NEASC2024

In this session, ELA Curriculum Coordinators will present approaches to expanding text offerings while preparing for book challenges. Representation of multiple identities is critical to the English Language Arts curriculum (Bishop 1990), and we are responsible for supporting teachers to expand their offerings and prepare to teach those texts in culturally responsive ways. Diverse texts support students to see multiple modes of language as both acceptable and valuable; this is a critical component of working toward linguistic justice (Baker-Bell 2020). With the onslaught of book challenges and bans across the country, this work has become more urgent. School leaders must develop frameworks for text selection and strategies for approaching book challenges in the classroom and community. We will share strategies for working with teachers around text selection; additionally, we will discuss transferable policy frameworks we have developed in collaboration with our library and DEIB departments to address potential book concerns.

In order to support all learners, schools must be spaces of innovative and intentional inclusivity. This transformational work spans across focus areas and stakeholders, calling for reflection, inquiry and action from faculty, staff, family, students and the broader community. It necessitates the thoughtful use of research, resources, and authentic collaboration. This session will explore the work at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission Grammar School where the commitment to honoring human identity and experience, coupled with evidence-based practices in school structures and systems, has cultivated a community of excellence rooted in the principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). Participants in this session will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding and commitment to DEIB in schools through a blend of reflection, collaboration and active planning. The session will include opportunities for participants to: - Engage in reflective practice around identity, biases, and impact on current educational work - Analyze the current state of their school’s DEIB work - Explore research, best practices, and examples of building inclusive educational environments while discerning opportunities for their own contexts and futures - Engage in collaborative activities to share ideas and resources with other participants - Outline plans and next steps for implementing inclusive practices and plans in their own schools

The United State's student population is now the most diverse in its history, comprising a significant number of new immigrants or children of immigrants. This demographic evolution calls for reimagining our education system, focusing on fostering identity, building belonging, and community formation for every student. Our session introduces the Re-Imagining Migration framework, centering on students' voices and visions of inclusive schooling. Led by the co-author of "Building Belonging: Harnessing the Power of Education in a Time of Demographic Change," we'll explore the impact of schools prioritizing nurturing environments for all learners. Through small group discussions, we'll reflect on strategies to promote academic, social, and civic belonging. We'll engage with tools designed to prioritize student agency and share examples of districts embedding belonging into their academic fabric. Participants will leave equipped to champion and spearhead shifts towards inclusive community cultures grounded in reciprocal relationships, and innovative, identity-reflective, and compassionate curricula.

In today's diverse educational landscape, cultivating inclusive school cultures that honor the unique backgrounds and perspectives of all students is essential.

In this session, participants will explore strategies for selecting diverse materials, innovative assessment practices, and methods to foster inclusive dialogue. They will engage in curricula design that celebrate global voices, using a case study as the starting point, leaving with practical tools and resources to create empathetic learning environments that empower all students to build a common purpose.

Too often students experience school as a series of things that happens to them over which they have little or no control. This leads to transactional mindsets and a sense that all school is for is investing in future (markers of) success: college/university acceptance, major, grad school, career, salary. This session challenges educators and leaders to think of school as an investment in who our students are now, as people developing identities, figuring out how they want to see and be seen in the world, forging world views, and determining how they want to act and interact with others. Through a spider chart activity on educational models, a discussion of ways to leverage external motivators (like grades) for intrinsic passion development, and a reflection on what constitutes true 21st century skills and capacities, participants will acquire strategies and tactics for combatting relevance resistance and for making school more human-centered.