The Purpose of Uncovered Classroom

Introduction and Purpose

Hi! My name is Sydney Cunningham and I am a high-school student at Skyline Highschool. Being a part of our Skyline Writing Center, I have become inspired to help improve my school and my community, and I have learned ways to be involved. I have always been passionate about fighting for racial equality inside and outside of the classroom, and I have decided to act on my passion to help aid in the battle against the racist systems within schools. I created Uncovered Classroom as a way for ELA teachers to learn how to make their classrooms more culturally relevant and to give them the resources to do so. I have observed that our classrooms and our curriculums, students of color are often underrepresented and silenced. We are not accurately reflected in a lot of the work and examples we see in english classrooms. As a result of this under-representation, not only do students of color feel like they are not good enough to become great writers, it also perpetuates emotions of loneliness and inferiority. If all the examples of “great writers” we see in english classrooms are straight white men, it inaccurately infers that the only great writers and authors that exist are straight white men, which is simply not true. The goal of Uncovered Classroom is to give teachers easy access to amazing pieces of writing that they can show in their classrooms as examples to their students. This will create an environment where students can see themselves reflected in great pieces of literature, as well as allowing other students a chance to experience voices from different cultures. 

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Ask yourself: Is your classroom anti-racist?

You may think that your classroom is fine the way it is, but it's extremely important to assess your practices to make sure that you are doing all you can to create a culturally relevant environment. It’s not enough to stick to traditional school systems because these systems are racist. Systemic racism is very real and our educational system is not exempt from it. You must actively fight against rasicm, you must be anti-racist. In your mind, think of what you are currently doing to make your students of color feel safe, accepted, and accurately represented. Think about how you could do more. Not every great writer is a white man, think about how many different great BIPOC authors and writers are out there! Show them in your classroom!