Humanities Homework Help

Please respond to shannon with 250 words please include citations and reference Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, O. J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC

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hapter 11 Reflection: AB curriculum on Religion

Questions:

1. Address the importance of having AB curriculum in the classroom regarding religion. Provide statistics, key issues and concerns
2. Holidays can be very difficult to incorporate into an AB curriculum, student needs to address strategies from (Weiss, 2008) they would incorporate in their classroom
3. Some of these strategies could be more challenging than others but students need to address the counters to these challenges
4. Need to summarize key items from the Bisson Reading about religion in the classroom.
5. Address your classroom policy

It is important to have anti-bias curriculum in the classroom regarding religion because every family is different and every child has their own religious beliefs and practices they may observe in their homes. Anti-bias education involves creating a community that supports all dimensions of human differences, including religion. Having anti-bias curriculum when it comes to religion will help children to recognize misinformation and stereotypes associated with specific religions. According to the textbook, “Children will learn that some people do not celebrate religious or national holidays but do have other ways of having family celebrations and traditions” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.136). Current research shows that teachers are more likely to intervene in bias incidents related to race and religion. Statistics also show that safe and supportive school climates are critical to preventing bullying.

Holidays can be very difficult to incorporate into an anti-bias curriculum because holidays are not universal. Every culture has their own religious belief, values, and holidays they celebrate. Every holiday tradition deserves respect and we should recognize that everyone has a right to his or her beliefs. Some strategies from the reading “Unwrapping the Holidays” by Dale Weiss that I would incorporate in my classroom are, teaching about a holiday but not pushing for change. I would support the children in learning about a holiday without celebrating it or pushing the belief onto the children. Another strategy would be to educate myself on the different holidays some of the children in my class celebrate. Another strategy that I found helpful was in the reading when Weiss says, “If I could do it again, I would start by assessing people’s viewpoints and beliefs instead of assuming they would understand or desire to do anything differently” (Weiss, 2008, p.53). An example of this was that he saw how important it is to acknowledging how important the Christmas season was to his coworkers. Because he did not acknowledge this, people’s defenses were up. A lesson learned was that he realized that Christmas represented more to the staff then just a holiday celebrated, but something they valued and wanted to pass on to their students.

There are challenges when it comes to teaching about holidays in the classroom. Some of these are that it can exclude children who do not celebrate holidays or teach children from that one culture that they are “normal”. Another challenge is using holidays as a primary way to introduce culture can risk unintentionally sending children the message that a culture group’s holiday is what the people of that culture do all the time. According to the textbook, “Stereotyping a cultures holiday tradition is a pitfall” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.135). Some counters to these challenges are having more knowledge of cultures different from our own. Understanding that holidays are just one way to explore diversity and should just be a small part of the curriculum. Having respect for every holiday and getting to know the families more so we can know their beliefs and traditions. By doing this we can support the children’s family traditions and cultural identities and expand children’s awareness of others cultural tradition.

After reading, “Holiday Lessons Learned in an Early Childhood Classroom” by Julie Bisson I found many key items learned. First was when she discussed how her early thinking was that holidays are the curriculum. She said that she would make a new holiday themed board and how she would let holiday activities take control of the curriculum. She looked back and realized that this holiday based curriculum wasn’t very meaningful to the children and how she didn’t know for sure if the children even celebrated these holidays because she never had a conversation with the families about what they celebrated at home. She discussed how she decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in her class without doing her homework and learning about the holiday first. Over the next few years Bisson learned more about anti-bias education and changed her holiday strategies. According to the reading, she wanted children who celebrated holidays outside of the mainstream to see their family values and beliefs represented (Bisson, 2008). She decided to develop a set of principles that both honor the community and embrace anti-bias education goals. Principle 1 was to get clear goals for holiday activities. The children learned that people may celebrate the same holiday, but in different ways. The teacher’s goal was to expand awareness of others. Principle 2 was to work closely with families to find out what they celebrated. Principle 3 was to consider whether or not to introduce holidays that are not celebrated by children and families in the program. By doing this she made connections to the children’s own experiences so they can see how they are similar to others (Bisson, 2008). Principle 4 was deciding how to handle religious stories and aspects of holidays. The teacher would include a religious story, but tell it as one way that people believe and celebrate instead of trying to change the beliefs of the children. Principle 5 was planning how to handle stereotypical images and messaged in holidays. The teacher strived to only present accurate information about holidays.

In my future classroom I would strive to have ant anti-bias classroom policy when it comes to holidays. I would apply the knowledge learned from this chapter such as getting to know the families and their beliefs, cultures and holidays celebrated and observed. I would educate myself on the different holidays some of the children in my class celebrate and I would make celebrating holidays a small part of my curriculum. I will focus on teaching about the holiday rather then celebrating it. I will have goals such as children being aware and comfortable that people celebrate different holidays. According to the textbook when it comes to developing a holiday policy, “Choices can range from learning about one holiday from each family, to focusing on themes that include holidays from different cultures, to children talking about how their family celebrated a holiday at home” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.138). I will apply this knowledge in my policy so the children can feel accepted and their beliefs valued, while learning about what other children celebrate as families are all important and are the same, yet different.

References

Bisson, J. (2008). Holiday lessons learned in an early childhood classroom. In A. Pelo (Eds.) Rethinking early childhood education. (pp. 165-170). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: A Rethinking Schools Publication.

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

Weiss, D. (2008). Unwrapping the holidays: Reflections on a difficult first year. In A. Pelo (Eds.) Rethinking early childhood education. (pp. 49-53). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: A Rethinking Schools Publication.