resources – Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program

Advanced Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum Course: Creating Contextually Meaningful Curriculum

ECED 5104 Advanced Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum –

Creating Contextually Meaningful Curriculum

“We do not need to focus solely on the actual succession of facts, but rather to pursue by way of the story, a possible understanding of the intricate adventure of human learning.” – Sergio Spaggiari, Shoe and Meter, Reggio Children

During the Spring semester, Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJSTEP) graduate students enroll in ECED 5104: Advanced Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum (ADAC). Through the semester, the graduate students engage in curriculum development through action research in order to better understand learning and teaching, documentation as a form of assessment, and partnering with students around the development of a contextually meaningful curriculum. Through this process, they also encounter opportunities for creating impact beyond their classroom walls.

The Course Objectives are as follows:

Understand how to use a continuous cycle of observation, documentation, interpretation, and provocation to create contextually, meaningful curriculum.
Understand how to use documentation as a form of assessment with children and self assessment of your teaching practice.
Synthesize key elements from experiences with children that can be shared with colleagues for further reflection, feedback, and generation of possibilities around new experiences.
Synthesize key elements from experiences with children that can serve as a form of advocacy for a strong image of children and early childhood education.
Identify key elements from your observations of children that can be used to propel learning within an emergent, contextualized curriculum.
Identify and act on opportunities to partner with families in meaningful ways around their participation in the curriculum.
Identify and act on opportunities to partner with community members and resources in meaningful ways around their participation in the curriculum.

The bulk of the course engages the graduate students in a continuous Cycle of Inquiry guided by the following framework:

(What) Design and implement experiences that invite students to encounter and explore aspects of a Focus of Research driven by research questions.
(What) Observe and document these experiences, including preparations for the experiences, using a variety of tools, such as photographs, video, notes, transcribed conversations, charts, graphs and/or samples of work.
(So What) Analyze documentation from these experiences and generate multiple interpretations and perspectives from these analyses as well as assessments about what students know and understand surrounding research-related material.
(So What) Seek more knowledge through a variety of resources including current literature, research, interviews and/or TED Talks, etc. and make connections between what is observed and what is learned through these resources to enhance understandings and inform research questions.
(So What) Synthesize and organize work from each week into a visual format to share with colleagues in class.
(Now What) Thoughtfully engage colleagues in conversation around work and receive feedback surrounding the experiences offered as well as possibilities for where to go next.
(What) Based on feedback and ideas generated in class and with instructors, design and implement an experience that invites students to encounter and explore aspects of the Focus of Research driven by research questions. Repeat steps 2-7.

Participation in the ADAC course follows the Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum Course that BJSTEP graduate students are enrolled in during the Fall semester.

Upcoming blog posts will highlight work from the 2017-2018 ADAC course.

Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Fannon

Elizabeth graduated from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJS TEP) in 2014. She now works In Fort Collins, Colorado as Assistant Director and Coordinator of Student Learning at the Colorado State University Early Childhood Center, and Instructor in the Human Development and Family Studies Department. Since this unique role spans both early childhood education and postsecondary higher education, she is able to develop and apply a rather unique lens on learning to her work, which you can read more about below.

Where has your journey taken you since graduating from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

I stepped out of the BJS TEP into an Assistant Director position at a nonprofit preschool in Boulder. There I helped foster a partnership with Boulder Journey School to become a practicum placement site. A year later I joined the CSU Early Childhood Center’s Administrative team to begin the next chapter in my life, working with adults and children in a Reggio-inspired laboratory school.

How did your education in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program help prepare you for your current professional role?

I moved from St. Louis, Missouri to Boulder in 2013, after being accepted to the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program. I had a long history of experience in St. Louis, working in a constructivist environment with other educators inspired by the work coming out of Reggio Emilia, Italy. For me, the BJS TEP demonstrated a great balance of theory and practice, and how to marry the two. I continually use the thinking I built around this marriage when working with the CSU intern students who teach at the Early Childhood Center.

What is your favorite memory from your time in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

Besides the trip to Reggio?! One of my fondest memories is working with BJS Technology Specialist Sam and one of my co-teachers Leslie to explore what technological tools could foster sound exploration with toddlers. We experimented with the Makey Makey tool and spent a couple of afternoons playing with the different possibilities. We played with how to offer these materials in developmentally appropriate and creative ways to children. Based on this exploration, we ultimately installed large panels of foil on the wall in the classroom, and attached metal spoons to serve as conductors between the foil and the Makey Makey tool on the laptop. It was a learning experience for us all and a true test of the importance of “messing about” as adults.

