Matthew R. Morris
@callmemrmorris
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BLACK BOYS LIKE ME: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging on SALE now!
Toronto, Ontario
Joined September 2013
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Black Boys Like Me
now available.
Momma, we did it…
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anyone who thinks that teachers prefer online learning or think that teachers are “getting off the hook” through teaching from home has lost they damn mind.
#onted
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Hey
#TeacherFriends
, any one else feel the anxiety of literally not knowing what your daily reality will be come fall?
#OntEd
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I don’t care if I’m teaching online for a week or until June. I’m not going to coerce my students to turn their cameras on. I know what my home looked and sounded like at 12. I fully get keeping that thing off. Plus, the students I’m teaching chose to attend school in-person.
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queen status.
A teacher designed her door for Black History Month.
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I think what teacher ultimately want right now is transparency. What is going on? What will our days look like? What are our new responsibilities? And try to tell us without advising us to go read a 100 page document
#OntEd
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Do any other educators feels like this winter break absolutely did not feel like a break? I think it’s because we all know we’re going back into organized chaos where the only change it the last digit in the year.
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Banning vaping on school properties? I’ve been a bit tapped into other issues lately, but isn’t vaping already illegal for anyone under the age of 19? Therefore already illegal for all students? Isn’t banning something that is illegal just saying the obvious?
#OntEd
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I don’t know what teacher needs to hear this but,
#BlackHistoryMonth
is NOT only about slavery.
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Hey
#TeacherFriends
, don't you find it weird that we are in the exact same position we were in this time last year: literally not knowing what our daily reality will be come this fall?
#OntEd
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Dear Teachers,
If all you do this winter break is rest, relax, and recover, you’ve done enough.
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One positive for pivoting to remote learning tomorrow - I don’t have to pack a lunch tonight.
Celebrate small victories, stay positive, take one day at a time. My motto for the start of 2021.
#OntEd
#edutwitter
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We had an opportunity to re-consider what achievement can look like in Ontario. But nope, let's tell teachers to write report cards 10 weeks after last seeing students and make sure that they only report on the 15-25 days that we considered "Term 2". Smart move.
#OntEd
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teachers teaching the way they've been taught is the problem.
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i just gotta make it to the break. i just gotta make it to the break. i just gotta make it to the break.
#onted
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Dear Teachers,
This is just a reminder that it is okay to take a break this weekend. You do deserve it.
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are educators allowed to be tired? asking. just asking.
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We lost a real one. My brother Jay Williams put his insides on the line every single time he showed up to work. He was special and we were all better because of him.
@tdsb
we need to honour his legacy.
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a lot has changed in the last 5-6 years of teaching. from overall school culture to students and student learning. it can’t be just me that’s noticed this, can it? please tell me i’m not alone.
#QuarantineEd
#OntEd
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since we now know that we're going back to school, let me just say this...
curriculum should be de-prioritized in this shuffle. What a teacher does in their first days to (re)build classroom community will now take weeks.
#OntEd
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Is this Leaders Debate going to be on YouTube tomorrow? I feel like I should show my students the education segment...and just listen to their thoughts...
#onpoli
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“The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it-and then dismantle it. The attempt to turn this usefully descriptive term into an almost unusable slur is, of course, designed to do the opposite: to freeze us into inaction”
@DrIbram
#HowToBeAnAntiracist
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do not have kids write about their covid experience.
do not have kids write about their covid experience.
do not have kids write about their covid experience.
#SafeSeptember
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Honoured to be one of 15 Black Canadian faces on the front of today’s Toronto Star—voices reflecting on what has, or hasn’t, changes in terms of Anti-Black racism in the last year. Thank you
@angelynsayshi
for your coverage of this
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My TEDx talk is finally out! “The Fresh Prince Syndrome”
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The first days back to school under covid education felt like someone told me and all teachers, “you know how to ride a bicycle, right? Good, here’s a unicycle…it’s basically the same thing.”
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Wow. Just watch this. Start your weekend right. Tell me kids don’t care about school. Or that none of this matters. Wow.
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Can I ask an honest question: Is anyone else like me and about one email away from tapping out of school this year?
How do you snap back into it?
#QuarantineEd
#teachertwitter
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To all my
#teacherfriends
, just a reminder that we no longer live in the world where our politics don't intersect with our classroom and our teaching. That status quo neutral stance is done with. Your students are looking up to you. They have thoughts too. Open up.
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so, i learned a whole lot today. firstly, things will never go back to “normal”. second, anxiety may look a lot like defiance these days. third, a whole lot of assumptions about behaviour and learning must be tossed. we gotta take our time with this school year, fam. (🧵 done)
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Dear Teachers,
It's Thursday morning. You woke up, you're healthy, you get to inspire the next generation. Just take it one step at a time. You got this.
#GoodMorning
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I wonder if almost every teacher was an A+ student as a child. Or if the majority of folks who become teachers do so because school came easy to them; learning, following instructions, the entire process.
And what that means for education.
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Kids who come from a lower SES does not = THOSE kids don't care about school.
