Equity & Diversity Blog

Everyday Equity in the Classroom

Josh Parker worked with teachers and administrators throughout the country as the director of engagement and programs at UnboundEd. Parker, a Teaching Channel Laureate, was the 2012 Maryland Teacher of the Year and a 2017 Lowell Milken Unsung Hero. This blog is no longer being updated.

Education Opinion You Can Make a Difference for Students of Color. So Take the 'Red Pill'
You are the one that can make a difference in the lives of students of color.
Josh Parker, November 19, 2018
•
8 min read
Education Opinion Promise Keepers: Honoring our Students and the Profession
Editor's Note: The following is a transcript of a speech that I gave two weeks ago at a symposium hosted by the NEA Foundation. I provide the link to the speech at the bottom of the transcript - please be advised that I do ad lib a little from the speech as written below. My next entry will return to my traditional blog outline.
Josh Parker, October 16, 2018
•
6 min read
Education Opinion Deconstructing Disruption in the Classroom
Reconstructing traditional signs of disruption from black and brown students as entry-ways into better serving them is an equity move.
Josh Parker, September 14, 2018
•
10 min read
Education Opinion The One Word That Changes Everything About Teaching and Learning
If we do not build an infrastructure around the inherent worth of black and brown students, which will benefit all students, how can they be assured of receiving a quality education?
Josh Parker, August 29, 2018
•
10 min read
Education Opinion What's Important to Keep In Mind: Strategies for Navigating Race in Classrooms
I hope you do see color, and that you establish an environment where nobody has to tiptoe around racial or difficult topics, and that you can work with the students and adults you see every day to bring equity and understanding to every individual in your school.
Josh Parker, August 18, 2018
•
6 min read
Education Opinion The Equity Diet: Building Capacity Through Daily Habits
Equity is not measured in how many conferences we attend, books we read or posters we display in our classrooms; it must be measured by its reflection in our practice.
Josh Parker, July 30, 2018
•
7 min read
Education Opinion Mirrors and Windows: Being Best For Kids From the Inside Out
If we do not own our role, we cannot create the change.
Josh Parker, July 25, 2018
•
6 min read
Education Opinion Ready, Set, Grow: Setting Up Your Next Year Right Now
If we cannot own our contribution to students' underperformance, we cannot change our agency in providing better outcomes for the students waiting for us in September.
Josh Parker, June 29, 2018
•
6 min read
Education Opinion Students Are 'Our Children.' Let's Give Them the Support They Deserve
For our classrooms to improve, our systems have to engage in professional learning that is deep enough, wide enough and aligned enough so that teachers leave feeling more prepared than ever to deal with the complexities that our children bring into the classroom.
Josh Parker, May 17, 2018
•
14 min read
Education Opinion The Four Components of an Equitable Classroom
The equitable classroom is a classroom that is connected to the lives of black and brown students, Where there is no equity, there is not a jagged and at times circular path forward, but just a flat, one-size fits none learning experience that is facilitated by a novice in content and does not take into account the needs and opportunities for scaffolding and enrichment inherent in our children.
Josh Parker, May 3, 2018
•
8 min read
Education Opinion Breaking the Class Ceiling: Teaching for Mastery and Enrichment
Teachers have the power to change the instructional culture of the classroom so that students get used to a quality learning experience that they do not have to pay for, benefit from and recommend to other people.
Josh Parker, April 11, 2018
•
6 min read
Education Opinion Spark Equity in Your Building With These Six Experiences
If all of this conversation does not lead to action, then it is for naught. Actions have to follow our words, or our words will be the epitaphs that children can write on their failed educational careers—"at least they talked about helping us."
Josh Parker, March 22, 2018
•
7 min read
Education Opinion When It Comes to Equity, Expertise Matters
we cannot practice equity principles without first shifting our approach to building expertise in content, curricula and children.
Josh Parker, March 9, 2018
•
5 min read
Education Opinion The Schools We Need for the Children We Love
How we expect black and brown children to behave, perform and persist through trauma has to change.
Josh Parker, February 22, 2018
•
6 min read
Load More ▼