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Why Is It Important And How Can It Be
Done In A Developmentally Appropriate
Way?
Stone Soup Conference
October 22, 2013
Anne Marie Davidson
AJ Pappanikou Center for Excellence in
Developmental Disabilities

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 Participants will:
 Develop a better understanding of their racial and cultural history
 Increase their knowledge of the use of persona dolls as an anti-bias teaching strategy
 Increase their knowledge of the use of authentic multi-cultural literature as an anti-bias teaching strategy
 Practice using persona dolls and an authentic multicultural literature assessment tool

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Culture is a set of rules for behavior, influencing, not causing, behaviors themselves
Culture is shared behavioral characteristics of groups passed from one generation to another
Culture is learned, not something we are born with
Individual members of a culture are embedded to different degrees within their culture resulting in variations of behaviors and attitudes
Cultures borrow and share rules through contact with each other
Members of a cultural group may be proficient at cultural behavior but unable to describe the rules
Carol Brunson Phillips, Culture as a Process

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 Patterns of communication
 Social values
 Preferred ways of learning
 Child rearing practices
 Family Structure/adult child interactions
 Outward displays of culture

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 Culture shapes who children are and how they experience the world. Through participation in everyday cultural practices and family traditions, children learn meaning systems, social identity, language, values, beliefs, behavioral norms, and roles intended to develop the competencies appropriate to their culture.

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 What is race?
 Share your earliest memory of race
 And a most recent

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 Race is a social-political construct
 Race can be redefined by social, economic and political forces
 Racism is a system of advantage based on race,
Wellman, 1977

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 Like many African Americans, I have many race-related memories beginning when I was quite small. I remember being about three years old when I had an argument with an African
American playmate. He said I was “black.” “No
I’m not,” I said, “I’m tan.”
 Beverly Daniel Tatum, 1997

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Many people believe that young children are “color-blind” and do not notice differences. As children grow, their attitudes about the differences that they observe quickly begin to reflect our society’s prejudices.
For more than 50 years, studies have shown that by the time children are three years old, they are already beginning to respond differently to skin color and other racial cues ( Clark and
Clark 1947, Goodman 1952, Katz 1982).
Specifically, these studies have found that even at this young age, both African American and white children demonstrate a preference for white people and objects while exhibiting negative attitudes towards dark or black people and objects.

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What children say – The Early Childhood
Research
 “Renee (4, white) [is pulling] Lingmai (3, Asian) and
Jocelyn (4.5), white) across the playground in a wagon…[Renee gets tired] and drops the handle of the wagon… Lingmai eager to continue this game, jumps from the wagon and picks up the handle. As Lingmai begins to pull, Renee admonishes her, “No, No. You can’t pull this wagon. Only white Americans can pull this wagon.”
-D. Van Ausdale and J.R. Feagin, The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism, in L. Derman-Sparks, What If All the Kids Are White?

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C (3, black) cuddles a black doll and says, “This is my baby.” T (4, white)replies: “I don’t like it, it’s funny. I like this one (holding a white doll), it’s my favorite. I don’t like this one (pointing to the black doll). Because you see I like Sarah, and I like white. You’re my best friend, though you’re brown.’” (B. Brown, 1998, p. 16)

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 “Most adults refuse to accept that little children would make knowing use of the ugliness inherent in racist epithets, emotions and behavior...in particular, white adults abdicate their responsibility to recognize and combat racism when they deny that race and racism can even exist in serious forms among young children.”
 Van Ausdale and Feagin, 2001

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 A European American child came home from school and told her mother that she needed her hair done in many small braids. When her mother asked her about the reason for this urgent need, she replied, “There’s only one African-American girl in my class. The other kids tease her about her braids. I want braids too, so she won’t be the only one.”
 T. Whitney, Kids Like Us: Using Persona Dolls in the
Classroom

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Examples of preschoolers’ responses when asked,
What is fair? What is unfair?
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“Everybody should get to talk” (3 year-old)
‘One person doesn’t get to be the boss all the time”
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(4 year-old)
“If somebody gets too much, that’s not fair” (4 year-
 old)
“You have to be sure everybody knows not to be mean” (4 year-old)

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 Conversations are a vital part of early childhood anti-bias and multicultural education because they enable children to connect with others and to begin to see the implications of certain assumptions
(Engaging Young Children in Activities and
Conversations about Race and Social Class, Rebekka Lee,
Patricia Ramsey, and Barbara Sweeney, 2008)
 Children’s relatively early cognitive development makes it difficult for them to discern between accurate depictions and stereotypes about race and social class prevalent in the media and in their communities (Aboud 1988; VanAusdale & Feagin 2001; Katz
2003)

