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Emma Siesfeld has spent the last 10 years in public education as a teacher, coach, and administrator as well as designing and implementing support for students with disabilities that promote skill growth and independence. Dreams for education How do we support all students to be motivated, engaged, and develop their skills for success? When asked about the big dreams Emma holds for the field of education, she replies that she wants education to feel empowering to students. She wants students to feel like their voices matter and whatever they contribute is valued. Emma believes that learning can be fun and engaging to students. We just have to make sure we are caring enough as educators to make it different. As a teacher, one of our biggest goals is to make sure students feel prepared and ready for the future. Students would ideally make progress every day with the tools they’re given and come out feeling powerful in their lives and the world. Taking direction from students and their communities Emma discusses how in our standard teacher training, we take what has traditionally worked for us and then when it comes time to teach, we sort of take that same model and apply it to our students expecting it to work for them. But there are many students who will struggle with your methods because they have different learning obstacles and strengths than you. So, we have to be willing to pay attention to these needs and honor the child in that way. Another way to change our mindset is to not think of students learning when they want to. Instead what if it’s students learn when they can? This brings in a responsibility to teachers and school leaders to figure out how we can make the school setting and the learning more equitable for students who are underrepresented. “I think there are a lot of ways in which we are not fully in control...to make sure students get what they need, but certainly, looking at what we have within our roles and trying to figure out and identify exactly what we can do to really support students so that they're in a place where they can learn.” Strategies to support all students It can be scary to experiment with new methods. Changing the model can feel uncomfortable but Emma shares that it just comes down to being more open and courageous for the sake of a supportive learning environment and for student growth. Remind yourself that it’s okay to stumble or to not get it right when trying new ways. You don’t have to be perfect about it! To help yourself make the journey easier, be open to transparency with your students and even their parents if that helps. This encourages social emotional skills that we want students to learn as well. Another thing you can do is talk with peers and coworkers. Share your feelings around those challenges and ask for some advice on strategies that they might have tried in the past. You’re likely to get a lot of encouragement and new ideas by opening up about it. One key strategy Emma reveals is partnering up with parents so that they can make sure everyone's on the same page with knowing what that student/child needs to be supported by the school and parent. To hear Emma walk me through several strategies from her amazing guide, listen to the episode, and feel free to share what what strategies resonate with you! To continue the conversation, you can head over to our Time for Teachership Facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries. Until next time leaders, continue to think big, act brave, and be your best self.
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What do you do when facts don't seem to matter? One of the most common questions I get when facilitating with teachers and district leaders is how do I teach for justice without feeling like I’m indoctrinating my students? There’s a line that teachers and leaders want to walk, afraid to go too far into radical ideas. There’s also the point that the facts are always being put up for debate. Dr. Ayo Magwood’s article goes over how to have a historical, scientific approach to anti-racist education. She says “I do not allow classroom debate over whether structural racism exists. As Hess and McAvoy (2104) argue ‘That is inauthentic and problematic to allow students to debate settled empirical questions,’”. She is stating some questions have factual answers. Then there are policy questions which are debatable because they are a matter of opinion on how certain factual issues should be handled. Making these distinctions are a way for us to be able to hold important discussions while the facts remain important. Perspectives Consciousness Approach The other piece of this is that you should be teaching the history and sociology on these empirical topics but when it comes to the debatable parts, you might want to take a perspectives consciousness approach. This approach was made by Robert Hanvey in 1976. It centers on how we all have different views and that’s because our positionality is so varied. The intersection of our different identities is what influences our perceptions of various issues. Seek out the perspectives of multiple people instead of taking your perspective as the universal one. We see this happen with both children and adults. There’s this ‘If I didn’t see it happen or if I didn’t experience it, then it didn’t happen’ type of mentality. “This is something that is applied to the policy solution question; It's not applied to a factual question or an empirical question because then we run the risk of universalizing our personal perspectives. If we say ‘this is my truth and therefore it is fact, it is true for everyone’, that becomes problematic.” Truth decay Another helpful resource is Dr. Jon Wegin’s book, “Deep Learning in a Disorienting World”. The author explains the importance of deep learning and how to take steps towards that. One of the terms in his book is “truth decay”. Truth decay has been found to be caused by the following:
“What we're trying to do is to motivate students to latch on to that emotional piece and support action, the motivation to complete the worksheet or to complete the project or to apply the skills, whatever it is, but that emotion is really critical.” This kind of discourse thrives with equal parts challenge and confidence. We don’t want students getting too frustrated with challenges but just enough that they are able to figure it out. We also want confidence so that students are motivated to keep trying even if they don’t have success the first few times. All of these main points from each author can be practiced by students, teachers, family members, etc in order to build more capacity for discourse that challenges, transforms and promotes racial justice. To continue the conversation, you can head over to our Time for Teachership Facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries. Until next time leaders, continue to think big, act brave, and be your best self. TRANSCRIPT in this episode. I'm covering what to do when you are teaching for justice, you're teaching social studies, english, math science, whatever class it is and the facts just don't seem to matter, How do you teach for justice when the facts don't seem to matter. We're going to dive on in bringing in theory and practical steps from a variety of brilliant scholars get ready for a great episode. Hi, I'm lindsey Lyons and I love helping school communities envision bold possibilities. Take brave action to make those dreams a reality and sustain an inclusive, anti racist culture where all students thrive. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach, educational consultant and leadership scholar. If you're a leader in the education world, whether you're a pro principal superintendent, instructional coach or a classroom teacher excited about school wide change like I was, you are a leader and if you enjoy nerd ng out about the latest educational books and podcasts, if you're committed to a lifelong journey of learning and growth and being the best version of yourself, you're going to love the time for teacher ship podcast. 