Black Teacher Matters: Recent Episodes
Abdel Shakur
Abdel Shakur is a writer and teacher concerned with telling the stories of Black teachers. A Catalyst Chicago Classroom Story Slam winner and 14 year veteran in the classroom, Abdel and his guests reflect on an essential question: Why are Black teachers so important to the lives of children?
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I took Elsa's advice and let it go--most of my classroom books, that is. Just gave them away to students. And why that was good for me. My colleague Ayanna Evans talks about the Black teachers who looked out for her and what it's like to be a Black parent and teacher. #teaching #blackteachers
Want a fun, flexible icebreaker that you can use with kids and adults to establish norms of attentive listening? Let me introduce you to the Mirrors icebreaker and explain how I use it in my class. #icebreakers
Here's why the Pass the Clap icebreaker is an essential team building exercise that's fun and models the way we will build student leadership and share power throughout the year.
Everyone does them, so why do they so often feel so unsatisfying? Because we're setting ourselves and our children up for failure. Here's some tips on having fun, humane icebreaker experiences that can put you on the path to having a great year. Plus, I'll give you a quick and easy one you can play.
Dillin Randolph talks about his English teacher, Janice Jenkins, who encouraged him to be himself in AP English class. .
The story of why I'm leaving Evanston Township High School and moving to Maryland to teach seventh grade. I also talk to one of my oldest homies, Douglas Cobb, about how Berkeley High School helped make him be the counselor and teacher he is today.
"I refer to the bee as a small farmer...he's a worker!"
Dr. Ali talks on how he copes with invasive bees, birds, and squirrels come into his spaces.
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It's rare that I meet anyone with my name, even more rare when it's a little kid that can hoop and talks a ton of trash. He wasn't as impressed. Excerpt from Episode
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Lacey Robinson, CEO of UnboundEd, talks about how she didn't let her fear of bees keep her from helping her students explore their curiosity. And how teachable moments are a part of an educator's journey. Excerpt from Episode 14
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Justin Fields gets a coach who won't allow comfort to get in the way of teaching.
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"The kids know when something's wrong with you!" Sunni Ali talks about about the importance of listening and being authentic with students.
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When we have problems with people, we tend to see fuel as a solution, but I fly farthest when I reduce friction.
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"How do we encounter the wildnesses that enter our space?" Steven Speight talks about helping students deal with both literal and figurative bees that enter his classroom community. Excerpt from Episode 13.
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How do you get over an addiction to correction in order to create space for students to actually be their best selves?
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How do you get a class full of nervous teenagers to write poems and share said poems with the entire class? Also, the brilliant Kristen Gentry, takes some time to talk about her amazing short story collection, Mama Said, and share her teaching wisdom.
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Alan Miller, my high school English teacher, talks about the importance of maintaining a creative life while in the classroom. An excerpt from my interview in episode #1.
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"I'm even more honored by the way they take care of each in their space." Tamie Holmes talks about how her Black AP students make community in her class. Excerpt from Episode 11
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Passing out papers? Turning out the lights? Running errands? Remember those cool jobs from elementary school? Let me tell you how class roles in my high school class build community and make my job easier. Plus, I talk to a brilliant young educator English teacher, Dillin Randolph, about his Black Teacher journey.
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My uncle, Bill Jeter, on his father as a positive and negative teacher.
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"The secret to teaching Black girls does not involve solving their mystery like a puzzle. The secret to teaching Black girls is working on your internal puzzle, your internal Whiteness that causes you not to hold space for their Innocence for their questions."
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Ross Gay on the time his basketball coach told his dad to calm down at a game. An excerpt from Episode 5
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Lacey Robinson talks about how helping her grandmother learn to read helped her find her path to teaching. Excerpt from Episode 14
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When is a seating chart more than a seating chart? I tell a story about internalized seating charts at the beginning of the year. UnboundED President and CEO Lacey Robinson talks about her new book Justice Seekers and the historical connection between Black self-determination and literacy.
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How does Sunday school prepare Black folks to lead children in classrooms? Author and teacher Matthew Kay talks about how it influenced him. Excerpt from Episode 9.
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Evanston Township High School teacher Tamie Holmes reflects on the supportive learning community in Maywood, Il that helped her grow.
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Alexs Pate talks about how the journey to find a child's innocence can be liberating for Black teachers. "Your freedom is connected to their freedom." Outtake from episode 2: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/abdel-shakur6/episodes/Episode-2-Alexs-Pate--Innocence--and-Getting-to-the-Good-env2gq
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I swear I was about to lose my job, but then a student helped me not lose my purpose. Plus, I talk to my ETHS colleague Steven Speight, a chemistry teacher who talks about an essential element to good science: community.
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Dr. Sunni Ali discusses how he was influenced by the Black scholar teachers at Howard University. From episode 10 https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/WAcrvpGOuBb
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Ross Gay grew up in a family of teachers, some in the classroom, some outside. He shares the lessons he learned in visits to his father's family in Youngstown, OH.
From Episode 5 https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/29Tbi60HaBb
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A poem about what it means to mind your business in the hallway. From episode 11. https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/bg57EwF9TAb
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My dad, Gilgamesh, taught me how to love chess, but even more importantly how to love possibility.
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It's the end of the year and I talk about the most important job a Black teacher has around this time: landing the daggone plane. Plus, I talk to Carlos Thomas, a fellow English teacher and phenomenal basketball coach, about the importance of standing on your square and helping students find their own.
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Crystal Wilkinson talks about using Toni Morrison's Beloved to help a White student in Kentucky shift his view on race.
