- Hello, everybody, welcome.
PBS Wisconsin Education, bringing you aka Teacher.
[upbeat music]
My name's Joanna Rizzotto, and I'm super excited
to be joined today by my fellow co-hosts.
Would you guys take a minute to introduce yourself?
- Sure, I'm Daniel Torres-Rangel.
I'm an educator of 16 years.
I've been in public, charter, and private schools,
in roles, everything from teacher to administrator.
And I now work for the local district
in the research and innovation team.
- Ooh, research and innovation, I love it.
- Hello, my name is Shelton Evans.
I'm a lead facilitator for a nonprofit.
I do affinity groups with kids of color,
and I also build cultural bridges for teachers
to provide effective student-teacher relationships
for those students and help those teachers,
empower those teachers as well.
- And I'm Angie Humphrey.
I am a high school science teacher.
This is my 15th year of teaching in Middleton, Wisconsin.
- And I should have added for myself.
I'm Joanna and I'm an alternative education teacher
who works in the Milwaukee metro area.
So, hey guys, we are together and here we are at it.
You know, part of this is to kind of share with everybody
different facets of the world of education
and wow, what a great group we have to represent.
And we hope that our audience connects with us
and enjoys it too.
But to get started out, just how are you?
What are some of the hats that you've worn
just very recently?
How's everybody doing?
Angie.
- Well, I'm doing really well.
I literally just got home from a soccer game
for one of my daughters 30 minutes ago.
Now, education, school, that's kind of my happy place.
And so now, even this right here is kind of like,
[inhales and exhales] compartmentalize and go.
So, I'm feeling really great.
Daniel, how about you?
Yeah, also soccer today, but in terms of education,
working at the district level,
we've all been supporting schools
these first couple of weeks of the schools being back.
And I was supporting at a middle school
and wore the hat of a substitute teacher,
which is a role that not only substitute teachers
are playing, but many staff within schools.
We know teachers, staff members wear so many hats during the day
and we know that substituting, filling in here and there,
all hands on deck is something that's happening everywhere.
- My role is a little different, non-traditional.
So being a lead facilitator, I usually, when I take,
I take the kids out of class,
so I like to let them get acclimated
the first few weeks of school.
So I'm not really in the schools yet,
but I am meeting principals and establishing calendars
and meetings, things like that.
And this year I've been facilitating all the groups
and now I have a co-facilitator,
so that's very exciting, I'm very excited about that.
Just to train that person and coach that person,
give me a little break so I can focus on admin and staff.
- And myself, oh, gosh.
Getting started and thinking of the different hats.
Lately, I've been actually really tuned in
to my own daughter.
I have a daughter who's in high school,
and all that's going on with trucking her
to and from her events, and she goes to school
in a different district that I work in.
So, that's always figuring out, "Can I be there on time?
Can I do this on time?"
And that's all starting to get settled.
And then within my classroom,
I kind of have a nontraditional setup
where I'm not just in charge of a class,
I'm in charge of like this program in this little school.
So same thing, it's a little more involved, figuring out,
entrance, exit, lunches, you know,
some of the things that are normally taken care of
by the larger school, the logistics.
So right, it's the beginning of the school year.
Here we go, right?
What has it been like these first couple of days?
Let's chat about it.
You know, we come out of that summer
and we go into the school year,
and it's something I think that is actually
hard for people to understand because they don't know
that other people's schedules really work like ours does.
Or they think it's like,
they think of it in kind of a fantasy way
where I always say, man, sometimes it is hard
to get what I call, slammed back into the school year.
Because you kind of go from your own thing
to something that's like, very fast-paced
and very structured.
But I am just curious and wanna talk to all of you guys
to hear wherever we're at in all of our positions
throughout the state.
Like, what is it like for that return?
What are some things that like go through your mind
or that you participate in?
What do you do?
- Well, I'm super pumped to be that,
participating in that transition back because honestly,
it's by this time that I'm kind of ready to stop
hanging out with my own children and get them to school
with the experts that know how to rear
and educate seven, eight, and four-year-olds
and then get back to my happy spot
with the high schoolers.
And so it feels like really good and energizing
to be spending time thinking about
what the curriculum's gonna look like,
thinking about how we're gonna make things work.
And then we've got a bunch of new staff
in our science department, and so then just thinking about
how we're gonna onboard those staff,
make them feel welcome, help them kind of get into like,
what is the culture of our school?
What's the culture of our department,
and kind of like how we do things curriculum-wise.
And so it's kind of fun to just dive into that water,
I feel like, and just start to get excited.
- We'll I'll say this, summer was unique to me in,
it was the first summer that I felt I really needed.
Last school year was really hard for me
and I had never really been a person to count down.
So even when I think about going into it,
like I kind of was counting, I was counting down last year
because I really had kind of run out of energy.
And so the summer itself was very restorative.
And my plan was to not have a plan, you know?
And so again, typically I do do a lot in the summer,
professionally, I do a lot for my union.
And I really had the calendar pretty open
in terms of that kind of stuff.
So my summer in its entirety was very different for me
in preparing for this school year.
It was the time that I just did really
need a break and some distance.
And so thinking about coming back
was also though kind of okay, because I was just kind of like,
I have to be in the, you know, like I was
in the moment every day this summer,
and then I was like, "I'm going to be going back."
And I didn't want to do some of the things
I had done before, so then on the other hand,
in the past too, I used to do countdown to when
I went back to work, right?
Especially when I had young kids like you, Angie,
where I'd be like, "Oh, my God,
there's only this many days left," you know?
And so I also didn't do that.
I was just kind of like, "I'll show up the day
I have to show up and I'll be ready."
So for me, this summer in particular
and me getting ready was very different than the past,
and I'm hoping that's a good thing.
- To double back off of that,
last year, the last couple of years,
as we all know was a little heavy.
So like you Joanna, this summer, well, let me start with this,
I wanted to quit working in schools.
Like I literally got two other, well, I had another job,
then another local agency offered me another job,
so I was ready just to be done 'cause I was over it.
But then as the summer goes on
and school starts to approach, I get that itch again
and I'm like, "I gotta stop making emotional decisions
after school is over."
So I learned a very valuable life lesson, but yeah.
So it's been a very subtle summer, I would say.
Just staying present, not doing much, and focusing on me.
Lot of health and yeah,
reading and spiritual stuff, and yeah, yeah.
So, but very excited to get back started to school.
- Interesting that we have that connection
'cause I was in the same place, where I'm like,
"What am I doing?"
Okay, you know, what am I gonna do?
What am I gonna do with my life? - Yes, yes.
- Yeah, Shelton, as you were saying,
it's been a rough couple of years as we all know.
And something I'm excited about are the lessons learned
that everyone's taking into this year.
During COVID, during the pandemic,
we're in this weird phase
where it seems like it's over, but we're still in it.
So I say during it as if it's over, but it's not over.
What did we turn to for our own wellness?
People got outside, people were going on walks,
connecting with the outdoors.
They were doing art projects at home,
really getting into the arts and outdoors and projects.
And I'm excited for the spaces
that are really emphasizing those and doubling down
on arts education, outdoor education,
project-based learning, and not seeing these
as add-ons anymore or enrichment,
but actually part of the core curriculum.
And in addition to that,
just reestablishing connection with each other
and really doing that by listening
and listening to student voices
and centering them, and all of those things that we do
to take care of each other and ourselves.
- And I think that's so important
what you just said about reconnecting with the students
and just letting them center themselves,
get their voices back.
'Cause I think a lot of them went through things,
through COVID, socially and emotionally
that they're not even aware.
They didn't even have the words to say what it was,
but the behavior started translating sometimes.
So I think that was a very good point, very good point.
- Yeah, for me when it's the summertime, I kind of find
this happy balance between,
I always say summertime Angie is like up for anything.
So like a weekday cookout?
Let's do it.
Like Concerts on the Square, home by 9:00 PM, I'm in.
And then like, school year Angie is like,
it's a weeknight, bedtime is like 8:00,
we better be eating by 6:00.
Come on, we gotta keep things moving.
But summertime Angie, she's like up for anything, anytime.
And so I just really try to revel in that like,
oh, I'm up for anything on this calendar,
what are we doing?
Should we have a bonfire?
I don't even care that it's Thursday.
[laughs] - That's what's up.
- Yeah, I know I did do a lot of just meeting with friends.
That's something that kind of really fills me up.
And in the same way, honestly,
it was a lot of educator friends.
Where it kind of has your summer Angie vibe,
where I'm like, go out to lunch on a Wednesday and get wine,
let's do it 'cause we can.
Where you feel like you can be in the world
is what I'll say.
So I do a lot of time with friends,
and then I do like to go up north a lot.
I love going up north Wisconsin,
and now my best friend moved up there,
so it makes it nice and easy in terms of,
I don't have to book a place to stay;
I really can roll up.
And so I like a lot of time outdoors, and then I have also
been reveling in just being with my own children.
I might have shared at some point, I have a son
who is, he's gonna be, he's a senior in college this year.
And I keep kind of counting down to how many years
is he really gonna come home in the summer?
And so this summer too, I just really enjoyed
being with my kids in like the everyday ways.
Like when they were younger, I did plan
a lot of events and activities.
And this summer, it was more kind of like,
right, just being at home, like let's cook breakfast,
let's hang out kind of stuff; it was really important to me.
- Is there summertime Daniel?
What's summertime Daniel look like?
[all laughing]
- Summertime Daniel's outside, getting darker in the sun.
And a lot of kids' activities.
My kids are five and seven and a half, so it's a lot of
staying energized through them and staying moving through them.
Started rock climbing recently, so always adding new things
to the repertoire.
- Daniel, what does your schedule look like
in the summer?
Because you're in a slightly different role than myself.
What do you, do you have to work in the summer?
- I recently transitioned.
So with this new role that is to be determined.
- TBD, good.
- This next part of the show is called True Story,
where we'll each get a chance
to share a personal experience related to today's topic.
So fellow podcasters, it's a new year,
beginning of new year.
Do you have any educational stories or any fun stories
or any experiences you went through
or something that you didn't know when you found out
that you've learned already this year that you wanna share?
And I guess I can start while you're thinking.
Me, personally, as I keep mentioning,
my role is nontraditional.
So I have the luxury to recreate myself every year.
So every year, I get the opportunity
to approach my job different.
So I used to do a lot of group work,
but now after the pandemic
and I have some coaching certifications,
so I like to do some one-on-ones and get down
and like I said, get those kids back motivated
and establish goals that they can reach
to get them feeling good about reaching short goals
and things like that.
So just the opportunity just to,
I love going to work and just getting to be myself,
to be myself 'cause I work with a lot of kids of color.
So my job is to teach what I live basically.
And what I don't know, I get to learn from them
or pull from other people.
So do anybody else, anybody else
got a educational experience they wanna share?
- Shelton, I'm curious as a follow up question,
that's been part of your work in the past
of meeting one-on-one, working really closely with youth
and having them set goals.
I'm wondering if you find that their goals have shifted any,
coming out of this summer or the past few years,
going into this next year.
Are they focusing on different things?
Are they setting different goals for themselves?
Are they similar or different?
- Yeah, that's a great question.
I would say previously when I used to do goals,
it was more, "I want to do better in school.
"I want to get good grades.
I want to..." it was more academic,
but now it's been a shift of feeling.
"I want, like, I just wanna feel better.
"I want the curriculum, I want it to reflect me.
Why am I the only Black person in my class?"
Or "When we talk about Hispanic,
everybody turns around and look at me."
So I think it's more getting towards feelings,
and they want to feel like they belong,
and they don't have that sense of belonging.
So I think sometimes when they go in that environment,
the school environment, it's a trigger sometimes
to remind them of what they're not and what they lack.
So I think that that feeling is starting to reoccur
a little bit heavier than before.
- Well, and that trigger that you mentioned for them
was actually what I wanted to share is a trigger for me.
In terms of, when I think about coming back
and my process of coming back, kind of my true story part
is that too, like I show up kind of ready,
full of excitement, and I am not even kidding you guys,
within about three hours this school year,
I was like, "Oh, yeah, oh, no, it's all this.
And because my work on myself and in my program
is focused on that external kind of stuff
that you mentioned, Shelton,
that the kids are literally asking for.
And yet everything that a school and that you're going over,
especially at the beginning,
is all the external circumstances.
And if there's anything that we've learned
is that like, external circumstances
don't necessarily change your internal condition,
and so right, there really is just this mismatch,
and I was feeling it for myself.
Again, when I kept talking about like my quest this summer
of like, it's my own internal needs
that aren't being like, greatly met
by kind of like the system and structure that I work for.
Not my specific work with students,
but I felt that again, within a few hours
of being back because my experience is that it's like,
all these again, logistical meetings
and it's not what I need,
that's not what I showed up excited for, you know?
I wanna talk about, how do we make people feel more welcome?
And there just is, there's something kind of like
really unhealthy, I mean, that is the thing.
There's something pretty, really unhealthy right now.
And we have to move beyond, for ourselves
and our students, the whole like,
we're gonna self-care our way out of it
or positive self-talk, uplift it.
So coming back, kind of my true story to share
is that like, the weight of our condition,
I kind of really felt in terms of turnover.
You know, some of you were mentioning, right?
The amount of people who are turning over,
and then just what I see as like, maybe the disconnect
between the practitioners and what my priorities are
and then like what the system
or what management is telling me the priorities are
as we start out.
- Just to interject, I love how you use the system
and you differentiate you and the system
and how the system is a different thing
than what you're really there for.
So yeah, I love that.
- And I felt that, that was me coming back,
being like, "Okay, I've been in the moment."
And then it lasted about, I'm not kidding,
it was about three hours; I kept track.
- Shoot, that's a bummer.
That system needs to change.
You need to feel good for more than three hours.
- Well, that's where I just settled in
after about three hours.
Anyway, that's my true story.
- You reminded me, I feel like...
Well, I feel like it's like, you're excited,
you have this energy, and then you're reminded of like,
"Oh, yeah, I gotta set up my grade book.
"Oh, yeah, I need to start doing the emails.
"Oh, I already need to start registering parent contacts
into Infinite Campus."
Like, you are starting to be reminded of like
the to-do list that just lives right here
as you're like, just enjoying the kids
and doing fun stuff with the kids.
And you're like, "Oh, crap,
don't forget about that to-do list back here."
- Yeah.
- I'm just thinking about how we're at the beginning
of the school year and we're talking about
how hard the job is and especially during the pandemic.
It's been really rough, and what we are all doing
to take care of ourselves and just thinking about new,
people who are new to the profession coming in.
And it's hard enough being an experienced educator
coming into the year and saying,
"How is it only the first two weeks?
"How is it only Labor Day?
Uh, it feels like May."
And being new to the profession and saying,
"What have I gotten myself into?"
I think more and more if you're...
I've been shifting my focus to who is there.
It's so easy to focus on, you know,
staffing shortages or mass exodus
from the teaching profession, but schools are up and running,
teaching and learning is happening, right?
Light bulbs are going off.
Beautiful moments are happening every day
because people are still there, right,
from teachers to nurses, substitute teachers,
cross categorical teachers, right?
Bus drivers, I mean, you name it, building staff.
And I think more and more people are entering the profession
knowing what they're getting into
because it's out there in the media.
People are hearing that teachers are overworked,
they're underpaid, and under-appreciated.
They're reading about these staff shortages
and right now, they're reading about learning loss.
They're seeing schools question and address systemic racism.
And any one of these issues is a lot to take on,
let alone being new to the profession.
So I think anyone who is in a school right now,
whether you're new to the profession or you came back,
they have their sleeves rolled up, they're ready to go,
they know what they're in for.
I mean, you still might have moments where you're saying,
"What have I gotten myself into?"
But I think people are ready to go.
And there's a lot of power and hope to harness behind that.
- Well, and when I share how I am feeling
or, I think it is important to note that
I think it's that awareness that is healthy.
Like I'm understanding where I'm at
and what my thoughts are.
So, right, I hope our audience doesn't hear it
and just think like, "Oh, she's bummed three hours in
and that just means that the whole year's gonna suck."
Like, no, but to be honest,
I've actually really worked on that awareness.
And I think it's a healthy part of working through
all of the things that you just mentioned.
Because with that awareness comes like,
right, what is my part of it?
And that I'm in control of?
And what is something that I've gotta connect
with others in community to chip away at?
So I just wanted to clarify. [laughing]
- Have you guys ever seen that TV show Abbott Elementary ?
- Yeah.
- I've seen a couple of episodes.
- It's a real, like it's got like a Office vibe to it
where they're interviewing the characters
kind of midway.
It's a good sitcom, touchy, makes you feel good
as you watch it, and there's like in that show,
there's like a first year teacher
that's like classic first year teacher.
Trying to do everything, like doing more
than they need to, maybe even fumbling
'cause they just never stop.
And then there's like some seasoned teachers
that this first year teacher is like,
"Oh, why aren't you doing more?"
And one of the seasoned teachers says,
"I know, I can't do more because I can't afford
"to be burnt out because if I get burnt out,
"these kids have no one.
"And so I have to take care of myself.
"I have to not do everything because if I do,
these kids won't have a teacher."
And when I watched that episode, I was like,
"Oh, I agree, write it down."
Because like, our kids need us, and at the end of the day,
I have to be like, "Okay, I'm done.
"I'm not gonna think about school at all this whole weekend
and I'm probably going to still."
But it's like, if I just pretend like I won't,
like I know that I'm striving for balance
because my kids need, my student kids,
my kids need me on Monday to be my best version of myself.
Bring the energy, bring the excitement
to even a boring topic because they need me.
- Yes; so you, you all mentioned being overworked
'cause I know we have some listeners who probably,
they hear that a lot, but they really don't know
what that entails.
Can you all like, explain some of the overwork things that
happened throughout your day or year?
- Well, I do have a funny, this would be a classic
like, beginning-of-school-year feeling overworked.
So it's like day four of school
and we just had back to school night,
like meet-the-teacher kind of night.
And it started at 9:00 PM or no,
it started at 7:00 P.M. and got done at 9:09 P.M.
And there's school the next day.
And I feel like that's a classic one where you're like,
who is asked to like, work a solid eight-hour day
then like, go home for maybe a little bit
and then come back and like, put on that face again
for a couple more hours, now to parents, and then notice,
and then go home and be like, "Okay,
"I need to like, slow down.
"I need to get some sleep here and then be right back at it
in the morning, ready to go." - Yeah.
- And I love that it was 9:09, you know?
That's school too, like who else does that?
- Yeah. - Count those minutes.
- Gotta get those minutes in, I was just gonna say. [laughs]
To Shelton, Shelton to your question.
I'm not necessarily thinking of myself,
but I mentioned that I was able to support a school
earlier this week and in one of the classes,
the class was being supported by multiple teachers,
a reading teacher coming in and doing reading assessments
with the students.
And there was also a special education teacher
who came in and was supporting students.
And she and I had the chance to chat a little bit
after the class was over.
And she was talking about how again, first two weeks
of school, it seems like it's May.
She put in 15,000 steps the other day,
And this wasn't a field trip; this was just literally
running around the building,
supporting every student on her caseload
and then all of the documentation after that.
Talking about being there till 7:00 PM,
writing emails to families, working on the documentation.
And I just kept thinking about those 15,000 steps
during the day too.
I don't think that was an anomaly,
I think that's every single day.
- When I think about a lot of the ways that I feel
like I'm doing a lot of work, it's a little bit different
because I do a lot for my local association.
And so, it's voluntary and yet I'm like, okay,
if districts themselves weren't such a mess,
our association work wouldn't be so intensive
in terms of really helping people understand
what their rights are, you know what I mean?
What their workday really is and isn't.
How we really establish kind of this,
the collegiality amongst ourselves,
so we plan outings and get-togethers.
The kind of things that like, can never be fit
into a school day or they think,
maybe like a half a Cousin's sub
and a bag of chips is okay at school,
that's the only thing we could do.
And so, we plan the more like, adult and real things, you know,
to really again, build a community,
build a community of professionals.
And so a lot of my time this week was that.
It's like the workday ends at this time,
but I'm on the phone with people.
Well, in fact, I helped somebody resign already.
I'm on the phone with people,
helping them figure out what to do.
I'm helping people just figure out their situation.
And then we have this great leadership team.
So anyway, I just think about that, whereas like,
the school day ends here,
but then my work with my colleagues continues.
And I just think because there's like,
we just kind of like have roles in school,
but there's really kind of not, at least been my experience
the past 27 years, not a whole like, organizational vibe.
And if so, it's been like, kind of just compliance-driven.
- What do you mean when you say roles?
- I mean like, here is school, and then you hire teachers
and they're teachers, and then you hire your admin
and they're admin, and you hire your paras.
And there's really not time or a real effort
in how are you really a team?
You know, it's more like, here's your duties,
here's my duties. - Yeah.
- How do you, you know, these are the duties I have to do.
And again, it's that internal need
that we're missing with people of like,
but what's the organization and how are we a team?
And is there even time to ever really be together?
So, I just see that missing in the structure and in my case,
that's where my association picks it up.
- Yeah, I agree, and I do think the past two years
have taken that even further away
because I feel like at my school we had,
pre-COVID, we had a really good staff culture
and staff energy that worked well with each other
that did really include all the different levels
and all the different departments,
from teachers to student support staff.
And then you had COVID, which separated us
and then it was difficult to kind of maintain that.
And then with that comes a lot of staff turnover.
And so when it came time to come back last year,
there was almost like a guard up.
Like you weren't quite ready to know who you could trust,
maybe you didn't give, I mean, I know for a fact
that there was a scenario where I didn't give a staff member
as much grace as I should have
and then I kind of got called on it and I was like,
"Why would I give them grace?
"I don't even know them.
I've been here for a long time," and it wasn't cool.
Like, I was out of line,
but like I said to my administrator,
I said, "We need more community
"so that we can have more opportunities
"to remind ourselves that these are our colleagues,
"this is our community.
"I trust what you're doing,
"even if I don't know all the pieces
"because I know you've got kids as the best interest here,
I know that I need to presume those positive intentions."
And so my dream is that we'll get back to an opportunity
for a stronger community so that we can get back
to that presuming everybody is putting kids first,
everybody is doing their best work to put kids first,
and we have trust there even if we don't know each other
as well as we did pre-COVID.
- Yeah, I feel pretty lucky that the team I'm on
is working on innovation within the district
and has learned that it only works if
these projects are working directly
with schools and with teachers.
And in some cases with students.
And talking with them and listening to them
'cause I think oftentimes there's a disconnect
and unfortunately, it's not hard for someone
at the district level to hear about the struggles
and about the hardships
because they're simply not hearing it.
So I think, how can we better communicate with each other?
Joanna was talking about in schools
and just teams within schools working together,
how do we all fit together and communicate with each other?
And sometimes you hear that people are left in silos.
And how can we get better doing that at the district level?
I think is still a big question that we're figuring out.
- And how do you help someone who feels
like they're in a silo, too?
I think when you do begin to talk
to people and you, you hear about that.
How do you support them when you already have so much stuff
on your own shoulders to take care of?
Let's move on to our Look Back segment of the podcast.
What is maybe something that's going well for you right now
or something you feel like you're doing really well?
And maybe what's something that you already know,
"I need to do better at that,"
or "This is my goal this year on what I wanna work on?"
Does anything come to mind? - Hmm.
- Well, I could say, I think for myself,
something that I know I do well is I'm really proud
of the way that I start the school year
and that I begin to start the school year with my families.
I do intake meetings,
which is not very common at high school level,
but that's an important part of our program
and where I literally meet with the child and the family
before they start to talk about just how did summer go?
What are they hoping for this school year?
What are they worried about this school year?
And then some basic logistics,
like literally how are you getting to school?
And because then we can talk and share perspective
because so many assumptions are made.
A little thing I always think about, too, is my kids
who ride bikes, I'll have kids who ride bikes to school
and so I'll be like, "What are you gonna do?
How are you getting to school this year?"
They'll be like, "I'm riding my bike."
I'm like, "Okay.
Well, just so you know, you can bring it right in our room."
I have like this external door nearby, so I just have 'em
bring it right in the room because right,
I've learned years past, like, you know,
I'm like, "Oh my God, there's a bike in the bush."
And it'd be one of my kids being like,
"Oh, yeah, I hide my bike in that bush."
And I'd be like, "Oh."
You know, so these are the kinds of things you find out
when you just talk about it in advance
and that are very important to kids.
They wanna know how to walk in the door
and not look like a fool.
They wanna know that.
And so that's something that I'm really proud
that I start my school year that way.
And oh, I would love a high school redesign
where we all do something like that
because it's so important to adolescents to walk in knowing,
and if you listen to them,
that is where all their worries are.
They're actually not worried about your class.
They're worried about how are they gonna look,
what are people gonna think?
Do they know where they're going?
And so something I know I do well is those intake meetings
and getting my kids feeling solid and confident
when they're coming in.
Something I know that I think
I always have to work on is remembering
that no one else in my school is really doing that.
And talking with other colleagues
in a way that's not like, duh, you should be doing
stuff like this, and kind of understanding what again,
how that system limits them too,
into how they're going about things.
So something I do, I know I need to work on is that kind of,
and I'm not mean to people, but I'm just saying,
that compassionate lens of,
yeah, they're doing a different thing.
And I wanna build that bridge for the small ways over,
but I know I'm very focused on my work and my space,
what I just kind of talked about,
and something I've gotta work on, too, is understanding
where everybody else is coming from.
- I definitely hear that, Joanna.
It's very similar to me, too.
It's it's almost listening on both ends.
I think something that's going well is listening
and in particular, and this comes through the work
of Elena Aguilar from Bright Morning team,
just doing a lot of reading there.
And whether it's reflecting on your own practice
as an educator or coaching teams or leading PD,
she encourages you to really lean into emotions
for the purpose of uncovering unmet needs.
Because if you can uncover those unmet needs,
then that's really what education is all about,
right, is then figuring out how can we meet those needs.
And especially in one-on-one situations
that you are able to uproot and uncover those emotions
and talk about them together, you can build trust
and I think it goes a long way.
But Joanna, similarly to what you were saying,
I think something I have trouble with sometimes
is having patience and truly listening
when I feel the other person,
when there's a fundamental difference
between what we believe in.
And I think on a macro scale, that's happening, too.
There are issues and people, you're on one side or another.
You think we should be teaching this in schools
or you think we shouldn't be teaching this in schools.
You think schools should be organized in this way
or it shouldn't be organized in that way.
You think bathrooms should be set up one way
or bathrooms should be set up another way.
You think certain sports should be organized this way
or, you know.
And it's so polarized.
And I admit at times, it is hard to reach
across the table and truly listen
when there does appear to be a fundamental difference.
But if that's something we don't work on, it's going to be,
it's gonna continue to become more polarized
and we're gonna feel more distance between us.
And unless we can find common ground,
we're not going to move forward together.
But it's hard.
- Yeah, yeah.
And I'd say, what I do well.
I can relate to the kids or the youth
that a lot of kids don't, a lot of the adults
in the building don't think they can relate to.
And those are kids what they call "at risk,"
but I like to think of 'em as high promise
'cause how you think about things is how you see things
and that's how you treat it.
So I like to always call 'em, they have high promise
and I treat 'em as such.
So I like, I think I build relationships
with those kids very well because I see me
in a lot of them and some of their experiences
they've gone through and some experiences
I'm going through personally and just have been through.
So that relation, that builds a different kind
of relationship where they trust me
and I get called brother, dad, cousin, uncle.
So to build those kind of relationships
in the school, I love it.
And then I get to, I'm privy to different information
that a lot of people, I'm privy to the truth a lot,
how kids are really feeling,
'cause sometimes they don't trust.
As you all know, they don't trust people
'cause the confidentiality's been broken
or things like that.
So just having that opportunity to build
that rapport is a blessing.
I would say what I need to work on.
Like you all were saying, not as far as listening,
but my emotions after I hear what's going on.
Especially when it's about the kids that I work with,
I go personal first, if I'm being honest.
So I have to pause and step back, and sometimes
I gotta give myself a day and then I'll tell 'em
I'll come back tomorrow and I can answer
because it just hits home so hard.
And I love hard, I hurt hard, and I heal slow.
So with that equation, I have to take my time.
But the greatest thing I've learned is
the greatest way to learn something
is to admit you don't know.
Every day I go in there and try to look for something
I don't know 'cause that's an opportunity to learn.
So especially from them and that puts that child
on a pedestal in which they don't feel
like they've been put on a pedestal for whatever reasons
throughout the day or in life.
- Love it.
- We wanna make sure every podcast episode
we don't just hear from the four of us.
We want to open it up and we want to incorporate
a variety of voices.
So now we're going to move on to our Pass the Mic portion
of the episode and see what questions
or stories teachers have to share with us today.
We'll take questions
from early career or pre-service teachers
or hear unique stories from veteran teachers.
So we're just gonna do a quick check
of who is with us today.
Today, we have a story from Amy from Sussex and Amy says,
"I work very closely, not only with my second graders,
"but with their families as well.
"So we get to know the family at a very deep level
in our virtual space."
Amy is a virtual teacher.
"Much more than I did as a classroom teacher for 15 years.
"I have students who have lost parents to COVID,
"students who have ADHD or autism
"and the traditional classroom doesn't work for them,
"so they choose us.
"One parent I was talking to this week broke down
"and says he knows his daughter is behind and needs my help,
"but cannot send her to in-person school
"after what happened in Uvalde.
He doesn't feel safe sending her."
And so that's what Amy sent us.
Thank you, Amy, for sending that in.
And just to open it up to us,
what came up for you in listening to Amy's story?
How important is it for you to make connections
with your students?
- Overall, for me,
what I heard was the ways education needs to change,
some things we need to rethink how we're teaching kids
because we're not keeping in mind the traumas
that they go through that they're not even aware,
that they can't translate and how it plays on them
socially, emotionally.
So just the different ways
that kids may need to start learning.
And I don't know, that's heartfelt, that's heartfelt.
But building relationships, again, that's the key.
- Well, that's what made me think about too, is part of the,
is the trust we need to rebuild with parents.
They've been affected, too, and that's what I heard
in the story was again, because ultimately,
these educational decisions for the children were based
on their parents.
And it's all fine, it's all good
and yet it's like, there is something there.
I always talk about, we assume so much in education
where we're just like,
"Of course everybody wants to send their kids
to a brick and mortar school."
But it's like, no.
I always say, there's thousands of kids,
there need to be more than one way.
And so you hear that and then you just hear, too,
the parents, of course, they have emotions too.
And what do we have built within to do that?
And I loved hearing that she felt that she has
stronger connections virtually than in person
because I felt that way, too, during virtual.
And I think it depended on what you were doing.
I didn't wanna be virtual forever,
but while it was happening, we made the best of it
and we did have a community and I did feel close.
And so I know that it's possible for people
who are choosing that, for it to meet their needs.
So those were some things that came up for me.
Thanks for sharing.
- Yeah, I'd say props to Amy for just being in that role.
I would not volunteer for that.
And so I guess maybe when I hear all of that,
I really admire that she feels and that she's observing
those tight relationships with the kids virtually
because I feed off that in the classroom.
And I love those relationships that I build
with my students.
So I'm thankful that she's able to find that.
My hope is that she isn't living in that silo
that we were talking about earlier where I hope
she's not teaching in her basement by herself.
I hope she's got a community of other virtual teachers
or something that she can go to
because I think that it's when we, most teachers I know
are social beings, and they like the energy
that comes around working with kids.
And I hope that she is getting that social connection
that she needs because she's got something good going on,
it sounds like, and we need her to stay a teacher
for a really long time because there's kids' needs
that need to be met and sounds like she's meeting them.
And so I hope she's getting what she needs
so that she can have a long profession doing this role.
- Absolutely.
And we're talking about this as relates to building trust
and really relationships
and not just the interpersonal relationships,
but the relationship to school and education,
and from the students' perspective
and from the families' perspective as well.
And another important issue here is safety.
And that the safety of everyone in schools
has to be a priority.
And whether it's connected to a sense of belonging
and feeling safe in terms of your identity,
like we were talking about earlier,
or simply your physical safety.
Whether it's due to COVID or what we're seeing in the media
with school shootings.
Safety is a number one priority.
And I'm curious, how do all of you feel
about your own safety as an educator
and also the safety of your students?
- Well, we had an active shooter last year in January.
It was a scare that was eventually found to be
that the student did not have any weapon,
but we went into a full lockdown like there was a weapon
in the building.
And I actually was home with COVID at the time.
And what was crazy was that I literally had
the police scanner app on my phone and was texting
all my colleagues who were literally hiding like 50 kids
in the art kiln
and texting them the updates that were coming
over the police scanner app because it was so intense.
And I think that there's a lot of baggage
that came after that and it does make you...
I hate that I have to think on a daily basis,
how is my classroom set up for safety?
What is the way?
I just put a desk in a place, like a table,
and I was like, "Ooh, that would be a good table to push
in front of the door if I needed to."
That sucks.
That's the worst. - Not cool.
- That is the worst job thing ever.
And another colleague literally has a picture
next to the door of a good way to secure the door
and a plan of when, if we needed to, this is how
we're gonna put stuff in front of the door.
And that is too much.
That's where I'm lost, where I can't,
I have no words of what to do next.
- There's that, the real, again,
specific external episodes
that, of course, go through, I think, all of our minds.
But I do think more about in terms of safety,
I do think more about psychological safety
for the students and for the staff members.
People are not well
and that doesn't mean in a dangerous way.
I'm just like, we're not in our best thinking
because we're not well, and that has always concerned me,
but has really increased.
And then kind of our lack of understanding, too,
of stress responses.
So when we have done like, the formal safety training
and they're like, no matter what, leave or whatever.
And I'm like, well, okay, if there's fight, flight,
freeze, fawn,
we're all gonna react different.
And I always have an example of literally
in our classroom between my teaching partner and I,
one day the microwave kind of started on fire.
It was like, we're heating up our lunches,
microwave was like, sparks, whatever, whatever.
She comes running out and is like, "Oh my God,
the microwave's on fire!"
You know, and I'm like,
and I go running in to be like, "Well, then unplug it!"
You know?
And we were just laughing being like, that's a great example
of just a stress response, you know?
Or we've seen the same thing
when we've had to break up a physical altercation
between students.
Like, she ran to the phone.
And again, no judgment.
Her response was like, run this way.
Mine was run this way, you know?
And so I think about, too, how almost,
that's never a part of it.
And whether it's for the active shooter or not
or in general, again, as a community,
we don't spend a lot of time talking about
what does psychological safety mean to us?
How would we respond?
What would we do?
What are we seeing in our kids?
What do they see from us?
That kind of stuff.
- Well, me personally, that gives me anxiety
and I don't even have anxiety, to be honest.
And like I said, I'm not at a school every day,
but one day I got caught at a school where I had to do
that trainer shooting where we all had to hide in a room
and it was just quiet.
And just sitting there think like, what if this was real?
Where would I go?
What could we do?
So just to, and then to think about some of the kids
that bring, that I work with that bring
some of that life psychological things on
and then add on top of that.
I just, yeah, I don't know.
It's a lot to think about.
So me, I personally, I do stay alert of those things,
but I don't intentionally watch the news.
I don't pay attention to social media like that
because I have to keep my peace.
That's the only way I keep my peace.
So, yeah it's--
- Protect yourself emotionally. - Yes, yes.
That psychological safety.
I've never heard that, but I love it.
Love it.
- Yeah, Amy, we wanna thank you again for sending in your story.
I think it really took this to a deeper level,
a very real place about what's happening this year
both in terms of the trauma that we're dealing with
as well as the ideas and energy, like we mentioned before
of everybody who is still there,
who is bringing these ideas to connect people together
and to build communities.
So thank you.
- Well, guess what fellow podcasters?
It is time already to wrap it up.
So thank you, everybody, for listening.
We appreciated you being with us and sending in your stories.
And if you're an educator, we'd love to hear from you.
Let us know any questions you have
and we can field them right here on the show.
We also welcome stories from current educators like Amy
who sent hers in because we wanna give a window to people
about what is really happening in our profession.
You could record a voice memo or type it up.
Just send it to education@pbswisconsin.org
and make sure you put "aka Teacher" in the subject line.
You could also check out the aka Teacher podcast website
to find helpful resources connected to today's episode.
See you next time.
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