00:01:13 Let's dive in. One of the most frequent questions which I have talked about before on this podcast several times that I get when I am facilitating with a group of teachers, a group of instructional coaches or school or even district leaders is how do I teach for justice when it feels like I am indoctrinating my students or that's the response that I get from parents or I'm fearful of that response from family members or from students and so this idea of how to what I've heard phrased as walk the line between teaching for justice and remaining neutral or whatever other words that we throw in. There is a real concern for many teachers and many leaders. And so as I continue to search for answers and find strategies and approaches to handling this situation that many educators find ourselves in. 00:02:19 And so what I have today is really focused specifically on the idea that facts don't matter or that the facts themselves are being challenged. And how do you teach and facilitate discourse in a class setting or even a larger school setting when we're thinking about colleagues speaking with one another and discussing matters of justice, how do we do that if the facts seem debatable, are up for debate or we're bringing in facts that are actually not factual, How do we handle that? And so I want to bring in a bunch of different scholars to speak to this. The first person I want to bring in is dr Ayo Magwood, her amazing article, which I will link to in the show notes kind of summarizes her approach as she speaks with edge and facilitates professional development on how to have a historical approach also rooted in an economic approach and behavioral science approach to anti racist education. So how do we do this when facts are kind of up for debate? 00:03:23 She says, quote, I do not allow classroom debate over whether structural racism exists as Hess and Mcavoy argue that is inauthentic and problematic to allow students to debate settled empirical questions. And so what she's saying here is she divides kind of these issues that often come up in conversations about racial justice into two categories. And that's what she is referencing there with Heston Mcavoy, right? This idea that some of the questions, some of the things that we're going to discuss, those are empirical questions. So there is a factual solution. We can cite facts, we can answer those questions. We have a clear answer for them, and then there are policy questions. And so those policy questions are questions about what to do with the facts in front of us, Right? So open policy questions are a matter of opinion and ideology. We can debate them settled empirical questions have a clear answer. 00:04:28 There's a lot of credible experts who have brought to light and researched the evidence around these. So we don't debate those questions. We can debate the policy questions How do we respond to the facts in front of us to the situation in front of us that the facts support? I think that in and of itself is a huge shift in thinking when we ask that question, how do I teach this? When facts don't seem to matter? Well, facts have to matter. We're an educational institution, facts have to matter. And that is a clear delineation of we have a clear answer, right, for example, structural racism exists. We can see that here are the numbers. And as dr ragweed says in her article, right? She doesn't just say structural racism exist. End of discussion. She provides all sorts of sources and information for people to dig into the students uncover this. They realize that the evidence is there and there's actual discourse about it. 00:05:30 It's not a debate of the facts, but it's a conversation about maybe source credibility or research methods. Or, you know, what other questions come up. And how do I find those answers? And where do I go to get those answers? So that it becomes this real investment on the part of the students in uncovering what those factual things are. And then we can debate the policy implications. So how do we actually solve this problem? Once we know structural racism is real? How do we solve it? And there are a variety of options to go about doing that. We can discuss those and have those matters of opinion. So that clear delineation, I think is very critical as we're thinking about teaching for justice and as leaders facilitating conversations for justice amongst our colleagues as a way to also model how teachers are going to do this with their students. The other piece to that right, she says, uh the empirical questions, right? The question of does structural racism exists? We want to teach that history provide the economic backing, all of those pieces that are missing from students awareness, We want to teach that, right? 00:06:38 Because those have real factual answers. But for the policy questions, right? The question of what should government do about structural racism For this? She says it's really helpful to take a perspective consciousness approach. This perspectives consciousness approach was coined by Robert Handy in the 1976, in reference to cross cultural communication. He talks about how our differing viewpoints are really products of our position, al itty right? So are different identities, the intersection of those various identities, our experiences, our cultures, those experiences that position al, itty those identities. That's how we are able to understand various issues, and we need to seek out the perspectives of other people instead of what often happens. Universal. Izing our own personal perspective. So, if I didn't see it happen, it didn't happen, kind of thing. We hear that a lot in student discourse, we hear them not an adult discourse as well, right? If this is my personal experience, I haven't personally seen this, it doesn't exist. And given all of the things that dr Raglan talks about and facilitates professional development about right, that history and economic context that were often missing the factual pieces, right, that were often missing. 00:07:50 To answer these empirical questions, tells us that, you know, redlining and segregation, and a lot of these different facts are the reasons that we don't see perspectives that are different from our own We don't see structural racism in our face. If we're living in a predominantly white community, right, that is something that we need to seek out information for. We can't universalize our perspective. And so that's a perspective consciousness approach which I think many social studies teachers, many teachers generally are advocating, but just to be able to delineate right. This is something that is applied to the policy solution question. It's not applied to a factual question or an empirical question because then we run the risk of universal izing our personal perspective if we say this is my truth and therefore it is true for everyone that becomes problematic. So being able to delineate those two things I think is a huge jump in the right direction. Now is also reading dr john morgan's book Deep Learning in a disorienting world, which is a phenomenal read. 00:08:55 And he talks about truth decay. He talks about a lot of things and a lot of reasons why deep learning is really critical and how to achieve deep learning. So, I will definitely be speaking about that on the podcast later, maybe even inviting doctor working on for a conversation, but he talks about how researchers have identified four major causes of truth decay and this is from the research of cabin on rich one. Humans proclivity to cognitive bias, right? We have cognitive bias. We all do to changes in the volume and dissemination of information led by cable news and social media leading to quote self reinforcing feeds of information. So that's the second thing we are constantly, particularly because of algorithms and social media and that cognitive bias we talked about in point number one, all of these things are contributing to us having self reinforcing feeds of information. So we lose out on that perspective consciousness piece that we were just talking about three and this I think is really critical for educators. 00:09:59 Again, we're talking about the causes of truth decay here. Our educational system has reduced the emphasis on civic awareness and critical thinking. Critical thinking is something that we often hear in educator speak, but it is often divorced from the perspective of power and I would add related li that it is divorced from civic action or activism. So civic awareness, civic engagement, civic action, activism. Whatever word you want to use. This is a critical piece. When we look at the Foundation of education and what we often say that we're doing in education, we're preparing students to exist in a democracy. This is a huge component, but we often shy away from it. That fact is one of the reasons that we have truth decay. Just take a moment to let that sink in. And finally, number four polarization of the electorate into isolated communities, each with its own narrative and worldview again, back to dr magnets point right about knowing our history, knowing the economic background of structural racism. 