Editorials

My Name Matters: A Challenge for All

July 18, 2017 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 11 Comments

Each year, usually in the back-to-school season, I see a trend on social media. I’ve heard it in conversations in the teacher’s lounge and even in the Dollar Spot aisles at Target. I’d wager a guess that you’ve heard it too at some point.

It’s name-shaming.

I’ve written about it before (The Top 3 Reasons Name Shaming Harms Students) and spoken about it on my social media accounts (such as this video). I’m not satisfied, though, with just talking about it… I want to DO something about it. I decided that this back-to-school season is a perfect time to launch a simple, yet important challenge that absolutely anyone – in anyone school! – can do.

Meet the My Name Matters challenge.

Our challenge goal? To end name-shaming in any of our spaces – whether it’s in our schools, homes, or on social media.

The challenge has two steps:

Honor your students’ names by learning to pronounce and spell them correctly.
Take steps to eliminate name shaming in your own communities by speaking out.

I, of course, want to provide you with tools to be successful in this challenge! I have some suggestions and thoughts about how to work through each of the two steps below.

Honor your students’ names.

It is so important that we honor our students’ names by pronouncing and spelling them correctly. There is an article published by NEAToday that discusses the lasting impact of mispronouncing students’ names, as well as this must-read from Cult of Pedagogy.

It’s important… we want to do it… but how?

You’ll want to begin by getting your class lists and identifying any names that you’re not certain of pronunciation. This may be names that have multiple pronunciations, or names that you are not at all familiar with. Next you can:

Make contact with the students’ family, introducing yourself, welcoming them to the classroom community, and inquiring as to how they pronounce the student’s name at home. You may want to explain that the purpose of your phone call is to make sure your student feels welcome and valued by you pronouncing their name correctly.
If you’re not comfortable with asking a students’ family how to pronounce their name ahead of time, be sure and ask the student how to pronounce their name upon meeting them. Be sure and repeat the name back, checking it against their own pronunciation – you may not get it right the first time, but you will get it right with practice!
Contact previous teachers and ask how they pronounced the students’ name and compare notes – this is a good stop-gap measure if you’re unable to contact the family and want to try to pronounce the students’ name correctly prior to meeting them. Err on the side of caution, though, as your colleagues may not necessarily be pronouncing it correctly themselves!

Remember: keep at it until you get it right, and if you make a mistake – apologize! Make sure your students know that it is important to you to honor their names and that you’ll keep at it until you do.

Don’t be a bystander.

The saying goes: when we know better, we do better. We know name shaming is wrong, so we’re going to stop doing it ourselves. But… can’t we strive for more? I think we can, and I want to end name shaming TOGETHER.

So don’t be a bystander! If you hear or read someone that’s participating in name shaming, say something.

Confrontation and disagreement can be difficult and certainly uncomfortable, but we can’t accomplish our goal of ending name shaming without doing the difficult work. Here are some suggestions for conversation starters/responses when you encounter name shaming:

“I know ________ may not be a name you’re familiar with or would name your own child, but I bet ________’s family really like that name. I know I would feel hurt if someone criticized my name or my child’s.”
“I don’t think it’s right to judge ________’s name. Names are personal…. ________’s name means something to him/her and their family. When we make fun of it, we make fun of them. That’s not something we should do.”
“It might be difficult to pronounce ________’s name, but I can’t imagine what it must feel like to constantly be called by a nickname you didn’t choose or have your name mispronounced. Have you thought about writing down the phonetic spelling and practicing it?”

It begins with us.

Name shaming is one of many issue facing our students today. Ending it begins with you (and I!) deciding not to accept it in our spaces. It’s one small, necessary step we can all take to dismantle inequities facing our most vulnerable student populations; each step we take propels us forward with increasing momentum.

Community Matters: What We Can Do, TOGETHER.

November 11, 2016 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 1 Comment

Turn on the TV, browse your Facebook timeline, or scroll through Twitter… look at the faces of your colleagues and friends as they navigate conversations this week… it’s not hard to see how divided we are right now as a nation. In our own communities. Sometimes in our own schools. Regardless of where on the political spectrum you fall, you’re likely as concerned as I am about how we move forward from this, and how we do so in a way that honors our commitment to our children.

