On January 4, 2021, our community of 200 early childhood educators gathered together for our annual conference entitled, “If Not Now, When? Awakening to the Goals of Anti-Bias Education: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Activism.”  This past year has been filled with challenges due to the pandemic and coming together, even virtually, provided us with a reminder of why we all committed to this work of facilitating the learning of our youngest citizens. Though it’s clear to me that early childhood educators have always been superheroes, this year has required fortitude above and beyond the norm.  As a result, we began our day with some sharing around the superpowers everyone wished they possessed, and this word cloud we generated gives a sense of the challenges faced this past year.

In addition to the pandemic, our society is in the midst of a social justice reckoning and, as a result, our primary focus of the day was to awaken ourselves to the Goals of Anti-Bias Education (ABE) which support children in the areas of identity. diversity, justice, and activism. Our role as Anti-Bias Educators is to facilitate children’s (and our own) learning on how to actively prevent and counter bias in all its forms (e.g. race, gender, ability, family make-up, language, etc.). Being virtual opened up an opportunity to learn with presenters from across the country and the world.

Here are a few highlights:

• Elana Premack Sandler from Rockville, Maryland, led learning around shared vocabulary and understanding related to gender identity and creating more gender-inclusive communities. Feedback included the following: “This opened my eyes to the challenges faced for children on a gender journey and helped me to see ways that I can support them and their families – whatever way a child is expressing themselves it is so important to have a safe, loving and supportive environment.”  “Wonderful speaker! I was so interested in her stories… never a dull moment.  This will help me continue to keep an open mind about gender.”
• Robb Johnson “Zoomed” in from Great Britain to share an approach that uses storytelling and life-like Persona Dolls to counter bias and prejudice. One participant shared, “Persona dolls are such a great way to teach children about diversity. This gave me some tools on how to address diversity with the children.” Go to Persona Doll Training to learn more.
• Dr. Michael Barla, professor at UC Denver, challenged us with the questions: How can we honor the uniqueness of humanity in our work? How do we open ourselves up to the diversity of attributes children come to us with? How can we meet the needs of ALL children in a community of learners? One participant from his session shared, “Great perspective on framing diversity, inclusion, and equity, using human-first approaches and language.” Another stated, “Such good reminders about thinking from an equity, inclusion, and diversity perspective.”
• Infant and toddler teachers valued having time with Briana Williams, who has worked in our community as an infant-toddler educator, as she made connections to anti-bias work with our youngest children and how changes in one’s practice can shift environments to support all children in feeling seen. One participant shared, “Bri provided great insight and evidence around the importance of infusing anti-bias education into infant/toddler classes. They are never too young!” and “My creative juices are flowing!”
• Occupational therapist Kristin Frank reminded us of the importance of living the 2nd goal of ABE related to diversity: “We are all the same, in that we process incoming sensory information, and, we are all different, in that we do it in our own unique ways, and, that’s ok.” She deepened understanding regarding sensory processing and shared tools to support children’s unique needs. One participant stated, “It is so important to acknowledge we all process information differently. As educators, we must be aware that when a child is exhibiting a behavior, they are trying to communicate.”
• Educational consultant Sandy Lanes joined us from Maryland with a Reggio Inspired lens, looking at creating a Democratic school culture that values all voices, through sharing of a long-term inquiry-based project, and exposed many of our educators to her powerful podcast, “Awakened to Reggio.”  Feedback included the following: “Incorporating different meeting techniques, along with finding different approaches to elevate all voices were two big principles that stood out to me. Also, truly hearing the voices of everyone present…. Something hugely transformative is to think of who has ownership.”  “This session inspired me to reconnect to Reggio inspired practice and to create a culture of listening.” and “I am walking away with good questions for myself and questions that I may use with my staff and they (hopefully) will then use in their classrooms. I am so curious what a democratic culture means to us as a school.”
• Efshar consultant Natalie Boscoe and I each unpacked two of the goals of Anti-Bias Education, the foundational goals of identity and diversity, and the vital goals of justice and activism.  Feedback included the following, “I learned the importance of and ways to support children to feel proud of who they are without feeling superior.” “Creating classrooms that support how we are different and the same help to activate anti-bias.” and “I learned about the endless benefits of justice and activism in the ECE setting, community, and world around me. It was a stellar conference.”
• So many of the sessions focused on the values of listening and responding authentically to young children. Shawn Bryant, a national educational consultant from The Teaching Excellence Center shared resources related to having Brave Conversations with young children. One powerful resource on this topic comes from Louise Derman Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, authors of Anti-Bias Education for Children and Ourselves. In their blog, “Conversations that Matter: Talking with Children about Big World Issues,” they remind us how hurtful silence can be in response to children’s comments and how silence can communicate a biased message and inadvertently teach fear of differences.  They also share some general guidelines for brave conversations that come from a chapter in their book dedicated to this topic.
• Cantor Ellen Dreskin inspired us with Jewish wisdom and a reminder that the point of practicing Judaism is not to be a better Jew, but to use the rituals, values, and teachings to become a better human being so that we may take on the responsibility of bending the arc of the universe toward justice and love.  This resonated strongly with us all.

Resources from all the sessions and additional Anti-Bias resources can be found HERE. Becoming an Anti-Bias Educator requires a long-term commitment to self-reflection and learning. My hope is that everyone will access the resources to continue their journey of learning how to be an Anti-Bias Educator so that we can do our part to help raise children who will create and live in a more just and equitable world than we presently have.  Hopefully, the feelings shared like the following will stay with participants beyond the day.

“This conference always is such a great way to start the year. I’m feeling inspired to recognize the uniqueness of each human in our school and be responsive to the needs of the community.”

“The conference was fabulous, while my back hurts from sitting, I would do it again tomorrow. It made me want to take a deeper dive and exploration into anti-bias education!”