Ep30: Markus Flynn - Black Men Teach

Ken and Paul are joined by the Executive Director of Black Men Teach, Markus Flynn. The mission of Black Men Teach is to recruit, train, place, and retain Black male teachers in elementary schools. Their goal is for each of their eight partner schools to have 20% of their teaching staff be Black men within six years, by which time they will have built a pipeline that will provide 100 Black male elementary teachers within ten years. Markus explains why representation within elementary school teachers is so important, and the gap that persists: for example, there are roughly 63,000 teachers in Minnesota, 220 of whom are Black men, and of that probably 50 or less are elementary school teachers. This episode discusses: - Why students identifying with, and seeing themselves in, teachers is so important. - The impacts that unconscious bias have on influencing expectations and the tremendous implications teacher expectations have on students. - How making school culture more equitable is critical to recruiting and retaining Black male teachers. - The impacts Black male teachers can have for students of all races to eliminate unconscious biases and build relationships, particularly at a young age. Learn more about Black Men Teach: https://blackmenteachtc.org/ Watch the full conversation with Markus on TMWM's YouTube channel, where you can watch all interviews with guests: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHiYVNqxYKmHkxvTwquc2KA Read Ken and Paul's takeaways from the conversation with Markus: https://themodernwhiteman.com/the-blog Connect with The Modern White Man by subscribing to their newsletter at www.themodernwhiteman.com.