HI, Benjamin!
I am also white. Most of my experience has been in the African American community. I would suggest beginning with the non-verbal. In each of the areas of the classroom (reading area, writing area, block area, art area, table games area - manipulative area, etc) post a label made of different colored construction paper 12 x 18 or two sheets of paper if needed. Under the title post "Children are learning ......." If you have parents or volunteers, add "You can help by....". For the writing area be sure to include something about invented spelling (phonetic spelling) being what we adults do when we text.
Then take photos of the children playing and post them on a bulletin board especially in the hallway. Parents will see this and so will the other teachers and administrators. Label each photo with the skill or goal that the child is working on or has achieved. In other words the children are learning while they are playing.
For a parent meeting have an activity in which parents are to copy a word in another language, I like to use the word "Welcome" in Arabic. If you have parents who know Arabic, choose a different language. such as, Chinese or an Asian language. Have the group copy the word three times. First, copy it. Second time. copy it with their non-preferred hand. (Right handers copy it with the left hand and left handers copy it with their tight hand.) This gives the parents a sense of how difficult handwriting is for young children. Third, have them write the word without looking at it by turning the paper down so they do not see the word or turn it over on the back. The most important part is the discussion that you have afterwards. In Arabic writing begins at the right side of the paper, not on the left as in English. Do not tell the parents ahead of time about this. Ask them at the end in the discussion on which side they started to write. Usually there is lots of laughter while they are doing this. Remind parents that there are seven stages of writing. The last one is the one we adults recognize.
I hope these ideas will help.
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Marie Kielty
Kindergarten Interest Forum faciiltator
Chicago, IL
Retired Pk, Kg. primary teacher and math coordinator in a PK to Grade 3 school
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-01-2017 09:51 AM
From: Benjamin Planton
Subject: Advocating for Play-Centered, Culturally-Responsive Learning
I'm white and I've struggled with figuring out how to advocate for play-centered learning in ways that are culturally-responsive when I've worked in low-income and working class communities of color where a lot of parents want to see worksheets or other kinds of "schoolwork" and get worried when kids are "just playing." I don't want to just say, "I know better than you." I want to be willing to take their own expertise and goals into account and also provide the best kinds of experiences I can for the kids. Does anyone have cross-race and cross-class experience with these kinds of conversations?
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Benjamin Planton
Bloomington, IN
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