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How do you use your authority to share power with your students so they can grow their own authority? Ganae talks about the Democratic Classroom Leadership philosophy. Find out more here: https://fullcircleleadership.org/democratic-classroom-leadership/
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Why Black children are our business. In the classroom or in the hallway. And I talk to my colleague Tamie Holmes about creating organic communities of care in her classroom.
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Exiled from Ms. Agawa's class, I visit on-campus suspension. And get punched by a teacher.
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I was a high school junior, getting sent out of English class because I had a "cavalier attitude" towards my education.
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One of the most profound critical moments I had at the University of Minnesota was Alexs Pate leading us through an exercise around stereotype, threat, and Blackness. He breaks it down in this excerpt. This is an outtake from episode 2.
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What's it like being a Black educator whose responsible for helping everyone else's kids learn while you're also trying to make sure your kids get the education they deserve. Ganae talks about the lessons she's learned helping her son navigate racism in school.
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Does mindfulness make you anxious? Do you struggle with perfectionism, correction-ism? Boy do I have a story for you. I also talk to Dr. Sunni Ali, one of my OG educators and author of Lessons Learned: Critical Conversation in Hip Hop.
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A child should know the literary context of their people. Alan Miller talks about recruiting Black students for advanced placement courses and the soul-nourishment he wants to cultivate in these spaces. This is an outtake from Episode 1.
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What do White students need from Black teachers? Crystal Wilkinson talks about the importance of Black teachers on the lives and outlooks of White students. This is an outtake from Episode 3.
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My uncle talks about lessons he learned from teaching art at a school for the blind. Outtake from Episode 4 (https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/2Kjvr719ywb)
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Alan Miller on the class where the grief-stricken guest artist meets the ill-timed dismissal bell.
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How do you cut through roast culture to help students see the good in themselves and each other? Here's a story about trying to answer that question with a room full of 6th grade boys on a hot summer day. I also talk Matthew R. Kay, author of Not Light But Fire: Having Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom.
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The poet June Jordan said, "Poetry is a political act because it involves telling the truth." My high school teacher, Alan Miller, talks about how truth-telling is the center of his classroom practice. (Outtake from Alan Miller's interview in episode 1.)
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Ever been captivated by a Black teacher? Crystal Wilkinson speaks on her son's math teacher, the Minister of Math. Outtake from Crystal Wilkinson's interview in episode 3.
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What's it like teaching on Zoom during the January 6th insurrection? Let me tell you a story about how I learned to listen to my students who wanted to be empowered for justice. I also talk to one of my wisest colleagues at Evanston Township High School, Ganae McAlpin, about the powerful teachers who shaped her and creating democratic classroom communities.
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When a bee comes into your classroom, you have to decide how you will be. How we regard the disruption tells us something about ourselves. About the world's we're hoping to create in our classrooms. I tell about the disruption guns made to my class during a lockdown last year. Ross Gay, Alexs Pate, Bill Jeter, and Alan Miller all give sage advice for dealing with bees in the classroom.
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Black Teacher Matters is about exploring what matters to Black teachers. This season, writer and teacher Abdel Shakur explores what happens when the sudden and unexpected appears, the bee in the classroom, the carefully laid plan laid to waste. If you love a good story and love to hear from and about Black teachers, join us. New episode November 1st.
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This is the final episode of Black Teacher matters! It's all about making space for joy in a classroom by playing games and gathering to cultivate imagination. I tell a story about the games I'm playing in my class that help rehumanize the space. Ross talks about letting go of shame as a pedagogical tool and Nandi Comer gives the inside scoop on what it's like to be a student in Ross' class.
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This episode is all about the Black teachers, in school, on the court, and at home who make space for us to become our most complete selves. I tell a story about hooping with a kid who shares my name, even if he isn't convinced. Ross talks about why he makes his classroom a place for people to get together so they can get together, a coach who confronted his dad, and the teaching genius of his Aunt Butter.
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You can't play your position if you don't know the game. Chess is just one of the legacies I pass down to students. I tell a story about how chess saved my first year of teaching. I also talk to Bill Jeter, who is not only my uncle, but an incredible artist and teacher in his own right about the importance of Black teachers in his life.
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It's rare that Black girls get a chance at innocence in academic spaces. I tell a story about confronting my own Whiteness to create space for a young woman to engage the questions that really mattered to her. I also sit down with one of my most influential teachers, Crystal Wilkinson, author of The Birds of Opulence. We talk about the life of a Black teachers and how she creates space for students to take control of their own learning. She also helps me come to terms with some petty nonsense I did to her way back when.
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Way back in my first year of teaching in 2008, I was having standoffs over handshakes, Barack Obama was just the president-elect, and I swear I saw a boy take innocent flight in my class one day. I also sit down with the novelist and education leader, Alexs Pate, to talk about his newest book, The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias to Support Students of Color, his theory of innocence and how it relates to the power of Black teachers.
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Black Teacher Matters is a podcast about stories, my own as a mixed Black man in education, and the stories of the Black teachers who shaped me in some kind of way. This podcast is about exploring the narratives I’ve developed for myself as a mixed Black man who works to help young people educate themselves. This podcast is about finding out what I’ve done and why I’m doing it and how we can keep more Black folks in this role. Each episode you’ll hear a story from me and then I’ll introduce you to someone significant in my educational life. I hope you enjoy.
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Before I became a teacher, I was a kid with a book stealing habit, labeled as having a cavalier attitude towards education. All of that changed when I stepped into Mr. Miller's AP English class, Patterns in Black Literature. I tell my story and talk with Mr. Miller about the legacy and importance of Black teachers. *Note: Some names have been changed for the sake of privacy.
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