Course Content

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Prologue: Wanting In

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Sofia enters junior high already working hard to belong, carefully observing social rules she does not yet understand. Belonging feels conditional and earned, while the effort she carries remains largely unseen by the adults around her.

The Family On the Edges | Prologue: Doing Everything Right

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Mr. Chen begins the year confident that clear processes, timely communication, and professional responsiveness ensure fairness and inclusion. Yet a quiet gap emerges between access to procedure and the family’s lived experience of belonging.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Prologue: Reverence and Order

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Maria begins the year confident that structure and visible participation safeguard reverence and shared meaning in prayer. Gradually, she becomes aware that dignity and interior experience often remain unseen, even within well-ordered sacred spaces.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Prologue: Safety First

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Ms. Gallagher begins with a deep commitment to safety, expertise, and protection, understanding belonging as something secured through predictability and containment. The story quietly introduces the question of whether dignity can be fully held when belonging is located entirely within one protected space.

Learning to Make Room | Prologue: A Child Arrives

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Jamir’s arrival reveals a school rich in care and goodwill, yet uncertain how to translate plans into lived participation. Belonging is present as intention and protection, but has not yet shaped the design of the environment.

Always With Her | Prologue: The Expert in the Room

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Lily is deeply supported through Denise’s expertise and consistency, and her learning is carefully protected through adult-led programming. Belonging is understood primarily through progress and stability, even as Lily’s place in the classroom becomes increasingly mediated through one relationship.

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Prologue: High Expectations, Uneven Ground

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Mr. Alvarez begins the year assuming that open invitation will naturally lead to shared participation, only to discover that presence does not equal safety. Early patterns reveal that dignity alone does not dissolve risk, and that belonging is shaped by forces invitation cannot override.

When Everyone Is Watching | Prologue: The Child Everyone Notices

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Evan enters the school already defined by risk, with belonging framed primarily through containment rather than understanding. His behaviour is highly visible, while his story remains largely unseen.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Prologue: Close Quarters

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

St. Brigid’s functions as a close and caring community, yet decision making has quietly narrowed to a familiar few. Belonging among adults begins to feel uneven, shaped less by exclusion than by habit and predictability.

Learning Interlude 2

Hospitality and the Margins: Welcoming Students Into Belonging

Occurs After Chapter 1 → Before Chapter 2

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Hospitality as moral attentiveness shaped by vulnerability, not politeness or neutrality.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: Preferential Protection of the Vulnerable

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

God’s attention consistently turns toward those at the margins
Justice begins by noticing who is most easily overlooked

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

Who is welcomed with ease?
Who must work harder to belong?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Understand hospitality as moral attentiveness rather than politeness or personality
Reflect on how school routines and norms advantage some while burdening others
Connect hospitality to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of preferential protection of the vulnerable
Recognize that vulnerability is often situational, patterned, and systemic
Begin noticing who requires extra effort in order to belong

Learning Link 2.1: Hospitality Before Welcome

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Ease and Effort (📄PDF): Recall a time when belonging felt effortless. What conditions supported that ease?

-

Hidden Labour (📄PDF): Reflect on someone who must work harder to be seen, heard, or accommodated.

-

Attention Check (📄PDF): Notice where your attention goes when time or energy is limited.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Patterns of Ease (📄PDF): Share observations about who is welcomed easily in school spaces.

-

Unseen Costs (📄PDF): Discuss how routines may unintentionally disadvantage some students.

-

Reframing Vulnerability (📄PDF): Reflect on how vulnerability can be created by context rather than capacity.

Learning Link 2.2: Jesus Notices First

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Reflection (📄PDF): Read a Gospel story where Jesus notices someone marginalized. What is disrupted?

-

Interior Response (📄PDF): Notice what arises when attention is drawn toward discomfort or difference.

-

Posture Reflection (📄PDF): Consider how your presence might signal safety or distance.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Seeing Through the Gospel (📄PDF): Discuss how Jesus’ attention challenges common assumptions about fairness.

-

Stories of Practice (📄PDF): Share moments where vulnerability was noticed or missed in school life.

-

Moral Orientation (📄PDF): Reflect on what it means to turn toward rather than simply include.

Learning Link 2.3: Vulnerability and School Life

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Vulnerability Mapping (📄PDF): Identify where vulnerability tends to show up in your context.

-

Widening Awareness (📄PDF): Notice one moment where vulnerability could be acknowledged without fixing.

