Essential Question: How will you partner with families, communities, and school personnel to cultivate learning opportunities in pursuit of educating the whole person?  

Mind Map: Inclusive Communities for Diverse Learners

Creating inclusive learning communities that foster the development of the whole learner starts with knowing your students and their families, creating a culturally responsive environment at school where students know they are seen and valued. One way to do this is to offer students opportunities to share their identities and backgrounds through their class assignments, thereby centering learning in students’ unique gifts. Next, students need to know they are safe at school – safe to be themselves, safe to explore and make mistakes, safe to be vulnerable and expressive. A part of fostering this safety is through affirming teaching practices. Students need to know their teachers believe in them – in their extraordinary capabilities and endless potential. Teachers enhance this belief when they make it a classroom norm to celebrate and affirm.

Part of helping students see and reach this potential is through providing achievable challenges in their learning. Learning happens with hard work and practice. Furthermore, academic challenges must be rooted in relevancy to students. They need a sense of purpose and a clear direction on where their learning is taking them. Providing students with clear learning targets, scaffolding and supports, helps them self-direct their learning and succeed in their development. Student supports may be defined in IEPs, 504s, or through other support systems in which the school, student, student’s family, and other community experts, partner to formulate a personalized plan to accommodate and uplift the student in their learning. Pedagogies such as Universal Design for Learning and restorative approaches help students develop agency and metacognitive awareness. Students increase their self-sufficiency, their trust in their abilities to succeed, and develop higher-order skills that transfer to their future endeavors in a global and interconnected world.