A space for our Teachers to tell their stories. A space for the rest of us to listen, appreciate, and reflect. Teachers inspire me.
They dedicate their careers to developing young minds - forgoing higher salaries and easier jobs in pursuit of their noble cause. There are people working to improve teacher working conditions and compensation - that's the long game. In the meanwhile, this is a little token to lift up teacher voices - to hear about their joys and challenges, their hopes and fears. In our little way, we hope Teache
12/11/2020
Let's get a bunch of Oakland high school educators in this community! Feels like every high school teacher featured on this platform would be perfect. And compensated. Love it!
@ et.al!!!
10/10/2020
Teachers!! Oakland School Volunteers are available for virtual support! Community volunteers are ready to volunteer after vetting, clearance, and training. Check it out - zoom call support, academic tutors, and career coaches for high school students! Link to learn more and request: https://www.oaklandedfund.org/programs/volunteer/for-schools/
08/05/2020
has raised almost $40k of it's $50k goal in supporting their fellows in doing great work in Oakland and beyond. Proud to be a part of that support, the foundation for their next many years of investment into enabling strong black teacher community and development. Check out feature, Amber Walker, as she explains the impact of the BTP on her!
Then go chip in a few dollars - or many - to this exciting org! Link in bio.
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"I feel as though I now know my ideas and moves are on the right path. It is hard to think about combating an institution that is not in favor of liberating Black students, but having a cohort of like-minded individuals keeps me sustained. I know that my voice is important." - Amber Walker, 9-12th grade Math
07/29/2020
We (through our parent org ) just contributed $5,000 to the !!! Gotta look out for each other in this hard, hard work of supporting teachers. BTP is doing focused long term work and we are here for it.
The Black Teacher Project (BTP) is currently fundraising for their programs that support Black teacher leadership and development in Oakland and beyond. The work of BTP lifts up Black teachers as leaders in the reimagination of schools. As Black teachers have experienced and navigated anti-Blackness as both students and adults, they possess an inherent lens that is unique and critical to abolishing oppressive school policy and transforming schools into liberated learning communities where students are supported to fulfill their full potential.
Currently they are aiming to raise $50,000
**Please consider making a financial contribution to support this important work and/or share this effort with your networks!**
Link to donate in the pic above, our bio, and in the bio!
❤️ 💚 🖤
Picture of and teacher, Elena Njemanze
07/28/2020
We (through our parent org ) are proud to contribute $5,000 to the !!!
The Black Teacher Project (BTP) is currently fundraising for their programs that support Black teacher leadership and development in Oakland and beyond. The work of BTP lifts up Black teachers as leaders in the reimagination of schools. As Black teachers have experienced and navigated anti-Blackness as both students and adults, they possess an inherent lens that is unique and critical to abolishing oppressive school policy and transforming schools into liberated learning communities where students are supported to fulfill their full potential.
Currently they are aiming to raise $50,000
**Please consider making a financial contribution to support this important work and/or share this effort with your networks!**
Link to donate in the pic above, our bio, and in the bio!
❤️ 💚 🖤
"The BTP Fellowship continually gives me the language and the tools to simultaneously do the internal and external work of both decolonizing my practice and my school. I have long felt that things were "wrong" in education, but it has been challenging to name and claim the ways public education has dis-empowered students and teachers of color. Through BTP I have built the capacity to both look in the mirror and through the window as a teacher leader in service of liberatory education.
EVERY child deserves a Black teacher! We ready. We coming." - Nakachi Clark-Kasimu, K/1 Lead Teacher
07/24/2020
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“Words matter. They set up climate, culture. They tell the story of who we are. You have to be very intentional and specific about it. We call all our boys Kings. The first year, I didn't say Kings at all. Now, I understand the importance of that. They are bombarded with that negative imagery. And we don't know what sticks with kids. That one kid, who's going through whatever he's going through, if calling him a king is the one thing that changes his trajectory? They need to know. It's intentional. You’re a king, because it's part of your ancestry. You have innate greatness." -- Bryan Bassette | MDP Facilitator at Piedmont and Baseball Coach at Oakland Technical
07/22/2020
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"My mom drove home the cultural identity piece for me. It's crazy, I'm 37 now, but I remember the moment when I realized I needed to pay attention to the black-white aspect. We were watching Duke versus Michigan. National Championship game. I was rooting for Duke. I'm a young kid, Duke was a little bit more popular. My mom is rooting for Michigan. At halftime, I asked my mom why? She said “cuz they got all the brothers on their team.” That stuck. I gotta root for the home team. From a cultural perspective, because of the fight that's going on - that matters.”
