✨ “If We Want Kids to Belong, Their Teachers Have to Belong Too”

By Andrea Taylor | Final Project for CURR 501: Digital Media Literacy

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📖 Where This Project Came From

I didn’t start this course planning to change my whole final project — but halfway through, I realized something: the thing I cared about most wasn’t just digital tools or lesson plans. It was the experience of being a Black educator in schools that say they care about equity, but don’t always show it.

I’ve seen teachers who look like me get pushed out — or leave on their own because the culture makes them feel like they don’t belong. I’ve felt it too. I’ve been the only one in the room, asked to “speak for” everyone, or made to feel like I had to perform instead of just teach. Meanwhile, we’re also the ones expected to fix school climate, carry emotional labor, and take care of everybody else’s kids first. And we do it — because we care. But who takes care of us?

That’s what this project is about: How can schools use digital media to support the retention and wellbeing of Black educators — not just talk about diversity, but actually practice it?

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🧠 My Tech Identity: Techno-Constructivist All the Way

If you asked me a few years ago, I might’ve said I was just trying to survive in the tech world. But after this course, I know exactly where I stand. I’m a techno-constructivist. I believe tech should be used to build something real — something human. Not just record grades or push content, but connect people, amplify truth, and push systems to do better.

This project uses tools like Padlet not just to “engage” people, but to hold space for stories, reflection, and action — especially from the people who usually don’t get heard.

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💬 My Why: What I Believe About How Students Learn 

Kids learn best when they feel safe, known, and valued — and that doesn’t just come from bulletin boards or lesson plans. It comes from the people in front of them every day. When Black teachers are supported, students see that they can be supported too.

Representation matters. And not just in the books we read, but in the bodies who teach. If we want students to believe in their power, they need to see Black joy, Black authority, Black compassion, Black boundaries, and Black creativity at the front of the room — thriving, not surviving.

So this project isn’t separate from student learning. It’s directly connected. Because when we keep Black educators in schools and create cultures that nourish them, every kid benefits.

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🎓 Course Themes and Texts That Shaped Me 

✍️ 1. Marc Prensky – Digital Natives vs. Immigrants

Prensky’s idea made me pause. It made me realize how often schools assume that if kids grow up with tech, they’re automatically “fluent.” But as we read more, I saw that this was way too simplistic — especially for Black teachers and students who haven’t had equal access or freedom to use tech as creators. My project rejects the native/immigrant binary and instead asks: Who gets to use tech as a tool for freedom?

🧠 2. Jenkins – Participatory Culture

Jenkins reminded me that tech isn’t just for consuming — it’s for creating. That’s what I’m doing with this project. I’m building tools where teachers can speak for themselves, not be spoken about. Whether it's a Padlet reflection, an audio story, or an EdPuzzle response, we’re turning schools into spaces of participation and visibility — not silence.

📺 3. Media as Ideology (Representation Matters)

We talked a lot about how media shapes what people believe — and this includes what teachers are “supposed” to look and act like. This project is my way of pushing back on the silent messages schools send — and making room for different, real, lived stories.

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🔄 What I Created (NEW)

What I made is a prototype for a Digital Reflection & Retention Hub — a space where Black educators (and all staff) can reflect on their experiences and offer anonymous or open feedback. Right now, it includes:

✅ A Padlet where educators can respond to prompts like:

• “What makes you feel valued at work?”
  
  

• “What do you need more of to thrive?”
  
  

• “If you ever wanted to leave, why?” 

• Showcasing Happy moments. 

🔗 5+ Media Links

Here are a few tools and articles I used or referenced:

1. Padlet – for anonymous staff reflections
   
   

2. Digital Promise: Why Teacher Diversity Matters-a research-based article on how teacher identity and representation impact student learning
   
   

3. Jenkins on Participatory Culture- foundational text on media participation and student voice

4. EdBuild: Fault Lines – This report breaks down how school district boundaries create racial and economic segregation, helping contextualize the kind of isolation shown in your map.
   
   

5. The Century Foundation: Why Segregation Matters – Explores the lasting educational impact of racial and socioeconomic segregation, and why equitable representation in schools — of students and teachers — matters for outcomes.

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✨ Final Thoughts

This course helped me find my voice as a digital educator — not just someone who uses tech, but someone who shapes space with it. My project is still growing, and I don’t have all the answers. But I know this: if we want students to feel like they belong, then their teachers — especially Black teachers — need to feel that too.

And if schools aren’t creating that space? Then I’ll build it myself. Online, in community, and with the help of digital tools that don’t erase who we are — but center it.

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https://padlet.com/andreataylor4444/if-we-want-to-stay-honest-reflections-from-black-educators-36ncb1f0sopzrt8b