Anti-Bias Curriculum Action for Developing Lesson Plan
Background of why you selected the project you did.
For this project, I decided to concentrate my attention on anti-bias curriculum action for developing lesson plan. The main reason for this was a wish to help teachers who work with two-year-old children to cultivate the sense of equality between them at a very young age.
Description of problem/issue: What are the risks involved? What limitations do you encounter? Why?
The main problem lies in the fact that, despite the loyalty of the society, racism still occurs among children. Very often they face various prejudices towards themselves. Most often, these cases occur at school or kindergarten. There are many reasons for bias apart from racism: mental or physical abilities, belonging to different culture, and so on. According to Derman-Sparks and Ramsey (2005), “Increased awareness of racism as a systemic, institutionalized force that advantages people defined as white and disadvantages people defined as not white opens up new avenues for defining the role of anti-bias/multicultural education for white children and adults” (p.1). The risks and limitations that anti-bias action plan may cause are connected with the reaction of parents. Some of them deny the presence of such prejudices and do not want their children to even know about them. Others think that an emphasis on anti-racism will cause more racism. I suppose it is necessary to discuss possible sensitive issues with parents long before the project.
Goal of Action Plan: Describe the practices/attitudes/things you would like to change that relate to this focus.
Anti-bias teaching is based on four goals: development of perception of identity, interaction with other people, critical thinking about bias, and abilities of children to stand up for themselves (Derman-Sparks, 2007). I decided to base my practices on these four objectives to facilitate children`s perception of bias. First of all a teacher should explain children the main differences between self-identity and group identity. I would suggest this teacher several techniques:
Let each child introduce him or herself, they should not be afraid of each other. A teacher should remind them that there is nothing to be afraid of, and nobody will judge them for their character.
After introduction all the children should enumerate their best qualities on separate sheets of paper. This will enable them to concentrate on their advantages.
Speaking about interaction with other people I think children could play some games together after beginning of the lesson. All the games should be aimed at team working process. This would show children that everybody is equal. Neither skin color, nor cultural difference prevents collaboration.
To achieve this goal, “We must guide children's development of the cognitive skills to identify unfair and untrue images (stereotypes). We must help children become aware of comments (teasing, name-calling) and behaviors (exclusion, discrimination) directed at someone because of their gender, race, ethnicity, disability, class, age, weight, or other such personal characteristics” (Derman-Sparks, 2007, p.6).
The fourth goal is based on the third one. “Critical thinking and empathy are necessary components of acting for oneself or …
