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October 2020
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Creating anti-bias early childhood classrooms
A preschool classroom is full of wonder and opportunities for exploration. It's designed to support the development of a positive self-identity, social-emotional health, and peer relationships. It is especially true for readiness programs designed to assist students and families that would otherwise not be able to participate in preschool programs. Early childhood educators have the unique responsibility of addressing cultural diversity, equity, and social justice for our youngest global citizens. Since children begin to construct an understanding of human differences and similarities during the earliest years, it's imperative to create equitable learning environments (Chen, Nimmo, & Fraser, 2009).

The book Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms takes a courageous look at equity, bias, and the systematic racial disparities within early childhood programs. Iruka, Curenton, and Escayg (2020) examine the foundation of early childhood education by utilizing historical data and empirical research while exploring the key tenets of an anti-bias early childhood classroom. They discuss the findings of Dr. Walter Gilliam’s 2016 research, outlining the effect of implicit bias on early childhood educators, its impact on disciplinary practices, and establishing a connection between the frameworks of culturally relevant pedagogy and anti-bias education practices.

Anti-bias education is the practice of infusing children's culture in the classroom, while simultaneously developing their awareness of how color, gender, language, and physical ability are greatly connected to power and privilege (Iruka, Curenton, & Escayg, 2020). Four goals of anti-bias education are provided:

  1. Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identity.
  2. Each child will express comfort and joy with human diversity, accurate language for human differences, and deep, caring human connections.
  3. Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.
  4. Each child will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.

Practices used to support these goals are addressed within the book.

Woven throughout Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms are a series of vignettes inspired by real-world events that impact education as well as the community as a whole. Each vignette is followed by self-reflection activities designed to set the stage for honest authentic conversations. Creating a growth mindset through an equity lens is one of the most valuable tools an educator can add to their box. These activities can be used to enhance professional development opportunities across both school and community based early childhood settings.

Resources

Derman-Sparks, L. & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Gilliam, W.S., Maupin, A.N., Reyes, C.R., Accavitti, M., & Shic, F. (2016). Do early educators’ implicit biases regarding sex and race relate to behavior expectations and recommendations of preschool expulsions and suspensions? https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/Preschool%20Implicit%20Bias%20Policy%20Brief_final_9_26_276766_5379_v1.pdf

References

Chen, D., Nimmo, J., & Fraser, H. (2009). Becoming a culturally responsive early childhood educator: A tool to support reflection by teachers embarking on the anti-bias journey. Multicultural Perspectives, 11(2), 101-106.

Iruka, I.U., Curenton, S.M., Durden, T.R., & Escayg, K. (2020). Don’t look away: Embracing anti-bias classrooms. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.

For more information, contact Adrienne Quarles-Smith (quarlessmiad@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
Engaging students in learning
Student engagement is necessary for student learning to occur. Students may begin the year with an enthusiasm for connecting with teachers and peers; however, over time their participation can begin to wane. Student engagement could be challenged further by the complexities of distance learning. Whether learning is occurring in person or online, research recognizes four key pieces that are critical to student motivation: autonomy, competence, relatedness and relevance (Ferlazzo, 2020). In his article, “Four ways to help students feel intrinsically motivated to do distance learning,” Larry Ferlazzo explains how these four pieces can facilitate student engagement. 

Autonomy
Autonomy involves giving students freedom of choice. It can be accomplished by providing students with multiple activities which show their understanding of a topic and allows them to choose the one that works best for them. In addition, it can be accomplished by allowing the student to choose a topic of interest to him.

Competence
Competence is ensuring that students feel they have the ability to be successful. The teacher can support competence by keeping directions to tasks simple and selecting online activities that require minimal clicks to access.

Relatedness
Relatedness is the ability of the student to feel connected through participation. “Having positive relationships with students is everything (Ferlazzo, 2020, p. 3)!” Creating a sense of belonging is essential to establishing an environment in which students will want to return. For more information about building a sense of belonging virtually, read “8 Strategies for building belonging with students and families virtually.” Also, partnering with students, families and colleagues, providing opportunities for students to engage in social time, and remaining clear, caring and flexible will aid teachers in the development of relatedness (Welcomer, 2020).

Relevance
In order for the work to be seen as interesting and relevant to the student, it must be useful to their personal lives. One strategy for accomplishing relevance is to have the students, after completing a lesson, identify how it was relevant to their own lives (Ferlazzo, 2015).

Keeping students motivated and engaged takes work from building relationships to building lessons which keep the students interested. Nevertheless, with effort and application of the practices identified here, it is possible to actively engage students in the physical classroom and in online settings.

