One teacher explains how she turned “Thanksgiving Trivia” into an opportunity to share under-taught history with her colleagues as well as her students, regardless of the time of year.
Growing up with a racially conscious mother, Katherine Watkins has been educated on Native American and African American literature and continues to enrich her knowledge as an avid reader. With African-American, Cherokee, Apache, Choctaw, Comanche and Irish ancestry, she is extremely interested in improving race relations, as can be seen in her classroom and activism work. Watkins is a veteran teacher of 20 years and is working on her second memoir and a novella.
This teacher's classes were in the middle of reading a Sherman Alexie classic that spurred deep discussions and powerful writing. Then several women came forward to say #metoo about the author.
After hearing from skeptics about our Teaching Hard History report findings, TT Director Maureen Costello came across striking new evidence that the project is necessary.
In West Virginia, many teachers are frustrated with the state legislature's attitude toward public education. By taking collective action with a statewide strike, these teachers model for students how to stand up and speak out for their rights.
When this special education teacher found a way for her students to leave their self-contained classroom to help their peers, they gained new perspectives and became more compassionate with others and themselves.
Nina Parrish has been a special education teacher and tutored students privately for 15 years. In 2010, she started her own tutoring and supplemental education business in northern Virginia. Nina graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a bachelor of science degree in psychology. She then attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she completed her certification in special education for K-12 students. Parrish earned a master's degree in education for school counseling in grades PreK-12 from Virginia Commonwealth University. She writes on education
Teaching gender as a spectrum has far-reaching consequences: Beyond helping students form a more complex understanding of gender identity, it helps them—and educators—see more nuance across a wide range of subjects.