We Can’t Just Teach About Heroes and Holidays and Call It Culturally Responsive

In a recent training on culturally responsive teaching, I was introduced to a theory called the “Stages of Multicultural Transformation.” It goes something like this.…

Here’s Why We Must Open Schools to Authentic Parent Partnership

When I taught first grade on the Navajo Nation, I’ll never forget when one of my fellow teachers—now my wife—wanted to host an event that…

White Teacher, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families

The show was going really well. We were in Pittsburgh, taping a live 8 Black Hands podcast episode at the State of Black Learning Conference,…

Forget Implicit Bias, Let’s Talk about Explicit Bias in Education

Last month I kicked off a training on ways to use language as an asset to unleash the critical thinking potential of English learners with…

The Last Thing We Need Is a Negative Teacher. 5 Tips to Keep It Positive This School Year.

It’s that time of year again. The start of a new school year presents teachers with the opportunity to create new goals, build relationships and reconsider…

Ninety-Six Percent of Pennsylvania’s Teachers Are White. That’s a Problem.

Imagine a doctor knowing vital, life-saving information about your health, but not sharing it with you. It would be not only unacceptable, it would be…

Hope and Outrage: A Tale of Two White Dudes

Outrage: Racist White Dude in Texas So, apparently Black Kids only get into Ivy League schools to fill quotas? It’s official, I’m Harvard bound 🎓…

When 5-Year-Old Black Boys Are Suspended at Higher Rates From School, It’s Time to Talk About Racial Bias

The latest Government Accountability Office analysis of school discipline policies has everyone talking about the disproportionate rates at which Black students are disciplined in school.…

White Teachers, We Need to Make Schools Welcoming to People of Color

Every time a new article or video about the lack of teachers of color in the classroom is released, I listen to White teachers declare…

This Teacher With a White Nationalist Podcast Is Outrageous But She’s Not Alone

Two days after a Florida middle school teacher named Dayanna Volitich was outed as this White nationalist podcaster, the teacher is now denying that she…