How does a school community deal with the violent loss of a student? Unfortunately, this is a question my school has had to answer too often. Still, no matter how many times I’ve been through it, trying to understand my own pain while holding space for my students to feel theirs is something that pushes me beyond my capacity as a teacher.
When the Dallas Texas Public Schools District decided to show its fifth-graders Red Tails, an action-adventure film based on the Tuskegee pilots who formed the country’s first black aerial combat unit, it was a tremendous idea. The district felt students would be inspired by the story of these men who fought segregation, integrated the Army and were trained as combat pilots for the United States during WWII.
In Minnesota, yet another group is organizing backlash against equitable teaching practices. It's an all-too-common threat—and a reminder that educators need more support.
In the world of alternative facts, media literacy is becoming an increasingly essential component for raising critical thinkers in the classroom. A recent movie promotional campaign highlights this need and offers a great teachable moment.
“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” was a speech given by abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y., at an event commemorating American independence.