Texas teacher wears same hairstyle as her student to prove to her she’s beautiful
Leigh Bishop reminds us why representation in the classroom matters.
Leigh Bishop reminds us why representation in the classroom matters.
A pre-K teacher in Sugarland, Texas, went out of her way to show one of her four-year-old students just how beautiful she is.
Lakeview Elementary teacher Leigh Bishop took to Facebook to explain how she had told one of her students that she loved her hairdo.
“Don’t be mad at me when I come to school with my hair JUST like that tomorrow….” she told little August, who didn’t look like she believed her and rolled her eyes.
But the next day, August and her father were both stunned when they arrived at the school to find that Bishop was true to her word and was, in fact, wearing the same hairstyle as August, according to local station KHOU 11.
“She was soooo tickled the whole afternoon!! It was the cutest thing,” Bishop wrote on Facebook.
Representation matters
Bishop took a picture of herself and the awestruck little girl, she said, because she wanted to have a picture of the fact that they looked so alike. But the picture went viral, and she later said in the comments that she now realized it “seriously speaks volumes!”
After all, the picture showed so much pure joy that it was hard to miss the message about building up our kids.
So many people flooded the comments to tell her she was a great teacher, but she simply responded, “Any chance I get to make a student feel whole & important, I TAKE IT!! (Plus I REALLY loved her hair).”
This is the perfect example of why representation matters in our schools. This little Black girl was able to see how beautiful she is because her teacher took the time to celebrate her hair.
This is why we need more amazing Black teachers. We think every little girl and boy should get the chance to feel like they are valued as much as little August learned she was at her preschool.
