As you read this, I want you to think about this driving question: Do we have the partnerships needed in each school for all students to succeed?
I can share my thoughts as a teacher on the question, but I really want each reader to be intentional about evaluating the schools in the community they live in and/or schools in the local public school districts to see where the deficiencies are, which students are impacted the most, and what’s lacking.
We must demand our public school districts and entities ensure that teachers are being trained on how to build partnerships.
Our biggest partners are our students and their families.
I asked my students at Seven Pillars their thoughts on this in class. One student said, “Why do we need partners when we have teachers? Don’t yall do it all?”
As flattering as my student’s sentiment is, it’s a notion that one person or group is the end all be all. It takes away from the notion that it takes a village to raise a child.
Partnerships with our stakeholders drives accountability. It provides and opportunity for parents to learn how to best support their children, and it gives every scholar a chance to share their interests and aspirations for their lives. We want student voices to be included in the educational journey.
A lot of our public school cultures are overseer plantation style dabbed in innovation.
Profound Gentlemen is a resource for public schools in Georgia, NC and Chicago to develop partnerships that can cultivate social emotional learning and social justice. They also provide policy resources for teachers.
We need everyone to work in their lane in order to ensure we’re able to provide all students with the experiences inside and outside classrooms that are needed to help them excel.
Subscribe to The Educators Voice and check out more of this conversation on March 2nd at 6:00 p.m. for the third episode of Speak Black Man podcast where another gent from Profound Gentlemen joins this month’s convo on partnerships.
View Speak Black Man live on educational entities FB page or our YouTube Channel.