Submitted by: Jane Belton

At the English Department meeting on 10/12, we spent time reviewing the work we did last year (particularly from the winter/spring meetings) and setting intentions and goals for what we want to work on this year in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Several department members mentioned that learning from each other in our meetings last year was a major highlight, and the group expressed interest in continuing to share and workshop practices, assessments, and units through a DEI lens, asking of ourselves what specific principles these practices, assessments, and units serve or how they might be revised to advance the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our classes. The principles articulated at our Professional Development Day (10/08/21) could help frame these teacher-led workshops:

• Community members have differing and overlapping needs. 
• Teachers’ and students’ social identities have implications for learning. 
• School is a place where we must address the over/under representation of certain groups in our society, as this representation is mirrored in our materials and curriculum.
• Our choices concerning classroom materials speaks to our beliefs, goals, and values.  
• Our actions as educators, including the ways we give and receive feedback, speak to our beliefs, goals, and values. 

Since several department members are new, and several folks in the MS are teaching ELA specifically for the first time in many years, there was significant in sharing resources and examining our common language/practices for teaching English across 5-12.

We are hoping to plan a half-day retreat for some of this work.