Promoting the Acceptance of Diversity

In the Environmental Rating Scale, an area that all programs need improvement is the area of Promoting the Acceptance of Diversity.

While much of the ERS looks for “things” such as:  books, pictures, dramatic play items, toys and materials, music, etc., remember that promoting the acceptance of diversity is much more than displaying some pictures.  It is much more that bringing out a “cultural box” once in a while.

No question that our community is becoming more diverse.  And it is diverse every day.  An important part of promoting the acceptance of diversity is modeling being respectful, tolerant and celebrating diversity.

Ask yourself:

·         Do I know the family traditions of the children in my group?

·         Do I see each child represented in the class environment?

·         Do I see the variety people who the children will see in their ever day lives reflected in the environment?

·         Have I asked the families to contribute items and information from their culture to share with the group?

·         Can each child see role models that look like them to inspire them?

·         Are other kinds of diversity represented?  Different types of families?  People with disabilities?  Nontraditional gender roles?  Active seniors?

·         Have I examined my own feelings about diversity and inclusion?

·         What would it be like for me to spend a large part of my day in an environment that had no representation of me or my family?

Learning to understand and be comfortable with the differences and the similarities of the people we interact with, and to be confident in a multicultural world are important skills for all of us today.  Many of our classrooms, curriculum and materials still reflect a time when groups of children were more homogeneous and had similar race, culture and religious backgrounds.  That is clearly not our world today. 

Promoting the acceptance of diversity is about how you teach acceptance, respect, non-judgment and appreciating the contributions of all people.   How will you move further in that direction?

Elevating Words

The research is sobering:

The landmark Hart-Risley study on language development documented that children from low-income families hear as many as 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers before the age of 4.

By the time children from middle-income families with well-educated parents are in third grade, they know about 12,000 words. Third grade children from low-income families with undereducated parents who don’t talk to them very much have vocabularies of around 4,000 words, one-third as many words as their middle-income peers.

With young children in your care a substantial portion of the day, exposing them to rich language is critical.  We do not need to “dumb down” the way we speak with children.  We need to elevate it!

Last night we played a game at our monthly Early Achievers Reflective Practice group.

The participants broke up into 5 teams.  There were given several very simple sentences.  We called them “Penny Words”.  To start, they took that penny word statement and put a penny into a box.  The challenge then, was to elevate a word or words in that statement to make it a “nickel” statement.  Then a “dime” statement and even a “quarter” statement.  Each team had a bag of change and several penny word statements.  There was lots of laughter and sounds of coins clanking as they used their incredible creativity to elevate the statements.  We even challenged them to come up with a statement worthy of a “Buck”!  And we challenged them to create their own penny words to elevate.

Try it:

Penny Word	This is a big pumpkin.
Nickel Word
Dime Word
Quarter Word

Here are some more:

This is a good lunch today.

Let’s look at the pictures in this book.

I am so happy it is sunny today.

You can sure run fast.

A doctor helps people.

Today, see if you can give the children in your care some rich, interesting, quarter words!

Searching for Evidence

When you are assessed by the University of Washington, the persons doing the assessment are called “Data Collectors”   Here is a link to the job description so you know more about their backgrounds  https://uwhires.admin.washington.edu/eng/candidates/default.cfm?szCategory=jobprofile&szOrderID=86155&szCandidateID=0&szSearchWords=&szReturnToSearch=1

The Data Collectors will be looking for evidence.    As you review items on the Environmental Rating Scale assessment and the CLASS assessment, ask yourself what evidence you can see in your classroom to demonstrate that you meet the indicator.

Often, because you are so close to your own program, it is easy to make assumptions that what they will be looking for is easy to see.  I think the analogy of how hard it can be to edit your own paper is a good one.  After writing, it is sometimes hard to see the errors unless you ask someone to take a look with fresh eyes. 

Put on your detective hat and search for evidence.



Will they see you doing music? 

Are there pictures of the children doing block play to show it is happening? 

Does the children’s artwork on the wall show that they chose their own subject and medium so that it was their own creative expression?

Are the fine motor materials on the shelf in plain view?

There will be a time for you to answer direct questions, but have as much of your evidence in plain view to make the process easier.

The Data Collectors will come with fresh eyes and will not have the intimacy with your classroom that you have – so present your evidence!

The Play by Play

In the language modeling section of the CLASS assessment, there is an element called “Use Self and Parallel Talk”

This is kind of like doing a play by play of your, and the children’s, actions. 

I witnessed this just the other day when doing an observation.  A toddler arrived with mom.  The child care provider scooped him up with a hug.  After saying goodbye to mom, the provider sat in a chair with the child on his lap to get him ready to play.

“I’m going to take your coat off now, so you won’t get too warm.  Now let’s take off your shoes and socks, because I know mommy likes you to have your socks off while you are inside.”

From the CLASS dimensions guide:
Talk about what you are doing or what the children are doing to help them link language and action in a way that can help them develop their vocabulary and language skills.

An example of parallel talk (mapping the child’s actions to language):  “You put on a chef’s hat and an apron, now you are getting out a pot.”


An article from Education.com about the importance of exposing young children to language describes this play by play from parents:   http://www.education.com/magazine/article/30000_words/

What they found is startling. Sure, quality matters when it comes to verbal interaction between parent and child, but it turns out, so does quantity. Their research, published in the benchmark book, Meaningful Differences, shows a direct link between a child’s academic performance in third grade, and the amount of words spoken in their home from birth to age three.

Parents that reached or exceeded the 30,000 words a day tended to narrate what they were doing, or chatter at their kids. All the kids, whether their parents were talkative or not, heard language. But by age three, the differences in how many words each child heard was significant: some children had heard over 11 million words per year; others only 3 million.

Try it.  Be a play by play announcer today and expose the children to language!