(left) Elizabeth and her colleague Leslie embarking on their personal cultural study after their visit to the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. (right) Elizabeth and her colleague Sam playing with the Makey Makey.

What brings you joy in your current professional position?

It’s pretty much a dream job! I really love that the ECC serves as a learning lab for adults and children. The reciprocal learning between the two cannot be ignored, and I get a lot of joy in supporting that process. The ECC is relatively new to the Reggio approach, so it’s energizing to study and reflect alongside the teachers and other administrators on what that means in our unique context. I also love working with the undergraduates in my “Creative Experiences with Children” course. Each semester I get the opportunity to facilitate thinking and questioning on the topics of teaching, learning, creativity, and the rights of children.

Elizabeth working with children at the ECC

What professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?

In Saint Louis I was able to do some educational coaching/consulting at a United Way school in a pretty vulnerable area of the city. Working in collaboration with other colleagues and the teachers at that school, we were able to study the fundamentals of the Reggio philosophy together and embed some practices and ways of being into the classrooms. It was powerful to see the changes happen and the strong sense of self-efficacy develop within the teachers who previously had a much different view of what they and the children could do.

I’m very proud of bringing the ideas around professional learning communities to the last two school systems in which I worked. At my previous school, as well as here at the ECC, there has been tremendous growth in teachers’ practice. These experiences fostered new energy around classroom practice that came directly out of the research that teachers and administrators undertook together.

Successfully teaching and several semesters of an undergraduate class at CSU is a big, and unexpected, accomplishment. I hadn’t considered working in higher education before this role, and it was a big undertaking, but I’m super proud of how things are going!

Currently I’m co-authoring a manuscript for the next Innovations Peer Reviewed publication. I’m super pumped for that to come out in 2018!

Adult learning experiences Elizabeth helped design through the Creative Experiences with Children course she teaches (pictured left) and through Professional Learning Communities at the ECC (pictured right)

In terms of your professional life, what are you most passionate about right now?

That’s a tough one. I feel compelled by many things at the moment! I think if I had to narrow it down it would be promoting the work of the teachers and children at the ECC and making it more visible in the community (Fort Collins and beyond). Through this work, we are advocating for the rights of children by engaging in conversation with others about their view of children and childhood.

We are taking more steps to do so in a variety of ways. We continue to partner with more departments at CSU, which brings different professionals and students majoring in things other than education into our spaces. I also like inviting ECC teachers to be guest lecturers at my Creative Experiences class, so students hear perspectives and realities other than mine about the value of a constructivist environment. We have started hanging documentation of children’s experiences on campus and in businesses around town too. This is something I would like to develop more momentum around. I’ve been talking with Sam Hall as well, and it looks like we have an opportunity to screen the Voices of Children Documentary at the school!

More internally, I think we are taking great leaps in making visible to our families the learning long term investigations with children offer. For example, this fall semester our older toddler children and teachers embarked on a journey, focusing on children’s photography and perspective taking. They collaborated with families, documented children’s photography preferences, invited the toddlers to document their peers’ experiences, and are curating a gallery open to the entire ECC community in one of our school’s common spaces.

On a larger scale, several teachers have published articles, sharing stories from their classroom, and I hope with the publication of our manuscript in Innovations, the amazing work coming out of the ECC will be even more visible. Eventually, I’d like the ECC to host the Hawkins Centers of Learning Exhibit, Cultivate the Scientist in Every Child, and develop professional development opportunities for other educators.

Alumni Spotlight: Linda Miron

Linda graduated from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJS TEP) in 2014. She now owns a consulting business, Collaborative Learning Consulting Services, through which she plans and conducts professional development trainings and provides coaching and support to schools and organizations in Boulder County, Colorado. When she enrolled in the BJS TEP, she had already work for about thirty years as an early childhood teacher and director. However, she approached her journey in the program with curiosity and openness. This was not only beneficial to her own learning, it was also beneficial to the learning of the colleagues in her cohort, as well as to the Instructors! We invite you to check out her unique perspectives below.