-

Gentle Discernment (📄PDF): Reflect on what feels hardest to notice.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Patterns (📄PDF): Name common situations where vulnerability is normalized or dismissed.

-

Beyond Neutrality (📄PDF): Discuss how “treating everyone the same” can obscure injustice.

-

Collective Responsibility (📄PDF): Consider how teams can hold attention together.

What We Carry Forward

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Vulnerability and Attention Reflection Prompts
Patterns of Exclusion Observation Guide
Preferential Protection Noticing Tool

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Luke 19, Mark 10, John 4
Catholic Social Teaching: Preferential Option / Protection of the Vulnerable
Selected readings on vulnerability, justice, and attentiveness

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Over the coming week, notice one person or situation where vulnerability is easily overlooked. Do not intervene yet. Simply notice where extra effort is required in order to belong.

Learning Interlude 3

Dignity, Voice, and Participation

Occurs After Chapter 2 → Before Chapter 3

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Belonging becomes visible when people are able to participate in ways that are meaningful and accessible.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: Participation

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

To belong is to be able to take part.
Silence is not always consent, comfort, or disengagement.

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

Who is welcomed with ease?
Who must work harder to belong?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Understand participation as a core expression of belonging rather than a personality trait
Reflect on how dignity is communicated through opportunities to contribute
Recognize that participation looks different across people, cultures, and contexts
Connect participation to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of participation
Identify gentle ways to widen participation without demanding performance or redesign

Learning Link 3.1: When Belonging Becomes Visible

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Participation Reflection (📄PDF): Recall a setting where you felt able to contribute fully. What made that possible?

-

Quiet Contributions (📄PDF): Think of someone whose participation is less visible but still meaningful.

-

Access Awareness (📄PDF): Reflect on how timing, format, or expectations shape who participates.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Experiences (📄PDF): Share examples of participation that do not rely on speaking or performing.

-

Broadening the Definition (📄PDF): Discuss how participation can be widened without increasing demands.

-

Recognizing Contribution (📄PDF): Reflect on how recognition communicates belonging.

Learning Link 3.2: Voice, Dignity, and the Gospel

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on a Gospel moment where someone responds quietly or indirectly.

-

Response Styles (📄PDF): Consider how different people respond when they feel safe.

-

Interior Check (📄PDF): Notice what arises when participation does not look the way you expect.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Noticing (📄PDF): Discuss how Jesus’ invitations differ from common participation norms.

-

Listening Differently (📄PDF): Share examples of how quiet responses can be meaningful.

-

Faith and Participation (📄PDF): Reflect on how participation connects to dignity rather than performance

Learning Link 3.3: Structuring Space for Participation

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Participation Scan (📄PDF): Reflect on one activity or routine. Who participates easily and who might struggle?

-

Gentle Adjustment (📄PDF): Identify one small change that could widen participation.

-

Human-Scale Choice (📄PDF): Consider how offering choice can protect dignity.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Possibilities (📄PDF): Discuss simple ways participation can be widened without adding complexity.

-

Choice and Belonging (📄PDF): Reflect on how choice supports both dignity and engagement.

-

Collective Reflection (📄PDF): Consider how teams can notice participation patterns together.

Learning Interlude Information

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Participation Reflection Prompts
Voice and Contribution Observation Guide
Expanding Participation Without Redesign Tool

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Luke 10, Mark 7, John 9
Catholic Social Teaching: Participation
Selected readings on voice, dignity, and participation in education

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Adjust one activity this week to offer more than one way to participate. Keep the change small, and observe what shifts without expectation.

Learning Interlude 4

Learning to Stay with Discomfort

Occurs After Chapter 3 → Before Chapter 4

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Belonging grows when responsibility is held close and we resist premature solutions.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: Subsidiarity

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

Faithfulness often looks like staying present
Responsibility belongs closest to those affected

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

Where do we rush to hand things off?
Where might staying present matter more than escalation?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Recognize discomfort as a natural part of inclusive practice
Reflect on personal and collective responses to uncertainty or tension
Understand staying present as an expression of subsidiarity within shared responsibility
Notice when responsibility is shifted prematurely away from classrooms or relationships
Practice pausing rather than escalating, fixing, or withdrawing

Learning Link 4.1: Discomfort as a Teacher

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Discomfort Reflection (📄PDF): Recall a moment of unease related to belonging. What did you want to do next?

