It’s May 13, 2018, and I’m walking across a stage, receiving my Bachelor of Science in History Education. I’m thrilled to be finished with college, to have met this massive accomplishment of graduating with a bachelor’s degree. But while the rest of my friends who...
I still remember the first lesson plan I ever wrote. I was coming to the Memphis Teacher Residency selection weekend, planning to teach an eighth grade grammar mini lesson on different types of sentences. I knew nothing. I had no background in education, had...
In last week’s Black History Month commentary by Michael Peterson II, the first line referenced the monumental Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1897) which created what would become known as the “separate but equal” doctrine. This ill-informed case laid the devastating foundation of...
On August 1, 1894, two years before the Plessy v. Ferguson court case ruled segregation constitutional, Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays was born to former slaves near Epworth and Ninety-Six, South Carolina. He was the youngest of eight children...
Nearly 51 years ago, on February 4, 1968 – and just 63 days before his assassination – Dr. King delivered his famous The Drum Major Instinct sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. (You may listen to the entire sermon here.) Excerpts from this...
In my first grade class of 17 students this year, there are 13 boys. My days are filled with the fullest range of emotions, energy, 6-year-old problems that feel larger-than-life, and ideas beyond what anyone can dream of. Young kids come with an unbridled greatness...
How do students learn? In all honesty, I couldn’t have given a decent answer to this question when I unpacked my things in Crosstown this summer if my life had depended on it. Knowing now what I wish I had known then, I am finally...
In my daily experience, there is something incredibly sweet about 7:30am; it is at this time that I receive the fortune of being greeted by 25 amazing little humans. No matter what my evening held or what their mornings might have entailed, I know that...
MTR Alum Matt Cowan has been named to 2019 Governor's Academy for School Leadership. The 28 member cohort will spend the next year receiving mentoring and coaching through a partnership between Vanderbilt University and local school districts. Matt is currently the assistant principal at Hanley...
Neven Holland (MTR Class of 2015) was recently named as a 2018 Tennessee SCORE Educator Fellow. The thirty-eight person cohort of educators across the state will spend the next year deepening their knowledge of education policy and advocacy and participating in state-level discussions how to...