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There are so many issues one must consider daily. But, I must be me and take what comes with it. I refuse to shrink myself and my views. How else do we help shape well rounded citizens if we constantly conform to the norm.
-Ciji T.

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Belonging as a Black Educator | Live Chat

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Belonging as a Black Educator | Live Chat

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Here you'll find quotes, resources, and ideas from Sevenzo's live chat on February 27th.

You're welcome to add resources using the + symbol in the bottom right corner!

Learn more about us & join a future chat at sevenzominichallenge.org

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sevenzo live chat: belonging as a black educator

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sevenzo live chat: belonging as a black educator tickets

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Sevenzo Live Chat: Belonging as a Black Educator

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What does it mean to feel a sense of belonging as a black educator? Join Vivett Dukes in a live video chat on Monday, February 27 at 7:30-8:30pm Eastern. Vivett will lead a conversation among black educators about teaching in a country where 83% of teachers are white.

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Marsha Murphy and Loranda Mathis of Louisville, KY

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#Identity - Marsha Murphy and Loranda Mathis

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Uploaded by Sevenzo General on 2017-01-09.

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Accept the challenge and share your story at  https://www.sevenzominichallenge.org/

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I am a Black Educator, the adjective informs how I was educated and what I was educated on.

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I am a Black Educator, the adjective informs how I was educated and what I was educated on.

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- Vivett Dukes

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My husband is incarcerated, I am bringing that into the classroom.

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My husband is incarcerated, I am bringing that into the classroom.

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Our double consciousness is real.
- Vivett Dukes

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My voice as a black male can become THE voice of ALL black males.

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My voice as a black male can become THE voice of ALL black males.

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- William Anderson

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When do I get to be my SELF self? Sometimes you don’t have the choice to be your self self. You’re already part of a lineage and a narrative of who you are in this country.

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When do I get to be my SELF self? Sometimes you don’t have the choice to be your self self. You’re already part of a lineage and a narrative of who you are in this country.

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- Michelle King

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John Henryism (JH) is a strategy for coping with prolonged exposure to stresses such as social discrimination by expending high levels of effort which results in accumulating physiological costs. Statue of John Henry outside the town of Talcott in Summers County, West Virginia.

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John Henryism (JH) is a strategy for coping with prolonged exposure to stresses such as social discrimination by expending high levels of effort which results in accumulating physiological costs. Statue of John Henry outside the town of Talcott in Summers County, West Virginia.

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h/t Michelle King

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John Henryism (JH) is a strategy for coping with prolonged exposure to stresses such as social discrimination by expending high levels of effort which results in accumulating physiological costs.

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We do a disservice to our kids if we champion burning ourselves out. 

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We do a disservice to our kids if we champion burning ourselves out. 

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get it! its free! mediative! nature scenes sounds
- Vivett

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‎Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Calm. Download Calm and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

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Self-Care ideas: sitting still, prayer, crochet, exercise, building community...

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Self-Care ideas: sitting still, prayer, crochet, exercise, building community...

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- Leah Burgess

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h/t Michelle King

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african american women;politics and government.

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ethnic studies - african american studies - general

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political science / civics & citizenship

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social science / discrimination & race relations

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social science / ethnic studies / african american studies

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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America

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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America - Kindle edition by Melissa V. Harris-Perry. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America.

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Take your personal days. We all need them.

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A well teacher is a good teacher. I’m reflecting on the extra stress everyone is experiencing being a black educator. 

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A well teacher is a good teacher. I’m reflecting on the extra stress everyone is experiencing being a black educator. 

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- Chris Widmaier

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I am an expert in the black experience because I live it every day.

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I am an expert in the black experience because I live it every day.

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- William Anderson

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It's okay for us to push people out of their comfort zone. 

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It's okay for us to push people out of their comfort zone. 

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The expertise that we naturally bring from having lived that experience needs to be acknowledged.

- William Anderson

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As a teacher, I help build society. That's my work. 

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As a teacher, I help build society. That's my work. 

