Common Mistakes When Approaching Race in Schools… What Should We Do Instead?
Race is one aspect of human identity that changes reflecting the politics and science of the times. Now more than ever students are identifying as mixed-race or do not identify with any race category at all. The latter is especially true for Hispanics, according to a recent Census bureau research. Racial categories, which have been […]
Learning from Immigrant Perspectives
“What preoccupies me is immediate: the separation I endure with my parents in loss. This is what matters to me: the story of the scholarship boy who returns home one summer from college to discover bewildering silence, facing his parents. This is my story. An American story.” ~Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory, 1982 When […]
#TeacherSpring
In 2010 when I lived in the Middle East, I witnessed the Arab Spring. People filled the streets with renewed spirit protesting unfair policies. I remember coming back from visiting the pyramids and getting trapped in a cab in the middle of a perfect storm—hundreds of men, women and children filled the streets that were […]
Learning from Mistakes When Stakes Are High
When my son was three and we had just furnished our first house, he took a marker and drew pictures on our new Mexican console. I remember walking into the living room and feeling the rise of heat behind my ears. He was so small and innocent but all I could see were the black […]
Sacred Space Learning
Often we are required to take time out in our lives to move into sacred space. For many, these moments are forced upon us in the form of illness, change of jobs, having to take care of a child or aging parent, managing a trauma. Sometimes, we have to muster up the courage to demand […]
Wildcat Strike
West Virginia teachers are on a strike involving over 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school staff. It is the eighth day and I am inspired by the activism following the Parkland massacre. West Virginia teachers are not only exhibiting courage and willingness to stand up for the justice and dignity of the teaching profession, but they […]
Ash Wednesday School Shooting
Repentance: A radical change in mindset and heart, a promise to do better, surrender, a confession filled with remorse In every school or education organization there must be people you can trust. In spite of bureaucracy, complacency, high-stakes political frenzy, we must guarantee a safe space, a place where anyone can find the rhythm and […]
Ode to Dewey: Powers, Prophecy and Dignity of Teaching
I believe that this educational process has two sides – one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following. Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, 1897 The last few days have been dreadful— a real deep freeze. Not only has the weather been unbearably cold, but […]
The Weight or Weightlessness of Courageous Conversations
The heaviness of a small segment of dark brown bodies at the end of a long color line that curves around the room going from dark skin to medium to light. Two outliers insert themselves and evocatively defy the trend. They are motivated by something else; the unexpected psyche of an individual who defies the […]
Where Do Important Lessons Begin and End?
“The pressures of inequality and of wanting to keep up are not confined to a small minority who are poor.” ~Wilkinson & Pickett, The Spirit Level, 2010 “While preparing for a presentation, I start a conversation with the custodial worker assigned to our room. He tells me that my type of work is important, but […]