equity
First-Generation Immigrants Like Mari Are Called DREAMers for a Reason
Marisol, Mari for short, is a true dreamer. One of my best friends, Mari, is a first-generation immigrant to the United States from Mexico. Her parents brought her as a baby, undocumented, but they...
Diversity
Up Until Ninth Grade, I Had Zero Male Teachers of Color. Here's Why That Matters.
For 10 years—the first decade I was in school—all my teachers were White women. As a Mexican-American kid, I didn’t get the chance to have a man of color as a teacher until high school. Going into my...
student achievement
Chicago's Solorio High School Showed Me Exactly the Kind of Teacher I Want to Be
What I loved about Solorio was that I really got to know the teachers. Teachers wouldn’t talk down to us. It wasn’t lecture style. We would learn as much as we could about a reading or an assignment...
Charter Schools
These Guys Aren't Just Talking About It, They're Recruiting and Keeping Male Educators of Color in the Classroom
Quick: Name all of the male educators of color you had growing up. Having trouble coming up with any? You’re not alone. Only 2 percent of teachers in the United States are Black men. Hispanic men...
California
I Thought I Suffered for Not Being Placed in ESL Classes, But I Was Wrong
At the age of 2, I left the United States to live in my parents' native country, Guatemala. I completed my first two years of schooling there. I have warm and happy memories of loving preschool and...
Teaching
I’m the Crazy Mom Teachers Dread, But This One Won My Heart
I won’t forget the first day my son walked into his pre-K classroom in the fall of 2016. Filled with anxiety, I did the same thing I always do when control is out of my hands: approach the challenge...