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Dr. Park and Liz co-authored a book on teaching Sijo, which sparked this unit dreaming conversation. In this episode, we apply a step-by-step unit planning protocol to dream up a new unit on Sijo!
Unit Planning Step 1: Context/Spark Dr. Park and Liz started working together when Liz’s students kept winning the Sejong Cultural Society’s Sijo competitions. Sijo as a poetry form requires a condensation of ideas. It’s a 3-line poem with 15 syllables in each line. It requires an economy of words. Since poems can be about anything, it’s great for relevance and the ability to share with an authentic audience of peers, community members, and to the wider nation/world through the annual competitions. Unit Planning Step 2: Pursuits (from Dr. Muhammad’s HILL Model) Identity: How will our unit help students to learn something about themselves and/or about others? Students are able to write about anything they want. It’s also a great opportunity to explore Korean culture both historically and in the present through the form. Criticality: How will our unit engage students’ thinking about power and equity and the disruption of oppression? The theme of condensation relevant to the form can lead to conversations about what histories, stories, or even forms of poetry are included or excluded in the curricular condensing process. Joy*: How will my unit enable, amplify, and spread joy? *Joy is: beauty, aesthetics, truth, ease, wonder, wellness, solutions to the problems of the world, personal fulfillment, art, music Students have experienced joy in writing Sijo because its short length seems more accessible to writers who may struggle with essays. We want students to fall in love with writing as expression or writing as connection. Unit Planning Step 3: Project Question What are the most important 3 lines you could share with the world about identity, criticality or joy in this moment? Supporting questions or other ideas to build a PQ around include:
Unit Planning Step 4: Summative Project (Publishing Opportunity and Possible Formats) There many options, including: Students submit to a Sijo competition. (There are several, and many are linked below.) Publish poems in a class publication or school literary magazine. This could be a multimedia publication with recordings of students performing their poems and illustrations to accompany them. Hold a performance or video recording of singing Sijo. (Dr. Park shared there are examples of Sijo set to classical music and hip hop, which you can see on their YouTube channel.) Music teachers can publish students’ Sijo poems in a concert program. Art teachers can have students write poems and draw a picture to go with it. Unit Planning Step 5: Unit Arc Hook: What’s the thing they can't stop thinking about? What’s weighing on students’ hearts? Talk about how poems capture and transfer emotion to the reader. Ask students: How would you do that? What emotions do you want to work with? Build the Base: Teach the form (e.g., 3 lines, syllable groupings). Use existing samples on the Sejong Cultural Society’s website to explore samples. Case Studies: Invite students to explore the Sejong Cultural Society’s website and develop a collection that have commonalities (e.g., in theme or structure). Create gallery walks of these “case” groupings. Work Time/Peer Feedback: Once students have several Sijo poems drafted, invite students to put up on the board all of their poems and invite class feedback as to which one they should submit to the competition. This is a great point to invite students to make revisions afterwards. All the Links! There were so many excellent resources shared during this episode. Here’s a list: Competitions: Sejong Cultural Society
Online sijo course for teachers The electronic book of sijo referenced: Elementary and High School Students Unite through Sijo More articles on teaching sijo:
To help you implement a unit like this, Liz and Dr. Park are sharing free copies of their book, Sijo: Korea's Poetry Form! You can submit a request here. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 130 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. Quotes:
TRANSCRIPT In this episode, we have another unit dreaming special. We have two guests on here today to talk about a unit that you can run on Zhou, a Korean style of poetry. So let me tell you about the guest that we have on today's show. Dr Lucy Park is one of the founding members of the Sejong Cultural Society, a nonprofit founded in 2004. As the executive director, she oversees all programs including the Seong Music Competition, the Seong Writing Competition and XO education programs. She has been very active in teaching seizure to teachers, students and adults throughout the US. For the past 15 years, she developed and compiled extensive reference material on the basics of English writing, seizure samples and teaching C, which can be found at the Seon Cultural Society's website and youtube channel. She pioneered the society's C and music program, organizing concerts and commissioning composers and songwriters to write c music in a variety of musical genres. Elizabeth Jorgenson is a writer and teacher who hopes her most recent book, Gwen Jorgenson, U A US A's first Olympic gold medal triathlete inspires young people to follow their dreams if you didn't listen to our previous episode where Elizabeth was talking with her mom about that. 00:01:08 You can absolutely go and check that one out that is going to be at Lindsey bets dot com slash blog slash 123. And let me finish Elizabeth bio for you. Here. She also published in Utopia, Teachers and Writers magazine English Journal and elsewhere. Learn more on her website Liz Jorgenson dot weekly dot com. Now let's get to the episode. I'm educational justice coach Lindsay Lyons. And here on the time for teacher podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings if you're a principal, assistant superintendent, curriculum director, instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nerdy out about co creating curriculum with students. I made this show for you. Here we go. Welcome Elizabeth and Doctor Park to the time for your teacher podcast. I'm so happy to have you here today. 00:02:14 Thank you for having us. Thank you for your invitation. Yeah. Uh Do you want to start off either of you want to start off sharing kind of the context, the impetus for the topic of our unit brainstorm conversation today, I can start, I'm a high school English teacher and everything that my students do in class. I try to find an authentic purpose for their work. So we send it off to a writers' market, a publication, a competition, a scholar, some something right for, for our, our work beyond it being for a grade. And I'm always looking for these opportunities for my students. And about a decade ago I came upon the Jiang Cultural Society, they host a variety of competitions. Um They have an essay competition and then they also have a competition and I did not know what Xi was, but just using the resources on their website, taught myself and shared it with myself students. And I've fallen in love with the poetry form. 00:03:17 And I just want as many other educators out there to know um that this exists and to share it with, with them just some ideas of how they might be able to use Shiho in their classroom. Amazing. And Doctor Park, do you want to share a little bit about how you came to either the Shiho or collaborating with Elizabeth or anything that feels helpful for, for listeners? Yeah, Shiz is a very short form uh form uh poetry. So it require uh the syllable count and condensation of the idea in a very short uh three line poem. So it appears to be a very good tool to educate students and adults, to think about uh the economies of words and um you know, uh express their idea in a very condensed form. And uh so it is a very good tool for the education of communication skills. 00:04:25 So, um when we started this uh Xi Zhou competition, uh not many people knew about Xi. Uh and I, I didn't know that the Americans were writing Zhou in English. So I had to educate myself and then we develop uh the education program for the educators uh to teach them how to teach to their students. And uh during the course of our writing competition, we've been doing this since 2000 8. And then I noticed that uh these uh students won a prize year after year. So I thought she must be a good teacher. So I reached out to Liz and then we started collaborating. So it's been about 12 years. So we've been working together and it has been a very uh good collaboration. I learned a lot from Liz how uh she teaches students. 00:05:31 It's not only she do poetry, she is just an excellent teacher. So you, you, you're giving blush, that's very kind. So we, we are having good time together. That's amazing. And I love this idea of the economy's words and, and really condensing ideas into the form, like into the format. I think that's beautiful to just think about beyond even writing poetry. Like that's such a cool skill to be able to develop, there's so much there. So we, we've been offering the, this uh Shiz a workshop for educators and uh there were several teachers uh commented uh on that. Uh and uh one was the English professor at the law school. And then she said these lawyers have to really write their opinion. They are very concise and the writing is the best way to teach them how to do. So, so uh actually, while we are doing workshop, we learn from the teachers a lot. 00:06:37 That is so cool. So I'm, I'm really curious to know like in either live in a unit that you've actually taught or, or Doctor Park and what you've seen in, in, you know, talking to educators in terms of how um you or even how you run the workshops, right? Like thinking about like how participants engage with this kind of idea. I like the idea of thinking of it as a unit that someone could listen to this and, and take and implement what are in terms of Doctor Goldie Mohammed's framework where she talks about how, you know, we're really pursuing identity, like learning about ourselves and learning about other in terms of pursuing criticality. We're really trying to think critically about the world and the dynamics of power and pursuing joy and, and, and the joy that comes in writing and expressing and listening to poetry. Kind of what are those three pieces, identity criticality and joy that you see um coming through kind of the, the shiho poetry or in what ways would you kind of help people pursue those three things in a unit on, on XO poetry? Well, I think for me, like, why, why do I want my students to write? 00:07:42 And it comes back to this enjoyment and not every day are we going to enjoy writing? But I want it to be this lifelong skill that they pick up that they realize. Yeah, I'm writing for school but I can be a writer in all of these other weeks, months, years that I have to live. Um and I, I hope that that comes through that they, they fall in love with writing as expression or writing as connecting. Um And that can really, you know, lead them to be lifelong readers and writers and consumers. Um, you know, in terms of themselves, they can write about anything that they want in their. And so I often start there like asking students what's weighing on their minds or on their hearts. Like, what is that thing that they can't stop thinking about that? That might be a place for us to start. If we can explore why that's gnawing at them, why they're ruminating on whatever it is. Um that then we can use language to explore that or to connect with a person who's had a similar or different experience. 00:08:49 Yeah. So when we first started his own writing competition, we didn't really think about, ok, we want to make everybody a writer or they uh get the prize. But uh we thought that in any profession, uh good writing skill will make them go ahead even if uh you are a doctor engineer or even in business, if you have a good writing skill. So we started with the essay writing and then I came across the and I thought this is really good, not only they can develop this writing skill, uh the good critical thinking process to condense idea uh and with a good communication skill. But also there is a piece of culture, the from across the globe that we can teach uh Americans. So we have a multi purpose in teaching X. And it has been fun in terms of the culture, kids are very familiar with Haiku. 00:09:53 And so that might be a place where educators could start. Like we all know Haiku, here's another poetry form. Um But this one's from Korea and you know, it's just, I think it's an easy way to dive in and then like Dr Park is saying, introducing them to what's out there in the world. There's all of these poetry forms and we only know a real small sliver of them. Let's, let's learn on another one today. Mhm Yeah, I think about that even from the, the perspective of condensation again, like Dr Park, like you were mentioning, like what gets condensed. And so, you know, to, to your point is that like, I think what do we teach as the types of poetry, right? We teach Limerick, we teach Haiku like we and so what is being excluded, right? And what can be re-entered um to change that narrative is almost to me, it seems like the inclusion of um s as like a poetry form itself is kind of an element of criticality of like critically thinking about what we include or exclude or condense um from like all of the things that exist in the world and what we choose to put in front of our students. 00:10:58 It's, it's really interesting to think about that in like through the form. And it's fun too because you could do this in a day or I will take sometimes as long as three weeks to study this poetry form. And so it, it leaves a lot of just wiggle room for educators if they have a day or if they have a whole unit, this, this could work in both settings. I really like all of all, all of the directions of conversation that we could go right now. And so I'm wondering for like a summ assessment, let's say you do a three week unit, right? A full unit on s what would be the project question that you think best kind of encapsulates those pursuits that we were talking about. And ultimately, I think the project would be, I, I mean, maybe not, but I think that ultimately, it might be the poem itself that was written. But what's kind of the question that drives the writing of that poem? What ideas do we have? I don't know. Yeah. Is there anything that, oh, go ahead. Sorry, Doctor Park. No. So you can just, uh, write about something that bothers you and then that can relieve your stress. 00:12:07 So it could be a good psychotherapy. And, um, in the old, uh, the, in old, uh, Korean, uh, the times where the shiz goes back to about 1000 years. Yeah. At least I recently found the Zhou written by somebody 1000 years ago. So um at that time, uh sometimes they use it as a communication skill, they didn't necessarily write it down. So somebody uh wrote it down much later. But then if you look at the birth of voice, it goes back to 1000 years. So um often it was uh done by like a high society while they are drinking in, in, at a party instead of having conversation, they would just uh uh uh as a conversation so they could ask question and then answer to that question or uh the and then it, it's the culture spilled over to commoners and the commoners. 00:13:19 They use um uh the satire to uh mock the upper class or a lot of is about the love poem. You know, of course, they can, it is very commonly used even in western style uh poem, but also they express uh things the political issues. So, uh I think maybe we can teach history by reading all this poem. And then also maybe the student uh at uh at this time can write some political issue, current issues into poems. So maybe 100 years later our descend to read it and they said, oh, that was a problem at that time. So, um I guess it can be used not only in English literature class as a, just a poetry because that gives a lot of like a stress at the beginning. 