Multiculturalism can be defined as the inclusion and acceptance of everyone.
Living out the class name, the current multicultural studies class at Normal West High School is striving to engage with difficult societal issues in a respectful and collaborative way.
Covering topics such as race, sexuality, and injustice, the class lends itself to holding difficult conversations.
In fact, this semester, the first hour class has begun meeting with West Principal, Dr. Angie Codron for a fishbowl group discussion where Codron is not only able to hear from the class, but also from various leadership groups across the school, like SEAT (Student Equity Alliance Team).
“The idea is [that] she takes [the ideas] back to make changes to the school because she can make changes structurally,” social studies teacher Jen Hamler explained.
The students get a unique opportunity to “really focus on issues that they want to talk about” and help with improving the school culture.
“She’s looking for that student voice because she’s making a million decisions all day long,” Hamler added.
Not only does Codron get valuable insight out of the meetings, but the students involved also take a lot away, as well.
“I really enjoy how [she loves] hearing us in the group circle and hearing our voices, which makes all the students here feel accepted,” senior Naomi Getachew said.
Multicultural studies is a unique class at Normal West because its creation was student driven.
In fact, in 2020-2021, students brought the idea for multicultural class to the superintendent.
“Both [social studies] departments at Normal Community and West got together and collaborated to design the curriculum, as well as a suburb of Chicago that had been teaching this course for many years,” Hamler noted.
Eventually, the course was condensed to a semester and a couple of main topics under the topic of multiculturalism.
“We decided on identity, race, and then the social justice projects,” Hamler explained.
The matters discussed in class vary slightly based on current events during the semester.
“Every semester brings a whole different group of kids that have different interests and different passions,” Hamler added.
“The discussions differ every semester,” noted Hamler. “I learn so much as a teacher from my students.”
Multicultural studies student senior Kamirah Clark likes the class because of “how open [the] socratic discussions are and how we can get different viewpoints from people [with] different backgrounds and experiences in life.”
Hamler echoes this appreciation, noting that she witnesses students learning from one another.
“Every student brings in their own life experiences and it creates a lot of empathy within the class,” Hamler added.
Naturally, the class easily becomes tight-knit and builds a strong community off of trust.
“My favorite thing about the class is the people,” Clark noted.
Because of the controversial nature of the topics discussed in class such as race, sexuality, and injustice, the open circle discussions help build trust between peers.
“[Circles are] super powerful when you’re talking about really hard topics. I think, because the students have to look at each other,” notes Hamler.
In addition, the open-narrative-environment provides a safe space for differing opinions to be shared.
“[As a teacher] you know you’re gonna have lots of differing opinions, but I don’t really consider that a challenge. Challenge accepted, because that’s what the class is about.
“You want to have different new opinions. If you get a bunch of kids that have the same opinions that is just not fun. It’s not good for anybody…I always say when we stop talking to each other, then that’s when the problems happen,” Hamler shared.
Hamler values circle discussions because they give every student in the class a voice instead of just a few kids who are more likely to raise their hands.
“We all have different lived experiences. We have different socioeconomic backgrounds. We have different upbringings and different religious backgrounds. We all bring different stuff to the table,” Hamler said.
The engagement that occurs during these circles is clear. Hamler notes that when she looks out at her students, she doesn’t see some of the normal distractions.
“We don’t really see the phones out. We don’t see people like doing their math homework or other stuff in their class,” she said.
Overall, student participation governs the structure of the multicultural studies class. It is truly built around student voice.
As students begin to think about their class schedules for next school year, Hamler hopes to see the class enrollment grow to be able to lead more sections.