00:11:09 We know this isolation is rooted in white supremacy. That factual piece of information helps us to understand why this polarization is happening, why perspectives consciousness is difficult to attain. Now. Dr Wigand goes on to talk about embodied cognition to paint the picture of what is a powerful learning experience. And he talks about Kolb's experiential learning theory. But what I think is really powerful is this sense of embodied cognition which comes from a carny, Sharon Miriam and her colleagues found when we take on issues of social justice and they looked at college settings here. But I think this applies to high school as well when we as teachers and as educators take on issues of social justice, but we only do it in kind of this academic, abstract disembodied way. It's not connected to students personal experience, not connected to civic activism and engagement. Like we talked about before, What that leads to is, yes, students can analyze critically, become very adept at this, but they're not able to actually apply those skills so we can analyze, but we can't actually take actions even when the researchers simulated real life. 00:12:22 It wasn't even real life, it was simulations of real life, students didn't really know what to do, how to act. And so this piece of civic engagement and civic awareness and activism is really critical. We can't just talk about it and academic sense and this reminds me of a chapter that Dr Sherry bridges, Patrick and I recently authored, which takes a figure from juan Carlos cycles is facing difficult conversations figure from his book adaptive capacity and it talks about the four different quadrants of discourse and we want to get to generative mobilizing discourse that is liberating transformative. It's discourse that engages our emotion offers challenge and promotes racial justice. And so that's where we all want to be, that's where we want our students to be, that's where we want to be as individuals, That's where we want to be with our colleagues and facilitating this kind of mobilizing discourse, culture and our organizations. But what often happens is we fall into one of the other three which either keeps us in an equilibrium that reinforces patterns of the past or kind of kicks us into this disequilibrium that is not generative, it's not mobilizing, it doesn't lead to action or change. 00:13:34 One of those quadrants is intellectualizing discourse. And so when we have discourses that intellectualize, they keep things very academic, they are ignoring the root causes. They are looking at theory and scholarship and reading books, but there's no link to emotion, there's no link to application that keeps us in this equilibrium state. We need to kick start a little bit of dis equilibrium so that we can have generative change and generative conversations that lead to change. And so emotion is a big part of that. One of the things that Dr Worthen writes about in his book is that motivation we often talk about student motivation in school, right motivation is the link between emotion and action and I found that really helpful as a frame. So we have to have that emotional connection. 00:14:37 We talk often about engaging students by having real life projects or authentic assessments or at a very minimal level word problems that you know, incorporate students names or interest. And so what we're doing there, what we're trying to do is to motivate students to latch onto that emotional peace and support action, the motivation to complete the worksheet or to complete the project or to apply the skills or whatever it is, but that emotion is really critical motivation comes from that emotion. And one of the things dr morgan talks about is there is an optimal tension or there should be an optimal tension in a really powerful learning experience. When we're talking about deep learning, we have an optimal tension between challenge in dr bridges, Patrick's generative mobilizing discourse, it has challenged as a key feature of this type of discourse. The optimal attention kind of points here, one is challenge, the other is confidence. 00:15:40 So, when we think about the God sees zone of proximal development as educators, that perfect amount of challenge that enables students to not get super frustrated to not make the task impossible, given their specific level of skill, in the given moment we want to be supportive, we want to create the conditions for the students to be successful. And again, we also want to do this as leaders with our colleagues as we're facilitating conversations about justice at a collegiate level at an organizational level. So we want to have the challenge. We want this to be something that is difficult and challenging and pushes us. But we also need enough competence. We're in the zone of proximal development and we're not falling flat on our face so that we never get back up and try it again. This optimal blend of kind of supporting competence and also pushing a challenge is really critical for students, adults, everyone really to be motivated to engage. That's another piece of this question that always comes up. It's not just how do I, you know, remain neutral and teach for justice. 00:16:45 Another underlying part of that question that often remains a nonverbal ized is how do I not turn off the people who are not willing to engage just like all of us, we are caught in that cycle of information that reinforces our existing beliefs right? Because of the social media algorithms, because of the cognitive bias that we all have as human beings. How do we engage all of our students and all of our family members honestly in this conversation without completely shutting them down. First. Just to recap these points, Doctor Magwood tells us to really think about that idea of empirical questions versus policy questions, teach the facts. We don't debate those and then we open up conversation for the policy solutions using perspective consciousness and the idea of position Al Itty from Dr Wiggins book that idea of embodied cognition, the importance of application, not just academic intellectualizing, recognized that truth decay is happening. 00:17:50 A huge piece of this is because there's a missing civic awareness, civic engagement activism component. The optimal tension needs to exist between challenge and competence and what we're striving for is what Dr Patrick calls a generative mobilizing discourse. Organic, liberating, transformative discourse engages our emotion, it challenges us and it promotes racial justice and we have to build capacity and we can build capacity for those pieces. In an earlier episode of this podcast, a intro dr Sherry Bridges Patrick about the four capacity building practices that folks can't apply and practice both by themselves and with others. And so this is something to encourage students to do, to encourage ourselves to practice both in professional and personal capacities and as leaders of an organization to encourage colleagues to practice as well. I also think it would be great for families to be able to practice these capacity building practices. Schools could invite family members in as kind of a school facilitated conversation. 00:18:55 Family members could facilitate those conversations themselves, we could have students take home some assignments that involve having generative mobilizing discourse or practicing given capacities at home many of these, their interpersonal and so these practices could be something that students practice with families at home. Thus bringing family members into the practice as well. I know that there are many questions that remain unanswered. This podcast episode is not going to address all of those questions, nor is it going to make the idea of teaching for justice to the practice of leading for justice easy, It is not easy, it is challenging, it is complex. There are many points which we are probably feeling uncertain or unsure of how to proceed. There's a lot of questions that go unanswered, but hopefully this gives us a frame to be willing to engage and get started in this work challenge one another, think big these things are possible and doable now I'd argue must be done. Act brave when we recognize that these things can be done and must be done. 00:19:58 It takes bravery and courage and you all have that to teach and lead with bravery and courage and make sure that you're taking care of yourself so that you bring your best self to the class to the workspace your families, that's what it's going to take to engage in that generative mobilizing discourse with one another. Thanks for listening, amazing educators. If you loved this episode, you can share it on social media and tag me at lindsey Beth alliance or labor review of the show, so leaders like you will be more likely to find it to continue the conversation, you can head over to our time for teacher Ship facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries. Until next time, leaders continue to think big, Act brave and be your best self.
