Submitted by: Jane Belton
The English department meeting on 11/9 had several goals:
1. To share aspects of our curriculum 5th-12th grade and resources across classes and divisions.
2. To continue to examine our explicit and implicit values related to DEI work.
English department members brought in an assignment and related materials/handouts from one of their classes, including student examples.
We examined these materials, using the following guiding questions.
- What do our assignments and materials say about what we value? What are the beliefs (explicit or implicit) reflected in these materials? What are the values we are cultivating?
- How are student identities and backgrounds centered in course content, materials, and assessments?
Looking at the assignment and student examples, it became clear that many of our assignments allow students to bring their passions, interests, and full selves to the work. Student-driven inquiry led much of the work. In addition, student choice created opportunities to employ a variety of lenses when approaching the work, or to find the things within an assignment that speak to students, that offer windows / mirrors and chances for self-reflection. We also noted the use of mentor texts, to not only give access to assignments but to model a variety of voices, perspectives, and lenses.