Articles

Dennis Wright says he never planned on being a teacher. It wasn’t until he was encouraged to enroll in the South Carolina Teacher Cadet program during his senior year of high school that his “eyes were opened” to a career in education.

In April 2001, former Clemson University and NFL football player Jeff Davis sat on a soundstage in Chicago across from talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Davis was on Winfrey's widely popular daytime talk show to receive the "Use Your LIfe" award for his involvement in the Call Me Mister program, an initiative aimed at increasing the number of black male teachers in South Carolina.

To combat that, two local nonprofits — Early Learning Indiana and the Educate Me foundation — are partnering to get more minority men in classrooms in Indianapolis. The organizations are offering fellowships to make it happen. Application are being accepted. It’s a pilot program but the minority men selected will be put through training before shadowing in the classroom.

Zacharay Ferguson is a giant next to his preschool students, but somehow he can come down to their size. They call him Mr. Zack.

[MenTeach: In a recent article in March 2020 "[Warren] Farrell has also recommended to the White House a Male Teacher Corps — giving scholarships to men to become elementary school teachers in exchange for serving at least two years as one. He found that children most in jeopardy go from mom-only homes to female teachers in elementary school or nursery school. An astounding 95% of elementary school teachers are women. Boys who don’t have male role models that are constructive are vulnerable to male role models who are destructive — like gang leaders and drug dealers.

Education professor J. Luke Wood has spent years researching and talking about the challenges male students of color have in pursuing and attaining a college diploma — family income, social stigmas, complicated experiences in elementary and high school.

On a late Thursday afternoon, 5th grade teacher Patrick Harris closes out his day planning lessons for the coming week and helping his students find their friends throughout the building.

Rather than being disturbed by the occasional shouts from students during our conversation, he met them with a smile as he paused to reflect on his path into the classroom.

For two years as a teaching assistant in a Pre-K classroom, Johnathon Hines learned about rituals and routines and how to keep a 4-year-old student's attention long enough to impart a lesson.

The job was supposed to be a way into the school system while Hines waited for a physical education position to come available. Those are coveted. Many who become PE teachers only give them up when they retire. Or die.

If you look inside many of America’s classrooms, you’ll notice someone is missing: black male teachers.

According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education, only 2 percent of the country’s teaching workforce are black males.

Throughout my career as a Black male teacher, I’ve taught in district and charter schools. While many remain determined to highlight their differences, they’re one and the same when it comes to their failure to serve Black children and their inability to attract and retain quality teachers who look like them.

Oh Boy!

California State University, Northridge has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley and the Compton Unified School District (CUSD) to launch a three-year pilot program to improve the retention rates of male teachers of color.

Cedric Jackson knows firsthand the impact that regular exposure to a positive black man can have on impressionable students — especially young black boys.

Researchers at the University of Virginia and Northwestern University have found another wrinkle to add to the problem of teacher retention: Male teachers are leaving schools with female principals.

The researchers analyzed New York state teacher retention data over a 40-year period, from the 1969-79 school year through 2009-10. In total, the data set included about 650,000 teachers and about 6,400 schools.

In particular, the caring professions are bereft of men. Early years teaching and nursery workers are almost exclusively female, as is nursing and the social care workforce.

I became a teacher because in high school a close friend of mine was assaulted. She was walking home at night when a man stopped his truck, leapt out, and tried to force her into his vehicle. She fought back with all her strength, but he would have overpowered her if not for another car that happened to come along. He fled. She escaped.