Fairly recently my sister came out of the closet and told my family they were beginning their

transition into becoming a woman. My sibling is twenty six and had already expressed the
gender dysphoria she had before this announcement, but it did come as a bit of a surprise since
she told us as she started the treatment. My sister had called me while I was in school and after
class when I got home my sister was out. When I talked to my mother we talked about it and
how it would affect our relationship with her. I remember thinking that I would be happy to hear
that my sister would finally feel at home in her body, but my mom said that she knew my sister
before the transition, but that this new person could be totally different and explained it would be
hard to connect with them and continue loving them. This broke my heart as my mom did not
see this as her child growing, but instead as her getting a whole new child that would be
replacing her old one. I think about this moment when I helped out in classrooms, because my
sister knew my mother felt this way even if she was not there for the conversation, she felt the
way my mom acted was different to how my mom was more on her toes around my sister. I
remember my sister saying they felt ostracized and when I go into a classroom I want to avoid
this feeling for my students. “When students, particularly students of color and language-diverse
students, sense a lack of belonging in the classroom, it impedes their academic success.
Teachers must find ways to use students’ cultural backgrounds and languages as
resources”(Scaffold). This quote explains that some students need to feel like they belong. I
grew up in a community where people of color were rare and always were not part of the
collective, so I grew up in the majority. I want all students to feel like they are part of the greater
group. Cliques and friend groups will happen in classes, but bridging those gaps can make a
class feel whole and like a student can really be themselves and be part of a community that
may be entirely new to them. A student that may have never had a classroom community may
not immediately understand, but making sure they have that opening to join when they want to
is important.