Weaving education and empathy: The anti-bias classroom at Helen Gordon Child Development Center

On a mild February morning in a classroom at the northwest edge of Portland State University’s downtown campus, 15 students sat cross-legged on mats to form a circle. These students, unlike most at the university, are not seeking an undergraduate or graduate degree. Instead, they are three and four-year-old children at the Helen Gordon Child Development Center.

The Helen Gordon Center offers an innovative approach to early care and education for the children of PSU students, staff and faculty. It is a laboratory school, which means that it is affiliated with a university and designed to test and develop new approaches to learning and teaching, and to allow young teachers to observe and practice in a live classroom environment.

Lead teacher Christine Gmeiner, a recent graduate of PSU’s Early Childhood: Inclusive Education master’s program, describes the classroom as a learning community. Her class, dubbed the Grasshopper Collective, is a space where she collaborates with children, their families, her co-lead teacher and PSU students working as student teachers to develop anti-bias and anti-racism curriculum.

She documents the children’s comments and questions during daily group times as part of her ongoing action research – a form of investigation designed to help teachers solve problems and improve professional practices in their own classrooms.

“Let’s take three deep breaths,” Gmeiner invited the class, starting their group time with a short meditation. The children, from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, know the ritual well. Mindfulness and community orientation are part of the classroom’s DNA.

After settling into the circle, they watched a black-and-white video featuring people from different racial backgrounds sharing their experiences with strong emotions, the neurological effects of those emotions and calming strategies to manage them. Gmeiner asked the children to share their thoughts on the video, then, following a brief dialogue where everyone’s comments were heard and acknowledged, she switched gears.

“I would like to talk a little bit more about the book we read the other day because we have two children who had to say goodbye to one of their grandparents because they passed away,” she said. The book, “Walking Together,” was laid open to a page with a picture of a person with their eyes closed and thinking about the people who lived before them. It was mounted on an easel so the children could easily reference it as they talked about losing a family member.

One child in the class, Max, had recently lost his grandfather. Gmeiner asked Max to find a picture of “Grandpa Glenn” in his “All About Me” book – created by his family as part of the collaborative anti-bias work seen throughout the center – and share it with the group. Max held open his book, walking slowly and solemnly, and paused to give each classmate a chance to look at the photo of his grandfather.

“Even though he died, I still love him,” Max said, adding, “My heart felt cracked.” Many in the room had a story to share about someone they knew who passed away. The conversation and prompts focused on what it means to lose someone and how we can stay connected to that person after they are gone.

“What do we call people who are not here anymore, who lived before us?” Gmeiner asked while pointing at the person pictured in “Walking Together” to remind them of ideas they’d discussed recently.

“Ancestors!” responded a chorus of voices in unison.

Helping children see connections between different contexts is Gmeiner’s way of building critical thinking skills. “I use children’s books as mirrors or as windows to provoke conversations about difficult topics children bear witness to in their daily lives and want to make meaning of,” she said.

Throughout group time, one of several student teachers in the classroom, Lillian MacDonald, was busy taking notes. Documenting the conversation for Gmeiner’s research helps to track progress over time. For example, when the children first watched the video, MacDonald said that they didn’t really have a sense of what they were seeing. But now, after numerous viewings, “they’re actually able to think critically and talk about their own identity.”

A long and winding road

Gmeiner, who is originally from Austria, navigated a challenging path to get her teaching credentials recognized in the U.S., but her dedication to inclusive education never wavered.

Despite completing a five year Early Education degree program in Europe and extensive teaching experience across multiple countries, her options were limited to assistant teacher or substitute positions in the U.S. So she enrolled at San Jose State University and earned a bachelor’s in Child and Adolescent Development in 2017.

After moving to Portland, she began working at the Helen Gordon Center in 2018 – initially as a substitute. But by the end of her first year, Gmeiner had advanced into a lead teacher role.

Things took another turn in 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19. Gmeiner, while still working full time at the center, started the Early Childhood master’s program at PSU. With racial tensions amplified by the murder of George Floyd and months of nightly Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Gmeiner felt compelled to help children navigate these issues in her classroom.

A commitment to anti-bias education

Since the early 1990s, the Helen Gordon Center has been deeply committed to anti-bias work, spearheaded by former director Ellie Justice and a cohort of early childhood educators who completed their master's degrees in California. They introduced the Anti-Bias Early Education framework developed by Louise Derman-Sparks.