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Dr. John Littlewolf grew up in the city of Cass Lake on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation of Ojibwe, one of six bands comprising the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. He began his law enforcement career with the white earth tribal police in 2009. During his career, his positions included patrol officer, domestic violence and sexual assault investigator, and criminal investigator. He’s currently a conservation officer. He holds a Bachelors in Criminal Justice, a Masters in Public Safety Executive Leadership, Masters in Leadership & Change, and a PHD in Leadership & Change. John has always been an advocate for his Indigenous community. John is also a published author of a book of brilliant poetry and a self described activist. What does poetry do for us? Poetry has the power to reveal the common emotions and experiences that a group of people go through. Take John’s poetry for instance. His poetry teaches us about resistance, ancestral wisdom, fighting for freedom, and more. When talking about his start with poetry, Dr. Littlewolf connects poetry to his early life experiences. It was a way to process the emotions and thoughts that came up days later. He sees it as a gift that will remain a part of him no matter what. “For me poetry is...It was always there. it was this underlying river, if you will. It was always there in my experiences. It would be delayed. So I would go through something, whether it be loss or an experience and days later, what I believe was my consciousness, or my spirit, was putting it together...and days later, it would become something I never expected. Some of them, I look at them like oh my God did I write that?” No need for rules Being able to transmit emotion across space and time is a necessary part of the work to fight for justice and celebrate Indigenous culture according to Dr. Littlewolf. He shares that being able to feel these intense emotions after reading something by a poet was what inspired him in the first place. He wished that in his school, he could have been introduced to it sooner. Reading and writing minus all the rules and the standards removes the barriers that may inhibit students from writing for expression, creativity, and growth. “Nobody told me that you could take away the rules. You could just write what you feel and you don't have to write in a box. I didn't discover that until I was 26. And I wish I had discovered it sooner. I wish there would have been a teacher or a mentor or something along the way there.” How poetry connects with identity and activism Oftentimes, where poetry and activism intersect is right alongside identity. The things you may fight for or against are usually something that affects you to your core. So being able to translate those feelings into words can be therapeutic and helpful to your own activism. Not to mention, as a teacher, it’s a way of understanding where your students are coming from. If you used it to say I would like you to write down what you're feeling right now, that could make a real difference in teacher-student relationships as opposed to making assumptions about why certain students are behaving a certain way. John mentions how much it uplifts him to see the younger generations in his Ojibwe community achieving more and more success each year. These celebrations and the ability of Indigenous populations to overcome the deeply rooted effects of settler colonialism and violence are what current and future generations need to know about. So the writing continues. Of course, the barriers are still there. The U.S. still fails to meet the demands being made for justice. And so once again, the writing will continue. To continue the conversation, you can head over to our Time for Teachership Facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries. Until next time leaders, continue to think big, act brave, and be your best self. TRANSCRIPT Dr john Little Wolf grew up in the city of catholic on the leech Lake indian reservation, he is anish knob, an enrolled member of the boy sport band of Chippewa. He began his law enforcement career with the white earth tribal police in 2009 as a patrol officer and later the leech Lake tribal police in 2011. During his career, his duties have included patrol officer, domestic violence and sexual assault investigator and criminal investigator. He is currently a conservation officer. The Shakopee Community education includes bachelor's in criminal justice from the Mid state University, a master's in public safety, executive leadership from ST cloud State University Masters in leadership and change from Antioch University and a PhD in leadership and change from Antioch University. He focused on law enforcement culture and trauma during his doctoral studies and his dissertation police officer, trauma in rural Minnesota. A narrative study was published in january of 2020 john has always been an advocate for his indigenous community. Currently, he is the Minnesota indian affairs representative on the Minnesota, violent crimes coordinating council and is also their community engagement and prevention committee chair. 00:01:03 He also serves as support member for the american indian family center in ST paul john is also a published author of a book of brilliant poetry and a self described activist. Get excited for my conversation with dr john Little Wolf. Hi, I'm lindsey Lyons and I love helping school communities envision bold possibilities take brave action to make those dreams a reality and sustain an inclusive anti racist culture where all students thrive. I'm a former teacher, leader turned instructional coach, educational consultant and leadership scholar. If you're a leader in the education world, whether you're a pro Principal Superintendent instructional coach or a classroom teacher excited about school wide change like I was, you are a leader and if you enjoy nerd ng out about the latest educational books and podcasts, if you're committed to a lifelong journey of learning and growth and being the best version of yourself, you're going to love the time for teacher ship podcast, Let's dive in. Dr john little Wolf, Welcome to the podcast. I just read through your professional intro, but is there anything you'd like to add to introduce yourself to our audience? 00:02:25 Sure, john little Wolf is my english name, my indigenous name is Midge Mckee, I'm a snob, which is our people's name for ourselves, otherwise known as Ojibwe here in Minnesota, the meaning of my name means second thunderbird in english throw that in there. I'm here in Minnesota and happy to be joining you today. Thank you so much for sharing that as we think about this idea that I think we both connect with. We are, we're both in the same program of leadership and change together. We're both passionate about poetry and justice. This idea, I think really encapsulates all of that for me. Dr Bettina Love talks about it. It's called freedom dreaming dreams grounded in the critique of injustice. And so I'm really curious to know as you think about dreams grounded in the critique of injustice. What is your freedom dream for either education in your life, the world's in general? I thought a lot about this question in the last couple of days. 00:03:27 The thing that comes to mind is this my indigenous identity and a dream grounded in an injustice, is living and existing today because we have to first live as indigenous people first. That's that's given and that's a celebration in itself given historical genocide given um the unique assault that the United States government did in its own laws and its own policies against my people. And so the celebration today looks different than it did say 100 years ago today. It's it's graduation season right now. We're in May and I get to see these indigenous celebrations on my, on my facebook feed, I get to see the next generation coming up and I get to see the walk for them being just a little more easier. The same way that my parents set it up for me just a little bit easier and I had privileges that they didn't, it's mind boggling. We think of this historical genocide as being multiple generations ago. No, it was my grandparents time away, you know where my parents lived through this stuff and it's it is a victory in itself to to just be alive first, but then more so to even celebrate the accomplishments such as graduations, such as getting a job, such as all these life things that happen as we talk about poetry and we're gonna talk about poetry a lot in this episode. 