Fatima Dahir
There’s a significant potential that 2 things may happen when you return to school in a couple of weeks:
- Your classroom may be more diverse
- Donald Trump’s Send her back tweet may just come up in class discussion
In terms of diversity, the demographic trends towards a browner America are indisputable. Here’s a link to an Axios article that cites the Census data. Sadly, many American schools both urban, suburban, and rural are defying this trend and remaining largely monochrome. If you teach in such a school, you do your students no favors by ignoring America’s increasingly diverse trajectory. Your students will most likely work in highly diverse environments in the future. And if you teach in such a school, you also have a moral obligation to make certain that students whom are different are not marginalized.
Fatima Dahir certainly felt different when she entered her largely, white and conservative public middle school classroom in suburban Columbus wearing her hijab. Today, she’s thriving as a student leader at Ohio State University, but middle school was brutal. In this episode, she’ll talk about her significant struggles, along with her social and academic metamorphosis. She’ll discuss how teachers can embrace ostracized students. She’ll also provide interesting perspective on the controversial statements by Donald Trump and how an educator might cope with classroom debate inspired by this issue. Please listen. This is an important show!
Episode Template
The Problem:
Some students feel marginalized.
The Solution:
Bond with those kids and subtly encourage their classmates to do the same.
What you can do Tomorrow:
- Conduct a mental inventory of students whom you suspect are excluded
- Intentionally begin the bonding process with those youngsters
- Experiment with ways that you can facilitate broader peer acceptance for those kids
- Strategize ways to keep debate in your classroom civil
Chances are, that if you’re listening to this podcast that you’re a popular teacher. When esteemed teachers reach out to struggling students it can open the door to peer acceptance. Go for it!
Listen to “122-Embrace the Marginalized…Starring Fatima Dahir” on Spreaker.