Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves / Edition 2

by Louise Derman-Sparks, Julie Olsen Edwards

Overview

Become a skilled anti-bias teacher with this eagerly awaited successor to the influential Anti-Bias Curriculum! This volume offers practical guidance on confronting and eliminating barriers of prejudice, misinformation, and bias and provides tips for helping staff and children respect each other, themselves, and all people.

Individual chapters focus on culture and language, racial identity, family structures, gender identity, economic class, different abilities, holidays, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781928896678
Publisher:	National Association for the Education of Young Children
Publication date:	10/23/2009
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Louise Derman-Sparks is an internationally respected antibias educator. Author (with the ABC Task Force) of Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children, the original edition of the current volume, she has coauthored additional books with Dr. Carol Brunson Day and Dr. Patricia Ramsey. She speaks throughout the United States and abroad. Louise has a lifelong commitment to building a more just society for all people. Her children, Douglass and Holly, now grown, were her inspiration. A Pacific Oaks College faculty member for 33 years—when its mission and pedagogy refl ected anti-bias education principles— Louise is retired. She served on the NAEYC Governing Board during 1997–2001.

Julie Olsen Edwards began her early childhood education career working as a family child care provider as a way to stay home with her new baby. She went on to work for Head Start, teach in private and public preschools and parent cooperatives, and teach kindergarten and reading in elementary schools, and work with community teen mother programs. For 38 years, Julie was on the faculty of Cabrillo College’s early childhood education department, served as program chair, and was founding director of the campus Children’s Center. A lifetime activist for children and families, she continues to write, teach, and consult on issues of equity, diversity, and anti-bias; emerging literacy; and family life and empowerment. She served on the NAEYC Governing Board during 2003–2007.

Read an Excerpt

What if someone told you that you could contribute in a small but significant way to making the world a better place? Would you want to do it? Of course you would. Then read on, because that is what this book offers—a chance to make the world fairer and more humane for everybody. And it offers the chance to achieve that grand goal from a place where you have already chosen to be—in your daily work with children and families.

Table of Contents

• Foreword
• A Renewed Sense of Hope
• Carol Brunson Day
• Prologue—A Few Words about This Book
• Key Terms
• Chapter 1. What Is Anti-Bias Education?
• Chapter 2. Children’s Identity Development
• Chapter 3. Becoming an Anti-Bias Teacher: A Developmental Journey
• Chapter 4. Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Community
• Positive interactions with children
• Positive relationships with and among families
• The visual and material environment
• Curriculum planning, including persona dolls
• Chapter 5. Learning about Culture, Language, & Fairness
• Chapter 6. Learning about Racial Identity & Fairness
• Chapter 7. Learning about Gender Identity & Fairness
• Chapter 8. Learning about Economic Class & Fairness
• Chapter 9. Learning about Family Structures & Fairness
• Chapter 10. Learning about Different Abilities & Fairness
• Chapter 11. Learning about Holidays & Fairness
• Anti-Bias Education with Other Age Groups
• Epilogue—Keeping On Keeping On: The Anti-Bias Journey Continues
• Checklist for Assessing the Visual Material Environment
• About the Contributing Writers
• References

Editorial Reviews

What if someone told you that you could contribute in a small but significant way to making the world a better place? That is what this book offers: A chance to make the world fairer and more humane for everybody from a place where you have already chosen to be—working with children and families.

—From the Foreword by Carol Brunson Day, President, National Black Child Development Institute

In this wonderful and long-awaited second edition, the authors compellingly invite early childhood educators to learn and reflect and to teach in new and daring ways. Their penetrating analyses and vivid, honest stories inspire all of us to challenge our assumptions and to work together to create a more just and equitable world.

—Patricia G. Ramsey, Professor, Mount Holyoke College

Once again NAEYC has made available to the field a powerful expression of what all of us strive to provide for the children in our care. I remember embracing the original Anti-Bias Curriculum when I was a new Head Start teacher—it shaped and guided my practice for years. I am certain that this new edition will help the next generation of teachers create enriching learning environments that reflect, support, and respect the diverse backgrounds of the young children they serve.

—Calvin Moore, President, National Association for Family Child Care

The new book integrates our understanding of anti-bias with current research and knowledge, creating a theoretical and practical book for anyone interested in exploring antibias education. Louise and Julie have captured the essence of the original ABC book and expanded it—this volume is a thorough discussion of the issues with thought provoking questions and practical suggestions for anti-bias classrooms!

—Christina Lopez Morgan, Chair, Child Development and Education Department, De Anza College

How exciting to finally have the anti-bias “bible” updated! I love the addition of the “Voices from the Field” segments and the new chapters on economic class differences and family structures. I also greatly appreciate the focus on adult development in this process. This book should be a part of every early childhood professional’s library!

—Debbie LeeKeenan, Director, Eliot‑Pearson Children’s School, Tufts University

From the Publisher