Fostering Futures

It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how! 🎃

Closing out my birthday month feeling loved by my tribe at school. I am so lucky to be surrounded by caring and creative humans ❤️

Today I was humbled by my colleague’s acknowledgement and appreciation of my efforts in the school community. I was complimented for the high academic and character standard that I encourage my students to meet. Most importantly, I was complimented for the safe space I have created for students of color in a predominantly white and wealthy institution. Days like today remind me that my only goal in teaching is to make excellent education, opportunities, and support available to any person who desires being a life long learner.

Happiness is a juicy read 📚

Give Me my apples 🍎 ☺️

Happy Teachers Appreciation Week!

Give me my apples 🍎 😊


Happy Teachers Appreciation Week !

It’s Tuesday 👩🏽‍🏫

I really want to give students their space, and I also really want to see their faces to assess how well I am engaging my students. Is there a middle ground? If you know, drop it in the comments

My face when I hear my students cite directly from spark notes, schmoop, and litcharts 😂

Kids crack me up for real - I’ve been there done that. I have the joy and privilege of being a millennial who also teaches.

There is nothing wrong with fact checking yourself, but spark notes will never replace the act of reading the text. If you are a student who thinks your teachers are oblivious, I am here to remind you that we are not 😬

Reading is a skill — a lifelong one at that. So you have to ask yourself, who are you really hurting but taking shortcuts in your studies ?

Don’t we always teach kids to not judge a book by its cover?🥸

I just finished teaching the Pulitzer Prize novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Truth be told, the teaching of this book caused many questions to be raised about the choice of text and topics we were to focus on in my Constitutional Modern World curriculum. Many students had their doubts, and many colleagues praised the novel for the way it wraps you up in Cal’s life and Greek storytelling.

In all curiosity, I asked my students if this was worth the read.
They responded:

“I understand why Eugenides focused so much on Cal's past and family, but I think there is something to be said about an intersex person truly centering the narrative around their story and existence, rather than fixating on the events leading up to their 'condition', which sometimes reads as a lack of total acceptance of their identity. I think this sort of ties in with my question of what compelled a cisgender male to write a story about the intersex experience lol. Not saying it isn't allowed, but there is definitely a conversation to be had about that. Otherwise, I think the use of metaphor and themes throughout was really masterful.”

“Generational trauma affects those throughout the ages whether they realize it or not, most people in the book took this as a sign of tragedy and just got swallowed up in all the negative that came with it. However with the outlook on life through Cal's eyes helped paint a new perspective for those that might be suffering in silence.”

“Since honesty is the best policy, I am going to say no because I am a fan of shorter books and 500 pages is not short. While there were some upsides to the story, I still don't think it outweighed the length of the book.

😂

Honesty is the best policy 😊

Tuesday’s Topic of the Week: Black History Month 👩🏽‍🏫✨