MenTeach E-News
October 2020
1) Men in Female-Dominated Professions Do More Housework
2) Justice For All: Lack of Black Male Educators in Florida Area Schools
3) Legislation Introduced Addressing Teacher Diversity in NJ Schools
4) Atlanta Man Becomes One of Georgia’s First Black Male Teachers of the Year
5) Editorial: Getting back to the first grade
6) Male Teachers Weigh in on Teaching During Coronavirus Pandemic in California
7) Black Male Teacher Creates Online Hustle University To Support Parents Struggling With Crisis Fatigue
8) ‘Brother Apple’ sows seeds of approval in China
9) Demographics of new hires revamps conversation on need for minority teachers in Tennessee
10) Editorial: A Man in Hawai’i Working during the pandemic
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1) Men in Female-Dominated Professions Do More Housework
If you want a husband who shares housework more equitably, marry a nurse, a teacher or hair stylist–or someone who’s in a female-focused career.
Men in predominantly female jobs will perform 25 percent more household chores than a partner who works in a male-dominated profession like an electrician or engineer, a study (PDF) of heterosexual couples from a Notre Dame professor shows.
Even single men in these careers spend more hours cooking and cleaning, said Elizabeth Aura McClintock, PhD, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame who studies modern romance and its effects on careers.
Male-dominated professions are those where women hold fewer than 25 percent of the jobs; female dominated are 76 percent or more female and McClintock estimated that almost 60 percent of men still work in one. Read the article: /node/3595
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2) Justice For All: Lack of Black Male Educators in Florida Area Schools
Thirteen year old Nia Kirkland says nothing will get in the way of her dream of becoming a teacher.
“Not most people want to be teachers because they say teachers don’t get paid enough — you’re really not gonna be cut out for this. It’s like, well, once you think about it, you’re right, but if that’s their passion and they want to teach to help them out and they’re going to do it and push that to their limit,” Kirkland said.
Kirkland’s dream of becoming a teacher is more likely to happen compared to a boy her same age and race, according to state and local numbers.
It’s a reality that Rafael Robinson knows first hand.
“Fortunately enough for me I went to the number one HBCU in the world, Florida A&M University College of Education. And we almost had a balanced class. There were a lot of African American males in my classes as I was matriculating through, so coming out Florida A&M and going into the actual system into the big world outside of college, I quickly found I was the minority and there was a small number of men in the field. Especially in primary,” Robinson explained. Read the article & watch the video: /node/3575
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3) Legislation Introduced Addressing Teacher Diversity in NJ Schools
While about 56 percent of students in New Jersey are nonwhite, only 16 percent of teachers are racial or ethnic minorities.
Seeking to diversify the educator workforce in New Jersey, Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Union) introduced three bills to help schools recruit and retain teachers of color, as well as support culturally responsive teaching methods.
“Many students of color go through their entire K-12 education without having a teacher who looks like them,” said Quijano. “Representation matters. Our teacher population should be just as ethnically diverse as our student body.”
The first bill (A-4594) requires the New Jersey Board of Education to create procedures to issue limited certificates of eligibility with advanced standing and limited certificates of eligibility for certain teacher candidates. Currently, teacher candidates must meet several requirements to earn these certificates and be eligible to teach in New Jersey public schools. This bill would relax some of those requirements for certain candidates so that they may earn a provisional teaching license. They would be issued a standard teaching license after performing well on two evaluations over a four-year period. School districts seeking to hire teachers with provisional licenses would apply to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education. To be eligible, a district must be facing demographic disparities in teacher and student populations, a shortage of bilingual education teachers or critical teacher vacancies.
The second measure (A-4595) would create the three-year “Male Teachers of Color Mentorship Pilot Program.” The Commissioner of Education would select ten male students of color from higher education institutions and ten male teachers of color from school districts. Students must be in their final year of an educator preparation program to participate. Read the article: /node/3578
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4) Atlanta Man Becomes One of Georgia’s First Black Male Teachers of the Year
Johnathon Hines, a teacher at Barack Obama Elementary School in Atlanta, has been recognized as Georgia’s Pre-K Teacher of the Year. He is the first Black man to receive the award, and hopes to continue inspiring his young students!
“Now I have the opportunity to inspire other males in early childhood. And that’s definitely one of my biggest goals,” Hines told 11 Alive. “I know how hard it is to be a teacher. The love and passion that you have to have to come in the classroom every single day. It’s definitely a calling, and that is my calling.”
Hines has always been very passionate about teaching. He believes it is important that a child would first love learning which he does unconventionally and energetically through dancing and singing.
“Cause I feel like when a child is engaged, the more they will learn,” he explained. “When I was in school I didn’t really enjoy the story, or the story was boring. Pre-K is the first year a child will experience school, so I want their first encounter to be a loving, nurturing encounter. And also allow them to have fun and still be a 4-year-old.”
One of the most rewarding parts of his job is seeing his little students learn. Hines currently teaches 22 students that he treats like his own child. Read the article: /node/3581
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5) Editorial: 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 Park, Michigan, during the day, and a part-time law student in Detroit at night.
The school where I taught had a teacher’s lounge. Occasionally, I would drop by and tell those assembled how hard I had it teaching a group of quick-witted sixth-grade students. I would note how comparatively easy it must be for those instructing in the lower grades.
