WEBVTT - Ep 368: Justice Seekers ft. Lacey Robinson 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.200 Hey, hey, hey, look, yes, I was like I always 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.039 forget our damn introm Sorry y'all. 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:18.400 Hey, hey, hey, we're back. We're black, We're. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:24.919 Brown, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, we're extra black brown 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.960 today and stew we have a guest today. Her name 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:31.200 is Robinson. Let me read you a little taste about 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.560 miss Lacy. First of all, she is an educator like myself, 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:39.120 so you already now it's on like donkey Kong. Lacey 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.440 is the president and CEO of Unbounded, which is an 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:47.960 education organization that offers standardize that offers standards aligned resources 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.599 and immersive professional learning for teachers and leader seeking equity. 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.120 She has over twenty years of experience and education and 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:01.520 focuses on helping educators in school systems disrupt systemic racism 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:03.000 and its legacies. 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:03.560 Yeah. 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.680 Oh, and she's the author of a new book. See 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:09.520 if y'all watch me on YouTube, like I'll be telling 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.840 y'all you can see the book. It's beautiful yellow. It 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:16.200 is called Justice Seekers Pursuing Equity in the Details of 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:18.920 Teaching and Learning. Yes, we both got our books out. Okay, 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.080 you know you know black goes so good with yellow, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:22.720 you said, look. 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.400 At that looks and so that's blue. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:32.000 So welcome to the podcast Lazy than You so excited. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.280 Well, first of how I met Lacey. She just somebody's dope. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:39.040 I'm not gonna tell all your business, girl, but just 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:42.000 to be you just meet adult black woman on social 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.080 media like we should connect, and then we literally did. 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:46.880 It was just on something like hey girl, hey, and 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:48.080 then we spoke for three hours. 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.160 Oh my god, I told somebody. I was like, if 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:52.840 that had been a first date, that would have been 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.200 the perfect first date, Like, oh my god, I'm in 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.840 my spirit, I'm at my spirit person. I've never seen 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:01.800 her person, but yes, it was. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:03.720 Honestly, it was awesome. We just, like you know, some 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:06.200 people you just connect with, Like that's what it was. 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.000 We got connected on social media, had a phone call 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.160 that I thought it'd be like, oh twenty thirty minutes. No, 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:13.400 like I said, the lady got to walk with me. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.600 I walk, We talk, we cried, we laughed, chat. 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.200 This is about BFF now. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:22.000 And so when I saw that she had a book 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.440 coming out, I was like, hello, come on the podcast. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:25.959 Hello, let's promote this book. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:29.160 You know, but honestly, so much your story is so 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.360 interesting Lacy, because so many of our listeners have like 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:33.959 pivot stories, you know, So I would love for you 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.320 to kind of share how because one y'all might not 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.560 be familiar with Unbounded. But it's not a small nonprofit. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.600 You know, they got a big budget, right lady, what 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:44.079 we talk about? 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:45.079 Sixty sixty million? 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.160 Oh shoot, we are we on our way there. I'd 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.920 say close to forty forty three, you know. 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.240 Only forty million, you know, now something like we. 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.560 Have We have a for profit and nonprofit side, Okay, 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:02.320 and my goal was one hundred million. You know, I 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:07.080 mean dream right, but I mean into reality. So and 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:11.040 I have we We're about one hundred and ten employees 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.400 across the United States, and so we do three national 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.040 convenience I have the next final convenient that's happening this 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:22.000 season in DC next week. Last month, in June, we 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:25.639 had our Standards Just Too Convenient, where almost two thousand 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.080 educators from across the United States got together and for 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.880 an entire week and did what we call made their 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:37.360 brain sweat around standards, aligned curriculum, and the equity that 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.600 is essential to close the opportunity gap here in the 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.240 United States. So I'm just super excited and feel really 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.440 blessed to lead this organization. 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:47.680 So I love that. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.040 So how but you didn't always Obviously, no one starts 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:55.040 off as a president and CEO, right, So what was 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:55.800 your trajectory? 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:56.960 Like, how did you get here? 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.720 Oh? My gosh, okay, So like you, I started out 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.480 as an early childhood teacher. I actually taught in an 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.560 early childhood center to put myself through undergrad I went 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.840 to the Florida A and M University, thank you very much. 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.880 And honestly, I didn't really want to be a teacher. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.840 I wanted to be an actress. And my mother was like, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:21.920 I need you to get a four to one K 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.240 and have some health efits. And so she was like, 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.440 I've watched you from the time you were a child. 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.320 You love children, you love reading, you love teaching people, 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.440 and you're a little bit busy. So I think you 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.400 should try being a teacher. And so I went into 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:40.520 the teaching profession. I started an undergrad and by the 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.520 time I reached my junior year, it became a calling. 