Each Thursday I will post a quote or thought to help us reflect on our practices and beliefs. Today's quote comes from The Dreamkeepers by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994).
...a boy named Larry, had had a particularly troubling history. Although he was short and slightly built, he was the oldest child in the class. He had been left back several times and was thirteen in a class made up of eleven-year-olds. He had been traumatized by the drive-by shooting of a favorite aunt. Other teachers in the school referred to him as "an accident waiting to happen." No one wanted him in their classrooms. Ann Lewis (Larry's teacher) referred to him as a "piece of crystal."
He's strong and beautiful but fragile. I have to build a safe
and secure place for him and let him know that we - the class
and I - will be here for him. The school has been placing
him in the kitchen junk drawer. I want him to be up there in
the china cabinet where everyone can see him. (p.111)
As we begin the year, let's make a concerted effort to place each and every child in the china cabinet not in the kitchen junk drawer.
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