Creating Affirming Environments

Many years ago as I began my own education to become an early childhood professional, I had many great instructors who always impressed upon me the important of ensuring all children and families are represented within the setting. This week's post pulls forth that knowledge and reaffirms the importance of this as well as introduces a couple of new ideas to accomplish this task.

Being tasked with setting up an environment that is anti-bias is not a simple feat as this does take quite a bit of consideration to ensure every child and family is included and also the community as a whole. As each community and setting can have such a varying population, it is important to be intentional in this process.

First, I would ensure the welcome area is just that, welcoming for everyone. I would take the times to speak with each family at drop off and do a quick physical assessment of the child mentally. All information such as newsletter, calendar, daily activities, and such will be presented in a manner that can be understood by all families. Within the Laureate Education, Inc. (2011) media segment, it was nice to see how this exchange took place outside in a more neutral area for the children which also led to better separations from the parents but in the instance of a difficult separation an area was offered to ease this transition. I know not every parent can stay in the classroom setting so I know it is important to update a picture book with classroom activities and I am sure to include every child in this album.

Next, transitioning into the classroom I would set up the area to have materials that are diverse and representative of all the children and families in the setting. This includes dolls, books, music, dramatic play, puzzles, sensory table etc. The walls will display posters and pictures of others and also those within the classroom (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). All of the materials will be intentional and inviting so the young children will feel included and also interested. While I would have a weekly "helper" on a rotating basis, I would invite the family to share some of their culture through a simple display as shown in the media segment (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Offering the family a chance to share more with not only me but also the other children and families builds a better community.

Last, offer a calming area for the children to understand that emotions are typical and we all have them but also knowing how to properly display those emotions. The media segment showed this area as one for the children to transition easily and also to calm down when needed and more importantly understand that emotions are accepted and so are tears (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Providing calming and soothing items such as books and stuffed animals is a great way to help these young children work through those difficult times.

Many of this aspects were not particularly new to me and I am surprised when I enter a classroom that is not utilizing these skills and materials. I know I love to be included in an environment so it is important to consider how young children perceive this. The calming space is one that my current classroom does not offer but in some of my past classrooms this was heavily used and always yielded positive results for the entire class.

References
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).

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author