Where has your journey taken you since graduating from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

When I graduated from the BJS TEP, I resumed a full time director role at the school I had been working at previously. In 2016, however, I began a new chapter. I wanted to support teachers, directors, and children in a new way, so I stepped down from my director position, and I began my consulting business. Almost immediately, I began to be offered contracts, working with early education professionals in different capacities. I started teaching and coaching for the Expanding Quality for Infants and Toddlers initiative (EQIT), and I started coaching for other initiatives through the Early Childhood Council of Boulder County. I was able to work with programs who were some of the first in Boulder County to go through the Colorado Shines System. I was able to work with centers and family child care homes with really diverse family populations. I was able to help schools build more family engagement. I was able to lead various large group professional development trainings. The contracts just kept coming, and very quickly I went from thinking this would be a part time business to feeling like I would soon need to hire an employee. It’s been really exciting to build a business from the ground up!

How did your education in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program help prepare you for your current professional role?

When I enrolled in the program, I had been a Director for 25 years, and I had lost a little bit of what it really meant to be a teacher. In that way, the practicum was really challenging and humbling. I absolutely did not realize how much information I didn’t know. The different classes I completed through the program helped me discover such important information, and I find myself really utilizing all of that now in my role as a consultant.

Another piece that I thought was really cool about the program was experiencing personalized learning first hand. I’m not a traditional learner, and it stopped me from pursuing my education for a lot of years. I really wanted to pursue a Master’s Degree, but I was terrified. The more I talked to BJS TEP Administrators, and heard from people who had completed the program before me, I realized that it’s not a traditional way of learning. It’s customized, so that each person can learn through their own style. That has really made an impression on me as I do my work now. Because I was immersed in that style and was able to see all the different ways that my fellow colleagues were learning throughout the BJS TEP, I can now apply that in the ways in which I work with clients.

What is your favorite memory from your time in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

I was an Infant teacher in my practicum at Boulder Journey School. It was not an experience I thought I was going to do well with. In fact, I was terrified. I had never worked directly with infants before. As soon as I began in the infant room, I realized that it was an incredible learning opportunity. Just being on the floor with the children and noticing all the subtleties of their communication and behavior was powerful.

The course EDHD 5260: Child Study and Observation for me was probably my most important piece out of the whole program, because it really showed me how you could delve into the life of a child and apply that knowledge to working with other children. Now I’ve come full circle. I’ve been able to do a bit of consulting for Boulder Journey School, and I get to spend time with the group of children I had as infants who are about to graduate from PreKindergarten. Logan was my child study, and it took him just a couple of times of seeing me again, and talking a little bit with him, for him to remember me. Just the other day I was spending time in his classroom with a small group and sharing stories about when they were little. We were laughing, and Logan was sitting on my lap. He put his arm on my shoulder, and I just thought, “Wow! This is the best ever!” So I would say my favorite memory is just building that connection with the infants and getting to feel how meaningful it was for both them and me.

What brings you joy in your current professional position?

Last night is a perfect example. I went to a site that, a year ago, was ready to shut down. I worked there for a couple of months last year, and they made some changes that the whole staff seems really excited about. They’re going to go through the Colorado Shines process, and so I was able to meet with each of the three teaching teams last night. These were teachers who previously felt like they had to be doing things in pretty traditional ways. I met with each team for just 25 minutes and spent the time diving into learning through play. We talked, and we played with materials. I tried to help them see the things they were good at and use those strengths as inspiration to set goals. By the end of the evening, I saw so many flickers of excitement. It was beautiful. I got to spark that interest for them, get them excited about it. Now I get to go back and support them through the process. I was driving home last night and just had this thought, “Oh, yes! This is why I do what I do!”

What professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?

I think I’m most proud of the fact that I’m capable of conducting trainings. I wasn’t very confident in front of groups for a long time. I have always had trouble with auditory processing, so sometimes, when I say things, my words get all jumbled, and it takes me a little bit to recover. As I’ve been doing more trainings, I find that I can kind of incorporate my challenges and be honest about them. This brings some laughter to the group, but it’s also a platform to talk about the experience of young children when they are first learning to communicate. I realize that the things that I was most fearful about and embarrassed by are things that have been helping me build my confidence, and I love it.

In terms of your professional life, what are you most passionate about right now?

I am most passionate about interactions and relationships. Whether it’s teachers interacting with the children, or directors, or parents, I just love getting to support meaningful interaction and see social and emotional development at all different levels. I also want to leave readers with the words “anything is possible!”. Whatever you think you want to do or be a part of, don’t let anybody talk you out of it. Go for it!

