Schools and communities across the United States marked the 19th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School with walkouts, days of service and other actions and tributes. We commemorated this day by honoring the victims who died on April 20, 1999, and in the numerous school shootings that have occurred in the intervening years. We stand with all students and educators, and encourage school communities to continue having difficult conversations about gun violence, mental health and student trauma.
This week, national media reported on a Michigan school community meeting when, during a discussion of racism in schools, one parent asked another, “Why didn’t you stay in Mexico?” We stand with those in Michigan demanding better, and we know students and families are faced with racism and other forms of hate in school communities across the nation. Here’s how educators can help create safer, more inclusive school climates and support students and families.
Parents and caregivers are at the forefront in efforts to give children the foundation to build future inclusive societies. Nationally recognized anti-racist writer and educator Britt Hawthorne recommends starting early with children to create homes “rooted in justice, compassion and love.” These LFJ resources include recommendations for growing readers and their families that affirm identities, celebrate diversity and highlight justice because, as Hawthorne explains, “When we’re genuinely in and relating to our community, we’ll sense the injustices and justices of the world.”
This Mental Illness Awareness Week, we call on educators to see their vital role in removing stigmas that surround mental health issues, normalizing open conversations and recognizing the unique needs of students with historically marginalized identities or invisible disabilities. With these resources, we hope you and your students can take steps toward a world where—like Max at the end of our story "Washed Away"—you feel a little less alone and more prepared to face tough times alongside people who care.
This week, a photograph of a math assignment asking fifth graders to set prices for enslaved people went viral. Assignments like this are clearly harmful. But students can learn about slavery in ways that recover the lives and histories of enslaved people or dehumanize them; celebrate their resistance or erase their agency; recognize how slavery shaped our nation or ignore it completely. Educators can teach this hard history—and teach it well—in any discipline, to students of almost any age. Here are a few examples of how.