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This Land is Your Land

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Small Bites Friday Five 10-09-20:

20-30m – Do some academic reading with this UCLA-Haas Institute article. Learn vocabulary like racial anxiety and stereotype threat. Reflect on how those phrases can play out in the lives of folks like me.

15-20m – Take this quiz, answer these questions from Bias Busters, then ask yourself how much of this was in the history books you were taught from.

10-15m – Learn about the legacy of Andrew Jackson—the man on our $20 bill—in particular the Indian Removal Act, from the perspective of those he removed. Then look at the life expectancy and economic standards of the descendants of those whose land was taken.  

5-10m – Catch up on older episodes of #SmallBites, go to the sidebar and actually use the links. I see your external clicks, and y’all are not doing the work.

0-5m – Read about how inoculation was introduced to the US by Onesimus, an African who told of the traditional practice in use for centuries. Then use the same article to learn something new about the omitted contributions of melanated Americans.

As I began to reflect on what I would say for this week’s people’s choice topic, I thought about all the things I have learned while researching for my books and for #SmallBites. I thought of how little I learned in 18 years of formal education. This piece was the result of that reflection.

A Spoken Word Piece on Bias in Curriculum

Fourscore and 7 years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…

They told me all about it but they didn’t tell me that…

There were already 600 nations already here. 60 million people here for centuries, people that were forcibly removed: Choctaw, Sioux, Caddo, Powhatan; taken, forced from their lands to make way for this great new nation that would be a whole lot greater, if we would reckon with the blood on our hands because

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty even as my people were bound in chains, picking cotton on the land taken from the first Americans who died as they were marched west away from the land they knew; and then further west as Gold was discovered.

They told me of a great president Andrew Jackson, enshrined on our twenties.

But they didn’t tell me that he was responsible the Indian Removal Act that took the land so that White immigrants could profit from cotton and gold and pass that wealth on to generations, while the great nations and descendants of chiefs live on in poverty and die earlier than Americans of non-indigenous descent.

They told me to learn those words, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, but they didn’t tell me that equality did not extend to human beings forced to work for, cook for, nurse for and even bear children for the very people who bought and sold them.

They didn’t tell me about rape culture in the colonial days and they didn’t tell me that the Atlantic Slave Trade was no more than a whitewashed phrase for kidnapping and child rape. They didn’t tell me that that it was a Holocaust that killed an estimate of 40 free Africans out of every 100 that was kidnapped; every man, woman and child. They didn’t tell me that it was a holocaust that has caused intergenerational scars and trauma that Black communities are still recovering from.

They told me of the Emancipation Proclamation but they did not teach me that my Indigenous brothers and sisters were separated from their families and taught in “Christian” boarding schools that stripped them of their culture to rid our country of the “Indian problem”. They told me a thing or two about the Civil Rights Era, but they did not tell me that 10 years after Martin was murdered, Indian children were still humiliated and chastised for their lack of ‘assimilation’.

They told me to learn those words, Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. But they did not teach me that the accomplishments of my out-of-slavery forefathers were important.

Yes, they told me about Martin and Rosa and Harriet and I am glad. They told me about them every year. But they did not teach me about

O. W. Gurley

Garrett Morgan

Susan La Flaesche Picotte

Thomas David Petite

José Mojica

Carlos Graef Fernández

Thomas Jennings

Fannie Lou Hamer

Luis Negrón

Madame C. J. Walker

Sister Rosetta Thorpe

#Saytheirname.

Say them in your STEM classes and in your history classes. Say them in February, but also in March, April and throughout the year. Teach your children Lincoln’s famous words; Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and then show them by what you teach them that they are not invisible, no matter what the textbook says–or doesn’t say. Show them that bias in curriculum does not exist in YOUR classroom. Teach them they have a long heritage; not only of Slavery, reservations and immigration camps.

The lion is always the villain until he has his own historian. –African Proverb

Be the change and help your students “red and yellow, black and white” know the rich tapestry of history in your class. Because if there is still bias in your curriculum, you just aren’t trying hard enough.

This Land is Your Land Read More »

To Tell the Old Old Story

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Small Bites Friday Five 10-02-20:

20-30m – Watch this Facebook live video of Brené Brown talking about the importance of owning our stories so that we can write our own endings.

