HD 390

Reflection
HD 390-Developing Anti-bias Curriculum:
Teaching Our Values to our Children
Maura Maldonado
Pacific Oaks College

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Developing Anti-bias Curriculum

This class was a particular favorite of mine. The term anti-bias created many different
questions in my head starting with, What does this really mean? as well as, How do I present
a curriculum that is inclusive of all children in a program? I quickly learned that not only my
interpretation of the term anti-bias, but my practices of being an anti-bias teacher merely
scratched the surface of this particular focus.
Developing and teaching an anti-bias curriculum envelops not only being inclusive of all
children but as the course description denotes, to be accepting of all attitudes and behaviors
towards others in the areas of gender, race, culture, abilities and class. This statement alone
overwhelmed me, but the way the subject was presented in class helped me to understand that as
an educator I was on the right track. I needed to understand that the concept of anti-bias is not
something you plan special activities for, but a way of thinking that trickles down to encompass
everything that we as a people are about, teaching our children to be accepting of each other and
appreciative of differences.
Because of this class I have made a personal commitment to create a world of justice and
peace for the children I work with. I now understand that this is a continuous educational
journey. Children are forever changing as a result of their own ongoing life experiences and so
am I. Accepting these changes means that I have to constantly reflect on myself and on my
attitude towards others. Self-reflection was tested in a big way the semester I took this class.
After being a preschool teacher for thirty-three years I took a job as a site director for an
after school program at an elementary school. Working with multiple age groups is

HD 390

challenging. The most challenging for me were the fourth and fifth grade children. Working
with this age group was new to me and I needed to make an effort to find commonalities.
Reflecting on the definition of culture and understanding that these individuals were products of
their experiences I did my best to get to know them as individuals. After a while I got to know
the children some better than others. As a group, I learned that this age group was very
competitive of each other. In reflection of Erik Eriksons stages of development, this age group
is in the stage of industry vs. inferiority, their crisis is fitting in and making it among people
outside of their family. School is their new world and there are many struggles to fit in.
As I worked with this older age group I realized that they had a difficult time with
positive interaction with others. In fact, there was constant teasing, judgement of others, and
exclusion. Visually I could see how this behavior affected the younger children and their
reactions were typically stomping off after shouting out, Youre mean! Their play would
continue in another area with their peers. The older children who were the target of negative
behavior would internalize most of their feelings and would spend the afternoon alone or with
the younger children. After attempting several methods of dealing with individual children like
separating children, speaking with parents, and offering more activities to occupy the children I
realized that we were really not being effective at uniting the children. There was little or no
interest in anyone outside of their respective group.
In class we were assigned to create an educational action plan. Focusing on an area or a
particular interest in anti-bias education I decided to address the need to unify our children. In
order to create an atmosphere of respect for one another I realized that I needed to create an
environment where the children were encouraged to interact with each other. Separating the
HD 390

children would never create an atmosphere where the children felt safe, happy and respected for
who they are. My action plan was a challenge but it was a successful first step to changing the
attitudes of the children.
During the development of my action plan I shared each step with my classmates. They
helped me work out what my specific goals were and contributed many constructive and creative
ideas to carry out my plan. I reciprocated this by offering a listening ear and advice when needed
to fulfill their project needs.
At the end of this class and completion of my action plan I realized that a new passion
has developed in my interest of working with children. I feel I have a lot to offer to preadolescent and adolescent children. This age group is obviously different than working with
preschoolers but my journey at Pacific Oaks has planted the seed and equipped me with the
confidence in myself and desire to take the challenge.