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Monday, January 16, 2012

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY « Teachers Fight Back

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY « Teachers Fight Back:

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY

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Happy MLK Day to all the teachers and everyone else who reads this blog. A Golden Chalk Award to all teachers who have done so much to fight for racial equality in this country. Teachers and teacher unions have played a huge role in the civil rights movement in this country.

I can honestly say that I have never met a teacher who has not gone out of their way to make sure all students are treated equally no matter what race, religion, ethnicity or other traits they might have. Teachers are given a sacred trust and a big part of that trust is to ensure equality in their classroom. I can’t imagine anyone being a teacher and harboring prejudice towards any child.

When I had just started teaching back in the early 1970′s, I had an interesting experience at one of my first parent teacher conferences. I was teaching at a school on the near west side of Chicago in a changing