00:14:21 Like at least, don't you see it like a student say, let's write poem and then they get, I don't know, I am not good at poem. I don't wanna write a poem. But then I say, OK, what's happening around us. So just write it down so uh or send a message to someone else so it can be written on any subject. So this is a fun part of the, the Haiku is so short. So it's uh it's hard to uh convey that kind of message. I think you're right that students are afraid of poetry, but teachers are also afraid of poetry and they don't know where to begin. And so this is a place I think where people can say, OK, there's a form and there's also I always at the beginning when I was teaching Shiho saying to my students, I'm learning alongside you. Like I am not a Shiho expert. Let's learn in this together. They really enjoyed that experience. Um You know, and then I'm thinking the, the emotional part of it is really key. 00:15:24 Um Doctor Park and I were presenting at a library and these women were writing their poems and getting emotional. And the same thing happened, we were at NCTE presenting on Xiu and this teacher was writing about a student who just was still on her mind. And as she was writing and sharing just this release of emotion, you could just tell how powerful the experience was for her. Yeah, she couldn't read her schedule because she, she was just started sobbing. So Lisa had to read for her. So uh but this is a frequently used technique in psychology to write about your stressful uh the event. And uh and that, that really improved uh like a post traumatic uh disorders. So uh they can just write a short essay or just a few sentence. But if they can condense into poem, that is even beautiful thing to do. I am thinking about so many possible like project questions. 00:16:27 So like I wrote a ton as you were speaking. So like there's the kind of what bothers you like in this moment, right? Is, is kind of maybe like an entry point. And then there's like, what like questions do you have? What, what questions do you want answers to like in the world? Almost like kind of like you were saying conversationally, like then I'm thinking about the inclusion of those pursuits that you talked about like identity, criticality and joy. Some of the things like you're talking about love, you're talking about, you know, political issues and satire and, and the joy and the emotion present in poetry. I'm almost wondering if there's like a question that frames it as like and bringing in also that condensation piece of the form where it's like, what is the most important or you know, what are the most important lines that you could tell the world about identity, criticality or joy in this moment or something like, you know, like, I don't know, I love it. I love it. It's so another piece is uh we, we just mentioned that most people are afraid of uh writing poem. But then when uh so many teachers uh who taught told me that when they uh when they say let's let's write poem and they go, oh, but then she said, oh, it's only three lines and 45 syllables. 00:17:44 And then they get, they get very curious, oh, it's like a puzzle or mathematical formula. So they suddenly just jump up and then all popped up and started writing. So they ask what to write one and they bring three. And then uh so one of the teachers said this student has no interest in poetry or literature. But now he just started writing uh and then reading poems and even literature. He said this was a good introduction to literary work. Oh, that's such a beautiful story. And I think so much is, is relevant, right? The the kind of like the fear often I think is the length of essay writing or typical writing that we talk about. And so if it is short, that is a great entry point. But also the potential for what poetry encapsulates like that idea of emotion or what is, what is most bothering you or you need relief from right now. I think most people particularly like adolescents, you know, really want to talk about those things and if there's a really short, like, clear way that they could work on expressing them, I think that feels not only doable but really exciting for studentss. 00:19:01 Super cool. Oh, I love this. I've had that experience, I would echo that it really is true. And of course, there's going to be kids that will say I have nothing to write about or I'm stuck. But, you know, just keep coming back to, we all have things that we're thinking about and being vulnerable as an educator as well and sharing a little bit about, you know, I got into a fight with somebody before I left for work this morning and I can't stop thinking about all the things I said that I shouldn't have said, you know, like, and just kind of opening a door to say it's, it's OK like we're all people, we all have these things going on. And one of the ways that we get through life is the arts, poems, essay. You know, that, that, that's why those things are there. So uh can I uh read the one of the winner of the X writing competition? So the is uh three lines and it's written uh 45 syllables altogether. So the basic structure is uh 15 syllables in each line and grouped in 344434443543 syllable count in each line. 00:20:07 So this is the uh uh winner of 2013 season writing competition. Roberto Santos was 1/12 grader uh who lived in Laredo, Texas, the border town. The title is still American. They say go return to land that I don't know. It makes no sense. Born and raised American. So Mexico is still foreign cultural cap, but this is my home immigrant. No Hispanic. So on his winner's statement, he said it's amazing. I just wrote them, but I've been thinking all my life and then I'm getting the prize. So, so he really condensed his idea and it, it is um beautiful. He, he kept his culture but he's American um and Hispanic but not immigrant. So it, it, it is a very powerful statement. 00:21:12 Thank you so much for reading that. I mean, I just like got goose bumps to just, just hearing that there's so much in there. Thank you. Sorry Lizzie. You're gonna say something, I was just gonna say like even sharing that with your students, like you can write about anything. And here's this one kid's experience who, although we haven't had this exact experience, can we relate to it? Can we learn from it? What do we feel? What do we think in hearing this? And then what ideas are we getting based on this poem? Not to copy it, but just to be inspired by somebody else's art who is our same age. This is a little bit of a deviation from what we're talking about. But I just was listening to this podcast about um racialized emotion and how in history, for example, like we don't often look at the, like we look at like white folks emotions and even in like standards, there's this really interesting, like um this phd researcher was looking at the emotions present in standards and they, they often talked about white folks like fear of like a group of people, people, right? But there's never like, well, what about that groups, fear of the white people in power? 00:22:13 And like, so I just imagine something like this even being part of a history class or something where you take these moments at Dr Park, you kind of alluded to this, right? That it, it has existed for so long, you can kind of look at these as snapshots and, and even take moments of current events like you said, and, and look at that specific winner or the winners from the last decade, right? And, and just look at what are the emotions present and whose voice am I hearing? And whose voice am I not usually hearing? And like, do kind of a criticality analysis of that using the poetry as, as the kind of primary source would be so cool. It would be very cool. And then I was thinking of, you know, I've obviously read all of the winners from the past couple of years and you can see swells in topics that correlate to what was going on at that time. Of course, the pandemic, right? Those years. Well, I don't know if we're over it. Yeah, but during the height of it, a lot of poems were about what people were dealing with those years. I'm wondering too as a type of like publishing opportunity almost like, so you could, one opportunity would be, it sounds like to submit it for a competition. 00:23:16 So whatever your students kind of create, you could submit it to the competition in other like smaller places. Do you foresee this as like a kind of read aloud poetry performance that students could perform? Is this like we would publish this and maybe like a literary journal that the school has. What are your thoughts and like, what would be the best or possible? I've done it all. Um So my students will write several Zhou and they can only submit one to the Zhou competition sponsored by the she Cultural Society. And so every student will project on the board, all of the poems that they're working on or like considering submitting and they read them out loud and then we just talk about each one and I'll do just a vote. I'll say, ok, you are the judges. These are the four poems that you get. Which one are you voting for? And then the kids will all raise their hand and then we'll talk about it. And the poet gets a lot out of this experience like, oh my gosh, I never thought that poem is going to receive the most votes or a kid will ask a question like, well, I was going to vote for that one, but I was confused here and then it will give us this opportunity for revision or dialogue. 00:24:21 Um So that's one way, right, where you could celebrate everyone's work, especially during the revision process. I've also put them together in a class publication and just have done it very simply taken it to the copy room and asked our, we have like a woman who works in the coffee area for us and just said, you know, I wanted this to be together in a book. And so she just stapled it very simply, but the kids really enjoyed it. We've submitted them to our schools literary magazine as you mentioned. Um And then one time I actually partnered with an elementary school class. My kids are juniors and seniors and I worked with 1/4 grade teacher from a different part of the state. Our students never met, but we worked electronically. So these fourth graders would write a poem draft. My high school kids would give them feedback electronically, they would work to polish it. And then we ended up putting together a uh like an electronic book with readings. Like the kids recorded themselves reading their own, they illustrated their poem. And then we had that book available online for parents and community members. Of course, we posted it on social media. 00:25:23 We shared it with our school board. I can send you a copy of it for the show notes if people want to see what we did. Um But yeah, I think that the possibilities are really limitless just as many as you can think of run with it. Yeah, I know some uh adult, she's a poet who uh submitted to, you know, poetry journal and uh was able to publish in print as well as online. And uh we organize X writing competition. The eligibility is people uh in North America USA and Canada. So the submission deadline is at the end of March, but we also have international International XI Competition and everybody in the whole world can participate, including uh citizens of USA and Canada. Uh The submission deadline is at the end of September. And then for those who live in Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin and X Cultural Society collaborates and we have Wisconsin digital Competition. 00:26:30 So there are three competition and uh there was a competition by Ohio State University. Uh I don't know if they are still continuing. Uh There was a competition by uh Los Angeles Cultural uh Korean Cultural Center. Uh I have to check if they are going to offer the competition again. So there are some competition and uh it's not just the writing the, we wanted to continue our old tradition of singing Zhou. So we have organized uh some uh the song making. So we had uh classical musicians to write music uh with X and as well as hip hop group to write hip hop songs with XI. So if you come to our website, uh we have a X Culture Society, youtube channel. So you will be able to listen to their performance or watch video tape of the hip hop group called Elephant uh Rebellion in Chicago. 00:27:38 They sang Zhong into hip hop songs. So we, we would like to expand this project, but it's uh it's been hard. So, you know, regular, like a poetry loud program. They usually read the long poems so they don't want to read only three lines. But uh the Elephant Rebellion, they uh the, the, it's a group of hip hop musicians. So each one wrote Zhou and then they took to, and then they use the, the, that I just read uh the Still American as a refrain. So they all uh saying uh with the theme of all these immigrant issue. So I, yeah, I'm looking for hip hop musicians who can work with us. I'm just thinking of all the students who are musically talented but may not be traditionally like seeing themselves as writers who would have a beautiful entry point, either for writing their own or to collaborate. You know, like let's do an interdisciplinary project where the music teacher works with the English teacher or something. 00:28:47 You know, there's some sort of collaboration across different classrooms to kind of create something like that. At the end that they create like a full song class wide or something. Super cool. That makes me think of the band teacher at my school was doing some Korean music or music written by Korean composers and he knew that I was into Shiho. And so he asked me to come in and all of his band students sat in the auditorium and I presented to them Shiho and said, OK, now let's try it. And they all wrote their own Shiho poems. And then he published some in the program. So while parents were waiting for the concert to begin, they could learn about this Korean poetry form and then read some of the poems that were written by the performers. And so it's just, you know, another idea of what, like you're saying, cross curriculum um opportunities And then uh in, in Korea, there is a tradition of combining poetry and art. So they write poem and then they draw the picture. 00:29:48 So it is uh in, in one piece, there is a, a poem written at one corner and then just a small drawing that represent the content of the poem. So I can uh Zhou can be combined. So I hope the found that art teacher who is interested in doing the project at her school. Yes, it's so hard. Like you try to find these hours to collaborate across disciplines. But it's like it's, it's very challenging. But yes, I did. I brought some, I, I actually showed the culture society's website to my art teacher and said, here's how you can find all of the previous winning Shiho this could be an inspiration for your art students. And so now that A PS are done, that's I think what they're working on currently. So we'll see what, what ends up happening with that collab. It could be a good project, but some are, yes, that is amazing. Oh, this is so cool. And I'm thinking about all of these pieces too, like the different artistic pieces, both visually auditory and also the the succinctness of the, the the form. 00:30:59 It also I think you had mentioned was that people had put things on social media, like it lends itself very easily to publishing on social media because of the length. And because of all of the artistic dynamics like that, that in and of itself could be a really cool publishing format as all it sounds like. Yeah, you know, we tweet once a week. So so far we've been tweeting uh mostly the winners of the past as cultural society, the writing competition. Amazing. We should link to that in the show notes. That would be really cool to see. Thank you. Yeah. So this has been amazing in terms of just kind of thinking through all of what could be possible in, in teaching a she unit. I think as a hook, it sounds like it would probably be if you were to start this unit off with kind of drawing students in perhaps asking them that question of like what's on your mind, right? Like what are the things that you can't stop thinking about? What bothers you? I is that how you would start them off? And then kind of where would you if so like where do you go from there to kind of like teach the form or to kind of build that base of knowledge before they're kind of getting into? 00:32:08 Um maybe some looking at some different like cases or, or drawing or creating their own pieces. Yeah, I think you might, you know, allow them to talk about those things and then say that, you know, poems like all forms of art they capture and then they transfer that emotion to the reader how will your poem do that? How will you capture and then transfer that emotion and maybe even identifying what emotions do I want to work with. And, you know, they, they can be negative or challenging, but they don't have to, they can be positive and uplifting or it could be a range of emotion. And then I think, you know, you do have to talk about the form. So it's three lines, there's this syllable grouping in each line. Um There's syllable totals that we want and I'll show that and then sometimes kind of get the deer in headlights look like. What is that? But then once you show an example like the Roberto Santos example and that one fits perfectly with the syllable groupings. The kids are they get it. 00:33:09 They're like, oh, II I can do that. And so building up that confidence in showing examples and part of what I love about is that you read them and you just get them. It's not that type of poem that's so removed from studentss or that, you know, there's not like a lot of flowery or vague language. It's really just clear and it captures and then transfers that emotion. And so then, um, I'll often give students a link to the website and say, go explore, read a bunch of different poems that have won in the competition and then come back with something interesting to say, and then that will build our dialogue some kids will have questions like I don't get how this fits the form or I noticed this here or I can't believe this one was an honorable mention. It totally should have won first place. And you know, it just then helps us talk more about what's expected. I love that there is a kind of like a a library already of all of the existing post in the competition to, to be able to, to share that link with students and let them explore. 00:34:12 I'm wondering too, I often think of things like case studies. Like we would do a gallery walk with like a certain theme or a certain topic or way that you would use it or is there any kind of so far? I've heard that there are kind of like topical like immigration would be like a topic that you could kind of look at several that cover that topic. But then I also am hearing that there's kind of these like, like different ways that people would use art. So here is a poem with music and here's a poem with the visual art. And I'm just wondering, are there any other groupings that you might think about sharing the poems with within kind of a category or a group of students to show them like the different case case studies almost? Are you thinking of some Doctor Park? No, I mean, our winners uh wrote on subjects. So a variety of uh subjects. So, white subjects. So, uh, the one of the winner was adoptee. So she wrote about, uh, that, uh, another winner, uh, wrote apparently there's a dating web. So, uh, the dating app. 00:35:14 So if you turn right and that's a good or left, it's bad. So, can I read it swiping left, then left, left to right. Judging faces without a thought, seeking logs that finish the heart. Oh, could you be my Visa? Right. Marriage bells ring left, right, left, right for the fifth time this minute. So, yeah, she won third place in uh 2019. And uh so, I mean, it, it, it, it's just, uh, there are so many things you can write about. So during uh the beginning of Me too movement, there was a about that topic too. Uh and uh some uh student wrote about his uh brother who was a handicapped. Uh So, I mean, there is no limitation of the topic. So at this time, we are just leaving it open. Any topic you, you want you want to use instead of limiting? 00:36:21 Ok. Right. On this topic, it's anything poets write about, you'll see lots of love, lots of um ones about family or relationships. Um I had a student this year who placed as an honorable mention and he wrote about secrets and, and just what secrets do to us and you know, it really anything and that could even be, you could say to kids. Bring to us a case study, you'd say the topic and then you find three or four that fit with that and then bring it to us. What do you notice? What are those poets doing? I love that because then they could, I, I just think about, like, inductive categorization as, like, just an activity. Right. And they could, they could come up with any kind of category. Right. It could be topical. It could be exactly what are they doing within the form? Like how are they structuring this in a unique way or, or you know? Oh, so cool. And then you could make small groups too. Ok. I'm hearing the, you four are talking about love, compare your poems. You three have all talked about structure. Uh What did, what did you notice? 00:37:23 I had um I showed my students first semester, a poem where the title connected to the first line. The title was Absentee Parents. And then the first line of the poem was make excuses when asked why they aren't at your concert. So if you read it all together, absentee parents make their excuses when asked why they aren't at your concert. And then the many students were inspired by that idea. And actually the one that I was talking to you about um the one with Secrets, he did the same thing. He then connected his title, Secrets. Create a bond between friends that transcends all of their bonds. Now, you don't, wouldn't read it again. But he wanted you to think about it. Secrets have power and can test the true character of a person. Secrets can destroy relationships before you even blink an eye. It's like, ah, you know, and so just by gathering those ideas then they'll have others that will spark their own creativity. Hi, everyone. It's Lee just hopping in here quickly to tell you about today's freebie for the episode. Liz and Doctor Park are sharing free copies of their book, Sjo Korea's poetry form and you can submit a request to have them send their book to you to find this link. 00:38:29 Go to Lindsey bets dot com slash blog slash 1 30 back to the episode. I love this so much and because they're so short, you can, you could look at so many in one class period. Like it's not like you're just studying one really lengthy poem for like 45 minutes, right? Like I, I love this idea and I, I think there's so much in here for anyone who is, is unfamiliar. You, you both have just given so many concrete ideas that I think someone who's unfamiliar with. Xuzhou could go and like teach a, a pre coherent unit pretty quickly with the amazing information and ideas that you've provided today. So, thank you so much. Is there anything that we didn't cover that you want to share? Yeah. So Lisa and I edited the book. It's titled Shiho Korea's poetry form. So it has everything about basics of Shiho history and uh the teaching plan for the educators. And many uh the winners, Zhou passed the decision, writing competition winner with commentary by experts. 00:39:36 So this will be the uh the the reference for Xi who wants to learn about Xi. And it is available on Amazon. We also are offering an online course for teachers. Um And so if people wanted to, it's asynchronous, but we have some synchronous opportunities for people. And so if they wanted to take a course um and learn a little bit more. That's also on the Jiang Cultural Society's website. I'll send you all of this, you can put it in the show notes. Um People can also reach out to us. We would love to collaborate with more people, especially if you have an idea about music or art or whatever. Like we're always looking, the more people we can bring in. It's just, it's enriched my life in so many ways. So in July, we have two day uh the virtual workshop. So we'll cover all the topics. Uh It is in uh this year in July 18th and 25th on Tuesday 3.5 hours each. So uh I can send you the information by the way, the book, uh If you are an educator, send us email at culture society at gmail dot com, then we'll send you complimentary copy and one of my favorite part of the books, there's a section called My Favorite Shi. 00:40:55 And so it gives a winning shi talks about the student who wrote it. And then there's an analysis from a Shiho expert. And so I will actually share this book with my students and say this is like the gem, this is, this is the gold read. Why this poem is effective from a Shiho expert and then either counter it or agree with it or bring it back. And the kids, they learn so much in just reading what somebody else thought of the poem, it helps them analyze other poems and just gives them ideas or language. Oh, I never even thought I could talk about how the poem looked or that it used whatever, you know. And so that's, it's a really, it's one of my favorite sections that is brilliant to include that I was just thinking about, there's a book uh about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Cases. And there's in the back is literally an appendix where someone goes in and actually just like from a lawyer's perspective, analyzes it. And I'm like that taught me so much more than like reading any sort of history text. So that idea of looking into someone else's analysis. 00:41:57 Brilliant. I love that there's a topic on that and also insight into the poet, why they made the choices that they did something that you might not know that then they can illuminate for you Oh, brilliant. And I love that you all included like how to get in touch with you and how to get these resources. That was gonna be my next question. So thank you for answering. You can put everything in the show notes and I was gonna say everything will be in the show notes if you're driving. Don't worry, we have all those links for you in there. Yeah. So youtube channel, just a Google youtube channel, its own cultural society. There are many lectures uh by the professors and Liz Joson as well as some other high school uh teachers and the Xi Zhong music and everything. So uh visit the X Zhong cultural Society website and youtube channel. Beautiful. Thank you so much, Doctor Park and Liz. I just so appreciate your time today. This was so inspiring. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you for having. If you're leaving this episode wanting more, you're going to love my life, coaching intensive curriculum, boot camp. 00:43:06 I help one department or grade team create feminist anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students. We weave current events into course content and amplify student voices which skyrockets engagement and academic achievement. It energizes educators feeling burns out and it's just two days. Plus you can reuse the same process any time you create a new unit which saves time and money. If you can't wait to bring this to your staff, I'm inviting you to sign up for a 20 minute call with me. Grab a spot on my calendar at www dot Lindsay beth lions dot com slash contact. Until next time, leaders continue to think big act brave and be your best self. This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better Podcast Network. Better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there, explore more podcasts at teach better dot com slash podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode.
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I was listening to "The Philosopher & the Neuroscientist - A Conversation with Zak Stein and Mary Helen Immordino-Yang" on the Future Learning Design Podcast, and Dr. Stein was talking about assessment and measurement. He said, “The goal of the assessments are to not obfuscate what’s going on. To precisely say, like, you understand these things, and there’s a set of things you can come to learn that are slightly more abstract that integrate these lower level things…the introduction of…what we call learning sequences as opposed to levels or stages…” (starting at minute 43:12).
While the organization he’s talking about has their own system, I wanted to run with the idea of sequenced skills, specifically, how they could be used when designing a standards-based rubric. Standards-Based Assessment: Mastery-Based Grading and Single-Point Rubrics I’ve read favorable research on mastery-based grading. Haystead and Marzano (2009) found teachers who measured skill growth over time on mastery rubrics noted a 34% gain in student achievement. In mastery-based classes, students showed increased student learning, classroom environments were less stressful with better teacher-student relationships, and decreased grade achievement gaps when compared to classes that used traditional grading practices (Crescendo Ed Group). When I taught, I used a 4-point mastery scale for each standard. Single-point rubrics are still standards-based, yet streamlined. Easier to read for students and adults. Teachers can write in the left and right columns to narratively describe approaching or exceeding standards. I like having priority standards students and teachers can focus on. I like having a rubric you can share with (and ideally co-construct with) students that can be used to assess all summative projects. When coaching departments on selecting priority standards, I say the non-priority standards don’t go away, they become supporting standards. Then, the supporting standards can be used in the definition of lower mastery levels. This seems aligned to the concept of a learning sequence, so let’s consider what it might look like to keep the standards-based, department-wide rubric and design it for sequenced skills versus levels of the priority skill. How to Design a Learning Sequence Rubric I’m just starting to play with this concept and am open to ideas. Here’s what I’m thinking about now: Step 1: Determine your priority standards. Aim for a max of 5-7 skill-based standards. Select the most challenging or complex skills. Step 2: For each priority standard, map out the supporting standards students need to have before getting to the priority standard. For example: Decode → Comprehend → Summarize → Analyze Step 3: Describe each skill in separate columns on the rubric. (You can use the same column headers if they are visuals like the stages of riding a bike. See my rubric templates below.) Final Tip After completing your new rubric, I would look at your instructional activities and scaffolds and align them (and the accompanying language you use) to the learning sequences. To help you design your own learning sequence rubric, I’m sharing my Skill-Based Rubric Templates with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 129 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. TRANSCRIPT I'm educational justice coach Lindsay Lyons. And here on the time for Teacher podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings. If you're a principal, assistant superintendent, curriculum director, instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nerdy out about co creating curriculum with students. I made this show for you. Here we go. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Time for Teacher Ship podcast. Today's episode is based on a spark from a podcast episode I was listening to and it made me really think about what was possible. So I have to copy out this by saying that the person seeking has their own kind of process and organization and things around this concept of learning sequences as part of assessment. I kind of took it in my own direction and kind of linked it to things I've said before but wanted to make it really concrete. 00:01:08 So that it is something you could put into practice right away. Let's get to the episode. So as I said, this episode is sparked by listening to an episode of Future Learning Design podcast. And this is actually my first time listening to this podcast. It was really great. And the episode I listened to, I'll link to it in the blog post as well. That's Lindsey baths dot com slash blog slash 129. Because if you're anything like me, you're gonna want to go ahead and listen to the episode as well after this one. But or even before, but doctor Stein, um so this, this episode was called the philosopher and the neuroscientist, a conversation with Zack Stein and Mary Helen and Morio Yang and Doctor Stein was talking about assessment and measurement and he said that this is a quote here. The goal of the assessments are not to sorry are to not obfuscate what's going on to precisely say like you understand these things and there's a set of things you can come to learn that are slightly more abstract, that integrate these lower level things. He goes on to say the introduction of what we call learning sequences as opposed to levels or stages and he continues on. 00:02:17 But, but this is kind of the core of what I took and kind of ran with this idea of learning sequences as opposed to levels or stages. I've always been a fan of mastery based learning. And I have used a mastery based rubric when I often talk about having one department wide course long rubric that you use for all summit of projects assessments. It was always mastery based, it was always levels and I would talk before and I have share shared before the rubric templates that I use that you could use a single point rubric. So you have kind of like the core, this is what mastery looks like. And then there's kind of like an approaching space where you could write commentary in there as a teacher who's grading the assessment of like why it's not quite there yet or in the right hand column, kind of why it is exceeding or above the standard definition of mastery, you could also have 345 levels of mastery. So I typically use a four point mastery scale for each standard in my class when I was teaching. And that's typically what I will recommend to others. We have seen the research on uh mastery based grading being really favorable, right? 