Course Content

Building Social Capital Through Inclusive Practices

Belonging in schools must go beyond surface-level participation. It must lead to authentic connection. This course examines how inclusive practices build social capital by nurturing relationships, reciprocity, and meaningful contribution among all students. Educators will explore how everyday instructional choices, classroom routines, and extracurricular opportunities can be designed to foster deep, sustaining connections. Grounded in the belief that social capital is essential for lifelong inclusion and well-being, this course supports educators in designing classrooms and communities where every learner is known, valued, and connected.

This course blends storytelling with practical learning. As you move through the course, you will alternate between reading your chosen story and engaging in Learning Interludes that deepen your understanding of inclusive education.

To view the course content, click on each section header below. This will reveal the readings and materials for that part of the course.

How the Course Flows

The course follows a consistent sequence:
Prologue → Learning Interlude 1 → Chapter 1 → Learning Interlude 2 → Chapter 2 → Learning Interlude 3 → Chapter 3 → Learning Interlude 4 → Chapter 4 → Learning Interlude 5 → Epilogue → Learning Interlude 6

Each chapter of your story highlights key ideas in action. After each chapter, you will complete a Learning Interlude that unpacks those ideas through guided content, tools, and activities.

What’s in a Learning Interlude?

Each Learning Interlude contains three Learning Links. A Learning Link is a short, focused learning unit that includes:

A short video explaining an essential concept.
A follow-up activity to help you apply what you have learned.

After each Learning Link, you will find both individual and group activities. Choose the activities that are most meaningful and relevant to your role, goals, and context. There is no requirement to complete them all.

If you are facilitating this course for a group, Facilitator Notes are included at the beginning of each Learning Interlude. These provide guidance, timing suggestions, and tips for leading group discussions and activities.

You will also find:

Printable tools and templates to support your planning.
Reflection prompts to help connect new ideas to your own practice.

These interludes help you make sense of what you have read and offer practical strategies you can use right away, whether you are learning individually or with a group.

▶ Inside the Story: Prologue

Inside the Story: Prologue

As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.

A Stage for Friendship

Prologue: On the Edges ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Aliyah attends classes, completes assignments, and has a warm relationship with her educational assistant, Ms. Nguyen, but something is missing. During lunch and recess, she sits at the edge of social groups, rarely invited into deeper peer interactions. Her physical and communication differences make spontaneous connection harder, and many students do not know how to bridge the gap. Ms. Nguyen watches this daily and wonders where Aliyah might be seen differently

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Prologue: Shifting Culture ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Summit Grove Secondary is known for academic excellence and university preparation, but a closer look reveals that many students feel isolated or unseen. Social divisions are sharp. Students report feeling pressure to perform without space to be fully themselves. Ms. Kaur, the school’s vice principal, senses that inclusion efforts need to move beyond individual accommodations. They need to reach the heart of school culture. She launches a student-led Inclusion Advisory Board and invites students to reimagine what belonging could look like.

Connecting Through Culture

Prologue: Quiet Corners ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Logan prefers quiet. He moves gently through the day, reading, observing, and sketching, without drawing much attention. Well-meaning teachers try lunch groups and buddy pairings, but nothing quite fits. He seems content but disconnected. Ms. Cardinal, the school’s Indigenous support worker, sees more in Logan. She knows that cultural identity is often invisible in schools and that for students like Logan, that invisibility can make connection harder. When she proposes involving him in an upcoming Métis storytelling project, a new path begins to form.

Quiet, But Present

Prologue: The Silent Seat ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Tessa has not spoken at school in over a year. Her selective mutism leaves her silent in nearly all classroom and social settings. Teachers are kind but uncertain. How do you include a student who does not respond? Tessa participates in work and follows routines, but peer relationships remain distant. Her drawings are rich and expressive, yet rarely shared. She sits at the edges of group activities, quiet and compliant. Most days, it seems as though her presence passes without ripple. But something more is stirring beneath the surface.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Prologue: Lunchtime Walls ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Darren notices a quiet but persistent pattern in the cafeteria. The same students sit alone day after day. They are often the students who receive one-on-one support, who use mobility equipment, or who need help navigating social cues. Though staff supervise, no one seems to address the growing isolation. Darren remembers his own school experience and how painful it felt to hover on the edge of conversations, unsure where he belonged. He decides to act, not with a grand plan, but with something small like pulling up a chair.

▶ Learning Interlude 1: Getting Started

Learning Interlude 1: What Is Social Capital?

