Nate
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jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Nate
@jessenathaniel.bsky.social
270 followers 170 following 710 posts
Black. Special Education administrator. Holding fast to the belief that education and restorative justice can meet the political moment. Committed to racial justice inside & outside of school.
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jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I attended my oldest’s kindergarten parent-teacher conf last week. This part about advice really resonated. My son is more than fine academically, but still working on the social side. The way she laid that out was considerate and she engaged it as more an invitation for partnership than criticism.
“As a young teacher, it was easy for me to judge my parents' decisions. If they would only just (FILL IN THE BLANK). As I've gotten older, though, and made many, many mistakes, I better understand that we are all doing our best given our current resources. This does not mean that I ignore opportunities to offer caring advice for my students' wellbeing. It means that I try to help without judgement and resentment. I assure parents that, even though things are tough, their child will be okay as long as we all continue to love and support them, and help them develop healthy habits. My job, as a teacher, is to lovingly push my students to grow in all academic areas.” “But I also take seriously my responsibility to help students grow to be happy and healthy human beings. I offer my students compassion and encouragement. I've learned that motivation through encouragement is stronger than through fear of disappointment. Sometimes, my encouragement can feel like a push. I'm a warm demander; I expect a great deal of my students and convince them daily that they are brilliant.”
November 11, 2025 at 2:39 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
This is endlessly fascinating to me: why do politicians left of center seem so reluctant to stake a claim as a voice in defense of public education while the right vomits out myriad losing arguments
“Call them Park Slope Populists or the emergent coalition of the precariate, voters who are both highly educated and struggling to survive financially officially arrived as a political force this week. Which led to consternation among certain conservatives about the right's inability to speak to this constituency.(See, for example, Fox's Jesse Watters mocking Zohran Mamdani's voters as women who majored in southeast Asian feminist literature when they should have gotten a degree in finance or the hard sciences, or economist Stephen Moore insisting that college leads to socialism.) But here's the thing. Centrist Democrats have nothing to say to this constituency either. Presidential aspirant Rahm Emanuel wants to rally the nation around a vision of restoring the American Dream, "one student, one opportunity at a time." As Jack Schneider and I wrote last year, this message fails utterly with voters who followed the Democrats' prescription for success, only to struggle economically. The big question, one that I'll be exploring on this page and elsewhere in the months to come, is what do Mamdani and other left-wing populists have to say about education? The answer so far seems to be 'not much.'”
November 8, 2025 at 10:22 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Just to expand this a bit: the Gates small schools program is a great example of an idea that might’ve made sense at a given moment — and even had community support! — but had a number of blind spots. We have to find ways to better center the humanity of communities. oaklandside.org/2024/12/11/t...
Screenshot #1 from the Oaklandside article, “The small schools movement remade Oakland education. Is this the end?” It reads as follows: "It becomes difficult to argue a level of personalization when kids are learning new adults year after year after year. We cannot underestimate the impact of teacher retention on small schools," LaShawn Routé Chatmon, the executive director of the National Equity Project, then Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools, told the Oakland Tribune in 2009. “What eventually killed the small schools movement, Adam said, was a state takeover in 2003 and the 2009 recession. “Receivership meant there were constant changes in district leadership and a revolving band of state administrators leading the district. Combined with concern from the teachers' union over work hours, Adam said, support eroded for the autonomous schools. The financial crisis in 2009 meant that OUSD had to lay off teachers en masse, decimating the newer small schools that had less-experienced teachers. The layoffs prompted some of those schools to petition for charter status, Adam said.” Screenshot #2 from the Oaklandside article, “The small schools movement remade Oakland education. Is this the end?”. It reads as follows: “Some have dual-immersion programs, special education resources, or newcomer support systems that aren't available at every school. Creating these school communities and cultures required deliberation and input from school staff, students, families, and the community. To mash two schools together simply because they share a campus is to threaten that careful work, said Christsna Sot, a teacher at United For Success Academy. "To build a school, it's not just the building and structure, but the people in the school," Sot said. "It takes years to build and create a culture. With that merger happening, it feels like that would have to start all over again. “Sot attended Calvin Simmons Middle School, which closed in 2007 and then became United for Success and Peralta Creek Middle School. He was part of the first graduating class at United For Success, and noticed the difference immediately.” Screenshot #3 from the Oaklandside article, “The small schools movement remade Oakland education. Is this the end?”. It reads as follows: “Part of what made the small schools campaign successful was that it was community driven, with input from parents, neighbors, and teachers working together to create the schools they wanted to see. The merger plan feels like a top-down approach, an abandonment of the grassroots energy of the movement, advocates said. "The school district has enough experience in how making relationships with community and parents and educators is the best way to go. But it looks like we never learn," said Paulino, who today is the director of organizing and leadership formation for Faith in Action East Bay. "If we have so many years of experience already and we learned that the voice of the parents and the community is important, why are we undermining those voices again? Why are we making decisions from the top down? “Where is the voice of educators in this process?"
