On my journey to bring more diverse authors, stories and voices to my high school English curriculum, I notched a couple of wins in the last two weeks. (Quick recap, I’m seeking to add Tommy Orange’s 2018 novel There There to the 12th grade English curriculum.)

Win #1: The district Instructional Materials Committee will review my request. Okay, so this one is kind of like putting “Make to-do list” at the top of my to-do list just so I can check it off… I’m a member of this committee and have been talking up this book to anyone who will listen.

Win #2: My building secretary and principal worked some budget magic and found a way to fund two class sets of novels. My building is the smallest of the district’s three high schools, and two class sets will cover every 12th grader in my building over the coming months. (Of the other two buildings, one high school just recently opened and has not fully phased up to 9-12 enrollment and the other has a senior class typically in the 500s… so that’s a heavier lift.)

These two successes have made me think about what teacher leaders… particularly teacher leaders new to navigating systems… might need to be cognizant of in order to successfully advocate:

1. Get to Know Your District’s Policies

Just a handful of years ago, the official policy in my district was that any YouTube video or online text used for instruction required official admin approval. That’s a rule I broke daily, arrogantly emboldened by the phrase “justifiable educational purpose” that somebody somewhere once told me was my key defense when asking forgiveness instead of permission. In hindsight, I’m lucky that controversy never came knocking.

Since then, our policy has evolved. Current policy grants teachers a great deal of professional leeway, guided by what we call the “Community Standards” which are basically red-flags for controversial content. By following a pretty straightforward flow chart a teacher can determine if the material they want to use requires no approval, principal approval, or district approval.

We have to remember that we, as public school employees, are legally obligated to serve as agents of the district-approved curriculum. Therefore, what we communicate when teaching isn’t protected speech under the First Amendment if we veer too far from approved curriculum.

In short: Sift through your policy to know when you need ask to approval, and who you are supposed to ask. If it isn’t clear, push for clarity…and if no one can give you clarity, maybe you’ve just found your next teacher-leadership project.

We have to keep in mind: What we communicate when teaching isn’t protected speech under the First Amendment if we veer too far from approved curriculum.

(source)

2. Get to Know Your District’s Deciders

Allies matter. My path toward approval is a whole lot easier because I have my principal’s support and I’m taking my curriculum proposal to the right committee (which I happen to also be a member of). If you think you know who makes the decisions about curriculum in your district, it pays (literally) to who the approval-granters are versus who the check-writers are. Often, these are two very different entities with very different interests, agendas, and procedures. I’ve known a handful of teachers excited to get pet projects or texts approved by one entity only to discover that this approval was utterly unconnected to funding. One teacher expected that the notice of approval would be accompanied by a crate of materials… alas, no.

Creative administrators have been able to support many teacher-driven text purchases, but often teachers have had to turn to outside grants, donations, or even their own pockets to furnish books. Knowing who makes decisions about approval, purchasing, and budgeting makes a huge difference. It’s about asking the right people the right questions.

3. Get to Know Your District’s Vision

Though I’m cringing in expectation of a punny convergence of “vision,” the year “2020,” and our district’s mantra of “see and serve every student,” the intention behind our current District Wide Thing To Focus On For Now is noble, and conveniently fits my curricular mission. For good reason, we are all about equity right now, and my efforts to broaden our literary anchors beyond the current list match that initiative.

Equity across our system includes equity in curriculum. In the English class, that means windows and mirrors…which is sadly becoming a cliche, even though it is actually super important. (The tl;dr on windows and mirrors: Our curriculum should provide windows into words different from our own while also providing mirrors through which we can critically examine ourselves.)

I’m pitching a novel written in 2018 by an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and about the interwoven lives of over a dozen Native American characters. Not only does it merit inclusion as a work of literature (period), it serves to offer our overwhelmingly non-Native students a window into worlds too easily assumptioned into degrading stereotypes. This alignment with the broader district vision can only bolster my advocacy.

And Last: Know That “No” Doesn’t Mean “Never.”

All of us as teacher leaders have been told “no” about some great idea we were championing. Whether the “no” is to your proposal for curriculum change, or the “no” is to your request for funding, if it is a worthy change, keep trying.

Despite my confidence in my case, I am developing a contingency plan for if I get a “no.” I’ve already reached out to allies in other buildings as well as other districts to ready a change in strategy if my endeavor doesn’t pan out.

I believe that now more than ever we need to rethink the books we put in kids’ hands: Literature is a critical tool for fostering an informed and empathetic citizenry. It is my duty to use story to help my students be better humans more capable of seeing beyond themselves. A “no” won’t change that belief, it will just change the path I have to take to “yes.”