Our students' work is lovely and deep, but I have miles to go before I sleep*

On Friday, our middle school students involved in diversity work put on the annual Student Diversity Assembly.  They are, in a word, amazing.  Each year I am blown away by the maturity and insight our 7^th and 8^th graders bring to this event.  I am also consistently amazed by the bravery of our 5^th and 6^th graders to stand on stage and talk about these enormous topics.  While the event always takes a mountain of teacher logistical support, the students are the ones who pull it together.

Highlights from this year:

•  our playback theater group who performed at a local diversity conference brought their work to the assembly and performed on topics of friendship and diversity raised by the audience
• members of our 5^th & 6^th grade diversity club shared excerpts of an activity in which all students participated earlier in the year, reflecting in writing on bullying and name calling
• a talented 8^th grade videographer interviewed students about what diversity means to them, had quotes of students asking, “What is diversity?” in multiple languages, and put together an insightful but delightfully humorous short video for us to watch
• the 15 6^th graders who attended a recent diversity conference shared personal reflections about what they learned and how they were going to make a change in their/our community
• members of the 7^th and 8^th diversity club put together a slideshow that challenged stereotypes and pushed all of us to question our assumptions (it was pure middle school and beautifully done)

Ultimately, we do it all for the students.  When they can stand up on stage and share, almost as eloquently as any adult could, their thoughts on such challenging subjects, on some level there is clear progress being made! 

So I walk away from this feeling energized by the diversity work taking place in our school, but knowing there are still “miles to go before I sleep.”  Diversity work is never complete.  There are always new facets of diversity being “discovered” and valued in our culture and school communities, and those which we already prioritize continuously morph and change before our eyes.

*Thanks to Robert Frost for my cheesy adaptation.