A picture of my son and daughter each sitting at their own desk in my home office with headphones on staring into their laptops. It was August 2020 when I returned to teaching as a co-teacher as my kids started kindergarten and 9th grade online.
Check-In:
I started teaching at about 5 years old. I would line up my stuffed animals, with Raggedy Ann in front, and reteach everything I learned in school that day. I had a full chalkboard and expected nothing but excellence from my students.
My first official teaching job was as a 9th-grade English teacher in East Harlem, NYC. My students came to me with a full range of abilities. There were those writing their own poems and stories to those who struggled to write a full sentence. I had the autonomy to do grammar lessons when necessary and teach metaphors/similes using the popular music of the day. The texts we used ranged from Shakespeare to Toni Morison to Piri Thomas. Every lesson was tailored to what my students needed.
I loved being a teacher.
The tools and resources described in this week’s book Conscious Classrooms: Using Diverse Texts for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice by Allison Briceño, Ed.D. and Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Ph.D. would have made me a better teacher.
I am still teaching and learning. I may not have a traditional classroom anymore but in my coaching, training, and writing, I’m always looking to add knowledge, perspective, and understanding to those I’m working with every day. And for me to be effective in these roles learning and unlearning are as important as teaching. That is what Owen shares in our conversation.
Teacher Appreciation Week was last week. I do not remember this celebration when I was teaching or as a student but apparently, the first week of May has been dedicated to celebrating teachers since 1984!!!
I’m so thankful for my own teachers particularly Ms. McCreath who was my high school history teacher and introduced me to Zora Neale Hurston. I’m thankful for my teacher friends and family who continue to support students through circumstances I could not even fathom when I first started teaching. I’m also thankful for my children’s teachers.
What are you teaching and learning today?
#mondaymotivation: “By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.” —Latin proverb
Interview with a Leader of the Global Majority:
Owen* was the Senior Director of Equity Programming & Design for a national CMO for over two years. The comments below are Owen’s and do not reflect the opinions of his school system.
Mary: What type of learning did you do and continue to do to feel confident to take on your role?
Owen: I spent many years in my role as a school leader and as a school leader manager participating in professional development on communication, instructional coaching, stakeholder management, personal motivation, leadership coaching, mentorship, and understanding the purpose of schools. This was all before I began to explore the socio-political nature of schools and the monolithic archetype of school leadership that was anchored in a deficit-orientated expectation for Black and Brown students.
Owen: It was through becoming knowledgeable about educational policy interpretation, white supremacy ideology, the school-to-prison pipeline, and local and American history that began to understand the assumptions made about communities of color in both neighborhood and school design as well as school and district leadership preparation. I continue to seek opportunities to strengthen both my facilitation skills in cross-racial spaces as well as pushing groups of color to recognize how internalized racism manifests in interactions and decision-making within our own communities.
Mary: What have you learned and unlearned about your identity, upbringing, and other formidable experiences since taking on this role?
Owen: I have had to face a tremendous amount of self-doubt, endure hyper-vigilance as well as fully interrogate the privilege that comes from being Black, but also being a male. Imposter syndrome challenges my psyche and emotional health consistently as I continue to navigate primarily white spaces within the senior leadership of my organization.
Owen: The feelings of constantly needing to monitor my physical and emotional (self-care) safety as well as those around me permeates both my professional and personal public lives. However, as a male, there are several opportunities and allowances that I’m permitted that are not shared by my colleagues that identify as female or non-binary, especially those of color. The pride and honor that was instilled in me regarding my racial identity and my history by my family as a child have constantly been challenged as a professional.
*name changed
You can read more from Owen in “Leading Within Systems of Inequity in Education: A Liberation Guide for Leaders of Color”. Let me know if you would like to be interviewed and/or recommend someone to be profiled in this section.
What I’m Reading: Conscious Classrooms: Using Diverse Texts for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice by Allison Briceño, Ed.D. and Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Ph.D.
About the author(s): Allison Briceño, Ed.D. and Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica, Ph.D. are both former bilingual teachers who are now professors
Book Audience: Specifically K-5 literacy teachers plus other teachers and anyone who supports the use of diverse texts in the classroom
Book Overview:
This book provides a “how-to” for using diverse texts in the K-5 literacy classroom. Each chapter starts with a big idea that is unpacked through examples and research followed by tangible tools and templates. It then ends with a teacher profile explaining how they have integrated the big idea into their work.
Some parts of the book that I appreciated the most:
Chapter 2: The authors show how culturally responsive practices connect to how you teach from the perspective of - the teacher, the student, the curriculum, and the assessment/data. (p 49)
Chapter 3: The authors give nine criteria for selecting books as well as tools on how to use the criteria (p. 67)- 1. author/illustrator; 2. copyright date and loaded words; 3. illustrations; 4. storyline; 5. lifestyles; 6. characters and the relationships among them; 7. author’s perspective; 8. historical and cultural perspectives; 9. effects on a child’s self-image
Chapter 4: This chapter talks about using diverse texts across your literacy block. The lesson plan template provides a structured way to analyze the texts you’re using in your class and then how to integrate them into your pedagogy (p. 111)
Chapter 5: This chapter focuses on diverse texts outside of the literacy classroom. Tool 5. 2 (p 141) provides a list of questions to consider when selecting diverse texts for math and science.
Chapter 6: This chapter focuses on conversations and communication in the classroom. Tool 6.1 (p. 166) gives discussion prompts for students to engage in conversation with each other. The two voices from the field (p. 170 and p. 172) also give important insights into ensuring the conversation doesn’t fall into tropes and misconceptions.
Chapter 7: This chapter directly tackles any resistance a teacher may have to integrate diverse texts into their classroom. They provide possible solutions to 5 common concerns they have heard from teachers (p. 178) as well as a list of reflection questions (p. 191) a teacher can use to target where their resistance is coming from.
The final page (p. 201) is an observation tool for discussions about diversity that would be helpful for coaches and administrators.
Overall, this book is incredibly helpful for a K-5 literacy teacher and for those who fall outside of that target population, you will glean some insights as well!
Next Book: Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter by Manuel Pastor and Chris Benner. You can find a full list of my book recommendations here. Please note that I am an affiliate with Bookshop.org and receive a small compensation for your purchase when you use the book links provided.
Resources:
Would you know what to do if you saw someone being harassed in public? Belittled in the office? Intervening effectively is a skill. Right to Be, formerly known as Hollaback, is a nonprofit that offers bystander and de-escalation training, among other services. Find out more here.
The latest Fakequity blog post warns of the use of the word “ALL” when talking about equity. There is a link to a previous post that opens the door to a variety of resources.
“The State of Chinese Americans," is a result of nearly 6,500 U.S. participants who answered in-depth questions about their politics, cultural identity, health, economic security, and social engagement. You can find a link to the report here.
Upcoming Events:
ASCD Author Workshop
I will be facilitating a 2hr virtual workshop for ASCD: Leading Towards Liberation as a Leader of Color on Wednesday, May 24th from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM EST. You can register here.
Austin Area Book Talk
On Thursday, June 15th at 5 pm join a conversation between myself and Dr. Angela Ward. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Liz Garcia. The event will be held at the Round Rock Public Library. You can RSVP here.
If this is your first time reading, please go back and read my Introductions post.
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. If you like it, please share it with your network!