[…]my own story, I am not scaring my students or delegitimizing myself, as I feared. Instead, their comfort level increases when I make the space for students to bring their own struggles with mental health and other possibly hidden identities into the classroom. By sharing the very stories I used to worry would bring judgment or fear, I give permission for students to bring their whole selves, wherever they are in their own journeys, to our class. I often notice students relax when I share my story, not tense up in fear or judgment. IV. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, […]
[…]of ecology, and so many tools for inspecting the world around us. I am still growing into my own comfort with these ideas. I am a White, English-speaking, cis female science teacher, born and raised in Detroit and its suburbs. Like many science teachers and scientists, I’ve long found comfort in data tables, well-labeled graphs, and transparent p-values. I endorse clear and replicable results and large sample sizes. For many years, I declared anthropomorphizing problematic, and felt a very real, internal shudder at any ideas that invoked mysticism, magic, or souls. While I’ll write here about my own shifts, in […]
[…]to “steal conflict” from those directly involved. When conflicts are stolen, the act of seeking “justice” is passive, oppressive, and creates a false sense of accountability rather than repairing harm and healing relationships. When the conflict was stolen, I was robbed of an opportunity to develop and practice agency; hold someone accountable; and develop solutions that work for me, the classroom and the collective community. My mother was robbed of the opportunity to express how this incident could have a financial impact on our family and also to hear how her words negatively impacted me. The teacher was robbed of […]
[…]people worked together. As I reacclimated to my new life in the United States, I wondered what “working together” might look like for me. I did not have to wait long to find out. While I was a graduate student and research assistant at the University of Missouri, the university announced the day before our health care was set to be renewed that they would no longer be providing it. We were workers, the university calmly explained, but we were not employees. How could this be? I heard the story of the grad student in the hospital, about to give […]
[…]of homosexuality on her child. Looking back, I truly feel that my fear and unwillingness to have uncomfortable and emotionally charged discussions was one of the biggest things preventing the positive change I desired. Another parent was concerned that her child would be “forced to be silent for gay rights,” which was neither true nor an entirely accurate depiction of the event’s purpose. Because of incidents like these, we recognized a need to be more transparent in our advertising of the event, perhaps appealing to individuals’ empathy by highlighting the disproportionate bullying, suicide, and murder rates for LGBTQ+ students. However, because of […]
[…]those needs. Emphasizing that he was there to support our principal helped Mr. Alvarez gain comfort with the idea of leading this protocol. Although I did not see the results of the protocol or receive any details of the meeting, when I followed up, both Mr. Alvarez and Ms. Gillingham told me they were pleased with how it went. While having the leadership engage in a protocol was nice, the reason I consider this such a success is how it impacted Mr. Alvarez. I’m in my last semester as the math department lead, and Mr. Alvarez is set to take […]
[…]President Jimmy Carter. In my letter, I asked curious questions—“How did you become president?” “How did the buildings in Washington get built?” “How did cars get built?—and shared a wish: “The world has grass and rock and beautiful things. I want to keep these beautiful things” (Figure 1). Later, I begged my mother to buy me a microscope from Sears and Roebuck, which I still have and use to this day (Figure 2). These artifacts remind me of my childhood curiosity, my nature of asking questions and my drive to explore the world around me. As a teacher, I realize […]