00:04:51 How do you see that fitting into this freedom dream? This celebration for me. Poetry is it was always there, It was this underlying river, if you will, it was always there in my experiences and it would be delayed. So I would go through something, whether it be loss or an experience and days later, what I believe was my consciousness or my spirit was putting it together and days later out would come something I never expected. And it was always some of them I look and I'm like, oh my God, did I write that or that? I couldn't write that again if I had to that sort of mentality. And it's a surprise and it's a gift and I've come to value it as a gift. Poetry. I it'll always be there. It predates my career, it creates everything else. And yeah, I hope to leave a little behind or something. You know, I love that. It makes me think about, I can't remember the author now, but how the ideas of everything we write are actually in the world, they're just in there and we just have to like reach out and grab them and let them flow through us. 00:05:57 And I've always thought that was profound because I've done the same thing when I look back and oh, I wrote that and so that's so powerful, I think especially for Children, right, when we think about Children and educational spaces who maybe don't love writing because what writing has been to them historically in traditional school is a five paragraph essay following this formula and using these sentence starters and it totally doesn't connect with them as people or to justice or celebration or any of the things we value. So I appreciate that you're naming that there can be joy and celebration. I talk a lot about mindset being important to transformational work and education. So what mindset shifts do you think are important to being able to achieve the dream that you describe its emotion in its pure form. I mean it's it's encapsulated. It's the best thing that we have to a container for this motion and transmitting that across generations is this is the amazing part that I've always loved. 00:07:00 And so if we can transmit this emotion, then we can transmit other things. We can transmit this fire. Take for example, one of my favorite poet, activist, john Trudell, when you read his work and his activism and the time that he was in it just it lights something inside of you and I wish I had been exposed to him younger. I wish I had found his work when I was younger because it gave so much, it just lined up perfectly with what I was feeling at the time, but I couldn't put words to it. And so I see it as a catalyst for connecting inward with myself and then connecting outward. So, that is so incredibly well said. And it makes me actually think about, I'm reading our mutual professor john morgan's book now, Deep Learning, and he talks about a deep learning experience being emotional and dr Sherry Bridges Patrick, who we both went to school with, talks about generative, mobilizing discourse being connected to emotion. And so this idea of emotion as this powerful force for learning and growing and connecting. 00:08:05 I love that idea of connecting inward and outward externally. I think this is a huge mindset shift if we can think about learning in that way, as opposed to which worksheets by printing out for my students today. It is transformative when we think about it this way. Absolutely. I didn't know that, that, you know, writing in school and things like that, Take away the rules and I could write without those rules. I've always been able to write, you know, that's been a strong point, but nobody told me that you could take away the rules. You could you could just write what you feel and you don't have to write in a box. I didn't discover that until I was 26 and I wish I had discovered it sooner. I wish there would have been a teacher or a mentor or something along the way that I'm from a small town and there was not any artistic programs. There wasn't any we had banned in sports that was about it. As for creative writing. No, that was never tapped. And so it's set empty unused. 00:09:08 It was there. It was just yeah, manifesting in some unhealthy ways sometimes. So I'm glad that I found it. And today I'm a staunch advocate with people that I talk to. You can just, right, you don't have to write in this box and and be in prose or be in this or be in this this stanza form just just right and it comes. So that's been my style and that's exactly how my poetry comes. It's just a a flash, a regurgitation of emotion, a quick explosion. And then there it is. I love the idea of taking away the rules because even when we teach poetry as a unit in L. A. Or something, it's often very much like here are the ways you can be a poet, you can write a limerick. You can write, you know, like just take those rules away and let the emotional pieces flow through. You could always clean it up after adjust some words or whatever. If we don't start there with that emotion, that thing that needs to come through us and come out onto paper. 00:10:12 We're not really teaching poetry. We think we're teaching poetry, but we're really teaching rules for people to fit in boxes and poetry as activism and poetry for justice. It's getting out of those boxes. Absolute. poetry and activism. I should say for your audience, I am an activist. I stay active in a lot of causes and I find voice in that and I find meaning in that it goes with my identity. And yeah, it's just another lens to see the world with and and translate the world with And again, activism. Is there is there anything, you know, indigenous causes are inherently identity driven? You know, it's not a it's not a I was slighted because of something I own or some property or some third party thing. It's like, no, this hits to the core of who I am. And so you yeah, you translate that into emotion and into words and there's there's a message, I appreciate you naming that too because I think sometimes there's resistance from teachers or from leaders who are like, yeah, I'm interested in justice, but I'm not sure that I wanted to call this an activist curriculum, which I am a huge fan of right activist projects, but that's really what it is. 00:11:21 And I love that you name that it's it's not separate from identity, its core and central to identity. It is not politics. We've politicized it, but it's not politics. And so the idea of being fearful of parents or family members who are going to come in and say, are you brainwashing my child and things like that. I think that is the mindset shift, recognizing that is identity based activism is about identity and identities have been politicized, but they are not inherently political is really necessary to be able to teach like a poetry activism unit. That's absolutely essential. So, thank