Hedreich Nichols

Full of Grace

If you missed the live session, you missed me running 3 platforms at once and not doing a very good job of it. It was not my best work. But instead of editing out the quirks, I posted it as is. This is 2020, the year of making it up as we go along, of learning new things and of having an abundance of grace for ourselves and our students.

In the episode I discussed the links on this site and the importance of learning in order to be more culturally responsive educators. If, in any way, I implied that you need to do more, I take it back. I do want you to use the links BUT, I also know that we are all overworked, overextended and oft overwhelmed. Doing everything on our to do list is barely possible. Being asked to do more, well, that’s just not possible for most of the teachers I know, many of who are working until 2AM and still can’t get caught up.

So, after an amazing Q&A session with some wonderful human beings, I decided to give you a little something different for the next 10 episodes: something you can use immediately. Look for either plug and play lesson plans, shorts to share with your class or other tools that will hopefully make your day run a little smoother or help out in an emergency.

Meanwhile, just in case, here are a few of my favorite links from the last 5 episodes in one place.

Small Bites Friday Five 10-16-20:

15-20m – Watch this TEDx Talk as Dr. Michelle Chatman explains the difference restorative justice practices can make in a child’s life, and how black children are perceived as older, angrier and less in need of nurturing than their white peers.

5-10m – Read this We Are Teachers article about the difference between zero tolerance and restorative practice schools.

0-5m – Watch restorative circles at work in this Oakland Unified school video.

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 the se questions from Bias Busters, then ask yourself how much of this was in the history books you were taught from.

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

Small Bites Friday Five 10-02-20:

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.

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.

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 my 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.

Generalist – 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 Common Sense.org.

Small Bites Friday Five 09-18-20:

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” 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.

Dedicated to; Barbara, Hal, Mervil, Tara, Kecia, Laura, and Jen.