Occurs After Prologue → Before Chapter 1

Module Name: Foundations of Connection

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

🌟 Success Criteria

I can define social capital and explain why it matters in schools.
I can describe the difference between presence, participation, and connection.

🎬 Learning Link 1: Understanding Social Capital

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Social Capital Reflection Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on how your own sense of belonging was shaped by relationships during your school years.
Asset Network Snapshot (📄PDF): Choose one student and sketch a rough “map” of who they interact with regularly at school.
Access vs. Connection Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Reflect on the difference between simply being included and being truly connected.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

What Is Social Capital? Circle Dialogue (📄PDF): Engage in a facilitated group conversation using prompts to explore what social capital looks like in your school.
Social Capital Word Web (📄PDF): Collaboratively brainstorm words, phrases, and examples that describe or build social capital in a school setting.
Staff Experience Mapping (📄PDF): As a team, share stories about moments of connection or disconnection and what factors made a difference.

🎬 Learning Link 2: Presence, Participation & Contribution

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Presence-Participation-Connection Self-Check (📄PDF): Reflect on a specific student and identify where they are showing up and where they are truly engaged.
Shifting the Lens Worksheet (📄PDF): Consider how your own practices might focus more on presence than participation, or participation over contribution.
Contribution Journal Prompt (📄PDF): Identify one student who has gifts or contributions that aren’t yet visible. How might you invite them to share?

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Presence to Contribution Case Studies (📄PDF): Analyze fictional or real student scenarios and identify what’s needed to move from presence to contribution.
Barriers & Bridges Mapping (📄PDF): In groups, identify factors that prevent or support student participation and contribution in your context.
Inclusive Contribution Planning Circle (📄PDF): Share strategies for creating classroom and school opportunities for authentic student contribution.

🎬 Learning Link 3: The Role of Relationships in Inclusive Education

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Social Capital Mapping Tool (📄PDF): Map the peer and adult relationships of a student in your classroom. Where are the strong ties, and where are the gaps?
Relational Reflection Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on how you intentionally build, support, or model relationships in your teaching.
Connection Inventory (📄PDF): Track where and how students are connecting with peers or adults across one week.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

School Connection Reflection Guide (📄PDF): As a team, use this guide to assess the depth and breadth of relationships in your school.
Relational Equity Brainstorm (📄PDF): Discuss how to ensure that all students, not just some, have access to meaningful peer relationships.
Peer Connector Mapping (📄PDF): Identify students who serve as social bridges or connectors, and brainstorm ways to support their role intentionally.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Social Capital Mapping Tool (📄PDF): A visual tool to help educators identify and analyze the relational networks around students.
School Connection Reflection Guide (📄PDF): A structured guide for reflecting on the quality of connection in classroom, grade, or school settings.
Presence–Participation–Contribution Planning Grid (📄PDF): A template to plan and reflect on how students are invited into deeper forms of engagement.

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes research and frameworks related to social capital in education, inclusive community-building, peer-mediated supports, and the relationship between connection, equity, and long-term wellbeing.

▶ Inside the Story: Chapter 1

Inside the Story: Chapter 1

A Stage for Friendship

Chapter 1: Missing Pieces ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

At a school assembly, Aliyah sits near the front with Ms. Nguyen. The group beside her laughs and chats, but she is not included. When a classmate volunteers to join a drama activity on stage, Ms. Nguyen notices a flicker of interest on Aliyah’s face. That afternoon, she shares this with Mr. Peters, the music teacher, who has been trying to build inclusive participation in his fine arts class. Together, they brainstorm how Aliyah might be supported to join drama rehearsals not just by accommodating her needs but by building a structure where her strengths can shine. They agree to try a team based approach.

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Chapter 1: Listening In ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The Inclusion Advisory Board meets for the first time in the library. Ms. Kaur begins not with an agenda but with a circle. Each student is invited to share one story about a time they felt excluded or invisible at school. The stories are painful, honest, and sometimes surprising. Students speak of hallway slurs, assignment choices that ignore their history, and the silence that follows when harm goes unacknowledged. The room is quiet. No one interrupts. These stories are not just about individual pain. They point to systemic patterns. The students decide their first action will be to map inclusion and exclusion in their school from a student perspective.

Connecting Through Culture

Chapter 1: Mapping Stories ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Ms. Cardinal invites Logan and a few other students to join a storytelling group focused on Métis and First Nations seasonal traditions. The group meets during lunch with bannock, tea, and soft drum music in the background. Logan listens intently. When asked if he would like to contribute, he does not speak but quietly pulls out a sketchbook and begins to draw a map of the riverbank where his grandfather taught him to fish. Ms. Cardinal affirms this as a form of storytelling. She shares it with the group, and soon others begin bringing their own maps, drawings, and artifacts from home. A new kind of connection forms, rooted in culture, quietness, and shared identity.

