Creating an Affirming Environment

I was a former child care home provider and back then I know nothing about anti-bias education, all I know is I wanted my families to know how appreciate and value them as well as share my own culture to them. When I read the Anti-bias education in a family child care home and watched Adrianna's video about her anti-bias environment, it brought back wonderful memories and affirmed that I have that kind of an environment which I never knew. I felt good knowing that I did a good job in setting up my environment as well as building positive relationship with my families.

Just like BJ Richards, I tried to unlearn the biases I have while instilling anti-bias values in the children I care.  When I was starting I have this feeling of getting intimidated by families from other race and ethnicity not because I felt I am superior  than them but the feeling of inferiority that they are better people than me. Being a person from a different culture, I have this feeling of being on the oppressed side because I cannot speak the English language well but as I get to know the families well, I built a sense of pride knowing that I did a good job in providing positive and nurturing environment for their children. Now that I am in a child care center setting I tried to incorporate the things I have in my environment when I was a home care child provider  and  set up my environment  the same way or even better - representing different family structures and cultures using the resources or materials I have in my classroom today.

My welcome board includes The pictures of the teachers in my room as well as their cultural background and experiences. It also includes policies and procedure of our organization, daily routine schedule, weekly planning base on children's observation and children's individual needs, menu which varies every week and everyday food reflecting different cultures. A poster of the USDA is also displayed sending the message to the families that everyone is entitled to a nutritional food no matter what race, color, ethnicity, religion , gender you are.

I have a family board which represents the different families we have. They are encourage to bring photos of their family and I let my children talk about their families. If they cannot bring their pictures, I ask permission to take their photo with their children. This is a good way of showing our families that I welcome and appreciate them. I also encourage families to share their culture to us by bringing some things from their home that represent their families , just like Adrianna, she has her own corner to display it. I also asked them to teach the children how to say good morning or goodbye, thank you and common words they use at home using their language.

In my dramatic area, I have dress up clothes of different cultural background and pictures of the children dress up like them and explaining where and when they wear it. Musical area, I have CD's and tapes about diversity which  use to transition to another area. One of their favorite is the music "The world is a Rainbow which explains how the world is like a rainbow with different people (Different colors). Even if we were different , it makes the world a better place just like the rainbow, it has different colors and when you put them together ,it is a beautiful sight to see. Another way to represent other cultures are the instruments we use. We have some musical instruments used by local Hawaiians, African- Americans, Asians , Hispanic and Americans.

My block area has different toy people representing different races and ethnicity . I also have displays of dolls with wheel chairs, guide dogs and dolls with crutches and canes representing people with different abilities.  My library contains books that are inspiring  and fun to read. I try to provide books that represent multi-cultural background and stories that make children feel good about themselves and be proud of who they are. I also display pictures of different military branches representing which branch of service their mom , dad or their families are from. In manipulative area, I have puzzles with pictures of people depicting different family structures,  different profession and ethnicity. For art and writing area, I provide materials such as papers and crayons or colored marker and pencils representing different shades of colors for children to use and express their family and culture. When doing art , I get the idea on how a child see herself and the people around her without having to ask them.  These are just some of the ways I will and have created an affirming environment.

 In my own opinion, no matter how a teacher arrange or fix her environment or what materials she puts in her environment,  it is always the relationship of the teachers, children and families is what matter the most. Showing respect and valuing our families is the most important thing a teacher can do to have a successful program. A program that promotes respect , acceptance of other culture as well as ours , empowering our children to reach their full potential  and having an environment that nurtures children is what I call an anti-bias environment.

Reference:

 Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6358/02/downloads/WAL_EDUC6358_02_A_EN.pdf