If I were opening a child care center, I would ensure that the center is focusing on celebrating diversity within the center, the community, as well as the world. One goal would be to ensure that families are building connections as well as a community which supports the growth as well as development of their young scholar. Parents are a significant part of the early learning process and can provide insight on the early learning process of the children. Everything teachers do rests upon establishing strong, caring, and trusting relationships with children and families (Derman-Spark & Edwards, 2010). Without these relationships, children will find it difficult to learn, grow, as well as to feel safe (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
As the students enter the classroom, the children will see bulletin boards filled with photographs of children from a diverse groups of backgrounds as well as ability levels. Throughout the classroom, the children will be exposed to family culture share bulletin boards similar to the examples presented on the media segment (Laureate, 2011). The family culture share will represent the cultures of the children within the classroom and assist with helping the children build a strong sense of belonging. I believe this will assist with enhancing the self-confidence of the children due to the overt and covert messages which affect their own sense of self worth and how they think about people who are different (Derman Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
The classroom library will be filled with authors and characters from a diverse group of cultural backgrounds. In the classroom library, the students can learn about cultures from across the world and build a deeper connection with their own culture. The library will also represent a diverse group of families. In the pretend and play area, the children will be exposed to dolls from different cultures. The dolls will represent different cultures and the kids will make connections with their own cultures (Laureate, 2011). The dramatic play area will represent occupations and the children will learn that many occupations are not gender specific. The children will learn and sing popular songs from a variety of cultures (Laureate, 2011).
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author
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