Professional Growth

Educators in the first several years of our career, we not only need support in navigating our new schools and classrooms, but also in creating community with our colleagues and focusing on our own careers. Here is a list of resources curated by fellow early career educators. 
  • Race Equity & Social Justice

    • Teaching Tolerance - A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance provides a variety of resources for addressing diversity. In addition to the links below, they have a lot of great information.
    • Colorful Pages - Founded and directed by, Teaching Tolerance Educator of Excellence and WEA member, Kaitlin Kamalei Brandon. This website aims to help educators, families, and librarians explore the use of multicultural literature/diverse books to cultivate cultural empowerment and crosscultural empathy in our students.
    • My Black Timeline - Early career educator, Charlotte Lartey, shares her experiences growing up Black.
  • Educator Resources

    • Rethinking Schools - Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. They provide resources, magazinebooks, and other resources, to promote equity and racial justice in the classroom.
    • Teacher Talk Podcast - Listen to and get tips from educators talking candidly about education related topics. 
  • Professional Growth Opportunities

    NEA is now offering micro-credentials for educators:

    A micro-credential is a short, competency-based recognition that allows an educator to demonstrate mastery in a particular area, such as creating a safe learning environment for LGBTQ students or education policymaking. Our micro-credentials are grounded in research and best practice and designed to be:

    • Personalized: You can create your own learning journey, based on your interests and career goals; gaps in your skills; and the specific needs of your students, school, and district.
    • Flexible: You can study when it’s convenient for you, alone or with your peers.
    • Performance-based: Unlike “sit-and-get” certifications, NEA micro-credentials are awarded based on demonstrated mastery of the subject matter, not just for showing up.

    Learn more and sign up here.

  • NAKIA Academy

    APPLICATIONS ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED. THEY WILL REOPEN IN EARLY SUMMER.

    Do the following statements accurately describe you?

    • I am passionate about guiding beginning educators and I wish I could have connected with people who looked like me as mentors when I was beginning my career.
    • I am dedicated to making sure those who are beginning their education careers are going to practice their work through a lens of race, social and economic justice for all.
    • I believe that healthy social/emotional support for all educators, but newer ones in particular, is one of the most important indicators of success.

    If these descriptions resonate and you are highly motivated to build powerful mentorship skills that will greatly impact the field of education for years to come, then NAKIA Academy is for you.

    NAKIA Academy, named for a fictional unsung hero and a humanitarian whose philosophy includes lifting others up, is a new program bringing together 70 educators of color (in two cohorts) over a four-month period for a total of 34 hours of thinking, learning, interacting, skill-building, and fun.

    NAKIA Academy is a mentoring and leadership academy by BIPOC and open to BIPOC. The Academy’s purpose is to keep newer educators in the field by identifying and training veteran BIPOC educators who can support, mentor, guide, and build with the next generation of BIPOC leaders.

    Click here to apply today. 

  • Book Suggestions

  • Self-Care Resources

    • Therapy for Black Girls - Therapy for Black Girls is an online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls.
    • Balanced Black Girl - Balanced Black Girl is a top-rated health podcast and digital platform connecting Black women to Black women health and self-improvement experts.
    • Liberate Meditation - Build a meditation practice with leading BIPOC meditation teachers.

More resources

For more resources, check out the WEA Racial & Social Justice page.