DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Gaynor’s Racial Literacy Curriculum
A
s the new school year begins, our community
The pre-made lessons were then shared with every
continues to reflect on the impact of the racial
teacher so they could incorporate them into their
and social injustices that remain at the forefront
classrooms. There are 10 lessons, and teachers will teach
of our nation, and to brainstorm ways to incorporate teachings on these issues into the classroom.
one a month for the entire school year. While the lessons are complete with instructions and
Over the summer, a team of educators worked to create
resources, each one has the flexibility for teachers to
a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion curriculum that would
modify it and make it their own in order to best fit their
be incorporated at Gaynor beginning this fall.
students' needs, as each class at Gaynor is different.
The team included Librarian Dionne De Lancy, Assistant
Ms. De Lancy said, “I think in a way it’s giving our teachers
Teacher Jenine Gaynor, Head Teacher Audrey Schaefer,
confidence to do the work. Sometimes people are
and Science Specialist Jacqueline Smith.
unsure about what to say or what to do. Everyone wants
“We were tasked with 'Gaynorizing' a racial literacy curriculum for our students,” Ms. De Lancy said. “Because these social issues are so huge, we decided we want to focus solely on racial literacy for this school year.” The curriculum was divided into four different categories, also known as bands, for classes to work on throughout the year. The bands are: identity, respect, social justice, and combating inequality. The team used resources from Pollyanna and Teaching Tolerance, as well as their own knowledge and research on the topics. They then blended all of these together to create curriculum maps and units for each topic, differentiated by cluster. These units include goals, essential questions, activities, and more.
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GAYNOR GAZETTE
to do the right thing, so I think this gives teachers the confidence to do it and to know that we are a resource for them to reach out to if they have questions.” Ms. Gaynor said the curriculum helps provide the right resources to faculty in order to help them be the allies they want to be and support Gaynor’s students and staff of color. “I think the resources that we put together are what they’ve been wanting for a long time, and we kind of quenched their thirst,” she said. “We also created this curriculum in the sense that wherever we are, we can still move with this curriculum. If we ever had to pivot to distance learning again, our curriculum fits that space as well, and whatever space we’re in, the curriculum will move along just the same at Gaynor.”
