Discussion Post: Culturally Relevant and Anti-Bias Classroom
Teachers can be genuine in their efforts to design and provide a culturally relevant and anti-bias classroom, but they can still fail to foster an environment in which children are fully inclusive of others and free of prejudice.
Our classrooms are filled with children and families from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Imagine you are an early childhood educator who has received the surveys noted below from your families. After you read through the surveys (available in your online course), select one family that you want to use for this discussion.
a. Survey child #1
b. Survey child #2
c. Survey child #3
d. Survey child #4
Write a transcript for a parent-teacher conference that you might have with this family based on facts you learned about them from the survey. Develop five questions that the parent/family member might ask you about your classroom during a conference. Each question should include a fact from the survey. For example, a family might ask you, "What resources are available to help my child learn English?" or "How can I help support my child at home since I work during the day?"
Then, develop responses to address their questions. Be sure to include a specific example of how you will do this in the classroom and provide support from the textbook. Your discussion will be submitted in question-and-answer format and will include the following for each of the five questions:
A. Question asked by parent using a fact from the survey
B. Response to the question
a. Explanation of your answer
b. Specific example of how this will occur in your classroom
c. Evidence from the textbook that supports this answer
d. One website for each question that could serve as a resource for you as an educator or a website that you could share with parents as a resource.
The response should include a reference list. One-inch margins, Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space and APA style of writing and citations.