Kids who come from a lower SES does not = THOSE kids' parents don't give a shit about their child's education.
Kids who come from a lower SES does not = THOSE kids' need you to be a saviour
#HipHopEd
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Not even an hour at school and was already asked if I was the caretaker. His excuse: “I saw you walking around and thought you were out of uniform.”
Really?!? Is this what we’re STILL doing?!?
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When you engage in virtual learning over the next three weeks, please use the term “home” instead of “house” when referring to where your students live. Small things, like the words we chose to use, have major psychological impacts.
#TeachFromHome
#COVID19
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I’m so geeked to share that my book, “Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging,” goes on pre-sale starting today! A big thanks to
@penguincanada
for believing in my ideas and my ability to turn them into chapters. We out here, fam. More work to do.
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“We tell people to follow their dreams, but you can only dream of what you can imagine, and, depending on where you come from, your imagination can be quite limited”
@Trevornoah
, as a teacher, I know all too well this reality when speaking with my young (black) boys...
#BornACrime
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Has any of my
#TeacherFriends
been asked to fill out a survey, google form, response to how remote learning has been for us??
No.
Same here.
#OntEd
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As soon as winter break started I caught a fever. My mind and body held on for that week and once we hit the weekend, it subconsciously let everything out. If that don’t speak to the physical and mental grind of what teaching has been like so far this year, I don’t know what does
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You could make an argument about how important grades are to high-schoolers; but in elementary school, does a kid really need to see an A, B, or C on a report card to figure out how they ought to position themselves in relation to others their age?
#OntEd
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I just watched that
#SandraBland
video and we have officially crossed over from "protect and serve" to "comply or die" smh
#SandraSpeaks
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my advice to any new teachers, teachers changing divisions, anxious teachers: “you’ll be aiight. these kids basically haven’t been in school school for two years. work on co-creating new norms and take it easy on you and them.”
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don't think that just because you read white fragility or how to be an anti-racist this summer that you are good and ready to lead
this Work isn't about memorizing a couple quotes. This is about real humans and real relationships.
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teaching is the easy part. it’s everything else that we’ve had to navigate over the last two years that have made this job difficult.
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Jay Williams’ legacy will live on. I promise you that.
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Much love to educators doing the virtual thing for this entire school year. That’s thousands of minutes of talking to yourself into a screen that you’ve accumulated by now. Sending you energy for maintaining your sanity through to June.
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Is it just me or do any other educators get that middle of the day, middle of the week, middle of the month summertime anxiety that just makes you feel guilty that you’re not doing “more” with your time?
#teachertwitter
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Teachers,
Lesson plans for tomorrow must change, at least slightly. This does not require or compel some type of assessment. This is about fostering whole and centred humans. This is why you teach. This moment is unfortunate, but it requires that we speak on and through it.
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#dearteachers
, stress is going to look different this year.
please don't chastise and discipline students based on behaviours that may just be a mechanism of anxiety.
this is new to all of us.
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First day of school is for building a safe and authentic and sincere classroom community. It is not about work. You have 195 other days for that.
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Students who work hard in school deserve recognition and validation. But we are so absorbed in traditional models of pedagogy that we seldom look to the benefits of doing things differently. Report Cards should have been a no go for these last two Junes
#OntEd
#QuarantineEd
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bright spot of remote class today. one of my students’ little brothers turned on his mic and started explaining why his big brother wasn’t “in class”. His big brother was fixing his computer. He was in grade 4. He decided to pop in and give our class the update. Made my day.
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Honouring
#BlackHistoryMonth
does not mean you need to litter your google classroom with activity after activity. You can talk with your students, too. A discussion around the legacy of blackness can go deeper than some fill in the blank sheet.
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This school year I’ve stopped answering colleagues with the words I’m good when they ask me how I am. I’ve somehow kinda naturally melted into answering that question with the words I’m here. It’s more truthful. Truth is, I am not good. I am merely here.
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At the end of the day today, a few of my 7th grade girls came up to me saying they feel "the class is falling apart along gender lines". Basically the boys & the girls are fighting. So instead of English first period tmr, we are going to (re)build. Healing comes first.
#HipHopEd
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dear teachers,
take a moment in your school day to ask your students how they’re doing. you don’t need permission to slow down a little.
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Just so we’re clear...there were black people in Canada who did dope things and left a legacy worthy of celebrating.
#BlackHistoryMonth
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If you work in the hood you need to realize that some of these children come with trauma. And the first thing to foster, before we get to the whole relationship stuff, is LOVE
#HipHopEd
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I know if I come to school and teach in a mundane, status-quo like manner, I am leaving many of my students uninspired. But dang it's hard these days to drum up vibes.
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Still don’t know exactly what I’m teaching next year in terms of subjects. But I do know one thing that I’ll be teaching from day 1...........
These black lives matter.
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If school systems were actually invested in Black History Month then the teaching about Black history and Black culture would exist outside of the 28 days in February, wouldn’t it?
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That first week back to teaching felt like a day and a month at the same time.
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Do y’all really think we’ll be pivoting to remote learning by before winter break?!? Really?!?
