Education was a second career for me—but it wasn’t for lack of trying to make it the first. In college, I pursued a major in education for one semester, but became discouraged by the striking absence of Black men and women in...
Category - Let’s Talk About It
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” —Angela Davis Last year today, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took a noteworthy step to change the unacceptable: a...
Here’s a dirty little secret about teachers that few people care to admit: Many teachers with poor classroom management aren’t strong instructionally. I would never assume that a teacher without control of their classroom...
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” -Audre Lorde After one of the most tumultuous and fraught elections of our lifetime, Joe Biden was chosen to be...
There are many phrases used in education circles; the phrase reading is fundamental must be one of the most used. I used to scoff at the phrase as a child. Sadly, it wasn’t until college where I actually believed...
The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It’s hard to disagree when you consider the totality of the Black radical tradition—our struggle today, and the struggles of those who came before...
There has been an admittedly welcome rush to support Black and brown communities and causes in our national reckoning with systemic racism. Some $5 billion of philanthropic funding has flowed in support of racial equity work in...
Yesterday was Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Tuesday was our national election — a day that some people had been waiting to see for four years. Unfortunately for these people there’s no certainty today. No definitive statement...
In the 1930s, the incomparable Billie Holiday sang about the horror of Black lynchings—the strange fruit hanging from Southern trees, the blood on the leaves that flows from the savage anti-Blackness at the root. Nearly a...
I was a principal at Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker in Philadelphia for many years. We took to heart the concept of windows and mirrors, decorating our walls with images and quotes from popular heroes; Malcolm X, Dr. King, Rosa...