you for that framework, I think people need to hear that and as we think about people who are really excited to take some brave action here, what would you recommend in terms of taking action that can enable students to be able to write and share their poetry in a way that promotes justice? Absolutely. Just like I touched on my own journey was I missed out on a lot of years and, and you know, it is what it is right now and I've accepted that, but my job right now is exactly what I talked about to make it a little easier for the next generation and to tap into these younger minds and Just right, I mean, that's, that's when I got to 26 years old and I took a college writing course and, I'm like. 00:12:43 it was like intro 101, It was, that's when it started this intro one oh one college writing class in undergrad and I'm like, oh wow, okay, rewind to 14 year old john 2, 16 year old john and how I started to act out and I was acting out of emotion, pure emotion, certain things going on in my life and it was just, and what if that could have been harnessed a different way. What if I would have put voice to that, you know, almost like a recording, what if I would have saved that and there would be so much power and terrible message. They're terrible experience, their relevant experience for Today's 14 year old indigenous man was feeling exactly how I was feeling or 16 year old or you know, it just went on from there and so I keep writing of course as I go through my years, but now it's almost become a as I age and mature, it's become a responsibility to, to add emphasis to this, that there's actual meaning there, that, that it doesn't just have to be calculus and arithmetic and all that stuff that I sucked at. 00:13:53 This is there and this was my best voice. I was never a great public speaker, I would stutter, I would sweat. But when he asked me to write something out now there's my best voice. I can do that unfiltered and with the truth with the absolute truth, it makes me think of how we respond to Children who are in our classrooms or in our schools that end up in detention end up with suspension. To just imagine in that moment if instead of yelling at a child or sending a child to the office, it was accused right down for me, what you're feeling could be a written recording, it could be oral recording, each kid is going to have their own, you know, way of doing that. But that's a transformative moment to be able to say, we could go down this path or we could go down this path. What would it look like for teachers to just give students an option to sit in a quiet place in the room and just right, what you said about sharing with someone else decades later, what if you share that with the student in the grade below you or the class next door? 00:15:01 Someone else in that moment who needs to hear that they are not alone because they connect with your poem and maybe that looks like having a poetry share day every month or something where everyone gets to be able to share that wants to, there's so many classroom practices that I see coming out of what you just shared would have been helpful for you. Oh my God. Yeah. To get out of the textbook and to get into something like that. I would have loved that. I mean I would have, I'm thinking about it now, oh my God, I would have thrived in that in that kind of environment. Instead, I barely graduated high school. I literally barely graduated high school and I have a doctor today. If that tells you anything I was disconnected and yeah, I text books and boards and lecture that was not reaching me and you've published an entire book of original poetry as well. So talk about being a writer, like a published author. Very few people get to say that each l a teacher listening right now is like, yes, my students published a book of original poetry, you know, or original anything. 00:16:06 I would be ecstatic as a teacher. And what's possible is there are so many youth, especially with platforms like social media that people can also publish poetry today. They don't have to wait till they're older if they're given these publishing opportunities where a real audience can can see their work. And I think it it starts with models. So I'm wondering if you would be willing to read one of your poems for us today to inspire that teacher who's thinking about doing a poetry unit and what does that look like? Or maybe even a child who's listening who would like to see what poetry could look like. I will probably have prefaced that there is a believable word in here. So you might want to add one of those things. But it gets to the emotion of what's tapped in here. And as a teenager, my words probably one of my writings would have had lots of bleeps and that would have been raw and real. Um, but instead it was contained and colonial Ized. 00:17:09 So, okay, I have not shared this one really. So here we go on a clear night. The clouds, sidestepped my town whispering, watching me isle, the isle eyes that cut into my pockets and remember what they looked like when I walked in. Blue eyed side eye, all that's left is Minnesota unsaid. Did I come here with those shoes and that shirt smiling and closed from the finest rummage sales? Because I darkened in the sun like my father and his father before him. Because my nose is to sharpen profile, high features that plateau akin to breaking water and rising ground. My skin is rain soaked, rutted by words heavily stained from them, not minding their goddamn business. Those summers I was about to fly, forgetting my station arms held out until winter dreams that bay. These brown bodies that obey watered from their run off our branches were late. They're blocking canopy rising higher and higher, blatant cruelty, These colonial brazen games. 00:18:19 My heart raced how my hands did tremble early, from the days of stealing rhubarb to yesterday facing the hateful masses born of this life where every space is borrowed. My blame, my shame, my basic needs. That place where we garnered stories is what makes them afraid contrary to the blindness. They crave to keep us childlike, iconic, forgotten and always away for sale on the wall at the company store. My family name hangs other things float nearby in the dirty river. My father's knee. My grandfather's back. Maybe we should give medals for crazy for UNmet needs over paid dues or a charge card for intergenerational debts. We'll keep them next to the scented candle that smells of sawdust theft and that lingering smell of sweat back to those glaring clouds. Fake ass postcard of Minnesota flowers. 00:19:25 No, I'm not from bemidji or walker. Fuck you. I'm from CASS lake. The space unseen between your store, your cabin and your bar. You know those two minutes passing trees? Two faces before you make that turn ignorantly indifferent. Can you see my moonlit middle finger reflected on the lake? My gift from the bastard side of the moon. And long before I must give them back to the pines, my borrowed skin. This inherent inheritance. I will push your paper sky away and touch the cattails, the reeds, the occupied nape, the loving space of the lake. You own that which was my home, if only for one day for the lifelong resident resilient for We fight in always, always fighting. Fighting always. If you know what I mean, then you know what I mean? And if you do know what I mean, Then say it again to you, My beautiful sister in quay spectrum. My son celebrated to brethren, wow, thank you so much for sharing that. 00:20:39 I sorry, I got choked up. There was a word there and I tripped over it and it just, it was a catch in my throat and I'm like that's the emotion that I wrote it with it. And even as the writer in third paragraph, Yeah, there it is. So that is so powerful to to hear your reflection of that, that right there is what poetry is all about to me and what it can be all about two students. That's the thing. Right? When we read that, where does your voice catch? Where does it catches an author? Where does it catch as a reader who's just reading a poem out loud? Being able to tap into that I think is the power because if we don't tap into that and we just read it in this academic way and we're just analyzing for rhyme scheme or something. We missed so much. So I love that you just gave us that insight into what was going on with you as you were reading. Thank you for your listeners. My beautiful sister in Quay spectrum is woman in Ojibwe. 