Using Learning Stories with Families to Support Anti-Bias Goals in Early Education
On April 19, 2021, a team of Child Studies students that included Vivian Cho ‘21, Gaby Fernandez ‘21, Kaitlyn Leung ‘21, Kelsey Lyons ‘21, Sydney Meyer ’22, Sydney Nobles ‘21, Taylor Monge ‘21, Mireya Villarreal ‘21, and May Wallace ‘21, and Barbara Burns (CHST faculty) presented a 90-minute workshop at the Learning Stories Conference: Responsiveness in the Times of Injustices, hosted by Hilltop Children’s Center in Seattle, WA. The workshop title was Using Learning Stories with Families to Support Anti-Bias Goals in Early Education. The workshop was based on a class project from CHST 101 (Early Childhood, Family, and Community). In this project, they first created storytelling videos based on picture books that exemplified anti-bias goals related to culture, racial identity, family structure, gender, different abilities, and economic class. The students shared these videos with families and then based on their observations of children during this experience, they wrote “learning stories” directed to the child to further amplify the learning experience. The students also created extended learning experiences (games, activities, etc.) for each child. The final part of the workshop summarized evaluations from parents about the experience and their overall lessons learned. They concluded the workshop with a mindful art reflection on the urgency of incorporating an anti-bias lens in early childhood education.