At Indy K12, we are unapologetically Black. We want students in Indianapolis to be successful. We know this cannot happen without directly addressing the educational equity issues in our city. We are tired of Black students getting left behind. Many of our readers have thanked us for our thoughts on current issues. We not only…
Recently, I wrote two pieces addressing diversity in education. The first in the series, “If You Want to Keep Educators Like Me, You Need to Think Beyond Your Diversity Quota” addressed why school and district leaders have to do more than just hire diverse teachers; they have to support them. When this was shared, an…
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein Einstein was correct; change comes when we change our thinking. For most educators in the past few months, our thinking about education and school has changed. E-learning is not a new…
During the last couple of weeks, educators have found ways to celebrate students although school buildings remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Educators should not be left out of the celebration. It is important to lift up their labor to serve students. Many times, excellent Black educators are not recognized. Emil Ekiyor, former Indiana…
It did not take a pandemic for me to have experience with interviewing virtually through video. Since the coronavirus pandemic, video interviews have become the norm. At my school, I am the hiring manager for English, English intervention, electives, and the building sub. I have had the opportunity to interview several teacher candidates. Some interviews…
The majority of US teachers are white females. What I know for certain is it is possible that many Black children could go through their entire education without ever having a Black teacher. This means, that each year, I should expect that my twin sons’ teachers will be white females. If you are a white…
We have officially survived distance learning at my house, not before having to upgrade my internet speed due to multiple zoom classes and meetings each day. Although it was an adjustment, we are blessed that we have enough technology at home to accommodate three students. The twins both completed college finals during the first week…
Hopefully by the fall COVID-19 has died down but just in case it has not, the CDC has released some guidelines to help schools reopen safely. These new guidelines are much the same as the ones we showed you a couple of weeks ago with minor tweaks. However, many teachers and parents have seen this…
Working from home is everyone’s dream. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has granted many Americans that wish. Some of them are finding out that working from home isn’t the work-life balance panacea they were hoping for. Indeed, no matter what kind of worker you are, working from home presents new problems that many people have not…
This school year, I transitioned into the role of a school administrator. Previously in my career, I have served as an English teacher, English as a New Language teacher, literacy coach, and librarian. Although I took tools and knowledge from those roles into my current position, nothing could fully prepare me except experience. For 11…