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Preparing Tomorrow’s Engaged Citizens by Embracing Diverse Perspectives in the Classroom

August 16th, 2016

HCPSS is proud of graduating engaged students ready to be active citizens. The school system’s curriculum, written and updated annually by Howard County teachers, encourages this by weaving in diverse perspectives through lesson resources offered throughout a student’s academic journey. Incorporating multiple viewpoints into the curriculum honors the growing diversity of our student body, while developing life skills to continuously question.

HCPSS curriculum not only meets national and state standards, but balances instruction consistency with teacher autonomy while incorporating community and school feedback. The Social Studies curriculum in particular offers multitudes of resources for each standard, so teachers have on hand multiple perspectives to carry out their lessons. And while inclusion has long been a value of the school system, we strive to represent ever-more diverse voices in the classroom each year as sought after by local groups and students alike.

“It’s vital that we analyze and understand multiple perspectives in order to get a more accurate picture of a given topic, period or event,” said HCPSS Elementary Social Studies Coordinator Kim Eggborn. “At the elementary age, having students recognize different perspectives helps them understand that there might not be just one right answer or one correct view. By trying to proverbially walk in someone else’s shoes, it helps us be more open to the inclusion of perspectives that are different from our own.”

Elementary Social Studies incorporates diversity into the curriculum starting in prekindergarten, when students are encouraged to discuss their own cultural experiences. As students progress through the elementary grades, layers of gender, race and socioeconomic awareness are applied as they learn about their fellow classmates’ cultures, then geographical viewpoints, early American history and finally politics. And many elementary students can spend extra time uncovering findings on an African-American innovator through the performance-based program, Unheard Perspectives: Black History Month Expo.

In recent years, Elementary Social Studies switched from using a single textbook to offering multiple resources and artifacts, now through Canvas, so teachers can more easily incorporate more perspectives into their lessons. This year in particular, curriculum writers focused on supporting inquiry-based instruction, helping teachers create learning opportunities that encourage exploring many viewpoints while students engage with a question.

Veterans Elementary School 4th grade teacher Kristie Cartwright enjoys being able to select the text of her choice to teach to the standards. For example, she decided on a Jackie Robinson lesson to explore problems, discuss goal setting and teach new vocabulary. She said including diverse experiences in the classroom impacts learning because “the students are more accepting of others. They participate more because they’re eager to express themselves and talk about their background.” Swansfield Elementary School 3rd grader Hailey Mitchell, who attended Cartwright’s summer Let’s Get Ready for Third Grade program, agreed, saying learning about others has helped her “…change because I feel and care about them now because I understand them.”

At the secondary level, HCPSS Secondary Social Studies has focused on weaving in diverse examples throughout the core courses, such as history, geography and political science, especially through new curriculum resources. This year, teachers will have access to learning plans, which model best practices and lesson pacing. Also new this year, students will have quarterly tasks to assess literacy and analytical skills and content knowledge.

Modern World History, for example, has increasingly weaned away from a Eurocentric focus to incorporating lessons from around the world. Mount Hebron High School Social Studies teacher John McCoy challenges his students to discover alternative perspectives on topics such as imperialism, looking at Gandhi’s perspective living under British India or the Togolese under German rule. McCoy said, “One of the issues in history is that sometimes the story that is told can be one-sided. Alternative perspectives can give that additional insight into what was going on and provide takeaway lessons. It’s very powerful to be willing to engage in as many perspectives as possible.”

Atholton High School summer graduate Fanny Yayi-Bondje said McCoy’s summer Modern World History class helped prepare her as she’s about to head off to college and hopefully one day travel the world and join the Peace Corps. Yayi-Bondje said, “I love learning about different cultures and new people. It’s open in this class, so we can talk and share our stories. I was born in Cameroon, so I have my different perspectives. We have another student from India who talks about her experiences. It helps to learn about other people.”

HCPSS Secondary Social Studies Coordinator Mark Stout said, “It’s imperative that we cover diverse perspectives in the curriculum because students have to see themselves in their experience in school. Furthermore, a major role of education is to develop citizens who enter society understanding their role. One of the responsibilities is to understand the people you live with. We’re a diverse society. Howard County is a microcosm of how our country is changing. Understanding other cultures makes us more human.”