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As a society, what are we practicing? We are what we practice, and we are what our kids are watching.

- Michelle King

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The Bridge Poem | Donna Kate Rushin (1981)

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I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister My little sister to my brother my brother to the white feminists The white feminists to the Black church folks the Black church folks To the Ex-hippies the ex-hippies to the Black separatists the Black separatists to the artists the artists to my friends' parents...

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http://www.blacklivesmattersyllabus.com/fall2016/

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You prepare yourself differently for the different spaces you go into… to not be disinvited.

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You prepare yourself differently for the different spaces you go into… to not be disinvited.

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- Leah Burgess

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How might we stand up in a crooked room?

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How might we stand up in a crooked room?

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h/t Michelle King

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A recent sequence of posts about Black women, perceptions of beauty, and our inability to accept compliments rekindled a desire in me to write about Melissa Harris-Perry's most recent work, Sister Citizen (2011). Though the prose is primarily political in nature, there were two core theories presented that resounded with me. So much so, I believe that much of the internal and external characteristics I possess today have been significantly augmented for the better.

Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America, released in September 2011, is a lovely and intelligent book about the images in the media that work to define Black women and their roles in American society. And though the prolific Cornel West has had much to say about Harris-Perry's work, many contemporary, non-male scholars and commentators have accepted her presence as both necessary and legitimate.
The Crooked Room
Ever heard of the theory of the "crooked room?" If you haven't, maybe you have heard of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. They are quite similar. I parallel the two because they both hint on the concept that [wo]men exist in a sort of a vaccuum and until enlightened to the pretense of their environments, they mentally assimilate with whatever their surroundings may be. The crooked room is a central point of reference for Harris-Parry's work and is summarized as follows:

"In one study, subjects were placed in a crooked chair in a crooked room and then asked to align themselves vertically. Some perceived themselves as straight only in relation to their surroundings. To researchers' surprise, some people could be tilted as much as 35 degrees and report that they were perfectly straight, simply because they were aligned with images that were equally tilted. But not everyone did this: some managed to get themselves more or less upright regardless of how crooked the surrounding images were.

When they confront race and gender stereotypes, black women are standing in a crooked room, and they have to figure out which way is up. Bombarded with warped images of their humanity, some black women tilt and bend themselves to fit the distortion."

What exactly does Harris-Perry mean when she notes that Black women "tilt and bend themselves to fit the distortion?" Ever heard of a young lady named Beyoncé? Did you think that was her natural hair color? skin texture? eye color?

Yes, in its simplest sense, it looks like colorism at its finest. This beautiful and talented 9 year old girl...

...grew up to be a gorgeous young black woman who hit major stardom in the mid-1990s...

...but, by the early 2000s, her attire, skin tone, and hair texture had already begun to change...

...till we reach now...where she basically resembles a very beautiful, non-descriptly ethnic woman...
On Giving In to the Room We Live In
Some will criticize this post as hating. But, the truth is, no matter what Beyoncé does to her hair, body, or otherwise does not take away from her talent. But, her transformation over the last twenty years is indicative of a larger phenomenon affecting Black women. Her mere presence and bountiful success works in two interesting ways.

1. It shows young Black girls that there is a possibility to come from humble beginnings and make it big one day. Her symbolism reinforces the notion of the "American Dream." You know, the one where you pull yourself up from your bootstraps and whatnot.

2. On the other hand, Beyoncé's physical changes garnering such accolades and praise (like being named People Magazine's "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" in 2012 after the magazine's hiatus on Black women from Halle Berry gracing the cover 9 years earlier) sends dual messaging to young women and boys about what Black women are "supposed" to look like. It says that a beautiful young woman with countless talent still has to transfigure herself to be deemed beautiful by the rest of the world. So, what if you deem yourself less talented or less beautiful than she was to begin with? What then?

