CHARLESTON: Charleston teacher seeks help to expose students to diverse cultures

By Elisheva Wimberly

A Charleston County Instructional Coach is setting her sights on a project that she says will benefit the students at her school and open their eyes to the people living in the world around us.

Jennifer Savage’s Mission

Jennifer Savage has been an instructional coach at James Simons Montessori School in Charleston for five years. Savage says her fondness for the school comes from their values and long-standing history as one of the first schools in Charleston to desegregate.

Simons Montessori extends from elementary to middle school with students from 3k through eighth grade with an adolescent program added to the school nine years ago. Savage commends the teachers she works with on a daily basis, noting their responsibilities extend past teaching the children. Teachers make up to a five-year commitment to the school and are required to complete two to three years of Montessori training and professional development training as a support system.

Multicultural Literature in the Classroom

During her school day, Savage looks for ways to problem-solve for teachers. Observing instruction, blending state standards with Montessori standards and stepping in as an assistant for teachers are a few of her many hats. Savage is focused on getting multicultural literature in the classrooms. She says the school has a goal for cultural awareness and cultural competency and they want to provide diverse texts so students are granted the opportunity to see themselves and see worlds outside of themselves.

The school has a multicultural fair approaching at the end of March and she wants to fill the classrooms with a variety of novels to show different representations. “On both ends of the spectrum it’s super important to see people who both look like you and don’t look like you to just normalize that we are a part of a global community,” Savage says. “It’s a diverse culture that we live in and that’s the real world.”

Supporting Savage’s Project

The adolescent program at James Simons Montessori is studying the Holocaust and for her second Donors Choose Project, Savage is hoping to get the novel, “A Bag of Marvels” for the students to read. Savage says it’s important to expose children to content that’s appropriate to their level.

As a parent, both of Savage’s children attend James Simons Montessori because she values the school’s philosophy, multiculturalism, diversity, equity and inclusion, and social justice.