WEBVTT - Get the Most Out of Education (How-To Monday) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.360 Hey, hey, ba fam, I am so excited to bring 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.960 you another how To throwback. I hope you guys enjoy 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:09.200 this and while you're listening, don't be shy. Leave us 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:11.760 a review. We will read them on the show. And yeah, 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.319 we just love y'all so much. Okay, here is our 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.080 how To episode for this week. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:27.320 Hey, hey, hey, look, yes, I was like I always 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:33.640 forget our damn sorry y'all. Hey, hey, hey, we're back. 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:35.600 We're black, We're. 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:42.080 Brown, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, we're extra black brown 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.080 today and stew we have a guest today. Her name 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.320 is Robinson. Let me read you a little taste about 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.680 miss Lacy. First of all, she is an educator like myself, 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:56.240 so you already now it's on like Donkey Kong. Lacey 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.520 is the president and CEO of Unbounded, which is an 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:05.080 education organization that offers standardize that offers standards aligned resources 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.759 and immersive professional learning for teachers and leaders seeking seeking equity. 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.280 She has over twenty years of experience and education and 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.679 focuses on helping educators in school systems disrupt systemic racism 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.119 and its legacies. 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:20.720 Yeah. 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.839 Oh, and she's the author of a new book. See 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:26.640 if y'all watch me on YouTube, like I'll be telling 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.160 y'all can see the book. It's beautiful yellow. It is 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:33.679 called Justice Seekers, Pursuing Equity in the Details of Teaching 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.480 and Learning. As we both got our books out, you know, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:38.199 you know black goes so good with yellow. 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:43.560 You see, look at that looks so that's blue. 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:51.840 So welcome to the podcast, Lacey. You so excited. How 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.000 I met Lacey? She just dope, I'm not gonna tell 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.280 all your business, girl, but just to meet adult black 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.400 woman on social media, like we should connect, and then 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.840 we literally did. It was just on something like hey girl, hey, 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:05.240 and then we spoke for three hours. 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:07.760 Oh my god, I told somebody. 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:09.480 I was like, if that had been a first date, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:10.000 that would. 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.079 Have been a perfect first date, like like, oh my god, 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.880 I'm met my spirit I'm at my spirit person and 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:17.720 I've never seen her in person. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.400 But yes, it was Honestly, it was awesome. We just 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:22.320 like you know, some people you just connect with, Like 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.680 that's what it was. We got connected on social media, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.120 had a phone call that I thought it'd be like, oh, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.040 twenty thirty minutes. No, Like I told the lady to 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.760 walk with me. I walk, we talk, we cried, we laughed, chat. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.120 This is about BSF now. And so when I saw 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.720 that she had a book coming out, I was like, Hello, 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.000 come on the podcast. Hello, let's promote this book. You know. 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.040 But honestly, so much your story is so interesting, Lacy, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:49.400 because so many of our listeners have like pivot stories, 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.480 you know. So I would love for you to kind 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:54.960 of share how because one y'all might not be familiar 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.480 with Unbounded. But it's not a small nonprofit, you know. 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.240 They got a big budge, right lady. Sixty million? 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.280 Oh shoot, we are we are our way there. I'd 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:08.000 say close to forty forty three, you. 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.400 Know, forty million, you know, now something like we have. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.600 We have a for profit and nonprofit side, and my 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:20.639 goal is one hundred million. You know, I mean dream right, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:26.000 but I mean into reality. So and I have we 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.800 we're about one hundred and ten employees across the United States, 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.400 and so we do three national convenience I have the 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.760 next final Convenient that's happening this season in DC next week. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.240 Last month, in June, we had our Standards Institute Convenient, 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.640 where almost two thousand educators from across the United States 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.240 got together and for an entire week and did what 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:53.120 we call made their brain sweat around standards, aligned curriculum, 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:57.080 and the equity that is essential to close the opportunity 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.800 gap here in the United States. So just excited and 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.560 feel really blessed to lead this organization. 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.080 So I love that. So how but you didn't always? 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:10.320 Obviously no one starts off as a president and CEO, right, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.080 So what was your trajectory? Like, how did you get here? 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.840 Oh? My gosh, okay, So like you, I started out 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:19.080 as an early childhood teacher. 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:21.720 I actually taught in an early childhood. 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.359 Center to put myself through undergrad I went to the 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:29.560 Florida A and M University, thank you very much. And honestly, 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:32.000 I didn't really want to be a teacher. 