Alumni Spotlight: Tiana Ibarra

Tiana graduated from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJS TEP) in 2015. She is now the Right Start Program Manager at Early Childhood Options in Dillon, Colorado, which taps into her passion for professionalizing the early childhood education field. In addition to reading her perspectives below, we encourage you to check out other innovative programs in Colorado mountain communities that are using public funding to support early childhood education.

Where has your journey taken you since graduating from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

I spent two lovely years teaching 3-5 year olds at Silverthorne Elementary School, part of Summit School District. I became a mother to my little boy, Sage, on May 8, 2017. I was fortunate to be able to stay home with him for four months. Upon returning to work, I accepted a position working for Early Childhood Options. The program I manage, Right Start, is a voter-approved, tax-funded initiative, designed to improve quality, availability, and affordability of early care and learning for Summit County families. Through this initiative, I get to work on issues of recruitment and retention of quality early childhood educators and family child care providers. After completing my Master’s Degree and Teaching Certificate through the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program, it is exciting for me now to get to support other educators in Summit County who are interested in advancing their educations.

How did your education in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program help prepare you for your current professional role?

My current role requires me to look at a great deal of data, which has not always been my strong suit. However, the BJS TEP taught me to think outside of the box, think on a grand scale, and think like an advocate. In my short time as Program Manager, I have brought in new systems and ideas. I have also begun finding new ways of marketing the Right Start Project, and I think I built my capacity for this type of thinking during my time in the program.

What brings you joy in your current professional position?

I love that I get to be part of helping teachers feel appreciated and helping them stay in the field they love. I also enjoy that I have a great deal of flexibility in my job, as the folks I work with are very open-minded. I can bring new ideas to the table, and they are always welcomed and encouraged, which helps keep me energized and dedicated.

What is your favorite memory from your time in the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program?

By far, I’d say my favorite memory was the trip to study in Reggio Emilia, Italy. It was the first time I travelled overseas, which was thrilling, and it was also incredible to see the schools in action. Leading up to the trip, we learned about many aspects of the Reggio Approach, and experimented with translating those ideas into our various practicum settings. The trip to Reggio Emilia provided us with the opportunity to see how the educators there implemented what we had been learning about. This truly empowered and inspired me!

Tiana and her colleague Amie enjoying Lake Como, Italy, during their personal cultural study days after visiting Reggio Emilia.

What professional accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?

I am definitely most proud of graduating from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program. That was the most challenging and rewarding year of my life, and sometimes I look back and cannot believe I did it. I completed the program while employed at a school in Breckenridge, which required a lot of traveling on my part. I had to stay organized, extremely focused, and take the experience one day at a time, but the program administrators and instructors were really supportive. It was crazy at times, but I feel so proud that I did it.

(left) While enrolled in the program, Tiana and her class of toddlers regularly went on excursions to explore the Breckenridge community, as shown in this photo. (right) Tiana, pictured with her husband, Justin, on her graduation day.

In terms of your professional life, what are you most passionate about right now?

I love that I get to be part of an organization like Early Childhood Options because they are so incredibly dedicated to the community. Through this job, I feel like I’m truly making an impact on the educators, families, and children in Summit County. I also have a dream of opening my own early education center someday, and I am learning new skills every day that I believe will help me make my dream a reality. I feel like no matter my next steps, I will be better prepared because of my time with this wonderful organization.

The Art of Mandalas: Mindfulness in the Classroom

Boulder Journey School collaborates regularly with Hawkins Centers of Learning to hold evening workshops, open to the community. To learn about and register for upcoming workshops, click here.

The topic of each workshop varies; however each experience offers time and space to engage in the three phases of Messing About, as proposed by David Hawkins.

In October, 2017, we focused our workshop on mandalas and how the creation of mandalas is tied to the practice of mindfulness. We viewed the construction and deconstruction of a sand mandala from Werner Herzog’s documentary on Buddhism, Wheel of Time.

Participants reflected on the tension they felt as they watched the monks destroy the intricate design. As a group, we reflected on the relationship with work when we intentionally create temporary work. How does temporary work offer us the mindset to focus on the process rather than the product? What are the experiences of temporary artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Christo?

Together we dove into the traditional definition of a mandala. We took meaning from an interview with the Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche, who explained that ‘mandala’ is made of two words: man, which means mind, and da, which means maintaining. A mandala is a tool for maintaining the mind.

