Surveys suggest teachers are the most trusted voices in public education and thanks to an excellent new survey from Educators for Excellence, we have some ideas of what teachers would do if they ran our schools. They would pay teachers more money to work in challenging schools and teach challenging subjects instead of today’s system where teachers are largely paid the same…
Category: Teachers & Leaders

“Tough” is the Compliment We Pay White Teachers That Condemns Black and Brown Students
My nine years as a teacher in public schools have been eye-opening. The injustices that students from low-income backgrounds and students of color face in the education system have been common knowledge for years. And yet, it has been astounding to experience firsthand just how deep our biases go and how they cause us to misdiagnosis problems in education and…

As Starbucks shuts down for racial bias training, what do we say to our students?
This year I tackled implicit bias with my eighth-graders. I mean, if Starbucks could shut down for a day to learn about it, so could we, right? After all, it doesn’t just happen at Starbucks. Also, we read pieces of “The Hate U Give,” and the discussions showed me that my students really needed language to describe how racism operates…

We’re grateful for teachers who keep it real
Editor’s Note: As one of several blogs within the Education Post network, CO School Talk is the place for teachers across Colorado to be bold and unapologetic about the things affecting their ability to teach and their students’ ability to learn. We’ve love it when educators like Kathleen Campbell, Brandi Chin, Alex Magaña, Michelle Pearson, Marsia Ronyak, Sarah Reed, and MaryAnn Stratton…

Teachers and students don’t need out-of-school suspensions
Students of color and students with disabilities continue to be suspended at significantly higher rates than their peers. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights recently reported the astonishing data, confirming similar findings from the U.S. Government Accountability Office this past March. Sadly, Colorado is no exception, particularly as it relates to its youngest learners. And that’s precisely why…