Speaker: Julie Kuntz, Professional Learning Specialist
What do you hope teachers will take away from this course?
Julie Kuntz: Hi, my name is Julie Kuntz and I'm one of the course writers for the course 5290: Love, Literacy, and Liberation in the Culturally Inclusive Classroom. Something I hope that teachers will take away from this course is actionable strategies for how to not only believe in loving and caring about our students but putting that into action. I think so many of us care deeply about our students. We have so much passion for helping students meet their social and emotional needs every day. But we struggle to figure out how actually to do that in tangible ways that aren't harmful and that are helpful, relationship focused but still focused on literacy based practices. And that's where this course really shines because it gives you practical skills and strategies while also really focused on personal reflection.
What do you love about this course?
Julie Kuntz: Something I love about this course is love itself. This course is based off of a text called Revolutionary Love. And this text is a beautiful testament to the love that we show our students. And also the way that love is really an act of liberation, and it is a revolutionary act because in many of the ways that we need to show love for our students, we have to push back on some of the oppressive systemic challenges that many of our students face. So something I love about the course is the course text. I think the authors beautifully weave through narrative and their own personal experiences to really help us look inward, dive deep, kind of acknowledge our own biases and current practices in order to transform our work and truly give students the love that they deserve.
