When students see themselves in your classroom community they feel empowered to share and ask for what they need. Last year, deciding to make sure my students were visually represented in our community through not only books but also in the art on our walls and anchor charts we co-created, helped us form an affirming and caring space for all of our learners. Making a commitment to learning about myself as an individual and extending that learning to help students do the same has built a level of trust in our space that is crucial to feeling safe and growing during learning.
During our BlueDot training, the facilitator referenced Rudine Sims Bishop’s work. Emphasizing the importance of allowing students to see windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors. This reminder helped me more strategically choose read aloud books allowing students to build empathy toward each other. Imprinted for me is the read aloud we shared, The Proudest Blue, and a student from my class eagerly raised her hand to share that her older sister and her mom both wear hijabs like the character in the story.
The comfort we built with each other allowed us to have hard conversations during problem solving and restorative circles. It even allowed us to share scary and strong emotions, all because we built empathy and trust with each other. Another strong memory is the moment, after reading Milo Imagines the World, when a student raised his hand to share that he too had visited prison to see a parent. The trust and vulnerability that student showed both broke my heart and affirmed for me that I was doing the right thing by empowering my students to see themselves and others and advocate for what they needed.
As I started this school year, I knew that the commitment to representation, community and empathy was a non negotiable for me. We brought our team together right away by displaying family and student pictures in the hall. We have been using student photos to show emotions and make our own Zones of Regulation posters. Our first unit explored ourselves and others, who we are and what we are like. Through this community building we are better able to have students advocate for their needs to be successful. This year is shaping up to be the kind of year where we build a strong, empathetic community and I wouldn’t have it any other way.