For the children are watching. And listening. And learning.

All of us – whether happy, sad, exuberant or despondent about the outcome of our election – have a responsibility to the children. We have a responsibility to listen, to love, and to protect.

I believe that we, as educators, must turn our focus toward building or maintaining our classroom communities as places where students are safe to express their feelings, where their feelings are honored, and where they learn what it means to grow as a person of character. We cannot do this alone, nor can we do this without a plan, for building a classroom community requires careful consideration and thoughtful execution.

So what can we do? What can YOU do? How do we navigate this uncharted territory?

Create and maintain open lines of communication.

Students that are distressed right now – for themselves, for their family, or for their friends – must feel that they are safe to express that fear. Research tells us that students that are emotionally distressed are less equipped to learn. In the long-term, it can seriously impact their health and well-being. We must do all that we can to mitigate this in our classroom, and that begins with allowing students to express themselves.

I’ve written before about the powerful #IWishMyTeacherKnew movement and how I handle it in my classroom; this is a perfect time to begin implementing it or something similar to provide your students with an outlet. It’s especially important to provide students with a confidential outlet, as they may not always feel comfortable speaking about their thoughts, feelings, and emotions in the whole-group or even small-group settings. Students are aware of how divisive this election has been, and may not want to put themselves at risk within their peer group.

Allow students that need to take a break to do so. If a student is distressed, it’s important to provide them with tools to cope, and those tools can include taking a break from learning. Invite your school counselor into your classroom to provide insight on how to help your students learn to cope with all that they may be feeling – our school counselors are incredible resources that can help us navigate these difficult times.

Communicate and build relationships with students’ families. Students in distress are likely coming from a family in distress – that is to say that their families, too, are feeling complex emotions and experiencing hardship in some way. It is important that families know that you are there to support their child at school, and to support them in parenting their child at home. Regardless of belief systems, we hold a shared responsibility and have a sacred relationship as families and teachers – communicating openly is necessary to preserve that.

Honor students by honoring their backgrounds.

Much of the distress children are experiencing stems from fear of, or actual experiences of, being excluded. Excluded on the basis of their or their family’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, or political affiliation.

Our classrooms must be a place where students’ backgrounds are honored without qualification. In order to learn, students must feel accepted and included.

We can foster inclusivity by utilizing diverse resources and including diverse perspectives in our teaching practice, starting with our classroom libraries. If your classroom isn’t diverse, you can provide a “window” to the world that is out there and allow your students to explore their fellow citizens through text. If your classroom is diverse, you can provide a “mirror” for your students that honors their truth and value to our country. {As a side-note: “We Need Diverse Books” is an incredible resource for educators.}

We can honor our students by being pro-active in stemming the tide of discrimination within our classrooms, schools, and beyond. We can ensure that we do not allow, and roundly condemn, any form of prejudice we, our children, or their families experience. It is important that as we seek to honor our students’ backgrounds that we also protect them in so much as we can. Speaking out against injustice does not impeach our own political beliefs – it protects our humanity, and that of our students and their families.

Cultivate a culture of character.

Prioritizing displays of character is integral to building and maintaining a classroom community. All educators want their students to be successful academically and work diligently to make their success a reality.

I believe that now, more than ever, we must also work to shape our students into people of character.

If your school implements PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) you are already well on your way. If your school doesn’t implement PBIS, learn more about it. PBIS isn’t the end-all be-all, but it is a school-wide framework for focusing on creating a positive learning community rather than putting out the fire of a negative learning environment.

Start, continue, or enhance classroom meetings that focus on being better to one another – being caring, fair, respectful, responsible, trustworthy, persevering, and a good citizen. You can do this through discussion prompts, through read-alouds, through song, and even through short videos. Use your classroom meetings throughout this holiday season to plan acts of kindness in your school community and beyond.

Add to your classroom management system to reflect the value of displaying one’s character. Allow students to recognize the character that one another displays – in the small moments, and in the big ones too. Involve parents in the process by communicating the ways in which their child uplifts your classroom community and makes a difference.

**Above all, remember it is about them.**

To be completely transparent, I am one of the people I am writing about. I am one of the Americans that are scared, sad, and just down-right exhausted by what’s happening. It’s personal to me, on many levels, as so many that I love and care about – my students included – feel threatened right now.

