I have yet to master the Art of Self-care. Yes, I identify it as Art because each of us are so different in many ways and our challenge is to be creative in defining and mastering those skills of self-care to best fit our own needs. We create our lives through trial and error. I myself reflect heavily on my life every opportunity and I am always looking for ways to improve. I must say, there are times I don’t recognize that there is an issue until it’s brought to my attention. Making it another item to introduce to my needs improvement list. I am always working to create a…
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They Stopped Me
They stopped me. I walked into my colleagues office first thing in the morning just to role play. It’s crazy how I’m 7 years into my profession and I have to role play because as a black woman from the South Bronx, I may come across as too forward, ghetto or as the ANGRY BLACK woman. The whole situation kept me up last night; I was thinking about the comment my principal said to one of my students and I just couldn’t let up on it. I had to speak up. I had to speak up for MY people. I formulated a question to initiate the conversation “what did you…
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You lost me at ivy league isn’t for everyone
I stayed late tonight to assist with our open house. Families had not arrived yet so I engaged in conversation with my colleagues. I noticed one of my students helping to place the books back on the bookshelf and I invited her to join our conversation. I spoke of how hard this student works and how motivated and dedicated she was in and out of school. I admit she inspires me and this is the reason she is student of the month in my class. As we discussed her goals for her future and the extracurricular activities she is working through to get her there, we applauded her. There are…
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Literacy in History
He asked me if I was teaching ELA this year. I had been working on my bulletin board for the start of my year. It included the book covers of historical text. Although it was an odd question from a teacher, I was happy to get my message across. There is literacy in history! So many people in our community believe reading should remain solely in the English Langauge Arts classrooms. I beg to differ, which is why I am building a new library to support scholars. I taught Global History seven years ago at another school and I don’t have the resources that I would like to use. My students…
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Teacher-Coaches= Effective Change
Have you ever wanted to change the world, but being one person, it seems nearly impossible? I am asked why I earned another Master’s Degree just to teach teachers. I could come up with a few reasons but… Besides teacher coaching being beneficial for the school I work for, my heart goes out to helping my people. How my mind works is that if I help teachers who teach the children in my city, I will make an impact, which is why I take pride in being a model and teacher-coach. I earned another degree to better service my people. Besides people are more likely to trust those with credentials.
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Children Aren’t Lazy
Sitting here watching a netflix documentary, I hear a teacher identify a student as “lazy” while comparing him to another young man who had better grades. Children aren’t lazy they lack the interest or motivation to participate in certain activities. This was the first year in my teaching career that I moved up with my students. Last year, I had a student who was not interested in History at all. She would purposely come to class late and out of uniform. She refused to complete her assignmnets, especially homework. She was what people would label, (like the lady in the documentary) “lazy”. I tried hard to make her comfortable in…
