I recently read On the Go to a class of 13 4- and 5-year-old children who were studying transportation. The well-crafted picture book shows how people in different parts of the world get from place to place. I hoped that seeing images that were different from what they see every day would inspire the class to make comments and ask questions about the wonderful diversity in people's experiences around the world. We would notice similarities and differences together. I was ready to go.
But maybe I wasn't as ready as I had thought. I opened the book to page one, which shows a photograph of a woman from Ghana with her baby on her back. Before I could even read the first line, some of the children started to laugh and point. Danny,* one of the most popular boys in the class, led the laughter. It was clear to me that they were making fun of the picture. I was disappointed by their reaction, and I knew in that moment that I had to respond. I closed the book, directed my eye contact to Danny, but spoke to the whole group: "This is a great book. You'll see some things that are new and different, but we don't make fun of people just because they're different."
Since our preschool program includes children with disabilities who are eligible for special education, along with children who aren't, both teachers and students are familiar with questions and discussions about difference — when it comes to ability. Most staff members practice active anti-bias teaching when it comes to questions and comments about ability. We try to take advantage of the moments that arise when a child asks questions like, "Why can't he talk right?" with an answer like, "He's learning to talk, and everyone is learning in our class. You're learning to cut with scissors." We don't expect children to ignore these ability differences, but we expect them to be kind and respectful to each other.
In our preschool, we meet the challenge of building classroom communities made up of children of diverse abilities by planning the curriculum and specific activities so everyone can participate, and by actively facilitating play and conversation among these children. We don't as readily acknowledge, much less confront, the parallel struggles that are present when it comes to differences of class, race, family structure, and ethnicity.
Back in the classroom, as I resumed reading On the Go, my inner critic was busy telling me that my response to their laughter was weak, that it was more of a reprimand than an exemplary anti-bias response. Even if I ignored that critic and accepted my imperfect response as a good beginning, I knew that this signaled a challenge to me and to the rest of our teaching team. I realized that we could only resolve to respond with some fresh teaching approaches. Danny's response moved me to action; we would have to bring more cultural content, both familiar and unfamiliar, into our classroom community. It was time to acquaint them with multiple cultural perspectives and images and time to learn more about how people travel from place to place, eat, work, and play in different places around the world. Good multicultural literature would help, but books are two-dimensional and only a part of preschoolers' authentic learning about human similarities and differences.