Recently I wrote a post about my concerns about the current election process and how I found inspiration to counter my fears and doubts with hope (click here to read that post). One of my long-time readers and faithful commenters left a great comment that made me think about things a little deeper, and so … More An Educator’s Personal Perspective on the Big Divide
It was quite a busy and emotional weekend for me, as it probably was for many others. On one hand, it was a weekend of endings. For many/most/all? of the public North Carolina college, this was graduation weekend. Many of my son’s childhood friends, who are the children of my friends and usually my former … More A Weekend of Endings and Beginnings
(Sorry, I had a class and other things that came up last night (cough cough GEORGIA cough), so I didn’t get around to finishing this post. However, it is such an important one I wanted to make sure that I did share it.) For me, one of the greatest gifts of 2020, UNDER the circumstances, … More The 12-ish Gifts of 2020: Teachers and Students
In middle and high school, I grew up outside Washington DC, so I went to Virginian public schools. I learned the Virginian version of American history, which exalted the role of Virginia in creating our ideals of liberty and justice of all in the US, particularly during the colonial and Revolutionary periods. When I moved … More Hard History
I know I haven’t been writing as many blog posts as usual, and the graphic above helps to explain why. I have been finalizing a resource for family discussion around our current pandemic: a FREE ebook entitled World Myths About Disease. Ever since the pandemic got really serious in March, with schools shutting down and … More Free Ebook to Spark Family Discussions about COVID-19
I couldn’t help it. I literally laughed out loud this week when I read in the Washington Post that Donald Trump had announced: “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous,” Trump told [Wall Street Journal journalist Michael] Bender. “It’s actually an important event, an important time. But nobody had ever heard of it.” … More Juneteenth 2020
I believe that one of the major reasons for the current political conflict and strife is this chart above. As I explained in yesterday’s post, this shows projections by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) that in 2028, only 44% of public school students will be white. That white students are now a minority … More How White Bias Gets Institutionalized in Literature Classes Conclusion: A Change Is Gonna Come
“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”—Squire Bill Widener (although usually attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt, who quoted Widener in his 1913 Autobiography) “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”—Arthur Ashe (first African American tennis player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the … More How White Bias Becomes Institutionalized in Literature Classes: An Introduction
“The time has come,” the lock-downed said, “To laugh at many things:Like shows—and books—and fairy tales— kookaburra that sings—And pink rainbow unicorn hugs— And beavers safe in springs.” “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” ― J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban OK, so … More Of Kookaburras and Unicorns
Back in 2016, the first year that Hamilton: An American Musical appeared on Broadway but before it had gained widespread fame, I played a few video clips of the show for my high school literature class. They knew nothing about the musical, but they were spell-bound. The very idea of an ethnically-diverse cast telling the … More Broadway Blessings #4: Homeschool with Hamilton
BlissFullU 