Imagine you are a young person whose parent is in prison. How does that impact you as you walk into school, interact with peers and teachers, and sit down to learn? What makes you feel safe and connected? Five million U.S. children are living this experience. How can we better serve them? What other students… Continue reading Hidden Among Us: Identifying and Supporting Students With An Incarcerated Parent
Educators: Speak out against hate. Defend love. Racism is a diabolical social construct. The truth is that there is only one race — the human race. We need more love, friends. All this anger and hatred is literally eating us alive. From its impetus, America has been built upon divisiveness, corruption, and hate. Do we… Continue reading Be Brave: Teach America’s Ugly Truths
In a few short weeks school will resume in New York and I’m already thinking about how we are going to address racism within the four walls of my classroom. I can already see us previewing images like the one above for a Do Now discussion and quick-write. I’m thinking about what texts, historical and… Continue reading Addressing Racism Within The Four Walls Of My Classroom — And Yours
That’s Mike Petrilli of the Fordham Foundation in an article published last night on PoliticoPro. In this deep dive into the regression of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s commitment to education reform, Eliza Shapiro surveys the last three years of education politics in the most segregated state school system in the country. Because this piece is only… Continue reading “The rollback of education reform in New York has been the most dramatic in the country.”
I wrote a post last week that got just as much praise as it did condemnation. The negative responses took me somewhat by surprise. I thought my message of reverence and thanks to my high school teachers — who were, with the exception of one, all white — for holding me to the same high… Continue reading White Teachers Tend To Have Consistently Lower Expectations of Their Black and Brown Students
This is a guest post from Lashaya Johnson, a Crown Heights public school parent. It was originally posted in Medium. Earlier this month, Mayor de Blasio made a terrible decision that affects families across the city: He will force place unwanted teachers from the Absent Teacher Reserve pool into classrooms. That means any of my… Continue reading Mayor de Blasio is On The Run From Parents Protesting Placements of Subpar Teachers
I didn’t want to work this summer. I really just wanted to rest from a somewhat stressful school year and revitalize myself in preparation for the academic year ahead. I almost pulled it off, too, but after careful review of my budget post on my daughter’s eighteenth birthday, high school graduation, and prom, I knew… Continue reading Work Now, Get Paid Later — Maybe: One Teacher’s Woeful Summer Work Experience
One of my four children has multiple disabilities because of a genetic mutation called Fragile X Syndrome and, while we’ve had disputes with our local school district, Jonah’s assorted services—speech and occupational therapy, modified course content and instruction, vocational training—always take place during the school day. Not so in one of the poorest sections of… Continue reading A Dead Canary in Hunts Point: “Vouchers” Instead of Special Education Services
Prior to publishing my last post, “How Are These White Teachers At A Long Island High School Helping Black Kids Achieve Above- Average Graduation Rates?,” I asked my editor if my position was clear or if I appeared to my readers to be flip-flopping from my original, previously proposed position that the profession needs more teachers… Continue reading In a High-Achieving School That Has 99% Black Students, Why Haven’t More Black Teachers Been Hired?
I only had one Black teacher in my entire K-12 academic career. One. I graduated from Elmont Memorial High School (EMHS) on Long Island almost 25 years ago. I always brag about the quality education that I got there. It really was top-notch. The neighborhood in which we lived and attended school was culturally diverse.… Continue reading How Are These White Teachers At A Long Island High School Helping Black Kids Achieve Above- Average Graduation Rates?
