In Our Own Way: How Anti-Bias Work Shapes Our Lives

In Our Own Way: How Anti-Bias Work Shapes Our Lives

Bias reaches every level of society, from institutions and systems to the everyday interactions between people. And bias is rarely obvious, often hidden from view and difficult to acknowledge and challenge. With the continuing changes in child care today, how can teachers offer children and their parents a bias-free environment? How do early childhood professionals start anti-bias programs in thier own settings? By learning from those who have worked in the field before them. In Our Own Way: How Anti-Bias Work Shapes Our Lives is filled with the personal stories of people who have worked to establish anti-bias environments in their careers in child care. Each of the stories is a unique look at how the writers learned to think critically in their own lives as well as how theyve learned to teach this skill, among others, in their anti-bias work. And each shares that it is workrequiring constant communication, energy, vigilance, and the passion for trying to make positive changes in the community. Early childhood professionals at every level will be inspired by the voices of the writers of In Our Own Way. Moving beyond the concepts of diversity and anti-bias work, they instead share the everyday anecdotes that will help caregivers shape an anti-bias program and face the challenges in their own communities. From the Publisher The Anti-Bias movement is constantly taking shape in the lives of children and those who care for and teach them. And, although no one experience defines what anti-bias means to people, evaluating the collective experiences of many helps us understand where weve been and what direction we are heading. In Our Own Way was written by ten very different child care professionals with one gleaming similarity anti-bias has shaped their lives. This book is filled with everyday anecdotes that will help others in the field shape an anti-bias program in their own community. About the Author The writers of In Our Own Way are all child care professionals or work in a related field. Cecelia Alvarado is the Director of Taking the Lead, a national early childhood leadership initiative, at Wheelock College in Boston, MA. LaVita Burnley is the Chicago Project Director for the Ecumenical Child Care Network. Louise Derman-Sparks is a pioneer in the anti-bias field and the author of Anti-Bias Curriculum. Eric Hoffman is a master teacher in the laboratory preschool at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA, and the author of Play Lady and No Fair to Tigers, two books in Redleafs Anti-Bias Books for Kids series. Linda Jimnez teaches at the Campus Child Development Center at East Los Angeles Community College. June Labyzon is a poet and community theater stage manager and teaches at Audubon Montessori Elementary in New Orleans, LA. Patricia Ramsey teaches at Mount Holyoke College in MA, and is the author of Teaching and Learning in a Diverse World. Annette Unten is a pre-! kindergarten teacher at Neil Armstrong Elementary in Conroe, TX. Barbara Yasui is the Equity/Multicultural Education Specialist for her school district in Marysville, WA. Beth Wallace is currently an editor at Redleaf Press.