-

Fix or Transfer (📄PDF): Notice whether your instinct is to solve quickly or pass responsibility on.

-

Embodied Awareness (📄PDF): Reflect on how your body signals discomfort before decisions are made.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Experiences (📄PDF): Share situations that felt uncomfortable but formative.

-

Common Patterns (📄PDF): Discuss how urgency shows up in school responses.

-

Holding Responsibility (📄PDF): Reflect on what it means to stay rather than escalate.

Learning Link 4.2: Faithfulness as Presence

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on a Gospel moment where Jesus stays rather than resolves.

-

Presence Check (📄PDF): Recall a relationship shaped by sustained presence.

-

Faithfulness Reflection (📄PDF): Write briefly about what faithfulness looks like when answers are unclear.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Staying Stories (📄PDF): Share examples where remaining present mattered.

-

Accompaniment Conversation (📄PDF): Discuss how accompaniment differs from intervention.

-

Patience as Practice (📄PDF): Reflect on patience as a spiritual discipline.

Learning Link 4.3: Subsidiarity and System Habits

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

System Noticing (📄PDF): Identify one routine that shifts responsibility away from those closest to the situation

-

Pause Practice (📄PDF): Name a moment where waiting might preserve dignity.

-

Relational Responsibility (📄PDF): Reflect on how your role holds responsibility close.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Pattern Mapping (📄PDF): Discuss how responsibility tends to move in your context.

-

Staying Local (📄PDF): Reflect on how teams can hold complexity together.

-

Subsidiarity Reflection (📄PDF): Consider how staying close supports belonging.

Learning Interlude Information

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Discomfort and Presence Reflection Prompts
Staying with Responsibility Guide
Pausing Before Escalation Tool

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Luke 24, John 11, Mark 10
Catholic Social Teaching: Subsidiarity
Selected readings on accompaniment, discernment, and responsibility

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Choose one moment this week to pause before escalating or handing responsibility off. Stay present with curiosity and care, even if no immediate resolution emerges. Notice who else might need to be involved in holding this situation well, without yet deciding what form that support should take.

Learning Interlude 5

The Table as a Catholic Image of Belonging

Occurs After Chapter 4 → Before the Epilogue

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Belonging is sustained through shared responsibility and communal care.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: Solidarity

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

God’s table gathers rather than sorts
Belonging is carried together, not held alone

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

Who is held by the community here?
Who may be quietly carrying belonging work on their own?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Engage the table as an image of shared belonging and responsibility
Reflect on how communities hold people rather than isolate them
Connect belonging to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of solidarity
Recognize that inclusive support is layered, relational, and communal
Consider how everyday practices can signal “we carry this together”

Learning Link 5.1: The Power of Shared Images

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Table Memory (📄PDF): Recall a table where responsibility felt shared. What made that possible?

-

Carrying Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on a time you did not feel alone in a difficult moment.

-

Imagination Check (📄PDF): Consider what the image of a table suggests about support and care.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Meaning (📄PDF): Share words or phrases associated with a table that feels supportive.

-

Image Over Instruction (📄PDF): Discuss why images can communicate solidarity more effectively than rules.

-

Collective Care (📄PDF): Reflect on how shared symbols shape school culture quietly.

Learning Link 5.2: The Table in the Catholic Imagination

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Reflection (📄PDF): Reflect on a Gospel table encounter where belonging is restored or protected.

-

Receiving Care (📄PDF): Consider what it means to receive support rather than manage alone.

-

Quiet Theology (📄PDF): Notice how the table communicates shared responsibility without explanation.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Gospel Noticing (📄PDF): Discuss how Jesus’ table practices resist isolation.

-

Equality and Care (📄PDF): Reflect on how the table disrupts ideas of rank or self-sufficiency.

-

Faith and Solidarity (📄PDF): Consider how faith communities model shared care.

Learning Link 5.3: Tables, Teams, and Continuums of Support

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Support Mapping (📄PDF): Reflect on who helps hold complexity in your context

-

Layered Care (📄PDF): Consider where support could be shared rather than escalated.

-

Belonging Check (📄PDF): Notice where someone may be carrying responsibility alone.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Continuum as Table (📄PDF): Discuss how a continuum of support can function like a shared table.

-

Shared Holding (📄PDF): Reflect on how teams distribute care without exclusion.

-

Naming Solidarity (📄PDF): Consider what helps people feel supported rather than removed.

