“Why don’t the adults ever have to get into dress code? It’s bullshit.” The student didn’t say it loud enough for the dean to hear it, but, with me standing right next to him, he could have whispered it and the message would have resonated ...

A few weeks ago, The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Committee sent me a mailing about the new memorial off the Tidal Basin in the national mall near the Jefferson Memorial, across from the FDR Memorial, and a little walk from the Lincoln Memorial. They asked m...

Last week, the whole world found out that Guru a.k.a. Keith Elam of the world-renown hip-hop duo Gang Starr had (ostensibly) died of a recent heart attack he suffered the day before. Entertainment bloggers reported it. Wikipedia reported it. Celebrities who are usually ...

I’m not going to quit being an educator. Even when people want me to quit, even when the gossip comes raining down, even when the whole world tries to tell me that education is not particularly valuable in the American hierarchy of occupations, I know I cannot qui...

A few links: I’m not hating on Wyclef Jean, but his response to the accusations about Yele Haiti left me wondering. Shady business gives shady returns. [Rap Radar] What kind of font are you? Answer this interactive survey for more. (password is: character) [Pentag...

On Saturday, NYC Educator posted an interesting speech, and here it goes: At first, when watching this video, I grimaced. How does a teacher get to the point where they have to use such terse language for a student who’s less than 1/2 his age? For that matter, it ...

My favorite speech from the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King has been called “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” and it ends something like this: And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. Wh...

The speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. constantly remind me why we need to find peace, even to this day. Barack Obama’s latest speech on race invoked those sort of images from past civil rights leaders (and probably planned in many ways), while even Condoleeza Ric...

Two school years ago or so, when Rosa Parks died, I wrote the word “nigger” in chalk, and took the time to educate my children about her importance, and what she meant to me and the rest of us. Last year, I used hip-hop to help my students understand the rea...

  It all started when we had our ELA tests and the kids were acting out, and really, acting out. After a while, I just got tired of their disrespect and lack of care for their own education, and showed them why their teachers fight so hard for them. Below is the letter ...