On March 23rd, New York City’s 75,000 teachers and 1 million-plus students embarked on a “Herculean” challenge: remote learning. It has been a difficult experience so far, and one that has shed fresh light on gaping inequities in our city’s school system. Many of my students had no access to the internet for the first […]
Ruben Abrahams Brosbe
Ruben Brosbe is a former elementary school teacher. He currently facilitates professional learning for Teaching Lab, Ramopo for Children, and the Center for Racial Justice in Educaton. He is passionate about social justice oriented project based learning, and finds that young people make the best activists. He is a co-founder of Teach Resistance, an online community for social justice and anti-bias elementary educators. He is also the founder and host of Teachable Moments, a live storytelling event featuring stories by former and current educators.
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
President Mike Bloomberg Would Be a Nightmare for Public Schools
#NeverBloomberg There are so many reasons Mike Bloomberg should not win the Democratic presidential primary. Using his billions to buy votes, his racist rationale for the 2008 housing crisis, his similarly racist and stubborn commitment to stop and frisk policing, and his misogynistic treatment of women are just a few of his recently publicized disqualifications. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
It’s Time to Rethink Your School’s “Holiday” Celebrations
According to a 2016 Gallup study almost 8 in 10 Americans identify with a religion. Approximately three-quarters of Americans identify as Christian. The largest group after Christians are those who identify as secular or non-religious. I am someone who doesn’t fall into either of the largest categories. I am a Jewish American. And as a […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
We Teach Children, Not Curriculum
What happens when you feel more committed to the curriculum than the kids you teach? I’ve been thinking about this lately. It is my 11th year teaching, but it is my first time feeling immense pressure to keep up to a curriculum pacing calendar. For those who don’t know, a pacing calendar is a tool […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Valuable Lessons from an Extremely Bad Professional Development
You know that something has gone wrong in a professional workshop when the experience starts to feel disrespectful. I sat in a workshop today from 9 am to 3 pm about a new math curricular resource. Approximately an hour and a half into the workshop, I started to feel pretty angry, because the training was […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Self Care Won’t Solve Teacher Burnout. Organizing Will.
The Self Care Trap There was a time (I suppose we’re still in it) when an endless stream of “trauma-informed” initiatives passed through my Facebook feed, e-mail inbox, and classroom. A lot of these offered some variation of mindfulness training for teachers or students. Whether it was through yoga or meditation, numerous programs promised safer, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Imagining a National Teachers’ Strike
Back to School Hopes and Fears Kids and teachers around the country are heading back to school. In New York City, we have a few weeks more of summer vacation. But like many teachers, my mind is already thinking about the year ahead. I’m curious about the kids I’ll teach, and the families I’ll work […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
What Grieving is Teaching Me About Patriarchy
Heartbreak My heart was broken this week. I came into work early Wednesday morning to prepare for an instructional walkthrough that wouldn’t happen. As soon as I came into the building, my principal escorted me to a classroom filled with other staff and gave me the news that three of our students had died in […]