In that case, many women simply give in to the crooked room they are living in. In other words, they behave in a way that contorts and shifts into lockstep with the world around them. And though it may make them feel more beautiful, it never quite seems to satiate their desire to be loved, appreciated, honored, or respected. This is one of the central issues affecting Black women's self-imaging. Why can't we take compliments? Well, because the bestow-er must be disingenuous right? I'm no Beyoncé, right? Even she has to change herself to be pretty. So, I have to do something even more extreme, right?

We all live in this crooked room. And, not only does it make it hard for us to receive compliments, it makes it hard for us to give them too. This is especially so when it comes to other Black women. Innate competition between us about hair length, skin tone, material possessions, and all types of other inconsequential indicators of self-worth impair our abilities to appreciate each other. Ever walk outside thinking you were just doing it, (hair did, nails did, everythang did...) only to have one of your girlfriends rip you a new one? Was your head up too high so they had to ground you real quick? The crooked room tells us that ain't nobody "all that." And, even if they think they are, we can find something about them to get them back in their place.

I will end this on a personal note since there is much more to be said in a future post. Growing up as a brown girl in a brown world, my world was always slightly off-kilter. But, my mother put me in diverse schools with students of many different ethnic backgrounds. So, I was fortunate enough to have my world constantly tilting on its axis every time I went to school, church, or family gatherings. I got a multitude of images and social norms from numerous sources which almost made me crazy at times. But, it was their intersection that elucidated the center of my planetary mass. Somewhere in the center, I realized that some of the boys didn't like me, they preferred the girls with longer, "whiter" hair. And, in some cases, the boys really liked me because I appeared easier to get than those other girls.

One thing that always stuck out to me was a very subtle thing: courtesy. At school, during flu-season, everyone would constantly sneeze. The teacher would sneeze, and the class would say "God bless you" in unison. A Hispanic boy would sneeze, similar levels of bless yous. An Asian girl would sneeze, more bless yous. Then, I would sneeze, silence...to this very day, I find myself in crooked rooms where this is the norm. And, it wasn't until reading Harris-Perry's book that I realized the polymorphic existence I had always inhabited wasn't my own creation. It was the endless tilting of the endless rooms that I was gliding through on a daily basis. And, there were times when I appeased them. In one room, I would try to seem more "black." I'd roll some syllables and purposely relax my diction in certain company. And, I'd perform the equal and opposite actions in other tilted rooms.

But, one day, I simply said enough was enough. I stood up straight in all my rooms. And, though I found it jarring at first (because some rooms were surprisingly more tilted than others - I mean damn near 90 degrees askew), I found that my straightened form made everything very clear to me. I demanded the same treatment as everyone else. I demanded the same respect as everyone else. And, I defined my most linear plane. It may be crooked to others, but that's simply because they are walking around like some Smooth Criminals ...think about it. Ever found yourself in a crooked room? Heck, you may be in one right now...
To be continued...The Mammy, the Jezebel, the Sapphire, and Shaming
Buy the book here.

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Melissa Harris-Perry Shines a Light On How Perception Affects Black Women

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A recent sequence of posts about Black women, perceptions of beauty, and our inability to accept compliments rekindled a desire in me to write about Melissa Harris-Perry's most recent work, Sister Citizen (2011). Though the prose is primarily political in nature, there were two core theories presented that resounded with me.

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It's important to show up to these conversations in our authenticity and our truth.

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It's important to show up to these conversations in our authenticity and our truth.

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- Leah Burgess

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If we want to reduce the achievement gap, then stop reducing the opportunities to achieve.

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If we want to reduce the achievement gap, then stop reducing the opportunities to achieve.

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Rochester, NY: “Black Lives Matter at School”

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Rochester, NY: “Black Lives Matter at School”

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This affirming—and crucial—statement marks the agenda for today, February 17, 2017, in Rochester City School District. Students, educators, support staff, administrators and community partners are coming together to observe “Black Lives Matter at School: A Day of Understanding and Affirmation.”

