I have always known my place as a white educator - and that place is one of constant growth, reflection, and education. When I was in my teacher prep program, I knew I wanted to teach in a high needs school. Admittedly, I was scared to pursue it immediately even if I knew it was [...]
Racism is like water. When racism finds a way in, it seeps into every opening it can find. Does racism exist in your school? If you said no, then dig deeper because you're probably missing something. If you answered yes, what are you doing to lead racism out of your school? Racism in schools is [...]
As a teacher listening to calls to defund the police, my first reaction is to shrug and revel that someone else is feeling the misery of being expendable at budget time. Why should I suffer alone? That is a short-sighted view of the movement to defund the police. It’s not a movement to harm police. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]