Additionally, the word mandala is sanskrit for circle, which signifies completion.

The Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche explained that everything is circular and completed within the mind – the mind is the source of everything, which when expanded, offers itself as the house of the deity. For this reason, the mandala should be luxurious, “the house of the deity is not a poor house” (The Meaning of Mandala, 2013).

*Mandala created by a participant in the workshop.*

Although we do not typically associate Buddhist monks with luxuries, this interpretation of mandala offers a space to recognize the luxuries within our own thoughts and creations.

Turning to Western interpretation of mandalas, we explored Carl Jung’s use and subsequent popularization of the mandala in psychology. Jung spent time drawing mandalas every day. He reflected,

“Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is:

And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self-deceptions.

My mandalas were cryptograms concerning the state of the self which were presented to me anew each day” (Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1957, p. 239).

Mandalas created by a participant in the workshop

What is mindfulness? And how are mandalas related?

So why are we, educators, studying mandalas? What role do they play in our lives with children?

Susan Buchalter suggests that the practice of meditation and mindfulness can be aided through the creation of mandalas. She suggests that mandalas offer a tangible focus point for the mind, and as such can be a tool for quieting thoughts during meditation (Mandala Symbolism and Techniques: Innovative Approaches for Professionals, 2013).

And why do we feel it is important to engage in mindfulness?

Dan Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, shares the following benefits to mindfulness,

“There is a role in mindfulness in parenting [teaching]. Parents need to be conscientious, intentional, and caring in what they do. They need to be present moment to moment, tracking experiences, letting go of judgements, and really being kind and compassionate, having self-compassion…. They also need to be creative, so they aren’t coming to premature conclusions about who a child is and be open to the unfolding of a child” (On The Importance of Mindfulness, 2009).

To explore for ourselves the connections between mandalas and mindfulness, we offered participants the space to participate in the creation of mandalas. We wondered how, in this short timeframe, could we tap into the mindset outlined by Siegel.

Following their experiences creating, the participants reflected on their flow, their concentration, their enchantment with the materials, their personal pride in their work, and their meandering paths of creation.

As facilitators, one thing we noticed was how busy the room was as participants worked. There was never a time that all people were sitting still or quiet. At least one person was always up, looking at other people’s work, or gathering more materials, or even moving to a different space to work.

When we brought this reflection to the group there was some surprise. That had not been felt by the participants, and it clearly had not been a distraction. We thought about the classroom – how busy it can seem to someone not in flow – a teacher or a visitor – and how drastically different that can feel to the child who is deeply engrossed. Would we have ripped that thread of concentration if we had told our participants they were not allowed to move or talk with their neighbors? Do we rip that thread of concentration with children when we ask them to sit still?

This workshop, as with most of our Hawkins-inspired professional development, was intended to offer teachers insight into learners through participation in their own learning, rather than to offer teachers specific activities to take into their classrooms.

Look for a future blog post exploring possibilities for incorporating mandala work with young children in the classroom.

Can You Feel the Beat? Technology in Preschool

This blog post examines classroom work stemming from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJSTEP) Fall course, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum. Intern Teachers observe students, document their observations using a variety of tools, reflect on their documentation with colleagues, and develop and implement curriculum plans throughout the semester. Read more about the course here.

Learn more about applying to join the BJSTEP today!

The following reflections were offered by Mollie Lyne, a graduate student in the 2017-2018 BJSTEP cohort.

“Technology use in formal early childhood education (ECE) settings, such as preschools and child-care centers, may help shrink the digital divide in terms of both access and use for children in low-income families.”

How Much and What Kind? Identifying an Adequate Technology Infrastructure for Early Childhood Education by Lindsay Daugherty, Rafiq Dossani, Erin-Elizabeth Johnson & Cameron Wright

Throughout studies in early childhood, technology has been a big uncertain topic within many generations. Often, the following question is asked:

Should we allow technology in the classroom?

At Boulder Journey School we say yes!

Technology can be found everywhere.

In the year 2017, we have everything from television programming at gas stations, digital readers on the bus, cameras in our cars, and iPads at the library. We are in the digital world, and we need to find ways for children to engage with it, to form healthy relationships with technology.

The 3-year-old children in Room 13 have been fascinated with music lately.

We have experienced it through the computer, on our record player, through the iPad at nap time, with a visitor bringing a guitar, with Sam, a teacher from another classroom, playing his ukulele outside, and through sharing our favorite songs.

