I say enough with the failing schools narrative. Teachers perform miracles every day for our students.
Editor's note: This is a first-person essay in response to recent PublicSource stories on the racial achievement gap in Allegheny County school districts. The author of the essay is a teacher in the Steel Valley School District. Our reporting showed the Steel Valley High School to have the highest racial achievement gap in the county. Steel Valley Middle School, where the author of the essay teaches, also had significant achievement gaps. The high school and middle school are on the state Department of Education's Additional Targeted Support and Improvement List, which requires the district to come up with an action plan to address low test scores from black students. You can read more about racial achievement gaps in the county here.
Compelling personal storiestold by the people living them.
“Mom, I’m going to college.”
“I love you, too.”
“It’s not real.”
I flashed these and other phrases on the screen in my eighth-grade classroom during a February class. I told my students to take notes and try to figure out what all of these phrases had in common.
As I continued showing the phrases, it became more obvious to the students.
“What are you following me for?”
“I can’t breathe.”
“Please don’t let me die.”
Eventually one of my eighth-grade students caught on.
“‘I can’t breathe?’ Wasn’t that Eric Garner?”
And then it all fell into place. These were the last words of African-American men wrongly killed by police.
As a white teacher at Steel Valley Middle School with classes of mostly students of color, I don’t mind talking about race and prejudice in school. In fact, I find it essential to doing the job properly.
The lesson I described led to some deep discussions about the role of law enforcement, rules of engagement and justice.
And it almost didn’t happen because of standardized testing.
I adapted the lesson from the Black Lives Matter at School curriculum that teachers were using across the country during a week of action Feb. 4 to Feb. 8. There were lessons on diversity, restorative justice, black families, women and villages, collective value, queer and transgender affirmation and so much more.
Teachers — especially those serving students of color — were trying to enrich and attest their students’ individuality while engaging them in culturally and developmentally appropriate CONTINUE READING: I say enough with the failing schools narrative. Teachers perform miracles every day for our students. - PublicSource | News for a better PittsburghPublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh
