We Can Support Our Teachers and Still Call B.S. On This Chicago Strike

You know what? It’s a real shame that people can’t seem to separate politics from public service. Because if one more person comes on one…

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,…

Why We Need LGBTQ+ Curricula

In 2018, GLSEN’s national school climate study indicated that 59.5% of LGBTQ students “felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation and 44.6% felt…

What If Black People Had a ‘Green Book’ for Finding the Schools Our Kids Deserve?

Black families should not be forced to choose between schools that challenge them academically and schools that nurture and love them for who they are.…

How Do We Bring Magic Into the Classroom? Georgia’s New Teacher of the Year Shows the Way.

For 2020 Georgia Teacher of the Year Tracey Nance Pendley, the road to teaching was not easy. Pendley’s mother was a drug addict who was…

If Your Students Seem Unmotivated, Maybe It’s Time to Go Deep on Why

Most of us don’t think about motivation on a day-to-day basis. It’s when we want to change habits or accomplish something new and bold that…

To Defeat Implicit Bias, Try Project-Based Learning

Project-based learning is a very powerful practice for accelerating important learning for Black, Brown, and low-income kids. It provides “voice and choice” for the students…

Dear White People: When it Comes to Educational Equity, You’ll Have to Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Is the public school system rooted in White supremacy culture? Damn right it is. And This brings me to question why teachers in New York…

The Discomfort of White Adults Should Never Take Priority Over the Success of Our Black and Brown Students

“I didn’t come here to teach those kinds of kids.” It’s alarming to think that adults charged with helping students of color succeed in school…

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…