Supporting and Celebrating Black Male Educators

If you think you are beaten, you are

If you think you dare not, you don't,

If you like to win, but you think you can't

It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow's will

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are

You've got to think high to rise,

You've got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But soon or late the man who wins

Is the man who thinks he can.

- Walter D. Wintle

More information can be found at www.socialchangeleaders.net

Across the USA Black Male Educators make up about 2% of all educators despite research indicating the impact educators of color have on all students. Black Male Educators are faced with so many challenges in the field of education. From isolation, racial bias, racial inequities, self hate, tokenism and the simple fact that the system was never designed for people of color let alone black men.  Jonathan C. W. Jones is developing a socially innovative approach to supporting all educators, especially Black male educators, so that they can better serve all students.

Jonathan is a seasoned award winning educator, founder of Ideation4, working with educators, schools, districts, nonprofit professionals and under resourced communities through grant workshops, coaching, consulting and innovation. He believes in the power of ideas and helping others realize they have the power to make their ideas into reality.   

This publication is created in the spirit of decolonizing these educational oppressive challenges and UpLift current Black Male Educators

In this episode with Jonathan we talk about:

• Jonathan’s unique path to becoming an educator which included mentoring, starting college in his mid-20’s, discovering that he loved research and continuing on to earn a masters in special education.
• With 94% of teachers spending their own money on classroom expenses and an  average teacher spending $740/year, Jonathan shares how he works with educators to find more funding sources and how this work led him to starting his own business, Ideation4.
• Jonathan stresses the importance of storytelling in the work he does and shares his belief that while storytelling has caused much harm it is also the way that we will be able to heal.
• His new philanthropic innovation, UpLIFT, is dedicated to celebrating Black male educators in the USA combining vivid visuals and reflections to combat oppressive experiences.
• Jonathan shares two of the challenges he faced being a Black male educator, often the only one, in a school.  These experiences fueled him to also nurture a community as part of his UpLIFT project.
• His opinion of what is missing from current teacher education and the way that professional development should be approached.
• Jonathan’s opinion about what is working and how to get more Black males into the field of teaching.

Mentioned in this Podcast:

School Leadership Expert, Principal Kafele 

FB: @ideation4

Twitter: @ideation4_sjc

Instagram: @ideation_4

Website: https://www.ideation4.com

Jonathan C.W. Jones - Jonathan has worked in the field of education for over 25 years as an educational aid, special education teacher, instructional coach and administrator. He is an educator and social entrepreneur focused on empowering people to voice their ideas, tell their story and secure resources to do Good for their communities. As an educator he experienced first hand a variety of inequalities in his classrooms, schools  and school districts. He began researching grants to see if he could meet the needs of classroom supplies and materials to implement innovative ideas that would keep students engaged and achieving.  As his grant award portfolio began to grow he started to provide professional development training for he peers so that they could address similar needs. 

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