Rather than posting quotes, let us refocus our efforts during #BlackHistoryMonth to learn and teach about the following: 1) Black people in your town, city, or state who did (or are doing) powerful work to advance the community and/or the culture but have not been supported, amplified, or acknowledged.

This week was really emotionally heavy, folks, and I consider myself to be pretty resilient, but it was very trying on a lot of levels. I don't consider myself to carry a burden any lighter or heavier than any other person born in this country, living in this skin... and I really, truly do love the skin I'm in...

I'm hearing a lot of people uncomfortable with demands for hyper productivity without any time to cycle through the emotions that accompany a massive shift in routine (and possibly physical health). If you are in a position of educational leadership, please recognize that this is your time to challenge the idea that school should be a series of endless tasks and proving productivity.

"Creativity required not only time, but dedication." "It's paradoxical, but the more specific something is, the more universal it is." @thommyorange speaks to us about art, creativity that can come from broken dreams, teaching "non-writers/readers" to write. #NCTE19 "We are ghosts before we die." "Native people are in direct contrast to the written word on the page...which is for broken treaties, blood contracts..." #NCTE19

@sirovy_allison @ShanaVWhite @ValeriaBrownEdu @donalynbooks @triciaebarvia @newfrontier21 @diversebooks @mrbgilson @pernilleripp @RosaIsiah It's really interesting and makes a lot of points I agree with. I caution anyone though, who enters into these conversations implying or assuming that educational progressivism carries with it an anti-canon, anti-assessment, anti-establishment agenda. That's too simplistic. @sirovy_allison @ShanaVWhite @ValeriaBrownEdu @donalynbooks @triciaebarvia @newfrontier21 @diversebooks @mrbgilson @pernilleripp @RosaIsiah I can't speak for the masses, but the last AP Lit and Lang classes I taught had Shakespeare, Liz Acevedo, Toni Morrison, Glória Anzaldúa and James Baldwin on the syllabus. My students were 100% Black and brown--many "reading below grade level".

Just had all the 10th graders from one school come through. They haven't had access to a school library in 5 years. We talked about shaming one another for book choices, how to find books in the library, what happens if you start reading a book and then decide you don't like it. We also talked about leveling as a tool for teachers and not a way for students to classify themselves or each other, start feeling bad if the books you like are, "on your level".

Happy Saturday! Cleaning the chicken coop, then doing some writing today. Last week, a 10th grader checked out Diary of a Wimpy Kid because that's the last book he remembered reading. Another student (who wasn't checking anything out) tried to clown him about it. We got over that, but I'm noticing more and more the power students have over eachother (with regard to reading culture).

When we say, "We got work to do," it's important to define the "we", and perhaps shift away from talking and toward actions that will produce results. Shout out to all educators and allies doing the work of making sure students (who will grow up to be voters) #DisruptTexts

https://twitter.com/juliaerin80/status/1055753070326337538

Lately, I've been talking with @nenagerman and others about the role of the anti- racist educator in spaces serving predominantly white children vs. spaces with children of color.

A thread of gratitude to some important people from my life this week... Shouts to @TheJLV for matching energies and always being there to help me laugh at myself. Open invite to folks to come see us and match energies with us at the #TOCA summit at CU Boulder next month.

Trying not to get sucked in, working for 5 schools means no lunch or bathroom breaks unless you take them. But, some of the good from today... Kids (Seniors) stayed after class to watch #THUG trailer and were riveted. "Where do I sign up for book club again?"

So I'm going to post some links.... All purchases go to supporting initiatives I am a part of/helping to lead. Recently had somebody reach out asking for my Venmo to compensate me for all they learn from me on Twitter. I appreciate that. Here are additional ways...[THREAD] #Educolor is my heart home. It is where familia, intense dreaming, and powerful activism centered around educational equity starts and ends for me.

https://twitter.com/TheJLV/status/1020869577671102464?s=19

My first #librarian PD day was like this... [a thread] So, we're meeting at the School of the Arts, but they don't have a library anymore, so instead of meeting in the library, we're meeting in the cafeteria. It was beautiful, but I am directionally challenged, so I got lost...as always...and was like...

Soooo one of the first pieces of news I heard this morning was about white nationalist rallies in DC, Charlottesville, and perhaps across the country. It is shameful and beyond embarrassing (I have International friends all over the world) to think about how these are the same people who say the pledge of allegiance to, "One nation, under God, indivisible..."

Good morning to all educators committed to reconsidering "behavior issues" and rebranding them as opportunities to invite someone in to conversation and connection. These are the moments for us to line up actions with all the things we say we believe. As folks are designing behavior policies, codes of conduct, and expectations this time of year, it is especially important to remember the end goal and desired tone or flavor you want a classroom or school to have.

Today DPS came through and invested in all these teacher leaders in the form of providing time, stipends (gasp), instructional and research support, technology (Swivl cams are a little scary to me) and a Skype call from @Ready4rigor herself. We are part of a cohort of Culturally Responsive Teaching Fellows tasked with conducting research and spreading best practices for CRT throughout the district.

Amazing. And terrible. Yet amazing. #thedisrespect #mystruggle Um...this is concerning.

The Path of the Yoga Sutras-- Day 1 "May all beings embody this potent combination: sharp sword, open heart." "Many teachers want nothing more than for one of their students to surpass them and, thus, carry on their teachings."

A little thread before bed... Today my yoga instructor talked about the part where it gets challenging...

Camocim, estado do Ceará, Brasil...My bestie Mariana lives there and this is her every day life...Jealous? Me too. Minha sobrinha Brasileira--Beatríz (Bea)

The similarity between historical lynching and modern-day police brutality is something Black people have always seen, hence the necessity of #BlackLivesMatter The similarities between the colonial school system that trained colonized people to believe in, internalize, and perpetuate systems of oppression--and our own school system today has been evident to POCs since forever.

I'd like to take this opportunity to extend all the 🎉HAPPY BIRTHDAY🎉 wishes to the fabulous, the one and only, the realest and most loving-- @getnicced

A thread of reasons why you need her and her books in your life! Dear Martin was a #ProjectLITBookClub 2017-18 selection and I have yet to meet a student who doesn't wild out over this book. My copies are continually checked out/on the "extended borrow" aka "missing".