By Nida Saeed, EdD
“If we are to have peace on earth…our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It was Review Friday, and my students were jumping up and down excited to play another round of Quizlet Live to review our concepts for the week. The wonderful thing about this Web 2.0 tool is that it groups students into different teams to review for any concept. As I walked around the room seeing my fourth graders engaged and excited, one of my new students enthusiastically shared with me the reason they were winning was due to their group being diverse, and everyone’s voices were being heard by all members. The student’s comment made me smile. I couldn’t help but reflect if children are open to this concept of diversifying their circles, why can’t adults do the same thing?
Diversifying your circle helps you grow professionally and experience life differently by sharing stories. If you work with kids, I believe it is crucial to connect with people outside of your community. Associating and connecting with people of other races, cultures, communities, belief systems or ways of living expands your knowledge and understanding of the world. We can learn to better understand and serve our students and community.
As educators, it is important we are lifelong learners so we may expand our knowledge and continuously improve our education system. Education is constantly changing along with our kids. Every generation brings new changes and perspectives, and as teachers we also need to adapt to change. Connecting with people from different walks of life will help grow our profession and education system to represent the people of our nation. Expanding our curriculum to represent our students, diversifying our books, and creating a culture-based classroom will help meet the needs of our students so all may thrive.
Connecting with people from different backgrounds helps broaden your mind. Growing up, I was raised in a traditional, cultural and religious Muslim household. I grew up in a strict household where my parents taught us what it meant to eat a certain way, celebrate Ramadan and promote the Hijab. In college, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Baptist University where I learned about Christianity and other world religions. I connected with people and learned about Christianity by attending Wednesday Convocation and reading the Old and New Testament. I made lifelong friends and learned about a religion I had not experienced growing up. I also had an opportunity to share and talk about my religion with others around campus. Not only was I learning something new, but others at my University learned about my religion too. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr talked about the importance of developing perspective and understanding beyond your own community.
Sharing stories and connecting with people who are from a different background helps create a sense of unity and positive perspective in the classroom. My students always have an opportunity to share their stories and talk about their life through technology projects, journal entries, books and class discussions. Our students are also a great resource in diversifying our circle and teaching others about their culture and belief systems. Learning from our students can help improve our perspective of the world and create a sense of understanding and respect in the classroom. Administrators should also allow their teachers to share their stories in meetings and professional development.
The field of education should constantly encourage our students and teachers to leverage their cultural capital and voice on campus. Allowing our teachers and students to dig deep into their roots so they can feel like experts on campus can promote academic, social and cultural growth.
Dr. Nida Saeed is a teacher in Fort Bend ISD. She loves to integrate technology into her classroom and utilize her skills to educate, motivate and inspire other educators to make a difference in the classroom. When she’s not teaching, Dr. Saeed speaks at conferences about cultural and Muslim awareness in education.
TEPSA News, January/February 2021, Vol 78, No 1
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