15-20m – Enrich your students’ learning with resources from Voices of a People’s History that include videos, lesson plans and a full teacher’s curriculum guide.

10-15m – Consider that the story of the US started in 1607 when the English claimed Jamestown, chasing Powhatan and his people from their own land and eventually decimating the population of 60+ million Americans already living in the area. While you’re at it, help me find good primary resources.

5-10m – Listen to this podcast on voter suppression tactics the FBI is currently warning about.

0-5m – Read this Time Magazine article about the denouncing of the 1619 curriculum and the push for patriotic education. As Joanne Freeman says, studying all perspectives is only dangerous if you have something to hide.

Every day this week there was something to tell. The FBI issuing warnings about voter suppression in the upcoming elections. Moves by state governments that make it harder to vote, especially for those who rely on public transportation or have time constraints. Embarrassment on the world stage about a presidential debacle masquerading as a presidential debate. The president flouting CDC guidelines, mocking mask wearers and landing in the hospital with COVID.

This week has played out like a stroll through the house of horrors with specters jumping out at us at every turn. Unfortunately these specters are no friendly ghosts, they are our reality. They distract and detract as we follow the news cycle rabbit hole. As we follow the newest stories, we neglect the old ones.

How good are we at owning our stories? Our personal failures? A conversation with a dear friend from New Orleans reminded me that we are often afraid to be who we were yesterday. Yes, so what if you or the people who raised you regularly referred to some folks as niggers? So what if you still have a big stars and bars flag in your garage that you can’t part with because it used to be on your granddaddy’s truck when y’all went muddin’?

Really, so what? Are you here reading this? If so, you probably think differently now than you did then. You probably feel a tinge of guilt about that flag and you may want to divorce yourself from anything that reminds you of the way you used to think or talk about others. Don’t do either.

Own your story. All of it.

The collective lack of owning our story in the US has led to loss of life, wealth and wellbeing, dividing and decimating communities since our inception. The lack of owning the story of COVID in this country is doing the same.

Owning our story does not show weakness, it shows strength. Controlling the narrative–not propagandizing it, but owning and controlling the whole of our story–allows us to sweep down the cobwebs, banish specters and move forward. As Brene Brown puts it, we can write our own ending.

As you chew on the stories of this week and wait anxiously on what could possibly come next, think about your stories. Think about our collective stories. Release guilt and shame and come to terms with the good, the bad, the ugly. Teach your students to do the same.

Learning the many stories that make up our history may at times be hard to hear, but the truth is certainly preferable to the weight of this constant, destructive delusion. Even children should be taught to love in spite of, not just because of.

Don’t be dissuaded from knowing the whole of our country’s story. Read about 1607, 1619 as well as 1492 and 1776. And while you’re at it, reflect on your own story and let go of any guilt or shame you may be carrying. While you may not want to hang Pawpaw’s flag up in the window, keep the good memories of the man who took you muddin’. Noone should be reduced to the worst of what they were; not him, not you, not our country.

What matters is that we decide to be better. Today.

To Tell the Old Old Story Read More »

Take Me to Church

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Small Bites Friday Five 09-25-20:

PE – Listen to this Pushing The Edge podcast about how to make sports more welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

Math – Listen to 2 of my favorite neighbors to the north, Chey and Pav as they explore Math through an SEL lens on the Staff Room Podcast. SEL is ALWAYS at the heart of any culturally responsive teaching.

Film/Photography or Fine Arts – Explore the beautifully crafted visual stories from the Global Oneness Project.org. Thanks to Jennifer Gonzales and Cult of Pedagogy for this one.

K-3 generalists – Look no further than Ki Gross’ Woke Kindergarten site. They specialize in teaching big concepts to little people.

Tech – Help your students go from empathy to action with this edtech tip sheet from CommonSense.org.

When I was born, it was in vogue for new mothers to stay home 6 weeks with their new bundles of joy. After that 6 weeks, the first place I was taken was to church. I am the 4th generation church musician in a line of 5 church musicians. Before that, my great-great-grandfather was a Louisiana pastor and circuit preacher. I have inherited a culture of faith that binds me to my God as intrinsically as melanin binds me to the Black community.

And yet…when I consider my identity, I have to swallow hard when I use the term Christian. Identifying as a Christian meant that Britain could claim Virginia in 1606 because the “heathens” found there were not Christian. Colonization was built on Christianity. The slave trade was upheld by Christianity. Bombing of abortion clinics and LG clubs were praised by the Christian community. Not all certainly but too many. Our identity is suffering and the cross is often too much to bear.

