Cultural Competence Only Goes So Far. Kids Need Teacher Diversity.

I am a middle school science teacher. When covering the laws of physics, I teach that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” This…

Yes, White Teachers Still Need to Be Ready to Talk to Students About Race

“What’s the difference between a killing and a lynching?” The question popped up on my phone through the Google Hangouts app I installed in March.…

How to Raise Children Who Celebrate Diversity

Nearly a century ago, Father Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town, said, It costs so little to teach a child to love, and so much…

Every Student Should Have the Opportunity to Read Books That Affirm Their Identity

I always found school history and literature boring. Growing up Taiwanese American, I never saw myself or my community represented in my school’s history or…

Finding ‘Common Ground’ Will Be Tough in Virtual Classrooms

Some teachers may face addressing cultural differences virtually this fall, as school districts nationwide consider taking instruction online during the 2020-2021 academic year in response…

George Floyd Is Proof America Needs More Black Teachers

America, 2020: A Black man is recorded being killed in broad daylight by a White police officer trained to “protect and serve.” As videos and…

5 Ways School Leaders Can Begin to Better Equip Themselves to Deal With the Challenge We’re Facing

One of my mentors begins each interrogative problem-solving conversation with the same question, “Who knew what, when, and what did you do about it?” The…

How ‘Social Distancing’ Is Changing the Way We View Schools

Paradoxically enough, as Washington, D.C., has slid from mass school closures into social distancing and working from home toward increasingly likely shelter-in-place, my neighborhood is…

Here’s How I Know Our Schools Need More Teachers of Color, Like Me

You don’t wash your hair every day? How often do you wash it? Every other week?!” The fifth grader with blonde hair that reached just past her…

Black History Is American History and Should Be Celebrated All Year Long

As a Minnesotan, February is a signal that the warmth of spring is so close yet so far away (seriously, last Thursday the high was two…