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:34.600 I wanted to be an actress. 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.040 And my mother was like, I'm going to need you 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.080 to get a four to one k and have some 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.360 health infits, and so she's like, I've watched you as 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.080 from the time you were a child. You love children, 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:48.800 you love reading, you love teaching people, and you're a 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.479 little bit bossy. So I think you should try being 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.440 a teacher. And so I went into the teaching profession. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.599 I started an undergrad and by the time I reached 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.200 my junior year, it became am a calling, Like I 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:06.200 could literally feel my spirit lift and soar when I 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:11.400 thought about the potential that is yielded in a classroom 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:18.039 when you have the right mix of a teacher that 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:21.640 is dedicated, that is well prepared, that has the passion 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:27.320 students regardless of social economic status, regardless of background, but 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.120 have that desire, you know, that desire that like the 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.880 three and four year olds have when they're learning, and 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.720 the hunger, the right materials, the support, Like what all 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.680 those things are mixed in. I'm telling you, you know 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:44.359 this persthand magic happens in classrooms. We see it on 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.680 a daily basis. And so that's what started to drive 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:52.360 me from there. Honestly, it was a set of unforeseen 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.919 opportunities that I never said no to. So when I 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.479 went to do my residency, somebody said, you should go 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.400 observe Marva Collins Preparatory School in Cincinnati. If no one 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.240 knows about Marva Collins, please look her up. She is, 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.280 I'd say, one of my original She ros African American 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.960 women in the city of Chicago had enough with the 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:13.920 way her kids were being schooled. 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.280 And decided to open up her own classroom in her 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.560 living room in Chicago, and word got out in the 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.760 neighborhood that her kids were not only learning but excelling, 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.160 and the neighbors started bringing their kids, and all of 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.359 a sudden, her living room is packed, and regardless of 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.600 where the students were, they were learning Shakespeare and Chaucer 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:37.800 and algebra. Like she had just this insurmountable belief that 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.479 brown and black children have all the potential to become 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:44.240 whatever they want, and when we set the right environment 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:45.360 for them, they can learn. 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:47.719 So I got an opportunity to intern in a school 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.000 that was modeled after her schools. I got an opportunity 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.560 to go live in Germany and observe after school programs 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.000 on dods, and also get opportunity to look at how 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:04.040 kindergarten is done Europe very different. I got an opportunity 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.760 to go to Columbia University and work for someone who's 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.280 a really big gurgu. Well I'm not going to say 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:08.600 their name. 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.840 My first lent sent around professional development. 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.080 I ain't even know there was a career professional development. 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:17.840 I thought you could be a teacher or a principal, 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.200 but a professional developer I never even heard of it, 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.400 and then became a principal with new leaders, started to 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:26.600 work for new leaders. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.440 After becoming a turnaround principal. 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.280 Coaching and then lo and behold, honey, I went and 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:36.320 applied to this company called Unbounded. Didn't get the job 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.560 the first time around, which is I always tell people, 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:39.960 is a testimony, okay. 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:46.880 Because right ever, no, and. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.760 They didn't. They didn't hire me, but they said come 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:55.000 back and facilitate at one of our national convenience and 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.880 I did that and all of my I would say, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:02.679 gifts and talents, and they invited me to apply again 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:07.240 for a job at Unbounded and I worked first. I 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.040 was a senior director. That's the other thing too, Get 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:14.120 in because if it's meant to be, you will fit in, okay, 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.000 if you have gifts and talents, and those gifts and 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.360 talents have an opportunity to shine. Don't worry about what 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:24.239 level you come in on, because those gifts and talents 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.080 are going to carry you. And that's what happened. Month 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.520 after month, I kept getting a promotion, to the point 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:31.920 where my mother was like, now, what is you doing 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:36.880 over there? Did they promote you? Everything? For me? And 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.079 I went from senior director to chief and then got 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.400 an opportunity where they allowed me to take their standards institute, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.720 their national committee, and add some touches to it and 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.559 shift it and make it about equity, which is one 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.840 of our pervasive issues in education today. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.520 And we took off our sales, our revenue sword. 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.600 Already getting weight less for people to come to our institutes. 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:07.880 And my board at the time needed to replace the 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.640 CEO and kenye me and said do you want to 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:10.959 do it? 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:19.480 Like all teacher to Girden and CEO. I'm gonna like 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.960 something forty million dollar. You know, it's just like what 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.640 I just I hope listening to that, y'all are like, okay, 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.679 you know that. You know sometimes you think you're stuck 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:33.000 in a place, or how are your skills transferable? But 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.480 they are, ye know they are. 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:40.840 Yes. Especially I want all I hope educators because I 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:42.720 know it's tons of them that listen to you and 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.440 follow you. I want them to understand something. Number One, 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.839 your gifts and talents are beyond measurable. We can only 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:55.160 capture a snapshot in that evaluation if it's any good. Second, 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.160 of all, we are some of the most creative. I mean, 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:02.320 look at yourself, self sufficient, magvering kind of professionals you 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:08.280 will find, okay, And I think you also have to 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:13.360 allow yourself time to develop. Who said you got to drop. 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.640 It to a career and be instematic? 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.880 No, it's true. I think that, Like I think so 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:21.760 many of us don't realize. Like I talked for ten 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.880 years and then that it was that skill. People always 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.160 ask me, what do I credit the success of the budgetista? 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.240 And I'm like that preschool classroom. I learned all I 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:36.000 need to learn about leadership, about presentation, about different personalities, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.959 about like you know, about management. I mean, because you're 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.719 doing it all and so so many of the skills. 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.960 Like I saw this really fun meme about like first 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.679 stay at home moms who think they can't join the workforce, 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.200 and then listed all of the the skill sets that 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:56.320 these stay at home moms have that absolutely translate into 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.520 the workforce. So no, I love that. So what made 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:05.800 you decide with all of this knowledge and all this experience, 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:07.760 Is this your first book? Justice Seekers? 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:09.840 It is, it's my first published book. 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.040 Yeah, So what made you decide to write it? 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.840 Well, I will tell you I've been a storyteller since 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.440 I was a child. Storytelling runs in my family. I 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.840 always dripped of being a writer from the time I 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:24.360 think I was like five years old. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.240 Never thought my first would be a nonfiction piece. 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:29.920 But it's a passion piece that I did with the organization, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.360 and I do keynotes. I do national keynotes around the 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.160 United States and began to notice that the keynotes started 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.360 going viral. A big chunk of the keynotes is my 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:42.720 own personal journey. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.320 I got an opportunity, which is rare, Tiffany. I got 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.120 an opportunity to stand on stage in front. 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.560 Of what I call it edgy sphere and make my 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:57.559 confessionals about being an educated right like admitting that I 0:11:57.600 --> 0:12:00.400 did not always have the greatest. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.280 Learning environment for my students because. 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.200 I didn't know. I didn't know the nuances of how 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.080 to teach reading, and I tried my hardest to get 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.079 my kids to learn, but without the proper professional. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.360 Development, I was amiss. 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.400 You know. I was a middle school turnaround principal, and 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.720 I allowed the system to put a. 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:25.400 Cloud of unbelief in my students over me because of 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.560 the zip codes they lived in, because of their social 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.199 economic status, because of the former reputation that. 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.400 The school had, and rather than seeing my kids for 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.960 the beauty and the gifts and the talents and who 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:42.720 they were, I saw them as this group of people 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:43.880 that in. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.920 Some instances were nuanced, you know. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.840 Were nuisances to the system, and I made mistakes. I 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:52.720 wanted them to excel, but I wanted them to excel 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.600 what assimilation's lensed, because I thought that was the way 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.520 that I made it. And it wasn't until I left 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.920 the principalship and I had time to sit back and 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:09.200 think as an educator and realized that my own internal 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.719 meter about who I was as a black woman, as 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.040 a black child, as a black student, who I showed 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.640 up as a teacher and a principal was based off 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:25.240 of my own internalized racist beliefs and values, and that 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.280 there were times, as much as I believed in my students, 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.760 those values superseded what I did. And so as I 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.240 started to reflect, I started writing to tell the story. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:39.920 I looked at the keynotes that I did and I said, 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.760 at the end of the day, I'm just trying to 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:49.600 seek justice, Justice for our students, justice for our teachers, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:55.800 but most importantly, justice for this nation because we're at 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.040 a time where we don't have anything any more time 0:13:59.080 --> 0:13:59.560 to waste. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.960 So I started writing it down and I kept saying 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:04.760 to people in the organ. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.319 I was like, I got a book. I got a book. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.120 I got a book. And they were like, Lacey, if 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:10.760 you say you're gonna do it, we know you're gonna 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:16.360 do it, go and write it. So my yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.120 I got help from unboundd community. 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.400 I got people in the community, smart people, superheroes I 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.240 call them. But that's what the book is. It's an 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:27.160 amalgamation of my story as a student teacher, principal. Our 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:28.600 story is unbound. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.120 It No, I love that, So what do you well, one, 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.920 this is like, aside from the book, what do you 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.080 think some of that? Because one of my friends, doctor artis, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.880 we're gonna put some respect on her name. But Maria 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.440 to me, Maria is a vice superintendent of New York 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.640 Public Schools, which is the largest school district, yes, in 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.760 New Jersey, and she was just sharing like what a 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.200 hard time they're having recruiting teachers, just because it's such 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.000 a crazy time. I know, I left the classroom because 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.640 it was too much. But as if someone is listening 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.440 in the considering going into education, or they are a 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.200 teacher already, what can they do to be a justice 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.120 secret because like you said, sometimes you have this own 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.680 bias that you bring in with you because I'm not 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:11.840 on line until I grew up in a very African 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.680 household and then I went to I but in school, 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.280 my school, I lived in Westfield largely, which was very white, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.400 and so it was like African at home, White at school, 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.560 and so I had not although I am black, I 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:31.840 had not had a lot of access to Black American 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:34.280 you know, like, of course it's not a monolith, but 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:39.200 the experience, you know, not fully and completely because like 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.760 at home, I just didn't get that, you know. So 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.240 when I got to teach in Newark, you know, of 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.080 course new Ork, like I said, does not represent all 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.320 black the whole African American experience. But one of the 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.680 things I brought with me was if you just work 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.920 hard enough, the bootstraps, you know, like the same as you. 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.360 And I was like bootstraps, like you know, and then 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.880 I can't to teaching this preschool where the babies were 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.920 so smart. Our kids are so dag all smart. But 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.200 they were also coming to say, like I remember went 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:10.640 to the park once and one of the little boys 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.440 got poked by a needle that was left behind. I 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.920 was like what, And I just remember, like, so, my 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.480 classroom was at the bottom of a of a senior 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.560 building but also SSI social Security, so a lot of 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.760 people that had mental issues. But also there was a 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.479 lot of drug dealing in the building. And I distinctly 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.160 remember having to decide because we had a closet on 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.360 the third floor for the kids, like you know, like 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.720 paper and scissors, any excess materials. So every time I 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.760 had to go to the closet, I had to decide, 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.000 do I want to take this elevator and maybe get 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.040 stuck in the small elevator with someone who is not 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.600 in their right mind, or do I take the stairs 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:48.600 where you don't know what you're gonna see. I mean, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.040 I have seen in action prostitution happening. Once I ran 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.280 up the stairs and I smelled a sickly sweet smell 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:59.240 and when I looked, someone was literally smoking crack. Yeah, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.520 And that said, wait, how is the baby supposed to 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.600 come to school talking about ABC's one, two three, Like 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.280 I said, this is obviously I know this is not 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.200 the I don't want to misconstrue thinking that this is 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.800 the African American experience across the board. But I had 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.080 never experienced that this is that this is what my 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.920 kids could be experiencing. Because I was twenty two, twenty three, 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.560 and I was blown away, and I threw that maybe 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:25.880 throw out the whole bootstraps. Girl, I'm barely making it. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.840 It was. It was hurting my spirit. How is a 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:29.879 four year old supposed to learn? So the question is 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.919 if someone is if someone wants to be a justice seeker, 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.560 how does someone kind of get past the bias that 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:37.800 they might bring into the classroom that's harmful for kids. 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.480 Well, first and foremost, let me say this your experience 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.920 that you're talking about, there are hundreds of thousands of 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.800 other educators across the United States experience the same thing. 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:49.159 I used to call it the robin Hood mentality that 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.280 I had. I had made up in my mind that 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.040 in some years I wanted to go and work in 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.280 what they call urban districts, you know, the districts that 0:17:57.359 --> 0:18:00.159 are mostly bron and black. So I'm in digit in 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.000 this students low social economic status. And in other years 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.280 I would push myself to go work in the suburbs 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.960 because I wanted to see, like, okay, the kids in 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.080 the suburbs, the teachers in the suburbs. It sounded like 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.800 the land of good and plenty. But what I began 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:16.359 to understand, and I talk about this and justice seekers, 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:19.240 is that the teachers in the suburbs were justice ill 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:24.240 prepared as the teachers in the urban city schools that 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.719 I taught in, and that it wasn't Yes, we're materials 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:32.600 of plenty. Yes were experiences of plenty in those suburbs, yes, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.159 but teachers on average did not get supported. And so 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.320 the first thing I tell people about becoming a justice 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.720 seeker is one, come and join us, right, Come and 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:42.840 join our community. 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:44.119 I call it the Edgy Sphere. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.800 You don't have to walk this road alone. There are 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.560 the hundreds of thousands of us across the United States. 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.560 We have our national conveniens. 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.919 We invite people to but we also have online opportunities. 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.439 We have a platform called the Ecosystem. You could go 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.280 on and join the community. You teach third grade and 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:04.600 you want to know, you want to hook up what 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.719 other third grade teachers from across the United States. Our 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.479 Ecosystem offers that, And I would say this, find your 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.320 edgusphere locally right, make sure that you are building the 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:17.480 community within your building and across schools and other educators. 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:19.480 We got Facebook, we got Instagram. 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.840 Start a collective educator page where you all are coming 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:27.200 together locally to support one another. Here's the other thing, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:32.800 the professional development. That's one of the biggest issues I 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.560 believe in our profession. Tiffany, if you went to a 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.000 doctor and you had a cold, and you told the 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.200 doctor that you you had a cold and your throat 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.840 was sore, and the doctor pick said, let me see 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.720 your foot, and you say, well, wait a minute now, 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:47.439 I said that my throat was sore. Well what are 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.280 you looking at my foot for? And the doctor said, 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.960 you know, I ain't. I ain't really get a chance 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.399 to study grades anatomy. I got to the foot, and 0:19:55.680 --> 0:19:58.080 you know, and I ain't really had you would you 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.560 would take your paper, gown, hey, getting your things, ma'am, 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:05.120 and walk up out that office. When you look at educators, 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.160 I believe our profession is not looked upon the same 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.040 as other professions. We don't receive the same kind of 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.840 professional development that is ongoing, consistent and comprehensive, that is 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.920 up to date around research, and development that looks at 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:25.720 the landscape of global majority learners and gets us to 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:30.840 ask the question, how do I teach students and allow 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.640 them to come to school as their whole selves? How 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:38.840 do I teach my students academic English while honoring their 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:43.520 home language at the same time. And so I tell 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.760 educators all the time, you got to find a network 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.679 where you are professionally developing yourself. You got to ask 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.199 the system, what's the professional develop you're providing me on 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.800 teaching and needing? How do I become a better math teacher? 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.639 So those are the pieces that I really try to 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.760 push for folks. Join us as a community, find your 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.480 community local, look at the professional development that you're being 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:10.680 doused with. And for God's sake, this is the last piece. 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:15.640 You gotta do a self examination. You got to ask yourself, 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:17.879 why am I standing in the middle of this classroom? 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:20.960 What is it that I What is it that I 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:24.800 as a profession what am I looking for? What am 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:28.359 I seeking? And what is it that I can offer 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:31.720 my students standing performing? I think when a lot of 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.480 people ask themselves that question, did you become a teacher. 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:36.800 Because you couldn't think anything else to do? 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.560 Because and if that's the case, honey, you need to 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:48.240 go on. Indeed, okay, because this profession is worthy of 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:52.400 those who deem it as essential as their passion, as 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:54.560 something that they want to grow in, just like being 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.720 a doctor, a loyal, a candlestick maker, or a baker. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:01.760