00:03:22 So we know that research shares it is better than traditional grading. So it's not that mastery based grading is terrible. And if you're using that, you should stop doing it. I don't think that that's the takeaway for me. Mastery based grading is better than traditional grading. We know that there is a research study from, he said Marzano in 2009, which noted a 34% gain in student achievement in mastery based classes. Research has found that students increased their learning in master based classrooms versus traditional classrooms. Other impacts were that classroom environments were less stressful and the teachers had better relationships with students and vice versa and the achievement gaps quote unquote were decreased again, mastery based versus traditional grading. So we know that mastery based grading is better than traditional greeting this episode or this kind of small quote of the episode. The whole episode is fantastic. You should totally listen to it. But this piece really made me think about interesting. What does a learning sequence look like if it were to be mapped onto a rubric? And again, they have their own process of lea I think is the organization he was talking about very really in depth rundown on their website, which I will link to again in the blog notes that talks about the system that they have for coming up with kind of assessment practices and, and all of this, it's based in the research. 00:04:39 They also give some practical examples for me. I think I have an even more simplified understanding that actually makes it I think easier and quicker to put into practice versus trying to understand all of the in depth concepts and applications. And so what I'm thinking here is that we take the things that have been working, we take the concept of a standards based or skill based rubric we take the concept of kind of this multi column piece of paper that becomes that rubric. We take the concept that we've always talked about of sharing the rubric with students ideally co creating the rubric with students. And we just think about the categories or, or the columns, maybe not even categories, the columns that are present in that rubric and we rethink them from levels of mastery to a learning sequence. Now how this connects to things that I've already said. And and what I do when I'm coaching departments on selecting priority standards is that I say anything that is the not priority standard, right? You usually have like a ton of standards, the ones that don't get selected as priority, they don't go away, they become supporting standards. 00:05:44 So this is common language that I've used. We're just gonna think about how that connects to this new product. We're creating this new rubric that is learning sequence based. So the supporting standards typically, I will have teachers use those as the definition of lower mastery levels because an ideal rubric in each column will say what a student can do. So they can do this kind of lower level or supporting skill that is a prerequisite to doing this really intense complex, usually high challenge, priority skill. So when we're selecting the priority standards, really important that they are very challenging, otherwise this kind of falls apart. So if we're already doing that, if we're already defining lower levels of mastery of a priority skill as a supporting standard. I think it's a very easy transition to consider them learning sequences, maybe just a little bit more refinement and intentionality behind the language and choosing each piece. Um And I actually think we'll just kind of like I I it's just clearer to me as calling a learning sequence and not only for the design of the rubric but also with students, I think the impact here could be really huge is that it's not like, oh you're below the standard or even if we kind of, you know, sugar coat it a little bit and change the language to not below standard, but approaching the standard, you still know as the student that you are not at the standard, you are below the level of expectation, right? 00:07:07 Versus everyone is on their own learning path, we learn things in sequences, we move from one step to the other almost like I'm almost thinking of like a a you know, video game or kind of like moving to the next level, like everyone goes through all the levels. You're just at kind of this phase of the video game and you're going to move to the next one. I think this also this idea of a a learning sequence or a journey, it helps students or at least it helps me as an adult and a learner who's constantly learning new things that like we're we're where we need to be and there is um kind of a forward progress or momentum that's always possible. So I sometimes think, and this is coming from a, a student who uh you know, always got a s in school and like was really intense about getting A's. Sometimes you get that a and you think that you have nothing left to learn, you, you kind of have no path forward, right? And in terms of what that looks like. So if we continue to think of learning sequences and they might not all fit on the page, right? We have to end the the columns somewhere where like kind of the goal of this is where we want all students to be by the end of the year kind of thing. 00:08:11 But I think that idea of like above standards or exceeding standards, whatever that like above column was that were category that we called it in a typical mastery based rubric, like maybe that's pulling in standards from a higher grade band or college level or doctoral level or you know, however far you want to reach to get a higher level of complexity challenge abstraction, whatever so that it is present um in, in that language and that all students constantly have kind of a next step. The other thing I think it in using the language sequence terminology with students and also just mentally for the teacher is to say this evaluation is not of a student's w like, not even worth but like, it's not kind of like this is the label that goes on the student and it's permanent, right? It's just like where you are at a given point in time. And I think that's really freeing and it also just helps us be more responsive and personalized and equitable and supportive and whatever it is that we need to be as educators when supporting students Because I think that's really important too. 00:09:22 So always into the concept of the language and what kind of implications that has. But as we think about what we're gonna do here, like how do we actually do this? How do we design a rubric that has a learning sequence across the row of a particular chosen priority standard or scale versus the columns of mastery? I think it's again, a very small change. So this is actually probably going to be the shortest part of the episode here is the house, but let's keep it simple because that's great. So here's how to design a learning sequencer brick, I think. And I'm open to feedback here because this is just what I'm thinking in the this moment. Step one, you still determine your priority standards that doesn't change from how you would do a master basic. R again, aim for 5 to 7 total. I think that's the sweet spot, 5 to 7 total skill based standards. And again, it's important that we select the most challenging or complex skills because we need those supporting standards to be able to go in there. We don't want to come in at like a kind of medium challenge skill and then we don't have anything that goes um in the sequence, right, leading up to it, step two for each priority standard, that's for each row of your rubric. 00:10:27 You're going to map out the supporting standards that students need to have before getting to the priority standard. So I think as a support, if you're coaching teachers to do this, you literally wanna ask like, OK, well, what do students need to do before they get here? Like what like literally have, this is actually my favorite idea here. Literally have teachers go through the process of doing whatever high level skill that is and narrate or write down or map out or record somehow document what is the play by play. So I'm thinking of, you know, those um like essays, procedural essays that we have to write. I, I had to write one, I think in like a, a creative writing course or something. And it was like, or even like, you can sometimes do it verbally describe how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And you have to like literally say each particular part and then it's like, oh you never said till like, you know, use a knife. And so then you just like got peanut butter everywhere and like or it just couldn't even work because you skip that step and you didn't articulate that. So if you're giving directions to someone and they skip it, like the whole thing falls apart, that kind of a level of detail is what I'm talking about. 00:11:32 So an example I usually use is analyze, it's always like a really good high level complex skill that has so many components that are part of it along that learning sequence. So I'm sharing here a very simplistic example, but it might look like students need to be able to code to decode the words of the text first. If they can't literally decode and be able to like say what each word is, then they're not getting anywhere, right? So they need to to be able to code the decode the words, then they need to comprehend the text. Again, I might be skipping some things in between here. But for a simplistic example, decode the words, comprehend the text and the meaning. Then they need to be able to summarize, to repeat it back to you key points, highlight the key main idea details, then they can analyze and say kind of like so what or this matters because or whatever and then again, you can escalate that even beyond like so then they could like bring in a like develop a claim and and counterclaim or something or or analyze for perspective or for some other kind of like lens or something, but decode comprehend, summarize, analyze, these are kind of like a four part learning sequence. 00:12:38 So typically we'll say for Master Race rubric, we're just focusing on analyze. Now, we're saying like, OK, well, before analyze, we need to be able to at least identify the key details and repeat those back, right? And the main idea before that, we need to just understand what the text was saying in the first place, right? And to be able to understand it, what do we need to, well, we need to be able to like literally read the words. So have each teacher or the group of teachers like complete a task or narrate, what are those steps do that for each standard and write those down math amount in order? Then you're going to describe each one of those subs skills or the skills in the learning sequence as a separate column on the rubric again, just like you would for levels of mastery. But this time, it's just like its own separate skill with its own separate name. I would even use the same column headers if they're visuals. So I usually use and you can see this on the blog post again, Lindsay, beth lions dot com slash blog slash 129 that is going to give you the template for typically the rubric template that I use and recommend that teachers and departments use, which has the stages of riding a bike as the visual. So like the first level is like, you have to build the bike or get it out of the garage or whatever it is. 00:13:43 And then, you know, you ride the bike now you're doing tricks in the bike or whatever the sequence is, you can use any sort of analogy. I like the idea of visuals because you're not attaching a like category label to it, like a, a verbal, like below standards or whatever, because each one is gonna be different now because it's a sequence and you might even say like putting all the standards on one page is, is like too confusing or something. Um And they like there might be one scale sequence that has five parts to it and the other one has two parts to it or something, right? Like so it might not actually work to all do the same grid. What I would recommend there cut out strips if, especially if you put it on the wall. Like I always put mine on the wall, cut out strips and have each row of the grid just kind of like be separate. And then you could choose whether you want a visual at the top or not in that visual category. So that is kind of the gist. I think you're doing mostly the same thing you're doing what I've said to do before determine your priority standards, then map out the supporting standards. What's the sequence? Then describe them the final tip. 00:14:46 I think this is like a really good practice. After you complete the new rubric, I would look at your instructional activities. This includes things like your scaffolds. Right? When you are having someone analyze, like, what does that look like? Do you have a scaffold that helps them summarize because sometimes they just jump right to analyze. So if you have a scaffold for analysis, maybe it's asking some guiding questions. Great. But do you have one, if a student can't even get to that point yet? They are, they're still working on their summarizing skill, right? And being able to just maybe label or build out if you don't have them, the scaffolds for activities or specific priority, standard skills um for the full learning sequence. And then I would also just think through the language that you're using, it's gonna be a little bit of a shift if you're used to mastery based language and how you talk to students about like where you are in the learning sequence versus where you are in your level of mastery or your proficiency level for that specific skill. It's just something really quick to think about and uh kind of do and, and practice as you just continue to develop lessons units, um classroom posters, language that you, you know orient students to like a new project or something, all that kind of thing, just give it a little bit of thought here. 00:15:59 All right. So again, to help you design your own learning sequence. I'm gonna share my skill based rubric templates. They're the sequences I've used before, but just kind of think about them from the perspective of a learning sequence. Again, take out maybe those category headers. Um I might even do that myself and then use the visuals if you want or replace them with a different visual analogy of kind of like progress or sequence, maybe even something with like journeying, right? And I keep thinking of this as like a learning journey. OK. That's it. For this episode. I will see you next week. If you're leaving this episode wanting more, you're going to love my life coaching intensive curriculum, boot camp. I help one department or grade team create feminist anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students. We weave current events into course content and amplify student voices which skyrockets engagement and academic achievement. It energizes educators feeling burns out and it's just two days. Plus you can reuse the same process any time you create a new unit which saves time and money. If you can't wait to bring this to your staff, I'm inviting you to sign up for a 20 minute call with me. 00:17:01 Grab a spot on my calendar at www dot Lindsay beth lions dot com slash contact. Until next time leaders continue to think. Big act brave and be your best self. This podcast is a proud member of the teach better podcast network. Better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there, explore more podcasts at teach better dot com slash podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I go over a unit planning deep dive:
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Jerad Koepp, Wukchumni, is the Native Student Program Specialist for North Thurston Public Schools, the 2022 Washington State teacher of the year, and the first Native American educator to earn the distinction in the state. He is a leader in Native education, policy, and government to government relationships. As an educator, trainer, presenter, consultant, and advocate, Jerad also created and supports his district’s dual-credited high school Native Studies program.