Quiet, But Present

Chapter 1: Drawing Her Way In ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

During a class art project, Ms. Langford notices that Tessa’s drawings are full of rich symbolism and detail. Instead of pushing her to present her work verbally, Ms. Langford asks if she would be willing to share it with a classmate by passing notes or drawing together. Tessa nods. A quiet peer named Jasmine is paired with her. The two girls begin exchanging sketches and simple written phrases during quiet work time. Slowly, a friendship begins to take shape, without words but full of shared creativity. Ms. Langford begins to wonder how many other students might benefit from expressive outlets beyond speech.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Chapter 1: One Chair, Many Ripples ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Darren begins sitting with students who usually eat alone. At first it feels awkward. The students are quiet, unsure how to respond. But he continues. He brings Uno cards one day, a sketchpad another. Slowly, a small lunchtime circle forms. Other students begin to join. Some come just to observe, others stay and play. A teacher on supervision takes notice and asks if she can bring conversation starters. Without any formal program, the culture of the lunchroom begins to change. Staff start to notice who is missing from the social flow and begin to sit differently too.

▶ Learning Interlude 2: Foundations of Universal Design

Learning Interlude 2: Designing for Peer Interaction

Occurs After Chapter 1 → Before Chapter 2

Module Name: Removing Barriers to Connection

🌟 Success Criteria

I can identify common barriers that limit peer connection.
I can implement one classroom practice to support interaction.

🎬 Learning Link 1: The Social Curriculum of School

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Social Curriculum Reflection Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on how your classroom implicitly teaches social norms, roles, and peer dynamics.
Interaction Barriers Checklist (📄PDF): Complete the checklist for your classroom environment and routines to identify what may be limiting peer connection.
My Role in Social Learning (📄PDF): Journal about how your language, grouping, and expectations shape how students relate to one another.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Social Curriculum Mapping (📄PDF): Collaboratively identify what social messages are currently embedded in classroom routines, expectations, and spaces.
Barrier Brainstorm Wall (📄PDF): Post and discuss barriers to peer interaction commonly seen across classrooms or grades.
Instructional Moments of Connection (📄PDF): Share real examples of when students connected meaningfully and explore what made it possible.

🎬 Learning Link 2: Structuring for Peer Relationships

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Peer Engagement Planning Template (📄PDF): Choose a current lesson or unit and intentionally plan how you will support peer connection.
Grouping Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Reflect on how grouping practices help or hinder social learning and connection.
Observation Log: Peer Interaction (📄PDF): Observe student interactions during a non-directed time and note patterns of connection or isolation.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Grouping and Connection Protocol (📄PDF): Use this tool to review and adjust classroom grouping strategies to foster relationships.
Design Jam: Interaction-Infused Lessons (📄PDF): Collaboratively redesign a typical lesson to include peer interaction that promotes belonging.
Collaboration Framework Sorting (📄PDF): Sort and compare different frameworks for peer collaboration, discussing which best fit your context.

🎬 Learning Link 3: Dignity, Proximity & Roles That Matter

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Dignity in Roles Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on how roles and tasks assigned to students either affirm or diminish dignity and contribution.
Proximity Mapping Exercise (📄PDF): Sketch out physical and social proximity patterns in your classroom—who is close, and who is apart?
Student Roles Journal Prompt (📄PDF): Identify meaningful roles a student with limited peer interaction could take on to increase visibility and purpose.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Role Design Brainstorm (📄PDF): Work in teams to create a menu of authentic student roles that promote contribution and mutual respect.
Social Mapping Gallery Walk (📄PDF): Share classroom layout maps showing student placement, and discuss how space impacts proximity and interaction.
Belonging Through Responsibility Circle (📄PDF): Share ways that giving students real responsibility has fostered peer relationships.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Interaction Barriers Checklist (📄PDF): A tool to identify and reflect on common environmental, structural, and relational barriers to peer interaction.
Peer Engagement Planning Template (📄PDF): A structured planning sheet for embedding peer connection into lesson design and routines.
Dignity-Centered Roles Menu (📄PDF): A resource with role ideas that promote visibility, agency, and connection for all learners.

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes literature on peer-mediated supports, social learning theory, classroom design for interaction, and research on the role of proximity, responsibility, and dignity in fostering student connection.

