black board, white chalk

Introducing Black Board, White Chalk – for all the Jakes, Jacobs, and Yaqoubs; for the Mary Anns, Marys and Maryams who graduated from high school and still cannot read. It is for those who struggled and continue to struggle through school because we failed to recognize what they as individual people needed and failed to acknowledge what they could contribute. This blog is about meeting the needs of children, students, educators – all those who want to know through a sound spiritual understanding and possess a strong desire to better themselves as well as those around them.

Black Board, White Chalk is a blog about transforming the nature of education and learning. It is about taking traditional education and rewriting it with our own chalk so it actually meets the needs of the students. The goal of Black Board, White Chalk is to bring awareness and understanding, and to facilitate the discussion of the concepts of inner-city, urban, Islamic, place-based, holistic, special needs, social justice, and spirituality education. This discussion is meant to address the pathologies affecting our children in the name of schooling and learning. Ideas – theoretical and practical – are designed to re-shape these concepts to harness the spirit of a viable educational endeavour. Black Board, White Chalk is about the most important investment of our time: our children.

I am a teacher, but more importantly, I am a student. I have been spat at, spat on, sworn at, and sworn about. I have been threatened physically and verbally. I have also been the shoulder to cry on, the person that cared, and the one that provided that one meal for the day. I am an advocate for what I believe is right for children, students and anyone else who desires knowledge and education. I have worked in public schools, private schools, Muslim schools, non-Muslim schools, camps, after-school programs and tutoring agencies. I am also a homeschooling mum. I have worked with children in diapers and children on drugs; children with green teeth because no one cared, and children from the upper echelons of society because money was lavishly expended.

Comments, queries and concerns are welcome. Black Board, White Chalk hopes to revolutionize and alter the world view of not only the child, but the educator as well.

Black Board, White Chalk is a journey that takes learning and education well beyond one child, all the while recognizing that it must begin with that one child and a dedicated educator.

Posted in Vision