We met at a conference where there was lots of “unchecked settler privilege…non-Native educators presenting content and viewpoints of Native people while not working with any of them. It was one of those great opportunities to show the shortcomings of how even in progressive or educational spaces, Native erasure or omission is still compatible with the way modern public education works.” The Big Dream Make space for Native knowledge to thrive and contribute to educating all children. Let “Native people do things the way we always have done and creat[e] spaces for that in order to learn together, collaborate together (rather than taking different theories of knowledge and ways of being and trying to fit them into settler structures).” Mindset Shifts Required Native people are racialized and politicized. Tlingit activist Elizabeth Peratrovich said, “Asking you for my civil rights, implies they are yours to give.” The connection to land is the source of all knowledge. Nature is the original classroom. Action Steps When designing curriculum, the content and the curricula are actually towards the end of the list in terms of steps. Step 1: Understand Settler History Educators need to first understand the settler history of public education and its role in assimilating Native students, which is still in place today. Step 2: Do Identity Work Educators should ask: What is my settler identity? How have I benefited from, been complicit in, and continued to be part of settler society, of settler education? How is what I’m teaching contributing to the colonial unknowing of Native people throughout history? Step 3: Give Space to Make Sure it’s Grounded it in Community At the heart of it, is community-based education. Social justice education is grounded in community. Public education doesn’t give us the space to do that. Step 4: Crosswalk Indigenous Academia with K-12 And develop courses. They started with an 11th grade course: U.S. History Through Native Perspectives. Then added Literatures through Native Perspectives (11th grade), and then added a Native Civics (12th grade). Step 5: Guest Speakers Ideas include: fellow students, people from the White House, tribal leaders, tribal council members, tribal historians, plant and medicine teachers, authors, Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons advocates, native roboticists. It’s more than guest speakers. It’s healing—reclaiming knowledge, contemporizing Native people, and diversifying Native representation. (If using Native singers or dancers, we have to explore the impact, the meaning of the songs, the regalia, the importance of language, story of people.) Step 6: Make The Courses Count as College Credit Students shouldn’t have to choose between AP or Native studies. The weight should be equal or greater than a typically offered course. Partnering with universities protects the work and sustains it. It also helps better prepare future teachers. Jerad’s high school students guest taught undergraduate and graduate students! Step 7: Honor the Genealogy of Knowledge A key difference from traditional teaching/teacher training is the importance in Native studies of a genealogy of knowledge: Teachers are facilitators. “I learned how to weave this from these people of this tribe in this place.” This establishes a commitment to relationship—”I am responsible to these people for the way that I share this information.” Be Mindful Of… “We can’t just absorb information because Western society has extracted from Native people for five centuries with devastation. And so, we need to be able to acknowledge that, heal it, and then make sure we don’t do it again…a big part of the work we do needs to be generative to contribute to a brighter indigenous future, a brighter future for the knowledges that we have the privilege to share in our class.” Steps to Get Started Go check out public events. Support Native-owned businesses and artists. Learn directly from Native Education groups, including the National Indian Education Association. Be intentional about who you are talking about and ask: “Who’s not there? and What does it mean?” Go to the index of your social justice books. Are Native people there? Consider language: “Black and Brown” does not include lighter shades of Native people. This only addresses the racialization side and not the political side. Books Jerad Recommends:
Stay Connected You can find Jerad on his website: http://www.jeradkoepp.com. To help you start to identify places where you might “jam a screwdriver into the cog,” I’m sharing my Diagnosing Adaptive Challenges workbook with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 126 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. Quotes:
TRANSCRIPT Jared Cap Boni is the native student program specialist for North Thurston Public Schools. The 2022 Washington State teacher of the year and the first Native American educator to earn the distinction in the state. He is a leader in native education policy and government to government relationships. As an educator, trainer, presenter, consultant, and advocate, Jared also created and supports his district's dual credit at high school native studies program. I have to tell you all listening to Jared's podcast meeting, Jared talking with him now, both in the podcast and after we recorded, I learn so much from talking to him. This has been one of my favorite episodes to record my favorite conversations to be a part of. I truly was taking notes furiously and have every single time he speaks you guys. This is such a wonderful opportunity to learn from Jared Cap. So let's get right to the episode. I'm educational justice coach Lindsay Lyons. And here on the time for teacher podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. 00:01:06 I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings. If you're a principal, assistant superintendent, curriculum director, instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nerd out about co creating curriculum with students. I made this show for you. Here we go. Jared Cap. Welcome to the Time for a Teacher podcast. It's great to be here. I'm looking forward to a great chat today. Oh my gosh, me too. So we connected uh at, at a conference and I'm really excited to kind of deepen our my understanding of all the things that you've done. You have an amazing podcast. So I, I think for me that's the context of like what I'm starting to learn about in the work that you do and I can't wait to dive in more. What can listeners know to kind of ground our conversation today about you about your work. What do you think we should start with? Um Well, I, I think they'd be interested in how we met. Um We were, we were at a national social studies conference and uh my colleague and I, we were just kind of cringe watching the amount of unchecked settler privilege that was being displayed throughout the duration of the conference um of having these like non native educators presenting content and viewpoints of native people while not working with any of them. 00:02:33 And, and so I think that was uh one of those great opportunities to kind of show like the shortcomings of how even in progressive or educational spaces native eraser and omission is still compatible with the way that, like modern public education works. Um And it just so happens like you were, you were sitting next to me and probably wondering what's, what's this guy's deal making it weird for everybody? And it's just like, gotta make it weird. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, well said that's, that's exactly it. Right. It was, it was incredibly uncomfortable. It was throughout the conference. It was something that I'm, I'm definitely glad that we started with in terms of, of naming exactly why we're here today. Yeah. And well, one example there um I can't remember which one we were in, but it was really educational for me to, to, to see how like uh visibility comes with responsibility, right? 00:03:40 Like we, we want to have more representation. But if it's done without the proper positional uh the, the proper self work and the proper relationships, you're perpetuating the same systems while convincing yourself, you're doing something good. And in one of those, uh a person from a prominent um Ivy League University was proposing a curriculum uh that effectively just took so your, your standard K 12 social studies curriculum and replaced Manifest Destiny with Settler Colonialism, which uh that's a whole thing to unpack and why that doesn't work. But like at one point, someone um had mentioned, like, had asked, like, how do you, did you have any, you know, native uh education consultants on this project? And after a very awkward pregnant pause, they admitted that no, there wasn't. And so being the odd one of the crowd is like, I just asked, like the obvious question that seems to escape a lot of the people. 00:04:47 Is that a, is that appropriate? And it got super quiet in the room as if like people forget that we're still here even as they're talking about our presence. Um So when we get into a lot, a lot of these conversations, I think it's particularly important with native education that the the content and the curricula are sort of towards the end of the list because educators need to first kind of understand sort of the the settler history of public education, its role in assimilating native students, which is still in place today. Um But they also need to spend a good amount of time in the mirror doing the identity work. Like what is my settler identity? Um How have I benefited from been complicit in and continue to be part of settler society of settler education? And how am how is what I am teaching, contributing to the colonial unknowing of native people throughout history? 00:05:59 And so we get into a lot of self work. But then I think the other big lift is that we don't translate really well. At all into other frameworks of social justice de I work. Um And, and so then where the, where the jump gets really big is that we now have to start considering other epistemologies and onto in education. And so that's where you kind of get either fatigue or people throwing their hands up. It's like, whoa, those are big words I haven't used since I was writing in college and now I gotta think about like theories of knowledge. It's like, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if we're gonna be, um, authentic and respectful and genuine in this work, we have to understand that there have been longstanding systems of instruction and education and its roles and our views and relationships to that that have existed for centuries, thousands of years before the formation of the United States. 00:07:09 Mhm. Absolutely. I, and I, I'm, I'm wondering now there's so many directions we can go with this conversation that I'm kind of wondering one of the questions I typically ask, ask folks at the star and this comes from Dr Bettina Love talking about freedom dreaming is, is kind of what is the, the, the freedom dream so to speak that, that you hold, like if you were able to, um, you know, un undo a lot of like teacher education things that we, we go through as teachers and, and all of that stuff and just, and think about like, what a, um, a AAA more kind of like unsettled use word from your podcast, like system of education would be um what would that approach look like or what would you, what would you kind of envision here? That, that's, yeah, that's, that's a lot to unpack. Um Sorry. So one of, one of the things that, that I thought of with that question and how i it would relate to uh the area that I work in uh is a quote from the incredible Kling get activist uh Elizabeth Elizabeth Petrovich. And she famously said that asking you for my civil rights implies they are yours to give. 00:08:17 And that that is a critical distinction with native people. Because when we get into theories of race and social justice, people always forget. And this is where we're like almost but not quite is that in addition to being racialized, we're also politicized, right? So that, that racial identity and sovereignty have been fabricated by the United States in order to um undermine their trust responsibilities in order to facilitate land, continued land dispossession. Um and also to like through things like the Z Act to establish systems of blood quantum, where their idea was that you could breed native people out of existence, which means then again, you're out of these treaty obligations, you're out of these responsibilities to all of the, the many hundreds of tribes that have existed here on Turtle Island since time immemorial. And so if we look at that lens, a lot of what can be done is just letting native people do things as we always have done and creating spaces for that in order to um learn together, to collaborate together rather than always trying to take different, different, like the, you know, different theories of knowledge and different ways of being and trying to fit them into settler structures because sometimes they just don't fit. 00:09:52 But the other, the other problem with that though is like when you try to squeeze it into public education with the existing systems, you're just accommodating cellar hegemony, right? You know, you know, things like um uh like language and a lot of social justice actually is easily absorbed by settler society because it doesn't ultimately like threaten their continued power. And so a lot of it is just making space for native knowledge to really thrive and contribute to educating all child, all Children because native education isn't just for native students. What's going on here is that it benefits everyone. And I think what's also really inspiring when we get into these sorts of conversations is that it helps us hopefully reflect and reconnect with the idea that every single person in the world is indigenous to somewhere, a history of colonization um has probably contributed a lot to that disconnection that your ancestors are wherever their bones may be buried in their homelands once had with, with place. 00:11:14 And so in our uh dual accredited Native studies program that we have in one of our high schools, we consistently see students with cultures representing everywhere in the world, find meaningful connections to indigenous story and indigenous knowledge. Because the, and this is, it, it's not about race, it's about their connection to place and family. And that connection, that connection to land is the source of all knowledge. And it also reminds us as we're kind of looking at the freedom is that nature is the original classroom. And it's not just that, you know, native people, you know, we, we talk to animals and, you know, we're, you know, the first environmentalists. It's, it's because that, well as John Trudell famously said, um the, the, the blood and the bone of humans are made of the same metals, metal metals, minerals, um and liquids of the earth. 00:12:24 And so if humans have been and all things on earth are made of the same metals, minerals and liquids that all things have been it. And so every single thing, all these other than human relations have things to teach us. They have medicines, they have stories they, they provide in really, really impactful ways. So, and you, this exists whether you're in an urban environment or a rural reservation environment because whether it's been, you know, built up with concrete um or not, like it's still, it's still a native place. So that, that freedom is really, it's almost like an unfettered return and access to t to traditional forms of learning and know and knowing. And then I think the, the bright future is how do we bring everyone else into that space with us? 00:13:28 And that's where that identity work um is so key because, because we have to not only be able to learn how to identify interrogate and dismantle those settler influences. Um but we also have to be able to think of like the, the, the, the importance and the in and be inspired by what we envision for the future. Yeah, I, I love this and, and I'm, I'm curious to know too because you were telling me um and, and, and on your podcast, you're talking about the um creation of native studies curriculum you've been working on and I, I'm curious to know like, what it, what does that like, concrete thing look like to give people a view of, you know, like, what does this look like in practice or what could this look like in practice? Yeah. So it's, it's, it's something of um an incredible experiment that I have been fortunate enough to um be a co creator on. Um when I was uh confronted with the idea, I was offered the idea by an incredible um ally, coconspirator administrator, friend of mine who, who asked me, like, would you be interested in creating a Native studies course for us? 00:14:42 I pretty quickly said no. Um because they, because they, when you get into these exciting areas of like social justice and de I work. There's, I know the blind spot because this is what I do. Right. And so like, it was really me questioning whether or not they had the, I think the, the, the stamina, the will and the ability just kind of provide the space and the freedom for it to be done correctly. But I thought about it for a few minutes and I said, ok, let's give it a shot. But, you know, I'm going to need your best teacher. I'm, you know, we're going to need release time. I'm like, I'm going to need that teacher, like no lie to be up in the mountains with me and like, we have to be able to travel because at the heart of it is community based education and that's always sort of the rub in however we approach social justice education is the fact that it's grounded in community. 00:15:53 But public education doesn't give us the space to do that. They want, you know, maybe, you know, on your contract, you might get one planning a day, who knows how many prep periods you have. And, and so they, they want to like turn and burn professional development and, and then like content creation, right? It's like, no, like we need to take a half a day and participate in this tribal event. Um You know, like, if you wanna learn about plant plants and medicine, it's like, ok, well, well, different seasons we gotta be going at different times, like you need to be learning in, in the places and in the communities like that, that have always been the home of that knowledge. Um And I just happened to get paired up with an incredible uh colleague, Alison mccarton, who has really um really loved the challenge of how do we crosswalk this brilliance that exists in indigenous academia into K 12 because that is a huge gap. 00:17:00 Um And not many people are in that space right now. And that's kind of where I thrive because, you know, all like the magic to me happens in K 12. And so we started out our program with an 11th grade uh us history through the native perspectives. And then uh we added uh uh 11th grade literatures through native perspectives. And then just this year, we added 1/12 grade native civics. And we have, um over the years, we have had dozens of uh guest teachers, uh you know, from, you know, people from the White House to fellow students and we've had countless um tribal leaders, council members, tribal historians, plant and medicine teachers. Um You know, we've had Pulitzer nominated uh author Linda Hogan. We've had um mm IP advocates. We've had uh native roboticists and, and so that all comes in is like one and so that there's more to it than just having guest speakers, right? 00:18:05 Because we're reclaiming and elevating that knowledge that has been banned or diminished by public education for the past 150 years. And, and so part of that is that healing that we're contemporary native people and we're also diversifying their representation. Um I have a story that I often like to tell is that, you know, the first time I hear from a teacher is, is for a singer or a dancer, like it's the bottom my to do list, right? Because that, that, that implies like a limited conceptualization of who native people are, right? Like they're, they're their sort of their schema just sees a dead Indian, right? The sort of like the Hollywood um and the Hollywood version of native people, you know, the stuff you, you, you see, you know, in Wild West shows and they don't see us as modern contemporary people like um you know, we just recently put the, the first native woman into space and is probably going to be going to the moon and like the same teachers they don't ask like, well, hey, uh is there a native judge who can come and talk to class? 