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Psych 241-01: Infancy and Child Development
Journal Option 3: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood:
Teaching and conversing with young children about race, culture and diversity
You can earn up to 5 points for this
assignment. Minimum journal length: 2 pages or four to five complete paragraphs. See note regarding
response to #1. You can create a list or use bullet points. These bullet points must be full sentences.
Goal: As we discuss the early childhood period (and soon after, the middle childhood period) of
development, this journal offers an opportunity to share and reflect on ideas and learning experiences
from your childhood related to play activities and literacy, with a focus on racial, cultural and
linguistic identity and diversity.
Steps for preparation and instructions
1. For this journal you will need to refer to the Crawford and Wanless (2016) Reading Your Way to a
Culturally Responsive Classroom and/or a second article Annmarie Alberton Gunn, Susan V.
Bennett, Kathleen M. Alley, Estanislado S. Barrera IV, Susan Chambers Cantrell, Lasonya Moore &
James L. Welsh (2021) Revisiting culturally responsive teaching practices for early childhood
preservice teachers, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. See suggested page #s below.
These two articles are in the Journal 3 option folder. You can also refer to ideas related to the AntiRacism Books for Kids article from the New York Times, for examples related to the culturally aware
children’s books and literature.
2.Review the journal questions and take time to consider the ways schools and learning environments
may or may not directly teach and influence children’s understandings.
Content and Journal Questions
1. Please share a few examples of the ways race, culture and attention to cultural and linguistic
diversity were a part of your early learning. Note: For this first question, you can create a
bulleted list or a narrative descriiption of your recall of any books, toys, activities, music,
movies, and games that were part of family or school life and friendships. Be sure to add an
introduction if you prefer to create a bulleted list.
2. Do you believe or recall that your early and/or middle childhood family and schooling
experiences were responsive to racial and cultural experiences and identities (this can be
answered whether you grew up in a very culturally diverse environmental setting or a more
“monocultural” setting)? If yes, how were your early environments responsive to culture? If no,
do you have ideas as to why diversity and culture was not openly referred to or considered? You
could also refer to how friendships were encouraged and supported in classroom/learning
environments.
3. Refer to a few ideas from the Crawford and Wanless article (focus on pp. 9-11). Do you agree
with the ideas presented? You should also refer to the Gunn et al. (2020) article focusing on Table
1 on p. 268. For book examples, you can refer to the Grose (2020) article to further consider
current times and how racism, anti-racism prejudice and bias and protest can or should be
addressed in school settings. Include one or two quotes from articles you refer to as you share
your reflections and comments.
4. Include final thoughts: Do you think teaching and learning and conversing about race, culture and
diversity should be intentional in the early years? Do you think this can contribute to a better
understanding of diversity in later years? Share your thoughts based on this excerpt or on your
understandings of children’s needs and experiences. You can add your thoughts on how younger
generations of teachers and psychologists can make a difference in children’s understandings of
race and racism.
For a successful journal, submit your thoughts and reflections in paragraph format. You can use
bullet points for part of # 1 to share examples of books and any toys, music or activities, etc. Include
details in your thoughts, along with a minimum of two quotes and citations from the related articles