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Engaging
Young
Children in
Activities and
Conversations about Race and Social
Class

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 Tourist approach
 Meaningful activities and questions
 Simulations
 Role playing

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 Art Activities
 Songs
 Books
 Puzzles and Games
 Role Play (doll houses and dolls)

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 A strategy to open up discussion among children about sometimes difficult topics to talk about
 The Dolls visit children in the program and invite the children to talk with them
 The Dolls help children learn about similarities and differences among people and to appreciate the hurt that prejudice and discrimination can cause
 Children are encouraged to actively challenge, together with others, biases, discrimination and exclusion

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 Each doll is given it’s own identity usually by the teacher but should reflect children in the class, the whole staff must agree on these features
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Name
Birth date
Family make-up
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A history
Race
Cultural background
Language(s)
Personality traits, shy, curious, caring, etc.
Personal likes and dislikes

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 The Persona Doll sits on the lap of the teacher
 The Doll does not speak
 The teacher “listens” to the Doll and acts as the
Doll’s voice
 The teacher tells the children what the Doll wants to share, leads the conversation, invites the children to tell about themselves and lets them develop their thoughts
 The Doll shares a variety of stories, happy, sad, funny, difficult, and problematic

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First Story
 The first story should introduce the children to the doll. Share basic information such as the doll’s name, who he/she lives with, age, etc.
You can explain that it is the doll’s first day and ask the children to help make him/her feel welcome. Ask for ways that they can do that and then support children to complete those actions such as say hello and introduce themselves, ask the doll to sit next to them, read a story to the doll
Second Story- follow this process from Kids Like Us:
Using Persona Dolls in the Classroom, Trisha Whitney,
1999
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Introduction- reacquaint the children with who the doll is
Situation- outline the situation to be discussed
Feelings- ask the children how the doll is feeling
Discussion and problem solving- ask children what the doll could do
Resolution- give the story an ending, incorporating ideas the children have offered

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 Building Connections
 Validating and Supporting Differences
 Managing Conflict
 Introduce Diversity

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 Express their own feelings/increase feeling word vocabulary
 Develop empathy
 Learn to interact respectfully with others who are different from themselves
 Develop an understanding of fairness
 Prompts children to think about how they can protect themselves against and challenge unfair behavior
 Supports problem solving

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 A recent term
 Describes people from a non-white background, people of color, or people of all cultures regardless of race

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 Various perspectives from various sources
 Authentic books include only those written by a member of that ethnic group, it’s cultural traditions and it’s people
 Some believe there are exceptions such as authors who have lived within the culture they are writing about all or most of their lives or provide an accurate representation of the culture being portrayed

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In it’s most authentic form it focuses on the reality of various cultures
 Includes evidence that the author and illustrator are intimately familiar with the nuances of a culture
 Illustrations and text are free of stereo-types and misrepresentations
 Includes nuances, values, and beliefs of a culture

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Common Issues in Selecting Multicultural
Books for Children
1.
Popular but problematic books
 Brother Eagle, Sister Sky
 2. A single book can adequately portray that group’s experience
 3. A wide range of quality books are available in libraries and bookstores.
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 4. Time- to learn about a culture, to locate books, to evaluate
Examining Multicultural Picture Books for the Early Childhood Classroom:
Possibilities and Pitfalls, Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese

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Authentic Multicultural Literature
Assessment
 High literary quality
 No distortions or omissions of history
 Stereotyping
 Loaded words
 Lifestyles
 Dialogue
 Standards of success
 The role of females, elders, and family

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Authentic Multicultural Literature
Continued…
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Possible effects on child’s self-image
 Illustrations
 Relationships between characters from different cultures
 Heroines and heroes
 Copyright date
 Assessment Summary page

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 Choose a book someone brought in
 Read the book aloud to table mates
 Read each indicator and rate it as a group
 Complete the assessment summary page as a group

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Using Multicultural Literature in the
Classroom
 Multicultural Literature Review:
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Does it meet the goals/criteria of authentic multicultural literature/multiculturalism and your curriculum? How?
What discussion topics would you select?
Who is the audience/age level?
How to introduce it
Guiding questions to ask
How would you evaluate the impact?
Follow-up-family involvement ideas, other extension activities

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 Anne Marie Davidson
 adavidson@uchc.edu
 860-679-1589