LEWISTON – Area educators will have an opportunity to explore what it means to be a culturally responsive educator through a course offered this summer at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College.

The graduate level course, “Dialogues in Diversity,” will challenge accepted notions of what is natural, normal and powerful in public school settings and how and why schools predictably benefit some students while silencing, excluding and/or marginalizing others.

Instructors and participants will explore the implications of diversity in the classroom through reading, reflection and dialogue, enhanced by encounters with the arts and other active learning experiences. Participants will develop projects to support equity, access and democratic participation in their schools and classrooms.

The course, offered through USM’s College of Education and Human Development, will be organized around the following essential questions:

1. What does diversity in education mean to us and why does it matter?

2. How can we develop educational contexts and experiences that support equity, access, and democratic participation?

3. How can we support students’ development of their own unique identities and voices and allow them to create their own meanings?

4. How can we create and foster culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy?

5. How can we incorporate what we learn from our discussions and readings meaningfully into our lives as educators and community members?

The Dialogues in Diversity course (EDUX 654) will meet from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 26 through July 2. The instructor will be Dr. Diane Wood, assistant professor of professional education at USM.

Anyone interested in registering should call 753-6530. A complete summer course listing is available at usm.maine.edu/lac/schedules.