A World of Difference: Readings on Teaching Young Children in a Diverse Society

How do we work with young children and their families in ways that are truly responsive to their differences and effective in combating bias? Over the years NAEYC has played a leading role in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 192889609X
• ISBN13: 9781928896098
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: National Association for the Education of You
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.3" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

Came on time and in good condition

The product arrived about 12 days after I ordered and in ok condition as the sender had described. Thank you

Easy Read, Applicable and Practical!

This book is compiled by the National Association for the Education of Young Children for early childhood educators, but the principles and practices can be applied in classrooms of any age. The articles address a wide range of multicultural and diversity issues in the classrooms and offer tons of practical suggestions on how to work with students, parents and foster student relationships with each other. As a kindergarten teacher in a diverse school I was impressed how many of the ideas are applicable if I would make small changes in my classroom or small ways that I can draw multicultural parents into their child's education. The ideas of these articles are developmentally appropriate for all ages beginning with early preschool building on Piaget's stages of play and Vygotsky's social development. One important theme throughout the articles was building every child's self efficacy and taking advantage of their individual cultures and talents in the classroom. I recommend this book to every early childhood educator who might use a child driven curriculum and who desires to make every child feel accepted in their classroom despite their differences. The book is a quick and easy read that is divided into culturally relevant topics and each article is only 3-5 pages long.

Reading this book made a 'world of difference.'

This book is a compilation of many articles written by many different authors and covering a span of many topics related to diversity. The format of the text is divided into chapters that discuss subjects ranging from multiculturalism to inclusion, from gender equity and religious diversity, as well as others in between. The purpose of the book is to provide insight to educators about the children that they interact with on a daily basis. This insight encourages teachers to become responsive educators which will allow them to respond to their students effectively and appropriately. As an educator, reading this text made me more aware of the unique characteristics that students bring to the classroom and how these characteristics offer other children the opportunity to learn from them. It also discussed practical strategies that teachers can use in becoming more responsive, such as how to approach students that are curious about another student's disability and how to foster a partnership with the families of your students. Further, since the articles were written by a variety of authors, a plethora of perspectives were present and many of the authors touched on the research of scholars such as Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky. In most instances, the studies that were completed by such researchers were used to explain the cogntive, social, and behavioral development of children and their expertise guided authors to make informed implications for teachers. I recommend this book to all educators and adults that interact with young children regularly. It is in an easy format and the text is easy to follow (not full of psychological jargon) and articles are fairly short. The table of contents in arranged in a way that allows you to go to a specific topic of interest and read a collection of items on the immediate topic you wish to learn more about.