Our Wildwood, Summer 2021, Volume 46

this role had evolved into Wildwood’s first director of multicultural affairs as Wildwood formalized its multicultural programming and expanded it K-12. Working alongside Head of School Landis Green, Rasheda facilitated Wildwood’s shift from a general commitment to diversity and inclusion to administrative and curricular programming, and things began to take shape and change. Part of that change was the creation of the school’s Multicultural Leadership Team (MLT). The birth of what was initially named the Diversity Council also occurred in 2008, and it was a rocky start—the group of faculty and administrators recruited for the team launched by trying to attend to about 20 team-generated goals but soon recognized they had taken on more than they could manage. In the years following, structure was put in place to streamline the council, which became the Multicultural Leadership Team, a 12-member, well-oiled machine, with thoughtful recruitment and onboarding practices and annual goal setting focusing on two to three goals each year. The team also attended to its own growth and learning, and with the guidance of expert facilitators from Visions Inc., the team got its sea legs and became a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) work in the independent school world. initiatives: the development of the Multicultural Scope and Sequence. K-12 faculty were led through multiple workshops during which they examined several social identifiers, or the “Dimensions of Self,” in relation to our K-12 curriculum. At each level, teachers reflected on ways they taught some of these identifiers (e.g., race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc.); they worked together to name how Wildwood approached different identifiers in the curriculum and looked for gaps and overlaps. MLT then worked to design a scope and sequence for each grade level to focus on specific themes, so that from kindergarten through 12th grade, there would be opportunities for students to do a deep dive into a particular aspect of identity. Once the faculty knew the scope and sequence, they were able to create programming and curriculum applicable to their theme(s), bearing in mind that the grade-level themes were NOT designed to limit a teacher’s ability to teach about other aspects of identity and multiculturalism. Over the years, PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT Soon thereafter, MLT engaged in one of its major

Multicultural practice was left to the skills of the individuals who were hired, and the administration supported teachers who brought innovative ideas and anti-bias practice to life in their classrooms.

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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS! | OWW SUMMER 2021