Black Male History Teachers Make a Huge Difference in How Students Are Civically Engaged
My first Black male teacher, Mr. Gordon at F. L. Stanton Elementary School in Atlanta, was the most impressionable history teacher I ever had. Mr. Gordon was cool because his son was in the same grade asme . He definitely had the swag of that era. All the kids loved and respected Mr. Gordon.
As I reflect on Mr. Gordon, I see how my colleagues are inspiring and helping build up the next generations of thinkers, builders, and creators. Teachers, yes teachers, are doing the work of building the next generations of thinkers, creators, laborers, educators, Civil Rights leaders, and builders.
Black men play a pivotal role in how curriculum and culture will be represented in public schools 2022 and beyond.
Earlier this year, I honored two Black male educators, both history teachers, Anthony Downer and Alfred Shivy Brooks. Brooks recently ran for Atlanta City Council elevating his public engagement and service. Downer is the host of dat way on wednesdays through educational entities.
However, both of the teachers are elevating the voices of Black males in education and the heated debate over critical race theory. It’s important to have Black male teachers in the social sciences, especially those who teach American history and government. Too often Black children are being taught to only go and be productive, creative, and safe by working for someone else and accepting what’s given to you.
Black male history teachers are leaning more into social justice initiatives and reforms to engage more of this generation in civic engagement.
Brooks believes that improving teacher pay and respectability of the profession will improve public education. He has been on the frontlines of advocacy and supporting civic engagement amongst youth.
Downer is leading conversations around critical race theory and sharing that the real impact of anti-CRT critiques is the lack of advancement of Black and brown students. This generation of young people are engaged civically.
They are not just attending protests, but also speaking on social media platforms about equity in schools, societal issues, and leading voter education initiatives.
The dat way podcast Downer leads on the 2nd Wednesday through educational entities led by Jason B. Allen, has included several student guests. Students get a chance to engage with their teacher out of the classroom on topics around social justice, race, and culture.
Black students want to be seen in the curriculum that we’re teaching them in order to help them to be successful in our society.
Citizenship, civics, and government are important aspects of history Black male teachers thrive in teaching and quite frankly we need to in order to help us improve educational outcomes for Black students.
We Must Make Co – Teaching a Priority
The lack of training, poor implementation of services for students identified as being in need of accommodations including Individualized Educational Plans (IEP), Individualized Health Plans (IHP), SST (Student Support Team), 504 (health related), Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) are direct results of co-teaching not being made a priority.
Co-teaching shouldn’t be optional if it works for students; it should be a priority.
The bigger question though is why haven’t public schools made co – teaching a mandatory part of learning?
In my experience this is the case in very few schools and truly depends on the Principals knowledge of special education.
Teachers in public education aren’t supported well with co-teaching methods and the implementation of co-teaching models.
Teachers play a major role in why students aren’t achieving the way they could. Our biggest role is to bridge the gap of knowledge and how our students learn.
Co-teaching settings improve Black boys success!
Black boys rank highest in students being identified and placed in special education programs. One of the main reasons why they aren’t served well is because teachers don’t want to work together in co-taught settings.
This happens many times because teachers of general education students don’t want to take on the responsibilities that come with having students with accommodations in inclusive learning environments.
Many schools have special education programs where students in general education classes with accommodations aren’t being served well or at all.
Some general education teachers haven’t even bothered to read the accommodations of their students which is part of the reason why there is poor implementation.
As Black boys rank highest in being enrolled in special education programs, we need public schools to invest in more male educators of color in this area.
Profound Gentlemen specializes in training and professional development for male educators of color. As a teacher who knows the impact of PG’s work, the strategies that male educators of color in the program provide helps us to reach the social, emotional needs of all of our students.
The support Profound Gentlemen offers is an example of what can be provided to teachers to help decrease learning loss.
The Truth from A Black Male Teacher
Parents and educational advocates are doing some amazing work.
At the onset of the pandemic, I had a conversation with parents and educational leaders and said, “This is the time that parents, students, and teachers are going to have to truly ban together in order to reimagine education!”
Unfortunately, the educational system and power structure did what it does best and caused educational leaders, teachers, parents, and students to be more deeply divided than ever.
Over the three school years that we have been working to educate children in public schools during the pandemic, I have attended meetings where I’ve been the only teacher and male. Many of the issues parents are addressing are only the symptoms. The root causes are issues that teachers are bound by contract not to speak about, and they fear being silenced by being pushed out or retaliated against.
Teachers and parents are rarely in spaces where they can freely talk about issues happening in public education and brainstorm on ways to improve educational outcomes for students.
As a teacher, I must confess the real issue isn’t learning loss.
Learning loss is nothing new. It’s a reflection of the poor implementation of academic programs and strategies. This doesn’t mean that teachers and administrators are bad. It does mean there is a major issue with equity.
Students receiving extra support they need is not necessarily learning loss. When students do not have these supports, it is a failure of the school system leadership, local LEA, and building leaders.
