Blog

Many of the barriers to participation within schools exist because of a lack of awareness of differing needs. Barriers can be removed, and access can be increased by first exploring what some of these barriers are and how we can learn to notice them in the behaviors of ourselves and others. A barrier is an obstacle that prevents an individual or group from accessing certain services or opportunities. A barrier can be physical (e.g., s...

This year was hard. The media announced that schools were “back to normal,” but we know better. All of us, educators, students and families have endured unprecedented traumas. And just when the school year was ending, we were emotionally assaulted by school murders in Uvalde, Texas and two shootings at high school graduations here in Louisiana. Now we are facing summer, many of us separated from our school community where we can share...

Summer is the perfect time to deepen your professional toolbox and learn new skills and techniques to become more effective in your classroom and school. SELF’s knowledgeable staff have gathered some resources for busy educators and compiled them here. Coursera offers mini classes taught by professors from universities all over the world. One of our staff recently took Anti-Racism I and is signing up for Anti-Racism ll from the Unive...

Here is our a list of what SELF’s staff is reading for pleasure this summer:  The Talented Ribkins – Ladee Hubbard– A New Orleans author writes a fun and weaving fiction inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois' famous essay ''The Talented Tenth'' and fueled by Ladee Hubbard's marvelously original imagination Interior Chinatown- Charles Yu- A heartfelt and funny novel that tackles the stereotypes and perce...