Buffalo School Staffer Named TIME’s Innovative Teacher Of The Year

This week Fatima Morrell received an amazing honor for her hard work within the Buffalo School system and her response to the tragic mass shooting that took place on Jefferson Avenue on May 14th.

Morrell was named one of TIME's Innovative Teachers of the year presented by Verizon, for her work developing an anti-racism curriculum and related response to the supermarket shooting in Buffalo this year.

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She was highlighted along with 9 other educators for changing the landscape of education in America and demonstrating outstanding leadership.

Overall, the 10 finalists of the TIME Innovative Teachers Project have helped students with disabilities get placed in STEM careers; made unaccompanied minor immigrants feel welcome in the U.S.; connected students around the world on video chat; planted micro-forests to teach ways to fight climate change; and designed video game lessons to teach anti-racism.

During her interview with TIME Magazine, Morrell spoke about what led to the creation of the anti-racism curriculum in the Buffalo Schools.

We had been doing some work around equity and diversity in our curriculum, to begin with. But then, when George Floyd died, it kind of pivoted. We wanted to create a curriculum that addressed systemic oppression and racism and Black Lives Matter. It was not something we could ignore. We wanted to create some foundational teaching strategies to center joy, but also equity, empathy and cultural relevance in the lives of our students and to edify Black and brown voices in the curriculum.

You can read the whole interview HERE.