Diversity
Here's How Culturally Sustaining Curriculum Roots Students in a Legacy of Strength
I started my teaching career teaching music. I’d been a professional musician for a decade—performing, touring and recording jazz and Latin music. With some experience as a teaching artist and a...
Teaching
Following the Chauvin Trial Is Traumatic. Don't Turn Away.
When we bear witness, when we become the situation—homelessness, poverty, illness, violence, death—the right action arises by itself. We don't have to worry about what to do. We don't have to figure...
Teaching
Y'all Know These Schools Got Derek Chauvins and Bystander Cops Too Right?
Can we get into this conversation about how school districts, teachers unions and police unions are triplets? Because they all have the exact same DNA when it comes to their complicity in the...
whole child
7 Steps to Help You Implement Trauma-Informed Practices at Your School
The only way to implement something well is through trial and error. In 2017, I proposed to my principal that teachers should adapt to trauma-informed education. Trauma-informed education includes...
Teaching
Schools Need to Teach the Hard History of Asian Americans
Like so many Asian Americans, I was not surprised when I heard the news that a mass shooting in Atlanta targeted six Asian American women. I was angry—angry that we have to be gunned down to get the...
equity
Black Students Are Not 'Marginalized,' They Are the Center of Our Work
So many headlines these days are about how Black students are “falling behind” during the pandemic. They’re “missing” and “lost.” But the truth is, Black students aren’t lost—the question is, do you...
