Calling For New Teachers!

And once again, it has been months since I've posted on here.

I definitely need to start blogging more. There is too much going on in the world for me not to voice my opinion about.

This is my fourth year of teaching and there have been plenty of young African American girls who have approached me and told me they appreciate the fact that I am teaching in their school.

So today, I told my senior students that education is a field that they may want to consider studying in their undergraduate studies. The reason is because many of my students are of color (either Latino or African American) and these are the racial demographics for most students in public education.

Point blank, we need more teachers of color. Young people in K-12 need to see positive role models in the classroom. There are many white teachers in urban classrooms that are doing a great job; nevertheless, there needs to be WAY more colored teachers in the classroom.

In CPS,the majority of the students are colored: 45% are African-American and about 41% are Latino (the rest of the students are White or Other); however, the teachers who are colored combined is about 45%. Basically, half of the teachers are white.

The reason why I am noting these racial differences is because as a colored student, it is a big deal to see a teacher who is of the same racial background as the student.

As a teacher of color now, I feel that the most I can do is to encourage the young people who I work with to become teachers when they graduate from college AND try to be an exemplar role model for my students so they will know what an effective teacher is.

I guess the big question then remains: How do students of color become attracted to the teaching field and why is there such a lack of these teachers in the field?

I guess that goes on the next blog....