JOSE

These posts are focused more on world events from an educator’s perspective. Raw and unfiltered, these writings tackle the tougher subjects.

John Legend and the Well-Meaning Corporatists

March 13, 2013 Jose

Last Wednesday, Huffington Post Education’s Twitter feed tweeted this out: John Legend: out to save schools? huff.to/14pCkEs — HuffPostEducation (@HuffPostEdu) March 7, 2013 In the pithiest attempt at a response, I said “From what?” After a more thorough read on all the school board races around the country, I noticed a disturbing trend of pundits [...]

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Riot When You’re Black, Angry Need Not Apply

March 12, 2013 Jose

The newest truism goes: If you’re a group of color, you’re rioting. If you’re White, you’re protesting. If you’re multicultural, you’re marching. The recent so-called riots in Brooklyn serve as yet another example. For those of you unacquainted, concerned Brooklyn residents of all ages held a vigil and demonstration to protest the treatment of 16-year-old [...]

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Educators, You Might Be A Good, Racist Person Too

March 7, 2013 Jose

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a message for good, honest folk. Read: But much worse, it haunts black people with a kind of invisible violence that is given tell only when the victim happens to be an Oscar winner. The promise of America is that those who play by the rules, who observe the norms of the [...]

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A. Phillip Randolph and Who Really Controls Teacher Voice

February 28, 2013 Jose

This week, I had the distinct please of listening to Norman Hill speak as part of a panel of activists and organizers that worked on and around the Civil Rights Movement, specifically with Bayard Rustin. In one of my favorite moments, Hill quoted A. Phillip Randolph: “At the banquet table of nature, there are no [...]

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Quvenzhané Wallis, Matthew McConaughey, and How We See Our Children of Color

February 25, 2013 Jose

I have a confession: I’ve never seen Beasts of the Southern Wild. As a relatively new parent, I don’t always have the time or the funds to make it out to the movies very often. But that’s not the purpose for my essay because, when it comes out on Netflix, I know I have to [...]

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On Leadership Through Teaching Others To Lead

February 21, 2013 Jose

Every year, the memory of this day usually sucks. The night before I went to Raleigh, North Carolina (for a Center for Teaching Quality board meeting), I went to my barbershop, where the guys played Malcolm X (the Spike Lee joint). I watch this movie almost annually, just to remind myself of the way this [...]

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On Edu-Blogging While Negro [We Ain't Even Supposed To Be Here]

February 12, 2013 Jose

A couple of months ago, in the middle of a few good conversations, Leonie Haimson reminded me that I was one of the first NYC edubloggers to do “it.” By it, we all understood “it” to be using a blog to speak up and out about educational issues. People like NYC Educator, Norm’s Notes, JD2718, [...]

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What If You’re A White Teacher Teaching Black History? [Some Examples]

February 4, 2013 Jose

In my last post, I put down some thoughts on Black History Month, something I’ve written about at least once for the last four years. Every so often, I get a question that I ought to put in an FAQ section. For instance: “What if you’re a white teacher teaching about Black history?” I often [...]

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If You’re Teaching Black History Month This Way, Please Stop

January 31, 2013 Jose

First, I’d like to acknowledge that, on the chance that you’re actually celebrating Black History Month, congrats. You haven’t let the Common Core madness deter you from celebrating culture, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.  The decorations will spring up. Common faces like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Benjamin Banneker, and Will Smith [...]

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On Writing As Revenge

January 28, 2013 Jose

What happens when your writing becomes revenge? Not the Twilight-Mean-Girls type of revenge, but the revenge that James Brown yells in “The Big Payback“? I get that hate is too big a burden to bear a-la MLK Jr, but this isn’t hate. This harkens back to a remembrance, a devaluing, a necessity to reprove one’s [...]

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