00:19:21 Right? It's always some sort of surface level culture and now it's like, I'm not saying like I always like poo poo that. But what I'm, what I, what I where I start from is like inside, it's just kind of like deflating. Now. That's not saying that teachers who are interested in that aren't doing great work. It's just that um all of that comes with additional time for the instruction uh as to its its impact, right? It's not just, you know, show and you know, entertain um the settler audience and then, you know, go home. It's like, well, what are the meanings of these songs? Uh What are the meanings of the regalia? What is our story and connection as, as people? Um What's the importance of our language? And if you can build all of that in, then you're getting into something a lot more substantive in education, right? That seems like it would be like for an art class or a music class. And it's like we are, we are centering this. Yeah. And, and so as, as we kind of keep building on sort of like just how complex and rigorous uh native studies can be, uh we were able to, to partner um with uh with a local university and now we have like dual credit. 00:20:41 So students who uh complete all three courses are eligible for um uh 25 free college credits and they insist on them that it's free. And, you know, listeners may be familiar with programs like um college in the classroom. This is something like we've, we have created entirely on our own. And the the there are many facets as to why that is important. One I remember early on as we were building the program that I was having native students debate whether or not to take a P courses or native studies. And that was, uh, that was an unjust decision to me that our students had to make. And so, like the hustle was on to get, um, college credit. So that way if they really wanted to take that class, of course, they can, they, they can, they can take those A P courses, but the, the weight of it should be equal or greater than a standard, um A P or honors course. 00:21:44 And then on top of that, what was really great about partnering with the university is that it protects the work because public education loves partnering with college. Um because it's, it's, it's easy, it's fairly easy in, in a, in a good climate to create something that could be one and done, right? Leadership changes, politics change and then boom and it's gone, right? But when you're, when you're working with traditionally marginalized communities, like our memories are long and so like you, you have to go into honoring that trust and working towards the future in a really, really committed in a really good way. And so working with a university uh honors the work, it protects the work and it also helps us better prepare future teachers. So, um one of the, one of the highlights of this year's cohort was that our under our 11th grade students, guess taught the undergraduate, teaching students at a local university. 00:22:52 So they had like a whole uh multi stage set up uh for a whole morning on the, the history and the legacy of fry bread with cooking demonstrations. And, and then they also taught the undergraduate students um how to run circle. And so the, the, the last of class was, was ran through circle. And then our 12th grade students uh hosted the graduate teaching class um at their high school and they provide all the refreshments and they ran the whole show. And so they had opening circle, they had closing circle. They had uh multiple stages that was talking about like uh traditional um plant teachings and knowledge and the importance of grounded norma toity in education. Uh One was uh talking about the role and importance of sovereignty in education. Uh Another group was evaluating our state's social studies standards for settler bias with our state head of social studies, right? 00:24:00 And so then we had like all of our, our college uh partners there. And one of the best compliments uh I got was um from the, the, the university with the teaching students was like, I, I can't tell who the high school students are. And, and so like, it's really, it's really empowering that we'll be able to be generative. And that's the other key thing about like native pedagogy is that we can't just absorb information, right? Because like Western society has extracted from native people for five centuries with devastation. Um And, and so we need to be able to like, acknowledge that, heal it and then make sure we don't do it again, right? We like, how is, how should this have been done in the first place? And so what like so a big part of the work that we do, it needs to be generative to contribute to a brighter indigenous future, right? 00:25:04 A brighter future for the the knowledge is that we have the privilege to be able to share in our class. And I would say, you know, I would say for your listeners too, like the other key difference with a lot of like native content that I think a lot of content creators. Um and you can really miss is that a big part of the way that we teach is what I refer to as the genealogy of knowledge, right? It's like sometimes it's from a book, right? Because that's just the way, I mean, that's where information is. I'm, I'm a bit of a nerd. So I love me a good peer reviewed journal. But um what's really key and this is where the community based aspect of this sort of, of these sorts of programs really is key. It's not like like that, you know it, right? Like I, I watched this documentary and I'm gonna teach it and act like I know it because that's how teachers are typically trained to be the experts in the room. Whereas in native studies, um like teachers are facilitators and So it's like I learned how to weave this from these people of this tribe in this place. 00:26:16 So that what's powerful about that is not only do we honor the genealogy of knowledge, but we're also establishing to our native students and all students and established commitment to relationship that I am responsible to these people for the way that I share this information in a way that is so rare in the way that we, we teach things in school that is just worthy of a pause. I think, I mean, that is I'm reflecting on just my own practice and a lot of what you're saying, right? And how, you know, sometimes that I, I will do something like that, but it's the intention of every time being able to be clear. And I love that, that, that sense of accountability too. I mean, just really worth thinking through for all educators and leaders who might be listening. I think you've kind of named so many things that I was just gonna ask just in your, in your talking through things. I mean, mindset shifts, challenges, things that you know, leaders should know about. 00:27:17 Is there anything else that you as we kind of wind down the half hour here, wanna say to, to leaders or teachers who might be interested in um in the work but like maybe are, are like unsure of like, what's that first step or, or what do I need to be? Aware of that you haven't touched on yet. Whoa. Well, um this is, this is what II I teach at university. Um So I guess the, the shorter version would be everywhere you are in this country. You're on need of plan. Like we have tons of public events, like go check them out. Right. We have uh tons of like native creators and artists that are selling their stuff, support native owned businesses whenever you can. Um We have native education group across the United States. We have the National Indian Education Association. Like you can come into our communities and learn directly with us on like how we're approaching the opportunities and the struggles that we continue to face in education. 00:28:21 Um And then I would also, I think for like the, the challenge and kind of how we kicked off. Um If I, I think a lot of people are really kind of, they can be dismayed at how, how absent native people can be in diversity training and writing. Like you can pick up the books, some of your favorite authors. And this is something I put into my wife's head. And then she ended up doing a big um uh so race and social justice training me at her work and then she did it and she came out like disappointed and kind of mad at me for putting it in her head because it was a, a big name in social justice writing. And I I my question is go to the index and look for us. And if we're not there, it's problematic for us and it should be problematic for everyone. You know, you get into like the language of uh black and brown, right? Um Native people come in all sorts of shades, including black and brown, but also like really white passing because that's what 500 years of colonization has done. 00:29:36 And that, but that also shows the limitation of that. You're only getting sort of like the racial organization side of settler colonialism and not um the, the political side of it because you can do a deep dive into like how those series come short. Um Coltart. Um uh was it red skin white masks? Uh It's a great deep dive into that book. Um But always be kind of be thinking like, who are we talking about intentionally? It's not like we, you know, we don't, I don't have a problem with, you know, these great works because they're fantastic authors doing like really changing communities but be intentional about who you are talking to. Um Like, one example is um I typically like by I, I go to these conferences all the time because I deal in equity and it's just like you're talking about us, but you never do. So, like, what are you contributing to by just sort of like homogenizing and centralizing the native um path to liberation our histories, our struggles with everybody else. 00:30:41 And that centralization of homogenization is one of those um pillars of Settler moves to innocence. Like all of these, you know, everyone's all the same. It's like, no, we're not, we, we can intersect, we can be parallel, we can support each other. Sometimes we're at odds with each other. Um But there's a lot more depth to the learning. So like whenever you, whenever you're at a table, whenever you're doing the work, you're reading a book, ask who's not there? What does that mean? And Yeah, yeah. What does it mean? Like when we're, when we're emitting uh people from the work, sometimes it's specific, like, you know, you're just like, you're just focused on this one thing, but it's like everywhere you go, like no, like, you know, like we're omitted like, oh, well, OK, why is that? Um Those are some uh Sandy Grandy. I always highly recommend uh her work. Red Pedagogy is a great place to start. Um II I, you know, I see on, on your website, you know, um feminism um is a really, you know, uh near and dear topic to you. 00:31:49 Um Leanne Simpson's uh as we have always done really uh analyzes the, the history of uh the, the, the, the uh hetero patriarchy and sort of um uh the set, the impacts of settler uh gender and sexual identity violence because that's the other thing too is like boarding schools again, this is all big stuff. So boarding schools didn't just like, try to colonize their minds where, um, you know, like the religious folks, like, really wanted to colonize their spirits. Boarding schools also like forced, not just Christianity, but also gender roles. So if you were like, traditionally, not like, like nonconforming, you had two choices. Well, actually you didn't even have a choice. They assigned you those identities. And so you start to see like our, like the fundamentals of our identity being whittled away. And then you see things like the Homestead Act and the, the general allotment act, the act, right, that women who are often the pro the property owners like that went to the men and then through legislation that forced a, a Western, you know, hetero patriarchal like nuclear family structure, which was also like counter to the way we had traditionally done things. 00:33:15 So you start to see that like the sovereignty and legislation all plays in. And so we can't, we can't avoid this sort of aspect of it because we also where it's really important is, I think it, it brings in so much context to everyone else's conversation um in their past to liberation that, you know, uh the boy and Charles Eastman, um they were like, they were close um at the turn of the 20th century um and work, you know, and wrote papers together. And so like the, the Black and indigenous communities have always had tried to learn from each other and try to support each other throughout history. Um But a lot of that conversation today, it gets, it, it seems like it's, it's struggling in a lot of, a lot of areas. Some, some areas are really uh doing great um believe uh may uh at the Afro Indigenous History of the United States. 00:34:18 Uh is another great read. If you kind of want to study sort of that intersectionality and sort of our complexities um uh with race in the United States. So there's lots of great stuff out there to be reading. I feel like every time I listen to one of your podcasts, we're now in this one with you on, I have an ever increasing book list. So just like, and experiences too, not just booklist, right? But like those organizations that you named to be part of um the events that you shared, like they are constantly happening, right? Like I just kind of a list of activities to engage in beyond, just just the reading of the books um that you've shared today. So thank you for, for that. I'm really excited to hear, you know, what listeners engage with and, and, and what they're learning and putting into practice from that. Um As, as we kind of close, one of the final questions that I asked is um you know, what's, what's something that you personally have been learning about lately? And it could be in line with our conversation so far. Or it could be something totally unrelated. It, it could literally be anything you'd like. So, yeah. Well, I'm always learning something. I'm, I'm a bit like, obsessive about, like, just absorbing new information. 00:35:26 But I think one of the, the things that we're sharing from, from what I'm kind of learning and working through right now is as I'm sure your listeners will understand, like, like there is a lot of, there's a lot of content to cram into like short conversations um about areas that are really unfamiliar to a lot of people. And there's, there's a big e eagerness to go deep. Well, you don't often have time, right? It's just sort of the reality of it. Um And so, one of the things that I've been learning and sort of working on is how to take these rather like abstract, seemingly abstract concepts and how to represent them and, and sort of break them down so that way they're, they're more accessible to people. Um So, like 11 for, for example, um uh Il's uh book, uh The Third Space of Sovereignty. Um He, he talks about how sort of like native, there's a lot of work that happens on the boundaries. 00:36:32 And so settlers are all about land, they're all about boundary. And, and so the way that I approach it is like I'm trying to work out and communicate and kind of theorize what happens on the boundaries of sort of uh settler presence. And so there, there could be like versions if we're looking for like social justice, where are those boundaries solid? Where are they permeable? And then where are they fragile? Right? So like, where can we make our moves? Um So there's like different understandings of what we can do. But there's also like, well, if you want to be like a classroom insurgent, right? Where can I work within that system to interact on the boundaries to push those boundaries out? And that's where it comes back to like the personal work. It's like I have to be able to understand my identity and my, my location and then understand the environment in which I am. And so if once I have a sense of these, these boundaries, actually, I, I was uh I taught a class at U dub and I used this image like of like Luke Skywalker and like the the the two moons of was it tattooing? 00:37:49 Right? I'm not sure. OK. So, but they have two moons, right? And what was great about this picture was that the horizon, the boundary was really blurry, right? Because it kind of is, and that's sort of like how that that Settler control works is they're always kind of like playing with it and it's always a bit fuzzy. But then um so then kind of looking in these different spaces like, well, you have like ethnic studies which I think can intersect on those boundaries really well. And some beautiful work is being done. And it's also I think particularly more accessible to teachers looking to make that jump, right? Because the the the gap in those valleys is a lot more narrow. And I think the approach is a lot more generalized. Um So there, there are a lot more the teacher, the teacher can stay connected as they make the journey. Whereas I often see like native studies is occupying its its own third space. And so how do I kind of like demonstrate and graphic out for educators? 00:38:56 And, and so it's, it's a really interesting kind of thought about like, well, how how do all of these worlds sort of interact and inter intersect and collide with each other? And I feel like kind of looking at the the systems of it is a unique privilege. But um I think it's also something I see a lot of really brilliant people in academia really starting to ask these questions. So we have all of these different structures, right? We have like the immediate impacts of, you know, explicit or implicit bias or racism, right? Um you know, racism behind school dress codes or you know, the the the history of assessment in schools, right? We have these, these um these artifacts of it, right? But what happens when we start to like, look at how like the plant works and then where can we even with fewer resources? Like jam a screwdriver into the cog to, like, they either break it or slow it down a little bit. 00:40:00 And I think part of that is sort of like understanding like where we're at and in relation to history, like, sort of like that seven generation time span. Like our ancestors really have, you know, like, they don't want us to, I don't think that my ancestors want me to fight the same battles they fought, right? It's, it's like our time to do the work in our present. But at the same time while we're doing the work is that I'm also like, always kind of like learning and helping other people to reflect on remembering like the, the joy in the future, right? We always have to visualize a joyful future and what that means to us individually as groups, as a society. Um So I, I think that's kind of what, where my learning has been kind of working right now. Wow, that is fascinating. I feel like I can talk to you all day about that. It is so interesting. Um And thank you for kind of you. You can always hit me up again, like, amazing. Thank you. And actually, I, I want to ask that to where can listeners if they want to get in touch with you or follow some of the great work you're doing like, where, where's the best place for them to go? 00:41:12 Um Well, I, I don't do social media. Uh, I, uh, I use a typewriter frequently, um, amazing, but, uh, you could check out Jared K dot com. You'll, you'll see a little bit more about, uh, who I am and what I do and some of my work. So, and you can also find out how to, how to contact me if you have questions. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Jade. I really appreciate your time today and all of the wisdom you're constantly sharing with the world. I really value your time. What a fantastic conversation with Jared Cap first. Go look at all of the things that Jared talks about all of the resources. We'll add those to the blog. Also in the blog, I am adding a diagnosing adaptive challenges workbook. If you are trying to find those places for you to as Jared has kind of Jama Jama Screwdriver in the cog there. Why don't you check out diagnosing adaptive challenges workbook again. In addition to all of the books and resources that Jared shared, those are all gonna be listed for you on our blog post for this episode, which is Lindsay Beth allon dot com slash blog slash 128 Lindsey Beth dot com slash blog slash 1 28. 00:42:18 If you're leaving this episode wanting more, you're going to love my life, coaching intensive curriculum, boot camp. I help one department or grade team create feminist anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students we weave current events into course content and amplify student voices which skyrockets engagement and academic achievement. It energizes educators feeling burns out and it's just two days. Plus you can reuse the same process any time you create a new unit which saves time and money. If you can't wait to bring this to your staff, I'm inviting you to sign up for a 20 minute call with me. Grab a spot on my calendar at www dot Lindsay beth lions dot com slash contact. Until next time leaders continue to think big act brave and be your best self. This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better Podcast Network better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there, explore more podcasts at teach better dot com slash podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I explain how to replace the cannon:
8/7/2023 127. RESOURCE DIVE: A Research-Based Model for Addressing Unplanned Controversial Issues in ClassRead Now
Listen to the episode by clicking the link to your preferred podcast platform below:
I listened to Charlot Cassar talk about the model in his co-authored, open access journal article, “Why teachers address unplanned controversial issues in the classroom” on the Visions of Education podcast. Then, I immediately read the paper. Now, I’m sharing the highlights with you!