I wondered how to offer a new form of music experiences to these children who are so widely experienced in music. This wondering let me to my roommate Jefferson.

Jeff is originally from Washington D.C. and moved to Boulder a couple years ago. In his free time he DJs at local venues and enjoys laying down new beats.

Question:

What would it look like for the children to experience Jeff’s turntable?

Answer:

Ask Jeff to present to the class how music can be manipulated and moved to create sounds that we have never heard before.

When we offer children the environment to engage with technology and explore it in their own time and space, a whole new understanding arises.

It is important for children to have the connection to technology to have a sense of how it works and in what ways we can manipulate and play.

When Jeff arrived, he did just that for us!

He showed us what buttons we could push.

When we pushed them the music moved.

“Woah, it squeaked!” -Nico

“I can hear the noises.” -Micah

“Can I push this one?”- Alexis

We spun the disk.

We pressed the on / off button.

We hit other buttons over and over again.

We twisted the knobs.

Then…

We listened.

We watched.

We tested.

We asked questions.

“Where does the music come from?”

“Why do you need headphones?”

“Why do you turn it all the time?”

“How can you make the music do that?”

We danced.

We were inspired.

We explored.

As a community we want to keep asking about technology in the classroom to help us comprehend the affordances of various technologies.

“Technology has great potential for supporting the learning needs of all young children ….”

- Using Technology in Reggio Emilia-Inspired Programs, Linda M. Mitchell

How do you embrace and explore technology with young children in your context? What technologies are you excited to use?

Reading for Racial Justice

During the 2017-2018 school year, educators, including mentor teachers and graduate students, and families, are participating in a research group examining the goals of Anti-Bias Education. Click here to read more about this group.

“Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? … I see children looking at me.”

Many of us have been taught, directly or indirectly, that this book is a lovely example of inclusive, non-bias, “colorblind” literature – sure to support children from diverse racial backgrounds in feeling comfortable and welcome – as there are children who appear Black, Asian, Latinx, and White all pictured happily together.

Marissa Tafura visited Boulder Journey School in October to join our community of educators and families in better understanding Reading for Racial Justice. She prompted us to examine the true message that we are portraying when we say we are “colorblind”. Marissa pointed out that we have been, “socialized to think that naming race is racist.” However, rather than being inclusive, an attitude of “not seeing race” erases diverse perspectives and someone’s experience in the world. She pointed out that just as we typically acknowledge someone’s gender, it’s similarly important that we acknowledge a person’s racial identity as central to who they are.

Marissa works with Empowering Kids Colorado and Showing Up For Racial Justice to encourage active participation in anti-bias practices that support racial justice. She shared that her own background, a white woman growing up in a culture that encouraged silence on topics of race, has shaped her own perspective on the topic. She reminded us that acting for racial justice is messy, and that we must be open to embracing our mistakes on the topic and learning from them. It is okay to ask our kids, “I didn’t like the way I phrased that, can we revisit the topic?”

As a community, we reflected that, while we are growing more comfortable engaging children when they bring a topic or question to us, we are less sure how to initiate conversations. Marissa shared tips for examining the books we offer as entry points into new conversations about race.

According to statistics compiled in 2015, 73.3% of children’s books published that year featured White protagonists, 12.5% featured non-living protagonists, 7.6% feature African and African-American protagonists, 3.3% feature Asian Pacific and Asian Pacific-American protagonists, 2.4% feature Latinx protagonists, and .9% feature Native American and First Nation protagonists. A great place to start is checking to see whether racial diversity is present in the books offered to children.

Marissa reminded us that the presence of racial diversity is not enough, however. We must also check to see whether there is racial diversity among the authors of the books we offer.

Additionally, books should be diverse in the stories they tell. It is crucial to have more than just stories of oppression or over-coming oppression; they should also tell stories of normalized life as a person of color, stories of activism, and stories of contribution from people of color.

It is also important to name race, including Whiteness, so that children can become practiced in identifying racial constructs.

So, when reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, a book that is all about naming differences that we see in animals, when we come to the last page, let’s discuss the races of the children who are “looking at me”.

What strategies do you use to support anti-bias in your classrooms or at home?

Resources from Marissa

http://www.empoweringkidscolorado.com/resources/

Click to access children_colorblind.pdf

https://www.safetypinbox.com/kids

Camden and Olivia Use a Tool

As a school, we use video documentation to guide our work with children. One crucial piece of working with video is revisiting the video, analyzing it to pull out questions for further research or to reach new understandings of children’s and teachers’ motivations. We practice analyzing videos with interns and mentors.

