The masses of teachers aren’t teaching Critical Race Theory. Roughly 80% of teachers in the United States are white – I can almost guarantee you that they’re not teaching Critical Race Theory. Many of them are uncomfortable teaching about enslavement, do you think they’d be comfortable, let alone knowledgeable, enough to teach Critical Race Theory? […]
Search results
Posted inCOVID
Opinion: Insurrection on a Black Educator’s Soul
By Tina Starks, Instructional Coach and policy fellow with Teach Plus CA Just two weeks after the failed coup at the Capitol and added trauma on the souls of Black people, Inauguration Day 2021 symbolized the restoration of hope and possibilities for a different America than what we had experienced for the last four years. […]
Posted inHistory
We’re Just People Who Don’t Want To Be Killed! A Student Reflection About Insurrection
By Tina Starks, Instructional Coach and policy fellow with Teach Plus, CA A piece of our worth was stolen today. It’s January 6, 2021, and a mob brandishing the flag of the Confederacy as well as the campaign flags of the outgoing President stormed into the Senate Chamber. The trauma of seeing a respectful treatment […]
Posted inProse
Potential and the Classroom: The Power of the Exchange
As teachers, we interact with kids constantly that we often forget exchanges we’ve had. To many of our students, those exchanges are things they have clung to in their time of need or seen as the straw that broke the camels back. We see so many kids every single day that it’s overwhelming, but I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching with Integrity: “Politics” in English Class.
Reading the News One of the things I love most about teaching English is the broad range of source material I can pull from. I love lesson planning and I dislike being bored, so my teaching is constantly in flux. My students read novels, analyze popular song lyrics, write poetry, watch Ted Talks, and everything […]
Posted inOpinion
Can You Talk About That in Elementary School?
By: Dr. Rachael Mahmood “Can you really talk about that in elementary school?” My colleagues often ask me. Then think for a moment and confirm, “I don’t think you can!” As an elementary school teacher, I often feel the need to close the door when talking to students about sensitive social justice topics like race, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
[Opinion]I’m Tired: The Cultural Burden of a Being the Token Assistant Principal
“White people can be exhausting.” That’s the first line in Austin Channing Brown’s book titled, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. While this line is most likely jarring for some, I must say, as an African-American woman in a space of Whiteness as an Assistant Principal, it is true. Embarking […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
[Opinion] Barack Obama: A Role Model for Teachers and Students
America and the World Today It has been a difficult week for America and the world. American leadership in the world seems to be collapsing as nations considered to be our allies are criticized and nations thought to be adversarial are applauded as friends. The old world order established after World War II where the […]