Editorials
Editorial: Being a Father and A Teacher
When I first started working with infants and toddlers the last thing I was thinking about was being a role model as a male teacher. All I was trying to do was just to survive every day without making too many unintentional mistakes. I did not like making mistakes and tended to avoid situations that […]
Read MoreBlack educators can help solve racial disparities in education
As we close out Black History Month, I believe Jacksonville has an opportunity to make history by investing in black educators. Research has shown that teacher diversity helps all students, especially students who look like them. One study found that low-income black boys are 39 percent more likely to graduate high school if they have […]
Read MoreEditorial: A Man in Hawai’i Working during the pandemic
I work at The Early School on the island of Oahu in Hawaii as a toddler teacher in the Young Children’s Program. When we moved into the Spring Break of 2020 I was very concerned about the Corona virus. So was everyone else in Hawaii. It was the weirdest start to a Spring Break I […]
Read MoreEditorial: Getting back to the first grade
During my second year in law school, I was involved in an automobile accident. At that time, my financial cushion was threadbare, so meeting the insurance deductible abraded the fabric. Having no patch material or thread with which to sew, I had to go to work. I became a full-time sixth-grade teacher in Grosse Pointe […]
Read MoreDo White People Get It? Racism Through the Eyes of a Black Male Teacher
The video of George Floyd taking his last breath was difficult for me to process. I experienced anger, sadness, fear, frustration, disgust, outrage, and betrayal. I can’t express what I felt when Floyd begged the officer to remove his knee from his neck and called out to his deceased mother. Watching him being restrained in […]
Read MoreEditorial: A Male Teaching in a Pandemic
I teach because of the relationships formed with my students. I enjoy the curriculum and the data part of the job, but the relationships formed with the students is why I do it. I like kids. Distance learning has changed my daily routine and that’s frustrating. But overall, day by day we’ll get through this […]
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