This three-part blog series contains excerpts from the book Guiding Teams to Excellence With Equity. In chapter 1, author John Krownapple explores “the why” behind our need for excellence with equity, Cultural Proficiency, and culturally proficient facilitators of professional learning and organizational change. Cultural Proficiency can
It’s 7:45am, and thirty-two 10th-graders slump into their seats for first period chemistry. The topic of the day—the period table—seems far removed from the students’ daily lives. “Some of my kids live day-to-day,” their teacher later told me. “And now they’re supposed to care about
This November, in the midst of a landmark election, we take a step back to remind ourselves of the ultimate priority in our schools: ensuring that every child receives an equitable education. As Equity editor Dan Alpert says, “Corwin believes that education is the primary
I entered my journey into a public education career through the arts. As a student at Berklee College of Music, I volunteer-taught classes in piano and electronic music composition to children and teens at the Daniel Marr Boys & Girls Club in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
When I meet my students, they can see right away that I am a “white” teacher, and I can see that they are “black” and “brown” students. These are the first things we witness about one another. I wonder what the students assume about me
Teaching begins with knowing your students. Who are these young people in front of you? What do they bring to the classroom from their previous experiences, their community, their families, and their cultures? What do they need from me to further their aspirations? However, as an
A Catholic nun, a gay musician, and a black Muslim walk into a classroom… They’re joined by a conservative white Republican, a Marine Corps Sergeant, an environmental activist, a Mexican immigrant (a Sephardic Jew), and everyone else you can imagine. The students are all undergraduates—aspiring teachers—and
As we celebrate National Week of Making, June 17-23, with a presidential call to action that “every company, every college, every community, every citizen joins us as we lift up makers and builders and doers across the country,” let’s be sure that every child not only
Our Overreliance on Achievement Testing How many of you think that we are overtesting our youth? That’s been the cry from family members to teachers to administrators over the last umpteen years. It comes with the growing disapproval of high-stakes achievement testing, the prominent educational paradigm
In 1983 I arrived in the US as a 9 year old worried about accommodating to a new context without my extended family. My first schooling encounter involved my third grade teacher, who asked my name on the first day and I replied “Eduar” (officially