By Joseph Hutchins, member, Bronxville School Foundation Board

Mar. 4, 2020: A grant from the Bronxville School Foundation is funding a new elementary school curriculum focused on diversity.

"The Diversity Book Club" provides K-5th grade students the opportunity to learn about the ways in which religion, race, gender, and physical abilities affect their lives and the lives of others.

The teaching is done through the context of children's' picture books. The books are read and discussed in the classroom, then sent home with a guide that includes questions for parents to use as prompts for family discussions.

This curriculum is the result of work done by the Elementary School Diversity Think Tank. The Think Tank began in 2017 and is comprised of 28 teachers with an interest in exploring issues of empathy, equity, and culturally responsive teaching.

The impetus for starting the Think Tank stemmed, in part, from students who expressed a feeling of exclusion.

In the summer of 2018, fifteen teachers attended an on-site training session entitled "Talking About Race" in the classroom. In the summer of 2019, the Foundation funded a grant that sent educators to study at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

The Foundation is funding work with Paul Gorski, of EdChange, a leader in scholarship in the field of equity literacy and culturally responsive teaching and learning. Gorski is a world-renowned expert on racial, poverty, and class equality.

Fifth grade teacher Claire Hollocou says, "We have made great strides in this work! Because of the Diversity Book Club, we provide space and time for conversations in which every student feels safe and has a voice in the classroom. This promotes multicultural competence, which is a top skill for college and work environments.

Teachers feel empowered when they see the beauty it brings to the students' experience.

Hollocou further says, "I feel it when I walk into my classroom. We have the ground rules set in place to have the conversations that, in the past, would have been uncomfortable. The impact that this is having is huge."

Pictured: Bronxville Elementary School teacher Claire Hollocou, The Diversity Book Club

Photo courtesy Bronxville School Foundation

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