The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues

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Archive for October 2013

Final exams in high school--unnecessary

I hate high-school final exams—giving them, not taking them.  Nineteen years ago when I started teaching in the Chicago Public Schools, I avoided giving them because I never saw the point.  If students already demonstrated their learning in writing assignments, large and small, and took a few multiple choice quizzes to show me if they... Read more »

By Ray Salazar,
October 29, 2013 at 9:35 pm • 

Chicago Public Schools students benefit from dual-enrollment courses

Franco La Porta, a senior at Hancock High School on the Southwest side, writes about the value of this partnership between Chicago Public Schools and the City Colleges of Chicago in this guest post. There isn’t an instruction manual for college. We can’t just look up, “how to go through college,” on YouTube and hope... Read more »

By Ray Salazar,
October 24, 2013 at 12:16 pm • 

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• About the Blogger

  Since 1995, Ray has been an English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools.

  In 2017, thanks to a former student, Ray received a Distinguished Secondary Teacher Award from Northwestern University.

  In March 2013, The White Rhino tied for second place in the Best Blog category of the Education Writers Association's national writing contest.

  Ray earned an M.A. in Writing, with distinction, from DePaul University and received National Board Certification.

  His writing aired on National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio many times. His editorials appeared in the Chicago Tribune and on CNN's Schools of Thought blog, as well as on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' Web site. He's also written articles for NPR's Latino USA, Latino Rebels, and NewsTaco.

  For thirty years, Ray lived in Chicago's 26th Street neighborhood. Today, he lives a little more south and a little more west in the city with his wife, son, and daughter.

  Photo credit: Eric Ortiz @eo_ot on Instagram

• The Blog’s Title

  This comes from a conversation with another Latino English teacher when we met a few years ago. He said I was the only other Latino English teacher he knew: "We're white rhinos."

  According to National Geographic, there are about 20,000 southern white rhinos struggling to survive in the wild.

  The last male northern white rhino in the world died in March.

  Like the animal, Latino English teachers exist in low numbers. And we know the low number of Latinos with college degrees in our city.

  Therefore, I have a perspective that, like the white rhino, must fight to exist. The writing here includes my responses, reflections, reactions to Latino- and education-related issues.

• Like The White Rhino

• Recent posts

  • Guiding Principles the Chicago Public Schools Curriculum Equity Initiative should adopt »

    Ray Salazar on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted Friday at 10:37 am

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    Ray Salazar on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted Monday at 12:55 pm

  • Chicago Public Schools student loves basketball jerseys but fears the trouble they bring »

    Ray Salazar on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted May 13, 2019 at 9:36 am

  • Chicago Public Schools and city leaders break ground for new Hancock College Prep building »

    Ray Salazar on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted April 29, 2019 at 9:41 am

  • Chicago Public Schools students evaluate Lori Lightfoot's mayoral victory speech »

    Ray Salazar on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted April 4, 2019 at 3:43 pm
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