Now, to be sure, none of these things have anything at all to do with Jesus. He was known for hanging with all sorts of people. The question is, are we? If we have a student who falls outside of some “Christian ideal”, do we embrace them or do we leave them by the side of the road? Does our love extend to those most unlike us or do we keep our praise and encouragement for only those who espouse our own values and viewpoints?

Our educational system should be a place where every student feels welcome. Instead, on our watch, students represent the largest group commiting suicides in the country. Among those, students whose sexuality does not fall within traditional Christian ideals are killing themselves at an even higher rate.

I KNOW this is not a popular “Christian” view. But the God I serve says that we should be doers of the law and not judges. He also says that love is the fulfilling of the law. So unless you are ok with children dying on your watch, and unless you think GOD is ok with children dying on your watch, it’s time to think about how you can be equally accepting of all your students. That sounds dramatic for sure, but the fact is, once educators hit campus, our duty is to do the best by every child.

The question is, is that a cross you can take up? If your job is to teach and your Christian duty is to love and not judge, so it seems that the answer is a simple one.

I hope that instead of reading this and writing me off as some liberal who doesn’t understand God’s law, that you will see me through God’s eyes, as a person sure of her calling. I am called to do my best for every student, for every human. I hope, as you read this, you will consider that every student and family you serve is deserving of your human love and respect; as my students would say, periodttt.

Take Me to Church Read More »

Uptown Girl

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Small Bites Friday Five 09-18-20:

PE – Read this article that talks about a Black American PE teacher talking, much like me tonight, about her privilege.  Then reflect with your students on how— and why— privilege affects the opportunity to play, or even watch sports.

Math – Investigate this overview on how to “find an issue that fits the math, not the other way around”, from Radical Math.

ELL – Tolerance.org for the win again with ELL/ESL lessons on identity exploration.

ELA – Watch this Ted video from the passionate, ‘articulate’, spoken word “tri-tongued” artist, Jamila Lyiscott to get perspective on the different ways we English. Then reflect with your students on the different ways we talk to different audiences.

STEM – Get the curriculum from the underrepresentation project designed to examine and address inequities and inclusion in science.

My son and I have a family culture of helping. We volunteer, help out at missions and food banks, build houses (him, not me), work telephone banks (me not him) and do other things that are all about serving others. That’s important to us and it goes back for generations, if the stories my great grandmother told are to be believed.

We are able to do those things because we are privileged. Not a lot of little girls from my South Park neighborhood in Houston grew up and spent half their adult life in the Alps teaching and performing. Living in the middle of Europe as a Black musician, I was privileged to know life as an American, not a hyphen-American. That privilege and the achievement that comes along with it, has given me blind spots. My talent made room for me. My mother’s reputation as a singer and composer opened doors for me. I may have worked hard to make something of all that, but I earned none of it.

My son has inherited that privilege and then some. He is a generous spirited human who allows his momma to tell his stories. Even in his generosity, he has blind spots. So do I, and my guess is, if you are here, you do too.

This year, we can’t afford to ignore our blind spots. We can assume nothing. We talk about devices and meal service for our students, but do we really know if they are hungry? Are they are sharing a phone at a cousin’s house to do assignments? Are they not answering emails because they lost their home and phone service?

As you read this article, I am simply asking that you remember, your normal may not be everyone’s. Your students may have needs that you could never imagine. “No, everyone has not gone to the orchestra, son”. And no, every one of your kids may not have even their most basic needs met.

As you go through this year, pay special attention. If you sense a need, see how you might help. Find the services in your area that your students might need or get together with a group of friends to provide your own set of resources.

Yes, we are taxed beyond measure this year, but remember your why. One less grade in the gradebook won’t make a difference, but the time you take to notice and help fulfill a child’s basic needs will.

Uptown Girl Read More »

Peaceable Kingdom

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Small Bites Friday Five 09-11-20

20-30m – Listen to the podcast Whiteness Visible part 2 from the Teaching While White website to gain perspective on various stories and viewpoints taught as history.

15-20m – Read how our country’s reckoning with race affects students—in their own words, also from the TWW website.  

10-15m – Comb through the Center For Restorative Practice resources for a rich selection of materials for SEL and culturally responsive culture building.   

5-10m – Watch this PBS Black Folks Don’t episode to find out about the complicated history of Black people and the medical community.

0-5m – Watch students talk about their first experiences with racism and reflect on what you can do to make sure other children don’t keep having those experiences.  

BONUS: If you are looking for an excellent set of quality resources on the manifold, oft untold stories of Americans, visit the Pulitzer Center’s educational programming page.

On the anniversary of one of the most devastating attacks on American soil, I cannot help but think about how hatred causes so much pain. I can’t help but think about the loss that mothers, husbands and children endured because of hatred. I can’t help but think that even though we know that nothing good comes of it, we so often choose to hate.

Love and hate are not feelings, they are verbs. If you say you feel love but your actions don’t back that up, it’s not love. If you say you hate no one but spend your time relentlessly attacking those who think, believe or look differently, you may want to redefine what hatred really means.

The destructive forces of overt and covert hatred are ripping our nation apart because of our refusal to reckon with our origin story. Our nation is great but our greatness is in peril because we refuse to confront our flaws in order to fully realize that greatness.

Some of the the saddest moments for me in recent history have been watching our nation’s status as a full democracy erode when our country was downgraded to a flawed democracy. The UN has warned us about racist rhetoric and admonished us about criminal justice reform.

My patriotic soul wails. WE are the protectors of democracy. WE are the ones who issue human rights sanctions and warnings. And now, WE are the nation being warned. We don’t need foreign terrorists to destroy us. Our hatred is as powerful and destructive as any terrorist act.

This morning, I had the honor of speaking for the New York Public Library’s back to school kickoff. I was asked what we should do in our libraries, classrooms, lives, to dismantle systematic racism. My reply was simply that we can’t–unless we do it one brick at a time. We can’t change the system until we change ourselves, our families, our own spheres of influence. We can’t do it until we confront our flaws with the purpose of being better.

As we remember the incredible loss at the hands of terrorists, the best possible way to honor loss of life, whether through wars or acts of terrorism, is to finally reckon with the hatred and incongruence woven through our nation’s fabric.

In support of our nation’s greatness, we have to confront our past together, no matter how painful. As Benjamin Franklin said, we must “join or die”. If we don’t, we won’t need outsiders to bring destruction.

Peaceable Kingdom Read More »

Divide

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Catch up on the latest episodes of Small Bites!

Small Bites Friday Five 09-04-20

20-30m – Listen to Howard University Alumnus Chadwick Boseman address the 2018 graduating class in the HBCU’s 150th commencement address.

15-20m – Listen to 1st and 2nd person stories on this set of podcasts from Historically Black.

10-15m –Listen to the first person stories of people who survived the Tulsa Black Wallstreet Bombing.

5-10m – Read this Smithsonian Mag article on looking back honestly at our founding fathers, judging neither by the imagined whole, nor ugly part.

0-5m – Read about racism and immigration history in the US which highlights important stories of many peoples afflicted by racist policies.

In a year in which

  • COVID-19 has killed over 13,000 to date;
  • thousands of students cannot access learning;
  • almost 3 million people have filed for unemployment and
  • homelessness is so rampant that even the government created homeless camps–already an ignominy–cannot house them;

police funding outpaces every other budget item in Texas major cities. Think about that for a minute. In a year in which local shelters, schools, food pantries, social services and mental health support organizations are struggling to meet the needs of our communities, we believe that policing is the number one concern. And communities like Austin who are reallocating a small portion of funding into proactive community programming are being threatened with sanctions.

What would happen if more money was poured into education than policing? What if money was poured into eradicating hunger and mental health issues instead of funding prisons? What would happen if we valued humanity by investing in humanity?

Defund the police was the most ridiculous slogan I heard this year–until I realized how much more money we put into policing than into preventing the need for policing.

Before you believe the false narrative that we need protection because “some people just want to live like animals” let me ask you: How many generations out of slavery is your family? How many generations out of Jim Crow is your family?

My great grandmother was born in 1892, one generation out of slavery. She lived her life, until her 80s, under the Jim Crow laws of the south. She helped raise me and lived long enough to see me through high school graduation and my first year in college. The stories I heard about the Jim Crow south are first hand, the stories of field work still fresh in the minds of Mommie’s friends who came to visit in my early childhood.