References

Conroy, A. (2020). 8 strategies for building belonging with students and families virtually. https://www.panoramaed.com/blog/8-strategies-sense-of-belonging-virtually

Ferlazzo, L. (2015). Strategies for helping students motivate themselves. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-helping-students-motivate-themselves-larry-ferlazzo


Welcomer, J. (2020). Getting 100% student engagement in distance learning. https://edsource.org/2020/getting-to-100-student-engagement-in-distance-learning/634282

For more information, contact Whitney Shotwell (wlshotwell@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU. 
When community based instruction and home merge
Community Based Instruction (CBI), as defined in the Virginia Department of Education’s Applied Studies Curriculum Map, is training, teaching or coaching that takes place in the community in the location where the skills are expected to be performed. CBI is designed to provide natural teaching opportunities in the community. Concepts and skills are introduced in the classroom and then applied and practiced in natural environments in the community. With the move to more hybrid and distance learning options, natural environments have become a student’s home. The opportunities to practice skills out in the community have been put on hold and moved to the home environment with support from family members or caregivers.

CBI skills can be embedded across the day at home to continue to build independent living skills. The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education developed a document, Supports for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities, that provides examples of blending academics and daily living skills into a student’s home schedule. The document is divided into three grade bands with sections for functional activities associated with different times of day (e.g., morning, afternoon, evening). It gives parents and teachers a way to work together to identify activities that provide opportunities to practice targeted skills. Knowing that not all students have access to technology, the document provides multiple resources for a task allowing options for both technology and non-technology based activities.

For those who have access to technology, using video clips to demonstrate how to perform a task is a way to help students generalize a skill to the home environment. Video examples can show step-by-step directions needed to complete tasks. Pictures can provide a visual support in the steps needed to complete tasks. The YouTube channels, Just a Different Life and Special Education with Pat, give examples of how a family and teacher have created video samples of household tasks with embedded visual supports. Families who have access to a camera on a phone or other technology can create videos for tasks that are specific to their home and child. Think about a day at home, what tasks and activities can be practiced at home to learn CBI skills at home?

Resources:

Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. (April 2020). Supports for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
 






For more information, contact Jackie Neidle (neidlejm@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU. 
Do you have what it takes to be an effective PLC activator? 
 John T. Almarode (2020) shares in his article, “PLCs Need an Activator Now More Than Ever,” that now, more than ever, educators need to jumpstart their professional learning communities. Professional learning communities (PLCs) will take a different shape as teachers address, at a deeper level, how to support their students in this current climate. He suggests that PLCs need to be activated in a way that supports courageous conversations that lead to impactful outcomes for students. We cannot avoid having critical and difficult conversations or addressing complex problems for fear of adding to the stress that might accompany the upcoming or current academic year.  

Almarode (2020) explains that a PLC activator has the ability to “move a PLC from chaos and dysfunction into impactful action, from where team members are stagnant to where they are thriving (para. 2).” He shares that with all of the distractions that will compete for our attention, the activator ensures that team members are focused on the learning and development of both adults and the students. Six characteristics are provided that one must embody in order to be an effective PLC activator (Almarode, 2020):

  1. Foster and nurture credibility with colleagues and students.
  2. Apply relevant skills to lead adults in their learning process.
  3. Have the ability to engage colleagues in critical and difficult conversations related to teaching and learning.
  4. Truly believe that they, along with all of their students and colleagues, can learn at high levels.
  5. Successfully leverage the expertise of each member of the PLC in solving complex problems related to teaching and learning.
  6. Enhance the collaborative maturity of the PLC.
             
In addition to the characteristics of an effective PLC activator, Almarode (2020) shares strategies that PLC activators can use to activate their PLC:

  1. Set aside time for people to “let it out.” The activator must set aside time to allow people to vent and then move on with the meeting.
  2. Be the example of preparedness, then others will follow.
  3. Establish routines and share the leadership responsibility are noted as activator strategies. Activators need to maintain an appropriate tone and direct the PLC to set goals and meeting norms.
  4. Share responsibilities; it keeps one person from being burned out with all of the PLC responsibilities. Develop a list of needs and have the members sign up for specific roles to support the PLC.
  5. Find places to add humor, celebrate each other and infuse research that suggests the work that is being done can, in fact, impact student learning.
  6. Incorporate wait time. Educators need time to process their thoughts around many topics that will be addressed and it is ok to let silence fill the space in order for this to happen. Activators, in due time, will know when to break the silence and refocus the group in a way that will lead to the needed answers.
  7. Be a servant leader who takes your role seriously but not yourself. Any activator will need to put in additional work to ensure that they fully understand the inner workings of effective PLCs. Activators also need to know at the onset of this process that they will face challenges along the way and make some mistakes, but pressing forward with the work of assuming the role of activator will prove to be beneficial to the development of our students. 

Reference

Almarode, J. (2020). PLCs need an activator now more than ever. https://corwin-connect.com/2020/07/plcs-need-an-activator-now-more-than-ever/    

For more information, contact Amber Butler (butleram2@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.