▶ Inside the Story: Chapter 2

Inside the Story: Chapter 2

A Stage for Friendship

Chapter 2: Finding Her Place ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Aliyah begins attending drama rehearsals with the support of Ms. Nguyen and a peer buddy who has learned some of her communication tools. During warmups, she hesitates, but when the group does a movement based storytelling activity, she begins to mirror others. One student starts adapting gestures to match Aliyah’s movements, creating a shared improvisation. Mr. Peters notices and builds it into the next rehearsal plan. Slowly, other students begin incorporating inclusive gestures and adaptive cues. Aliyah’s presence begins to shape how the entire group thinks about participation.

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Chapter 2: Mapping What Matters ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The student advisory board creates an “Inclusion Map” of Summit Grove. They identify hot spots of belonging and exclusion across classes, hallways, clubs, and activities. Students share stories of who gets included and who gets overlooked. Patterns emerge. The group creates a large visual display with color coded zones and anonymous quotes. Staff are invited to a walkthrough during a professional development day. Many are moved by what they see. One teacher says, “I had no idea my classroom felt unsafe for some students.” The board begins planning their first peer led learning event.

Connecting Through Culture

Chapter 2: Riverbank Stories ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The storytelling group prepares for a school wide assembly on Métis perspectives. Logan is invited to help create a visual mural representing the stories shared by the group. He sketches animals, river patterns, and symbols from his own family’s history. As others add their stories, Logan notices themes of resilience, relationship with the land, and family strength. During the assembly, Logan stands beside the mural while a peer narrates what each image means. His quiet presence beside the artwork becomes a powerful act of representation.

Quiet, But Present

Chapter 2: Circle in the Corner ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Ms. Langford creates a quiet peer group called “Circle in the Corner” where students can share art, poetry, and reflections without needing to speak. Tessa and Jasmine join and begin bringing illustrated journals. Other quiet students start sharing zines, comics, and symbolic images. Ms. Langford builds time into the week for the group to meet and share. One day, a more extroverted student asks if she can join. She brings a spoken word poem and sits quietly while others share. The group becomes a place of shared respect and quiet creativity, reshaping what social participation looks like.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Chapter 2: Patterns of Connection ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Darren starts documenting what he observes during supervision. He notices which students initiate play, who is left out, and how adults intervene. He shares his notes with the student support team and is invited to join a professional learning group exploring social capital. Together, they begin to design small experiments. One involves reconfiguring seating in the cafeteria. Another tests student led lunch clubs. Darren helps pilot a “buddy zone” where students can opt in to structured social games. Staff begin to understand that social design is as important as academic support.

▶ Learning Interlude 3: Designing for Engagement

Learning Interlude 3: Contribution and Reciprocity

Occurs After Chapter 2 → Before Chapter 3

Module Name: Valuing Every Student’s Gifts

🌟 Success Criteria

I can describe the role of contribution in developing social capital.
I can create opportunities for all students to experience reciprocity.

🎬 Learning Link 1: Beyond Helping – Reciprocal Roles

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Reciprocity Reflection Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on moments when students have been invited to contribute meaningfully—not just helped or supported.
Reciprocal Role Brainstorm Tool (📄PDF): Identify classroom roles or routines where students typically receive help and reframe them as opportunities for mutual exchange.
Support Reframing Prompt (📄PDF): Choose a student who often receives assistance and journal ideas for how they might be positioned to offer support to others.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

From Helper to Partner Case Studies (📄PDF): Examine fictional or real classroom scenarios and reframe one-way support into reciprocal roles.
Barrier to Reciprocity Brainstorm (📄PDF): Discuss what limits reciprocal roles in your setting and generate actionable ideas to address these barriers.
Role Mapping Workshop (📄PDF): As a team, create a visual map of peer roles in your classroom or school and identify where reciprocity can be strengthened.

🎬 Learning Link 2: The Power of Contribution

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Contribution Opportunity Planner (📄PDF): Use this planning tool to design a contribution opportunity for a student whose gifts are often overlooked.
Contribution Lens Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Think of three students in your class and reflect on how their contributions are seen, valued, and shared.
"I Belong When I Contribute" Journal (📄PDF): Write about how meaningful contribution has shaped your own experience of belonging—and how this might apply to students.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Contribution Mapping Protocol (📄PDF): As a team, identify who is regularly contributing and who may need more accessible or visible opportunities.
Strengths to Contribution Brainstorm (📄PDF): Share stories of student strengths and collaboratively design ways for each one to contribute to the classroom or school
Visual Gallery: What Contribution Looks Like (📄 PDF): Create a display of photos, quotes, or artifacts that celebrate diverse ways students contribute meaningfully.

