II. Considerations

Considerations: Self-Work and Analysis

Reading culturally relevant and decolonizing theory and reflecting on my own knowledge gaps and biases has changed my perspective on several of my past curricular choices. I find myself thinking back to a British literature course I taught that included Kipling’s novel Kim. Though I attempted to problematize colonialist ideas, I had no grounding in decolonizing theory and little knowledge of colonization in India or Indian authors/perspectives to draw from, rendering my attempts shallow at best. Similarly, I look back at times that I advocated for more diverse authors (and a little less Shakespeare) in our curriculum. Without a foundation in culturally relevant pedagogy and a clear reasoning for why particular books should be added, these attempts pushed diversity for diversity’s sake without calling into question structural oppressions. From essentialized units to an imbalance between depictions of suffering and depictions of joy, harmful missteps become clear when I look at my curriculum through the lens provided by the continued reading of experts in theory and practice as well as persistent personal reflection. 

When I took on the task of analyzing my own curricula, I found the below resources helpful. The results of my analysis combined with the culturally relevant and decolonizing theories that I studied brought to the surface four major themes, detailed in the corresponding pages. First, Centering the Margin contains the rationale and some strategies for including diverse voices and ways of knowing without simply tacking additional content onto an unchanged curriculum. In Keeping the Classics, I explore arguments for the continued teaching of "traditional" texts and ways to do so within a culturally relevant and decolonizing framework. Embracing Youth Culture challenges views of adolescents as undeveloped and advocates for an appreciation of youth culture and Young Adult literature. Finally, in AP Literature Analysis, I explore possibilities for centering diverse voices, disrupting classics, and foregrounding youth culture within the confines of the AP Literature standards and requirements. The resources that shaped my thinking and helped me make curricular choices are linked and described throughout.