As part of an early-career mentor program, I took part in a year-long collection of workshops, meeting, discussions, and presentations about creating an engaging classroom environment. All members of this program were all asked to reflect on our time as part of the end-of-the-year requirement. Here is the reflection I submitted, followed by the reflection I needed to write. (This was composed in mid-May, 2020 in the midst of the global pandemic, but before many of the police brutality protests.) The Reflection I Submitted The prompt: “Describe the benefits of participating in the program, any challenges you experienced participating in the program, and any recommendations for improving the p

If you have a modicum of human decency and empathy - and you have not been living under a rock - your thoughts and emotions, like mine, have been going a mile a minute as stories of three more Black Bodies being murdered have made national news over the last couple months - and to make it worse, we're all still following Safer At Home or shelter-in-place or self-quarantine orders, which for me has just caused my mind and brain to run even faster! And, of course, as always, my thoughts go to my students - especially those who are Black and minoritized - and what I can do to support them... as a cis White male teacher educator, I know I have a significant amount of privilege at my disposal and