00:21:43 My son celebrated to brethren to is warrior. So to my sister in law, a woman spectrum. We believe genders on the spectrum and we'll get you to the warriors takes many forms. That piece as well as the whole poem, there's so much linked to justice and I so appreciate that your activism is always intersectional. All of the pieces of identity. We're talking about gender on a spectrum. Talking about race. We're talking about nation. We're talking about language that we all hold so many identities. Our activism cannot exclude one identity at the expense of the other. I think of the women's suffrage movement. We want the right to vote, but not if you're not white, that's not the activism I want to be affiliated with. We're talking about this intersectional justice and I love that you bring all of those pieces in there just even in that one poem, it's so beautiful. It's such a great representation of what activism can be. Thank you for sharing it. Do you mind if I ask you a few analysis questions? 00:22:50 What inspired you to write the poem? Was it a particular event? A particular emotion? Where do you think it came from? If you're able to pinpoint where it came from? That one came out last year. Last year was a turbulent years. We all know, especially here in Minnesota, went to a lot of marches, went to a lot of actions and we're still we're still going forward. Line three is is big here in Minnesota. And then if you don't know that's a pipeline that's going through Northern Minnesota right now, it's being built and there's a lot of indigenous people standing up in, a lot of allies that are standing up to say this is not the best idea. Um, these things leak these things historically, it's not if it'll leak, it's one of the leak and we have evidence of that in Northern Minnesota from the nineties when the original line three leaked thousands of gallons. And so that was on my mind last year when this came out and this one and it came out quick And the imagery in there was about my own experience, my, what I believe my grandparents experienced the direct pillaging of the land through acts of Congress that allowed the literal replacement of indigenous people on their own land. 00:24:11 The poem itself, Yeah, it was powerful. It came out fast even now. I'm looking at it in different lenses and it changes. I mean that's the beauty of it. It it changes. And I'm like, wow, this is, this is relevant to things I have coming up. This is relevant to my, to my life and what I want to instill in my child someday. I mean, this is this is living. So yeah, I think that's the power of an amazing poem. Right? It's living. It can tap into something that's happening today 10 years ago, 100 years ago. And so I think that's so powerful that you share that reflection. I'm also curious to know what are your favorite lines of the poem where I tripped over where, where I was, where the emotion was the rust was when it was the standing up because throughout the poem and there's um, there's a an obedience, there's a, there's a surrender. 00:25:12 There's a beaten people and that's in there at the end of the poem is where the power is taken back. No, absolutely not. I'm going to flick you off through the moon and I'm going to say, no, I'm from here. This place. You ignore this place that you advertises this beautiful resort area with lakes and everything. No, this is indigenous land and there's abject poverty here. There's issues that are overlooked here. It's not your resort, your backyard getaway, This is our home, that great lake home that you have there, that was our land. And so there's power in there. And that's the resiliency and the uh exactly what I got to at the start of the podcast that that we are still here and we're often overlooked, but we are resilient and we're beautiful. And here we are. I'm thinking about all of the students or just people generally that are hearing this or will hear this poem in the future. 00:26:18 And I'm wondering what your hopes are in terms of the impact of the poem. I honestly hope it. I hope it fires someone up. I hope it makes someone say this is this is what I'm feeling. And I can align with this. And I'm going to own my own identity. I'm not gonna be the shame based belief system. And for so long, I I want to go down a rabbit hole. But the shame based upbringing that happens to a lot of people of color. A lot of, especially indigenous people with the colonialism, with the force Christianity and this, this mindset that that is wrong. Your indigenous identity is wrong. I mean that's the definition of shame. And so to own that identity. This is a lifelong journey for me. And I I I sadly didn't start until I was in my twenties again, that came along with the poetry in my own journey. But yeah, to to tap into that, to to have that poem there, I hope somebody reads it someday. And it's like, yeah, absolutely. 00:27:20 I can identify with that. That's what I'm feeling. And maybe I can read some more about this guy's journey when I think about teaching poetry or enabling students to create their own poetry. The human is often divorced from that. It's often let me teach the stands. Let me teach all the things. I just appreciate, that. You've just given us insight into the humanity that comes with poetry that is integral to good poetry. And I hope that helps people envision themselves as poets and as people who are capable of getting these brilliant ideas that we all have on paper in a way that helps improve the lives of someone else or at least resonate with someone else and see I'm not alone in this. I have a connection to someone. There's so many things I get in the way masculinity. Oh, God, you were a man, that was it. I mean, you can imagine small town Minnesota, that's what you did. You you worked. You didn't complain. You were allowed to show the emotion anger other than that, and no fault of my father. 00:28:25 I mean, that was just how it was. And so to do a practice in poetry and extreme practice and vulnerability that's contrary to that masculine identity. I hope it's a common practice for the next generation. Absolutely. It's just poetry is practice that is embodied activism. It's so profound. Thank you. And as we think about, you know, wrapping up the episode, what is one thing you would encourage someone listening to do when they end the episode? I often think of this as like, how do we live in alignment with the values of justice, the values of equity? How do we show up as, as the best version of ourselves that embodies those things out there that, you know, having found an author that speaks to them, you know, definitely find one that lines up with their values. For me, it's john Trudell, I cannot get enough of his work and his, his life and his words. Um, but there's new incarnations of that, There's new branches as as we move forward. 