Inclusive Classrooms

         In the last few months, I have been reading articles about racial identity in the secondary classroom.  I am committed to creating an inclusive classroom where all students feel safe to develop their voice and identity.  Often, I am not sure exactly how to do it.  So I have been looking for specific examples of teachers who have put the commitment into practice.   

         Education can socialize and teach students to think critically and independently or create a dependence on authority and experts.  The process of education can be active or passive, where kids are disengaged and being told what to know.  Teaching is a political act because it involves power - the power to choose or ignore content, methods, incentives and disincentives.  In the article, “ Making a Difference: How Teachers Can Positively Affect Racial Identity and Acceptance in America,” the author, Jonathan Ryan Davis, a social studies teacher at a high school in Kentucky, makes the case that teachers can and should help students develop a positive racial identity.  In the process, Davis asserts, teachers should choose culturally relevant content and pedagogical strategies to “foster racial tolerance, understanding and respect within the classroom and for individual students.” Going a step further, Davis explains the social studies classroom is the most effective place to develop racial identity. 

         As a way to help teachers committed to examining issues of racial identity and the role of racism in American history and society today, Davis provides the reader with the Multicultural Democratic Education Framework or CMDE.  The framework  has three elements: “critical pedagogy, building of community and thorough disciplinary content.” I found the argument convincing and the strategies helpful.  I intend to use them in my classroom.  I might take the work a step further and emphasize an anti-racist teaching approach where both students and teacher consider and practice the skills for interrupting racism in the school, community and beyond.    The article reminded me of how important it is for teachers to be aware of the power dynamics in a classroom, to question one’s power as a teacher, be open to questioning and challenging and to create a classroom community  that supports power sharing as much as possible.  Davis’ other suggested strategies for teaching racial identity and acceptance seem based on real experience, although he does not discuss application in the classroom.  One of the suggested activities I plan to use is based on helping students getting to know each other at the beginning of the year.  Although I think this is not just an activity for the beginning of the year, it is extremely important for students to learn about each other if they are going to be able to have difficult conversations. At the beginning of the year, I plan to spend a few class periods defining expectations - both student and teacher - of each other.  

            Davis also suggests finding out as much as possible about who the students are racially, ethnically and culturally, which will help in the selection of historical material, but also in the application of different perspectives when evaluating the historical material.  Other suggestions include the teaching controversial issues and using film/media as an entry point for discussions about identity and racism.  One of the most important points Davis makes is that “teachers need to address the history of systematic racial oppression so white students understand that racism is a present day reality for people of color and that the Civil Rights movement did not eradicate racism” (p. 212).