Top 10 of 2018: Part 3 - The Work At School

6. She Persisted

As a teacher we should do for our students more than we do for ourselves at school. However every once in a while, there comes an opportunity, a project that serves your soul as a person as much as it serves your school community. The She Persisted project was one of those moments.

Based on the book by Chelsea Clinton, this assembly I organized around based on this book, provided me a chance to “go high,” and focus on positivity in the face of so much darkness, and negativity. Yes, we need to bring forward the corruption, expose exploitation, and call out the hypocrisy and systemic oppression. We also need to find moments to reflect on the good work, the positive examples of people doing work for the people and by the people. We can’t forget that the work of social justice can be and should be joyous sometimes and, in this assembly, it was exactly that.

Thinking about what else has happened this year and the continued sexism women face in our society, and the amazing examples of women showing incredible courage, it feels like projects like this need to happen all of the time. I’m proud of this work, but I’m also very aware that this cannot be an end. This has to be a start and we have to, I have to keep pushing to elevate women in society, and in my school community.

Persisting takes strength, lack of sleep, and stubbornness. It would easy to do less, but to prove to my children that my time at work away from them means something, for the future of our country in the students I teach, and for myself, I have to keep persisting.


5. Of Color

My school hosted two incredible events this year: The Administrators Of Color Conference, and The Young Men Of Color Symposium. In these spaces I was surrounded by amazing people. There are so many misunderstandings about people of color in our society. The main one that these events disproved over and over is the power and brilliances in people of color. Yes, people of color have suffered oppression over generations and continue to face racism beyond most American’s imagination. But we are here, we are survivors and we are changing America right now.

The Administrators Of Color Conference was mind-blowing. I was surrounded by some of the smartest and most intelligent people I have every met in my entire life. The conversations were thought-provoking and challenging but also were validating and comforting. It was a conference that  faced tough issues with creativity, important questions and solidarity.

Sitting in an auditorium full of young men of color was transformative. Feeling the energy, the potential in the room, and being amongst an incredible group of adults present to bring these young men up was something beyond pride. The speaker Wes Moore defined success as one’s ability to bring other people up, to serve others, and in this context, we worked together as a community.

I found myself relying on parents I was partnered with to help teach groups of students in break-out sessions that I did not know how to best to teach. In this discomfort, I learned about how much work I had to do but also what the students needed and weren’t getting from teachers like myself. Leading an Asian-American affinity group, I was reminded that sometimes the most important thing we can do as teachers is show up and listen.

There’s a lot of work left to done, and in these spaces the work seemed less daunting and more exciting, because I knew that I had others to join me in the work and a whole generation of young men to go on this journey together.