November 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Been verrrrrryyyyyy sloooooooooowwwllllyyyyyyyy reading Begin Again. But it’s incredible — amazing how resonant Baldwin’s words are in this moment.
Cover of Eddie Glaude’s “Begin Again” featuring a picture of James Baldwin, legs crossed, sitting in a chair.
October 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Klein has made it painfully clear that he’s so concerned with connecting to “the other side” bc he “recognizes some commonality with” people like Kirk—he literally said that while defending his article. His investment in whiteness & dividends gained cannot be ignored; it’s a MAJOR piece of all this.
An image from the quoted article with the following lines highlighted: “this tendency to latch onto any argument that helps to normalize Trump and his supporters is also indicative of how strong the incentives are within mainstream discourse to sanitize the political choices of white conservative Christians…They are just “regular folks,” and as such, they can do no wrong.” Image from the quote tweeted article with the following excerpt: “Usually, this is achieved by exculpatory tales about why they didn't mean to or had to support extremism. Maybe they were seduced by a brilliant demagogue; maybe they lack political agency entirely: Economic anxiety, anti-elite backlash, or just a reaction to Liberals being mean - someone or something made them do it. Whenever people rode waves of racial resentment to political prominence, their success has been described in such terms. Whether it was George Wallace's surprisingly successful presidential run in 1968 or David Duke's near-victory in the 1990 senate election in Louisiana.” Image from the quoted article with the following phrases highlighted: “White innocence is achieved…by decreeing that whatever a significant portion of "regular folks" are supporting categorically cannot be extremism in the first place.”
October 5, 2025 at 10:48 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
This article is not about political influencers, but the principle described 100% applies — the way these algorithms work, having some influencers paid for promoting certain interests is extremely dangerous for a democracy www.jphilll.com/p/we-have-to...
Excerpt from an article titled, “We have to defeat the slop empire of Mr. Beast”The frightening truth is that countless viewers are puppeted by the algorithm, just as many “content creators” are. None of us who use these various social media sites are above the influence of trending topics and the decisions of software engineers and the mechanics of the platforms themselves. The simple act of scrolling lets us feel in control, we keep it moving when we’re not interested, we watch or click when we are. But the options we’re fed, the entire stream we’re moving through, is curated by forces outside our control. It’s nice to browse and feel the limited power of choice, but the ultimate power lies with those who create the universe of options we’re choosing from. It’s easy to be led by the algorithm, a lot easier than swimming upstream. Talking about what everyone else is talking about, discussing the trending topic of the day, and reacting to what others are saying all makes us feel part of a larger conversation instead of isolated little internet users ranting in the dark. ‘The algorithm’ technically means the coding done behind the scenes that influences or dictates what social media users see in their feeds, but the way these platforms work we’re also heavily incentivized to talk about what everyone else is talking about and respond to the algorithm of the mob…” Continued screenshot from the article: “What everyone else is talking about becomes quantified and aggregated as ‘trending topics.’ These topics are easy. As much as we might want to make certain points and share our experiences online, we also really want to be heard and seen. And especially in the age of the influencer, we want to go viral; it feels good to get likes and clicks, and it gives us that little rush of 15 seconds of fame. But even when we don’t go viral, getting ten likes can feel a lot better than getting zero. A little affirmation, a little validation can go a long way — at least for the three minutes we get before it wears off. And so we’re all puppeted, we’re all chasing the trending topic and the favor of the algorithm. Not everyone, of course, some few people stick to their chosen topics and their personal experiences and never stray. But we see how, as with most human behavior, the vast majority of people gravitate towards the norm, towards wanting to be included and a part of.”
