Flags of the Classroom.

There's some irony in my students saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning because most of them are immigrants to United States. Other students were born here in Northern Virginia, but they have strong ties to another country because of family. And they are so proud of these places! Their writing folders have three pictures on the outside reflecting things that are important to them, and over half of my students drew a non-American flag.

So it got me thinking about how my students see themselves represented in our school. It's a pretty white suburban school, and it resembles Harmony where I spent three fine years between 1994 and 1997. The teachers are more diverse than my middle school, but it is pretty similar. I love the diversity in my classroom, and during our current civics unit it has inspired some heated debates over immigration and citizenship rights.

Together my students and I made a list of all the countries represented. For some students like me, immigration is in the distant family past. But they still wanted to add to our total so Ireland made the list too! I found a company online and ordered all their flags for less than $2 each.


They really brighten up the classroom and are sparking a lot of conversation. Johnny asks me every day if he can have the Puerto Rico flag. (His writing and pictures are always about Puerto Rico - they are beautiful.) My Honduras contingency rearranged the flags to feature their flag more prominently.

Now I'm challenged to move beyond the flags to embrace their cultures more fully into the classroom. I'm still working on that next step, but I have their buy in to try something new. And 15 really pretty flags.