#OntEd
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I wonder what my teachers were saying about my friends and me when we were in school. I wonder this because I am now a teacher. And because I am a teacher, I am privy to the conversations that take place in the staffroom amongst “educators”....
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Thinking about how you are going to engage with Anti-Black Racism education this school year starts with one quote from the OG,
@chrisemdin
: "The fear of what may go wrong can never supersede the possibility of what will go right"
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Teachers vocalizing their disdain for particular students in staffrooms leads to acidic school culture, which inevitably leads to cancel culture inside of classrooms for certain students before they even get the chance to grow
#HipHopEd
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Teachers teach. But just like any other adult who is committed to their craft, we need a break, too. Yo, Govy, don’t play with our emotions, mental stability, stamina, wellness, and effort we put into this thing by speaking sideways out your mouth this upcoming Friday
#OntEd
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I don’t think I’ve ever looked so forward to a 4 day break from work like I have this year. Dayum, I’m beat. Tomorrow finna feel like the last day of school for my brain and body... 👀
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The sad part of all this is realizing that even if we do go back, the classroom is going to look like how it did in 1960. All desks front facing and in rows, probably 6 feet apart. So much for collaborative learning.
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As March break ending starts to sink in, Just a reminder that someone loves those children in that class You teach.
#OntEd
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We got educators out here barely comfortable sharing their first name when a student ask yet hope to build authentic relationships with the same students, expecting them to blindly take any advice given.
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today i took my students outside. we gathered on the grass in a circle. one student didn’t want to join the circle. he strolled over late. as everyone settled on the grass, including me, he remained standing up. i didn’t know his name, so i made eye contact with him (a 🧵)
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Spent the first period this morning just talking to and with my students. Just talking. And listening. About things that at first related to the novel we just finished reading and then about everything else not related to school and work and so-called learning. It was so needed.
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played some music during lunch and was asking my students if they’ve heard of the song. I hit em with “Thriller” and one student goes, “yeah that’s Michael Jackson..my grandma listens to him all the time”.
am I wrong to have felt mad old in the moment? 😫😂
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I am a young, black male working in a profession largely dominated by older, white females. My identity and essentially everything about me clashes with the norms of “elementary teaching” almost on a daily basis. I feel the friction every day.
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Often, when poverty intersects with schooling, it is not the poverty that is the most fundamental obstacle. It is teacher's perceptions of what poverty supposedly means
#HipHopEd
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Please DO NOT be surprised when black boys do really really well in your class.
You are not validating them when you do that. You are treating them like an anomaly. You are giving them a pass. Your surprise in their excellence is degrading.
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Shout out to
@TheCurrentCBC
and
@mattgallowaycbc
for including me on this mornings panel with some other thoughtful educators talking about what this school year has been like. In one word, for me...it’s been heavy.
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Please please please folks who are tasked with making decisions about what next school year don’t rush to get things back to how they were in 2019. It’s been two years of damage and before that things were broken too.
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Just finished reading
@KieseLaymon
novel, “Long Division.” Firstly, I can’t imagine how someone is able to imagine a story like the story that is this novel, and then put it into sentences and words and chapters. Secondly, this better be taught in every high school English class.
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how can you teach from a culturally relevant lens if you don’t know anything about the culture? if you don’t care to learn the culture?
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For those that need a reminder: Love is a key ingredient to teaching.
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Finally got around to picking up
@DesmondCole
’s book. A few pages in and I’m glad to see that this will be a narrative about blackness from a Canadian context..
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Anyone else feel like when they "relax" they are wasting time that could have been spent planning on thinking about school but then when they plan and think about school they feel guilty for not relaxing??
#TeacherFriends
.
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when i teach, i do so with the understanding that my ultimate goal is not only to teach my students "school stuff" but to foster an understanding within each child that they are intelligent, unique and capable of reaching their hopes and dreams. that's the mantra. daily.
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Kids need to get back to school.
Schools need a plan.
Teachers need to be involved in decision making.
Safety must outweigh economy.
And,
Black Lives Still Matter.
5 Things. That's It. That's All.
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I don’t want to be thinking about returning to school just yet. But it’s the first Monday of August, so you know how that goes.
#OntEd
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six weeks. 29 days. but who’s counting, right...going to try to end the year the same way I started it—by (re)building classroom community
#onted
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my teacher friends,
inhale ...then exhale.
we straight. one moment at a time. cherish the positive ones. reflect on the frustrations.
but, right now, inhale...exhale.
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The conversations I have with my incoming grade 6 students tell me a lot more about how to better teach them than me scouring over their EQAO results. When's the shift to valuing qualitative data going to happen?
#OntEd
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i have a feeling that my level of “professional” aesthetic is about to be on a whole different level this years. like fam, i almost bought crocs today.
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If I had a few dollars for every time a jaw dropped after I told them I was an elementary teacher, I swear I wouldn't have a mortgage right now.
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You know we can watch our favourite movies over and over? I’d like to get into the habit of doing that with books. So, this weeks read. A re-read. Because it’s
@KieseLaymon
and if you know you know.
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