Many outside of the world of education don’t realize that a paraeducator, nurse, speech therapists are all resources for teachers and students, not only the special education teachers! How we look at special education and exceptional learners plays a major role in why the issue of learning loss is just now being elevated.
Parents are in an uproar about learning loss because they are experiencing what the parents of students who have accommodations experience daily.
However we may have reached this common census of needing to reimagine education is fine with me. I want children to have better experiences and outcomes with learning.
This is going to require us to reimagine education. We have to realign how we are utilizing instructional staff and leaders who are not inside classrooms.
Rethinking how instructional leaders, coaches, specialists, coordinators are directly impacting teaching and learning in every classroom is key.
We have to reimagine how education is done in order to get what needs to be done for all children to succeed academically and socially.
I Lived the Struggle of Black Boys in Special Education
It’s your first year at a new middle school and your name is RaQuan. Immediately on the first day of school, you are judged. Your skin color, name, clothes, learning ability all determine if the school’s focus is on your academic or your discipline record.
Like many other black boys, RaQuan is immediately grouped, separated, and singled out as a perceived problem and a threat to the learning environment.
Too often, black boys are pushed into special education programs because of their behavior challenges that impact their ability to achieve academic success.
I have both lived and witnessed the struggle that black boys face with being in special education programs.
It’s difficult having to be pulled out of class for special support, especially in middle school years.
Black boys would much rather risk becoming a statistic than be viewed as a sped, or Special Ed kid. I understand the stigma of this word and the cruelty kids show to those who are labeled as having a special need or an Individualized Education Program.
This stigma creates an environment that provokes some of the negative behaviors displayed by black boys.
Schools place discipline records for black boys over academics. Every time you do something, your teachers and leaders are documenting and working to push you out because you are a problem already indicated on your label.
This becomes a daily experience in school for RaQuan. Eventually, RaQuan becomes irritated and tired of being treated like something he’s not. His peers immediately empower his attitude toward authority, which leads to negative behaviors.
I see this daily in classrooms, especially with black boys who have IEPs or 504s. I just don’t believe at that age children are able to properly handle that type of pressure on top of dealing with trauma at home. However, some will still argue that emotional distress doesn’t impact learning. It does.
That’s why I’m such an advocate for family and community engagement in improving educational outcomes for black boys. I can identify with RaQuan’s experience. My fourth- through seventh-grade years at Southwest Middle School, now known as Jean Childs Young Middle School, in Atlanta Public Schools were spent in special education services for remediation.
However, I was also on the other side of the spectrum as a student in the gifted and talented program. The stigma of being in the special education program didn’t negatively impact me. I attribute this to the engagement of my parents with my teachers and school leaders.
I have also witnessed as a special education teacher the impact of building relationships with parents on the academic improvement of black boys in special ed programs.
In order to change the experience of RaQuan and the hundreds of thousands of black boys in schools across America, we must empower black males to become educators. This is one reason I decided to go back to the classroom, specifically to be a special education teacher. Less than 2 percent of teachers nationwide are black men, as reported by The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice.
After 15 years in education, I had to make a decision. Do I leave education or stay? I decided to leave school administration and go back to the classroom as a special education teacher. In order for me to be where I truly could make an impact, I wanted to do it through a new area that would support my focus on improving the educational outcomes for black boys.
There’s always a lot of talk about black boys and the struggle with their discipline, but what are we really doing about it? I choose special education because as a school administrator, I found that the majority of the discipline problems were from the black boys in the special education department.
In fact, having to suspend black boys in growing numbers became overwhelming. It became overwhelming because I knew that there was more we could be doing. It was the lack of support, resources, will and buy-in from leadership and staff, and, most importantly, the engagement and connection with parents.
Instead of changing the way black boys were learning and being developed, we just suspended them or placed them in in-school suspension. Discipline records put labels on black boys that push them out of school.
If we truly invested in restorative, social-emotional-learning-based programs that incorporate strategies that impact black boys, we’d see more of them successfully come out of special education programs. Strategies that I’ve used in discipline programs and now in the classroom are doing just that.
As a administrator, I enjoyed being able to work with the students on enhancing their academic, life, and leadership skills. However, being in the classroom gives me direct access to doing the same thing with more focus on the academic planning and implementation. The other day, I saw that my presence in the classroom makes a huge difference.
One of the black boys in my seventh-grade class completed an assignment with my support. This was one of his first assignments he finished in school this year. He said to me, “Thanks for helping me.” I told him, “That’s why I’m here.”
Why Isn’t the Need for More Black Male Teachers Included in the Equity Conversation?
If educational equity is addressing fairness and inclusion, then I believe that the need for more Black male teachers in academic classrooms should be on the top of the list. EdLanta supports the #WeNeedBlackTeachers call to action, led by the Center for Black Educator Development.
We’re highlighting the need for more Black male teachers and the urgency of including us in the conversations around educational equity.
As a Black male teacher, I can tell you that we truly impact all students in academic classrooms. We help to reduce negative outcomes of students and that is one benefit for students, schools, and communities. Additionally, having more Black male teachers in academic core classes and extra-curricular areas including STEM, Robotics, Reading, and Fine Arts is also needed.
