As the school year opened, the Lesley Ellis faculty participated in a day-long workshop to infuse social justice standards into our regular planning and teaching. The workshop presenters, Dr. Lauren Mascarenaz and Ryan Williams, were from RISE-DEI and helped our faculty do a deep dive into the standards. Later in the fall, faculty came together to share how they were amplifying the voices of underrepresented groups in their classrooms.
Here are just a few examples of this work:
- Middle schoolers investigated the experiences of Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the 1800s and the resentment that many U.S. citizens showed toward immigrant groups for various reasons.
- Other middle schoolers watched the film “Race” which is the story of Jesse Owens at the 1935 Olympics. The students compared and contrasted the experiences of Black people in the United State at that time and Jewish citizens in Germany.
- An elementary classroom has a year-long study of various physical conditions people live with daily. The class discusses accommodations needed and how the individuals may feel.
- Students in Spanish classes have discussed the presence of female referees for the first time at the World Cup in Qatar, as well as female officials in American football and basketball.
- Some students are learning about the difference between equity, equality and justice. Included in these lessons are the impacts of visible and invisible injustices. Students have also shared examples of inequity and injustice that they have seen in their lives.