But this isn’t about me, and it can’t be. It can’t be about you, either. It’s about our kids. It’s about making sure each of them – regardless of where they come from, who their parents are, or anything they believe – feels safe, loved, and protected. That’s something that we can all agree on and work toward.

Please join me in this fight for our shared humanity. I need you. They need you.

The Top 3 Reasons Name Shaming Harms Students

August 10, 2016 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 4 Comments

You’ve seen the memes. The late night comedy bits. Maybe you’ve even been a part of a conversation or laughs in the teacher’s lounge. Odds are, if you’re a teacher, you’ve encountered name shaming. You know – “Did you SEE my class list? How do I even pronounce half these names? What were their parents thinking?!” or “You’ll never believe it. Another Neveah.“

I’m here to tell you that name shaming needs to stop.

A fleeting giggle or likes on a meme are not worth the consequences of shaming children (who become adults) about their names.

Here are my top 3 reasons name shaming harms students and must end.

1. Name shaming sets you up for a failed home-school relationship.

You can’t laugh about, joke about, or roll your eyes at a student’s name without passing judgement on their family. (And that judgement? It can impact their educational attainment. Here’s another source if you don’t like the first one.) They did not choose their own name – their parents or guardians did. Odds are, if you’re comfortable enough to laugh about a student’s name, you’re going to begin to make other judgments about that family. Think about it: if you’re making fun of someone, do you have a lot of respect for them? Empathy? No, you do not. Respect and empathy are two keys to successful home-school relationships. Without them, you’re facing an uphill battle.

2. Name shaming impacts student outcomes.

Students with uncommon names are more likely to be bullied, more likely to be suspended, and less likely to be found to be trustworthy. These things are not because of a student’s name – it’s because of our response to their name. We – the adults, the teachers, the other parents, other students – create situations in which students can develop low self-esteem, want to distance themselves from their culture, etc. all because of how we respond to their name. When we name shame, we demoralize – and we all know as educators that if there isn’t mutual respect and a relationship, student outcomes suffer.

3. Name shaming is entrenched in ethnocentrism and contributes to institutionalized racism.

Yes, I went there. I went there because the research goes there. If we, as teachers, feel free enough to name shame (whether it’s in the teacher’s lounge, on social media, or just in our own heads) – what do we think goes on behind closed doors in human resources? The more acceptable a practice name shaming is, the longer we perpetuate hiring Emily over Lakisha despite the fact both are equally qualified. We cannot participate in perpetuating the practice of determining the worth of someone based upon our own notions of what is an “acceptable” name. Picture a student you’ve had with a unique name. Do you want them to be passed over for a job that they are qualified for?

If you find Reagan or Kerrington an acceptable name – one you wouldn’t make fun of in the teachers lounge or giggle about on an Instagram meme – but you would roll your eyes, laugh, giggle, or give a passing glance to names like Neveah, Princess, or Chiquita, ask yourself why. Why are those names unusual to you? Why are those names less deserving of respect? We tend to “default” to names like Sarah (mine!), John, etc. because we accept white culture as the default. We view, analyze, and judge cultures through that lens and tend to assign judgments – in this instance, negative ones – because of what we consider our “default.” We must get away from this because…

There’s no place for this in our profession.

This is not “all in good fun.” We are not just “making an observation.” We are actively ‘other’-izing our students, demoralizing them, and disrespecting them. We are disrespecting their families. We are devaluing our profession by stooping to the low of a school-yard bully or crass comedian. We should be striving to be better than that – we must.

High Tide, Low Tide: A Teacher’s Year

July 30, 2016 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

I spent this morning at the beach with my family. The sun low in the sky, its warmth just enough to remind you it’s summer. The salt in the air, carried by the sea’s breeze. The water just cold enough to awaken you, while still being warm enough to welcome you.

As I kept careful watch over my two boys – enthralled by the wonder of the crashing waves – my thoughts drifted to my students. Students I do not yet know, but worry over all the same. I began collecting shells, sea glass, and rocks, thinking of each of them as I plucked each treasure from the shore.

Each a treasure – no matter rough or smooth, broken or whole, big or small. Each a treasure.

