In scary times, we can just march forward, doing the end of January lesson plans that our team agreed upon. This post’s especially for teachers, because teachers get so busy with all the professional paperwork requirements, new administrative programs, professional development, meetings, classroom management and myriad other topics that suck up the days, evenings and week-ends.

I’d like to shine a small spotlight on our Muslim students, as crazy guys attack heroic, female cops who happen to wear traditional Muslim head garb. I don’t want to shine too large a spotlight. Many children honestly hate being the center of attention and I believe we should respect that choice. But taking a few minutes to include Muslim students, to share small connections between their lives and everybody else’s life might help us through the next few years. Perhaps taking a moment to let students show how they hold their hands as they pray and letting them share their favorite holidays. You are likely to be ahead if they answer “my birthday” or if they answer “Ramadan.”

Ducking the gargantuan lesson plans that are sometimes handed down to teachers in favor of taking a few moments to celebrate diversity will only help our students. Kids tend to believe adults. We have to break that Muslim = Terrorist connection that is being created in some circles. Among other considerations, enough of that thinking has the potential to create would-be terrorists. The kids in high school who have thug reputations regrettably often seek to prove their thugness to the world around them. Tell a kid he’s bad and keep saying he’s bad and what happens? The odds that he will decide to live up to that expectation skyrocket in my view.

Eduhonesty: A single act of racism leaves ripples that spread across the water. A single act of contempt can change a life. We have to prevent pebbles from hitting the pond whenever possible. We need to be proactive for our Muslim students.

I realize I’m preaching to the choir. Teachers overall are greater at celebrating diversity than any other group I know. But I wanted to write this because teacher workloads also are bordering on insane in some places, as teachers try to satisfy the government, the administration, and 22-page evaluation rubrics, etc. Social and character issues can get buried under that work, and sometimes only a generalized anti-bullying agenda manages to hold its own. That agenda may not be enough.