Essential education reporting across America

First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others thinking and writing about public education.

An adult tying a kid’s shoe. The shoe is red with blue laces.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
My teenage son has autism. Here’s what I wish his teachers and therapists understood.
I have no formal training, but I’m an expert in my child.
By Jennifer Berger
A woman’s hand pulls a book from a library shelf.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
High school students need time and space to read for pleasure. Here’s why it matters.
An English teacher and a school librarian in NYC launched an effort that is helping teens increase their reading stamina.
By Lauren Davenport and Marie Southwell
 
A blond toddler sits on his dad’s shoulders. His mom looks up at him smiling.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee First Person
Without paid parental leave, I went back to teaching three weeks after giving birth
My experiences led me to fight for change for Tennessee teachers.
By Kathryn Vaughn
 
A child practices writing the alphabet.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
When my daughter was being treated for cancer, her teacher worked from the hospital
Miss Anne Marie, a teacher with NYC’s Hospital Schools, taught elementary school from the pediatric cancer ward.
By Jessica Phillips Lorenz
 
Muslim-Americans hold signs as they protest the continued infiltration and monitoring of local Muslims and Muslim community organizations.
First Person First Person
What Gen Z needs to know about 9/11 and its aftermath
Many lessons focus on what unfolded on that terrible Tuesday without examining the devastation that followed.
By Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher and Deepa Iyer
 
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Want to share your own story?
By Becca Aaronson
 
A teacher in an empty classroom places notebooks on desks.
First Person First Person
Back-to-school season is an exciting, exhausting, and anxious time, even for veteran teachers like me
The question for all but the strongest, most charismatic teaching personalities: How do you want to come across to your new students?
By Richard Schwartz
 
A child’s hands hold a yellow ball of playdough.
From Chalkbeat Colorado First Person
For educators, the day before the first day of school has rituals all its own
We are lucky to work in an environment where there is such a clear beginning, middle, and end of every year of work.
By Christine Ferris
 
A Black woman wearing a green business suit speaks with a colleague.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
As school leaders, we need to create opportunities for our teachers as well as our students
We’ve failed to show many educators of color that teaching and education leadership are viable career paths.
By Garland Thomas-McDavid
 
Asian Americans are gathered at the Times Square. A man holds a sign that says, “I’m From Here.”
From Chalkbeat New York Student Voices Fellowship
What a cultural exchange program taught me about responding to racism
I wasn’t prepared for the anti-Asian racism I experienced this summer.
By Vanessa Chen
 
Two teenage girls huddle as they fill out paperwork.
From Chalkbeat Chicago First Person
I helped two migrant teens enroll in Chicago Public Schools. It was anything but straightforward.
It took a few days, but the girls who are staying at a local police station with their families are now officially enrolled in Chicago Public Schools.
By Maureen Kelleher
 
A little girl stands behind a red and white sign that says, “We can end gun violence.”
From Chalkbeat Chicago First Person
Community violence is traumatizing my students. Here’s how I help them cope.
A new study lays bare the realities of gun violence in Chicago.
By LaToya Winton
 
A black background with text bubbles all around. In the middle are the words Student Voices Fellowship.
Student Voices Fellowship Student Voices Fellowship
Interested in becoming a Student Voices Fellow? Apply here.
Chalkbeat’s 2023-24 paid essay writing program is open to high school juniors and seniors in NYC and Newark.
By Gabrielle Birkner
 
A young African American male smiles with his hands out to the side. He wears a maroon and black suit.
From Chalkbeat Newark Student Voices Fellowship
I am a Black, queer teen. I am resilient.
Growing up, masculinity meant denying vulnerability. There’s a better way.
By Dashawn Sheffield
 
A teenage girl stands in front of plants/trees. She wears a beige shirt and blue jeans.
From Chalkbeat Newark Student Voices Fellowship
Esta fue mi experiencia al transicionar de las clases de ESL a las clases regulares
Alzar la voz mientras se aprende inglés puede ser aterrador.
By Karen Otavalo
 
A shadow of a finger on a tablet screen. There’s a button that says, “Ask me anything.”
From Chalkbeat Colorado First Person
In the AI age, it’s time to change how we teach and grade writing
If we continue to treat the use of AI as plagiarism, we’re all doomed to fail. Here’s what we should be doing instead.
By Matthew Fulford
 
