Mastery For All with Mr. James O'Neal

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 11, I engage in a captivating conversation with Audra McPhillips, exploring the critical question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Audra, a mathematics instructional specialist and coach, brings a wealth of experience in math education, offering profound insights into how educational systems and teaching methodologies may inadvertently sustain systemic biases. We...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of our engaging series, I am joined by Zack Stoutimore for a deep exploration into the complex question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Zack, with over 15 years of experience in math education, shares his insights, focusing on how the teaching and learning of mathematics intersect with societal and cultural factors. Our discussion delves into the heart of ed...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 9, join me for a dynamic and insightful discussion with Dr. Kristopher Childs, focusing on the provocative question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Dr. Childs, an educator, professor, and leadership consultant, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. We explore the essence of mathematics, its historical context, and how its teaching methodologie...

Send us Fan Mail Join me in Episode 8 for a stimulating discussion with Richard Bobinchuck, a K-12 Educational Consultant. We dive into the challenging question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Richard, with his extensive experience in mathematics education, offers a unique perspective, examining the historical contributions of black and brown mathematicians and the role of systemic factors...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 7 of our podcast series, I engage with Antwan Allen in a stimulating dialogue on the intricate question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Antwan, with his deep experience in education, brings a nuanced perspective on how mathematical education intersects with societal issues. Our conversation explores the nature of mathematics as an objective discipline and how its...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 6, I delve into a thought-provoking conversation with Jen Arberg, exploring the nuanced question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Jen, with her 24 years of experience in math education, offers a unique perspective on this complex topic. Our discussion navigates through the aspects of math instruction, the impact of teacher biases, and the importance of fostering p...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 5, I am joined by Adrienne Baytops-Paul for a compelling exploration of the query: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Adrienne, with her extensive background in math pedagogy, brings forth an enlightening perspective on the accessibility and representation in math education. The episode navigates through the importance of culturally responsive teaching and the signif...

Send us Fan Mail Join me, James O'Neal, in an illuminating Episode 4, as we delve into the heart of a critical question with our esteemed guest, Rolanda Baldwin: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Rolanda, with her unique journey from an engineer to an educator, offers profound insights into the nuanced layers of racism in math education. In this episode, we explore the challenges of a pro...

Send us Fan Mail Dive into a groundbreaking exploration with me, James O'Neal, as we delve into an eye-opening conversation with Christopher Roblesz in our third episode. This episode is a profound journey examining the question, "Is Math a Racist Subject?" Through Christopher's expertise, we unravel the nuanced layers of racial biases in math education access and the transform...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a captivating episode of our series, where I, James O'Neal, engage in a riveting dialogue with Dr. Kimberly Melgar. Together, we delve into the heart of a crucial question that resonates across classrooms and communities: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" This episode promises a deep dive into the nuances of math education, examining the intersection of teachin...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a thought-provoking journey with me, James O'Neal, as we dive deep into a critical question: "Is Math a Racist Subject?" In this eye-opening episode, we're joined by the remarkable Joe Loftstedt, a luminary in the field of math education. Joe brings to light the systemic challenges and biases within our educational structures, especially as they pert...

Send us Fan Mail Listen, this podcast is going to set you on 🔥🔥🔥.  Because I bring it!!! I'm just going to let this sit right here... ALL KIDS DESERVE GRADE LEVEL INSTRUCTION!!!!! I'll just leave it where it is!  #MasteryForAll I would love to hear from you.  Please feel free to reach out info@mrjamesoneal.com

Send us Fan Mail From 2012 to 2019 I went to every McKeesport graduation except for one because of my brother's 30th birthday trip 😂.  However, I went to every graduation because it was the culmination of my time with my students!  They walked across the stage and I walked with them becasue I was a part of them getting this place. I took pride in knowing that.  I take pride in knowing that m...

Send us Fan Mail People always ask people who do great things, how do they stay balanced? I was in a service one day and I heard a preacher say that life is not about balance it's about rhythm.  When he said that, a light bulb went off.  No one asked Jordan how balanced he was when he won all 6 rings.  No one asked Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, TD Jakes, Nadal, Federer, Usain Bolt, about b...

Send us Fan Mail For seven years, I taught in a school district where I was the only black male teacher of the district.  This was out of 2 elementary schools, one large middle school, and one high school.  The previous black male teachers retired the year before I joined the district and I stayed the only one for the next 7 years.  Though I was the only black male teacher, 45% of the school ident...

Send us Fan Mail In 2019, McKeesport, PA, was named the 4th most dangerous city in America of cities with more that 10,000 people, according to Alarms.org . I taught in this district for 7 years until 2015. Yes, this district had its challenges; however, the school, Founders' Hall, became an oasis for those kids and for us teachers because we were family! Teaching here taught me a lot. It sho...

Send us Fan Mail I did not know anything about honors classes until my 8th-grade year when I was invited to take Algebra 1 as an accelerated class by Mrs. Simmons. I knew the gifted kids always left our classes and did other things; I just never knew why I was never invited. After teaching for the last 15 years, I have realized several truths about students who end up in honors classes. They have...

Send us Fan Mail I remember the time when I had a lesson that was a total disaster , even though I had hoped to impress some important folks from the State. Needless to say, it didn't go as planned, and I felt like I let everyone down, including my principal, who reminded me that my job was at stake. I was really down on myself because I knew I could do better. But instead of giving up, I pic...

Send us Fan Mail Happy new season to all of you! I am thrilled to announce that Season 2 is finally here, and I couldn't be more excited. During the past few months, I've taken some time away to reflect and learn, and now I'm ready to share some amazing content with you. In this podcast episode, I'll be discussing an important topic that's been on my mind lately: the conne...

Send us Fan Mail Aftermath: a club after math class that focuses on the aftermath of black boys pursing after math .  Yeah, it's a pun and it's intentional. My school is made up of 60% Black students.  Out of that 60%, 50% are males.  In 8th grade, Math 1-2 is the highest math class offered at my school.  It is split into semesters.  The first semester is Math 1 and the second semester i...

Send us Fan Mail 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞!!! When I was growing up, 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞.  I grew up in a time when 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴, 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.  As I gotten older and became a teacher, the world changed.  𝗪𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠!  Some of it has led to great change while other pa...

Send us Fan Mail 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐥𝐥!!!! Research has proven 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 again that one of the 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 of students' success are 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.   𝗪𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐀𝐍, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮...

Send us Fan Mail One day I chose to interview the 𝐭𝐨𝐩 performing 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 students at my school and asked them 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭.  𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.  Their parents were the 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 why they performed at the level they performed.  𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬!! Though there are 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 that get in the way of p...

Send us Fan Mail There are has been much talk surrounding this subject over the past couple of years.  𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐨𝐧-𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 says that Culturally Responsive Teaching is “𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬”. 𝐂𝐑𝐓 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡.  Today I want to encourage four mindset shifts...

Send us Fan Mail This is the last day of Black History Month and this episode is dedicated to my Black teachers that I've had throughout my educational journey.  So this episode is dedicated to Mrs. Davis, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Satchel, Mrs. Burrus, Ms. Veale, & Dr. Lee Stiff. Many people go throughout their K-12 and even college journey without having any Black teachers and especially Black mal...