Educators and students can enjoy the ebb and flow of education by understanding what motivates them and how to cultivate motivation daily.
In education circles, a common phrase thrown around as we discuss issues of equity is Purpose Over Power! The phrase Purpose Over Power is often used as a compass to guide the decision making process of some schools. It requires that educators think deeply about whether or not the decisions they are making and the systems they design in support of scholar learning and development are grounded in a meaningful purpose that allows for the success and achievement of all stakeholders or simply are the decisions & systems we make grounded in control and power!
In this post, I’m trying to understand the disconnect between Administrators (Principal’s, Assistant Principals) and Teachers. It seems as though we spend so much time arguing amongst ourselves that we are distracted from the big picture.
You ever call on scholars in class and hear crickets. Especially, in the virtual remote learning world, you call on a scholar and say unmute and share and get no response. Stressed by the awkward silence we either launch into a punitive speech about a lack of participation and classwork grades or we feel the need to do it ourselves and quickly move on.
The pandemic has had adverse impacts on black and brown communities in a number of ways. In the world of education, we are watching our families lose income, die from lack of access to quality healthcare, and our scholars fall further and further behind academically due to the digital divide.
Building strong relationships doesn’t mean be a pushover. It doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to misbehavior and allowing scholars to do whatever they want in your classroom or in the school building for that matter. What it does mean is being fair, being consistent, and being supportive.
The heightened tensions of the times have pushed us into a performative culture where we are constantly being questioned and told that we MUST show up on the front lines and being asked to show up in ways that can be proven. But we don’t have anything to prove to anyone.
Up until this point, my worries with school reopening were around safety, “ Is it safe for our children and staff (predominantly people of color) to come into the building for school? Are we putting them at risk of exposure to a virus that is killing us
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