All of our kids, ready for life
Rise Up for Students is a blog advocating for racial equity and radical empathy in our schools, in Seattle and beyond
Black History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and recognizes the people like Rashiid Coleman who are boldly shaping the future. The 2024 installment marks the sixth Black History Today series published on Rise Up for Students since 2018.
Read MoreBlack History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond, and recognizes the people like Mario Jovan Shaw who are shaping the future.
Read MoreSuperheroes are a dime a dozen on the big screen these days, but they can be easy to miss in real life. Like the caped crusaders with otherworldly powers, the real superheroes around us often seem to masquerade behind a secret identity, rarely getting the recognition and thanks they so deeply deserve.
Marcus Harden is one of those heroes for not only the South Seattle community where he grew up, but for every life he has touched as an educator and a school founder, as a student and as a leader and as a friend.
Read MoreEducation tends to make the most rational people seem crazy. So, it begs the question, how do we heal in these sick environments? My go-to answer is to typically just burn it all down and start anew, but we know that those efforts usually just end up looking like a new emperor in the same old clothes.
So, where does our healing come from?
It starts with acknowledging the hurt that has been caused by systems of oppression -- and the equal importance of finding healing for the students and often-overlooked educators who bear the deepest wounds.
Read MoreTeachers as a whole are vastly underpaid, Black male educators are often in unsupportive environments, and the profession isn’t promoted (or respected) as a viable option in the canon of “careers.”
So why stay? How do we ask others to come? What are the conditions we can create, right where we are to make this seismic shift? Here are seven reasons that I’ve come up with (feel free to add more!)…
Read MoreThe structures and systems are shackles. We have to remind ourselves that we the people are the system. Our participation keeps the gears turning.
It’s time we break the shackles!
Read MoreThe quintessential question is, how are we shaping our legacies as educators every single day? How are we cultivating minds early that aim to create change in and for their own communities? Are we dream-keepers or are we gatekeepers?
Read MoreCheck out music from Matt Halvorson
