Last week a school board in Tennessee banned Maus, a Pulitzer prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust. In Florida, the Governor wants to ban learning experiences that cause “discomfort” to white participants. Across the country, Education Week reports, roughly 1/3 of students are enrolled in districts where “critical race theory” bans are in effect. Collectively, […]
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Opinion: Not To Be Denied: I Was Denied Inclusion as a K-12 Student, Here’s How I Found My Voice
I loved everything school had to offer me until I walked through the doors of a Black-owned bookstore and discovered I had been denied. From kindergarten to college, I had been denied of who I am and who I could become. It was my last year in college when a professor from my African Thought […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
“This Book Saves Lives!” Why You Should Teach The Stars Beneath Our Feet.
In my eighth-grade English Language Arts classroom, reading was an experience. It was an opportunity to connect, express, discuss, motivate, and debate. No book demonstrated this more than The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore. There will be NO spoilers in this piece (well nothing that you can’t find out by reading the […]
Posted inCulturally Responsive Teaching
4 Ways to Improve your Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Studies for Elementary Learners
By Tamara V. Russell, NBCT Each year during the months of January and February, elementary school classrooms across the country whitewash the story of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Because students are so young, many times teachers will limit the scope of the movement to the idea that Dr. King was […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Please Stop Using Blaccent With Your Students
Probably one of the most dehumanizing aspects of my educational journey as both a student and an educator is the “blaccent” that non-Black educators use when addressing Black people. According to Dictionary.com, a “blaccent” is “the imitation of Black English by non-black people.” It’s an offensive mockery of Black culture. To my non-Black educators, stop […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Education Challenges Turn into Advantages in a Rural Community
Challenges that seemed to be disadvantages in a rural community become advantages by pushing the teachers to find ways to give students opportunities to explore the world and expand their worldview.
Posted inBack to School
Why Every School Needs An Equity Team
Yep, Teaching is Still Political As we get ready to start the year, the political tension of equity work is once again front and center. While Critical Race Theory is not banned in our state, the collective community temperature is boiling. In just the past few weeks, our district has experienced: A hiring and firing […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education
We Need to Understand Culturally Responsive Practices to Build Relationships
Patrice Morgan, Ed.D, is an Instructional Coach for beginner teachers and an Assistant Professor in the Education Program at Kingsborough Community College located in Brooklyn, NY. The majority of her teaching focuses on supervised field courses preparing pre-service teachers to enter classrooms in a professional manner with the confidence needed to engage the minds of […]