2021 Anti-Bias Early Childhood Working Group Meetings

August 14, 2021

The Anti-Bias Early Childhood Education working group leaders and advisory spent time doing some dreaming and planning for the 2021-2022 academic year. They combed through feedback they received from previous meetings to have a better understanding about what topics or practices working group members wanted to see implemented in the upcoming year, and composed a survey to help inform their decisions.

September 11, 2021

For their September meeting, the Anti-Bias Early Childhood Education members regrouped as a whole for the first time since last academic year. They shared community-building activities, resources, and ideas for the first couple of weeks of school and reflected on the question, “How do you remember what community looked like when you were your students’ age?” Sara created this Wordle with their responses!

October 23, 2021

The focus of the Anti-Bias Early Childhood Education group’s October meeting was trauma-informed care and education. After their land acknowledgment and some mindfulness exercises to begin the meeting, the working group members engaged in conversation around what trauma is and how it often manifests in early childhood classrooms and teaching practices. The group discussed the chapter “Imagining ‘Classroom Management’ as an Abolitionist Project” by Carla Shalaby from the book Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators.

November 13, 2021

The group focused on sharing practices and resources around teaching Thanksgiving from an Indigenous people’s perspective for the November meeting. Makai and Marissa led the group in a slidedeck with tips and resources around how to best approach teaching during this time with sensitivity, purpose, and intention. Karen Brown and Renee Gokey also shared activities and more resources for early childhood arts projects centering Indigenous people.