Ep. 107 - Windows and Mirrors: Supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Play

In this episode, we discuss with Dr Heather Woodley, the roles of play and toys in teaching children about diversity, equity and inclusion. Heather outlines how toys and children’s programming can act as both windows and mirrors for children - windows into others’ experiences and reflections of their own. We discuss the importance of providing children with materials that are both windows and mirrors, and how to do this.  Dr. Heather Homonoff Woodley, PhD is a Clinical Associate Professor of TESOL, Bilingual Education and World Language Education and the Director of Childhood Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at New York University. Her research and courses focus on anti-racist, social justice-based, and multilingual education collaboratively with communities, families and youth. She has published articles, chapters and curriculum on multilingual classrooms, mother-scholars, and teaching for justice with comics and the arts. Heather received a 2020 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award at NYU, a 2019 Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award, a 2018 Steinhardt Diversity & Innovation Grant, and a 2014 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Association of Bilingual Education. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Morocco, and earned her PhD in Urban Education at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, her MS in Education (TESOL) from City College of New York, CUNY, and her BA in History from Wesleyan University. See her full bio and works at www.HeatherWoodley.com