Journal of a Black Teacher

  By Don Allen, Editorial Opinion This is an often-espoused goal: the quest for educational diversity and representation, yet far too elusive for way too many exceptionally qualified Black male teachers seeking a job in dominant culture school districts. Having the credentials, skill sets, and proven abilities to successfully educate does not avert the all-too-common response heard by so many of these educators: "You're certainly qualified, but we're going in a different direction." The troubling phenomenon is not simply personal but reflects a systemic problem that persists in undermining the educational landscape. Black male teachers bring unique perspectives, modeling and mentoring students who otherwise may not have that type of representation within their academic environment. Their presence can, indeed, do much to enhance the cultural competency of all students and create an inclusive, enriched atmosphere toward learning. In far too many dominant culture school

By Don Allen, M. A. Ed./MAT “Autoethnography is a qualitative method— it offers nuanced, complex, and specific knowledge about particular lives, experiences, and relationships rather than general information about large groups of people” (Adams et al., 2014, p. 21).   Hennepin County foster care and adoption     Last week was quite difficult for our school community. We faced the heart-wrenching situation of a seventh grader being separated from his family and placed in foster care. Despite the challenges he faced, this student demonstrated incredible talent as an artist and a deep passion for science, taking great care of the fish in our three tanks. He has always been a model student at our performing arts and academic school, which serves the Black community. I was informed about the events that happened during our morning cabinet meeting. The leadership team, too, was devastated hearing the news about one of our scholars. A report by Kate Miller, Root cause analysis on foster care

January 11, 2023 My institution, Hamline University, a small liberal arts college located in St Paul, Minnesota, has been in the news lately. The New York Times ran an article leading with the headline, “Prophet Image Shown in Class, Fraying the Campus.” The article reports on an incident that occurred on our campus in October, where an adjunct instructor, teaching a class in art history, showed an image of the prophet Muhammad to a class attended by a number of Muslim students. And when a Muslim student objected to its showing, to quote the Times, the adjunct “lost her job.” Various so-called stakeholders interpreted the incident, as reported in various media, as one of “academic freedom.” The Times went so far as to cite PEN America’s claim that what was happening on our campus was one of the “most egregious violations of academic freedom” it had ever encountered. It begs the question, “How?” Because Hamline University is now under attack from forces outside our campus, I am taking t

(Photo: Fairfield University ) The following question is presented for an academic response. While the situation might be real in some school districts, this example was created for academic leadership to think, then write about the direction of crisis communication they would use in these cases.   Case Study #1 Todd is taking an Honors World History class at Sherburne High School in Central Minnesota. Todd's parents were shocked to find that his history book has a chapter called "The Rise of Islam in the Middle East." They were horrified to see that a section of the chapter had the title "The Elements of Islamic Belief."  They immediately called you - the principal – with a threat to sue the school board, superintendent, and you personally "for teaching Muslimism." The district superintendent is golfing with the school's attorney this afternoon, and neither can be reached. Based on this week’s readings, how will you respond to the parents’ complai

We must study humans as we would study other animals to discover what their “nature” is. Look among the species; see who are the thriving and successful and in what activities do they engage? For Aristotle, this is how to determine what is and is not appropriate for human and human societies .    ~ Aristotle - Rejection of Plato’s Rationalism Statement from Don Allen, M.A. Ed./MAT: Teacher and Servant Leader Please, everyone - cast a spell, wave your magic wands, pray, rub the chicken feet (I have mine, it’s a Jamaican thing), and hope teachers don’t strike. The results from a strike in this critical moment will disrupt all levels of society. The Twin Cities are not prepared to have thousands of K-12 scholars unstructured; yes, the achievement gap is alive and growing, but educators need this time between now and June to kill it. Parents must work; childcare is critical. We are just easing back in because of COVID-19, bad Wi-Fi hotspots, we have kids who are seniors that can’t get in

This is Black History Month. It seems to me the point of studying Black History is to provide insight into how injustices of the past relate to what is going on in the present and to put an end to these injustices. One example is the case of Rodney Reed , an innocent black worker who is the victim of a racist frame-up orchestrated by the police, prosecutors, state and local politicians working in cahoots to execute Rodney Reed for a murder carried out by a racist white cop who was assisted in his bestial murder by other racist white cops here in Texas. History is very important in this case because the Texas criminal justice system was devised by slave-owners who refused to acknowledge Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the fact that the North had won the Civil War and for two years used this time to put on place institutions that would maintain racist injustices in every facet of life… including the criminal justice system. This is all explained in the book, the “1619 Project,” a