I represent the first post Jim Crow generation in my family.

Does that put criminality and poverty in perspective? Lack of education, access and opportunity has plagued the black community since we were forced on to slave ships.

I represent the first post Jim Crow generation in my family: the first generation in which the law has supported my choice of school, neighborhood, job, bank and hospital–as long as I can pay for access. And therein lies the problem. The Black community on the whole has not had generations to build, to stand on the shoulders of parents who achieved in the generations before. That’s why talking about slavery or Jim Crow isn’t divisive, it’s simply the connection between poverty and crime, between education and lack, between generations of wealth building and generations of fighting to be twice as good to get half as much.

Before you decide what is divisive, ask yourself if you would rather look away than see that the problem lies not with one community of “thugs and criminals” it lies with the vestiges of what a community has lived through.

And before you decry that connection as divisive, please, consider whether your own upbringing gave you opportunities that others did not have. I know mine did, one of them being the divisive language my great grandmother used in telling me her first person stories so that I would know the truth.

Divide Read More »

What Child is This

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Catch up on episodes 1-11 at YouTube/Hedreich

Small Bites Friday Five 08-28-20:

History – Explore US history through first person narratives with this lesson plan from EdSitement.

Language Acquisition – Integrate this resource that teaches language proficiency beginning with the question, “Where does our food come from?”

STEM/Theater – Pull from this tolerance.org resource on how power determines access.

Art/Design – Explore and discuss art and artifacts from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

PE – In the wake of the brutal shooting of Jacob Blake, ask students why they believe players boycotted their games in major league sports.

This week as I settled into a new school year, I thought about my kids. I thought about the check-ins that I have done and how they have been brave in the face of so much upheaval. So many of them know someone who was sick or died from COVID related illnesses. Some of them were sick themselves. Some of their families have suffered financial or job loss.

And then, there is my own family to look after, and of course a job that, at the moment, takes and takes. All of those things should have been uppermost in my mind this week.

But what kept me up at night is the fact that with so much to think about and to do, my mind has kept coming back to George Floyd, and now to Jacob Blake.

My mind has gone back to my son’s new height and facial hair, and how that has caused him to suddenly be a target.

I thought about how many of my colleagues can think about school reopening and never consider the upside of COVID: In a year when my child is driving, I am thankful that he’s mostly home.

As you move toward school reopening, remember that equity practices are not something that you can put on the back burner until you get Schoology sorted out. You have to make them a priority every single day. You have to move forward with the same urgency that you did after George Floyd’s death.

You have to do it as if your child’s life depends on it–because my child’s does.

What Child is This Read More »

Everybody Everybody

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Small Bites Friday Five 08-21-20:

PE – Adapt this lesson about being a team player and fairness from Tolerance.org to your grade level.

Math – Expose students to diverse math experts with this A Not Old Dead White Dude Mathematician list from Annie Perkins.

Science –Teach about Race as a social construct using the Smithsonian Institute’s Evolution of Human Skin Color. (Courtesy of Bonnie Nieves)

ELA – Choose great new classics from the We Need Diverse Books extensive list of, well, diverse books.

Fine Arts – Visit Tolerance.org and do a content search for theater, art or lessons like Sounds of Change for secondary music.  

On the weekend I borrowed a few historical books for my son from a dear friend. My son is more into reading notes on a page than words on a page, but this really caught his attention. As he finished the first 30 or 40 pages, he told me not only that he was learning a lot, but also that he had never learned any of what he was reading in school. By now, you may have guessed, this was a book on prominent Black Americans.

It seems that my son has learned little more about people who look like him than I did many moons ago. He’s learned little more than he would have, had we still been living in the Alps where he was born. He’s at an age where his own thirst for knowledge led him to finish the book in a record 3 days and oh the stories he’s regaled me with!

I wonder, how many students leave high school never knowing about Fannie Lou Hamer who endured child labor, forced sterilization and life-long injuries for being beaten for trying to vote; but went on to found the Freedom Democratic Party and the Women’s National Political Caucus.

How many students eat PBJs for lunch without knowing that scientist George Washington Carver found over 300 other uses for the peanut and introduced farming sustainability to the south.

How often are Black hairstyles the topic of conversation while early Black female tycoons who revolutionized the Black hair industry go unknown? How about watching the Netflix movie on Madame C.J. Walker to start you off?

