Voices from the Middle ■ volume 24 ■ number 4 ■ may 201780

Why Diversity Matters in the Middlemargaret hale

Diversity matters to middle level educators and to the Middle Level

Section Steering Committee of NCTE. But why? It matters because we know that students in middle school are trying to figure out who they are. They are trying to develop a belief system. They are beginning to think about their place in the world. When we can facilitate learning using materials filled with diverse characters and give them the chance to talk to others who are not just like them, we can help them to understand that we are more alike than we are different. It also matters because, as educators, we too need the chance to learn from others who are like us and not like us.

We read a lot in the news these days about the changing faces of public education. And when we look at the statistics, we can see how demographics in our schools are shifting. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “Between fall 2003 and fall 2013, the number of White students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools decreased from 28.4 million to 25.2 million, and the percentage who were White decreased from 59 to 50 percent. In contrast, the number of Hispanic students enrolled increased from 9.0 million to 12.5 million, and the percentage who were Hispanic increased from 19 to 25 percent” (NCES, 2016). These shifts show us statistically that the faces in our classrooms are changing.

In his book Human Development and Education (1953), Robert Havighurst posited a list of adolescent developmental tasks and wrote that adolescents need to accomplish or achieve these tasks in order for learning to occur. He believed, among other things, that adolescents need to develop an ideology or belief system. Diversity in our classrooms in terms of reading materials, ideas, and

experiences can help students begin to develop their own value system or ideology. And as they do so, they will have the benefit of taking into account varying viewpoints and perspectives.

Exposing students to a wide range of texts gives them the opportunity to engage in a wide range of cultures and experiences vicariously. These experiences in reading give students what Rudine Sims Bishop called mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors (1990). Students will have windows into the lives of other people in settings both near and far. These windows can help students to understand how others live and what others believe. In addition, this kind of range of texts can give students mirrors to hold up to their own lives. They can begin to see that they aren’t the only teenager experiencing the growing pains of adolescence, whatever their situation might be.

This year, the Middle Level Section Steering Committee is excited to offer a range of #WhyMiddleMatters sessions for you in St. Louis at the 2017 NCTE Annual Convention in November, all of which weave in the thread of diversity. We plan to kick things off at the Middle Level Meet-Up with the opportunity to celebrate the silver anniversary of Voices from the Middle. This celebration will feature an array of people who have contributed to the journal over its twenty-five-year history. Participants will share not only how they have been involved, but more importantly how the journal has impacted them personally and professionally.

During the Friday sessions, plan to take the time to learn about using series books to motivate students to become more engaged not only in reading, but also in writing. The

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81NOTES FROM THE MIDDLE LEVEL SECTION ■ hale

Newly elected to the Middle Level Section Steering Committee in 2017, Margaret Hale is associate chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and clinical associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Houston. She is cofounder of Tweens Read, cohosts Whispering Spines (www.whisperingspince.com), and is president-elect of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (TCTELA).

panel of diverse authors will share ideas for how to use series books to spark some energy for literacy.

Later that day you’ll have the chance to learn tips for surviving in the hectic world that surrounds teachers. Panelists will open windows onto their daily lives and share with participants some tips they have for persevering as educators in this sometimes uncertain world.

Another #WhyMiddleMatters session will feature teachers and students from the St. Louis area talking specifically about how diverse books have impacted their understanding of the world. Students will serve as discussion leaders for this roundtable event, and participants will have the chance to hear directly from middle school students how diversity manifests in their own reading.

#WhyMiddleMatters will also feature a teacher-driven session in which teachers from around the country will share a variety of tips and tools for keeping students engaged—ideas you can take right back to your classroom.

The Middle Level Section Steering Committee plans to cap all of this off with another exciting Middle

Level Mosaic. With this year’s Mosaic, we hope to feature the work of We Need Diverse Books (www.weneeddiversebooks.org) in the discussion of diversity and why it matters. Participants will have a chance to hear from the founder, explore ideas with authors involved in the movement, and even learn some strategies for using their books.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2017 NCTE Annual Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, and to sharing our ideas about diversity and #WhyMiddleMatters.

References

Havighurst, R. J. (1953). Human development and education. New York, NY: Longmans, Green.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2016, May). Racial/ethnic enrollment in public schools. The condition of education. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cge.asp

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3).

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