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“ The Most Comfortable of Uncomfortable Spaces”
Co-Constructing a Toddler Curriculum Through Equitable Practitioner Collaboration
Pamela Thompson, Sarah Elahi, Lisa Goddard, Megan Shahnooshi, and Megina Baker
Authors’ Note
The NAEYC style guide and other publishers encourage the use of capital letters when referring to Black and white racialized groups. In order to decenter whiteness, we choose to lowercase white while capitalizing Black and People of Color( Howell et al. 2019).
The field of curriculum development has long been a white-dominated space, with much of the curricula used in schools developed far from the schools themselves( Hester 2018). Research shows that this often results in early childhood educators, overwhelmingly women who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color( BIPOC), suffering from feelings of disempowerment and believing their knowledge and expertise are not valued by society. They report poor mental health as a result( Otten et al. 2019).
We( the authors) represent a diverse, predominantly BIPOC group of early childhood educators, directors, and coaches who work with Neighborhood Villages, a nonprofit organization that supports 13 early childhood education centers in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2021, we were collectively dissatisfied with the commercially available curricular offerings for our toddler classrooms, which serve children ages 15 months to 3 years from historically marginalized groups. We found a scarcity of curricula that view infants and toddlers as competent, capable, and creative and that are grounded in anti-bias and culturally responsive practices. Many new teachers in our network were turning to Pinterest( a social media site for categorizing and sharing images) for quick activities to do with their toddlers— far from the rich, sustained experiences young children deserve. As one of our group members articulated,“ We can do better for our children.” In response, we envisioned developing our own toddler curriculum.
Summer 2026 Young Children 63