Channing Hanks

       Through my personal experience, I have found that I have no idea where the funding for schools comes from. Due to both of my parents being in the education field, I have a first hand experience of seeing them fork up their own personal money to create a better atmosphere for their classroom. This is something that is a very small aspect of the problem of schools being underfunded. When reading "Unequal School Funding in The United States" it was apparent that schools being underfunded was a problem birthed during the fundamental practices of public schools being created. A quote that stood out to me when reading was "Given the evidence reviewed above, it seems obvious that students from disadvantaged families will suffer the most from the U.S. system of unequal school funding because these students are more likely to attend poorly funded public schools."     Overall, many laws and bills will need to be passed to implement a system where schools recei...

As a child in school, I never had really seen gender in the teaching profession other than that the majority of teachers are women. I do though have an excellent example of a male teaching figure in my life; my father. Growing up, I had always seen my mother and father in the teaching profession, so I never really associated a gender with it until I never had a male teacher until I was in middle school. Now looking back, I do see how the majority of teachers are female and portray a very feminine lifestyle. I can look back and remember being very affectionate with my female teachers and it was okay with society to be that way. Whether it was hugging after class or generally spending more time with them, it was something that could not be equal to a man. Some teachers I follow on TikTok happen to be gay men. They have shared some of their hardships with not being accepted or approved by their student's parents, and explaining that they make people uncomfortable with their femininity...

To make a long story short, no, I do not have the full picture. I was not given the full picture growing up. I am now seeking every day to obtain the full picture. After watching Victoria's video about integration, it donned on me that most stories leave out the ill will that was done by the white majority. I always knew about the Little Rock Nine but never about six-year-old Ruby Bridges. I found it shocking that grown white women were throwing rocks at a six-year-old little girl. As a future teacher, I want to aim to hold myself accountable in conveying to my students all aspects of the full story of history. I feel as if our communities will be more well-rounded today if we were given the full picture of history. When learning about dysconcious racism, there were many things I found that I could take note of to make sure I am competent in understanding my student's needs and concerns. As a teacher, I want to lead my conversations with my students into one that promotes equit...

 I think the main question as a teacher is "how do we talk about issues that matter?" I believe it can be challenging to be sensitive when talking about real-world issues in today's world. I believe that we must practice sharing in a way where students are welcome to have different opinions than their peers. My golden line from Fostering Civil Discourse was  "However much we are affected by the things of the world, however deeply they may stir and stimulate us, they become human for us only when we can discuss them with our fellows." I stated in the discussion post that " This is a golden line for me because I think it is extremely important to value the right we have to talk about issues we see or experience. If we cannot talk about the issues surrounding us, there is no way for change to be made. Change is only made when people can band together to create a difference for the better." I believe as teachers we can create a space where we can talk abou...

Why Teach?  Hello everyone! My name is Channing Hanks and I have known I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. To my family, it was no surprise that my favorite activity to do was to "play teacher." My mom was the principal at the elementary school I attended. My dad is an educator as well. As if having both parents in the education field was not enough, all of my grandparents are educators as well. My grandfather was the head principal at one of the high schools and is now a special education teacher at another high school in the district. My grandmother is a paraprofessional in the special education department at the same school. My other grandmother was a writing teacher at the same high school where my grandpa was the principal; they even worked together there simultaneously. Needless to say, I have been surrounded by education my entire life, and hearing their stories impacted me and pushed me to go into Elementary Education. I would like to return t...