Classroom Strategies for Teaching Inclusion
It is time to go deeper and do more with bias, diversity, and social justice.
In a world where our students face hurdles at every turn, they need our full support now more than ever. That’s why, when it comes to educating our students about bias in our society, we cannot wait. But how can we as educators do that? So often we see an article, but don’t dig into the “how” to do it. Or we read a headline, but don’t consider its impact. Today is the day to change. It is time to go deeper and do more with bias, diversity, and social justice in the classroom.
Educator sites like Edutopia and WeAreTeachers feed us with article after article about best practice, but this week, one of those articles made me stop short. When I read Jinnie Spiegler’s, Teaching Young Children About Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice, I knew it was just the call to action we all needed.
Our students, no matter how young, see differences in people; be it gender, cultural, or with disabilities. Spiegler tells us specifically how we as educators can address our students as they are forming their understanding about the people around them. Her five strategies can easily be implemented in your classroom right away.
Take some time and read her article carefully and then use the Anti-Defamation League’s Books Matter webpage to find books that can be used in your classroom to address how each of us is unique in our own way. The Anti-Defamation League has taken time to collect trade books at every level and categorize them for us into different biases that could be addressed with your class.
Whatever the case, our response needs to be to act now.
What will you do?
About Jinnie Spiegler
Jinnie Spiegler is the Director of Curriculum in the National Education Division of the Anti-Defamation League, where she writes and manages curriculum projects, oversees Books Matter and develops additional educational resources. She has been working in the field of education for twenty years which includes management of various K-12 education programs, development of project-based learning programs, research and evaluation and the development of anti-bias and social justice programs and curricula.