In a letter to families and students, Rochester City School District explains the event’s purpose: “This day was created to affirm the lives of black children, who represent the majority of students we serve, and to promote understanding that will strengthen our community. Racial equity will not happen unless people are willing to talk about race, and this day is one important step in that process.”

h/t Chris Widmaier

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Rochester, NY: "Black Lives Matter at School"

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In this district, students, educators, support staff, administrators and community partners are coming together to affirm that black lives matter.

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by John King, former U.S. Secretary of Education

Research conducted recently by the American Federation of Teachers found that, while more teachers of color are being hired than in the past, they also are leaving the profession more quickly than white teachers.

Improved compensation and working conditions can help address this, of course. But one factor in teachers’ decisions to leave deserves special attention: the “invisible tax.”

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John King is U.S. education secretary.

One of my top priorities as education secretary is to help our public schools serve the needs of our increasingly diverse students so that they have the opportunity to pursue the American dream and use their talents to help our nation tackle some of its most difficult problems.

To achieve this goal, we need a teaching force that is as diverse as our students. More and more research shows that diversity isn't just a nicety - it's a real contributor to better outcomes in our schools, workplaces and communities. But while students of color are now a majority in our schools, teachers of color make up only 18 percent of their faculties. Unless we do something as a country, demographic projections show that this mismatch is likely to get worse.

To address this, we need to encourage a wider array of young people to consider teaching as a career, prepare them to meet the learning needs of their diverse students and actively recruit and hire them. But we also must do more to ensure that, once hired, they will stay.

Research conducted recently by the American Federation of Teachers found that, while more teachers of color are being hired than in the past, they also are leaving the profession more quickly than white teachers.

Improved compensation and working conditions can help address this, of course. But one factor in teachers' decisions to leave deserves special attention: the "invisible tax."

According to some African American male teachers, the "invisible tax" is imposed on them when they are the only or one of only a few nonwhite male educators in the building. It is paid, for example, when these teachers, who make up only 2 percent of the teaching force nationally, are expected to serve as school disciplinarians based on an assumption that they will be better able to communicate with African American boys with behavior issues.

It is also paid when they have to be on high alert to prepare their students for racism outside of school. "Every time I take my students to an engineering competition, or to speak with industry partners, or to tour colleges, I have to have the code-switching talk," explained Harry Preston, an African American physics teacher in Baltimore. "That is a mental tax I personally pay as an educator."

And it is paid when teachers of color are seen as the experts on any question of cultural diversity.

The tax takes a toll on teachers' time. Building and maintaining relationships with students across an entire school adds to their already busy schedules as teachers. It also takes an emotional toll. Often, the students whom black male teachers are expected to help have serious needs beyond what any individual teacher can remedy. That leads to burnout.

Sharif El-Mekki, principal of the Mastery Charter School's Shoemaker campus in Philadelphia, has noted that the African American teachers he speaks with are of two minds about these extra duties. "They feel honored and appreciated that they are asked," he said, "but when so many different people are asking them for help, it becomes a burden."

Such conversations prompted El-Mekki to found the Fellowship, which seeks to inspire more men of color in Philadelphia to see teaching as a means of achieving social justice. The Fellowship has hosted several Black Male Educator Convening events to provide peer support and guidance.

At these gatherings, teachers express a desire to be seen as experts for their mastery of subjects they teach or for their innovative teaching, as well as for any special connection they might have to students. They want to be seen as a resource for white colleagues to learn how to better support their African American students. "If everyone was asked to improve their relationships with these students . . . it would feel empowering," El-Mekki said.

I encourage school and district leaders to work with their teachers and other staff members to develop a vision for how to make their campuses more inclusive by adopting proactive hiring processes, providing professional support, using a multicultural curriculum and offering cultural competence workshops for everyone. The burden to end this tax shouldn't fall only to the people already paying it.

We have strong evidence that students of color benefit from having teachers who are positive role models, as well as from the changes in classroom dynamics that result. Teachers of color often have higher expectations for students of color, are more likely to use culturally relevant teaching practices, are more likely to confront racism in their lessons and, yes, also serve as advocates.

