A wonderful opportunity for speaking the same language as a community, and celebrate diversity!
November, or should we say NEWvember?
I like to think that this month will become a traditional time of the year for focusing on diversity and coexistence, with specific foci and a look to new voices and changes in a world that will welcome us all with our characteristics, hopes and dreams.
The initiative was thought and realized in collaboration with Shona McKay, Inclusion (and beyond) coordinator at ISMonza, as part of a focus on professional development for teachers delivered by the Inclusion (and beyond) team.
You are probably starting wondering: why beyond?
To begin with, we chose to use Magritte’s famous artwork Ceci n'est pas une pipe as an 'icon' of the project, to express the idea that the Inclusion & Beyond Awareness month has the intention to be a place and a time for us to deconstruct automatic thoughts, explore the meaning we give to words (such as inclusion) and how they impact our experience, and go beyond what we have been thinking up to now, using some trigger topics and group conversations.
When we began reflecting on a journey of professional development around the topic of inclusion and well-being, we were fully aware of how this would have been a journey into personal #growth for everyone, including ourselves. And it should be so.
Our aim is for our community to transform alongside with a culture that is transforming, and we chose to do it starting with our #language.
How do we talk about diversity? What words do we choose to use? What could help our #community to communicate effectively, respectfully, with meaningful outcomes on our practice and, as a goal, on the quality of life of students and teachers?
So yes, there will be definitions in this first ever Inclusion & beyond awareness month at ISMonza: it will have the structure of a little dictionary developed through dedicated videos and moments of personal and shared reflection.
As Fabrizio Acanfora, activist and autistic person, called it on his book ‘In altre parole’ (In other words), this project is shaped as a sort of manual of open mindedness, one of the core values of the IB approach.
During the first I&B awareness month we want to nurture the ground for teachers to feel effective and fulfilled, and students to feel appreciated, welcome, guided, non-confused.
It is a start and it needs to be seen as a start, which means: ‘well begun is half done’. What should we bring with us in this journey? Openness, intention, energy, curiosity, trust.
To build a home, we need the bricks. And yes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we want this to be relevant and transformative for good, so as always, let’s take our time!
Quoting philosopher Alexander Lager, we will start with 7 points for the art of learning together, exploring the words of diversity.
The first point is about inclusion, and why we put the word ‘beyond’.
Follow this blog to learn more!
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