The workshop was so informative and helpful that the Committee made a request to the Leadership Team that we host Ms. Lee for our March 12 In-Service day. The Leadership Team approved the request, and our group will meet with Ms. Lee in the new year to talk about our school's diversity work. This will allow her to tailor our In-Service day for our school's needs. Some of the questions I developed as a result of the workshop that may provide good break-out discussion topics for the day are:
- How do you influence school culture through your role?
- Identity formation—as educators, we are responsible for co-authoring it. How can we support kids’ identity plans?
- How does our own internal dialogue shut us off to or influence what we take away from the speaker?
- What do I (we) communicate to students from our own inner monologue?
- How can we increase diversity within the parameters of Waldorf curriculum?
- What are age-appropriate ways to discuss culture and cultural differences? Mental Models—what is yours and how can you challenge it?
- How is our (school) culture co-created? Are our classroom processes and projects allowing all kids to participate and shine? Is the path to success clearly delineated?
- How can our classroom instructional approaches accommodate a wider range of 'codes and modes'?
- Critical self-assessment of the school (fish in water)—what are the distinguishing behaviors?
- What are we talking about when we say ‘diversity’?
1 comment:
So happy BWS is considering this topic. I think Waldorf education has both much to offer in this arena, and things to learn. In my observation, most "diversity" or "cultural sensitivity" or even social justice education is not thought out with regard to children's moral development and sense of self in the world. I think Waldorf thinking could enrich these approaches, so that discussion of differences (and the differences they make) can be developmentally sensitive, and connected to our larger values of joyful compassionate education. On the other hand, traditional Waldorf education tends to be rather...traditional in terms of what gets centered in the curriculum; and this deserves some consideration as well. Thanks for taking this on!
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