August 31, 2025 at 7:44 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I have absolutely loved the Taylor Townsend story for a number of reasons, but this interview from her coach really resonated — my style of coaching teachers is fundamentally about understanding who a person is/wants to be FIRST and then figuring out how to make them the best version of that self.
Screenshot of an excerpt from an interview with John Williams, tennis star Taylor Townsend’s coach: “Taylor is a freak. She didn't understand the mechanics of certain shots. It was just, “I need to get the ball to go there. Let me figure out how to do that. So I do these things, but I don't understand, which means if I need to change…”. But now her forehand is very different, and essentially every stroke is. I knew she had the talent, but she just didn't have the understanding. And because everything I do is principle-based, and I told her from the beginning, “Look, you don't have to believe anything I said, but if I'm telling you to change something, I know that I have research to back it up. I can show it to you, and it's better if you don't believe it because then you can see it for yourself.””
August 30, 2025 at 8:07 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
This was grounding for me. We all want rigor. But rigor is about the process of questioning, building new connections, considering multiple perspectives, and grappling with ideas; facilitating that requires creativity, humility, and attunement to people AND ideas. We lose sight of this sometimes.
Screenshot of an excerpt from the quoted blog post titled, “Raising the Bar” by Adrian Neibauer. “The engagement in the room was palatable, and the level of thinking was meaningful. Just as I observed with my students in their Socratic Readers Guilds (book clubs), people were able to see new connections they had not understood before. Everyone sees things differently, so it was great to watch the staff interact with each other in such a collaborative and creative way. This is the magic of combining excellent strategies: it raised the rigor of the activity while still providing multiple entry points for everyone.”
August 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I sometimes wonder whether the teacher identity aspect is taken seriously enough in school and/or PLC spaces…and I think it’s one of the things that makes the job so taxing. You HAVE to invest emotionally and figure out a sustainable way to exist in the classroom…and nothing else works without that.
Screenshot from the article linked in the quoted post below.
August 17, 2025 at 3:06 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
August 8, 2025 at 5:16 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
This fool really saw Ghostbusters II in 1989 and said, “That’s how I want people to think of me 😈”
Image of Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters II (1989) frowning with a furrowed brow in a manner strangely reminiscent of the current leader of the nation.
August 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
As we moved into the Obama years, Sec of Ed Arne Duncan echoed what Ladson-Billings said (and added further support for my long-standing belief that bad education policy is a bipartisan issue): youtu.be/qiklDTw3x8Q?...
Screenshot of a video about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, quoting former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: “Hurricane Katrina was the ‘best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans’ because it gave the city a chance to rebuild and improve its failing public schools.”
August 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
And I think this part gets glossed over way too easily: they simply fired every teacher in the switchover to charter schools. I’ve seen the numbers reported as somewhere between 5000-7500 (teachers + classified staff). www.labornotes.org/2012/08/lack...
Image of an excerpt from a Labor Notes article about how New Orleans fired all their teachers after Katrina: “The shrinking pool of veteran teachers, historically the core of New Orleans’ black middle class, is being replaced by recent college graduates, recruited from out of town by Teach for America. Besides paving the way for privatization, the firings were an attempt to kill the teachers union. “We were the strongest union in the state,” says Katrena Ndang, a retired high school teacher who worked as an UTNO community organizer after the storm. “We know that was the reason because people say to us, ‘You’re still around? I thought we got rid of you.’” For “reformers” who blame education’s problems on bad teachers and seek to cut costs, the teachers union was seen as an obstacle. Veteran teachers cost more than recent graduates and unionized teachers are harder to fire.”
August 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
A charter takeover is exactly what happened.

New Orleans was confronted with an impossible situation and no real blueprint for educating students. Chalkbeat framed the situation pretty well, extended Ladson-Billings’ tongue-in-cheek question:
Screenshot of a question posed in a Chalkbeat article: “What happens when a city with a struggling school systems gets swallowed by the sea and how does that system recover when the waters recede?”
