Relationship Building With Black Males and Any Student

I read somewhere on Twitter that the student who give teachers the most problem are the ones that need the most love. When I read it, I thought, “oh that’s cute.” Then I started reflecting on those children that kept me up at night when I was teaching. I started thinking of the kids that...

Should Every Black Male Go to College?

I host a twitter chat on educating boys of color. It is named affectionately after this blog. I dedicated my life to ensuring that boys of color get great education and educators who know how best to educate them. I am often asked my view on all boys going to college, or all high school...

Queen Haley: Black Lives Matter

I was appalled to learn Queen Haley, grandmother of Alex Haley’s gravesite was vandalized and spray-painted with white lives matter. We know that the majority of White America stands with African-Americans who are protesting the slaughter and slaying of so many African-Americans over the past few years. In fact, there is a great article all...

When Boys Fight: Mama Said Knock You OUT!

Lately I have been thinking about post to help us curb violence in our schools and classrooms. But I have also been thinking around teachers who sometimes do not understand the black male psyche. Helping them to understand that cultural dynamic is critical. Having this insight may help schools programmatically relationally. I have taught for...

The Schools our Boys Need

I grew up in Detroit, Michigan in the 1980’s. So far as I could tell, it was an exciting time. It was the video game age. I loved toys. In my lifetime video games first became a part of the American household. If you were a boy, there were, ThunderCats, He-Man, MASK, Silver Hawks, GI...

Black Wall Street 2: An Argument for Social Justice

This past February my class explored Black Wall Street and the riots of Tulsa in 1921. It was a difficult undertaking. It is a mature topic that involves a rape allegation, economic equality, and there are not many source texts on the topic. I decided to explore it anyway, because I feel it necessary to...

A Word of Encouragement for Single Mothers (Post Mother’s Day Addition)

A Word of Encouragement for Single Mothers of Black Males I had a parent stop me during dismissal the Friday before Mother’s Day. She is very concerned about the welfare of her son. He is not progressing the way he should, and I suspect he has a disability. He tries hard, his mother is the...

Decriminalizing the Behavior of Boys of Color Part 2

On the one criminalizing behavior finds adults over punishing Black and Latino males. The other side of criminalizing behavior  is when adults do not do enough because they keep low expectations for these males.  At times all teachers need to check the standards they hold for students. But there are some teachers who let black...

Decriminalizing the Behavior of Boys of Color

Teaching Myself to Decriminalize Behaviors One of the things that I learned over my years as a teacher is that adults do much of the behavior and rule breaking that we see in schools. We do not show up on time. We know how to differentiate but do not. We use sarcasm when talking to...

Black Wall Street: A Classroom Odyssey

My class is studying Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma for Black History Month. I believe Black History Month is 365 days a year, but for February we delve deeply into a specific topic. In doing so, I learn many things. I learned that Wall Street is very old. According to Wikipedia, the first Africans...