You Belong Here: Nurturing Anti-Bias Education in Classrooms and Beyond
To ensure equitable outcomes for all children, anti-bias education must be at the foundation of all teaching practices, curriculum, early childhood spaces, and learning opportunities. Derman-Sparks and Edwards state there are four core goals of anti-bias education: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Activism. Each of these goals interlocks with the others and supports children in developing self-awareness, finding joy in differences and similarities, recognizing fairness and unfairness, and empowering them to speak up when harm is being done.
Throughout this series, we will hear from renowned speakers and examine the four core goals of anti-bias education: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Activism.
Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms With Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka
Tuesday, February 8
In this session, we will engage in conversation with Dr. Iheoma Iruka, founder of Equity Research Action Coalition and self-proclaimed Mama Bear pushing for racial justice and human rights. Dr. Iruka is also the author of the book Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms. Our conversation will center on the effects of implicit bias on children’s outcomes and the educator’s duty in countering this bias. We will discover ways to recognize and minimize bias in the classroom and explore strategies for helping to close the opportunity gap for children from undervalued, underestimated, and oppressed communities.
Nurturing Anti-Bias Education: Exploring Identity and Diversity
Tuesday, February 22
In this session, we will take a closer look at the first two goals: Identity and Diversity. We will discuss the educator’s role in understanding their own social identity in order to nurture each child’s appreciation for their own individuality and differences.
Nurturing Anti-Bias Education: Exploring Justice
Tuesday, March 8 | 3pm ET
In this session we will take a closer look at the third goal: Justice. We will define what justice looks like in early childhood spaces and discuss the educator’s role in recognizing children’s innate sense of empathy and fairness. We will also discuss ways to nurture each child’s ability to identify injustice.
Nurturing Anti-Bias Education: Exploring Activism
Tuesday, March 22 | 3pm ET
In this session, we will take a closer look at the fourth goal: Activism. We will explore the educator’s role in helping children respond to unfairness in the classroom and the community and empowering them with the tools they need to speak up for themselves and others.
Nurturing Anti-Bias Education: Closing the Empathy Gap
Tuesday, April 5 | 3pm ET
Join us for the fifth webinar in our “Nurturing Anti-Bias Education” series, featuring educator and mental health professional Dr. Adolph Brown. During Dr. Brown’s doctoral research, he coined the term “The Empathy Gap™” for the space that exists between individuals where there is no bridge of understanding and compassion. Empathy is the foundation on which human beings connect. When the connection is absent, anything built upon this divided foundation will also have a divide: health, wealth, justice, achievement, equity, etc.
Nurturing Anti-Bias Classrooms: Diversifying Your Hiring
Tuesday, April 12 | 3pm ET
In this session for school, program, and district leaders, we will explore the common challenges and hindrances that organizations and institutions experience when attempting to hire diverse staffs.
Whether because of the antiquated language found in the job description or discomfort with disrupting deeply rooted institutional establishments, history and statistics show that hiring committees have repeatedly failed to recruit staffs who adequately represent the entirety of a given population. This session offers effective responses and best practices aimed at addressing prohibitive and ineffective hiring practices.