August 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I am not from New Orleans and don’t want to pretend to be an expert on this issue, but I’ve sort of followed this from afar since about 2006 after hearing Gloria Ladson-Billings’ presidential address to AERA while I was in grad school. She concluded with the following, referencing post-Katrina NO:
A screenshot of the last page of a 2006 speech by Gloria Ladson-Billings entitled, “From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools.”: “In one scenario, we might determine that our debt is so high that the only thing we can do is declare bank- ruptcy. Perhaps, like our airline industry, we could use the pro- tection of the bankruptcy laws to reorganize and design more streamlined, more efficient schooling options. Or perhaps we could be like developing nations that owe huge sums to the IMF and apply for 100% debt relief. But what would such a cata- strophic collapse of our education system look like? Where could we go to begin from the ground up to build the kind of educa- tion system that would aggressively address the debt? Might we find a setting where a catastrophic occurrence, perhaps a natural disaster—a hurricane—has completely obliterated the schools? Of course, it would need to be a place where the schools weren’t very good to begin with. It would have to be a place where our Institutional Review Board and human subject concerns would not keep us from proposing aggressive and cutting-edge research. It would have to be a place where people were so desperate for the expertise of education researchers that we could conduct multi- ple projects using multiple approaches. It would be a place so hungry for solutions that it would not matter if some projects were quantitative and others were qualitative. It would not mat- ter if some were large-scale and some were small-scale. It would not matter if some paradigms were psychological, some were social, some were economic, and some were cultural. The only thing that would matter in an environment like this would be that education researchers were bringing their expertise to bear on education problems that spoke to pressing concerns of the public. I wonder where we might find such a place?”
August 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Here’s the protocol we used, but let me know if you have any questions!
August 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I work in a school where there would be immediate pushback from myself or some other leader in the room if anyone said this … and when I talk about the need to pivot from “SEL curricula” to primarily focusing on educator mindsets/dispositions, creating a culture of leading w/curiosity is part of it.
Screenshot from the first paragraph of the linked article from Edutopia. The paragraph reads as follows: “In countless schools I’ve visited as a social work supervisor, I’ve heard frustrations from educators centered around student motivation. I’ve sat in classrooms and team meetings where teachers have said things like “This student is just lazy” or “They’re not pushing themselves, they’re just being difficult.” These assumptions, while often made out of genuine concern or exhaustion, are typically rooted in a misunderstanding of what we are actually witnessing: not defiance, not disinterest, but emotional overload.”
August 3, 2025 at 12:03 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Whenever I see people talking about teaching things efficiently and didactically, I wonder when they imagine time for fostering these “modes of engagement” with the world.

Our goal is not simply to fill kids’ heads with facts to be proficient at taking tests.
Image of an excerpt from the article linked below about modes of engagement fostered by the humanities. Image of an excerpt from article linked below about the habits of mind cultivated by studying humanities.
July 28, 2025 at 8:19 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Saw this on the other app and it seems relevant — essays are one form of expression and I think they do have value (similar to the value of reading whole books, there’s value to the extended articulation of ideas). But we live in a world with other effective forms of expression… so… 🤷🏾‍♂️
A series of three tweets from Matthew R. Kay on July 23. They read as follows.. Is this the year that ELA teachers need to authentically plan for a post-essay world? I’m legitimately thinking about the ramifications of 1) Google eventually fully integrating language models into docs, and 2) parents starting to see the ability to write via AI prompt as an equity issue. Both of which are bound to happen in the nearest future.
July 25, 2025 at 6:35 PM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
I don’t have any good answers to this even though I began my career as “the tech guy”…but this question from that 2008 article is going to ring in my head for a while: we all see what’s happening here, but do we see a problem with it? And do we laugh off the question or slow down to think about it?
June 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Back in 2008 — in response to LAPTOPS — McFarlane begs a question that was as simple as it was prescient: why are we not more carefully and patiently weighing the cost and benefits of this thing we’re spending so much time on? Why are we in such a rush to embrace technology?
June 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Schooling has gotten increasingly transactional for decades for numerous reasons (that others have detailed well); tech has only intensified that — as schools have faced more and more pressure from various directions, the focus on speed and efficiency of information flows & “content” continues.
June 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
To be clear, I was already well-aware of our ongoing technology fetish — my first job in a school was as a computer lab director. But what’s particularly striking is how similar the underlying concerns are: tech implementation necessitated a move away from the human aspects of education.
June 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Any of these concerns look familiar to anyone?
June 24, 2025 at 5:35 AM
jessenathaniel.bsky.social
Picture of John McCain smiling with his arms extended and hands open.
June 22, 2025 at 5:59 PM