🎬 Learning Link 3: Reframing Support as Shared Responsibility

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Shared Responsibility Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on how classroom support could be structured to be more collaborative and less hierarchical.
Support Roles Inventory (📄PDF): List the types of support typically offered in your classroom, and note how students could co-own or co-lead them.
"I Need, I Offer" Two-Sided Chart (📄PDF): Fill out a chart naming what students may need—and what they can offer in return.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Support as Partnership Scenario Work (📄PDF): Analyze scenarios where traditional support structures are reimagined as shared responsibility.
Design Challenge: Co-Owned Supports (📄PDF): In teams, redesign a support plan (e.g., peer buddy system, academic support) to embed reciprocity.
Circle of Gifts Activity (📄PDF): As a team or classroom, name and celebrate the diverse contributions each individual brings to the community.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Reciprocal Role Brainstorm Tool (📄PDF): A reflection and planning sheet to identify and redesign classroom roles that invite mutual exchange.
Contribution Opportunity Planner (📄PDF): A structured tool for planning inclusive, dignified opportunities for student contribution.
"I Need, I Offer" Chart Template (📄PDF): A tool to help students or educators reflect on reciprocal classroom dynamics.

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes literature on social capital theory, peer-mediated learning, classroom community building, student contribution, and inclusive practices that foster reciprocity and mutual respect.

▶ Inside the Story: Chapter 3

Inside the Story: Chapter 3

A Stage for Friendship

Chapter 3: Backstage Bonds ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

During tech week, Aliyah is paired with a backstage crew who learn how to interpret her cues and communicate with her using her device and gestures. When the soundboard malfunctions, she signals a solution using a visual cue. Crew members begin to rely on her calm presence and keen observation. One night, a peer leaves a handmade note at her station that reads, “You keep us grounded.” The friendship forming in the wings begins to carry over into the school day, where students now greet Aliyah with familiarity and ease.

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Chapter 3: Standing in the Gap ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The advisory board hosts their first “Belonging Café” during lunch hour. Students set up interactive stations where peers can reflect on inclusion, write anonymous notes about their experiences, and suggest changes. One student writes, “I’ve never seen myself in our hallway posters.” Another shares, “I wish someone would sit with me.” The board documents responses and brings them to admin. Rather than just presenting problems, they suggest action steps. The principal offers to co host a student led PD session. The board realizes their role isn’t just advisory. It’s catalytic.

Connecting Through Culture

Chapter 3: Community Feast ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Logan’s class is invited to help plan a community potluck to celebrate Métis Week. His grandmother offers to bring bannock, and Logan helps write the invitation in both English and Michif. Ms. Begay helps the class learn basic greetings in Michif and explains the cultural meaning of sharing food. On the day of the event, Logan beams as his family arrives. He introduces classmates to his kokum and explains the meaning of the beadwork she’s wearing. The event becomes more than a potluck. It becomes a place where culture, pride, and community come alive.

Quiet, But Present

Chapter 3: Bridges of Understanding ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Jasmine begins writing a short graphic novel based on her friendship with Tessa, showing the power of quiet connection. She reads it aloud to the class as part of a literacy celebration. The story, told through illustrations and sparse dialogue, portrays a character who speaks through presence rather than words. Tessa quietly gifts Jasmine a watercolor bookmark in return. Their classmates begin to see both girls differently, not as shy or withdrawn, but as creative, intentional, and brave. The story opens conversations about different ways of being and connecting.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Chapter 3: Middle School Matchmaker ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Darren helps organize an inclusive games day where students rotate through cooperative challenges in mixed grade teams. Before the event, he meets with select students who are often left out of group activities and offers roles like scorekeeper, greeter, or time tracker. During the event, he checks in regularly to offer encouragement. One student who usually eats alone is seen cheering with their group. At the end, a Grade 8 student says, “This is the first time I actually liked something we did as a whole school.” Darren starts planning for what else is possible.

▶ Learning Interlude 4: Representation that Connects

Learning Interlude 4: Community and Cultural Connection

Occurs After Chapter 3 → Before Chapter 4

Module Name: Expanding Circles of Belonging

🌟 Success Criteria

I can identify ways to link school connection to culture and community.
I can partner with families to extend belonging beyond the classroom.

