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. 

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.)

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

This episode is 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.

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.

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.

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. 

What do you think about what you heard? Leave me a message here: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message