We’re about 2 weeks out to the end of the 2019-2020 school year, and the end of the semester feels so different this year. Teachers know the bittersweet moment of saying goodbye to the students that we bonded with throughout the year with, while also anticipating the summer to enjoy time for ourselves & families. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Preparing for a Long Journey of Anti-Racist Teaching
A Wake Up Call for White People The past two weeks have been a time of widespread racial awakening for many white people, including teachers. I have had several friends say to me, “I feel terrible for not doing more earlier.” I am personally very familiar with this feeling of shame. Although I’ve been lucky […]
Posted inHistory
I am a White Social Studies Teacher, and I am a Coward
For three consecutive Black History Months, I have picked up and then quickly put down the Black Lives Matter at Schools resources. Why? Because I was scared. I was worried that my white colleagues might think of me as radical. I was concerned that white students would grow uncomfortable and declare “that all lives mattered.” I fretted over the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching is a Career, Not Your Fallback
If you are a teacher, you have probably had someone (or many someone’s) outside of education at some point in your career say that they thought about becoming a teacher, could be a teacher, maybe a teacher later if their current career does not pan out, or even teach when they retire. With the COVID-19 […]
Posted inSocial Justice
White Privilege and the Power of Revision in Education
My first honest conversation about white privilege came much too late in life. I was a 40-something doctoral candidate taking a class on multicultural education with a dozen other white women. Thankfully, the course was taught by the same (white) professor whose mantra became my own: The more I learn, the less I know. This […]
Posted inPrincipals' Corner
Principals, Students Need to Know You Care!
“They don’t care about us!” A middle school student shouted these words during a student town hall meeting. His classmates echoed his words. The teachers and I immediately went into a nurturing mode. We had questions. “Why do you think that they don’t care? What happened that makes you feel this way?” Suddenly, bursts of […]
Posted inProfessional Development
Obstinance Has No Place in Teaching and Learning
For teachers, it is a fact of life that they teach lessons. One of those lessons is to help students grapple with new, difficult, and controversial ideas. To help students make sense and place those ideas within their own experiences is part of the job; I enjoy it. So, this week, as my frustrations in […]
Posted inCOVID-19
A Teacher’s Love-Hate-Love Relationship with Zoom
“Bing Bong.” Thirty years from now when I hear the sound of someone entering a Zoom room, I’ll have vivid memories of just how much I loved, hated, and loved about online learning through this platform. LOVE – Seeing my students Just about every day, I’m checking in with my students and seeing their faces. […]