Through collaboration and exploration, educators embraced this approach, adapting it for their classrooms to promote inclusivity and equity for children and families. This pioneering effort catalyzed the spread of the curriculum and approach throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The anti-bias approach permeates all aspects of learning in Gmeiner’s classroom. She uses children’s literature and real-life experiences to foster dialogue and critical thinking about identity, diversity, justice and activism.

Earlier this year, the class read a book about consciousness that led to talking about how we are guests on planet earth, how everything is connected and how people before us lived on this land. One of Gmeiner’s intentions for this work is to create a land acknowledgement with the children by the end of this school year.

“Once we establish that we live on land that is not ours, we come from a more vulnerable place rather than a place of superiority,” she said. “From that place, looking at the world around us with a critical and empathic lens feels organic.”

Exploring the topic of diversity leads to the study of skin color which leads to a curiosity about Black history and racism. “The children see racial injustices in their daily lives and it is our responsibility to help them interpret them,” Gmeiner said. Based on her action research, she reports that by the time the children from her class move on to kindergarten, they are able to explain concepts like racism, equality and solidarity.

Her approach to anti-bias work is woven into the daily learning. Topics introduced are not tied to a preset calendar of holidays or introduced without context. “Just because on the calendar it’s Black History Month doesn’t mean that my three-year-olds are prepared to talk about Black history right now,” Gmeiner explained. “I need to set the foundation so I can talk about that.”

Ultimately, Gmeiner wants the children to build their own views and their own interpretations and has found a supportive and progressive environment to innovate her approach at the center.

Connections across campus

Teachers like Gmeiner have been providing intentional early education at the center for more than 40 years.

The center plays a unique role as a connecting hub, bringing students, faculty, staff and families across PSU together. With a reputation for original programs, excellent early childhood professionals and a creative learning environment, it provides high-quality early care and education to children of students, faculty and staff parents, as well as a welcoming space for innovative teaching and research. This draws PSU faculty and students in early childhood education, child and family studies, psychology and related fields.

The center offers work opportunities that help support students financially, employing over 90 students each year. It is the second largest employer of students on campus and the largest employer of international students. The collaborative nature of the center and the diversity of perspectives and experiences it brings together enriches the learning environment.

In the Grasshopper Classroom, Gmeiner has several student workers supporting her as student teachers. They are multicultural with varied interests, pursuing degrees ranging from speech pathology to international studies to computer engineering.

MacDonald, the student teacher who was taking notes during group time, is an undergraduate student studying Psychology and Child and Family Studies at PSU. She came to the Helen Gordon Center because the experience she’s gaining aligns with her career goal of working with children as a family therapist.

She’s worked in child care settings since high school and says the inclusive community approach in this classroom really stands out. “It gives them [the children] a sense of identity as opposed to just being told to listen and pay attention,” MacDonald said.

Longtime parent volunteer Kelsey Benny has had four children in various classrooms at the Helen Gordon Center over the years and is grateful for the experience they’ve had. Benny earned her bachelor’s degree from PSU and recently returned to pursue an MBA. She said that volunteering at the center is a great way to spend more time with her children, but she also loves to be there because it’s such a special place.

Benny’s son Baxter, who is now in first grade, misses Gmeiner’s classroom and often asks his mom if he can go back. What did he love so much about his time there? “Absolutely everything,” Benny said.

She also noted that, coming from the Midwest, the social justice curriculum was particularly eye-opening. Baxter has developed a strong sense of justice, which she admires. His teachers recognize this in him too, she said. He has developed a great awareness and understanding of things like gender pronouns and how to engage with people with disabilities.

“There is a softness of his heart and soul,” Benny said. Much of this, she credits to his time at the center. “It’s not something I could teach to him,” she said. “I don’t have the hours in the day.”

In an era where child care centers across the country are grappling with staffing shortages and long waitlists, the Helen Gordon Center – while not immune from these issues – remains committed to fostering empathy, inclusion and critical thinking in young children. This, along with the innovation born from collaboration across campus, is helping to shape future generations and drive social change.  

“At the Helen Gordon Center, all are encouraged to participate, find their way and construct their knowledge and understanding about the world and each other,” said Lynn Green, the center’s director. “This work should be an everyday occurrence for all children in all educational systems.”

With ongoing support from institutions like the Helen Gordon Center, pioneers like Gmeiner continue to push the boundaries of early childhood education, propelling the field forward.