Asking all the Questions: How White Teachers Should Evaluate Their Year

The end of the school year naturally leads to reflection and evaluation. Teachers and students alike are asking themselves, How did the year go? The answer to that question depends on what questions are asked prior. For example, were the students safe in my school and classroom? Do students understand the world better? Did students deepen their knowledge of self? Did students become better readers, problem solvers, and thinkers?

All of these questions matter. ALL of the questions matter.

Teacher Guides, Truth TellingIan McLAughlinMay 31, 2018Lisa Delpit, White Teacher, End of Year, EvaluationComment

Three Actions For Teachers In the Wake of Santa Fe & Parkland School Shootings

It’s happened again. Nobody truly believed it wouldn’t, but that doesn’t blunt the soul-crushing reality. Ten people have lost their lives. Ten families are shattered. The sanctity of another school violated. An entire community reeling….

Racial Equity, Betsy DeVos and For-Profit Colleges

The New York Times recently released an article detailing how Betsy DeVos dismantled a Department of Education team that investigated fraud and abuse by for-profit colleges…. As a high school educator, dismantling this department leads me to several questions: who does this affect the most? How does this relate to K-12 public education?

3 Ways People Profit from the School to Prison Pipeline

At its core the School to Prison Pipeline, or more aptly the School and Prison Nexus, is about domination and control of wealth - much as previous iterations of white supremacy like Jim Crow or Slavery (read Michelle Alexander). One can easily see how the School and Prison Nexus facilitates domination, through literal and legal cages, but how it controls wealth is more difficult to follow… To do so, one must understand the prison industrial complex. Below are 3 ways the school and prison industrial complex leads to wealth for a select few…

5 Terms to Help Sharpen Your Social Justice Lens

Our perception is always impacted by the lens through which we see, and our lens is always impacted by both physical barriers and socialization. For example, when looking through the barrier provided by sunglasses - the world may appear darker; and when looking through the socialization of the dominant narrative - the world may appear merit based and not oppressive. The first step to social justice is to hone one’s social justice lens (see our unit on Lenses if interested in teaching students how to develop their social justice lens). Below are five terms that I have to re-imagine to challenge the dominant narrative.

What Is The Purpose of Public Education in America? (Pt. 1)

Thomas Jefferson, widely considered the most adamant supporter of public education among our country’s founders, proposed a two-track school system which would separate workers from the “learned” class. Jefferson describes...

VACTION!

Dr. Eddie Moore Jr, founder of the White Privilege Conference (WPC), began this year by coining the phrase “VACTION: Venting Plus Action,” in relation to racial equity and social justice work - a sentiment anyone working to deconstruct white privilege can relate to in our current (and past) political climates. And, there is a lot to vent about: The fact that ‘Standing Rock’ marked the U.S. Government breaking 100% of treaties ever signed with Native Americans; or the fact that the Chicago PD actively articulates, understands, and utilizes the formula for how to create a killer (provide no place to live, work or go to school then hire “us” [the police] to contain the situation). But, Dr. Moore is right - we need to do more than be angry…

We Choose Truth

Last month politicians in the Minnesota legislature introduced a bill titled the Academic Balance Bill. The stated objective of the bill is “Public education courses are not for the purpose of political, ideological, religious, or antireligious indoctrination”