Diversity and Technology

1. Diversity and Technology Amy Hoffman Gretchen Wells

2. Table of Contents • Title page • Derman-Sparks slides • Diversity themes • Web sites

3. Diversity and Technology • Grade level: 1st grade • Unit/lesson: Diversity and technology • Author: Amy Hoffman and Gretchen Wells

4. Derman-Sparks • Page 11 • The classroom environment should be anti-biased. • The classroom needs to be rich in possibilities for exploring gender, race/ethnicity, and different-abledness .

5. The Visual Aesthetic Environment • There should be: Images such as photos and posters that portray the children, families, and staff. • If your classroom is homogeneous there should be images of the major ethnic and racial groups in your community.

6. The Visual and Aesthetic Environment • There should be images that reflect peoples current daily lives. • There should be a numerical balance among different groups including women and men. • Images of elderly people and differently abled people from various backgrounds.

7. Visual and Aesthetic Environment • There should be images of the diversity of family styles. • Images of important individuals from past and present. • There should be artwork displayed that reflects a culture of families in the community.

8. Derman-Sparks • Pages 12 and 13 • Toys and materials should represent the backgrounds of families and major groups in the community and the nation.

9. Toys and Materials • Children’s books need to reflect diversity of gender roles, present accurate images, show people from all groups, depict a variety of children, family lifestyles, and languages. • Dramatic play should encourage exploration, in diversity and cultural diversity. • The environment should provide opportunities for children to see and hear various languages.

10. Toys and Materials • Music should reflect the the various cultural styles of the children, teachers, and other groups. • Some art materials that should be included are multicolored crayons, multicolored paints, mirrors, and multicultural artwork. • Manipulatives and dolls should depict diversity in race, ethnicity, and gender.

11. AgeActivities • Take the children to a nursing home • Pair the children up with an elderly person and have them share letters back and forth. • Pair the 1st graders up with 6th graders and do paired reading. • Do a presentation on the time period that the children were born in. • Have the children draw a picture of what they think they will look like in twenty years.

12. AgeWeb Sites • http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-kidsbooks.html • http://www.a1net.com/koch/agmirror.html • http://childrensbooks.about.com./ • http://www.voices4children.org • http://www.wowmuseum.com./

13. DisabilitiesActivities • Have the children do wheel chair races. • Have the children play a game of wheelchair basketball. • Visit a rehabilitation center. • Have the children be led blindfolded to experience blindness. • Teach the children sign language.

14. DisabilitiesWeb Sites • http://www.childrenwithdisabilities.ncjrs.org./ • http://www.icehouse.net/rackin/ • http://www.tvcc.on.ca • http://www.kidsource.com/NICHCY/literature.html • http://www.ndcs.org.uk/

15. Gender Activities • Set up the play center with toys that free children from rigid gender roles. • Read books to the children that contradict gender stereotypes. • Have the children find and cut out magazine pictures of boys and girls that show diversity of looks, dress, activities, and emotions. • Have the children participate in the creation of a display of photos and pictures of men and women doing the same tasks. • Have the children pretend to be of the opposite sex. Then discuss how they pretended.

16. GenderWeb Sites • http://www.oneworld.net/guides/gender/front.shtml • http://www.kid-lit.com./ • http://www.puppettellers.com • http://www.mediaandthefamily.org/research/fact/childgen.shtml • http://www.kidsource.com/education/gender.issues.L.A.html

17. Language Activities • Have the children count to 10 in Spanish. • Have the children learn five of their vocabulary words in another language. • Have the children do an activity where they have to use non-verbal communication. • Have the children learn a song in another language. • Have the children create a passport to teach the English language.

18. LanguageWeb Sites • http://www.csusm.edu/campus_centers/csb/ • http://www.bilingual-supplies.co.uk/ • http://reggie.net/teaching/ • http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/childlit.htm • http://www.learningvision.com/

19. Race/EthnicityActivities • Sample different foods from various ethnicities. • Have the children do a report on someone from a different race or ethnicity. • Have the children make a collage of pictures of people from different races and ethnicities. • Make a book that has all of the specific characteristics of the children and teachers in the class. • Make a graph of differences of eye color, hair color, and skin color.

20. Race/EthnicityWeb Sites • http://www2.wcoil.com/~ellerbee/childlit.html • http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9462.html • http://www2.wcoil.com/~ellerbee/cgi-bin/info.html • http://www.uta.fi/crossroads/sessions/street-children.html • http://www.cbcbooks.org/html/ashleybryan.html