Diversity in Mind

When adults fail to address the needs of kids, what happens next? Well, if you're Marley Dias, you take matters into your own hands and start a movement entitled #1000BlackGirlBooks, where you aim to get at least 1000 books with non-white characters into schools. Then you smash that goal and make it over 10,000 books and keep on going. Find out more about her and her mission in the video.

This morning, I was sent this article about growing up in Ireland with 'unmanageable' Afro hair. It made me sad for the writer, but also hopeful that she eventually gained a healthier perspective on this aspect of her ethnicity. It might seem trivial to focus on such a story when it's about appearance but this is still an aspect society (sub/un/consciously) judges us on at all ages. How does this connect to the classroom? Especially as adolescents, we go as far as scarring ourselves to try and fit in. Some of these scars are physical - such as the chemical burns this writer endured - and some are psychological. When we aren't accepted as we are or - worse - we find ourselves made to feel like the 'other', it hurts. It impacts our self-worth and self-acceptance.  This is why the conversation around diversity in the classroom matters. If our students can't connect to their peers in the room on a given aspect of their identity, we need to provide opportuniti...