Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (NAEYC, No. 242) [Paperback]

Louise Derman-Sparks (Author), The A.B.C. Task Force (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 149 pages
• Publisher: Natl Assn for the Education; 1 edition (January 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093598920X
• ISBN-13: 978-0935989205
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading, June 25, 2007

By 

kidcase (U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (NAEYC, No. 242) (Paperback)

I was shocked to see the low reviews given this book, and once I read them thought I should chip in my 2 cents to offset the bizarre review previously submitted. This book is a standard for anyone interested in issues around equity and diversity and how the politics of our culture can best be answered and improved through our work with young children. We've known this since LBJ was president and he commissioned the Kerner Report - in order to stop bias and the anger that it causes, we need to start with the youngest among us. I've had this book by my side for the almost 20 years I've worked with children, and consider it to be as crucial and important as Sue Bredecamp's DAP. This is not a book of lies, it's the most honest direct approaches to diversity. And it speaks the truth.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential ECE Teacher Resource, September 24, 2007

By 

SDavisson "SDavisson" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (NAEYC, No. 242) (Paperback)

Louise Derman-Sparks book continues to be a favorite of mine since I first purchased it nearly 18 years ago. As a teacher of young children, I found it invaluable in helping me create a classroom that tangibly respected the diversity of our families (chapter 2, "Creating an Anti-Bias Environment" was especially helpful with this task). When I first came upon the book I was well versed in helping children develop high self-esteem, but this book helped me realize that sometimes that positive identity is based on ethnocentrism or stereotyping. The introduction to the book was most thought provoking! I read "Boys need to learn competence without also learning to feel and act superior to girls"...and "Differences are good; oppressive ideas and behaviors are not." This book helped me move from a multicultural (tourist) approach to a genuinely respectful anti-bias approach to help children affirm and enjoy cultural identities in their community. Chapter 7 "Learning about Cultural Differences and Similarities" is an invaluable resource for planning respectful activities. I encourage all teachers of young children to read and use this most valuable resource.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mandatory, November 1, 2010

By 

Kathleen L. Barron "smrtrnu" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children (NAEYC, No. 242) (Paperback)

I read this for an Early Childhood Education class, and it's amazing.

Parents, when you're looking for a preschool, you NEED to ask the director to show you the campus copy of this. If the campus does not have this on hand, do not put your kids in that preschool.

Basically, anyone can open a pre-school and anyone can run it any way they want (within bounds of state and federal laws), BUT Anti-Bias Curriculum (ABC) is the healthiest understanding for anyone who deals with a lot of different children on how to deal with how kids perceive differences between themselves and others. Also, whether you realize it or not, your kid is picking up YOUR biases before they even set foot in preschool, and this allows the preschool to teach the kids a healthy way to deal with those biases and learn how to accept other children who seem strange to them.

I would go so far to say that every teacher and administrator at any level should be required to read this, because even though its mostly talking about very little children, I think it would help in those schools who have found themselves faced with lawsuits because they had a teacher or administrator who did not know how to teach different kids like humans.