Black Teacher Matters

This is the final episode of Black Teacher matters! It's all about making space for joy in a classroom by playing games and gathering to cultivate imagination. I tell a story about the games I'm playing in my class that help rehumanize the space. Ross talks about letting go of shame as a pedagogical tool and Nandi Comer gives the inside scoop on what it's like to be a student in Ross' class. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

This episode is all about the Black teachers, in school, on the court, and at home who make space for us to become our most complete selves. I tell a story about hooping with a kid who shares my name, even if he isn't convinced. Ross talks about why he makes his classroom a place for people to get together so they can get together, a coach who confronted his dad, and the teaching genius of his Aunt Butter. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

You can't play your position if you don't know the game. Chess is just one of the legacies I pass down to students. I tell a story about how chess saved my first year of teaching. I also talk to Bill Jeter, who is not only my uncle, but an incredible artist and teacher in his own right about the importance of Black teachers in his life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

It's rare that Black girls get a chance at innocence in academic spaces. I tell a story about confronting my own Whiteness to create space for a young woman to engage the questions that really mattered to her. I also sit down with one of my most influential teachers, Crystal Wilkinson, author of The Birds of Opulence. We talk about the life of a Black teachers and how she creates space for students to take control of their own learning. She also helps me come to terms with some petty nonsense I did to her way back when. What do you think about what you heard? Leave me a message here: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

Way back in my first year of teaching in 2008, I was having standoffs over handshakes, Barack Obama was just the president-elect, and I swear I saw a boy take innocent flight in my class one day. I also sit down with the novelist and education leader, Alexs Pate, to talk about his newest book, The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias to Support Students of Color, his theory of innocence and how it relates to the power of Black teachers. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

Black Teacher Matters is a podcast about stories, my own as a mixed Black man in education, and the stories of the Black teachers who shaped me in some kind of way. This podcast is about exploring the narratives I've developed for myself as a mixed Black man who works to help young people educate themselves. This podcast is about finding out what I've done and why I'm doing it and how we can keep more Black folks in this role. Each episode you'll hear a story from me and then I'll introduce you to someone significant in my educational life. I hope you enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

Before I became a teacher, I was a kid with a book stealing habit, labeled as having a cavalier attitude towards education. All of that changed when I stepped into Mr. Miller's AP English class, Patterns in Black Literature. I tell my story and talk with Mr. Miller about the legacy and importance of Black teachers. *Note: Some names have been changed for the sake of privacy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message