Printer-friendly versionWe are elated that you consider North Hills Elementary and Sinking Springs Elementary as model schools to be featured on your Mix It Up at Lunch Day website. What an honor—I would love to share some of the programs and activities we have done. I would also like to thank Teaching Tolerance for its efforts to change the world one school at a time.
We are elated that you consider North Hills Elementary and Sinking Springs Elementary as model schools to be featured on your Mix It Up at Lunch Day website. What an honor—I would love to share some of the programs and activities we have done. I would also like to thank Teaching Tolerance for its efforts to change the world one school at a time.
When I filled the role as the diversity specialist three years ago, I sat down with the building principals to discuss their needs and how I could help. Mix It Up at Lunch Day had been briefly used years before, but it fell through the cracks.
I immediately started planning Mix It Up as the first huge diversity-related event. We wanted to introduce the students to the Day and have them involved in our effort to break down barriers. The first year I did Mix It Up at Lunch Day, one of my “pre-lessons” was to have students write one word that described something that hurt their feelings. I made a “brick” wall in the cafeteria. Each brick had one of those words on it. During the Mix It Up event, students took bricks out—symbolically tearing down the wall.
The year before, students got out of their seats, picked up something showing an example of intolerance and threw it into the trashcan. That act of throwing something away seemed to hit home. This school year I’m going to make sure that, along with mixing up their tables and creating table discussions, the students also get an opportunity to physically take something negative and throw it away. I’ve also been encouraging teachers and staff to Mix It Up with the students and with each other.
I rely heavily on our cafeteria workers, recess assistants and assistant principals. That’s why I make a point of sitting down with our staff to ask for input, ideas and suggestions. I am fortunate to have wonderful co-workers who really go above and beyond every year. I work at two school buildings, and their lunch periods overlap. So this year we are going to have two Mix It Up Days. That way we can focus on one school at a time, and I can be there for both events.
It is a little more difficult to implement Mix It Up at Lunch Day at our middle and high schools because of their lunch scheduling. However, we’re in the process of figuring out a way to do it. Also, I’ve been working with the diversity specialists at those schools. We’re now planning a district-wide “If you really knew me” campaign. And I’m about to introduce “No Name-Calling Week” at the 4-6 grade level.
Mix It Up at Lunch Day can be challenging. I have learned about this process through trial and error. But I am proud that Mix It Up has become a permanent part of our school culture.
Clydiene Liverman
Diversity Educational Specialist
Central York School District (Grades 4-6)
York, Penn.
