Academic Success Through Celebrating Culture

How Dia De Los Muertos Improved Academic Success and Reduced Bullying at a Middle School

When I was a middle school teacher, my multilingual club put on an assembly for Hispanic Heritage month. They dressed up, set up an ofrenda, played a clip from Coco & explained to their classmates the meaning behind the celebration. Then they brought in an incredible Mexican American dance troupe to show off traditional dances. Their peers loved it! They, very literally, stood up and cheered and I heard them telling their friends it was the best assembly ever. All middle school teachers, parents of middle schoolers, and people who have ever come in contact with tweens, will understand what a huge deal it is to get them excited about anything, let alone willing to express that excitement in front of - gulp - OTHER KIDS!

This assembly, and the club, didn't come about by chance or a whim. It was not diversity for the sake of checking off the diversity box. Diversity has become a buzzword that has made it almost meaningless. Celebrating diversity is a noble goal, but I think we've forgotten why.

Here's Why:

Celebrating diversity combats racism. Celebrating diversity reminds students that they are special. Celebrating diversity leads to creativity and innovation. Celebrating diversity gives students an opportunity to show off their skills, teach other students, and believe in their own ability to succeed.

My middle school was lovely in many ways, but it was mired in a culture of that saw differences as disabilities. 20% of the students in the school were English Language Learners, meaning they spoke another language before they learned English. When I started working there, most of them didn't want other students to know that they were EL students. Kids would make fun of them and mutter things like, "Watch out! Immigration is coming!" in the hallways as they went by. This type of bullying is so insidious because it convinces the victims they have something to be ashamed of. Combating it by telling students not to bully is not effective. The best way to fight it is to change the school culture around uniqueness. If everyone in the school sees cultural differences as cool and valuable, if they wish they had the superpower of knowing a language other than English, and if students are proud of their heritage, they can't be bullied for it. This cultural shift takes time, commitment, and resources, but it is ultimately so worth it!

Here's How We Did It:

We started a club with multilingual students who had passed their exam to exit the EL program. This exclusivity gave students who were in the EL program the motivation to take this exam, which many had despaired of ever passing, seriously. They wanted into that club! In the club we truly celebrated students' families' cultures and their ability to speak other languages. We read books in Spanish, parents brought in home baked tamales and other treats, they chose music from their countries and we had dance parties. (In this particular school 100% of the EL population was Spanish Speaking). We hosted Language Lunches, where teachers and monolingual students (who were allowed to sign up if they had no discipline referrals) could come to eat with us in the library once a month and the club students would teach them phrases in Spanish. One thing the club really looked forward to was the annual field trip. Every student who had ever exited the program in the entire district was taken on a field trip every year for FREE. We took them to cultural performances at a fancy performing arts center. They loved it! They especially loved getting to eat for free at the buffet at Golden Corral.

It worked too. Bullying didn't stop completely, but students were not bullied for being Hispanic anymore. Also, EL students were no longer afraid to admit they were EL. They would hang out in my classroom whenever they could and they'd bring their monolingual friends along. They showed off pictures of the quincinera dresses they wanted and practiced latin dances between periods. They studied for their ESOL exam and a greater percentage of students passed than ever before. They learned about Hispanic heroes like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta with pride, and knew that they came from strong people. They worked hard, studied hard and succeeded.

From my point of view though, the assembly was the capstone on the celebratory multicultural community we were building. That assembly was a huge milestone for my multilingual students. They finally believed what I had been telling them all along; their ability to speak another language and their connection to multiple cultures is their superpower! I am still so proud of those students - but more importantly, they are proud of what they did and of WHO THEY ARE.

Imagine if we celebrated every students' heritage this effectively! It would take the sting out of bullying, and more importantly, it would give every student pride & belief in their own ability to succeed.