This post is based on a roundtable discussion I participated in at the 2015 African Heritage Studies Association Conference in New York City, NY. My oldest son, Akil Parker, was also a member of that panel speaking on his experience as a math teacher. Introduction This paper is a reflection on my more than 30 [...]
Click here for the Fall/Winter 2015 Newsletter
Through a generous donation to The William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute, Inc. we have partnered with Southwest Academy Middle School in Baltimore County to provide seven teachers with our year long "Cultivating a Culturally Responsive Practice" teacher training. Our philosophy that the most important relationship as regards student success is that between the teacher [...]
In July of 2015 we visited Banner Academy in Chicago, Illinois for a site visit to observe how teachers were preparing to implement a new instructional model that The William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute, Inc. is considering using in our Third Millennium Schools. The Inquiry Bridge model is an integrated approach that focuses on [...]
When the video of Freddie Gray's arrest went viral and the news of his death reverberated throughout the streets of Baltimore in late April of 2015 it was clear that before things got better they were going to get worse. Community organizers and city officials struggled to stay on top of the growing discontent of [...]
The William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute, Inc. developed the following mini-unit on the 2015 Baltimore Uprising in collaboration with the Maryland State Department of Education and The Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture. We also conducted a one day professional development workshop which included examining the Devin Allen exhibit [...]
Join The William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute in collaboration with the Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture and the Maryland State Department of Education in a one day professional development workshop on the 2015 Baltimore Uprising. Pariticipants will learn about the uprising, its causes and consequences through the photography [...]
New Black Leadership By the middle of the 1880’s there was a shift in Baltimore’s African American leadership. The Republican hold on the black community was beginning to be reexamined. African Americans questioned the propriety of supporting candidates who only used their support to get into office and once elected did not follow through on [...]
Baltimore’s Black community has been fighting for adequate public education for our children since the Baltimore City Public School system was established in 1829. Many of the issues we were fighting for in the 19th century we are still struggling to acquire today. Initially we merely sought access to the public schools. While we paid [...]
