Education Week blogger Peter DeWitt writes “Finding Common Ground,” a blog that explores many questions that we at Ethical ELA care deeply about:
- Why Do We Label Our Students?
- Authentic Feedback: What It Is and Isn’t
- 6 Beliefs to Help Prevent Communication Breakdown
This summer, Peter published a piece I wrote on developing an inclusive curriculum. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Below is an excerpt, but you can read it all on Peter’s blog.
Most of America’s public schools are wrapping up another school. Teachers are settling into summer vacation. But instead of lounging poolside (or while lounging poolside), many teachers are on Facebook and Twitter in virtual book groups posting questions about how best to help readers who are “below” grade level or how to communicate better with parents. Many teachers are spending their own money to join workshops and attend conferences desperate to be better and do better for the students with whom we are entrusted.
But in between posts and Tweets about standards, teachers are also reading updates of a mass shooting, Congressional sit-in, and failed comprehensive immigration reform, and we can’t help but think of our students and the world they are growing up in. Our social media chatter shifts towards lessons on diversity and empathy.
Tragedy has a way of doing that, right? Bringing people together to talk about that which is typically hidden or marginalized or too unpleasant or unfamiliar to discuss. But our curriculum needs to always include a multitude of voices and lived experiences–not just in times of tragedy.
An inclusive curriculum promotes an understanding that within any group – racial, ethnic, religious, class, ability, gender, sexual orientation –there are variations, and that among groups, there are similarities. However, an inclusive curriculum is not just a checklist of texts, films, and articles about difference. An inclusive curriculum considers who produced the content, the accessibility of the content’s form, how students make sense of the content, and the freedom for students to read about themselves and stretch into discovering a world beyond their own.
Here are four steps you can take to make your classroom more inclusive next school year: (continue reading)