But it's also important for our white students to see teachers of color in leadership roles in their classrooms and communities. Breaking down negative stereotypes helps all students learn to live and work in a multiracial society.

Ultimately, the work we can do together to create opportunity for all students will determine not only the kind of economy we have and the kind of people we will be, but also whether we will become the nation we ought to be.

Read more on this topic:

The Answer Sheet: Why we should diversify the overwhelmingly white U.S. teaching force - and how

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John King is U.S. education secretary. One of my top priorities as education secretary is to help our public schools serve the needs of our increasingly diverse students so that they have the opportunity to pursue the American dream and use their talents to help our nation tackle some of its most difficult problems. To achieve this goal, we need a teaching force that is as diverse as our students.

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The “Invisible Tax” on Teachers of Color: A Philly Point of View

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The “Invisible Tax” on Teachers of Color: A Philly Point of View

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By Dr. William Hayes

In a school district in which Black males have a four-year graduation rate of 24 percent, Philadelphia is a city with an urgent need for support that targets this population. The Fellowship aims to do just that through a mission to support schools in the recruitment, retention, and development of current and aspiring Black male educators in the Greater Philadelphia region. Studies show that having more role models within the school system can have a positive impact on Black children. We also believe that more Black male teachers can also have a positive effect on all students, not just the students we share a cultural identity with.

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Bringing together Black male teachers and principals and building a network of learning, support and empowerment is essential, relevant and necessary not only for Black male students, but for all students. This is the essential mission of The Fellowship, a Philadelphia-based group that was founded to support current and aspiring black male educators through advocacy, engaging policy makers, expanding the teacher pipeline, and quarterly professional development opportunities called, "Black Male Educators Convenings" (BMEC).

In November 2015, members of The Fellowship had the opportunity to share our work with Secretary John King. Secretary King spoke candidly and critically about the achievement gap and the need to do more for those most in need through equity and access to excellence. As a former inner-city student, teacher, and leader, King was able to articulate the importance of increasing teacher diversity. He knew well of the " invisible tax " that many African American and Latino male teachers silently endure for the sake of their schools' students. The pressure of being the lone black or brown male educator in a school, while simultaneously charged with being the main mentor, disciplinarian, and relationship guru for all students who share similar backgrounds, can be overwhelming.

In a school district in which Black males have a four-year graduation rate of 24 percent, Philadelphia is a city with an urgent need for support that targets this population. The Fellowship aims to do just that through a mission to support schools in the recruitment, retention, and development of current and aspiring Black male educators in the Greater Philadelphia region. Studies show that having more role models within the school system can have a positive impact on Black children. We also believe that more Black male teachers can also have a positive effect on all students, not just the students we share a cultural identity with.

In January 2016, in Philadelphia, Secretary King reiterated his urgent message of addressing the stark racial disparity between America's students and teachers in a town hall meeting with teachers and leaders representing charter, private and traditional district schools. He once again affirmed not only the need to do more for our students, but to do so in a spirit of community and collaboration.

Members of The Fellowship have been able to continue our work of diversifying the teacher pipeline through the Teach to Lead initiative. Through the support we received from the U.S. Department of Education and other critical organizations, we were able to craft a strategic plan for our three-pronged approach to support Black male educators-convenings to provide professional development and networking opportunities, advocacy, and expanding the pipeline.

The Fellowship has committed to ensuring such excellence through the targeted efforts to create a teacher workforce that better reflects the faces of the students we serve. Secretary King not only supports these efforts, but also continues to affirm the work of all educators committed to ensuring that our students are given the best opportunities for success, including ensuring equitable educational opportunities for all students.

Dr. William Hayes is a founding member of The Fellowship and the founding principal of Mastery-East Camden Middle School. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard University and recently received his PhD in Education Leadership from Vanderbilt. Dr. Hayes and The Fellowship can be found on Twitter: @SpeakHayes & @BMECFellowship.

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The "Invisible Tax" on Teachers of Color: A Philly Point of View - ED.gov Blog

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Bringing together Black male teachers and principals and building a network of learning, support and empowerment is essential, relevant and necessary not only for Black male students, but for all students.

