Teacher Fired over Trayvon Martin Fundraiser →

At the height of teaching excellence are those who teach for real life, those who include “real-world relevance” in their lessons. This teacher was fired for being an “activist” instead of a “teacher.”

I didn’t know that teaching and activism were mutually exclusive. As a teacher, I found this case deeply disturbing and a shining example of silence and white supremacy doing their insidious work within our education system.

Please sign the petition for Brooke Harris to gain her teaching position back.

(Source: karnythia, via anedumacation)

The Textbook Slayer!: GIFT No.1 (Great Idea For Teaching) →

textbookslayer:

The “Build Your Own Hero Kit”

My students shortened it to BYOH (bye-oh) kit. This was an intensive project that took about 3 weeks to complete with my group of Grade 7s but in the end they thanked me. THEY THANKED ME! How often do junior high students thank you for lesson planning?!

THIS IS MARVELOUS!!!!

Youth activists in British Columbia are out in full force supporting their teachers… past, present and future!!

couldn’t be more true…

(via teachingtoday)

"Why is it, do you think, children are always too young to hear the truth, but never too young to be lied to—systematically, conscientiously, in the name of Education?"

Ward Churchill

(Source: cuntymint, via newwavefeminism)

Wish me luck!

Just sent off an application to work at an alternative school for high school girls. I would work as a teacher’s assistant, but nonetheless, I want the job so badly!! Eeeee!

Remember This Everyday :: Thoughts for a New Teacher

excerpt from Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center

1. Teaching is even more rewarding than you imagined. It is also more exhausting. Rest when you can and take time for yourself each and every day. You will be a better teacher (and human being) for it.
2. Take the time to not only get to know your students and allow them to get to know you, but also to create opportunities for them to get to know each other. Understanding different perspectives is where true learning takes place.
3. Students have the uncanny ability to say something that will make your day one second and something that will bring you down the next. Take only the positive comments to heart. Remember that their brains are still developing and it’s hard work growing up. Don’t take it personally.
4. Your job is to like your students, not the other way around. Be their most ardent supporter.
5. Always remember why you wanted to become a teacher. Hold on to this enthusiasm when times are tough.
6. Keep a file of the nice things students say to you and the little things they write to you. Pull these things out often as a reminder of the impact you have on young lives.
7. If you’re having a bad day, tell your students. They’ll notice something is off and, more than likely, will think it has to do with them.
8. Really listen to your students. Their stories will astound you.
9. Create opportunities for students to have an authentic voice in your class. Support them as they exercise their voice in the school.
10. Approach each new day as a new opportunity to connect with kids. You may not know about the lives you have changed until much, much later, if ever. Keep going anyway. 

September 19th, 2011

This was a reflection I wrote for my teacher inquiry course in September. Now that I have officially graduated and am finally recognized as a teacher it is so interesting to reflect on what I felt/still sometimes feel. I guess what one of my favourite professors said to me over the summer was true: Teaching is not for the faint of heart.

September 19th, 2011

My process has been stretched thin this week. I found that my thoughts around my teacher identity and my personal identity as a queer, feminist, woman of colour have moved from a space of contention, into a space of blending and mixed emotions. I have been reading the profound words of bell hooks and Adrienne Rich, and their thoughts on education and teaching. I have also been reading a Canadian publication about the experiences of LGBTQ teachers and students in the public school system. Reading the words and feelings of fellow queer, racialized teachers has reminded me that I am not alone. Though much of my feelings around this program are mired in loneliness and isolation, and the deep sense of inadequacy that I feel, I have also been reminded by bell hooks of the power of the margins, and using my multiplicity of identities as a source of strength and resilience.

This is not to say that I feel totally comfortable with this process, but rather, these readings have reminded me of the light at the end of the tunnel, and have called me home to myself in a way that I have not felt throughout this program. This calling has reminded me of the power of authenticity, and the value of my relationships with others (students, families, colleagues, friends, etc). 

What does it mean to be my authentic self AND be a teacher?
How does my understanding of my identity shape and influence how I live my life (thoughts, words, behaviours, actions)?

I want to carve my own path of heart through the margins. I want my feelings of isolation and my struggle through this incredibly flawed program to help me grow (stronger, prouder, more understanding, gentler) and to shape my praxis for the better. I do not and will not be left in the despair of a society that attempts to regulate and categorize who we are, by what we look like, our gender, or who we love.

However, what I continue to come up against is the anger. The righteous rage that I feel when I see/read/experience inequity, prejudice, discrimination, social exclusion, and hate. Where shall I put this rage in order to channel it into positive change?

And then there is fear. The fear of further isolating myself by delving deeper. By sharing with my peers and colleagues the parts of me that I am told to hide. By sharing the painful ways in which the comments, opinions and non-chalant words of my professors and peers have hurt, excluded, angered, and scarred me.

I am left standing only with burning questions. Do I really want to be a teacher? Is this my genuine path of heart?

Found these on my computer today. This is indicative of the entire last year of my life, surviving my education program. SIX DAYS AND I AM OFFICIALLY A TEACHER!!!