Here I Go…

Hello, people of the internet! Welcome to my teaching blog!

I’m starting a blog to recount my experiences growing and simply being a teacher in Seattle. There’s a bit more in the “About” section of this site, if you care to click around.

I’ve been teaching primary grades in elementary school for 3 years now. Year one—my dream of teaching kindergarten, year two—first grade, year three—new school and second grade. This September, I should be teaching the second grade for a second year in the same school! I’m glad for a bit of stability in my fourth year so I don’t spend countless hours readying curriculum. Now I can spend some of those hours strengthening my teaching practice (and a little time on this blog)!

It’s 2020 and it is A YEAR. We are in a pandemic and a police reform movement after a black man was knelt on to death. These events have effect all of us, and the field of education too. Our schools are intuitions of white supremacy, and I need to hold myself accountable to be a change-maker for my students (primarily BIPOC). I want to be held accountable for treating and teaching students equitably. I want to pivot from Euro-centric education to reflect their histories, Black Excellence, and self-efficacy. Progress of this magnitude is a career-spanning effort, and I humbly recognize it.

My goal is to post about my efforts and reflections. Mistakes will be made and I will chronicle those too. Thanks for supporting by reading, and keeping me accountable.

Over the summer, members of my school’s staff are reading Cultivating Genius by Gholdy Muhammad and attending Seattle Public School’s Early Literacy Institute. Look for posts about these soon.

Me in my classroom. Remember when teachers had a classroom five days a week? Maybe I’ll get to be back in it at least part-time this Fall.