Below is a video and write-up that we have shared with Videatives, an organization with whom we partner.

Camden and Olivia Use a Tool

Camden and Olivia, both 3, are on their third day of school. Both are brand new to an already established class of children. While using the outdoor classroom, they have discovered a tool is needed to move the handle of the zip-line to the rider’s position.

Olivia, who is next for a turn to ride, is actively cheering Camden’s efforts.

Camden is using a tool that is appropriate for the job, however tripped up, literally, by an extra material on the ground.

At 0:44, Camden realizes the white tube lying on the ground is playing some part in his setbacks. At 0:54, the white tube does not act as he is expecting, and he throws it to the ground, his face conveying that he is on the verge of frustration and giving up. He makes a brief moment of eye contact with the teacher (behind the video camera).

Consider: According to the Zone of Proximal Development, this would be an ideal moment for scaffolding from the teacher. In this instance, the teacher chose to remain silent – ultimately a decision that paid off for Camden. Did the eye contact act as the teacher’s scaffolding (did it communicate, ‘I’m here, I’m present, you can do this’)? How could the teacher’s interaction here have altered Camden’s next steps? As a first experience at this school, how will this interaction shape Camden’s sense of self-efficacy within the school community?

At 1:00, Camden revisits his initial strategy with the longer black tube. He is successful, now that the white tube is gone. At this point, the teacher joins in with a cheer.

Consider: How did Olivia’s encouragements act as scaffolding? Did the teacher’s voice become stronger because she added it as a collaborative celebration rather than a top-down instruction?
Also consider: When Camden switched to using the white tube, was his motivation that he recognized the white tube was a key ingredient in some way and did not recognize that its role was merely to be moved?

Talking About Race

In the 2016-2017 school year, educators, families and graduate students participated in a research group examining the goals of Anti-Bias Education. Click here to read more about this group.

Screen Shot 2017-05-08 at 4.47.01 PM — Marissa Tafura, photo from https://www.rmpjc.org/about-us?lightbox=dataItem-iyuwsnvz1

As part of their continuing conversation, Marissa Tafura from Empowering Kids met with educators from the Boulder Journey School Teacher Education Program (BJSTEP) to discuss the importance of engaging in conversations about race. Marissa focuses on equipping teachers and families with the tools they require to enter into dialogue with young children.

We reflected on the following questions:

How often do teachers and parents talk with children about race?

Marissa recommends using very descriptive colors to name race and to make it personal by referencing someone you know who identifies with that race. Be sure to model that it is okay to notice and talk about race, while recognizing that those conversations may look different in public and private spaces.

How can we challenge the normalization of whiteness and diversify materials offered in classrooms and homes?

Marissa recommends sharing why some images or narratives make you uncomfortable. For example, “I don’t like that the only brown skinned person in the book is the one opening the gate to the zoo.”

How do we name race as an important part of one’s identity?

Marissa made the comparison to how we talk about gender and accept that gender identity is important to our self concept. She encouraged us to do the same with race and not shy away from it.

How can we raise children who are able to identify injustices and take action?

Marissa recommends empowering children. She suggests that adults should include narratives that challenge the idea that people of color are always victims.

Marissa recommended the following website on teaching tolerance: http://www.tolerance.org/ She also recommended this article: http://www.wdsnyc.org/file/documents/CHILDREN-ARE-NOT-COLORBLIND.pdf

We look forward to continuing our work with Marissa and plan to schedule a meeting for Boulder Journey School parents as a next step. You can learn more about the importance of talking with children about race by visiting this blog: http://family-garden.org/talk-kids-race/

Here are some additional resources:

Book Lists

30 Asian & Asian-American Children’s Books

Spreadsheet of Books

10 Books That Empower Kids to Stand Up and Speak Out

Best Multicultural Books for Children

50 Indian Books Every Parent Must Read to Their Child

28 Books That Affirm Black Boys

Building a Diverse Anti-Bias Library for Young Children (multiple resources)

Children’s Books That Tackle Race & Ethnicity

Multicultural Book Lists for Children: 60+ Book Lists, including 10 Amazing Multicultural Picture Books About Helping Others, Multicultural Adoption Books for Kids,

Best World Religion Books for Kids