Educators must make equity central to our practice, yet it’s difficult when available resources are merely discrete and disparate lessons we must piece together and find a place for in our curriculum. Equity, especially racial equity, can not be addressed with stand alone lessons. This job is too important.
Many teachers believe teaching and celebrating special months is sufficient, many don’t have the time to mine and piece together lessons from various sources, others are overwhelmed by the task, and the majority oversimplify issues of race, ethnicity, and culture. I put myself in several of these categories.
I’ve bemoaned the nonexistent units of studies that seamlessly and strategically address racial equity throughout the entire school year. However, I’ve come to realize how important the voice of a queer, educator of color, who grew up with blue collar immigrant parents is to this work. Educators like me have been leading this work and I plan to add to it. To this end, I am curating units of studies and tools that allow educators to proactively plan for equity throughout their curricula.
Even though I believe units of studies and planning tools will help, they are merely one piece in our ongoing efforts to realize and live equity. Stay tuned.