ABSTRACT
A Eurocentric, hegemonic, dominant discourse centered on whiteness is unconsciously prevalent in most Ontario classrooms. This chapter examines the alternative curriculum taught in a self-contained special education class for students with developmental disabilities in a large urban school board in southern Ontario, Canada. This chapter explores and troubles the alternative curriculum that guides teaching and learning in this class, identifying a Eurocentric and white supremacist agenda wherein lessons often lack connection and relevance to students’ upbringing and culture. A teacher in this program, the author critically reflects on the teacher’s use of familiar and convenient lessons year after year without consideration of the students’ background, traditions, or identity. This chapter argues that a lack of continuity between school and home creates barriers for autistic children regarding their ability to create meaning and understanding in their learning. Without this consistency, special education students may encounter difficulty in grasping the concepts taught, which can impede in their overall learning and understanding. To bring meaning to what these students learn in class through the alternative curriculum, teachers need to be reflective of their practice and intentional in lesson planning, and culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogy must be implemented for this change to happen.
