My exploration of children’s literature, new media and technologies continues to uncover similarities and best practices early childhood professionals and parents can apply to their work or interactions with young children. Recently, I reread an article by Katrina Willard Hall, Ph.D. published in Young Children. In her article “Reflecting on Our Read-Aloud Practices: The Importance of Including Culturally Authentic Literature”, she states…
If you have been following my blog regularly, you know one point I consistently make is that we, the early childhood professionals and parents, are fortunate to live in a digital time. We can connect with others through online and technologies not only to improve our interactions and work with our children and students of diverse backgrounds, but…
As an educator, aunt, elder cousin, and caring adult, I cannot ignore the substantial amount of negative news stories and media stereotypes about people of color, individuals from other countries, those of varying abilities, and persons of different orientations or the lack of representation of diverse groups. This is an issue that stems from historical and social factors that are…
This week I had the pleasure of speaking with my colleague Jane Fleming, Ph.D., faculty member at Erikson Institute and founder of Kids Like Us, on issues of traditional and digital media, technology, and diversity. Jane has conducted research in the area of urban children’s literature and has been actively involved in helping teachers find high quality…
In my last post, I shared thoughts on how multicultural education and global citizenship starts with us – the early childhood professional and parent. I want to revisit this conversation to address two ideas that we should consider before introducing multicultural education, global citizenship, and new technologies to young children. One foundational piece of multicultural education and global…
