Student Voice in Curriculum Development

This week Jenoge speaks with Leah Dunbar, Language Arts/Social Studies Specialist for the Lane Education Service District. Leah is a teacher who passionately turns student learning into action. She has years of experience teaching Language Arts and Ethnic Studies at the high school level.

Her teaching experience and service-oriented philosophy toward students, results in a conversation with Jenoge that bridges quality teacher-student relationships with rigorous instruction. Leah shares her K-12 education experience and how the curriculum did not reflect who she was as a black, bi-racial child. This experience continues to mold her curriculum design and teacher support to ensure that representative texts are present in her classroom and curriculum.

She encourages students to bring forth their stories and text recommendations to ensure that student perspective is heard and included. She speaks about the intersection of place-based, ethnic studies and climate change and how student research can create relevancy and investment into student learning.

This episode inspires educators to center student learning and experience into curriculum design. If you have ever wondered what  student-centered instruction looks and sounds like, listen to this episode. It will become clear that student voice is an important part of shaping curriculum. 

 

Resources: 

Beautiful Solutions, This Changes Everything (Naomi Kline)

Courageous Conversations for Classrooms

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