Why? Locally and globally, there are always things happening that impact our students. Often, in highly emotional ways. This plus our school and larger cultural contexts can make it challenging to determine when to address an unplanned issue that arises in class. Teachers in Cassar, Oosterheert, & Meijer’s (2023) study described three types of “controversies”:
These situations happen all of the time. Some teachers (like the teachers invited to participate in this study) are more likely to choose to address these issues in class. Others are not. Importantly, the study noted that how teachers addressed a situation impacted their self-esteem and self-efficacy as a teacher. For leaders who are wary about telling teachers exactly what to address, this study’s model presents an opportunity to invite teachers to reflect on their reasons for choosing to address a specific issue or not. What’s in the model to understand teachers’ justifications for addressing unplanned controversial issues in the classroom?
Note: You can see the visual model (Figure 1) on p. 13 of the journal article. How can educators use this model in practice? After an event that impacts students in your school or district, invite teachers to use this model to think through each of the elements to explain why they chose to address it in the moment or not. (You could do this as a whole staff following a large event that impacted the whole community or use this in an individual coaching conversation with one teacher for an event that only impacted that class.) Here are some questions that teachers may want to consider in relation to the model:
Once teachers have reflected individually, you may want to pick a specific question to discuss as a whole staff or in teams. For example: Do we (as a staff) believe teachers should go beyond the syllabus or stick to it? I recommend using a discussion protocol for this. Moving forward, encourage teachers to consider this model as a reflective tool after an incident in class or in the moment as a decision-making tool. For the latter, I would recommend selecting ONE element or question from the list above that a teacher wants to ask themselves in the moment. Considering multiple elements in the moment would take too long. To help you create the space for these kinds of conversations with staff, I’m sharing my sequence of Staff Meeting Agendas with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 127 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript below. TRANSCRIPT I'm educational justice coach Lindsay Lyons. And here on the time for Teacher podcast, we learn how to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice design curricula grounded in student voice and build capacity for shared leadership. I'm a former teacher leader turned instructional coach. I'm striving to live a life full of learning, running, baking, traveling, and parenting because we can be rockstar educators and be full human beings. If you're a principal, assistant superintendent, curriculum director, instructional coach or teacher who enjoys nerdy out about co creating curriculum with students. I made this show for you. Here we go. Welcome to another episode of the time for Teacher Shit podcast. On this episode, we're talking about a research based model for addressing unplanned controversial issues in class. So as a leader, how do you support teachers to make these decisions when something pops up unexpectedly in class? How do you help a teacher think through either reflectively or ultimately in the moment? Whether to address that issue, given all of the things, given their personal context, given the context of the school or the state or the national climate, all these different things, given what the specific controversy is this is the episode that's going to help you think through that. 00:01:17 And we're going to use a model that actually comes from a recently published paper. It's a 2023 paper and the study was conducted in Europe. But it's really interesting how many parallels there are to the US context. All right, let's get into it. So let's dive right into the research that makes up this episode and why we're talking about this model. So the research behind the model will talk up through the model. And then in the last part of the episode, I'm wanna really talk through how you can actually use it. So how you as a leader can support educators to use this model in your practice, how you can use it as a tool to really invite reflection and also conversation team or staff wide in potentially like a staff meeting or a team meeting. So, OK, first, I wanna talk about the context with which I came about this. So I was listening to an episode of the Visions of Education podcast, which is great and phenomenal and you should totally listen to them. I know you're already a podcast listener and they were talking to Doctor Charlotte Cassar and Cassar. 00:02:21 I, I'm I apologize. I'm not sure how to pronounce that, but he is talking about how in his recently co-authored open access journal article, which is phenomenal because then that means you can read it and that's exactly what I did. I went on immediately and read the paper. So this is the episode where I literally an hour after just learning about the fact that the paper existed, well, maybe a little bit more two hours, I immediately was like, I need to record an episode. So this paper is called Why teachers address unplanned controversial issues in the classroom. And what's fascinating about this is that it really, it, it creates the model which I think is helpful, but it also gets at the why and I think that is for me anyway, is a new kind of frame. So I haven't really heard people discuss and get at like, what is that deep? Why that makes you decide in the moment I'm going to address it or I'm not going to address it. So what's interesting about the study is the folks in this study were selected and invited to participate in the study specifically because they were identified as people who were not shying away from controversial issues. They were the teachers who were definitely interested in, let's address it more often than not in the moment. 00:03:25 So they were kind of like, ok, so you do address things, therefore, we're gonna dig into why you made that specific decision and you're gonna tell us some moments where it came up, you're gonna tell us what the situation was and you're gonna go through like, what exactly was your kind of thinking either in the moment or reflectively and then they created a model based on that. So I think the larger context of this right is like things are always happening in classrooms, in schools, local and globally and nationally. And all the things there are events happening that impact our students, they might be hyper local, they might be, you know, globally, as I said, they affect all classrooms and all all places and often this shows up in very highly emotional ways. And the other piece of this too, the dynamic is important that I think the model reflects this. So that's it's important that we remember that teachers are also full people as well. So when we think about the context of teachers leaving the profession or teachers leaving the school or teachers, just the idea of teacher retention being such an important factor in overall like school success and district success, right? 00:04:32 And, and the success of the profession, right? This is a really interesting dynamic. I think that, that, that the model gets to and we'll get to the model in a second. But I think it is emotional both for the students and for the teacher. And all of those emotions are kind of factored into this decision of whether I'm going to do um you know, address this in this moment or whether I'm going to address it because I did address it and it didn't go well or something right now, do I address something else in the future or vice versa. I went really well and then I'm going to continue addressing it. Right. So I think this is really important to think about now. We have a, a lot of, I think different ideas as just human beings about controversies. What deems something controversial authors of this study came up with kind of three categories of what was described by participants as, as controversies. So mainstream controversies is the first one and this is stuff that's like in the public discourse, it's, you know, laws regarding things like immigration or health care or the economy. So like kind of big things politicians are talking about and it's, it's part of regular public discourse. 00:05:38 Then there's teacher initiated controversies and it's interesting that they phrased it this way. Um I I kind of skimmed through maybe why maybe that's present in the article. But they talk about this in relation to that moment when a student says something that I think in the their language is like discriminatory or stereotyping, um like an offensive comment and the teacher chooses that moment to respond, right, to say, basically, like take a stance and say that's not acceptable, right? We're crossing the line of what I would say is like a violation of dignity. So mainstream controversy is teacher initiated controversies and then the third is controversial pedagogy. And so that is again, interestingly framed. Uh That's when a teacher is reflecting on their own behavior in class. And I think one of the instances that was given as an example was that a student said something like, basically back to the teacher kind of like calling them out for, uh, something that they did that was maybe not ok, or that they perceived as kind of like, um, impeding their education or whatever. Right? The, the teacher kind of dismissed one of the students questions and the student was like, hey, well, then who do I go to with my questions? 00:06:45 So this is a moment where the teacher kind of reflects on their own behavior and deems it kind of like a controversial pedagogical moment. So it's really interesting, I I almost kind of think about that as like, I often frame it as like the apology category, right? Of like this is a moment where the teacher thought I was like, yep, I should apologize to the student or I should at least reflect on my behavior deeper. So these are the kinds of different situations, they're not all kind of like the public discourse, uh mainstream controversies is in that first category, like something like controversial pedagogy is, is literally just like how you interact with students. So I think that it's really interesting as well that this was kind of part of the conversation. So this these situations happen all the time and we want to think through and kind of I, I think this model is a great opportunity to help teachers think through. Are you gonna respond? Are you not gonna respond? And I think it's really hard to do in the moment to use something like this model in full because you have a few seconds to decide, right? So how do we use this model to think through? Maybe in a reflective way? 00:07:47 What were the moments that we chose or chose not to respond? Like we responded in a moment. How did it go? Why did we choose? How does that inform future decisions perhaps? And then also kind of thinking about what is something that really stood out during that reflection that we can kind of use moving forward. So let's first look at the model, the model and this is their model is called the model to understand teachers justifications for addressing unplanned controversial issues in the classroom. There's kind of three core pieces, they kind of like bold this and you can see the visual, it's on page 13 of the journal article which I will link in the blog post. It is figure one. So sometimes it pops up at the very top, you can see all the figures but kind of more bold and more central to the model are the first three kind of elements or components. One is immediacy. So the urgency of the situation and there are some different pieces there. So they, they said there's actually three aspects of immediacy and they kind of relate to some of these other elements as well. One is pedagogical potential or kind of like this teachable moment opportunity. So what is the pe pedagogical potential of me addressing this right now? 00:08:50 The other is kind of like the wider context and the specific event? So how does this particular event influence my decision? Like I might typically address a lot of things but maybe not this one or maybe this one even though I don't typically address a lot of things. So how does this specific event play into things? And then also the third piece is the need to address the situation to move on and kind of get back to the planned curriculum. So a participant had a quote was like, otherwise they just fester, right? So this idea of like if we don't address it, there's going to be this kind of emotional build up and even like emotional outbursts or frustration with the teacher for not addressing it, right? Like we need to actually work through this talk through this thing, through this give space for this, even if it's not a discussion, right? Even if it's just for the processing to just acknowledge that this happened in order to even get back to you at some day, it doesn't need to be the same day, but at some point to get back to the lesson. So it's kind of like, uh I think the the author was saying, you know, it, it almost is sometimes selfish as a teacher to be like, well, I need to get through all this stuff. 00:09:54 So in order to get through this stuff, I'm going to pause and I'm going to address it so that ultimately I can get back to, to my kind of curriculum or business as usual. So it's a really interesting kind of frame, particularly for people who might be reticent to address this if you kind of frame it in that way, or people can think through it in that way. Um The the next piece was past experiences. So we have the immediacy of the moment and then we have the past experiences of the individual teacher. And then the third piece is future orientations. So the past experiences of the teacher could be like what in relation to that issue, but also what in relation to like being a student myself. Like how did my teachers treat me? How I I know one participant was talking about like when my teacher did this thing, it actually was really not cool and I want very much to be different from that teacher. And so it's kind of like your past is very much informing your decisions, right? And so just to kind of honor that and name, right? As teachers reflecting kind of name what that is, what are the past experiences that are kind of coming up as I think about making this decision or reflectively as I did make this decision. 00:10:55 What kind of influence that and also future orientation. So this is super interesting, I think it's the desired state of being for yourself as a teacher, like who's the teacher that you wanna be? And also your students who are the students that you want to kind of, what kind of student do you want to support? Who do you want them to be in the world? What kind of skills do you want them to have? How do you want them to interact with others or lead or you know, any of those things? So kind of what's your desired future orientation? And so this might be, I think one that specific example about apologizing to the student or kind of like taking a moment to reflect critically on their, their pedagogy or their behavior in that moment. It was like, oh, I want to be a teacher who is capable of apologizing to a student, right? Or I want to be a teacher who is reflective of that and not just to say I am always right. So it's just really fascinating, I think for me than that, that piece. So I immediately past experiences, future orientations, if nothing else, I think definitely have teachers reflect on that and maybe one of those pieces in, in the moments, but also there's all this other stuff, right? Because that's, that's overly simple. 