Learning Interlude Information

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Table as Solidarity Reflection Prompts
Shared Responsibility Mapping Tool
Continuum of Support as Communal Care Guide

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Luke 14, Luke 24, John 21
Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity
Selected readings on communion, solidarity, and shared responsibility

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Notice one situation this week where belonging or support is being carried by a single person. Consider one small way responsibility could be shared more fully, without changing placement or roles.

Learning Interlude 6

Taking One Faithful Step

Occurs After the Epilogue

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Belonging is sustained through faithful action oriented toward the common good.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: The Common Good

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

Faithful actions shape shared conditions
The common good grows through ordinary, sustained care

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

What has shifted in how you see belonging?
What small action could strengthen shared conditions for others?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Reflect on how their understanding of belonging has been shaped
Recognize action as contribution to shared conditions rather than individual obligation
Connect faithful action to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of the common good
Identify one realistic step that supports dignity, participation, and shared care
Embrace belonging as an ongoing, communal, and unfinished practice

Learning Link 6.1: Faithful Action Serves the Common Good

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Looking Back (📄PDF): Reflect on one moment or image from the course that reshaped how you understand belonging.

-

Interior Check (📄PDF): Notice what feels possible right now without stretching beyond capacity.

-

Naming the Contribution (📄PDF): Identify one small action that could strengthen shared conditions.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Discernment (📄PDF): Discuss how discernment differs from urgency or compliance.

-

Context Matters (📄PDF): Reflect on how the common good looks different across roles and settings.

-

Honouring Pace (📄PDF): Consider how teams can support different readiness levels.

Learning Link 6.2: The Common Good in Ordinary Practice

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Everyday Contribution (📄PDF): Reflect on how your role contributes to shared belonging.

-

Small Faithfulness (📄PDF): Identify one routine where a small adjustment could benefit others.

-

Sustainability Check (📄PDF): Consider what you can sustain without exhaustion.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Collective Care (📄PDF): Discuss how shared responsibility is distributed in your context.

-

Quiet Impact (📄PDF): Share examples of small actions that shaped community wellbeing.

-

Long View (📄PDF): Reflect on how belonging develops across time rather than moments.

Learning Link 6.3: Remaining Faithful Over Time

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

What Shifted (📄PDF): Reflect on how your way of seeing belonging has changed.

-

Holding the Unfinished (📄PDF): Name questions or tensions you will continue to carry.

-

Staying Attentive (📄PDF): Write a brief intention for remaining engaged over time.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Becoming (📄PDF): Discuss how communities sustain learning together.

-

Naming Unfinishedness (📄PDF): Reflect on acting without closure or certainty.

-

Encouragement (📄PDF): Consider how teams support long-term faithfulness.

Learning Interlude Information

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Discernment and Faithful Contribution Guide
Small Steps for the Common Good Planning Tool
Sustaining Belonging Over Time Reflection Sheet

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Micah 6, Luke 10, Philippians 1
Catholic Social Teaching: The Common Good
Selected readings on discernment, vocation, and communal flourishing

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Choose one small, realistic step that contributes to shared conditions of dignity and belonging in your context. Hold this step lightly, knowing it joins the faithful work of others and will evolve over time.

Inside the Story: Chapter 1

-

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Chapter 1: On the Outside of the Circle

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Patterns of quiet waiting become visible as Sofia remains close to peers without being included, revealing the difference between compliance and connection. Adults begin to notice that vulnerability can remain hidden when it does not interrupt routines or demand attention.

The Family On the Edges | Chapter 1: When Presence Does Not Feel Like Welcome

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Mr. Chen recognizes that being present in meetings does not necessarily mean feeling known or safe to speak. Belonging begins to reveal itself as uneven, shaped by risk, power, and whose voices feel welcome to influence outcomes.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Chapter 1: Who Feels at Home in Prayer

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Maria recognizes that shared ritual does not guarantee shared spiritual experience, and that some students carry significant cost simply to remain present. Belonging in prayer begins to emerge as uneven, shaped by whose bodies, histories, and expressions fit easily within visible expectations.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Chapter 1: Present but Apart

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Ms. Gallagher becomes aware that her students’ safety has come at the cost of visibility and shared recognition within the wider school community. Belonging begins to emerge as not only being cared for, but being known as part of the whole.

Learning to Make Room | Chapter 1: When Good Intentions Are Not Enough

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Staff begin to recognize that Jamir’s careful management keeps him safe but also peripheral to classroom life. The school starts to see that without intentional design, protection can quietly become separation.

