Hi there! I’m Jodi White and I’m full-time faculty in the education department at Highline College.
I grew up in Ohio on the traditional lands of the Kaskaskia, Myaamia, and Hopewell Culture. I was the first person in my family to go to a university - yep, a proud first generation college student right here! - and I give all the gratitude, love, and acknowledgement to my parents for their blood, love, and labor that got me there.
In 1991 I moved to Seattle where I live with my (very) large, (very) hairy, (very) rambunctious German shepherd/husky mix dog. I like to garden and do geeky things, like play with 3-D modeling and virtual reality games. I even built my own computer! I also really like to eat and am a bit of a foodie, an interest I shared with my late husband, John, who died in 2023.
Please call me Jodi and use she/her/hers pronouns when you refer to me. I know that some people may not be comfortable calling their teacher by their first name. If that's you, feel free to call me Professor, Professor Jodi, Ms Jodi or some variation.
I’m a social constructivist. We all enter situations with culturally shaped background knowledge. Then we engage with new information, combine it with what we knew already, and boom! New knowledge!
Think about like this. Let's say you're thirty years old and each year you were given a few legos (plastic building blocks) of knowledge. Over the years you've used these to construct an elaborate structure that represents everything that you know and believe. Now you enter class and I hand you five more legos to add. Is your knowledge structure going to look just like mine? Or the person next to you? Probably not. We construct new knowledge based on what we already know and this is a lifelong process.
Our lives, beliefs (and education) are influenced by our identities – race/ethnicity, class, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, religion…all of these and more impact our experience and how we see the world.
What's more, is that we do this best when we have trusting relationships with other people - without trust, we don't want to ask questions or take risks and these are critical for learning.
Together, we can shape education to be a liberatory experience, moving us all toward freedom.
Like you, I grew up watching, listening, and learning from my people. I was first educated in the wisdom of my ancestors, passed down through generations - physically, genetically, and in unfathomable ways - until it reached my parents, and then me. This created the foundation of who I am.
For work, I've held a variety of roles in ECE including positions as a substitute teacher, a teacher, a lead, a program supervisor and executive director, as well as a coach, a consultant, and STARS trainer. I have experience in a variety of settings as well, such as therapeutic preschool, centers, and parent cooperative sites.
My institutional education includes a bachelors of science in Psychology from Ohio State University and a masters degree in human development from Pacific Oaks College.
Currently I’m tenured here at Highline and teach an array of classes in the education department as well as Critical Thinking for Equity, a humanities class housed in diversity and global studies.
Curious about anything else? Feel free to ask me! I look forward to getting to know you.
Communities have cared for and educated their young children since time immemorial. Even so, ECE as it's now practiced in the United States is deeply rooted in European norms. The evidence is undeniable in discussions of the "history" of ECE or "famous figures" in child development theory. Don't believe me? Try a simple internet search of "famous people in early childhood education" and see who comes up.
As a result, white supremacist ideology that harms all children is embedded in our viewpoints, practices, and constructions of learning environments. Professional ethics require that we support the healthy development of children. Given that racism harms all children, meeting our professional obligations requires us to:
build awareness and understanding of our own cultures, beliefs, values, and biases, and critically examine how they manifest in our work;
strengthen our ability to recognize and respond to inequitable power dynamics and structural inequities;
take responsibility for our biased actions, even if unintended, and actively work to repair the harm.
Because white supremacy is a foundational element of education and schools, our assessments and judgements of children and families are entangled in an ever evolving system of racism. "Antiracism" is a verb. It is a continual process of becoming, acting, and reflecting to reclaim our humanity and create a culture of equity, love, and kindness.
See more on Advancing Equity from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Anti-bias work is essentially optimistic work about the future for our children. Anti-bias teachers are committed to the principle that every child deserves to develop to his or her their fullest potential. Anti-bias work provides teachers a way to examine and transform their understanding of children’s lives and also do self-reflective work to more deeply understand their own lives. ~ Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, 2009
You can indulge your passion for educating and caring for our babies when you join the education department at Highline. What's been a unique experience for me (and why I teach here!) is the focus on justice and equity. What I've found is a vibrant community of educators, dedicated to the eradication of inequities in our schools and community.
I teach classes that are part of the state ECE certificates, the AAS in Early Childhood Education, and the BAS in Early Childhood Education. I'm also an academic advisor for all of these programs.
I hope to meet you soon!
