History of Early Childhood in Multicultural Perspective
Read chapter 1&6 attached then reply to the discussion prompt:
Discussion Instructions:
History of Early Childhood in Multicultural Perspective (Hinitz); Chapter Summary
In this chapter, Blythe Hinitz discusses how, throughout history, the United States government put forth laws to help eradicate the language, culture, and religious beliefs of Indigenous People, Black or African American, Hispanic, and Asian people, as well as to deny their basic rights and freedoms. These laws impacted the education of these specific groups. This chapter is explicitly detailed on the impact the laws and social setbacks had on each marginalized community. Hinitz goes on to discuss the European roots of early childhood education in the United States. There are eight different educators whose pedagogical methods Hinitz focuses on. “Each of these educators, in their own way, looked at the role of parents in educating their own children; the format, the materials, and the pedagogy of schools for young children; the place of play in the life of the child; methods of disciplining children; and child development” (Hinitz, 2013, p. 7). The term culturally deprived was used extensively in the early education research literature of the 1960s. This term referred primarily to poor, urban, mostly Black children and families. In actuality, the children usually were not deprived of their family culture and often they resided in communities that contained numerous cultural institutions, but not necessarily those of the Euro-American culture (Hintz, 2013, p. 14). In order for English Language Learners to succeed, they need an environment that fosters strong English skills in addition to their native language. English Language Learners benefit from having teachers that are proficient in their native language as well as English and are trained in best practices for teaching the English language and academic material (Hintz, 2013, p. 25). Despite all the challenges each culture, race, and language has faced, having all of this makes our country and early childhood programs more well-rounded and robust.
More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Creating Multicultural and Linguistically Responsive Early Childhood Classrooms
The United States’ population is becoming more diverse. “Moreover, its youngest members are likely to be children who are bilingual or bidialectal.1” (Ray & Melendez, 2013, p.123). Child poverty affects minority communities. “Furthermore, American child poverty continues to disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority children: 61% of Black children, 62% of Latino/a children, 51% of Native American children, but only 27% of White Children under the age of 18 live in low-income families (National Center for Children in Poverty 2008) (Ray & Melendez, 2013, p. 124). It is imperative that the United States acknowledge and address the academic deficiencies in the educational opportunities made accessible to lower socioeconomic districts that historically tend to house students of color.
It is extremely important to dismantle prejudice and discrimination in all its forms. Minority students are often more likely to be expelled and have higher rates of grade failure than other groups. “For too many Black students (Latinos/a, Native Americans, and others [our emphasis]) school is simply the place where, more concertedly, persistently, and authoritatively than anywhere else in society, they learn how little valued they are” (p. 78) (Ray &Melendez, 2013, p. 126). Students of color bring to the classroom their perspective, language, and culture that are often misunderstood and even penalized. Through participation in everyday cultural practices, children learn meaning systems, identity, language, values, beliefs, behavioral norms, and roles intended to develop the competencies appropriate to their culture (Rogoff, 2003; Whiting & Edwards, 1988). These educators also must know how beliefs and assumptions about children of color, DL learners, and second-dialect speakers may reflect racial bias, cultural misunderstanding, and/or ignorance regarding cultural practices different from those they have experienced (Ray & Melendez, 2013, p. 128). All early childhood teachers must develop professional competencies to successfully educate all children and engage all families” (Ray & Melendez, 2013, p.128). Early childhood education is not a magic wand that will fix all the problems, but access to high quality early education programs increases children’s educational results, specifically for students who are racially and culturally diverse and who are families are economically struggling.
The Pathways to Cultural Competence Project has eight core concepts:
- Children are nested in families
- Identify shared goals among families and staff
- Authentically incorporate cultural traditions and histories in the classroom
- Acknowledge child development as a culturally driven, ongoing process, that should be supported across context in a child’s life
- Individuals and institutions’ practices are embedded in the culture
- Ensure decisions and policies embrace home languages and dialects
- Ensure policies and practices, attitudes, and beliefs toward learning
- Equalize balances of power; counter stereotyping and bias through intentional teaching (Ray and Melendez, 2013, p. 130)
Four principles that apply to early childhood educators:
- Reflection
- Intentional decision making and practice
- Strength-based perspectives
- Open, ongoing communication between all center staff and families (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2009)
The relevant literature identifies five characteristics of culturally responsive pedagogy: (1) All students are involved in the construction of knowledge; (2) students’ prior knowledge, interests, and personal and cultural strengths form the foundation for learning; (3) students examine the curriculum from a variety of perspectives; (4) teachers use multiple assessment practices and (5) classroom culture is inclusive of all children (Villegas & Lucas, 2002, p. 91-133).
Strategies for a culturally responsive classroom include, but are not limited to, cooperative learning, culturally responsive curricula that allow children to see themselves reflected in the classroom, multiple opportunities for students to engage in classroom discourse, and culturally responsive behavior management styles. “Changing a teachers’ biases, stereotypes, and low expectations of young racially, culturally, and economically marginalized children cannot be achieved by a single strategy such as professional development or course work. Irvine (2003) recommends that teachers engage in critical reflection. But in order to scrutinize his or her own practice regarding bias, prejudice, and racism, a teacher has to be willing to confront her or his privilege, power, beliefs and behavior” (Ray & Melendez, 2013, p.137).
Writing Prompt: Give one example of an implicit bias you held and explain how you went about dismantling the bias so that it no longer influences the job that you do with your students and colleagues.
Brianna Mency
Reference:
Roopnarine, J. L., Johnson, J. E., & Hinitz, B. (2013). History of Early Childhood in Multicultural Perspective . In Approaches to early childhood education (6th ed., pp. 3–27). essay, Pearson.
Roopnarine, J. L., Johnson, J. E., Ray, A., & Melendez, L. (2013). More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Creating Multicultural and Linguistically Responsive Early Childhood Classrooms . In Approaches to early childhood education (6th ed., pp. 123–140). essay, Pearson.
Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers
Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.
Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS
Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?
Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.
We write plagiarism Free Content
Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.
Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.
