On my journey to bring more diverse authors, stories and voices to my high school English curriculum, I notched a couple of wins in the last two weeks. (Quick recap, I’m seeking to add Tommy Orange’s 2018 novel There There to the 12th grade English curriculum.)

Win #1: The district Instructional Materials Committee will review my request. Okay, so this one is kind of like putting “Make to-do list” at the top of my to-do list just so I can check it off… I’m a member of this committee and have been talking up this book to anyone who will listen.

Win #2: My building secretary and principal worked some budget magic and found a way to fund two class sets of novels. My building is the smallest of the district’s three high schools, and two class sets will cover every 12th grader in my building over the coming months. (Of the other two buildings, one high school just recently opened and has not fully phased up to 9-12 enrollment and the other has a senior class typically in the 500s… so that’s a heavier lift.)

These two successes have made me think about what teacher leaders… particularly teacher leaders new to navigating systems… might need to be cognizant of in order to successfully advocate: