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Statistics can help us understand a situation, but they can also be discouraging. Take this one, for example: one in four American students will grow up not being able to read. It’s a devastating reality that leaves many educators sad and frustrated. And for Lauren Jackson, recent guest on the Time for Teachership podcast, it’s led her to pursue literacy coaching and support educators in this area. With everything going on in the country and environment, teachers need to focus in on what’s in their locus of control, which is their classroom and their students. By recognizing that they’re not alone and can reach out for help, they can boost literacy and meet other education goals in their teaching practice. It Starts with Mindset Lauren’s passion for literacy was born out of her first teaching job. She worked in a low-income neighborhood where many of the students were not reading at their grade level. This prompted her to ask why and investigate the factors impacting literacy at her school. She realized that there was a one-size-fits-all solution that just wasn’t working for all students. So, she started to work on strategies to support students where they’re at and make sure she was addressing their unique challenges. To do this, Lauren shifted her mindset. Instead of getting frustrated and discouraged by student’s who weren’t improving, she put on the mindset that all students can be successful. She just needed to figure out how to do it. And this goes for every educator—if we keep the mindset that we’ll be able to find a solution to the problem, then it’ll be possible! Action Steps for Change To address problems and find solutions, educators need to first look at their data. It’s important to collect information about why something is happening before trying to solve it. From there, educators should can take a few action steps:
Sometimes teachers feel alone, like they’re the only one dealing with a specific issue or problem. But we’re not! There are so many people available to help you when you need it. We just need to be humble, admit that we need help, and then tap into available resources. One excellent resource for teachers are coaches. Lauren is a literacy coach, for example, and helps teachers and educators reach literacy and reading goals for their classroom. Here are some features of coaching relationships:
We all need help sometimes. And the quicker we can admit it, the quicker we can find those people who are able to help us out. Teachers and educators do their best work when they lean into their support system and work to find solutions together. One of the best ways to connect with Lauren and learn more about her work as a literacy coach is to listen to her podcast, the Lauren-Sophia Show. Also make sure to catch her full interview on the Time for Teachership podcast! TRANSCRIPT I'm so excited for you to hear my guest today, Lauren Jackson. Lauren is an educational consultant currently located in the beautiful state of South Carolina. Lauren has been in the field of education for close to 10 years. She graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor's in early childhood education. Then she continued her educational journey by earning a master's in curriculum and instruction from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Lauren finished her educational experience with a postgraduate degree in educational leadership from Liberty University. She was an early childhood teacher in north Carolina, southern and colorado and she was an assistant principal for two years at a small christian private school in south Carolina. Currently, Lauren is the owner of her own small consulting business. Lauren Sophia consulting. She works with elementary teachers and leaders to help improve their literacy instruction to foster success All students. She also has a podcast, Lauren Sophia show where she discusses educational trends within learning series. I'm so excited to say I got to be a guest on the podcast as well. Please check out her podcast is awesome for references conversation with Lauren was recorded on November 3, 2021, let's get to it. 00:01:07 Educational justice coach lindsey Lyons and here on the time for teacher ship 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 nursing out about co creating curriculum students. I made this show for you. Here we go Lauren Jackson, welcome to the time for teacher ship podcast. Thank you lindsey. I am so excited to be here. You're so awesome. Thank you for having me. Of course. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited that you're here and I've just read your professional bio. But is there anything else that you would like to add to that bio to further into introduce yourself? I think one of the questions that I think is really helpful that one of my friends who also has a podcast, um, Annalisa Holcombe says is like if you strip down all the accolades, like if you strip down like the accomplishments and the degrees and who are you as a person and like what does that mean to you? 00:02:18 So I don't know if that's a helpful question to start with. But yeah, absolutely. So I am a wife. I am a mom. We are army who go army so I enjoy like traveling. I've lived all over the United States. I am a fun fact is I have three teaching licenses in three different states. Every time we had to move, I had to retake the test to teach the same grade. I was like, are you serious? So I'm a really good test taker. Either. I really know the information will, I'm not sure, but I have a three different teaching license. So that's a pretty cool fact, wow, that is so much work and still have to re license every time that you move. Oh my goodness. Every Single time when we get new orders, I'm like, but why? Like, why can't we just stay here? So my husband actually switched over to the Army reserves, which has been so much better. So we've been in South Carolina since 2015. So that's pretty fun. So my daughter, we got here, she was actually went into labor in Tennessee. 00:03:21 We were driving from colorado and Tennessee, I went into labor and they were like, oh you're not in labor. So I was like, okay, cool. So we drove down to south Carolina the next day and they're like, what's wrong with you have been in labor for a day. I'm like, oh my gosh! So we've been here since that day that we came in with a bang and we're still here. Oh my goodness. That is the wildest story that anyone has shared at the start of the pot has nothing to do with education like girl, what are you doing? But we came from like Colorado springs and when you think about it, the elevation is so high. So this is what I just chalked it up to. So once we came down from colorado and I was so used to living up there, that when I came down some and I'm like breathing air, like wow, this is great. I think that my daughter was like, what's going on? And then it was just time to start the process. And the funny thing is I was only 33 weeks pregnant, so my daughter was £4 she was itty bitty, wow, what a story. 00:04:22 Oh my gosh, that is so nuts. Started off with a bang start the podcast with bank. That's right. And I think a testament to your resilience to you retested and all of the moves that you need to certify, you gave birth like practically in a car almost amazing, wow, I'm so excited not to scare you for when your baby comes because everything is gonna go just right. I know it, thank you so much. Oh my gosh! And yeah, by the time this actually airs, I will have gone through that process, so I'll be able to speak to that better. But yes, fingers crossed. Hey, by then, maybe I would have made a trip to boston for the first time ever in my life just to meet your baby because I will come up there just to meet the baby, I'm so excited. So one of the first things that I want to ask about in terms of education as we think about, you know what our hopes and dreams are for, that is closely tied to Dr Bettina loves quote about freedom dreaming, which I just find to be really inspiring and profound. 00:05:25 So she says their dreams grounded in the critique of injustice and so with that in mind, what is the big dream that you hold for the field of education? Such an excellent question Lindsay. So I want to let you know that I actually love education. It's always just been in my heart and when I was younger, I am the oldest of six grandkids, so the oldest girl and then I have a cousin who's a year older than me. And when we were younger we would always play school like I would just force everyone to play school, come play school, come play school and I would be the teacher. And then as I, I went through high school, I really got into music, so fun fact, I played the flute and I sing and so I'm like oh I'm just gonna go be Beyonce because I love her, so I'm gonna go be Beyonce and my mom's like girl, no you are going to go into education. So I went into education, loved it. And then I started teaching back in january 2013, I got my first job and it was my first time on my own and I was in a very low income area and I was just like just blown away blown away shocks and one of the things that became near and dear to my heart to answer your question is literacy, I started to notice like wow some of my Children can't read or you know, wow we're in the january and we're still sounding out cat. 00:06:45 Like just things that I was like, oh my goodness! Right. And so I was wondering why like why are all of our kiddos like below grade level? And when I say all don't mean all, but definitely more than half out of a class of 20, so more than 10, definitely more than 12. And I started thinking about it. I'm like, well we're using this one size fits all approach but who's benefiting from this? Like who's benefiting from this one size fits all. So my dream is for every student regardless of their race, regardless of their gender, regardless of anything to know how to read and to have that background knowledge to have that fluency. Because reading is everything everywhere. It's everywhere. Like we needed to drive on the highway because we need to, you know what exit we need to get off on and we need to know the streets, it's when we go to the grocery store, we need to read the ingredients in our food. It's when we're even doing something simple, like going to the bathroom, like we need to be able to read well where is the bathroom, who goes into this bathroom? 00:07:47 Like so many things and it drives me crazy because I think well why are why are we using this one size fits all approach when this is a life skill that everyone needs to know. So my dream would be for all of our students to read fluently. I love that so much and it's so powerful. We think about all of the information that's accessible to us now with the internet, I mean not being able to read and access that information is just puts you at such a disadvantage compared to people who are able to access that information. So I think that's such a profound goal and one that's gonna have really lasting impacts for kids throughout their lives. And I yeah, and I wonder like as you were saying, you kind of had to like you were exposed to a population of students who maybe you came in thinking they're gonna be able to read at this level, they weren't. So like what are the, what's either the mindset shift that you had to undergo to be able to make that shift to say like, okay, it's not one size fits all, we're gonna customize this, we're gonna personalize this or what is the mindset shift that you would recommend to someone who is facing a similar challenge in education and really trying to support all students to read. 00:09:05 Absolutely. So when you think about Got it right, So when we're thinking about, okay, some of these kiddos can't read and I hate saying these kiddos because they're our kiddos and so I always have to, like, correct myself, like, no, like I don't want to push them away. Like they're these kids, like, these are our kids, they are in our classroom, they are in our school, they are in our community, so they're our kids. And when you think about it, like, so two thirds of the students who can't read proficiently by the time they're in fourth grade, you know, they'll end up in jail or on welfare. And so that's like an alarming statistic and over 70% of America's inmates can't read above 1/4 grade reading level. And so one and four american Children grow up without learning how to read. This is crazy. Like, these statistics are so alarming because again, we're talking about a life skill, something that you are going to use every day, and then we say, well let's just hold them back, let's, you know, let's just let's just let them repeat the same grade and I'm like, wait a sec. So something that didn't work, we're gonna just repeat that process and it may not work again. 00:10:09 But so we're gonna do the same thing the same way and expect different results. Like really? Like, do you really think that's going to work. So going into the mindset question, right, we have to do what works best for our students and we have to just think, oh, all of our kiddos can be successful and I'm guilty of this. So when I first started teaching, I would say, oh well these kids again, these kids, right? Because they're not my kids, these kids, these kids are belong to me. Like that's what I was thinking, so, oh well, like these kids, they just don't care, they just don't get it. Like, just you know, look where they are and I was like probably 20 to 21 like I was super duper young, so not as mature as I am now, but that was me. I was like totally on the struggle bus and what I had to do was realize that I was uncomfortable because I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how to do it. I knew I needed help, I knew like, okay, I need some help because what I'm doing obviously is not working and I don't want my kiddos to be left behind, but my pride was in the way I was too afraid to ask for help because I didn't want people to know that I didn't know and really we've got to switch our mindset because we can do anything that we put our mind to, we can do it, but I would just wasn't successful, I needed help and I needed guidance. 00:11:33 So what we really need to do is embrace our growth mindset, put our pride aside and if you need help, I want you to ask, well who can help me, who's the person that can go to and now you have me, so you can reach out to me and I can help you. Like, we've got to find someone who can help you and you have to be ready to come to that person, ready to co create. It is not fun for a mentor or for a coach when someone comes to them and just say, help me, give me all the answers, like pour the information in my brain. Well now you have no incentive to actually jump in and dive in because you didn't really do the work, someone just gave it to you. Like you've got to be ready to co create. Listen, these are my kiddos. I've got six boys. Six boys love dinosaurs. Six boys love to talk. Six boys are so active that can't sit still in their seats and I need some help because they're reading on A level four and they're supposed to be on A level 16. Okay, now you're coming ready to co create, you've got some background knowledge, you know, what's going on and now we can move forward. 00:12:38 So the biggest thing we have to do is really shift our mindset. I love so much about what you said, and I love the question of who can help me, right, how do I identify the people that are out there because there are so many people out there who do coaching, who do support, who just like you said, you are a person who coaches, other instructors and other teachers, like people can reach out to you. And so I think that's so important in terms of when we're thinking about action steps and that's the next thing I want to talk about. You know, what, what are the action steps we can actually take to to do this and what does that look like in a class? But I think maybe one of those action steps is also finding the people who can help you. I think there's a phrase that I'm sure I'm gonna get incorrect but something like who not how and so sometimes we're always deep in the how like how do I take this on and for many things that can work and for some things it just makes more sense to find who can support you in doing this to make the how that much more efficient and effective. And so I just really appreciate that framing that like we all need help. We're all growing and learning. 00:13:40 We're all on that journey, just like our students are and so being able to identify who's going to support us is a huge action step that would be really high lovers for people to take. But I'll return to that question. What would you suggest to to educators who are like, all right, I'm ready to take some action. What does that brave action look like? Absolutely lindsey and this reminds me of our sessions that we do like the pause and take five, you know, like first of all, let's recognize what's going on here. So my doctor Sherry bridges practice is coming out like what can we do, what's going on, where can I get help? So let's look at some great action steps. So the first thing you need to do is really look at your data like okay, well what's going on? One time I was teaching and I looked around my classroom and girl it was a hot mess. Like my small group looked good. But my kiddos who were just out in the classroom doing stations girl, I don't know what they were doing. Like one kid was doing a backflip when people like one group was throwing the dice in the air, they're supposed to be playing a board game. 00:14:42 And I stopped because at first I was gonna say what are we doing? Like we're not supposed to be doing that. So I told my small group, hey guys I need to go do some independent reading and I'm gonna go to each group and I'm gonna take notes and I'm gonna see what's going on. So I started collecting data and by this time I was like maybe 25. So I was a little bit older and I was like, okay, this group doesn't really know what to do, that's what they're throwing the dice in the air and it could be that there's six and I didn't explain the directions well enough for them. So the first thing you've got to do when you have a problem is actually analyze what the problem is. Like, okay, this is what I notice, this is what's going on. And then you have to realize that there is a community of people that will help you. Like as soon as I got my notes, I started finding my who. I was like okay there as a reading coach here, there's a veteran teacher down the hallway. I'm going to my principal like I need help because if he would have come into my classroom and saw that I know I would not have been rated as high as I would have wanted to be rated because we don't need to be thrown the next in the air. So first of all, we need to look at our data, then we need to identify our community of people who can help us. 00:15:47 Then after that, if you're a leader, I would totally go into weekly PLC s. Now when I was a teacher in colorado, we got out of school at one o'clock every single monday and I was like, who? And we would go to P. L. C. S. And at that time again, I was young, I was like, I want to do this, but I learned so much in those PLC's that I still used to this day and let me tell you when I talk there, we were 98% free and reduced lunch over 90% english language learners. And we had some of the highest test scores in the state. Look at the school, it's called centennial Elementary and I was in Harrison School district two and my principles were awesome. They were amazing. We did PLC? S every single monday. And to this day I'm using thinking maps to this day. I'm using how can I keep my kiddos involved to this day? I'm still using the Senate stems that we had to put on our wall to give our kiddos a good starting point. I agree because blank and this is why blah blah blah. 00:16:48 You know, so those P. L. C. S. Were so helpful. So data community P. L. C. S. And then teamwork. You don't have to do things on your own. And I don't know why as teachers, sometimes we feel like we're alone and we have to do things on our own because we don't and then we wonder why our students are not good at collaborating. Well, maybe we're not modeling the correct thing to do for them. So how can we actually work together? I had a teacher that I taught with here in south Carolina that was my girl, she would come in. We will tackle team, we will plan together, we will team teach. Sometimes I watch her sometimes she watched me and she was teacher of the year and then the next year I was teacher of the year runner up but I wasn't doing it on my own. I had help. I had a community, I have people who were willing to get in and do the teamwork with me. So always remember that your data, your community, your P. L. C. S in your teamwork, wow that is so good. And I love that you're really emphasizing the P. L. C. S. There too. Like the just the space that leadership had carved out to say you have this time to figure out the stuff to share ideas to test things out. 00:17:57 And I think so much of like really quality leadership in education is identifying when to I wouldn't necessarily say take something off of teachers plates but to make the space to have those conversations and if we're just constantly adding like you have to type up a five page lesson plan for every single period or something, you know like is that really moving the needle versus you get those two hours back this week and you're going to be able to chat and ask questions and co teach and you know, whatever it is that you need to be successful. I think that is so profound that you're naming that as a huge experience. That's still informing your pregnant today. Like years later today today I have teachers that I coached that says Helen, I used your circle map and I put the sentence stems above it. Oh my gosh, what do you know they got it? I'm like, girl, the old stuff still works like this? Technology is awesome. But let me tell you, when I was doing this in the early 2010, we was rocking and rolling. We didn't have 1 to 1. 00:18:58 Okay, We may have had two computers in the classroom to that's it in 2015, I I have five and I had to write a grant for three of them. Like it wasn't all of this 1 to 1, so the technology is great, but I don't want you to forget about having your kiddos hold a pencil and paper in their hands, having them actually communicate and collaborate with one another. We did it, I did it in the nineties, I did it in the early two thousand's, I graduated high school in 22,009. Oh my gosh, so, but like those are things we did and I came out just fine, Just fine. Yes, such a great point. And I would love to tap back into this coaching conversation too as well just to just to give people um kind of a picture of what coaching looks like. I just think about all of the times when I didn't have a coach or people who I talk to you now don't have a coach, whether it's a teacher or a leader or anyone because I think any of the stakeholders in, in education spaces could benefit from coaching. 00:20:00 And so do you, do you mind walking us through, like, what is a coaching relationship look like or what is it that you do as a coach to give us an example of like, what would it mean to get coaching for someone who's just completely unfamiliar with what that might look like? Absolutely. So coaching isn't an extra thing to your plate is to help you and it's to enhance your job as a teacher, as a leader and you're here to foster success for all of your students. So I find that coaching is very successful when we devise a plan and follow it because we can't just come in like, oh willy nilly as my mom would say, no, like we need to establish some norms, then we need to establish like maybe 3 to 5 goals and then we're gonna tackle them one at a time. So if you're saying, hey Lauren, I have 10 kids who are below grade level and they're just not going to get there. And I'm just thinking like, well unless this child isn't come in the school and you don't see them, we can get them there. So the first thing we've got to do is think, well why, why are they so far behind and then we've got to think, well how can we get there? 00:21:07 And these are things that we're talking about together because I really believe that no one's an expert, I don't know anyone that people say, oh, I'm an expert, I know you're not like new things come out all the time. You're not an expert. I'm not an expert. I know a lot about the science of reading. I have like three degrees, I've studied it for over 10 years that there are still things that I'm learning every day. So we've got to get out of our mind. Like I'm gonna get with an expert because anyone who's coaching is a lifelong learner and so we're getting together and we're going to co create some things. You're gonna tell me some of your ideas, I'm gonna tell you some of my ideas, we're gonna put it together and bam we've got ourselves a plan. But if you're coming to coaching and you just want to like lay out all of your problems and then someone give you all the solutions like that's just not reality. And Lindsay, you coach and so like have, do you have all the answers Lindsay, like Lindsay's phenomenal Lindsay is the bomb. I ask her questions all the time and I know that she doesn't have all the answers because sometimes she'll say, you know what, let me look, I just learned about this and I'm learning so much and that just signifies to me that she is a lifelong learner and that she's absolutely brilliant because anyone who has all of the answers probably doesn't have all the answers they maybe being a little prideful, Oh my gosh, I love that you named that like, and, and thank you for the shout out Lord is a phenomenal coach. 00:22:25 So anyone looking for coaching highly recommend Lauren. But yeah, this idea of, of thinking about, you know, like how do I continue to be a lifelong learner and co create with a coach is so important because I think the, the as a leader, I'm thinking about leaders who might want to push their teachers into coaching or even as a teacher who's like, I don't know about this coaching thing, maybe it's on offer for me, but I have to like sign up and opt into it and there's a lot of skepticism around, you know what that looks like and doesn't feel like an addition to my plate, like you said, it's, it's really making everything more effective and efficient and it's, it is a space where you can bring some problems, but you also need to bring that solution oriented, you know, hat as well to be able to say like if it's going to work, it has to be, you know, my idea just as much as the coach's idea, maybe the coach puts out some options for me, but I choose the one I'm doing right, choose how I'm going to implement it and I know my kids best because maybe my coach isn't with the kids as much as I am. And so I think all of that is, is so important to just name when there is hesitation around the idea of coaching and the potential for growth is just so huge. 00:23:31 I love it when you were describing, you know, the student who had a challenge and you're like, well I know if that kid is coming to class we can get them to where they need to be and that's so important that that confidence to show up as a coach in that way, but also to instill that in teachers, like there is hope, like there's definitely hope and we can get there and here's what it's gonna look like. We're just kind of putting the path together and like you said, co creating it, but I think that's so important as we think about, you know, our own individual journeys of growth as educators and as leaders who are fascinating that for their teachers, so important to keep in mind. And so I also want to just give you space to talk about like the, the programs and like specific types of coaching that you do because you are an educational consultant and coach and you have your own business. And so I just want to give space to, you know, be able for you to be able to challenge people to think about what that would look like for them and really describe what it is that you do if they're interested in following up with you. Absolutely. So I do a lot of the literacy coaching, I love literacy, I do do some social emotional learning things that I really collaborate with Lindsay and Cherie on that. 00:24:40 They are phenomenal. So I bring in a lit piece of the Puzzle, but with literacy, my focus is, well, why aren't our kids getting there? Like what's going on? I feel like anything that can have a solution, the solution is there, right? We just Gotta get to it. And so if we've had no child left behind for like over 20 years, apparently some Children are being left behind, right? So perhaps that's not working. So what can we do? Because it drives me crazy when people continue to do the same things over and over and over and over and expect different results. Guess what? It's just like this. If you're gonna keep eating a cheeseburger every day, you're not gonna get different results, you're just not, you have to do something different. And so I work with teachers and leaders to figure out what are we doing, What do our scores look like? Why do they look this way and how are we going to pivot to make sure that there is a change and sometimes it doesn't happen in a month. Sometimes it doesn't happen in two months, you have to think about it. It took us years to get where we are, so it's not gonna be fixed overnight, right? 00:25:43 But there's different things that we can do to ensure our students get there and sometimes we're thinking of it, like lindsey said like I've got these five page lesson plans and oh we've got this, you know, we've got that when really are the lesson plans for you or who are we turning these five page lesson plans and for and why? Like why is this a requirement? What are we doing to help our Children learn how to read? How are we making sure that we're setting them up for life and success. So I do coaching, I do professional development, do strategic planning, anything you need regarding literacy in the elementary school. I am here to help you and I am here to support you. Amazing, thank you so much learn. And so you've shared so many really good ideas throughout this episode that I am curious to know if there's just one thing that listeners are taking away from the episode or they're kind of ready to get started around like these action steps that you've named, what would that first thing be? 00:26:43 So they can really live in alignment with all the things you've described today. Absolutely. So the first thing we've got to do is look at our own student data and we talked about that earlier and then we've got to look at our own teaching practices, We've got to look at our curriculum and we've got to realize you know, where am I and why am I here and I don't want you to get caught up in the blame game. I don't want you to say, well, it's their fault or where is this this or is this? Because at the end of the day we're still where we are. So it doesn't really matter whose fault it is. It matters what we're gonna do to change those results. So don't get stuck on the blame game. If it's your fault, it's the parents fault the teacher's fault from last year. If it's a kindergarten teacher thought it doesn't matter because the most important thing is our students, so don't get stuck there. Don't get stuck on the problem, gets stuck on a solution. Because if you stay at the problem, you're not gonna have a solution. So what I want you to do is shift your mindset and you can do anything that you put your mind to look within yourself. 00:27:44 Look within your practice is because you can do it just like you have to know, you can believe in yourself. So if you believe in yourself, you can do it. I always think about the story of David and Goliath. You see Goliath, you're like, oh, he's huge. He's huge. I can't take him down and everyone's like, oh, put on this armor and David's like, I don't need all this armor and he goes, and he gets the stones and he goes, wow and shoot his head off. Like you had, he had to believe in himself that he can do it. He's like, I'm not gonna let you know whose fault it is, blame this and I'm not gonna let who did this. No, we got a goal here and the goal is to take down this giant. So I'm gonna take down this giant. So this problem with literacy in our men and our american Children and you know, really, it's a lot of black men who end up incarcerated and if we're looking away, what are we doing to help all men, but to really help all of us to help our black men to, you know, get out of this problem because it's a cycle and a set and it doesn't have to be that way, it doesn't have to be that way. 00:28:44 So if we can change our mindset, if we can look at our own practices and if we can realize, okay, this is where we are, you know, this is what's going on now, how am I gonna change this problem? There are some things right there that you can do awesome, Thank you so much Lauren and I really appreciate that you're like right naming and recognizing there there are so many, you know, structural issues right? When we think about like racism in our country and like the fact that like you said a lot of black men are incarcerated, like there's so many reasons for the, and like it is important to name those, but also at the end of the day, if you're in the class, you are the teacher, you have a locus of control and you can control their ability to learn to read. So if you're helping in that way you need to be able to take that on and say like this is what I'm contributing to the dissolution of all the suppression. Like you gotta do it. And so I think that's a really important thing to name. Thank you lindsey, I appreciate you acknowledging that because like I don't want to skip over it and act like it's not happening because it is and as a teacher, even in south Carolina, you know who's still reaching out to me, I don't even tutor anymore and every single person reaching out to me for tutoring help because their child can't read is a young african american boy and how can I not take it on. 00:30:01 And so I'm always like sure, yep, sure I'll help, I'll help, I'll help because I'm like, if I can just be that one person that can help this child know how to read. Last year, I helped the child who started with a level three and he was a young african american boy and I was like, he's on a level three Really and by the time he was done with me just maybe six months, we have made it all the way to a level 14 now I was in grade level because he needs to be at an 18 but look at the growth and all. I had to do our first session. I tell me all about you, what do you like? He's like, I like dinosaurs. I like this, but I'm not good. Like in his head he said, I'm not good. I'm not good at this. And when I say I'm not good at it, she still calls me to read out loud in front of everybody like the devastation. You know, my heart just broke, My heart broke for them. So we have to really realize, you know who is behind why are they behind and sometimes we have to realize just look inside of ourselves and look at our own biases and look at the other things that are going on in our environment. 00:31:05 Am I tailoring my instruction to meet the needs of all all students, some students because a lot of the times you'll see little girls, little girls sit there like this, my daughter will do it. She says they're like this all day. Listen to my son. Girl is turning backflips, turn back flips and if it weren't for me, I don't know if he'd be where he is in reading because I work with them all the time because I know the statistics and I'm going to make sure that he knows how to read. So just really keeping that in my, you know who's behind and why they are behind and what we're doing to make sure we're addressing all of our learners. Yes, thank you so much for saying that. And I think as we kind of move too close, I can't believe it's already been almost 30 minutes. But as you move to close, I know you self described as a lifelong learner. So I love that you're passionate about other people learning, you clearly are passionate about learning yourself. So just for fun, I love to just ask at the end of the episode, you know, what's something that you have been learning about lately? Yes. So I have really been spending a lot of time digging into reading and listening. 00:32:07 Hey, we have two ears, one mouth, which one's more important listening. So I've been spending more time listening to teachers, to students to what's going on. And I've really started to recognize the importance of integrating Children's literacy into all aspects of the curriculum, not just reading, not just social studies everywhere. And I am stuck on jury Jon Jory john if you're listening, I'm your number one fan. If you're, if you're listening, hit a girl up, he has written so many, um, so many Children's books that can totally be used in elementary school, but if you want to use it in like middle and high school just to get a good laugh and you know, get the conversation going, he's your guy. So he wrote like the good, he wrote the bad seed, he wrote, that's what dinosaurs do. But I really love the detail. So I started to dig into the detail and the writing, I started to dig into the literacy lessons that can be used. I started to really look into the comic relief that he's putting in there for our kiddos, the engagement and also if you are a fan of social emotional learning, his books are perfect for stu I love a good book recommendation and author recommendation is even better than one book. 00:33:20 Hey Lindsay you can read this to your baby and crack up because he's gonna be a baby like mommy, what are you laughing at? But they are so good. He has so much comic relief. I crack up when I read them. Oh, that's amazing. Oh, this is so good. Yeah, I feel like, I don't know where this quote came from, but there's a quote out there that's like no one doesn't like to read, but they just haven't found the right book yet or something like that and it's like, right, Like sometimes you just need a comedy, like let's get comedies and kids hands. Yes, yes. Everything that has to be so boring, right? Like, oh of course I don't want to read this sucks. I don't like it. So it's like this is something that we want to read our kiddos will engage. Absolutely. And so I'm sure as people are listening today to this episode and hearing you talk and share all this brilliant wisdom and knowing that you are a coach who offers coaching services. I'm sure people are gonna want to reach out and connect with you learn more about you. How can people do that? Absolutely. So I'm not a huge social media person guys, sorry, but I do have a podcast. It's the Lawrence Sophia show podcast, wherever you get your podcast, you can get the Lauren Sophia show. 00:34:20 I do series like learning series, I've done an SCL series right now. I'm doing a teacher mentorship series. By the time you listen to this, I'll be onto a new series but check that out. You can also email me at Lauren at Lauren Sophia consulting dot com and Lindsay will have a link in the show notes for you guys to actually click on to get to my podcast, get to the show notes and get to everything that I have to offer. Awesome Lauren, thank you so much for being on the show today. It was so fun to host you. Thank you lindy. You're awesome. Thank you so much if you're leaving this episode, wanting more. You're going to love my live coaching intensive curriculum bootcamp. I help one department or grade team create feminist anti racist curricula that challenges affirms and inspires all students, we leave 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. 00:35:23 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 lindsey Beth Lyons 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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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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