Diversity is a bug-a-boo for all of us -- especially if we have non-diverse populations in our classrooms. There may only be one member of a minority in our classroom, but it's still important that we teach our students about "the other" that may not even be in our midst. Dr. Sharon Bramlett-Solomon was engaging and to the point as she drove home the importance of teaching diversity in our classrooms. Empathy is a skill that we can, and must, teach our students.
Some of us are born with it, and some of us need to put our imaginations on overdrive and walk a mile in others' shoes. Whatever it takes, learning about others and what they're going through is a life skill that will serve us all well in life -- above and beyond our high school days.
Lynn Wolf Dulcie
Rock Hill High School
Rock Hill, SC
Posts
I definitely took away from Dr. Bramlett-Solomon my responsibility to recruit students from those groups which are currently under represented on my staffs -- both yearbook and especially newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI am also going to take Jill's lesson plan for having students highlight male bylines from the paper in one color and females in another as a starting point to get students thinking about this issue and opening a dialogue for why it is important.
Teresa Gallegos
Blackfoot High School
Blackfoot, Idaho