Always With Her | Chapter 1: Present, but Always Apart

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Mrs. Patel begins to notice that constant adult proximity keeps Lily safe but also visibly separate from her peers. What once felt like attentive care now reveals a quiet cost, as protection begins to limit connection.

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Chapter 1: Who Speaks and Who Watches

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As Mr. Alvarez observes more closely, he recognizes that silence in adolescence often reflects awareness, discernment, and self-protection rather than disengagement. Participation begins to be understood as unevenly costly, shaped by identity, status, and social consequence.

When Everyone Is Watching | Chapter 1: Present, but Kept at a Distance

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Care for Evan is sincere, yet fear quietly shapes how and when he is allowed to participate. Adults begin to recognize that protection without understanding can turn safety into separation, teaching the whole community that belonging is conditional.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Chapter 1: Who Is Asked and Who Listens

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Staff begin to notice that participation is patterned, with some voices consistently shaping direction while others are left to listen. Belonging shifts from shared influence to quiet compliance, as silence becomes a way to manage disappointment rather than risk futility.

Inside the Story: Chapter 2

-

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Chapter 2: When Welcome is Confusing

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Well-intended efforts to help Sofia “put herself out there” reveal that welcome based on social fluency places the burden of belonging on the individual. Attention begins to shift from changing Sofia toward questioning how environments make participation predictable or risky.

The Family On the Edges | Chapter 2: Hospitality Beyond the Office Door

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

By slowing the pace and softening the setting, Mr. Chen discovers that hospitality requires more than availability. It requires conditions where people can speak without guarding themselves. Participation shifts from attendance to trust as relationships become more human and less procedural.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Chapter 2: Hospitality in Sacred Space

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As Maria attends more closely to how prayer is embodied, she realizes that hospitality involves more than correct posture or silence. Sacred space begins to be understood not as a test of endurance, but as a place that must hold diverse nervous systems and ways of being present.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Chapter 2: Hospitality Across Thresholds

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Ms. Gallagher recognizes that hospitality involves more than welcoming others into her classroom; it requires shared responsibility for crossing thresholds together. Belonging begins to shift from something she safeguards alone to something the community must learn to hold collectively.

Learning to Make Room | Chapter 2: Listening Before Fixing

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

By slowing down and listening to Jamir’s mother, the school learns that participation must be designed before routines solidify, not added afterward. Responsibility for access begins to shift from individual accommodation to shared planning and attentiveness.

Always With Her | Chapter 2: When Help Becomes a Barrier

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As Mrs. Patel reflects on hospitality, she recognizes that support positioned too closely can unintentionally discourage peer interaction. Belonging emerges not from goodwill alone, but from how support roles shape who is invited to participate and how.

The Class That Did Not Move Together

Chapter 2: Hospitality Meets Adolescence

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Student feedback reveals that encouragement without structure can increase risk rather than reduce it. Mr. Alvarez begins to see that hospitality must be designed with adolescent vulnerability in mind, allowing students to choose visibility without penalty.

When Everyone Is Watching | Chapter 2: When Welcome Feels Unsafe

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Inconsistent adult cues make welcome unpredictable, reinforcing Evan’s sense of threat rather than reducing it. The school begins to learn that hospitality for children with trauma must be communicated through predictability and steady presence, not warmth alone.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Chapter 2: Hospitality Among Colleagues

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Hospitality among adults is revealed as politeness without influence, where feedback is invited but outcomes remain largely unchanged. Staff begin to recognize that inclusion requires room for impact, not just space to speak.

Inside the Story: Chapter 3

-

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Chapter 3: Being Allowed to Participate as Herself

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Small structural changes reshape participation, allowing Sofia to contribute without constant self-correction or performance. Belonging becomes less about fitting in and more about being present, as responsibility moves closer to the learning environment itself.

The Family On the Edges | Chapter 3: Voice That Disrupts the Agenda

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As the family’s voice begins to shape decisions, leadership feels more complex and less efficient. Mr. Chen learns that shared responsibility requires resisting quick resolution and allowing influence to remain close, even when it unsettles plans.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Chapter 3: Voice Without Performance

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

When participation expands beyond uniform expression, prayer becomes less predictable and more relational. Maria discovers that faithfulness can deepen when students are invited to respond without performing reverence in a single prescribed way.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Chapter 3: Dignity, Voice, and Protected Participation

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Ms. Gallagher experiments with ways for students to participate in school life Participation is redefined through supported, varied, and context-specific expressions that honor students’ communication and regulation needs. Dignity is no longer measured by independence or sameness, but by whether presence is recognized as meaningful.