🎬 Learning Link 1: Circles of Social Capital

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Circle Mapping Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on your students’ circles of connection. Who is in their social world at school, at home, and beyond?
Community Asset Brainstorm (📄PDF): List local organizations, individuals, or traditions that could be invited into the school community.
Belonging Beyond the Bell Reflection (📄PDF): Write about what inclusion looks like after school hours or beyond school walls.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Circles of Connection Mapping (📄PDF): Work together to map your school’s current relationships with community and cultural groups.
After-School Belonging Brainstorm (📄PDF): Generate ideas for extending belonging through extracurriculars, clubs, or partnerships.
Connection Champions Roundtable (📄PDF): Identify students with limited social capital and share ideas for intentionally expanding their circles.

🎬 Learning Link 2: Cultural Connection as Access

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Culture-as-Strength Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Reflect on how students’ cultural identities are acknowledged and affirmed in your classroom.
My Cultural Bias Self-Check (📄PDF): Identify assumptions you may carry and consider how they may impact student belonging.
Community Connection Builder (📄PDF): Use this tool to identify specific opportunities to link classroom learning to local cultures and communities.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Culturally Responsive Practices Gallery Walk (📄PDF): Share examples of lessons, events, or practices that celebrate cultural identities.
Barrier Buster Brainstorm (📄PDF): Identify and address systemic or unintentional barriers to cultural access and inclusion in school activities.
Cultural Connector Planning Session (📄PDF): Designate ways for educators, staff, or students to serve as cultural liaisons within the school.

🎬 Learning Link 3: Engaging Families and Elders

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Family Partnership Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on how you currently invite family voice and involvement in a way that builds partnership.
Family Conversation Starters (📄PDF): Choose 2–3 questions to try in your next family communication and reflect on the outcomes.
One Connection Commitment (📄PDF): Identify one relationship with a family or elder you’d like to strengthen and outline next steps.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Engaging Elders and Knowledge Keepers Roundtable (📄PDF): Explore culturally respectful ways to involve elders and knowledge keepers in student learning.
Story Swap: Family Engagement That Worked (📄PDF): Share moments when family partnerships led to deeper connection or support.
Family Connector Role Design (📄PDF): Design a peer or staff-led role that helps build bridges between families and the school community.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Community Connection Builder (📄PDF): A planning template to help connect classroom activities to local cultural and community assets.
Family Conversation Starters (📄PDF): A list of accessible, inclusive prompts that help educators deepen connection with families.
Cultural Access Planning Tool (📄PDF): A resource to identify how classroom materials, communication, and traditions can reflect the full diversity of your students.

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes research on culturally responsive pedagogy, family-school-community partnerships, social capital theory, and Indigenous and local knowledge inclusion in education.

▶ Inside the Story: Chapter 4

Inside the Story: Chapter 4

A Stage for Friendship

Chapter 4: Moving into the Spotlight ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

For the final performance, Aliyah’s role is no longer just backstage. She has a brief scene on stage where she cues a lighting transition using a visual signal and delivers one line using her device. The audience applauds, but the most powerful moment comes afterward when her classmates gather around her with high fives and heartfelt words. “You nailed it,” one says. Aliyah beams. The stage has become a place not only of performance but of recognition, belonging, and shared success.

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Chapter 4: Rewriting the Playbook ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The advisory board turns its focus to school policies. They examine codes of conduct, field trip forms, and club access with a lens of inclusion. They meet with staff to discuss how dress codes and behavior charts may marginalize certain students. Their advocacy leads to a revised code of conduct co written with students and a new peer welcoming committee. They present the changes at a school assembly, not as a critique of the past but as a hope for the future. Teachers take note. So do younger students.

Connecting Through Culture

Chapter 4: Circle of Belonging ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The school year closes with a class reflection circle. Logan volunteers to share last. “At first I didn’t think anyone would care about where I’m from. But now I think it’s something that brings us together.” He gifts Ms. Begay a small beaded keychain he made in his after school group. Several classmates ask if they can learn too. Ms. Begay works with Logan to plan a lunchtime cultural crafting club. What began as a solitary sense of heritage now becomes a community learning opportunity.

Quiet, But Present

Chapter 4: A Room Where You Can Be You ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Tessa is invited to help design a new sensory and quiet room being planned by the school’s wellness team. She chooses color palettes, textures, and layouts that reflect calm and comfort. A quote she selects is framed on the wall: “Quiet is still a voice.” On the day the room opens, Tessa quietly tours it with her mom and nods with quiet pride. The space offers more than support. It affirms that her way of being matters and that inclusion can be built with softness, gentleness, and care.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Chapter 4: Culture Keepers ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

As the school year ends, Darren helps organize a recognition circle. Students nominate each other for “belonging awards” that highlight kindness, teamwork, and inclusion. One student nominates Darren. “He sees us. Not just our marks or our behavior, but who we are.” Darren is caught off guard and deeply moved. He realizes that his presence in the school has become part of the culture. His next project is to mentor a younger EA who is just starting out, passing on not just strategies but vision.

