DEIB Resources

I am excited to share the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work that our faculty and staff have engaged in this summer. In years past, we have required faculty and staff to read a specific book – or to choose one book from a short list – on a particular topic, with a brief follow-up discussion at the start of the year. We decided to go in a bit of a different direction; rather than choosing a book, we expanded the choices to include books, podcasts, television shows, and documentaries. Additionally, rather than choosing one topic, we chose four broad topics under the umbrella of DEIB: Race; LGBTQ+; Learning Differences; Socio-Economic Status.

 

After two years of digging more deeply into DEIB work across the community than we ever have, we felt it was time to expand the list of topics within DEIB that we address as well as the source materials we use to address them. Sources suggested to our faculty and staff include: The 1619 Project podcast; Minor Feelings, by Cathy Park Hong; Pose (FX television series); Three Miles (This American Life podcast episode); ADHD 2.0, by Edward Hallowell and John Ratey. Faculty and staff were asked to choose one of the four DEIB topics and were then free to choose resources within that topic.

 

At our opening meetings we had two faculty and staff-led breakout sessions organized by DEIB topic, where I anticipated important, enriching, and challenging discussions. The goal of this work is always to represent, understand, and serve our students to the best of our abilities as we educate them each day. These topics speak to the range of diversity in our students and families. What we have learned from these DEIB resources will be woven into how we teach, interact, and support one another and our students every day.

 

Please click here to see the full list of DEIB summer resources.