Embedding Diversity Into The Curriculum: Facilitating Challenging Conversations

Wagner, Kegan, Lahey, Lemons, Garnier, Helsing, and Rasmussen’s (2006) four C’s, consisting of competency, conditions, culture, and context, were used to think systemically when looking at the current (As-Is) and projected (To-Be) in the Galaxy School district. This paper focused on the need to embed past and current racial and gender diversity issues into the everyday curriculum in an effort to have a positive impact on students’ social-emotional learning skills. The current curriculum has limited racial and no gender diversity. Students can go from Kindergarten to eighth grade being taught very little history and current events that are racially and gender diverse. Semistructured interviews were conducted and survey responses collected from a survey administered to teachers and parents in the Galaxy school district. The findings demonstrated that teachers need to be trained on how to become culturally proficient and intentionally embed racial and gender diversity into their everyday curriculum