Don’t Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms Book

by Iheoma Iruka, Stephanie Curenton, Tonia Durden

Every day, 250 children are suspended from school. Many are children of color, deprived of opportunities to experience learning at the same rate and quality as white children. Many families don’t feel heard or respected in their child’s schools. Don’t Look Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms leads early childhood professionals to explore and address issues of bias, equity, low expectations, and family engagement to ensure culturally responsive experiences. Importantly, this book will challenge you to consider your perceptions and thought processes.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Teaching, Anti Racist, Race, Professional Development, Social Justice

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2020

Reviews

[Kassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for what it is and glad that it exists. A good starting place if you are new to ABAR education. Still felt as if there were lingering touches of white savior mentality that is so prevalent in early education and would have liked to see more of a pushback on that.

[Asha Stenzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This text was chosen by the department I teach for at the University-level for one of their intro to early ed courses. I think that it is packed with valuable information about anti-bias teaching. I think it will be great for college students, but really for anyone embracing anti-bias teaching, in early childhood or not.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for all educators even though the focus is on early education. The content is broken into well organized chapters full of succinct definitions. The reflection questions and guided activities are purposeful and the sheer amount of research to access is astounding.

[Lanni Maszerowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

While written for early childhood educators, I found this to be a great primer to anti-bias pedagogy. As a middle grades teacher, it’s very helpful to see from this perspective.

[Mikayla Beckman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book as part of a book club assignment for a class. I am not giving this book three stars because I don't find the information useful or beneficial, because it is. I am giving it 3 stars because I didn't really learn anything new in this book (which is not the book's fault). This book was a pretty foundational introduction to how race impacts education, which is a HUGE theme I have been studying the last two years in college. This book talks about pretty basic concepts such as "what is racism" or "what is intersectionality" which don't get me wrong, is IMPORTANT, but as someone who already has a pretty good understanding of that, I didn't really get much out of this book. That's not to say this book isn't useful or good! Because it definitely is! It just wasn't particularly useful to me as this was all information I have previously covered in other courses. My main critique of the book is that I did find it a little redundant at points, but that is to be expected. I really recommend this book if you haven't done much investigation about how race impacts schooling experiences as the information was presented in a concise manner and the book was a relatively quick read. This book was written in a way that is very easy to comprehend which is also a huge plus!

[Sarah Bizzotto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going into my first year of teaching (1st grade) and this book has been a great resource. It has easily digestible language, great activities and reflection questions, and plenty of recommended resources for further reading. I will continue to reference this book in the future.

[Karen Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid foundation for those new to ABAR work.

[Cindy Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great foundations to ABAR. Several resources mentioned to extend upon.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming a good teacher is one thing, but becoming a great teacher is another. This book is a gateway to helping educators create a classroom environment that is anti-bias and safe for all students.

[Miles Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice complement to the orthodoxy of my textbook

[Kaitlyn Whisnant · Rating 3 out of 5]

gotta count my grad school books haha