00:11:57 And so the model includes more including emotions, those are the feelings of teachers or students and our students as a result of the issue? Or I think this is also interesting, they say the emotions that come up when a teacher does not address the issue. So what were kind of the emotional considerations when the teacher was making the decision whether to address or not address this issue during class? Were you thinking about what would happen if you didn't? Right. What would be the emotional response of you or the students be if you didn't? Super interesting question to ask teachers? The next piece is personal beliefs. So that's the teacher's personal beliefs and values. It's really interesting in the language they use in the article they talk about this desire to preserve the self so that teachers have this desire and need to really preserve themselves. We think about this in the workplace, right? We, we kind of come to work and then we're supposed to leave ourselves at home, this, this myth that we perpetuate. And I've talked about this so much in the podcast that like this idea of neutrality, right? And we're like, oh, the teacher doesn't exist as a full human being as a teacher, right? 00:13:00 Like that's just not, that's not sustainable when we think about teacher well being, right? You need to be able to bring your full self to work and also recognize that you're a teacher and you have that like relational power dynamic and you have the professional responsibility of being a teacher and not like, I think how often people use the word indoctrinate. Of course, we're not trying to indoctrinate anyone, but we do want to make sure that we don't feel like we are completely doing the opposite of what our core humanity wants us to do. Right. We're probably gonna leave the profession if that's, if that's the case. So I think, I think that's just really interesting to think about and have teachers reflect on what are those personal beliefs and values? Do you feel like you can preserve yourself? Did you preserve yourself in the moment? Did you not? And, and are you still kind of thinking about that? The other piece here is professional beliefs. And so we think about professional beliefs, these are kind of like what are the broader aims of education? So there is, I think that's a wonderful opportunity for kind of a whole conversation, staff wider team wide about what that is and where do we kind of align or not? 00:14:05 But there's a great participant, quote in this article and the participant says, I realized this is a quote, I realize how toxic it is that in schools, we say politics are not for the classroom, if they are not for the classroom, for what are they or sorry for, where are they? And then he continues on to say, or I'm I'm not sure what the gender of the person was actually, but this person, this participant continues on to say it is a disservice from the education system not to give them the right tools to be proper engaged, democratic citizens, which I just think is a really interesting reflection. I mean, I would agree with it, but I, I also think to be able to invite teachers to kind of think through this question for themselves. What would they come up with, would they come up with something similar? But they come up with something totally different? Like, what is that belief? I think that was, is such a powerful question to ask if we choose any of these, right? I think, think about the ones that your teachers and yourself would find the most interesting to, to discuss and facilitate a discussion on um or even just a one on one reflection for teachers. The next piece is task perception. 00:15:08 And so this is like, what are the practical implications for addressing this issue? So there's kind of multiple components here, there's three main ones subject fit. So how does this actually fit into my subject area? So if it's like social studies, it's like, oh, ok, I'm, I'm examining like a current event and I'm connecting it to historical set. Like, yep, a lot of times people will say like science, math, you know, art, whatever it is, I like this doesn't fit. So can we find a fit or do I just not see it as a fit and therefore that determines my decision, interesting to be able to kind of reflect on that related. I think another piece is the related to that idea of um professional belief, you know, that idea of going beyond the syllabus. So do we have the ability as teachers to go beyond the syllabus? Like? Is this something that I think is helpful for students? And so some folks were thinking about in the study that teaching students the thinking skills and the research skills that they're going to need as youth and adults to face similar situations in the future to them was part of who they wanted to be as teachers. 00:16:11 It was part of kind of connected to that future orientation of who they wanted students to be. It was aligned to their professional belief of what teaching is and what school should be. And so therefore, as the task perception, it was like, OK, yes, having this conversation helps us go beyond the syllabus and that is exactly aligned to kind of all these other components. So thinking about that, I think also is helpful. Like, do we go beyond the source? Is that helpful? Is it helpful in this particular moment? Great question to ask as a reflection. Finally, the third kind of component of task reception is for student wellness, right? So how is student well being specifically thinking about like nurturing a um a quote unquote safe space, that's the phrase they use. But like this idea of perceived safety in schools, right? Is that valuable? Right? Like I mean, obviously it's valuable like is it valuable to address the issue in the moment? Will that enhance that perception of safety and well-being for students? Right? Is it valuable to do this in service of that student well being in the moment. So I think that's another question like is this going to impact them or not if I do? 00:17:13 Is it going to impact students well-being if I don't? Right, like, what are those? And then finally, the last piece is the context which I think we've talked about before. But I think also just helpful to bring up again and invite to just think about what is the context both in your classroom, which I think is huge. So it's not just, you know, the, the broader climate of the state you live in or the the county you live in or whatever, but it's like the school climate itself. What's that climate like? Do we talk about this stuff normally in this school? But then also at a classroom level, if you've never invited student voices before, you're not going to have a very open classroom climate as it's called in the research. And therefore students are gonna be like, uh I don't know what, like it's going to be a very different conversation and it might inform the teacher saying like, actually, no, I'm not even though if I had built the foundation previously, I would maybe go into this. I haven't. And so that is actually why I shut it down because we don't have an open classroom climate built already. So I'm not gonna address it in this moment. So that's also super interesting. And I think of course, informs, you know, wanting to build up that foundation so that teachers are not having to choose not to address it because we haven't built that foundation yet, right? 00:18:23 We want to build the foundation so that we can address things when they do pop up in unplanned scenarios. So let me really quickly and I think I've hinted at this through, but how let's talk about how educators can use this model in practice. So reflectively, I think the first way to do this is just invite teachers either in a one on one, if there's a particular event that affected students in that classroom alone, like there's something like uh maybe one of those like pedagogical pieces, teacher says something students are upset or something, let's dig into that, right? Or this particular student had a conflict with another student in this class, right? It is class specific. So think through in maybe a one on one coaching conversation with that teacher have a conversation about the model and the list of questions you can ask alternatively if there is a current event that affected your local community, uh even nationally. And you just see that students and teachers are really affected by this. Let's use this to kind of go through the model as a team or even whole staff meeting to reflect on why certain teachers address and certain teachers did not address the issue in their class in the moment as it came up. 00:19:28 So here are some questions you might want to consider and you can kind of think about how they relate to the model as well. Was there a pa this is reflective language? But you could always turn it into kind of like thinking about a potential event in addressing it in the future. Was there a pedagogical potential in addressing it right away? So again, that's immediacy. Did I need to address it before students could engage the plan lesson? Again, immediacy. What past experiences either with this topic or as a student myself informed my decision, past experiences. Who do I want to be as a teacher? And how did this impact my decision? Future orientations? Who do I want my students to be? What do I want them to be able to do in the world? And how did those desires impact my decision, future orientations? Did I see a connection to my subject area? That's task perception. Do I believe teachers should go beyond the syllabus or stick to it again, task perception. And I would also say that kind of connects to professional beliefs as well. How did I think talking about it would impact my students well-being and perceptions of safety in my classroom. 00:20:40 Again, task perception. So once teachers have reflected individually and of course, you can add to that list, you can add questions. I just kind of came up with some that I thought were helpful. You might wanna pick one question to discuss as a whole staff. For example, I really like the idea of like, do we believe teachers should go beyond the syllabus or stick to it? I think that would generate a ton of great conversation. And I highly recommend using a discussion protocol for this, whether it is written like a gallery walk or write around or it is um you know, like a pad or something digital, you could also use like a verbal one. So we are going to use like circle to make sure everyone's voice is heard or something and then moving forward, encourage teachers to kind of remember this reflection. Remember this model, consider this model, maybe give everyone a hand out of the model or a list of the questions. And then as incidents occur later on, they can continue to use it individually to reflect either in coaching conversations or on their own or in their with their team or in the moment as a decision making tool. Again for this piece, it would be a ton of time to go through all of the elements and all of the questions. So what I would do is have the teacher, each individual teacher is gonna be different, select one element or even more specifically and even better. 00:21:49 I think one question from that list or from a list that you co create with them that a teacher wants to ask themselves in the moment. So if there's one question, right, they have five seconds to decide what is the one question they want to ask. Right. For me personally, it might be who is the teacher? I want to be right? What is going to make me feel good at the end of the day of like, I feel very aligned to my values. I feel like I'm doing good in the world. I feel like, you know, one of my core values is justice. Like I'm aligned in justice. Like what is the decision that helps me be aligned with that? So that would be me personally. But it could be literally any of the questions for you. I think this is going to be a game changing tool for people who are like, I don't even know where to start the conversation and maybe things are really intense at my school and we're very like politicized or whatever. Like this just opens the conversation for reflection. It opens the conversation for discussion as a team, as a staff, even just for that individual reflective moment before we get to the staff conversations, I think this is huge. I highly recommend you going to the blog post, but this is exactly what I did when I listened to the episode on Vision of Education, I was like, I need to read and see the visual. 00:22:53 I need to read the paper and see the visual. And that was really helpful for me thinking about it coming, coming all together. Although I do think if you're driving or something and you and you kind of lose sight of of this episode in the blog post, I think you have all the core pieces just hearing this now. But if you want to come back to this, uh Lindsey Beth lions dot com slash blog slash 12 sevens, you're just gonna remember the episode number. It's always Lindsay beth lions dot com slash blog slash 127. And to support you with free resource, what I think I'm gonna do is link the staff meeting agenda series because that's all about creating that foundation for a conversation both for your staff and then ultimately, so the staff can take it and go use it with the students. So that again, we don't have teachers saying well, I haven't set the foundation. Therefore, I am not going to pursue this when it comes up in the moment, even if all the other kind of elements were yeses because of that one, I'm not gonna go for it. So we want to make sure we have that foundation set and we want all teachers to feel equipped with the knowledge, skills and practice of setting the foundation. 00:23:54 So I'll go ahead and link that in again. Lindsey be lines dot com slash blog slash 127. I will see you again next week. If you're leaving this episode wanting more, you're going to love my life, coaching intensive curriculum, boot camp. I help one department or grade team create feminist, anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students. We weave current events into course content and amplify student voices which skyrockets engagement and academic achievement. It energizes educators feeling burns out and it's just two days. Plus you can reuse the same process any time you create a new unit which saves time and money. If you can't wait to bring this to your staff, I'm inviting you to sign up for a 20 minute call with me. Grab a spot on my calendar at www dot Lindsay beth lions dot com slash contact. Until next time leaders continue to think big act brave and be your best self. This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better Podcast network. Better today, better tomorrow and the podcast to get you there, explore more podcasts at teach better dot com slash podcasts and we'll see you at the next episode.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I backwards design a staff PD unit plan:
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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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