▶ Learning Interlude 5: Flexible Expression and Student Agency

Learning Interlude 5: Transitioning Toward Lifelong Inclusion

Occurs After Chapter 4 → Before Epilogue

Module Name: Sustaining Relationships Beyond School

🌟 Success Criteria

I can describe how social capital influences long-term outcomes.
I can name two practices that help sustain connection through transitions.

🎬 Learning Link 1:Social Capital Across the Lifespan

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Social Capital Timeline Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on your own timeline of relationships. What helped you stay connected through life transitions?
Transition & Belonging Planner (📄PDF): Choose a student and outline how their relationships can be supported through an upcoming transition.
Long-Term Impact Journal (📄PDF): Write about how peer relationships or adult mentors have shaped your trajectory and what that might mean for students.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Lifespan Connection Mapping (📄PDF): Work in teams to map what connection looks like at different ages and stages. Where do gaps appear?
Role of Relationships in Outcomes Dialogue (📄PDF): Discuss how social capital supports well-being, employment, and inclusion beyond school.
From School to Community Wall (📄PDF): Post visible examples of when school relationships successfully transitioned into community or adulthood.

🎬 Learning Link 2: Preparing for Transitions

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Transition Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Reflect on how a student you've supported has navigated a school or life transition—what helped, and what was missing?
Connection Inventory: Who Goes With Them? (📄PDF): Identify key peers and adults in a student’s life and how they might remain part of the next stage.
Strength-Paired Transition Planning (📄PDF): Match student strengths to future opportunities that foster connection and growth during transition.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Transition Planning Protocol (📄PDF): Use a structured process to ensure connection and contribution are part of every transition plan.
Bridge-Building Strategies Brainstorm (📄PDF): Identify practical ways your school helps students maintain relationships when moving on.
Peer Connector Circles (📄PDF): Plan peer mentorship or buddy systems that continue across school years or into new programs.

🎬 Learning Link 3: Sustaining Community Ties

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Lifelong Connection Checklist (📄PDF): Use the checklist to assess how your current practices support or limit long-term connection for students.
One Sustaining Practice Plan (📄PDF): Choose one practice (e.g., co-op, mentorship, extra-curricular) and plan how to strengthen its community ties.
Relational Exit Strategy Journal (📄PDF): Reflect on how students are supported to maintain ties with adults, peers, and programs when they leave.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Community Ties Story Swap (📄PDF): Share stories of students who maintained or lost connection after school, and what we can learn.
Strengths-to-Pathways Planning Session (📄PDF): In teams, align student strengths and interests with long-term inclusion opportunities.
Sustaining Relationships Roundtable (📄PDF): Brainstorm strategies to keep relationships active across summer, transitions, or into adulthood.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Transition & Belonging Planner (📄PDF): A step-by-step tool to plan relational and contribution-focused supports during key transitions.
Lifelong Connection Checklist (📄PDF): A reflective guide to assess practices that build or inhibit sustained inclusion beyond school.
Student Support Network Map (📄PDF): A visual tool to help identify which relationships and roles can move with a student through transitions.

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes research on transition planning, social capital and adult outcomes, inclusive pathways, and sustaining peer and community connections into adulthood.

▶ Inside the Story: Epilogue

Inside the Story: Epilogue

A Stage for Friendship

Epilogue: Carrying It Forward ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Aliyah’s success in the school production sparks a conversation about inclusion in future school events. Her teacher, Ms. Tanaka, leads a planning session with staff to ensure that all performances, field trips, and celebrations proactively support access and participation for all students. Aliyah’s parents, once unsure if she would ever have a meaningful school role, are now asked to share their insights with other families. The curtain has closed on the play, but the spotlight on inclusive belonging remains.

The Inclusion Advisory Board

Epilogue: A Legacy of Influence ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

As the school year ends, several advisory board members graduate. Before they leave, they host a final student forum and pass along the torch to a new group of passionate students. The board’s work is now embedded into school structures, with regular meetings, staff liaisons, and a standing item on the school council agenda. One Grade 10 student reflects, “It’s not perfect. But now we know we have a voice. That changes everything.” Inclusion becomes not just a project but a pillar of the school’s identity.

