"I started thinking about it last year while looking through my classroom library," third grade teacher Sarah Gordon said. "I was looking for a book for a student who happened to be African-American.  She really liked funny, silly chapter books and I wanted a book with people who actually looked like her. I couldn't really find one.  I was surprised and disheartened."

Sarah applied for and received a BFS Summer Curriculum Grant to begin integrating chapter books, books for young readers which are longer than picture books, into the second through fourth grade curriculum that better reflect racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and religious diversity.  "As I looked around the classroom I realized that the books most kids were reading, Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Horrible Harry, Judy Moody, the Roald Dahl books, were similarly homogeneous with predominantly white, middle to upper class protagonists, and a lot of male characters, too." She doesn't feel that these books should be abandoned, "but they need to be accompanied by similar quality books that reflect the diversity of BFS, Brooklyn and the world."

She realizes this isn't just a BFS problem, it's a cultural problem with a wide scope. "In an ideal world these would be the types of books that would be readily available, popular, turned into movies, lining everyone's shelves," she said, "but I think we can create a 'counter-culture' where these books are everywhere [at BFS]."

Sarah is still researching the best books to use. Meanwhile a few of her faculty cohorts have begun a book club for Lower School students using books with a greater diversity of characters.

"Information-sharing and support is the real purpose of my work," she explained. She considers the project to be an ongoing effort. "Teachers are doing a lot in isolation, but there needs to be a central mechanism, a structured time, or clear goals to make large-scale changes."

Meanwhile Sarah has spent the past few months talking with other teachers and librarians all over the country, and even her 90-year-old great aunt who gave her a book, along with plenty of "reading, reading, reading."

Middle-Upper School dance teacher Jesse Phillips-Fein and Middle School humanities and science teacher Laurice Hwang also joined forces and applied for a Curriculum Grant. They used the funds to further develop their anti-bullying curriculum which they began last year. She explained the program's genesis. "For several years, Middle School faculty members volunteered to run 'diversity groups', both open groups and affinity groups for students of color.  We talked about a wide variety of topics from family structure to gender and racial stereotypes, ablism and what its like to live with a disability," she said. "We also were concerned about the language use and name-calling we experienced among students and we wanted to address this issue." They looked for ways for the issues discussed in these meetings to reach the entire Middle School student body, not just those who attended the group meetings.

In 2008-09 they developed an anti-bullying curriculum based on the acclaimed documentary Let's Get Real, which includes real students talking about their bullying experiences. After students watched it they engaged in conversations in their advisory groups. "Teachers discussed strategies for talking about bullying and issues related to diversity," Jesse said. "We developed a common language to use with students.  Parents who watched the film were excited about our new approach to this challenging issue, and gave us feedback from their perspective."

The improved curriculum will be unveiled in advisory groups starting in October.

In the Middle School, three faculty received a Curriculum Grant to develop a website that will serve as a teaching database for geography teachers. "Ticia came up with the idea first," confessed Middle School humanities and history teacher Tony Soll, referring to Middle School humanities teacher Ticia Vreeland. "We had planned to do the ol' 20th Century binder of worksheets and give one to each history and social studies teacher." Instead they joined forces with Middle-Upper School History Department Chair Ed Herzman to create the site.

"We've been trying to augment the geography curriculum for the past few years to better give our students a better sense of how cultures interact and how geography plays a part in our history," said Ticia. "We found that we were doing a great deal of geography in our classes, but this allowed us to share our work and to fill in any gaps." They also needed to ensure that their teaching of geography followed NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) recommendations.

"The NYSAIS review of the history department indicated that we were deficient in having a clear geography scope and sequence," explained Ed. "We felt that we did a good job of teaching certain geography concepts in context, like how geographical factors affect the development of cultures. These [new] lessons address practical application of rote geography skills."  These include basics such as latitude & longitude, and identifying countries in the regions students study.

The group worked over the summer, conducting web research and gathering materials. "Each grade level is provided with eight lessons with follow-up worksheets and assessments," said Ticia, who created the bulk of the site with help from Media-Video Production teacher Andy Cohen. "The website format allows us to adapt the lessons to our students and to add more as time goes on.  It allows all students at a particular grade level to practice the same set of skills."

The site officially launches in October. They plan to get feedback on the site from their fellow history teachers throughout the year.