These 5 Anti-Racist Books Will Help Level Up Your School’s Professional Development

Over the past year, I have been able to read a ton of great books focused on social justice, culturally relevant pedagogy, and disrupting white…

It’s Time to Dump Deficit-Based Data

As the school year begins, we hear lots of deficit-laden words like “Title I,” “tough,” “low-income,” and “low-achieving” to describe primarily Black and brown students…

Why We Can’t Just Shut Up and Teach

It is no easy thing to help high school students become better critical thinkers. Especially now. The very act of engaging students in the events…

I Hope My Black Students Will Become Educators Too

This is the note. This is the note. Mr. Walters, my middle school choir teacher, took his love of music and teaching music seriously. He…

White Women Like Me Dominate the Teaching Profession. Here’s Why That’s a Problem

I can name the Black educators I had growing up on one hand.  One. Hand.  And if I add the ones I had in college…

Like James Baldwin Said, ‘A Teacher Who Is Not Free to Teach Is Not a Teacher’

The great James Baldwin once stated, “A teacher who is not free to teach, is not a teacher.”  As many of you already know, there…

I Teach Literacy as a Tool for Liberation

When I was a twenty-nine-and-a-half-year-old middle school English teacher, I bought my first house. I was also single. Normally my singledom isn’t important but then…

I Almost Left Teaching But Then I Remembered Why I Started

This past year, I came the closest I ever have to ending my teaching career — midyear. Between August and December, my second graders and…

15 Questions That Predominantly White Schools Should Ask When Engaging in Non-Performative Anti-Racist Work

Last week, I had a consulting call with a potential client (a white teacher), who teaches in a predominantly white school/neighborhood and wants to engage…

We All Hate Professional Development, But Some of Y’all Need It

Teachers enjoy the summer break, too. However, depending on when school gets out, summer vacation may be winding down already. If that is the case…