Once, a fifth-grader informed me that she hated science. According to her, it was a stupid, boring subject. Not class, subject. I tried to convince her otherwise but to no avail. The following year, the topic of science came up again, and I assumed that her opinion had not changed, but lo and behold: it… Continue reading Teacher/Subject Conflation
Most of my students are visual learners; I’ve written before about the role Broadway musicals played in my classroom before I retired in June. Motion pictures played a strategic role as well. I wanted to make connections through film that would help students retain content knowledge in my Global History, U.S. History, African-American Studies and… Continue reading This Veteran NYC Teacher “Meets Students Where They Are.” How? Let’s Go to the Movies!
One day I was walking through the 30th Street train station in Philadelphia when I heard someone shout, “Hey you!” Surely this wasn’t meant for me. I was a stranger to Philadelphia after all. But this was followed with, “Boy! Don’t you hear me calling you?!” I turn around this time and see a somewhat… Continue reading “Your Job is to Let the White Kids Know that Black Kids Are Just as Smart as They Are, And You are Not Doing Your Job!”: A Teacher’s Reflections
This is a guest post by Gregory Wickham, a student at Stuyvesant High School. Gregory is a 2013 2nd place winner of the Michael Perelstein Memorial Scholarship Discover Your Passion Competition, and a quarter-finalist in the 2014 Young Rewired State Festival of Code. You can find his website at gregorywickham.com. A certain woman wrote an article detailing some of… Continue reading This NYC Student Takes Offense at A Teacher’s Cavalier Abandonment of “Disruptive” Children.
For me there’s something inspirational and informative when you weave together music and dance in order to convey meaning. While I’ve been told that I can’t sing or dance (haters), I think I’ve learned a thing or two from Broadway musicals. Man of La Mancha depicts Europe during The Middle Ages. Ragtime the Musical presents… Continue reading This Teacher Brings Broadway into His Classroom! “Hamilton,” Anyone?
“It’s weird to read something about myself that I’m not sure I’ll understand,” my partner admitted after reading a critical analysis essay I had composed about one of Richard Wright’s short stories. It mainly focused on transgenerational trauma within the African-American community, of which I am not a member. “What do you mean?” I asked.… Continue reading A Teacher Wonders, “Am I Repressing My Students’ Voices?”