00:29:27 Um, and so find an author that speaks to you. Maybe it doesn't, maybe it's poetry, maybe it's maybe it's story, maybe it's something, but there's there's words out there, there's people that have helped pave the way before us that's so encouraging to, for student or a teacher who has a student that they think they're not a fan of reading. And my opinion is always like, you just haven't found the thing you love to read yet. Everyone is a reader. Everyone loves hearing words and and can connect with their beauty and their possibility. It's totally about finding the person that resonates and I love that suggestion and actually I just recently found I will link to this in the show notes, the social justice poetry database and look at some different poems that connect. So if you are thinking about creating a unit or putting on a poetry show or something, that could be some really cool inspiration in there too. You are always learning and growing and passionate about being a lifelong learner. What is something that you're learning about lately or what is something that you've been working on to help other people learn. 00:30:32 Being a exactly what you said, someone that speaks to you. I wanted to put a plug in for this book right now as we have always done indigenous freedom through radical resistance. This author, Liane Better smoke Simpson, her words are, I can't get enough of it. I spoke to a tribal college class recently and I suggested this book. I actually sent the professor a copy of the book and I'm just like, please read this because I wish I had read this. You know, it's new. It's actually a new book. But I'm like, I wish this had been around five years ago and I wish I would have found it then. I love that and I can link to that in the show notes too. So people can just click on it and get a copy that's on my to read list now. Thank you. You are all over social media. You're always sharing, you know, your activism but also just you as a human being and I love following all of your journeys. So where can listeners learn more about you, connect with you in those online spaces? I guess Lincoln is if anyone wants professional connection, I'm always there, my social media is just a goofball and it's just how I live in a pretty outgoing kind of guy there. 00:31:40 Um, but yeah, Lincoln, if anyone ever wants any more information um, yeah, happy to talk to anybody awesome, thank you so much and I will say every person that I know who knows you is just so excited to be in your presence, just feeling heartwarming as they experience time with you and connect with you, thank you so much for being on this podcast. It was so fun chatting with you. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening. Amazing educators. If you loved this episode, you can share it on social media and tag me at lindsey Beth alliance or labor review of the show. So leaders like you will be more likely to find it to continue the conversation. You can head over to our time for teacher ship facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries Until next time leaders continue to think big act brave and be your best self
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Do you ever come across an exciting resource that would be perfect for your teachers’ professional development but don’t know if you have enough in the school budget to invest in it? Today, I’m going to help you find multiple ways of funding your PD or your teachers' PD so that they can create engaging class experiences for students and you can be your best leader self. Looking at Title I If you’re a new administrator or starting to look through all of the new funding you’ve been given this year, it’s time to consider how you can get the money needed for PD. First off, Title I and Title II are the most common sources for funding professional development. Here are examples of what Title I funding can be used for:
“Providing greater decision making authority and flexibility to schools and teachers in exchange for greater responsibility for student performance.” This is where survey tools would be useful for being able to assess student/teacher/family experience. You can also use this funding to build the foundation for making shared decisions and leading in collaboration with school stakeholders. This will set your school up for sustainable success beyond one year. The research shows that this type of model which puts together multiple stakeholder viewpoints, leads us to making better decisions. Another purpose of Title I is that it should be used to elevate the quality of instruction. This could be achieved through collaboration and group coaching programs. On to Title II Title II funding can be used for:
Teacher mentoring could be a great way to get to the last point of hiring and retaining those teachers and principals with excellent skills. When we talk about studying data, I encourage you to go past the numerical data and look at perception data as well. There is definitely an emphasis on leader PD here, so use it well! Bonus: Title IV Title IV is one of the lesser known options for professional development. Just a note that this can’t be used for substitutes who aren’t attending PD that is funded through Title IV. Title IV allows uses of funds for:
“If we are in spaces, where we are trying to foster a school community that is antiracist, that advances intersection of justice, yes, we will likely decrease bullying, we will likely increase relationship building...All of these are kind of outcomes of programs that develop and facilitate generative conversations about race and anti racist policy and having an anti racist class culture. So, I think that's not explicitly named here but any programming, any professional development around this, is going to contribute to all of these outcomes that are listed in the language.” Don't forget about ESSER funding ESSER funding is the last option I’m going to name. This is relevant to COVID as it stands for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. There are actually three different subsections under this but they all have some overlap. All three types of ESSERs can be used for planning and implementing summer learning, providing mental health services and supports, and activities that address the unique needs of students who have been historically underserved by school systems. ESSER I and ESSER CARES can be used for principals and leaders to address school specific needs. This can cover many things like raising capacity for leaders to advance student achievement. ESSER II and ARP ESSER can be used to adjust learning loss among all students in all subgroups and administer high quality reliable assessments. Project based learning, what I teach in my PD programs, is one of the best ways to have students show that they are retaining the information they’re learning and getting high quality skills from it. You can use this funding for contracts in the upcoming school years so you have a sustainable runway for ongoing, quality professional development. So, invest wisely, and don't let that money go to waste! I hope this was a helpful, comprehensive guide for you on how you can pay for your teachers PD or your own. Be sure to take advantage of the unique funding that schools have received this year and last, due to COVID, so your school can thrive from that much needed PD. To continue the conversation, you can head over to our Time for Teachership Facebook group and join our community of educational visionaries. Until next time leaders, continue to think big, act brave, and be your best self.
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AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
March 2025
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