Connecting Through Culture

Epilogue: A Growing Circle ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

The lunchtime cultural crafting club becomes a weekly highlight. Students from various backgrounds bring in stories, symbols, and practices from home. Logan begins planning a “cultural walk” event where classes can showcase creative projects tied to heritage and belonging. With guidance from Ms. Begay, students design posters and displays that line the school halls. Logan is no longer a student trying to fit in. He is a leader building a space where all students can feel seen, honored, and connected.

Quiet, But Present

Epilogue: Leading with Gentle Strength ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

At the school’s final assembly, the principal reads a poem about quiet leadership and invites Tessa to stand beside her. The room fills with applause. It is not for a loud victory or dramatic moment, but for presence, growth, and gentle courage. Tessa holds the microphone for a second, then nods and places it down with a smile. She does not need to speak to be heard. The school begins planning how to better support other students with selective mutism and anxiety. Tessa’s story becomes part of that legacy.

Small Shifts, Big Impact

Epilogue: A Trusted Presence ( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

Darren becomes a lead voice in shaping inclusive professional development for support staff. He shares his experiences during a division-wide session, not as an expert but as someone who has walked alongside students. He emphasizes the importance of being seen, heard, and respected in the role. “We are not just helpers,” he says. “We are part of the team.” Other EAs begin reaching out with ideas and encouragement. Darren’s impact, once felt quietly in a single classroom, now echoes across the division.

▶ Learning Interlude 6: Writing Your Own Story

Learning Interlude 6: Writing Your Own Story

Occurs After Epilogue

Module Name: Applying What We’ve Learned

🌟 Success Criteria

I can identify a shift in my practice to build social capital.
I can set one concrete goal for relational inclusion in my context.

🎬 Learning Link 1: Key Reflections

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Inclusive Practice Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on how your thinking has shifted regarding peer connection, contribution, or social capital.
“Before and After” Reflection Sheet (📄PDF): Compare your current perspective with where you began—what new understandings have emerged?
One Insight, One Action Journal (📄PDF): Identify one insight from this course and how it will shape your next steps.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

Reflections Circle (📄PDF): In a group, share one meaningful shift in mindset or practice that has occurred.
From Theory to Practice Wall (📄PDF): Post one learning and one change you will bring to your classroom or role.
Reflective Pairs Dialogue (📄PDF): Share personal reflections with a partner and offer one another encouragement and feedback.

🎬 Learning Link 2: Planning for Practice

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Action Planning Template (📄PDF): Use this tool to create a clear, actionable goal focused on building connection, contribution, or belonging.
Barriers and Bridges Planning Sheet (📄PDF): Identify potential challenges to implementing your goal and brainstorm solutions.
My Practice Shift Commitment Card (📄PDF): Write a personal commitment to one relational practice you will carry forward.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

Team Action Planning Studio (📄PDF): Work collaboratively to develop individual or collective plans for strengthening relational inclusion.
Mini Goal-Setting Protocol (📄PDF): Use a structured dialogue to set one achievable goal and share it with a colleague for accountability.
Anchor Practices Brainstorm (📄PDF): Identify daily or weekly practices that support social capital and relational culture in your school.

🎬 Learning Link 3: Continuing the Work

Power Point Slides (📄PDF)

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Relational Inclusion Audit (📄PDF): Reflect on your classroom or role using a strengths-based lens. What’s working, and what can grow?
Professional Inquiry Journal (📄PDF): Identify one question you want to continue exploring about relational inclusion in your context.
Sustaining the Shift Plan (📄PDF): Write a brief plan to keep your new practice visible and supported over time.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

Peer Accountability Check-Ins (📄PDF): Pair up and set a time to check in on your action steps within the next month.
Continuing the Conversation Planning (📄PDF): As a group, plan how you will keep learning, collaborating, or sharing stories beyond the course.
Relational Practice Sharing Board (📄PDF): Create a physical or digital space to post relational practices, ideas, and celebrations throughout the year.

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Inclusive Practice Reflection (📄PDF): A guided reflection tool to support learners in identifying how their perspectives and practices have evolved.
Action Planning Template (📄PDF): A practical planning form for setting, tracking, and sustaining goals related to social capital and inclusion.
Barriers and Bridges Planner (📄 PDF): A resource to anticipate implementation challenges and develop proactive supports

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Includes key research on sustainability of inclusive practices, implementation science, goal-setting, collaborative planning, and school culture transformation.

▶ Reflection and Recognition