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Study Finds Students Of All Races Prefer Teachers Of Color

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Study Finds Students Of All Races Prefer Teachers Of Color

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"His working theory is that teachers of color score more highly because of their ability to draw on their own experiences to address issues of race and gender, which, he says, can be highly germane even to teaching subjects like math, especially in America's majority-minority public schools."

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"Do you speak English?"

When Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng walked into his summer school classroom for the first time as a brand-new teacher, a student greeted him with this question. Nothing in his training had prepared him to address race and identity. But he was game, answering the student lightly, "Yes, I do, but this is a math class, so you don't have to worry about it."

"Oh my gosh, was that racist?" he says the girl asked, and quickly checked her own assumption: "'That's exactly like when I go into a store and people follow me around because I'm black.'"

During the time that Cherng, who is of Chinese descent, taught in an 85 percent African-American middle school in San Francisco, he enjoyed a good rapport with his students, and he wondered what role his own identity played in that.

Now Cherng is a sociologist at New York University and he's just published a paper with colleague Peter Halpin that addresses this question. It seems that students of all races - white, black, Latino, and Asian - have more positive perceptions of their black and Latino teachers than they do of their white teachers.

Cherng and Halpin analyzed data from the Measure of Effective Teaching study sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also supports coverage of education at NPR.

They looked at a group of 1,700 sixth- through ninth-grade teachers from more than 300 schools in cities around the country. The students had completed 30-question surveys, asking about a variety of different dimensions of teaching.

For example:

How much does this teacher challenge his students?

How supportive is she?

How well does he manage the classroom?

How captivating does she make the subject?

Although NPR Ed has reported before on the pitfalls of student evaluations used in many undergraduate classrooms, this particular student self-report measure may be more valid because of its thoroughness; it's been independently linked to student learning gains on standardized tests.

Cherng and Halpin found that all the students, including white students, had significantly more favorable perceptions of Latino versus white teachers across the board, and had significantly more favorable perceptions of black versus white teachers on at least two or three of seven categories in the survey.

The strongest positive relationship was the flipside of what Cherng experienced in his own classroom: Asian-American students had very rosy views of their black teachers.

The relationship persisted after controlling for students' age, gender, their free and reduced-price lunch status and their academic performance. The researchers also controlled for other factors like the teacher's level of experience and education, their gender, and even outside expert ratings of the teachers' effectiveness, based on classroom observations.

No matter what, students had warmer perceptions of their teachers of color.

Cherng calls the findings "surprising."

"I thought student awareness of the racial hierarchy would influence the results," in favor of whites, he says.

Other studies have found evidence for "race matching," or the idea that students and teachers of the same race or ethnicity perceive each other more favorably. And NPR Ed recently covered research on "implicit bias," the idea that teachers of all races look less favorably on students of color.

"We're not done," investigating this finding, Cherng says.

His working theory is that teachers of color score more highly because of their ability to draw on their own experiences to address issues of race and gender, which, he says, can be highly germane even to teaching subjects like math, especially in America's majority-minority public schools. He's currently working on a series of studies that look at preservice teachers and teacher training, to provide more evidence about the relationship between teachers' multicultural beliefs and awareness and their effectiveness in the classroom.

As a math teacher, and now a sociology professor, Cherng was never prepared to really understand or address race or gender dynamics in the classroom. But, he says, there may be good evidence that these are essential tools to being a good teacher, period.

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Study Finds Students Of All Races Prefer Teachers Of Color

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"Do you speak English?" When Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng walked into his summer school classroom for the first time as a brand-new teacher, a student greeted him with this question. Nothing in his training had prepared him to address race and identity.

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Thank you for holding the space for each of us to be our true self-self! We must imagine ourselves as leaders/activists for the beloved community.

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Thank you for holding the space for each of us to be our true self-self! We must imagine ourselves as leaders/activists for the beloved community.

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- Michelle King