Natalya Gibbs: This made Grace sad for two reasons. She didn’t like Natalie and she didn’t have a daddy of her own. Grace felt less and less and like being the pink and floaty kind of princess. She couldn’t imagine making—

I think windows and mirrors and the nice metaphor to explain the importance of children seeing themselves in text, and then students learning about others through text.

Touch your nose if your dad doesn’t live with you. Yeah, me too.

Text selection is really important, and I think when students can see just even the slightest connection, they’re so excited.

Natasha Moore: Reach Academy has seen an increase in diversity. We’re seeing students from all over the world. Many of our families have been impacted by trauma. We need high quality teachers in title one schools that really believe in our children and their capacity to learn and not just look through a deficit lens.

Natalya Gibbs: I’ve known I wanted to be a teacher since I was in second grade. For me, I wanted to be that teacher who looked like my students, who understood the struggle of what it means to be a smart little black girl. When I was little, I loved to read. As I got older, I wanted to see myself reflected in stories, because I started to become aware of my own identity.

So our question this morning is, what is your favorite book that we’ve read this year, and why?

Student: “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter” because it made me learn about new cultures.

Student: My favorite book is “Crown” because I could relate to it.

Student: Okay, mi favorito libro es…

Natasha Moore: So many of our families, they feel invisible in this society. They haven’t been seen, they haven’t had a voice, and how do we ensure when they walk through the doors of Reach Academy that they feel like they are somebody, that they are important?

Natalya Gibbs: It’s really important that students see themselves in all aspects of their classroom, and feel valued and respected. It’s also really important to foster this understanding of others, so that when they grow up, they’re able to work with all different kinds of people.

Natasha Moore: We live in a world now where we have to build alliances across differences.

Natalya Gibbs: All right, you are going to get to create a character today. Somebody that you wish was in a story. So what is their hair like? It is like yours or is it different than yours?

Student: When I first came to this school, I didn’t have any friends, and like, I want to make her just like me.

Natalya Gibbs: One of the reasons I love teaching is watching those a-ha moments in students. Sometimes it’s just watching them get excited about something. It’s really heartening to see students, who may be judged for so many things, be these brilliant little people who are going to one day run the world.