How Anti-Blackness Can Show Up in Our Teaching and We Don’t Even Recognize It

Just before winter break, my various timelines were awash with pictures of a young man forced to have his hair cut by a wrestling referee.…

When Love Is Grounded in the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations, It’s the Wrong Kind of Love

Teachers love their students. We see the joy they show every year as students return back to school, despite constant beat downs on their profession…

4 Things Every First-Year Teacher Needs to Know

Recently, I shared with a colleague that I was about to start my new job as an assistant professor of education, assisting first-year teachers as…

Why We’ve Got to Talk About Race If We Want to Achieve Education Equity

Our inability as a nation to engage in difficult conversations about race has left us with a lack of agreement on how to define equity.…

Everyone Keeps Talking About Implicit Racial Bias But What Is It?

Over the last few days, I’ve been tackling implicit bias with my eighth-graders. I mean, if Starbucks can shut down for a day to learn…

Here’s How You Know When You Need to Check Your Microaggressions at the Front Door

If I had money to wager, I’d bet that if you’re a female teacher, this has happened to you. You’re in a meeting and you…

Want to Fix the Achievement Gap? Reconsider How You Teach.

There seems to be a sentiment amongst some educators that culturally responsive education is merely an optional “best practice.” Well, of course, any trainings or…

You Can Keep Your School Choice Debate. I’m Choosing the Best Option for My Child.

Growing up, I was TPS (Toledo Public Schools) proud! I have been a staunch advocate for public schools throughout my career, and yet, I took…

VIDEO: One of the Greatest Threats to Our Black Students Is the Teachers Who Don’t Believe in Them

Slowly education activists of every stripe are warming to this reality: There is no way to improve education without putting key stakeholders—students, parents and educators—at…

We Can’t Be Teachers by Day and Oppress Our Students of Color by Night

A few summers back, I was at a wedding reception, exchanging the customary pleasantries one does when seated next to people one has only just…