When I was a child, I did not know of anyone in school, K-12, who had died by suicide. If I ever heard about it, it was on the news and the person was an adult. Today, suicide is more prevalent in the media. It seems that no one is immune, from well-known celebrities to…
Each year on October 5, World Teachers’ Day is celebrated around the globe. The theme for 2019 is “Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.” This theme is timely and fitting because teaching is no longer lifted up as a great professional option for our youth. It is almost weekly when the teacher shortage is…
Outrage spread across the country when a black female student, Amari Allen, accused three of her white male classmates of holding her down and cutting her dreadlocks. These accusations took on a life of their own when the media shared that Allen is a student at Immanuel Christian School, the same school where Vice President…
Many schools are preparing for their first conferences with parents. Unlike Back-to-School Night where parents receive general information about the school, a conference with your child’s teacher is a time to focus on your child. Parents should be prepared for conferences to maximize their impact. Here are some suggestions for what you should do. Know…
We want all schools to be bully-free zones, but that is easier said than done. In Indiana, state law requires school staff to complete training annually about bullying. The purpose is to understand what bullying is, what signs to look for, how to identify bullying, and how to report incidents of bullying. Furthermore, students in…
September 23-27 is College GO! Week in Indiana. This annual event aims to increase the number of students pursuing post-secondary education. In particular, there is a focus on increasing college attendance of low-income and first-generation college students. Although it might seem that this week would be geared towards only high school students, it is not….
Once again, I am here to inform the public that no one has the right to police and judge black hair. I will keep writing about this until it is no longer an issue, and by the looks of it, I’ll be writing about this issue for a long time. Recently, grandmother Randi Woodley was…
Listen as Educator Barnes shares how a doctoral assignment made her reflect about teachers traumatizing students at school.
“Tomorrow is Friday the 13th and a full moon. Check on your teacher friends. They are not okay.” This was one of many messages I saw as I scrolled on social media yesterday. If you can’t already tell, I don’t put much stock into these comments, but the belief in these superstitions by colleagues have…
Each generation has a shared event that almost everyone remembers. They remember what they were doing when it happened, how they felt, and the impact the event had. For me, that event was 9/11. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 was the date when terrorists hijacked four passenger planes. Two were flown into the World Trade Center….