Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Real Love: Teaching Strategies For Reaching Students Who See No Way Out @twstedteaching

Author and Educator, Alexes Terry uses her personal story to illustrate the power of building relationships with students to meet their deep social, emotional, cultural, and learning needs.
REal Love book

Real Love: Teaching Strategies For Reaching Students Who See No Way Out @twstedteaching

By Melody McAllister, Guest Blogger

REal Love book

Alexes Terry is pretty amazing.  When we talked on Monday in a LIVE stream on Facebook, she openly admitted to being born a crack baby.  And yet, looking and hearing her, I would have never known or thought of the fight she had as a young person through adulthood to become the woman she is today: a wife, mother, educator, and author. She is a change maker who uses her personal story to illustrate the power of building relationships with students to meet their deep social, emotional, cultural, and learning needs. In her new book, Real Love: Strategies For Reaching Students Who See No Way Out from EduMatch Publishing, she shares that journey with her readers.  It is painful but also full of joy.  She freely admits how much she hated and dreaded school, and as an educator herself, she uses that knowledge of her youth to combat the alienation in the students she serves. 

I have the privilege of knowing Alexes as a friend and colleague.  Supporting her work is easy for me because I know her heart and am amazed by her journey.  Drug-addicted parents, in and out of jail, raised by her grandmother and Uncle Benny, at one point, life felt hopeless for Alexes.  How often do we have students in our care who feel the same as she did? Do we notice them? Do we know how to care for them? Have we been guilty of letting them go without much concern?  

If the answers to those questions left you feeling sick to your stomach, I want to offer you some hope.  I don’t remember in teacher college of learning how to deal with the most challenging of students and their parents. We weren’t trained on building community or learning how to comfort parents and their kids who have been left behind or traumatized in our public school system.  The truth is, our public school system has left many children behind. Those children grow up into mistrusting young people and then into mistrusting parents.  When their own children enter school, there is no trust for our institution or in us as educators.  And many times the cycles of leaving school, or feeling like there is no way out plays out in painful statistics. 

So I hope many of us will read this amazing book.  I’ve read the first half and I’m ready to hold it in my hands to complete. Alexes uses personal anecdotes to keep readers engaged and thoughtful.  It’s deep but not draining. Which is pretty miraculous because Alexes truly did defy all the odds with her fighting spirit along with a few high school teachers who truly reached out after seeing promise in her life. Altogether, they propelled her on to do great things–like we should be doing for all students. 

Congratulations, Alexes, on your new book with such an important and timely message! But even more, well done for defying the odds and showing educators the power of creating equitable learning spaces that meet the needs of all students.  You have been a blessing to the school communities you have served in, and your message will continue to bring change.  

Find this book on Amazon at bit.ly/realloveedu and click here to see our LIVE conversation on Facebook.

Follow Alexes Terry on her social media accounts. Alexes also proudly brags on her former student, DeAnthony Robinson, who designed her cover.

5 Easy Steps for Teaching with Digital Tools

Introducing digital tools into your teaching can seem challenging at first. There are many tools out there, and it might feel like there’s a lot to learn. But with easy steps for teaching with digital tools, you can start simply and gradually. There’s no need to dive in all at once – just take it one step at a time. Taking easy steps for teaching with digital tools starts with trying something!

Read More »
Students Prepare to Present

Help Your Students Prepare to Present

Maximize student success in presentations with ‘Speaker Notes by AliceKeeler,’ the ideal Google Slides add-on. Enhance how students prepare to present with easy transfer of speaker notes to Google Docs, promoting effective communication skills. Dive into the world of engaging, technology-aided presentations and empower students to shine in their academic endeavors. Discover the key to transforming student presentations into interactive, skill-building experiences.

Read More »

Infographic 7 Basic Steps for a Google Form

New to using Google Forms? This tool is essential for teachers to not only save time but to be adaptive to student needs. Use Forms to survey students, play games, personalize instruction, and assessment. This infographic on the 7 basic steps for a Google Form will help you get started.

Read More »

Online Workshop: Get Your Add-on Published

How can you make Google Workspace (Docs/Sheets/Slides) even better? You can create custom Add-ons with Google Apps Script. Wondering How to Get Your Google Workspace Add-on Published? Join Alice Keeler, Google Developer Expert, to learn the steps to get your Add-on officially published.

Read More »

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d