Learning to Make Room | Chapter 3: Learning How to Participate

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As participation replaces endurance as the goal, Jamir is invited into classroom life in ways that align with his communication and regulation needs. Dignity is redefined as being meaningfully invited, even when participation is brief, uneven, or observational.

Always With Her | Chapter 3: Whose Student Is She

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Lily’s learning becomes increasingly individualized and detached from shared classroom experiences, raising questions about ownership and identity. Mrs. Patel begins to understand that dignity includes being known as part of the class, not only as the responsibility of one adult.

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Chapter 3: Participation Without Safety

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Multiple participation pathways widen engagement, but also surface the reality that safety develops at different speeds. Mr. Alvarez learns that dignity includes the right to remain selective, and that belonging cannot be forced through uniform expectations.

When Everyone Is Watching | Chapter 3: Participation Without Pressure

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Participation is redefined as sustained connection rather than regulated behaviour, allowing Evan to remain part of the group without constant performance. As the room slows and expectations become clearer, other children experience greater calm and tentative connection begins to emerge.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Chapter 3: Voice Without Risk

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

When participation feels unlikely to alter decisions, voice becomes cautious and performative. Dignity is compromised not through overt silencing, but through predictability that teaches staff when speaking is worth the cost.

Inside the Story: Chapter 4

-

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Chapter 4: Staying When Friendship Doesn’t Happen

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

When friendship does not emerge, adults resist the urge to fix or intervene prematurely and instead remain present with Sofia’s longing. Belonging is reframed not as success achieved, but as dignity sustained through shared endurance.

The Family On the Edges | Chapter 4: Holding Tension Without Closure

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Rather than resolving the situation, Mr. Chen chooses to stay with it, carrying competing expectations without deflection. Leadership becomes an act of accompaniment, grounded in patience, humility, and sustained relational presence.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Chapter 4: Faithfulness Without Control

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Maria learns that leadership in faith formation requires resisting the urge to control outcomes or resolve discomfort quickly. Faithfulness shifts from enforcing certainty to accompanying discernment, held with humility and shared responsibility.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Chapter 4: Staying When Fear Is Reasonable

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Ms. Gallagher learns that fear does not signal failure, but the need for shared discernment and widened responsibility. Solidarity begins to take shape as adults remain present with complexity rather than retreating into containment.

Learning to Make Room | Chapter 4: When the School Has to Learn Too

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Expanding participation stretches staff and systems, exposing the limits of efficiency and familiar routines. Solidarity begins to emerge as the school learns to hold complexity together rather than transferring it away from the classroom.

Always With Her | Chapter 4: Staying With the Tension Between Care and Control

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Rather than preserving familiar roles, Mrs. Patel and Denise choose to remain present with uncertainty and discomfort. Solidarity begins to take shape as they learn to hold care, expertise, and shared responsibility together without rushing toward resolution.

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Chapter 4: Staying When the Room Pushes Back

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Faced with pressure to restore control, Mr. Alvarez chooses to remain present with uncertainty rather than retreating to efficiency. Solidarity begins to form not through resolution, but through shared endurance and trust offered without guarantees.

When Everyone Is Watching | Chapter 4: Staying When He Pushes Away

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Despite ongoing challenges, adults commit to remaining present without abandoning Evan or each other. Solidarity takes shape as shared responsibility, signaling to both Evan and his peers that belonging does not disappear when things become hard.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Chapter 4: Staying When Trust Feels Thin

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Rather than pushing forward, the school pauses and begins to name patterns that have shaped participation. Trust starts to rebuild not through reassurance, but through slower decisions and altered habits of listening.

Inside the Story: Epilogue

-

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.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Epilogue: A Place to Keep Showing Up

-

( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

-

Sofia’s circumstances remain largely unchanged, but the space around her becomes steadier, clearer, and more welcoming of her presence. Belonging arrives not as resolution, but as continuity, carried by a community willing to keep showing up, together.

The Family On the Edges | Epilogue: Tea at the Same Table

-

( 📖 Read | 🎧 Listen | 🎬 Watch )

-

Belonging does not arrive through agreement, but through a relationship marked by mutual recognition and continued presence. As conversations slow and widen, the community begins to feel less guarded, making room for voices to remain, even when certainty does not.

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Epilogue: A Prayer That Holds Everyone

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Prayer becomes a space that sustains the community without demanding sameness or visible success. Catholic identity is strengthened through shared presence over time, allowing students to remain without needing to endure or disappear.

The Room At the End of the Hall | Epilogue: A Table That Remains Open

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Belonging is reimagined not as placement or integration, but as an ongoing practice of collective learning. The life skills classroom remains essential and protective, yet no longer functions as the endpoint of belonging, as responsibility expands across the community.

Learning to Make Room | Epilogue: A Table Still Being Set

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

By year’s end, Jamir is an expected and valued presence, and responsibility for belonging is understood as communal rather than individual. The school recognizes that designing for access early strengthens everyone, and that belonging is an ongoing practice rather than a finished solution.

Always With Her | Epilogue: Still Learning How to Stand Beside

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

As roles shift and support is repositioned, Lily remains supported while becoming more visibly part of the classroom community. Belonging is no longer measured solely by progress, but by shared presence, widened responsibility, and relationships still in the making.

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Epilogue: A Conversation That Did Not End

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

By the end of the term, participation remains uneven, but the room holds silence differently and risk feels reduced. Belonging has not arrived as cohesion or confidence, but as shared responsibility for how difference is carried over time.

When Everyone Is Watching | Epilogue: A Place That Holds Him

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

By year’s end, Evan’s behaviour has not vanished, but the community’s response has matured into anticipation, steadiness, and care. Belonging arrives not as calm, but as a place that continues to hold him when he cannot hold himself.

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Epilogue: A Wider Table

-

(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )

-

Belonging does not arrive as consensus, but as shared ownership and responsibility for the life of the school. The table remains imperfect and uneven, yet wide enough for presence, risk, and renewed participation over time.

-

This course blends story and practice. You will move back and forth between a narrative story and short Learning Interludes that help you reflect on inclusive education and apply ideas to real contexts.

Click on any of the links on the naviagagion menu above to open the readings, videos, and materials for that part of the course.

How the Course Flows

-

The course follows a consistent rhythm: 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 story chapter shows inclusive practice unfolding in context. Each Learning Interlude pauses the story to help you notice key ideas, explore them more deeply, and consider how they show up in your own work.

What Is a Learning Interlude?

-

Each Learning Interlude includes three Learning Links. A Learning Link is a short learning moment that includes:

A brief video introducing a key concept
A follow-up activity to support application and reflection
-

After each Learning Link, you’ll find individual and group activity options. Choose what is most useful for your role, goals, and setting. You are not expected to complete everything.

Supporting Materials

-

Throughout the course, you’ll also find:

Printable tools and templates
Reflection prompts to support sense-making

If you are facilitating this course with a group, Facilitator Notes are included at the start of each Learning Interlude to support pacing, discussion, and shared learning.

-

This course is designed to support learning at a sustainable pace. The goal is not to rush toward solutions, but to create space for noticing, reflection, and growth, individually and together.

Narrative Companions

-

The stories included here are complete on their own. They do not require explanation in order to be meaningful.

-

Some readers, however, may find that the story lingers. It may bring questions that do not resolve neatly, or recognition that feels personal, unsettling, or unfinished. Rather than rushing toward answers, the companions that follow are offered as ways of staying with what has been opened.

-

The companions are organized in three layers. They are not meant to be read in order, and none are required. You are invited to enter where you feel drawn.

-

The first layer offers posture. These companions attend to how we remain present when belonging does not arrive as an outcome. They explore holding space, restraint, and shared responsibility, inviting readers to slow down rather than move on.

-

The second layer offers interpretation. These companions provide language for patterns that often go unnamed, including masking, adaptation, and the invisible labour carried by students who appear to be doing fine. They are intended to support recognition without diagnosis and understanding without demand.

-

The third layer offers design. These companions focus on environments rather than individuals, exploring how participation, welcome, and belonging are shaped by structure, pacing, and expectation. They are meant to support thoughtful action without urgency.

-

You may read one companion or many, or none at all. The purpose of these texts is not to resolve the story, but to accompany it. The aim is to help readers remain attentive to dignity, presence, and the conditions that allow people to keep showing up.

