Students are more likely to succeed academically and personally when they feel supported and respected. Meaningful Conversations—sets of resources created by a diverse team of writers—focus on a variety of perspectives to help all students feel seen and understood. The sets encourage student discussion about culturally and socially relevant topics in a respectful and supportive setting. Each set is accompanied by a Lesson Guide to support instruction, a Teacher Toolkit with suggestions for setting up an inclusive classroom, an SEL Guide to help incorporate social-emotional learning practices in instruction, and a Caregiver Toolkit to explain the benefits of culturally responsive and SEL teaching, helping caregivers answer students' questions and offer support. Log in to your Reading A-Z or Raz-Plus account to view Meaningful Conversations resources.
We live in a complex, interconnected and everchanging world full of people who each have their own equity identity, experience and perspectives. Classroom resources should reflect the rich variety of the world's people, so Learning A to Z created meaningful conversation steps to engage children with diverse perspectives, stories, cultures, identities and experiences with sets available at grade bands K to one, two to three and four to five. Each age appropriate topic is easy to build into your ELA, social studies or SEL curriculum. The tools in these resource sets help you create an inclusive classroom where students feel they can bring their whole selves. You'll be equipped and ready to facilitate impactful, respectful discussions on topics relevant to today's culture. Helpful support within an overview, social-emotional leaning guide, teacher toolkit and caregiver toolkit will give you and your students' families the information needed to get started. Use the overview to see the topics at a glance and to gain a rich understanding of how the supporting tools and resources work together. Reference the tips and strategies in our social-emotional learning guide to help student recognize and understand their emotions, behaviors and values. Integrating CASEL's five SEL competencies into your curriculum enables students to connect their real world experiences with classroom learning, improving academic success and classroom attitudes. You'll also enhance your own personal and professional development while finding practical tips on how to tackle challenging discussion topics in your classroom and you'll learn how to be prepared for a variety of potential student reactions to these topics. Use the teacher toolkit to challenge your own unconscious bias and evaluate your classroom practices. You'll find tips to help you choose culturally relevant texts and guidance on having respectful and robust discussions. Use the teacher discussion guidelines to help you facilitate conversations and then share the student version to support the primary and intermediate students. Feel confident that your classroom is inclusive, representative and engaging for all students. Send the caregiver toolkit home with students to empower learning and inspire meaningful conversations with parents and caregivers. This supportive resources comes in multiple languages and explains to parents and primary caregiver what SEL and cultural responsiveness are along with the resources and topics students are exploring in the classroom. The lesson guide contains all the information you need to guide your students through an exploration of each topic. You'll find a driving question to focus instruction, learning objectives, tips for talking about the topic with students and adaptable instructional sequence and suggested discussion questions for each resource. Keep students engaged in and out of the classroom with a multitude of useful resources. The supplemental activity set contains three activities for further familiarity and understanding of the topic. Watch the videos and reread the text to ensure a deep understanding of the text and different perspectives on each topic. Bring the learning and conversations together by using the discussion cards and answering the driving question together as a class. Meaningful conversation sets offer inclusive, culturally relevant, unbiased resources that you and your students will be talking and thinking about for a long time. Dive in today and get the conversation started.
