Quotable Akua
The following is a list of quotes from
Dr. Chike Akua that have been shared during
keynote presentations and
TeacherTransformation! seminars
around the country.
"Master teachers are, first and foremost, diligent and determined students of the craft."
"Master Teachers and Master Administrators find ways to transcend politics, policies, procedures and paperwork to meet the needs of the Children."
"Uncommon accomplishments require uncommon
commitment!"
"Education is identity restoration."
"Most educational research focuses on problems. Master teachers focus on potential and possibilities rather than problems and pathologies."
"Master teachers understand that culture is the key. They use culture as a bridge rather than a barrier to exceptional achievement."
"INFORMATION + INSPIRATION = TRANSFORMATION!"
"Master Teachers simply say, 'send me a student, I'll send you a scholar.'"
"Master Teachers are able to transcend politics, policies, procedures, and paperwork to meet the needs of their students."
"Everyone learned their ABCs using rhythm and rhyme and no child got left behind. Why is it the older children get, the less we use songs, choral reading, rhythm, rhyme, and rap?"
"If you know how to use rhythm and rhyme, you can teach your lesson in half the time!"
"If a teacher has been miseducated, (s)he can only pass on the same virus of miseducation to their students. You cannot teach what you don't know. Teachers must engage in serious study from those that get results not from those who give excuses."
"Our children are victims of identity theft. Someone has stolen their identity of excellence, intelligence, and achievement and made them believe they're supposed to be pimps, playas, thugs, and criminals." Identity determines activity. Education, therefore, is about identity restoration."
"Many teachers know how to teach their subject, but do not know how to teach children. Tap the Spirit and touch the Soul. If we have not done this, we have not taught at all."
"Educational researchers has proven time and again that culturally responsive teaching methods increase student achievment. So if our teaching is not culturally relevant, then we as educators are not relevant."
"Mastery is not a mystery. Master teachers get more than test scores. They get exceptional results. They transform the norm." They study those who get results.
"Many students don't achieve because their teacher does not expect them to; as a result, the teacher does not hold the student to a standard of excellence and achievement. It has been said 'no one can rise to low expectations.'"
"The primary difference between Dial-up internet service and DSL internet service is that DSL is faster--much faster. Our children are brilliant--their minds often process information and images rapidly. We wonder why children become bored and disengaged in the learning process. It is because we have trained a generation of 'Dial-up' teachers to educate a generation of 'DSL' students."
"Africa is the birthplace of humanity, the cradle of civilization. A number of scholars have proven over and over through meticulous scientific research that every discipline had its genesis and full expression in Africa: reading and writing, language and literature, science and technology, agriculture and astronomy, engineering and architecture, mathematics and medicine. It all began in the Motherland."
Teachers must expose their students to the African origins of the discipline they teach. If you say, 'my discipline has no African origin,' you have just shown me how miseducated you really are!"
"The three biggest mistakes that teachers make relative to the teaching of African history and culture are:
1. They relegate the teaching of black history to the shortest month of the year (February).2. They begin the history of Black people with slavery or the Civil Rights Movement leaving out thousands of years of tremendous contributions in every area of human endeavor.3. They teach nothing about it at all."
