I have worked for Richmond Public Schools for 21 years. I have seen and experienced a lot, both positive and negative in those years. In my first 7 years, I had a different principal every year. I was a teacher during the controversial Armstrong/Kennedy High School Merger. I was here…
I recently made a bad joke on Twitter about Rand Paul’s fight with his neighbors in relation to Mitch McConnell’s neighbors and I was wrong for that. No one should be assaulted. Due to my ignorance of the situation, I didn’t know Rand Paul was seriously injured in the altercation…
Yesterday, I woke up to a country and a city in crisis. I had text messages from former students who are now in their late 20’s looking for guidance and advice. Teachers who are close friends and some strangers have asked for my advice on what they should be doing…
I remember sixth grade more than any other year in my schooling. It was the year of role reversal for my brother and me. Throughout our elementary years in school, we had two distinct roles. My brother was labeled by the school as the problem child and bully. I was…
There has been a plethora of studies regarding the achievement gap and graduation gap over the last hundred years. Many educators and lawmakers have proposed thousands of solutions to the problem. The most effective way to close the achievement gap and graduation gap is to hire more teachers of color.
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The biggest roar you heard on Saturday when Joe Biden was named President-Elect was from educators. That roar was because an end to the Trump presidency means an end to Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education. There has never been a cabinet head in American history as unqualified as Betsy…
WEB Dubois said, “The proper education of any people includes a sympathetic touch between teacher and pupil; knowledge on the part of the teacher, not simply of the individual taught, but of his surroundings and background, and the history of his class and group”. He wrote this in his essay…
When I traveled the country as National Teacher of the Year, teachers would often ask what was the greatest tool for teachers to improve their craft. My answer would be the mirror. A true educator has to look in the mirror and ask themselves hard questions. What do I need…
Ten years ago, I was in my class teaching a lesson on protest music during the Vietnam war when I heard a disturbance downstairs. I stepped out of my classroom with two students behind me to look downstairs to see what was causing the commotion. I saw a student running…
