An inclusive curriculum is a curriculum in which different races, disabilities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, religions, and cultures are represented. Inclusive curriculum also means a curriculum that provides students with the appropriate accommodations to ensure success. A lack of representation within the classroom leaves students feeling ostracized, demotivated, and unsupported. 

"We have to start seeing who is not there, whose adventures are missing."

Although schools are increasingly more diverse, the curriculum that is taught does not mirror this. This is especially true in most English classrooms. This is a very disheartening fact, as a large portion of knowledge that students’ acquire comes directly from the literature that is read in school. A lack of representation in literature provides students with a very narrow point of view on the world which in turn creates harmful stereotypes. Lack of representation in literature also creates a diminished self-worth among marginalized children. 

Including inclusive literature into the English classroom is extremely crucial. Inclusive literature allows students to not only see themselves represented in ways they have never been represented before, but also learn about students who are different from them. By providing students with literature that represents different types of people, you are helping prepare your students to thrive in a world that is very diverse and different from the  bubble that they live in. 

"Therefore, to teach in a way that adequately attends to the characteristics of our learners, and certainly to promote the idea in our classes of all of these characteristics as things to be embraced, we must understand what our definition encompasses, how we are using that lens in our instructional choices, and how we can remove limitations from “culture” as something so simplistic and obvious to the naked eye" (Kohler and Barrios 19). 

"Children need to have a classroom space where they feel safe to discover and express themselves, a place to explore their own culture while learning more about the diverse backgrounds of their peers" (Kohler and Barrios 20)