Be The Change You Want To See In The World

On This Day In History
1990: Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.) signed into law

Quote Of The Day
""Equal opportunity." This is what the Americans with Disabilites Act means to me. It guarantees that any citizen with a disability has the same opportunity to participate in mainstream America as any citizen without a disability. It is good to be reminded that not so long ago this was not the case."
(Carla Hill, Transylvania Vocational Services Program Director)

Every year we are given a summer holiday homework reading assignment. Teachers and Teaching Assistants are asked to choose one book from a selection presented by the Head of School to read over the summer and be prepared to feedback on that book during I.N.S.E.T. Week. I chose this book, Becoming A Totally Inclusive School: A Guide For Teachers and School Leaders by Angeline Aow, Sadie Hollins and Stephen Whitehead. I finished reading the book, and making notes on it, this morning.

Our school has been making very slow progress towards becoming Totally Inclusive for the past few years. Working towards (successfully) achieving accreditation from three separate accreditation agencies - the Council of International Schools (C.I.S.), the International Curriculum Association (I.C.A.) and the Council of British International Schools (C.O.B.I.S.) - has somewhat detracted from progress on that front, but I am keen to help move the school forward to becoming Totally Inclusive. That is why I chose to read this book.

Some of the content was rather dry, academic and jargon heavy, but it was mostly engaging, informative and inspirational. One part of the book that spoke clearly to me was this anecdote from a teacher:

"This week I started wearing my new Pride Progress Flag badge. I had a couple of students ask me about it, who I actually never really had a conversation with outside of talking about the subject that I teach. One Year Seven student came up and asked, "Is that a pride flag? What do the different colours mean?" After I explained each section of the flag, that the brown and black part is to represent "People of Colour", and what the intersex part of the flag means, the student then asked me, "What is your sexuality?" Caught off guard I was wondering whether it was perhaps quite an intrusive question. I decided instead to welcome their curiosity and explained that I was gay and that I was married to another teacher in the school. Rather than feeling embarrassed or self-conscious, I came away realising how important it was to normalise these conversations with students. A badge is such a simple thing, but I was really taken aback at how many students noticed it and how many were curious and wanted to find out more." 


So, yesterday I wore my Pride Progress Flag badge and I plan to wear it every day, especially when I am at work. Who knows, perhaps it will be a stimulus to similar conversations with children at my school. As the final two sentences in the book say,

"Each child in our care deserves an advocate. Will that advocate be you?"


Another thing I would like to try an do is share with my class (and/or with the staff) the video that Kendallishere featured in this recent post. You couldn't have timed the posting of that entry better, Kendallishere. Thank you.

We Are The Most Beautiful People