johndoe@gmail.com
What does an inclusive classroom look like? Just a few simple principles can help teachers transform learning environments into spaces where students respect difference, empathize with others, and gain the tools they need to be socially responsible adults.
This month, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Library presents resources from today’s top experts discussing key components of an inclusive classroom, on topics that include the importance of nurturing consent culture, implementing restorative practices, fostering race equality, and more. Scroll down to discover professional texts, development guides, and lesson plans that can help teachers create inclusive learning spaces and support student growth.
Consent means more than just receiving permission to do or say something; a culture of consent is one in which agreement is found through respect and compromise, an important element of an inclusive classroom. In Creating Consent Culture: A Handbook for Educators, authors and consent educators Marcia Baczynski and Erica Scott draw on more than 25 years of combined experience to challenge common assumptions about consent, and help teachers transform the dynamic of their classrooms.
In this sample chapter, Baczynski and Scott differentiate between consent and coercion, illustrating how a classroom consent culture can help prepare children to become caring and responsible adults.
Trauma-informed, strengths-based classrooms are built upon three core aims: to support children as they build their self-regulatory capacities, to build a sense of relatedness and belonging at school, and to integrate wellbeing principles that nurture growth and identify strengths. In their book Creating Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Classrooms: Teacher Strategies for Nurturing Students’ Healing, Growth, and Learning, education experts Tom Brunzell and Jacolyn Norrish present case studies, learning points and strategies for helping the most vulnerable students build their resilience, increase their motivation, and fulfill their learning potential.
Read this chapter, in which Brunzell and Norrish address proactive, preemptive approaches to creating trauma-informed, strengths-based learning spaces at both the classroom and whole school level.
Schools that embrace restorative practices ultimately see results through increased student engagement, stronger social-emotional skills, and a healthier learning environment for all students. Implementing Restorative Practice in Schools offers educators evidence-based explanations of how classrooms and schools can become truly restorative, as well as why such environments are vital to a child’s development.
In this chapter, experts Margaret Thorsborne and Peta Blood explain why schools adopt restorative practices, how those practices can improve better teaching and learning, and how they can contribute to inclusive spaces and social-emotional development.
Young people develop their value systems during their school years, offering the perfect window of opportunity for educators to challenge prejudice and promote race equality. More Than Words is a comprehensive guide for educators to look beyond addressing individual racism-fueled incidents and instead create safe, inclusive, and supportive environments for all young people.
In this provided chapter, authors Sarah Soyei and Kate Hollinshead offer techniques for embedding race equality into everyday teaching practices.
Building an inclusive classroom requires educators to teach children empathy and provide them with tools to both learn from and support each other. In their book A School for Everyone: Stories and Lesson Plans to Teach Inclusivity and Social Issues, Ffion Jones, Helen Cowie, and Harriet Tenenbaum provide 16 stories told from different perspectives covering social and emotional concerns around far-reaching issues including refugees, disability, gender diversity, and climate change. Each story is accompanied by a fact file, a set of interactive activities, lesson plans, and a bank of resources to further enhance understanding.
Read this sample story and teaching kit about how children can better understand cyberbullying, both to support classmates on the receiving end and eliminate it from their school.