A pair of black Converse sneakers on asphalt
From Chalkbeat Newark Student Voices Fellowship
Here’s what it was like for me to transition from ESL to mainstream classes
Speaking up while learning English can be terrifying.
By Karen Otavalo
 
A photo of two preschool-age girls coloring on the floor.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
In preschool, one size doesn’t fit all. So why is NYC asking early educators to use a single curriculum?
I’m a preK teacher. Here’s why I think the move to a private equity-owned curriculum is a problem.
By Helen Frazier
 
A person speaks into a megaphone at Harvard University’s Science Center Plaza during a rally.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
La reciente decisión de acción afirmativa puede trastornar el proceso para solicitar admisión a una universidad.
Esta decisión reciente alienta a los estudiantes a no incluir partes esenciales de quienes son.
By Carina Cruz
 
Two police officers stand outside Denver’s East High School as students walk in the background.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Chalkbeat En Español
Mi estudiante compartió un poema sobre su temor a la violencia con armas de fuego. Más tarde ese día, le dispararon.
Me alegra que los agentes de seguridad armados regresen a la escuela, Andy Bucher escribe.
By Andy Bucher
 
A colorful hand-drawn card that says thank you.
First Person First Person
A new teaching assignment took me way outside my comfort zone
I worried that I was failing my students. Their words showed me otherwise.
By Yvette J. Green
 
A handwritten lawn sign that says “Stop Gun Violence.”
From Chalkbeat Colorado First Person
My student shared a poem about fearing gun violence. Later that day, he was shot.
It was a painful semester at Denver’s East High School. I’m glad SROs are back on campus.
By Andy Bucher
 
A young woman embraces a young man react with emotion to the news of the affirmative action ruling. They are carrying signs and embracing.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
I’m a college access counselor. Here’s how the affirmative action decision could upend the college application process.
Colleges insist that the application is a space for them to get to know a student. But this ruling encourages students to leave out core parts of who they are.
By Carina Cruz
 
A group of students are standing at a rally, carrying signs supporting affirmative action.
From Chalkbeat Chicago First Person
With the end of affirmative action as we know it, let’s demand more from our elite universities
These institutions have helped reinforce racial and economic inequality. It’s time for them to expand their seats and open satellite campuses in under-invested areas.
By Lina Jean Fritz
 
Two high school graduates wearing blue gowns throw their caps into the air.
From Chalkbeat New York Student Voices Fellowship
The pandemic defined my high school class in painful and precious ways
This year’s graduating seniors were freshmen when COVID first closed schools.
By Jasmine Harris
 
A teacher walks around a high school classroom helping his students.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
Why NYC teacher evaluations don’t yield meaningful feedback
I love reflecting with teachers, but I hate the evaluation process.
By Jeremy Kaplan
 
A family at a college graduation ceremony // Una familia en una ceremonia de graduación universitaria.
From Chalkbeat Newark Student Voices Fellowship
How a phone call with my grandma takes me back in time
The women in my family haven’t had the opportunities now before me, but their stories made mine possible.
By Karen Otavalo
 
A family at a college graduation ceremony // Una familia en una ceremonia de graduación universitaria.
From Chalkbeat Newark Student Voices Fellowship
Cómo una llamada de mi abuela me hace retroceder en el tiempo
Las mujeres de mi familia no han tenido las oportunidades que yo, pero sus historias hicieron posible la mía.
By Karen Otavalo
 
Several parents and their children wait outside of a school building before the start of a summer program. They are all wearing protective masks.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
My kids were among 45,000 NYC students locked out of Summer Rising. The city can do better.
Demand far exceeded spots in the city’s free summer program, leaving families scrambling.
By Nancy Randall
 
Two little girls sit on the floor of a library read a book together.
From Chalkbeat Philadelphia First Person
I work with struggling readers. Here’s what’s standing in their way.
It’s heartbreaking to realize that I never taught many of my former students to read.
By Bridget Scanlan
 
A hunk of wood and metal bar sit in the center of a near pitch dark room in the basement of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. A sign reads, “The Paradox of Liberty.”
From Chalkbeat Newark First Person
I was hired to write a Black history curriculum. Then I was asked to walk back key concepts.
I was told that topics such as white supremacy and intersectionality would make it difficult to sell the curriculum.
By Rann Miller
 
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