MenTeach E-News
October 2018
1) Scholarships for Minority Males in California
2) Male teachers return to the classroom as better pay, conditions attract surge in enrollments
3) Alma Spikes Elementary in Pocahontas now has their first male elementary school teacher on staff
4) Gender and Power in the American Classroom
5) Can a white teacher connect with black students?
6) The few. The proud. The male elementary school teachers.
7) Teacher’s Day: First and only male teacher at Xiaoxihu kindergarten in China
8) Editorial: Who Do Others Say You Are?
9) Need men working in child care for less than two years to talk with media
10) Editorial: Honoring All Who Make a Difference
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1) Scholarships for Minority Males in California – Future Minority Male Teachers of California
What is F2MTC?
The goal of the F2MTC project is to improve the pipeline for male teachers of color throughout the California State University system so that elementary age students of color will have increased numbers of males of color serving as teachers, mentors and role models, thereby helping to close the persistent achievement gap between white students and students of color. Read the article to find out about scholarships: /node/3288
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2) Male teachers return to the classroom as better pay, conditions attract surge in enrollments
After years of decline, men are finally getting back into primary teaching — lured by family-friendly hours, good salaries and the satisfaction of making a difference.
Nowhere is their resurgence more apparent than at Melville Primary School in Perth’s southern suburbs.
It has the highest ratio of male teachers to students of any public school in WA — with the teaching staff comprising 10 men and 22 women.
It is not uncommon for some children to go without ever having one male teacher throughout their primary schooling, but students at Melville can have several of them in succession. Read the article: /node/3381
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3) Alma Spikes Elementary in Pocahontas now has their first male elementary school teacher on staff
Jacob Pipkin is not only the school’s first male teacher, he is also serving as a mobile teacher this year.
Now the school stresses, that Pipkin is the first male teacher at Alma Spikes (K-2). There have been other male teachers when the school was part of MD Williams, with 3rd and 4th grade, but never have they had a male teacher since Alma Spikes opened as a K-2 school.
Pipkin teaches art and now rolls through the hallways with his cart, filled with everything from markers to hand sanitizer.
Pipkin said he is thankful for the new role and hopes to be a good mentor to all of his students. Read the article: /node/3385
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4) Gender and Power in the American Classroom
I am a diversity progressive who generally thinks that men have too much power. Because that is my worldview and because I am human, I am given to confirmation bias. In other words, I will look for cases that confirm my worldview – stories of men with too much power. But confirming your worldview is the opposite of what intellectuals ought to be doing. Instead, we should be constantly seeking new ways of thinking about familiar things, beginning with cases that challenge our worldviews.
Because issues of power are so central to the paradigm of diversity progressives, thinking about power in new ways is one of the things I’ll do from time to time with this blog. For this piece, I’d like to focus on women in elementary education. Read the article: /node/3386
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5) Can a white teacher connect with black students?
Each school year, at least one male student shares with me a version of this story: While walking — sometimes to school, sometimes to or from work — the student is stopped by police. The police officer turns out the student’s pockets, empties his book bag if he has one, demands ID, sits him on the curb and makes him wait while they check him for priors or outstanding warrants. All of this happens absent probable cause.
I’ve heard a version of this unnerving story so many times during the two decades that I’ve been teaching in Baltimore that I’m no longer surprised by it. It’s also an experience that I’ve never had and a reminder of the unfair advantages white privilege still confers in 21st century America.
I applaud Baltimore City Schools’ recent push to attract and retain more black teachers. Students benefit when they see, first-hand, models of black success. Learning from black educators who’ve confronted injustices — micro and macro — similar to the ones students have faced, or may face yet, empowers young people. It also helps students visualize their own career possibilities. I see this dynamic at my own school where black colleagues exert a powerful, positive and nurturing influence on students. Read the article: /node/3388
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6) The few. The proud. The male elementary school teachers.
You young men out there … so you want to do something really tough and brave, something to change the world, something adventurous, something really different?
Well, you could join the Marines, and you’d definitely do all of the above.
But you could also do “all of the above” by becoming an elementary school teacher.
I can personally vouch for the undeniable truth that all-of-the-above criteria are met in my job on a daily basis.
Why then do so few good men consider entry into the deeply honorable service of teaching young children as a career?
I’m not sure, but in this particular column I will tell you men out there exactly what to expect if you do. Read the article: /node/3389
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7) Teacher’s Day: First and only male teacher at Xiaoxihu kindergarten in China
Guo Xinwang tells story for children at the Xiaoxihu kindergarten in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province, Sept. 6, 2018. Guo, born in 1993 and graduated from the Jiangsu Normal University, became the first and only male teacher of the Xiaoxihu kindergarten three years ago. There are 400 plus male teachers in Nanjing nowadays, up to three percent of the whole teachers working in kindergartens. See all the wonderful photos: /node/3394
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8) Editorial: Who Do Others Say You Are?
Who are you to others? This question has often crossed my mind when I think about how I fit into this world.
Currently, I am attending UW-Stout to pursue a career in Early Childhood Education. My small hometown consists of about 1,800 people. Consequently, I have experienced small class sizes that have made it easier to create relationships with teachers that last a lifetime. In fact, because of these relationships my passion to pursue a career of being an early childhood education (ECE) teacher has emerged. Teachers often create a lasting impact on children. We as teachers need to take the time to reflect on how we respond to children’s needs as it does impact a child’s life in more ways than can be imagined.
As a future teacher, I believe that I need to be intentional in every aspect of my teaching from strategies used to conversations I have with students. For me, these characteristics and skills have been evident within all my teachers (both male and female) throughout the early grades. Although a teacher’s intentionality and efforts are hard work, the impact upon students is influential. I am a product of some very thoughtful teachers and the ways they have transformed my life are abundant. In fact, these teachers are instrumental in my decision to pursue a career in early education. This is where I can make that same lasting impact on children I teach in the future. Read the student’s editorial: /node/3390
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9) Need men working in child care for less than two years to talk with media
MenTeach will be releasing a Press Release in the next month and will be getting requests from the media for interviews. I need diverse numbers of men who have recently started working in child care (MUST be within the last two years) from all over the US who can be interviewed.
I need your:
Full Name & City and State (not address)
Phone number
When did you start working in child care?
What do you do in child care?
Again you MUST have started less than TWO years ago & it must be in child care!
Send your information to: bgnelson(a)menteach.org
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10) Editorial: Honoring All Who Make a Difference
Summertime brings celebrations; many which pay tribute and honor to those who have gone before us. At the end of May, we celebrated Memorial Day; a day dedicated to the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. On July 4th we commemorated our freedom and on Labor Day we will honor working people. Each of us pay tribute in our own way through our celebrations of these holidays.
The word honor has multiple meanings that include; regard with great respect, a privilege, and fulfilling an obligation. After spending a few days in my daughter’s first-grade classroom last spring, I began to see how some teachers fulfill obligations to children, their families, and the school community. This was enlightening for me because when observing college pre-service students in classrooms, I only notice portions of the classroom routine. Becoming an active participant in Erica’s classroom and engaging in the day-to-day happenings resulted in a deeper respect and honor for teachers. Below are some key aspects that impact the teaching profession today and give reason to honor teachers. Read the editorial: /node/3365
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