INCLUSIVITY IS NOT A GUESSING GAME
By: Chelsea Vaught at Rethinkingschools.org (Winter 2017, Volume 32, No. 2)
This article immediately caught my eye with it's name. I am also in another class, SPED 513, and we have been doing a lot of talking about inclusion, more about children with special needs. Then once I started reading this article, I found it to be the perfect blend of the two classes. Again, I was struck by Chelsea's powerful words and I have chosen some direct quotes to comment on.
For context, this article is written by Chelsea Vaught, an art educator and writer, and it is about her experiences with teaching in the U.K. and also dating a British-Muslim man. She begins by talking about one of her students, Noor, slouching his shoulders down in sadness because the candies he just received in a student's birthday goodie bag were not Halal (permissible, as according to the Koran), and he could not eat them. Noor, a Muslim student in Chelsea's class was experiencing, for I'm sure not the last time, not being included or considered by his peers, whether on purpose or not at all.
"Unintentionally left out or deliberately ostracized".
These 6 words struck me. I think after all we have been talking about, this perfectly sums up the systems of power and how they affect non-people of power. Whether or not us SCWAAMP-y people realize it, POC and the like are constantly being disregarded or intentionally forgotten about. As Chelsea will go on to say, and as we have continued to stress in all of our readings, "Being intentional matters". I will admit, there are some things that I do intentionally try to think about for my students, but there are also some that I unintentionally might look over, simply because I am still learning all that I can. For example, I don't tell them to being things home to "Mom and Dad". I don't know what students family systems are like, and for that reason I give the same speech every time they have something to bing home. I announce to my students: "Bring this home to get signed by a mom, dad, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, cousin, cat, dog, whoever it is that takes care of you, get them to sign this please". The kids find it funny, but I know I'm covering all of my bases for students who might not have heterosexual parents, or that might be raised by other family members or friends. However, after reading this, I learned so much about Muslim culture and I realized that I was not aware of ways to make my classroom inclusive for their religious needs. Below, Chelsea gives a great idea that she implemented in her school for a few of her Muslim students fasting for Ramadan.
(Picture from here)
How simple, yet so powerful! During Ramadan, Muslim's will fast from sunrise to sunset. Elementary age students don't always participate, but some do, and the cafeteria can be a daunting place when other kids don't understand why you are not eating. I think that this is something that most schools could incorporate and think about the impact you would have on those Muslim students. They would feel deliberately thought of and cared for by their school environment, which is all we can hope for with all of our students.
"As essential as it is to create inclusive spaces for students to simply be, we should also aim to create opportunities to incorporate their culture and religion into projects and lessons. This doesn’t mean that we should make assumptions about how students will choose to identify, but rather that we should be deliberate and direct in letting students know they are safe..."
YESSSSSSSSSSSS! Any way to incorporate that culture would be incredible! I am always looking to learn, and if a little one in my class could teach that to me? Imagine how proud of their culture they would be! Empower and include ALL kids, amazing things can and will happen.
As always Taylor your writing is beautiful. I read recently an article about school nurses caring for students who celebrate Ramadan. This article you wrote about reminded me of it. I knew that Muslims when celebrating Ramadan fasted during the day but didn't realize until reading the school nursing article that that meant no water either. It brought to mind how the student may be feeling in the course of the day, headache, tired etc. Reading it gave me some insight on how to best care for these students during this spiritual time. I LOVE how the author came up with the idea to offer the art room as an alternative to the cafeteria. I know if I had to fast all day that it would be torture to sit with my friends and watch them eat. The art room gives the students the option of not having to endure the cafeteria.
ReplyDeleteSuch a great post!! I had taken that exact course a year ago, so I remember the content well...it definitely shares some similarities, especially since SCWAAMP also places the physically and mentally able-bodied folks at the top of the power line...thus leaving those with special needs in less equitable circumstances oftentimes. I loved your silly anecdote about the "notices to go home to mom, dad, cousin...cat, dog"...since I do this very same thing!! You're right, we have little idea who is home to care for these kids. I have some families that have multiple people from extended family at the house, and this is totally normal..(I'd go nuts if that were my house!) But this need to find ways to include the culture of the students we service is growing more and more concerning. And the article I read stressed how so many "privileged" teachers feel that trying to do this work, and seek out family traditions or learn of their culture/background is EXTRA and UNNECESSARY!! I wanted to vomit. We have to change this.
ReplyDeleteSuch an inspiring read! I thought the Ramadam lunch room idea is a great one! Thanks for sharing this.
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