This conduct was ill-advised.
One of the first-grade teachers, Connie, would knowingly smile, but my doltish behavior eventually proved too much even for her. She decided to teach me a lesson.
Arrangements were made with the principal, and I was temporarily assigned to the first grade, where Connie introduced me to a co-ed aggregation of 30-plus 6-year-olds, all of whom had name tags pinned to their uniforms.
Then she left.
Read the editorial: /node/3582
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6) Male Teachers Weigh in on Teaching During Coronavirus Pandemic in California
When a global pandemic interrupted the school year in March, teachers had to trade in their classrooms for Zoom calls and teach students from behind a screen with little time to prepare.
Now after six months – several schools have opened up in Orange County through waivers and school districts might soon be given the state’s blessing to allow students to return to the classroom. Still some districts, parents and teachers are opting to continue with virtual instruction.
Either way, the pandemic has changed what being a teacher looks like. It means a bigger workload and a greater effort to reach students to keep them engaged in lessons. Each district has its own challenges as well.
The Voice of OC reached out to teachers of various backgrounds in the Irvine Unified School District and Santa Ana Unified School District to show what it’s like to be a teacher in the midst of a global pandemic. Three male teachers interested in sharing their perspectives responded to the request.
Here’s a look at the experiences of two of them. Read their story: /node/3585
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7) Black Male Teacher Creates Online Hustle University To Support Parents Struggling With Crisis Fatigue
Hotep left his kindergarten classroom to start Hustle University so he could help low-performing schools across the United States. For this tumultuous school year, he is revealing his latest solution: Hustle U Homeschool; an online portal providing social and emotional educational resources to families struggling with the “new normal.”
Hotep created his online homeschool after noticing the major struggles both schools and parents were having with virtual learning. “Our country is on the verge of facing a historic academic regression if we don’t find better solutions”, he says. “As a Black man and a new father, I also wanted to make sure that the lessons and activities were culturally relevant.” Read the story and watch the video: /node/3587
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8) ‘Brother Apple’ sows seeds of approval in China
Exercise videos boost acceptance of male teachers at kindergartens
Kindergarten teacher “Brother Apple” set out with the intention of keeping youngsters fit during the COVID-19 epidemic, but quickly became an online icon.
Xia Haoyang, who teaches at a kindergarten in Qingdao, Shandong province, kept the nickname his students had given him when he started uploading clips to the Bilibili video-sharing platform earlier this year.
In the clips, the good-looking, well-groomed 23-year-old can be seen doing gymnastic exercises while music plays in the background. The videos are aimed at teaching kindergarten children how to dance and do exercises during home isolation to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. But Xia’s lively moves, flexibility and healthy image attracted not only children but also adults, with his hottest clip garnering 370,000 views.
Comments under the videos praise Xia’s “adorable” moves, which parents and other teachers admit they are trying out. “As a female kindergarten teacher, I have to admit that you dance better than me,” one comment said.
Xia said he didn’t expect to become so popular so quickly. But he also had a serious message about the acceptance of men in the traditionally female job. Read the story: /node/3591
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9) Demographics of new hires revamps conversation on need for minority teachers in Tennessee
For July, there were 77 new hires, 23 resignations and 18 remaining vacancies for Jackson-Madison County School System, as of Monday.
But, the need for minority teachers – their recruitment and retention – is being discussed among the school board again because of the demographics of the new hires.
Only one hire is a Black male, the board chairman James “Pete” Johnson pointed out. While one Black male was hired, two Black males resigned. Nine hires are Black females even though nine Black females also resigned. One Hispanic female was hired.
“That’s troubling for a system like ours,” Johnson said. “We’re having an issue with recruiting and an issue with retention.”
Fourteen percent of the new hires are of a minority group. In comparison, of 115 hires last year, there were 23, about 20%, of a minority group.
“We came in July, and a lot of positions are filled,” Ricky Catlett, deputy superintendent of operations, business and communications, said. “I do believe if given the time to have a cycle to recruit, we may make it happen.” Read the article: /node/3571
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10) Editorial: 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 have ever experienced. I closed that last Friday. It was chaotic at pick up and all everyone was talking about was whether or not we would be open after Spring Break. At the time I doubted it, but eventually our state instituted a Stay at Home Order. Everything closed.
Staying home during the pandemic was challenging, but my family had it easy compared to many others here in Hawaii. Thankfully my wife’s job was essential for her company and Jeri was able to easily work from home. Our new director worked hard for months in order to secure a PPP loan for The Early School so I also kept getting a paycheck even though I wasn’t working. As our local tourist based economy collapsed and it looked really bad. My family was lucky and we knew it.
During lock down I did a lot of home improvement, cooking, surfing, diving and my outdoor garden looked amazing. I even started kayaking/stand up paddle boarding. My family’s general lifestyle and our beautiful country home is set up nicely for social isolation. It wasn’t difficult spending most our time at home.
At first I loved how much more time I got to spend with both my wife and daughter. We were actually doing pretty well considering everything that was going on around us. As things progressed my wife Jeri found she liked working from home. My teenage daughter Kea loved her how her spring break turned into a permanent vacation. Read the editorial: /node/3592
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