-- Bryan Bassette | MDP Facilitator at Piedmont and Baseball Coach at Oakland Technical
07/20/2020
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“We have a very specific definition of manhood. And there's levels to it. One level is taking care of your family. Lawfully! Because otherwise, that can be taken away from you real quick. Next, someone who takes care of their community at large. That's when you get to the Malcolm X’s and Martin Luther King's. And then, at the top of that hierarchy, men who have the emotional control, the emotional stability - because one of the things that American society does is give us this false sense of what manhood is, of machismo. That we can't cry and all that. That definition is not what it is to be a man. We are emotional. You trying to fight that is going to manifest itself in other ways in your life.” -- Bryan Bassette | MDP Facilitator at Piedmont and Baseball Coach at Oakland Technical
07/11/2020
“Why wouldn't I come back and help build the city that built me?...”⠀
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-- Jazmine Njissang | Math Teacher at West Oakland Middle School⠀
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Read the Whole Story:⠀
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“...I wouldn't have certain characteristics or know how to navigate certain situations if I wasn't from Oakland. Anywhere I go, when people ask: where are you from, I say - not California, no. No. I’m from OAKLAND, California. But not only am I in Oakland to help uplift the youth, the next people coming up, but I also want to feel good where I'm at. I'm selfish in that way. I want my students to come have a teacher who loves them, AND I want to come to work in a place where I just love everything. I mean, I love these kids. What my Oakland kids strive off of is that love. They don't respect you until they know that you love them. They might have people in and out of their lives, so if they know you love them, then it’s going to be good.” (3/3)⠀
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07/08/2020
“When I teach, I talk a certain type of way. Of course I teach them mathematical vocabulary and all that, but when they leave my class, they just always go - Wow, I'm able to understand when you teach us stuff because you break it down how I'm going to understand it. And that's what I feel like I do best - I relate to my kids. I would hope that they love math and take it somewhere, but I also instill skills within them. Like, when I give them a task that feels too hard, I’ll say - it's not too hard. Who says it's too hard? If I give you the easy stuff, then I don't think you're smart enough. So I just trick them into thinking - oh I want Ms. Njissang to give me hard stuff. I always instill confidence in them. I'm like everyone's Auntie up here - everyone feels that they can talk to me.” (2/3)⠀
-- Jazmine Njissang | Math Teacher at West Oakland Middle School⠀
07/06/2020
“I said - if they can do it, why can’t I do it? I can be a mathematician too.”⠀
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-- Jazmine Njissang | Math Teacher at West Oakland Middle School⠀
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Read the Whole Story:⠀
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“In college, I was a math major. I did that because I wanted to challenge myself - I don't naturally get math - the higher levels - I mean, I didn’t see a number in my last two years. It was all theory. My final was three hours, with three essays - like - I cried every quarter, but I always pushed myself. Why is it that they just get it like this? Why do they know how to think? And I just think about their schooling - oh, so they've been structured a certain way to think analytically, to think critically. And so just then, I was like - no - I'm going to stick it out. My whole life, I always liked proving people wrong, and myself wrong too. I said - if they can do it, why can’t I do it? I can be a mathematician too.” (1/3)⠀
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07/03/2020
“I’m proud that I've always been able to be authentically me. From going into interviews with purple hair and not caring - either you hire me or you don't - to stuffed animals. It started young. I still carry stuffed animals around. I've carried them around forever. There's no logical reason why someone who carries stuffed animals to school from kindergarten to high school never got made fun of. They never got taken from me. I even had a stuffed animal that was central to my wedding. There are pictures of my photographer dancing with Gustav. My friends babysat Gustav. I didn't know where he was, and then I saw pictures later of them hanging out with him. It's a microcosm of who I am - I'm the girl who carries the stuffed animal around, and my friends embrace him. He's part of the crew. I take a stuffed animal to the club, you know what I'm saying? You can just deal with it or get out my face. Somehow, I'm just able to be me. I'm definitely not changing my Flex. You're either rocking with it or you're going someplace else.”
-- Tawana Guillaume | Engineering Pathway Instructor at Madison Park Academy