Based on the concepts of difference and diversity, this article discusses three situations commonly experienced in daily life of a literacy class, in which difficulties in accepting the other as a legitimate other are expressed. By distinguishing between difference and diversity, the text makes a conceptual option for the latter, pointing out that this term can help to clarify procedures of cultural hierarchization, which are produced in markedly historical processes and constructed amidst games of power relations. The text also emphasizes the importance of the school as a privileged space for narratives and dialogues in which difference is explained. The author’s aim is not to provide role models, but to share the lessons learned through the situations encountered.