Trying to Figure Out the Rules | Story Companions

Posture Companions

Holding Space Before Outcomes
When Belonging Doesn’t Resolve
Participation Without Performance

Interpretative Companions

Masking, Adaptation, and the Cost of Fitting In
Girls, Autism, and Being ‘Fine'
Invisible Labour in Compliant Students

Practice Companions

Designing for Belonging Without Singling Out
Slowing the Room: Shared Responsibility for Participation
When Help Becomes Pressure

The Family On the Edges | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

Seeing Through a Different Lens | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

The Room At the End of the Hall | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

Learning to Make Room | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

Always With Her | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

The Class That Did Not Move Together | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

When Everyone Is Watching | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

The School Where Decisions Were Already Made | Story Companions

Posture Companions

a

Interpretative Companions

a

Practice Companions

a

Learning Interlude 1

Noticing Belonging: Where We Begin

Occurs After Prologue → Before Chapter 1

Learning Interlude Information

-

Module Focus: Belonging as a lived experience grounded in dignity, before it becomes a strategy or responsibility.

-

🧭 CST Anchor: Human Dignity

-

✨ Key Theological Thread:

We belong because we are created and known by God
Belonging precedes behaviour, performance, and readiness

-

🔎 Reflective Invitation

When have you felt you belonging?
When have you felt invisible?

-

📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)

-

🌟 Success Criteria

Participants will have opportunities to

Describe belonging as a lived and felt experience rather than a program or strategy
Reflect on how personal experiences of belonging shape perception and response in school communities
Connect belonging to the Catholic understanding of human dignity
Recognize that dignity-based belonging precedes behaviour, achievement, and readiness
Begin noticing the presence of students who may be physically present but not fully connected

Learning Link 1.1: Belonging Before Strategy

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Belonging Memory (📄PDF): Recall a time when you felt a deep sense of belonging. What contributed to that experience?

-

Invisible Moments (📄PDF): Reflect on a time when you felt overlooked or peripheral. What communicated that experience?

-

Noticing Without Judgement (📄PDF): Think of one student who is consistently present but rarely connected. Simply notice.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 1 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Shared Reflections (📄PDF): Share one insight from your reflection on this Learning Link that feels meaningful or surprising.

-

Language of Belonging (📄PDF): Generate words or phrases that describe what belonging feels like rather than what it looks like.

-

Quiet Signals (📄PDF): Discuss how belonging or invisibility can show up quietly in school life.

Learning Link 1.2: Created, Known, and Held: A Theological Grounding

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Scripture Reflection (📄PDF): Read Psalm 139 or Genesis 1. Reflect on what it means to be known before being evaluated.

-

Dignity Lens (📄PDF): Consider how viewing students as already dignified shifts expectations and interactions.

-

Personal Reflection (📄PDF): Write briefly about why belonging matters to you in your role.

-

🤝 Group Learning Activity 2 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Seeing Through Dignity (📄PDF): Discuss how dignity changes the way schools interpret behaviour, silence, or disengagement.

-

Moments of Being Known (📄PDF): Share examples of when someone in a school community was deeply seen or acknowledged.

-

Foundations Beliefs (📄PDF): Reflect together on how dignity functions as a foundation rather than a reward.

Learning Link 1.3: Noticing as a Spiritual Practice

🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides

📝 Individual Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Attention Check (📄PDF): Reflect on what you tend to notice first in a classroom or meeting. What might this reveal?

-

Slowing the Gaze (📄PDF): Recall a moment when slowing down changed how you understood a situation.

-

Interior Response (📄PDF): Notice what arises in you when you see a student who seems disconnected.

🤝 Group Learning Activity 3 (Choose 1 or More)

-

Practicing Presence (📄PDF): Share examples of how simple attention can shift relational dynamics in schools.

-

Noticing Together (📄PDF): Discuss how teams can support one another in seeing students more fully.

-

Formation Conversation (📄PDF): Reflect on how noticing itself can be an act of faithfulness.

What We Carry Forward

-

🧰 Tools & Templates:

Belonging Reflection Prompts (📄PDF)
Dignity and Belonging Noticing Guide (📄PDF)
Presence Without Judgment Observation Tool (📄PDF)

-

📚 Reference List (📄PDF)

Scripture: Psalm 139, Genesis 1, Mark 10
Catholic Social Teaching: Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Selected readings on belonging, attentiveness, and relational presence

-

🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Over the coming week, notice one student who may be present but not fully connected. Do not change anything yet. Simply notice with care and curiosity.