The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues

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Archive for December 2017

Chicago Public Schools Leaders Continue to Ignore Unsafe Conditions in Southwest Side School

During this holiday season, Chicago Public Schools students prepare for concerts in school auditoriums that can accommodate guests and students’ creative expressions of drama and music. But not at the city’s newest and only Selective Enrollment high school on the Southwest side: Hancock College Prep. For over a year, Hancock’s auditorium, which can accommodate an... Read more »

By Ray Salazar, NBCT,
December 4, 2017 at 10:36 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, and a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from DePaul University. He's been a National Board Certified Teacher for over ten years.

  He graduated from a neighborhood Chicago public high school.

  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.

  Ray is also a powerlifter and an aspiring guitarist.

  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: Rocky Jara @RockyJPhotography 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

  • The eulogy for my father who looked beyond his circumstances and loved norteño music »

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

  • Latinx Chicago Public Schools valedictorian highlights what class of 2020 must ask itself »

    Ray Salazar, NBCT on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted June 15, 2020 at 12:57 pm

  • When we find answers to old questions during the pandemic »

    Ray Salazar, NBCT on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted May 27, 2020 at 8:23 pm

  • Stop telling Chicago Public Schools students they're falling behind during the COVID-19 pandemic »

    Ray Salazar, NBCT on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted April 21, 2020 at 3:58 pm

  • Help students understand Covid-19's disproportionate impact on communities of color »

    Ray Salazar, NBCT on The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues
    Posted April 10, 2020 at 12:48 pm
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