The point is, America is diverse and so are her stories. Don’t wait until November to honor the stories of the indigenous peoples of North America. Don’t wait until September to honor Hispanics or February to honor Blacks. Most of all, don’t wait on your humanities department to provide knowledge that we all need to celebrate diversity and move towards more equitable campuses and communities.

Whatever your content is, you can help your students to be more knowledgeable and more inclusive. All you have to do is start.

Everybody Everybody Read More »

(#TeacherTurnout) Tuesday

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#SmallBites e10 LIVE! Watch the latest episodes on my YouTube channel.

Small Bites Friday Five 08-14-20:

20-30m – Sort through resources at NEA’s Black Lives Matter at School site and choose activities for the coming school year.

15-20m – Watch episodes 3, 4 and 5 of Small Bites. Use the info to make an impact on Tuesdays (see below).

10-15m –Listen to the brilliant young voices of the Social Justice Poets on NEA’s Youtube channel.  

5-10m – Paste your latest 10 social media posts into WorditOut.com to get a snapshot of what’s important to you. Use the information for crafting your Tuesday message.

0-5m – Introducing #TeacherTurnout Tuesday. Make Tuesday your day to let elected officials know what they are doing well and what they can do better.

If there is one unifying theme in my blog and in #SmallBites, it’s social action. There can be no equity without action. There can be no inclusion without each one of us pushing for social justice. Maybe your pushing is marching with a sign. Maybe your pushing is ordering a novel by an author not on the “classics” list. Maybe your pushing for social justice is coming here to read and listen until you feel brave enough to step out.

Whatever your brand of pushing for equity is, it’s for sure easier when we do it together. The loud ones and the quiet ones. The ones who have been at the party forever and the ones who just arrived.

Tuesday is our chance. You’re on social media anyway, so whatever your platform of choice is, make Tuesday your day to tell elected officials how they are excelling or how they need to change to better meet the needs of the communities they serve. Educators wear so many hats, we have our fingers on the pulse of our communities in a way that no politician ever could, so here’s my ask:

Every Tuesday, send a post, tweet, email, letter or make a call to an elected official. It can be someone local, state or national. We may not all agree on what’s going right and what’s going wrong, but if nothing else, COVID has shown us that our voices are too often not taken into consideration even when things directly affect us.

Using the hashtag #TeacherTurnout, let’s make sure that our voices are heard and that the people we elect know that we are a creative, powerful, force to be reckoned with, unafraid to stand up for what we believe in.

(#TeacherTurnout) Tuesday Read More »

Different

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Diversity is NOT Equity. Watch Episodes 1-8 at Youtube/Hedreich

Small Bites Friday Five 08-7-20:

20-30m – Watch the rest of Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise on PBS.

15-20m – Check out Burbank High School’s curated Justice in June resources.

10-15m –Reflect on Kellie Bahri’s ITEA (Inquiry-Truth-Empathy-Action) learning framework and article.

5-10m – Watch Kenyona “Sunny” Matthews talk about how she hates diversity. Funny and poignant.

0-5m – Pick a Small Bites episode or blog you missed and catch up.

While talking to Chuck Poole on a recent episode of his Teacher Summit live series, we started talking about the HUGE difference between two words that are often used interchangeably, ‘diversity’ and ‘equity’.

When talking about education in the classroom or workplace, the Big Three, diversity, equity and inclusion or, ‘DEI’, are always a part of the conversation. So often do we use the three terms together, in fact, that they have come to mean the same thing in the hearts and minds of many.

Let’s be clear, those terms are not coequal. Diversity means we all have a seat at the table. But equity means that each person at the table is being served dinner. Further, the dinner meets the unique needs of each individual. Is it equitable to serve a Philly cheesesteak to someone who is gluten and lactose intolerant? Umm, no. Is it equitable to serve turkey and dressing to a vegan? Again, no. Well meaning offerings to diverse students without understanding and considering their unique needs will never lead to equity.

Some ways to better understand the needs of diverse students:

Until we start focusing on the needs of diverse students in all the ways they are diverse, we will be able to celebrate diversity but not reap the benefits of equity.

Small Bites Episode 10!

Next week, join me for a frank conversation on equity and social justice for the new school year. Bring your questions and I’ll see you on YouTube at 8PM Central–LIVE!

Different Read More »