeing what is really happening. Some of the biases in the classrooms are telling jokes based on
stereotypes, labeling children because of color, race or religion; imitating someone with a
disability or their cultural practices just to name a few. We need to now the diversity in our
classroom and need to be open to learn from what children and families bring into the classroom.
It is essential that we provide open areas with art materials where children can express their
feelings, and a variety of books that help children overcome different situations, that they are
going thru.
I think we are very lucky to live in the United States; it is one country where we live in
very diverse communities where we can all learn from the each other and value what everyone
has to offer however not everyone is open and accepts people who are considered different to
them. In this country we have the freedom to believe in whatever we want and we are able to
express ourselves, but does having this freedom to speak up promote social justice. I believe that
at schools we need to work on social justice I understand that at lot needs to be done in schools

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

and the communities so that everyone is given the same opportunity and people are not
discriminated because of gender, sexuality, religion, race, physical disabilities or socioeconomic
class. We as teachers also need to understand that coming from different backgrounds and being
unique individuals all children are different and have different learning styles auditory, visual,
and kinesthetic and we have to try our best to figure out which of the learning styles each child
learns best from or to be able to combine to meet every childs needs. It is very important to talk
to children and introduce them to the past historical events so they can be aware of the struggles
that have happened and how hard people have fought for social justice. How historical events
like: Racial Segregation, Martin Luther King a Civil Rights Activist and the Womans Rights
Movement just to name a few of the events that have made a difference in social justice and
equality. We need to include pictures of the families, children with physical disabilities, and the
different cultures in the classroom to make everyone aware of the need of creating equal rights
for everyone.
The ideal relationship between a parent and a teacher would be a very positive and open
communication of course thinking of how this contributes to the benefit of the child. However it
is easier said than done because of all of the responsibilities a teacher has during the day and also
how busy the parents are makes it difficult for this to happen. Many times parents want to talk
with the teacher, but with the busy schedules in the classroom sometimes it is difficult to find
time to meet with the parents. Parents are the most important person because we need to find out
the most information possible about every child. Thru the parents we will know everything about
the child, starting with simple things like what the child likes and dislikes, favorite color, does
the child nap, then going on to more serious things like what the families background is, what
they believe in, their cultural traditions, religion and family values. We need to aim to make the

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

relationship with every parent a strong and rewarding one. Communication is fundamental from
both teacher and parents. The teachers need to know what is happening with the child at home
and the parents need to know how their child is developing socially and academically. Children
are at school and away from their parents at least 6 hours a day so communication is extremely
important, to make them feel that they too are part of the childs daily life. The main reason we
should have a good communication is to understand how we are all different and that we have
our own ideas and points of view because we come from different backgrounds and have
different experiences in our lives. During our conversations with parents we need to be very
careful of what we say and how we say it. It is important to be open-minded and understand that
everyones opinion counts and that it is important to respect what everyone has to say. In order to
have an honest and good communication we need to be active listeners and exchange ideas so we
can get a better perspective of how to come up with a solution to whatever the situation or
problem might be. For example one barrier in schools is language, so if the teachers do not speak
the child language how might that child feel? Will the child succeed in school? Another example
in schools are religion, they do not celebrate or acknowledge religious holidays, so how do we
tell a child that their traditions or customs are less important than what we celebrate in this
country. Judging children by their looks is another very common bias that happens in schools,
sometimes without realizing it we label certain groups or communities or individuals, just by
how they look and this is definitely not being fair in any way to children. Some of the diversity
issues that make it difficult for children to have the best support are the many different races and
cultural groups at our schools. It is difficult to provide support because the resources are very
limited in other languages; after English, one language where resources are offered in our
schools is Spanish. Offering more resources in different languages for children as well as for

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

parents is a great way to support all families in our schools this would make them feel welcome.
I conclude by saying that it is not easy to offer and anti-bias curriculum however it is not
impossible with hard work and dedication hopefully we will see this happen.

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Anti-Bias Curriculum Final Paper

References
Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Ant-bias education for young children and
ourselves. Washington D.C: NAYEC

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008) Diversity in early care and education: honoring differences. Boston:
McGraw-Hill.

Tatum, Beverly. D., (2003). Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? New
York; Basic Books