SmartBrief education writers and editors read hundreds of articles, studies and press releases each week – too many to summarize and fit neatly into the sections of our newsletters. Education Extra Credit shares some additional topics of note from the past week or so.
This week I’m also highlighting a few you may have seen in our education newsletters. When brought together, these pieces below tell an even bigger story.
How can we teach them if we don’t know who they are? Professional development programs have been lifesavers for tech use during the pandemic, but what if more districts offered educators’ training on interacting with diverse populations, such as the Islamophobia Education Collective? Co-founder Amna Salameh makes a strong argument for doing just that, as well as intersecting PD with networking.
Finding role models for change. Former hip-hop artist Jabari Evans didn’t find a professor who was like him, so he became the person he wanted to learn from: an associate professor of race and media. In case you missed another recent role model, Boston University School of Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig (a role model herself) shares the full, soul-touching meaning of federal appellate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the US Supreme Court.
They don’t have bootstraps. It is so easy for people to forget that not everyone shares their life experiences, and it’s so difficult to truly learn what it’s like to walk in others’ shoes. Some students in this professor’s class need to hear more from Ruby Payne, who explains connections teachers can make when they know what life is like for students who live in poverty.
Not a happy, but a hopeful, ending. A geography teacher in Russia talked to his students about the invasion of Ukraine because they asked, and because that’s his job as a teacher. When others found out, it got ugly. Now he’s not sure where he’ll end up.
- How often do we ask students what they really want out of education? (EdSurge)
- How often do we see articles about K-12 triumphs in art and music? (My Buckhannon, W.Va.)
- How often do we share positive thoughts or random acts of kindness with strangers? (WFSU-TV/FM, Tallahassee, Fla.)
- How often do we really get to be ourselves — proudly? (WGBH-TV/AM/FM, Boston)
What topic is especially important to you? Email your thoughts or some links.
Diane Benson Harrington is an education writer at SmartBrief. Reach out via email or LinkedIn.
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