Category: Teaching

  • When the Storm is Ancestral Trauma …

    Click the link below and listen in as Dr. King both eloquently and clearly explains the roots of how both ancestral and generational trauma came to tyrannize African Americans. https://fb.watch/kvmhCIcn6K/

  • When the Storm is a Learning Disability–or seems to be

    “Years of research point to inequities in education for students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and students with disabilities. These inequities are particularly apparent when it comes to rates of discipline and special education enrollment. The term “significant disproportionality” is used to describe the widespread trend of students of certain racial and ethnic groups…

  • When the Storm is Racial Trauma: Expectancy-Value Theory

    Expectancy: Can I do this? How have you convinced your African American students that what you are teaching is meaningful to them and has value for both them and their community? According to EVT [Expectancy-Value Theory], students’ expectancies for success and task values are two critical factors impacting their motivation, academic performance, and choice of…

  • When the Storm is Racial Trauma: Self-efficacy

    2. A Sense of Self Efficacy Typically, children are not born with an implicit sense of their own ability. The belief that “I can!”, must be instilled, usually beginning in early childhood. “We begin to form our sense of self-efficacy in early childhood by dealing with various experiences, tasks, and situations. However, the growth of self-efficacy does…

  • When the Storm is Racial Trauma: A Sense of Belonging

    In the era of segregated school systems (and a segregated society), how did African American teachers prepare their students to excel? One of the three critical indicators of student success–a sense of belonging, was an established building block in the segregated education of African American students. The unspoken , “I belong here”, created a comfort…

  • When the Storm is Racial Trauma …

    Trying to function in an environment that has embraced racism in its many forms, including micro and macro aggressions, takes a mental toll on the mind’s ability to process and to focus. In an article, Addressing Race and Trauma in the Classroom: A Resource for Educators, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, cites the following:…

  • Sometimes the storm is ancestral trauma…

    Sometimes the storm is ancestral trauma…

    At some time in life, everybody experiences some level of trauma. Additionally, studies show that each new generation adds on and carries within them the traumas that were lived by prior generations. In the case of African-Americans, our trauma is like none other. The nature of African Americans’ traumatic experiences, however, is quite different from…