10 Things You Can Do In School After The Trayvon Martin Tragedy
Thanks to those of you who contributed awesome comments to my last post about Trayvon Martin. I’ve written some pieces (see here, here, and here) over the last few years about this topic, but by no means do I consider myself the sole expert on boys of color. I teach them, and I used to be one before I became a man of color. Yet, the things I knew as a former boy of color haven’t changed much. We need change. Here are some things anyone (specifically adults) can do to help our students do better both academically and socioemotionally.
- Value them. Give them a sense that they belong in whatever environment you’re in, especially if you control that environment.
- Listen to them. Many of them are so disaffected by America and all the illusions it brings. Let them tell their stories to you. You’d be surprised about what you hear.
- Show them other ways, but don’t force them. They say the only way that people change is if they do it on their own. However, if they don’t see another way besides the direction they’re going, then they won’t move. We have to work in that middle lane between forcing our kids and showing them they have better potential than what’s