Our students are not unlike these treasures. Some come to us whole, some broken. Some come to us rough around the edges, some smooth. Some come to us with big dreams, some with small hopes. But one thing is for certain – they are all treasures just the same.

This school year will not always be calm seas.

Just like high tide and low, we too will have moments when we feel ourselves drifting out to sea – overwhelmed by data, report cards, lesson planning, and so much more. It is in these times that we must look toward the beauty at our feet – the treasures revealed to us in our students by the receding waves of adversity.

I gathered one treasure for each of my precious students to come. I do not yet know their names, dreams, hopes, and fears. They, like these treasures, each unique in what they need from me and what they will teach me. I have in mind a place in my classroom to keep these treasures, a reminder of my students’ beauty and promise… So that I can look to them each day and in each season when the tide is low – I can remember why it is that I call myself teacher. A tangible reminder that will become theirs at the end of our voyage together this year.

Above all I know this to be true – that in high tides and low, there are treasures to be found. You need only look for them.

In Times of Challenge and Controversy, We Must Speak.

July 7, 2016 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 2 Comments

Close your eyes. Picture someone you love. Think about everything that is good about them – everything that makes you smile, the lightens your heart and brightens your day. As I speak my heart in this post, everytime you are tempted to close the window because of complicated feelings – I want you to picture them. Picture their lives being reduced to a hashtag, R.I.P. meme, or 24 hour media coverage. Then take a breath, and just exist in the discomfort of our current reality. For it’s important we feel discomfort in these times.

As a white teacher, I am tasked with teaching the children that enter my classroom – not the children that reflect my racial makeup, my gender, my sexual orientation, my socioeconomic status, my religious affiliation – but the children that actually walk through my door. This means that I cannot afford to be blind to anything about who they are. Who their families are. Who their community is. What they are facing.

We cannot afford to be blind.

We cannot afford to lift the veil of privilege and be awoken only in times of tragedy, either. We must greet each day with eyes wide open – eyes that see race, that see gender, that see sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and religion. We must actively look and educate ourselves (and our fellow white colleagues) and take part in the conversation about all of those things.

But today, now, in this moment… In this moment we must actively engage ourselves in listening to our brothers and sister of color. We must understand that we cannot understand. We must welcome the discomfort of unpacking all the layers that exist when talking about the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement – racial bias, systemic racism, white privilege, socioeconomic privilege, a justice system that is flawed.

Black lives matter.

Add no qualifier to that statement. It doesn’t need one. Affirm that the lives of your friends, colleagues, students, and community members of color matter. They matter so much, indeed, that you need not add any “but” or “and” to that statement. You needn’t compare their lives to any others. They are loved. They have worth. They matter.

They matter not just today because they are in mourning, not just because they are fearful for their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and community… they matter not just because there’s a hashtag or a social media movement.

They matter everyday. Every moment. Every breath, every blink of an eye, every word.

We can do better. We must do better. We will do better.

If you affirm that we must do better – that even though we understand that we cannot understand we will not stop until the dying stops – there are things that you can do. That I can do. That we will do.

1. Listen.

As I wrote in a prior post on race, we must listen more than we speak – exponentially more. We must be willing to feel uncomfortable in that process… We must be willing to be exposed to thoughts, ideas, positions, and action that makes us feel discomfort. Are you thinking of that person you love? Think of them often as you listen. Allow that love you feel for them to open your heart to justice for the people that so many love that are dying in our streets.

2. Seek knowledge.

Do not wait for another tragedy to be informed. Read on issues of race. Follow teachers of color on social media. Engage in your community and find avenues to be an ally. Do all of this with the expectation that you are responsible for educating yourself – and then help to educate your colleagues. It is not up to people of color to educate us. We must do that ourselves.

My friend Tamara has an incredible list of people compiled to start informing yourself about social justice. Please take your time, read hand find those that you can listen to. She, herself, is one of those voices.

3. Amplify the voices of people of color.

Share their stories. Their message. Re-tweet, share on Facebook, repost on Instagram. Leverage your sphere of influence to support their voices being heard, because their voices should be the loudest. Their voices are the most important in this conversation. We must honor them, their feelings, their reality.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Stand with me, in this time of challenge and controversy. Stand with me and act so that we are better. We will do better for our friends, our family, our colleagues, our community, and most importantly – our students.