The "Other" in our Classroom

The "other" is a very sensitive subject in the classroom; teachers are constantly trying to incorporate "other" ideas into the curriculum but also trying to juggle the curriculum and not cut anything important out in order to focus on the minority. Other teachers completely take out necessary information in a lesson in order to put in the two cents about the "other." As educators we need to work together to strike a balance between educating our students on what is necessary and also regularly incorporating the opinions, viewpoints, etc. of the "other" in our lesson plans. An idea for a social studies teacher would be to focus on the viewpoint of the minority in regards to Native Americans asking open ended questions to the classroom such as "how would you feel if you were kicked off of your own land," or "why do you think such atrocities were accepted during the time of the early settlers?" Small questions bring awareness without getting off topic in a lesson.