Stories

Early on in the pandemic, the hope for “reimagined” education and an overdue acknowledgment of teachers’ heroism dominated narratives about schools, yet the empathy expressed for educators has seemingly waned.

Stop what you’re doing and go thank a Black teacher. Whether online or in-person, take time out today to thank a Black teacher.

It is no secret that there is a widening diversity gap between our public school students and our public school educators. Public schools enrollment is now majority-minority, but teachers of color account for just 21% of the educator workforce, with Black educators making up just 7% of that total. Black and brown teachers have a profoundly positive impact on not only Black and brown students, but all students. A great body of evidence shows that Black, brown and white students alike see positive academic benefits when they are taught by diverse teachers.

The Minneapolis NAACP wants to unveil “the truth behind the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) deception” concerning the recent teacher strike.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee appointed Penny Schwinn the state’s education commissioner in January 2019, one year before COVID-19 threw schools into disarray. But the pandemic isn’t slowing her down. She continues to innovate despite the new challenges thrust on a state where the vast majority of schools receive supplemental federal funds for students in poverty.

“Ms. Avalos, tell me I’m right!” Darrien and his lab group crowd my desk. “But it doesn’t make any sense,” argues Jocelyn, “Why would it go up?” My students are in the middle of a physics lesson on graphs of motion and are using sensors to act out the graphs they see on their handheld screens. I am following their every move, recording the class for my submission for a teaching award. Six weeks later, I got the good news: I’ve been named my district’s secondary science teacher of the year.

Normalcy is a term unfamiliar to children in Ukraine. After years of conflict and pandemic disruptions, the children of Ukraine yet again find themselves forced back into chaos, not from the development of a new strain of the virus, but instead from Vladimir Putin’s condemnable and ruthless invasion of their country. 

If we, as math educators, can commit to centering our pedagogy to humanize our students, we can push our students to reimagine the role that math plays in their lives. All of our students can be “math people.”

As a longtime online education parent and advocate, I hate to admit most of my fears about remote learning during the pandemic came true. The implementation was uneven and chaotic, and as a result, students and educators have paid a heavy price with learning loss and burnout.