The holiday season is here! For many students and teachers, this means holiday decorations, family recipes, and traditions you’ve been waiting for all year long. Exciting right? Absolutely! But there’s more to it than that: What were you picturing when I said holiday season? Christmas lights? Santa hats? Secret Santa exchanges? While those are definitely what some of your students are picturing too, it might not be the case for all of them.
When it comes to holiday celebrations in your school community, it’s important to consider every student and what it would look and sound like for every student to feel included and represented.
What Students See and Hear
When students enter hallways lined with Christmas decorations, and they don’t celebrate Christmas at home, they might feel confused, insecure about their own traditions, or unwelcome. When the school community focuses on a single holiday, it shows students that this holiday is the most important one, that this holiday is what everyone is celebrating, and that there isn’t room for anything else in this school community. While those sentiments likely don’t truly reflect how you and your fellow teachers feel, you can see how a student might get this message.
It also extends beyond just what students are seeing. There is a lot of exciting and engaging conversation around the holidays: What do you want for Christmas? Where are you going to celebrate Christmas? What are you going to cook for Christmas dinner? Let’s write letters to santa! Let’s all participate in a secret santa gift exchange!
Think back to those students that aren’t celebrating Christmas when they leave your classroom. They probably aren’t sure how to participate—maybe they should just lie? What if, instead, you gave your students the opportunity to share their authentic selves, their traditions, their experiences, and their versions of the holiday season in your classroom?
It might not be feasible to include decorations from every possible type of holiday celebration, or create activities that accurately reflect every possible version of the holidays. Fortunately, there are a few easy ways you can shift your language to be broader and more inclusive of the unique students in your room.
Simple Shifts
First, let’s look at what students see around the school community. Decorating your classroom doesn’t have to be off-limits to create an inclusive classroom. Instead, consider how you can focus your decorations on something less specific. Rather than a mini Christmas tree or santa hats, you could focus on snowflakes and winter-themed decorations. You can also focus on decor that uses non-denominational language like “Happy Holidays” or “Happy New Year” rather than “Merry Christmas.”
Next, let’s think about the things students hear. Instead of asking students what they plan to do for Christmas, ask them what they plan to do over the winter break. This simple shift invites all students, regardless of what or how they celebrate to join the conversation.
Co-Creating Your Celebration
If you want to do even more to create a classroom that celebrates the diversity of your students and makes space for all different types of celebrations, you can create your own custom celebration! This is a really fun and engaging way to get students comfortable sharing their own traditions and build community in the classroom.
To create your own celebration, all you have to do is work together with students to name your classroom’s custom holiday and then decide collectively how to celebrate it. You can invite students to bring pieces of their own traditions into the classroom by bringing in a holiday-specific dish to eat during your celebration or by wearing the traditional outfits they would wear while celebrating with their families. By opening the door for all different kinds of customs, you allow every student to feel welcomed and celebrated for their unique culture.
However you decide to celebrate the holiday season, make sure you consider every student and how you can help each one feel welcomed, valued, and celebrated.