“The best teachers are like hip-hop producers: study the classics, select the best parts, then add some new flavor” (Chris Emdin, Professor/Author). This quote sums up my journey into distance learning very well. I was fortunate to have some experience in online education, having used it at the college level, but I was not prepared […]
Michele Lamons-Raiford
Michele Lamons-Raiford is a hearing American Sign Language (ASL) and English teacher at Pinole Valley High School in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. She has been a High School teacher for the past twenty years, as well as an Adjunct Instructor at Solano Community College for the past fifteen years. She has a BA and MA in English from Cal State University Sacramento, and teaching credentials in English and ASL from Cal State University East Bay. She is a devoted wife, a mother of a beautiful Neurodiverse Son, and a lifelong Advocate for ASL, Deaf Culture, Students with Special Needs, Culturally Relevant, Culturally Affirming, Anti-Racist School Cultures, Climates, and Diversity in Educational Institutions and Organizations.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Parable of a Teacher’s Post-Pandemic Pause
“I gotta fight every night to prove my love!” I will never forget this scene from the movie The Five Heartbeats when the boyfriend comes back to the table and find his girl with another man. Now, how in the world am I going to relate that line to teaching? For those of us in […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
What Teachers Can Learn from the 2021 Olympic Black Girl Magic
“She doin’ too much!” “Do it take all that?” “Show some humility!” and the ever-trending “She looks like a man!” I purposely quoted, verbatim, a handful of statements about nearly all the Black women currently killin’ the 2021 United States Olympic Trials in multiple categories. What might surprise some readers is that this Black, Female […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
When You Can’t Reach Every Student: A Different Type of Teacher Guilt
As we close out this school year, I feel overwhelmed with a different type of teacher guilt. Like everything else during this forced time of distance learning, the pandemic has exaggerated many teachers’ missions of the need to reach every student somehow. When we know that we have put forth the Herculean effort, when we […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
What Teachers Can Learn from Naomi Osaka
Like seemingly everything else, issues surrounding the importance of mental health have been highlighted to an unprecedented level during this pandemic. Some might consider athletes, celebrities, and influencers an unlikely source for teachable moments, but the importance of those like Naomi Osaka is the perfect real-time, relatable, and relevant stories teachers should pay close attention […]
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Exploring the Commonalities Found Within Diversity in a Classroom
My students are so diverse, and yet many with shared experiences. As a teacher, I soon learned to explore these diversities to find even more commonalities. The southeast Asian girl who wore the Hijab felt the same stares as the girl who demonstrated her own form of modesty by purposely not wearing makeup. The unnaturally […]
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The Culturally Affirming Power of Music
When teachers are thinking of ways to create a Culturally Affirming School Climate, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. What are we already doing that we can use to value and affirm the cultures and backgrounds of our students? One of the easiest ways to make this purposeful shift is to allow the students […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teachers Don’t Need More Mugs, They Need Respect and Empathy for Teacher Appreciation Week
“I am not a perfectionist, but still I seek perfection. I am not a great romantic, but yet I yearn 4 affection” (Tupac Shakur). Teacher Appreciation Week is near, and teachers want respect and empathy. No matter the profession, everyone wants to feel valued, to know that someone appreciates their efforts, and to think that […]