Furthermore, we desperately need more Black male teachers in special education. I have been in a lot of spaces where conversations around equity are being had, but too often, the need for Black male teachers isn’t always included. I always add to equity conversations that Black male teachers make up just only over 2% of the teacher workforce. I believe equity must include action items that will increase how public school districts are recruiting and retaining Black male teachers in academic classrooms.
The action items should include:
- Developing listening sessions with students and Black male teachers
- Improving funding formulas for teacher pay scales
- Partnering with organizations such as Profound Gentlemen, BMEsTalk, and the Center for Black Educator Development
The investment in recruiting and retaining Black male teachers should be a priority of improving equitable outcomes for students of color.
According to Sharif El-Mekki, founder and chief executive officer of the Center for Black Educator Development, the Center for Black Educator Development is a Philadelphia-based group working to recruit, train, and retain Black teachers across the country. As quoted in Edweek’s article, the impact of Black male teachers improves equity in the academic, social and emotional development of students:
“Our friend Dr. Chris Emdin talks about this idea that for some Black youth, returning to a school to teach is like returning to the scene of a crime against themselves, and how painful and traumatic and how triggering some of this must be. You can’t just do it in isolation, it has to be part of an entire effort to address the inequities.
What we learned was there were a couple of things that really seemed to resonate with the Black youth. We would tap into their activism, tap into their sense of justice and fairness, and say, “Hey, if you had a great teacher, pay it forward, but if you had a bad experience, consider becoming the teacher you wish you had and knew you needed.”
– Edweek
Black male teachers are needed to help improve educational outcomes and experiences of students. Not just for inner city or Black children, but all children benefit from having experienced a Black male teacher in an academic, STEM related, or fine arts classroom. When thinking about equity, my hope is that more public school boards will prioritize increasing the 2% to improve the retention and recruitment of Black male teachers. We must invest in efficient ways of recruitment and implement equitable action items in order to improve the economic benefits of teaching.
Teaching Black Boys to be Kings is Easier than Teaching Them to be Thugs
Black male educator, Dr. Marc McMillan, is sharing with his Black boys. “We are Kings”, a phrase often used by Dr. McMillan as an affirmation for his Black male students.
We are kings!
We don’t have to wear pants below our waist, be unable to express our emotions, continue vicious cycles and end up in prison or dead. I want our young Black kings to know that they are worthy of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
We can be mentally healthy, smart, intelligent, articulate, wealthy, possess high morals and integrity, walk in authority and purpose and be amazing fathers to our next generations.
We are KINGS!
Dr.McMillan’s story is a testament to the powerful work male educators of color are doing in and out of classrooms across the Nation. As a Dean of Students in the D.C. area., he not only helps to influence social and emotional growth but also the academic successes of his students.
He shares his reflections as a part of the Profound Gentlemen series that is elevating the voices and experiences of male educators of color.
Why did you start teaching?
I have always wanted to be a teacher. Ever since I was a little boy, I would play school at home even after a long day of school. I cannot really begin to pinpoint the beginning of my love for teaching because it goes as far back as I can remember. When I got older, I entered the teaching profession because I really wanted to see my people get out of poverty.
My mother was working on her college degree while I was in elementary school. She would take me to the library with her while she studied. As I watched her read and study, it had a profound impact on me. A couple of years later, I saw how her education helped to pull our family out of poverty and into a better position in life. Since that moment, my purpose was solidified and I realized how important education was and still is today for helping people to become more free and dismantling poverty.
Many of our youth need role models in and out of the classroom. As a male educator of color, when your students look back on their K-12 experience, what’s something you want them to remember of you that may potentially inspire them to be a teacher?
I want them to look back at the impact that I had on them as a teacher and as a dean of students. There have been many students who come back to tell me about how I helped to shape their life trajectories in positive ways. This is not to boast. I am humbled by life experiences and how I got here. This is why I teach and lead my students the way that I do. I always kept and still keep it real with them. You inspire people by making education personal and relatable. We can’t just teach content to pass tests and to get a grade.
Organizations such as PG, are advocating for more male educators of color in classrooms. What impact do we have in public schools?
When I was a teacher, I taught my students as if their lives depended on it. For the many students that I was entrusted in my care as teacher and today as a dean, I hope they remember our many real-life lessons conversations and how I took my time to help each of them find out their purpose in life. It could be me helping them with a college application, scholarships, military entry exams or preparing them for the workforce. I want them to remember how much I care for them. It is my moral duty when I took the oath to become a teacher.
Black boys want to not just dream, but live to accomplish those dreams. Dr. McMillan was once in their shoes of the students he teaches and leads. It’s important to empower, support and protect Black male educators who are focused on doing the social justice work in public education.
We strive to dispel the belief that Black boys who come from certain neighborhoods, raised in poverty by their single-parent and other lack of support can’t be successful and are thugs.
We are Kings, and Black male educators empowering Black boys to be successful and defy the negative images of how we are heavily portrayed and depicted in society.
Original article posted by Edlanta.