Coaching for Diversity and Equity

Education is rapidly changing across the country in an effort to be more inclusive. Schools are changing names and mascots, evaluating curriculum, analyzing bias in textbooks, and creating committees to address diversity and equity. In some areas these changes are met with support and others there is strong resentment and anger, even leading to legislation that dictates what and how curriculum is delivered. Teaching has always been political and the tides are shifting towards a more equitable future. It may be an uphill battle, but I do believe we will be successful in this endeavor. As we press on, librarians are uniquely poised to be powerful changemakers within their school communities as we strive for greater inclusion and diversity. Books build empathy. Reading about another person's struggles and challenges allows us to understand something we ourselves have never experienced. Books also allow us to feel seen and affirmed. We must build collections that represent every type of person as their whole and complex selves. This is a vital responsibility and one that we are very much ready to take on. 

How as mentors do we guide our mentees to focus on inclusion and diversity in the work they do with students? 

I think it's essential to begin this work with our mentees by impressing upon them how essential this work is and what a useful resource we can be to our communities and how much of an impact we can make on our students. We should recognize the weight of our responsibility and make sure that we consider diversity, equity and inclusion in all of our decisions. It's also essential to understand that this work is ongoing and that we are all at different places on this journey. Some people have been doing extensive professional development and are aware of their own biases, while others are just beginning this work. We need to meet our mentees where they are with kindness and without judgement if we are going to be successful moving forward with work on inclusion and diversity. This work is bound to make us feel uncomfortable and requires vulnerability so we must approach our mentees with empathy.

Why is this so important in these uncertain times?  

For better or worse we are living in interesting times! While we are in a fairly progressive state that largely supports the work of diversity, equity and inclusion happening in many schools there are still plenty of people who will oppose these efforts. The debates over critical race theory in schools are not going away, and these arguments will only become more frequent. I know that in my first few years I was very cautious and didn't want to ruffle any feathers. I would feel so anxious being a new teacher in the current landscape where teachers are so heavily scrutinized. I am eager and willing to be a resource to a new librarian and provide support and resources to help them continue with this courageous work, even as we feel like we are teaching under a microscope.

How can we do this in an in person or remote environment?

One essential element of coaching is believing in people and supporting them as they tackle hard things. In some cases it's as simple as a reassuring email or a phone conversation. Earlier this year I was making a pretty significant change to my nonfiction section and wanted to weed an entire section of geography books. I was pretty confident that I was doing the right thing, but I suddenly found myself flooded with doubt. I called a colleague (she has coached me through countless situations, both large and small). We spoke for only a few minutes but she reaffirmed what I already knew and provided me with a few new pieces of evidence to support my choice that I hadn't yet considered. Even though we weren't in the same physical space, the outcome was the same. I think it will be so helpful for us to do as much in person as we can so that we can build relationships, but quality coaching can happen from afar too.