I once attended a professional development workshop for teachers where we were assigned to write down our childhood traumas on a sheet of paper.  We were then instructed to crumple or tear that paper based on how much we felt that trauma had affected our adolescent development.  I sat there trying to think of something to write while my colleagues crumpled and tore their sheets. The thing is, most of my childhood is an uncrumpled paper. I am lucky, and although not perfect, my childhood was very blessed.  The question that remains however is how I can empathize with my students whose metaphorical papers are crunched, crumpled, and even shredded in some cases?

Being a public high school teacher today is not easy.  We are constantly bombarded with new strategies, new curricula, and new technology that everyone guarantees will improve the widening educational gaps in public education.  The truth is that many of the companies pushing these initiatives have no idea what we as teachers are dealing with daily.  I am not just a teacher, I am a friend, a parent, a therapist, a social worker, an interventionist, and more.  The truth is that we teach people, not content.  It is the relationships that matter and relationships cannot be built correctly without inclusiveness.  In any given classroom I will have an amalgamation of students who come from minority or immigrant backgrounds, students who are English language learners, students with learning disabilities, students suffering from social or emotional challenges, students undergoing gender transitions, along with students who may be the uncrumpled paper like me.  Each week is filled with anecdotes that would move the emotions of any advocate of diversity, equity, or social justice. 

A student might ask if I want to buy tamales because he’s trying to help his mother who was just laid off from work.  Another day a student comes out to me about her sexuality, but is afraid to tell her parents because of their religious background.  A student tells me a family friend has sexually molested her, and now I am a mandated reporter.  A student revleas that he is not a U.S. citizen and asks if I know how he can get some legal help with his status. It is my job to somehow provide support to these students.  My contributions to diversity and equity happen everyday.

Education in our current climate has increased opportunities for teaching diversity, synergy, and social justice. Teaching is indeed a revolution one day at a time.  Recent political movements and social justice campaigns affect the students I teach in different ways.  It is increasingly a challenge to remain sensitive to all issues and to provide students with a safe space in which they can express their opinions, fears, and questions. 

All schools in the Centinela Valley Union High School District are Title I schools, which means most of our student populations are comprised of socio-economically disadvantaged groups.  I have been teaching in the district for over ten years and each year I have learned new lessons on what it means to advocate for equity and diversity in the classroom and in society.  There is a lot of research out there on what our student demographics face each day.  What’s most beautiful however is what they have to offer in their resiliency and resourcefulness.  I indulge in celebrating their diversity and teaching them how to do the same. 

I will never know what it is like to go through the childhood trauma that many of my students endure.  What I remind myself is that I am the uncrumpled paper, I am the pillar on which my students can rest their evolving foundations.  This is my greatest contribution to diversity and equity.  I provide these students with the confidence and voice to wield their own unwavering strength and resilience.