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This article appeared in ASCD InService, July 2017 http://inservice.ascd.org/creating-the-culturally-diverse-classroom/ I’ll never forget the day that Leonardo, a high school student, asked the school photographer to “ paint him white ” when taking a picture of him with his friends during spirit week. I asked Leo, “why did you ask the photographer to edit your picture and make you appear white?” He responded quickly “so I can be like everyone else”. I was shocked, and immediately felt sad—not just for Leo, but for us as a society. It was at that moment that I began a journey to understand how it must feel to be different than the dominant group of people—and more importantly—how could I help our diverse students feel as though they belong without giving up the essence of who they are culturally. Now, more than ever, schools are filled with students coming from diverse backgrounds. We are approaching a time when minority subgroups collectively will be more than 50% of the population in ...

Be a Champion for Every Student This article appeared at ASCD InService http://inservice.ascd.org/be-a-champion-for-every-student/ Are all educators a champion for their students? “Every child deserves a champion: an adult who never gives up on them and understands the power of connections and insists they become the best they can possibly be” profound words by the late and great Rita Pierson! I’d like to think of myself as a champion for kids— ALL   kids, even the ones that are hard to love—particularly the ones that are hard to love! As a veteran educator with many years of experience working with our most vulnerable students, I can tell you that poverty does indeed affect a student’s ability to learn.  To be clear, I am not indicating that students who are born into poverty are less intelligent or capable, to the contrary, they likely developed multiple intelligences that are not always observable by the data or indicators in which we determine intellect or deem a child to ...