Curriculum Revitalization through an equity lens with Marceline DuBose
Ways to revitalize and diversify curriculum
• Apply a good filter; watch for what explicit and implicit messaging in the content
• Include a broad array of perspectives
• Don’t sugar-coat hard things
• Make sure students can students see themselves in the curriculum
• Teach larger concepts of justice, democracy, human growth, and development using all kinds of people that have contributed to these concepts
• Identify and include absent narratives
What gets in the way of revitalizing and diversifying our curriculum?
• Tradition, or personal affection or nostalgia for a certain topic
• Assumption of what students should learn: the cannon, college ready, standards and testing
• Educators feeling like they don’t have the knowledge or time to make changes
• Parents critiquing changes in the curriculum
• Assuming students are too young to talk about difficult things or current events
An example of revitalized curriculum: MLKJ
• Learn about his values and think about how would he apply it to current topics?
• Give a full and accurate representation of who he was; not just dreamy
• Include MLKJ and other BIPOC leaders in the curriculum all year long
Dos or Don’ts for Black History Month
• Do add stories of whimsy, love, friendship, and creativity; Don’t limit your discussion to stories of trauma, oppression, or overcoming adversity
• Do involve you students by making stories relevant to their lives
• Do expand complexity and context, not just history but current events as well; Don’t limit yourself to single heroes – what are the stories of the people, the area, the geography?
• Do expand the context where these stories live (math, science, tech); Don’t limit it to the humanities
• Do balance our stories so they aren’t all victim-focused; who is the focus on?
Resources & References
Connect with Marceline: www.dueast.org; @dueeast
• Unit or Lesson planning template
• Collective Knowledge Creation
• Educational Equity Curriculum and Instruction Compass
• List of websites for curriculum
• Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias and Anti-Racist Classroom Texts
• Diversity in Children’s Books 2018 Infographic
• Danger of a Single Story TedTalk
• Absent Narratives Resource Collection from MN Humanities Center
Find more educational resources by topic at https://www.mn.sourcewell.org/education/podcast
Learn more about upcoming trainings and events for educators at www.mn.sourcewell.org/education
