Articles
A New Orleans summer teaching fellowship is wooing young black teachers
Yawns and sleepy stretches punctuated the silence as Brandon Mercadel’s third-graders rooted around their desks for “The Buried Bones Mystery,” the subject of today’s lesson about text evidence. “You guys must have had an amazing Father’s Day weekend,” said Mercadel, smiling. “You are so tired!” One student laid his head on his desk and slipped […]
Read MoreMale teacher shortage affects boys who need role models
For 35 years, Len Saunders has been teaching physical education to elementary school children in Montville, N.J. Personally, he knows how important a strong male role model can be and hopes he is that for his students. His own father died just months before he was born, so he depended on uncles, coaches and other […]
Read MoreMansur’s Manifesto: How an Aspiring Black Male Teacher Plans to Turn Teaching Into Activism
Anytime I tell people that I am majoring in social studies education, they ask one of two questions: “Where do you want to teach?” or “Why do you want to teach?” Those especially curious ask both. My answer is consistent: I would like to teach in a secondary school serving predominantly low-income, African American students. […]
Read MoreMale nurses? Female firefighters? Yes, as career boundaries erode.
Men and women tend to choose different career paths, and researchers have identified this as the biggest reason men make more money. So if men and women were equally represented across all occupations, would it close that gender pay gap? Teaching is just one example of an occupation segregated along gender lines. Growing up in […]
Read MoreIn D.C., Bringing Male Teachers Of Color To The Preschool Classroom
When kids go back to school after the summer break, the chances of them having a male preschool teacher are pretty slim — just 2 percent of early education teachers nationally are male. And the probability of having a male teacher of color is even lower. In Washington, D.C., public schools, they’re trying to change […]
Read MoreHow to Become a Teacher in Lots of Steps
Training for the profession of teaching, even in 1971, was not the easiest major to enter at Michigan State. When I transferred from Central Michigan as a junior, I was headed into secondary education, as I mentioned in my initial blog entry. After the first term, I decided to switch my major to elementary after […]
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