Olivia (far left) and her friends at a Levitt Shell concert shortly after move-in. This summer, I did something radical. I moved from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where I have lived all 22 years of my life (except during my college years), to Memphis, Tennessee. I moved to...
Welcome back. Since May 2015, we’ve experienced transforming growth. We aren’t residents anymore. We are butt-kicking teachers who have completed our commitment to the Memphis Teacher Residency seeking to provide students with equitable education independent of their ZIP code, just like we began 4 years...
Thank you for nominating me to do this! I appreciate your trust in me, it really means a lot! When I was told I had to do this speech, I immediately googled “how do I write a commencement speech” and all sources told me to...
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...