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:48.159 Like I could literally feel my spirit lift and soar 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:53.479 when I thought about the potential that is yielded in 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:58.720 a classroom when you have the right mix of a 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:03.839 teacher that is dedicated, that is well prepared, that has 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:09.760 the passion students regardless of social economic status, regardless of background, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.560 but had that desire, you know, that desire that like 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:14.960 the three and four year olds have when they're learning, 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:19.080 and the hunger, the right materials, the support like with 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.400 all those things are mixed in. I'm telling you, you 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:27.120 know this firsthand. Magic happens in classrooms. We see it 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.240 on a daily basis, and so that's what started to 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.840 drive me from there. Honestly, it was a set of 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:39.720 unforeseen opportunities that I never said no to. So when 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.239 I went to do my residency, somebody said, you should 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.080 go observe Marva Collins Preparatory School in Cincinnati. If no 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:49.120 one knows about Marva Collins, please look her up. She is, 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.120 I'd say one of my original She ros African American 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.839 women in the city of Chicago, had enough with the 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.600 way her kids were being schooled and decided to open 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:00.760 up her own classroom in her living room in Chicago. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.719 And word got out in the neighborhood that her kids 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.799 were not only learning, but excelling, and the neighbors started 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:08.839 bringing their kids and all of a sudden, her living 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.240 room is packed, and regardless of where the students were, 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:16.200 they were learning Shakespeare and Chaucer and algebra. Like she 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:21.880 had just this insurmountable belief that brown and black children 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.720 have all the potential to become whatever they want, and 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.280 when we set the right environment for them, they can learn. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.560 So I got an opportunity to intern in a school 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.839 that was modeled after her schools. I got an opportunity 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:38.440 to go live in Germany and observe after school programs 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:40.880 on dods, and also get opportunity to look at how 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:46.320 kindergarten is done in Europe very different. I got an 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.320 opportunity to go to Columbia University and work for someone 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:50.960 who's a really big guru. Well I'm not going to 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:55.679 say their name. My first lent sent around professional development. 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:58.960 I ain't even know there was a career professional development. 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:00.760 I thought you could be a teacher, oh, a principe, 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.080 but a professional developer I never even heard of it. 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.279 And then became a principal with new leaders, started to 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.239 work for new leaders after becoming a turnaround principal coaching, 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.640 and then lo and behold, honey, I went and applied 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:19.200 to this company called Unbound Needed didn't get the job 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.440 the first time around, which is I always tell people, 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:22.920 is a testimony, okay. 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:29.680 Because then you know every no, aim no, And. 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:33.600 They didn't. They didn't hire me, but they said come 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.880 back and facilitate at one of our national convenience and 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:41.760 I did that and all of my I would say, 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.239 gifts and talents showed and they invited me to apply 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.960 again for a job at Unbounded and I worked first. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.000 I was a senior director. That's the other thing too, 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:55.640 Get in because if it's meant to be, you will 0:07:55.680 --> 0:08:00.200 fit in, okay, if you have gifts and talents, and 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.440 those gifts and talents have an opportunity to shine. Don't 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.280 worry about what level you come in on, because those 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.520 gifts and talents are going to carry you. And that's 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.680 what happened. Month after month. I kept getting a promotion 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.240 to the point where my mother was like, now what 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.440 is you doing over there? Did they promote you everything? 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.760 For me? And I went from senior director to chief 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.080 and then got an opportunity where they allowed me to 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.520 take their standards, institute their national committee, and add some 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:32.559 touches to it and shift it and make it about equity, 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.720 which is one of our pervasive issues in education today. 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.679 And we took off our sales, our revenue sword. We 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.480 started getting weight less for people to come to our institutes. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.720 And my board at the time needed to replace the 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.400 CEO and came to me and said, do you want 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.920 to do it? And like all. 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:03.000 Teachers to gird and CEO. I'm gonna like something forty 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.560 million dollar. You know, it's just like what I just 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.160 I hope listening to that, y'all are like, okay, you 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.640 know that. You know sometimes you think you're stuck in 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.240 a place or how are your skills transferable? 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.400 But they are, yeah, they are. Yes. 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.840 Especially I want all I hope educators because I know 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:25.959 it's tons of them that listen to you and follow you. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.520 I want them to understand something. Number One, your gifts 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:34.360 and talents are beyond measurable. We can only capture a 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.320 snapshot in that evaluation if it's any good. Second, of all, 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.199 we are some of the most creative. I mean, look 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:48.800 at yourself, self sufficient, magivering kind of professionals you will find, okay, 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.360 And I think you also have to allow yourself time 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.199 to develop. Who said you got to drop it to 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.600 a career and be instematic. 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:01.320 No, it's true. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.160 I think that, Like I think so many of us 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.880 don't realize. Like I talked for ten years and then 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.200 that it was that skill. People always ask me, what 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.360 do I credit the success of the budgetista, And I'm 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.400 like that preschool classroom. I learned all I need to 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:20.240 learn about leadership, about presentation, about different personalities, about like 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:23.200 you know about management, I mean, because you're doing it 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.280 all and so so many of the skills. Like I 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.160 saw this really fun meme about like first stay at 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.080 home moms who think they can't join the workforce, and 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.240 then listed all of the the skill sets that these 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:39.800 day at home moms have that absolutely translate into the workforce. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.040 So no, I love that. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.720 So what made you decide with all of this knowledge 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.640 and all this all these experience, is this your first book? 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:50.600 Justice Seekers? 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:52.720 It is. It's my first published book. 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:54.959 Yeah, So what made you decide to write it? 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.720 Well, I will tell you. I've been a storyteller since 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.360 I was a child, so telling runs in my family. 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.560 I always dripped of being a writer from the time 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.080 I think I was like five years old. Never thought 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.520 my first would be a nonfiction piece. But It's a 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.960 passion piece that I did with the organization, and I 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.120 do keynotes. I do national keynotes around the United States 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.760 and began to notice that the keynotes started going viral. 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:26.000 A big chunk of the keynotes is my own personal journey. 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.200 I got an opportunity, which is rare, Tiffany. I got 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.960 an opportunity to stand on stage in front of what 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.640 I called it edgy sphere and make my confessionals about 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:40.760 being an educator, right like admitting that I did not 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.800 always have the greatest learning environment for my students because 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.079 I didn't know. I didn't know the nuances of how 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:51.920 to teach regal and I tried my hardest to get 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.960 my kids to learn, but without the proper professional development, 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.360 I was a miss. You know. I was a middle 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:03.600 school turnaround principle, and I allowed the system to put a. 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:08.240 Cloud of unbelief in my students over me because of 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.440 the zip codes they lived in, because of their social 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.920 economic status, because of the former reputation that the school had, 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:19.200 And rather than seeing my kids for the beauty and 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.680 the gifts and the talents and. 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.040 Who they were, I saw them as this group of 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.000 people that in some instances were nuanced, you know, were 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:33.080 nuisances to the system, and I made mistakes. I wanted 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.720 them to excel, but I wanted them to excel what 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.480 assimilation is lensed because I thought that was the way 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:43.400 that I made it. And it wasn't until I left 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.800 the principalship and I had time to sit back and 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:52.040 think as an educator and realized that my own internal 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.559 meter about who I was as a black woman, as 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.880 a black child, as a black student, who I showed 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.400 up as a teacher and principle was based off of 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:08.400 my own internalized racist beliefs and values, and that there 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.160 were times, as much as I believed in my students, 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:16.640 those values superseded what I did. And so as I 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:20.160 started to reflect, I started writing to tell the story. 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:22.800 I looked at the keynotes that I did and I said, 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.640 at the end of the day, I'm just trying to 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:32.479 seek justice, justice for our students, justice for our teachers, 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:38.679 but most importantly, justice for this nation, because we're at 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.920 a time where we don't have anything any more time 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:46.400 to waste. So I started writing it down and I 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:47.760 kept saying to people in the organ I was like, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:49.560 I got a book, I got a book. I got 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.200 a book, and they were like, Lacey, if you say 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:53.920 you're gonna do it, we know you're gonna do it, 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:59.320 go and write it. So my yeah, yeah, yeah, I 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.679 got help from Unbound ad community. I got people in 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.160 the community, smart people, superheroes I call them. But that's 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.800 what the book is. It's an amalgamation of my story 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.200 as a student, teacher, principal. Our story is unbound it. 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:12.120 No, I love that. 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:14.840 So what do you well, one, this is like, aside 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.880 from the book, what do you think some of that? 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.680 Because one of my friends, doctor artist, We're gonna put. 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:22.400 Some respect on a name. 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.760 But Maria to me, Maria is a vice superintendent of 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:29.720 Nework Public Schools, which is the largest school district, yes, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.520 in New Jersey, and she was just sharing like what 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.920 a hard time they're having recruiting teachers just because it's 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.640 such a crazy time. I know, I left the classroom 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.040 because it was too much. But as if someone is 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.160 listening and it's considering going into education, or they are 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.680 a teacher already, what can they do to be a 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.760 justice secret because like you said, sometimes you have this 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.480 own bias that you bring in with you. Because I'm 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.280 not on line until I grew up in a very 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:58.520 African household, and then I went to I but in school, 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.160 my school, I lived in WESTVI largely, which was very white, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.280 and so it was like African at home, White at school, 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:08.400 and so I had not although I am black, I 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:14.720 had not had a lot of access to Black American 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:17.160 you know, like, of course it's not a monolith, but 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:22.040 the experience, you know, not fully and completely, because like 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.640 at home, I just didn't get that, you know. So 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.040 when I got to teach in Newark, you know, of 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:28.960 course New York, like I said, does not represent all 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:32.200 black the whole African American experience. But one of the 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.520 things I brought with me was if you just work 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:36.880 hard enough, the bootstraps you. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.120 Know, like the same as you. And I was like, bootstraps, like, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:40.800 you know. 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.120 And then I came to teach in this preschool where 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.520 the babies were so smart. Our kids are so dad 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.360 all smart, but they were also coming to say, like 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:53.000 I remember went to the park once and one of 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:54.640 the little boys got poked by a needle that was 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.600 left behind. I was like what, and I just remember, 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.680 like so my classroom was at the bottom of a 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:06.200 of a senior building, but also SSI Social Security, so 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.360 a lot of people that had mental issues, but also 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:09.360 there was a lot of drug. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:10.000 Dealing in the building. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.360 And I distinctly remember having to decide because we had 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.720 a closet on the third floor for the kids, like 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:19.800 you know, like paper and scissors, any excess materials. So 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:21.680 every time I had to go to the closet, I 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.360 had to decide, do I want to take this elevator 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.400 and maybe get stuck in the small elevator with someone 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.480 who is not in their right mind, or do I 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:31.240 take the stairs where you don't know what you're gonna see. 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.560 I mean, I have seen in action prostitution happening. Once 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:36.520 I ran up the stairs and I smelled the sickly 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:40.680 sweet smell and when I looked, someone was literally smoking. 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.640 Crack yeah, And I said, wait, how is. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.960 The baby supposed to come to school talking about ABC's one, 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:48.680 two three, Like I said, this is obviously I know 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.720 this is not the I don't want to misconstrued thinking 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:54.000 that this is the African American experience across the board. 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.160 But I had never experienced that, is that this is 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.720 what my good kids could be experiencing. Because I was 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.280 twenty two twenty three and I was blown away, and 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.280 I threw that maybe throw out the whole bootstraps. Girl, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.080 I'm barely making it. 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:08.840 It was. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.040 It was hurting my spirit. How is a four year 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:11.760 old supposed to learn? 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.760 So the question is if someone is if someone wants 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.359 to be a justice seeker, how does someone kind of 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.159 get past the bias that they might bring into the 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:20.679 classroom that's harmful for kids. 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.280 Well, first and foremost, let me say this your experience 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:26.840 that you're talking about, there are hundreds of thousands of 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.680 other educators across the United States experience the same thing. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.000 I used to call it the robin Hood mentality that 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.120 I had. I had made up in my mind that 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:36.879 in some years I wanted to go and work in 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.119 what they call urban districts, you know, the districts that 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:44.879 are mostly bron and black, some indigenous students, low social 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.879 economic status. And in other years I would push myself 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.399 to go work in the suburbs because I wanted to see, like, okay, 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.360 the kids in the suburbs, the teachers in the suburbs. 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.959 It sounded like the land of good and plenty. But 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.159 what I began to understand, and I talk about this 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.200 and justice seekers is that the teachers in the suburbs 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.800 were justice ill prepared as the teachers in the in 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.399 the urban city schools that I taught in, and that 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.640 it wasn't. Yes, we're materials of plenty. Yes were experiences 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.360 of plenty in those suburbs. Yes, but teachers on average 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:19.639 did not get supported. And so the first thing I 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.679 tell people about becoming a justice seeker is one, come 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.840 and join us, right, Come and join our community. I 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.119 call it the edgy Sphere. You don't have to walk 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:32.879 this road alone. There are the hundreds of thousands of 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:36.920 us across the United States. We have our national conveniens 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.800 we invite people to but we also have online opportunities. 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.200 We have a platform called the Ecosystem where you could 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.840 go on and join a community. You teach third grade 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:47.399 and you want to know you want to hook up 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.480 what other third grade teachers from across the United States. 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:53.200 Our Ecosystem offers that. And I would say this, find 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.800 your edgu sphere locally, right, make sure that you are 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.480 building the community within your building and across schools and 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.000 other education. We got Facebook, we got Instagram. Start a 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.560 collective educator page where you all are coming together locally 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.040 to support in one another. Here's the other thing, the 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:16.080 professional development. That's one of the biggest issues I believe 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:18.760 in our profession. Tiffany, if you went to a doctor 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.120 and you had a cold, and you told the doctor 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.440 that your you had a cold and your throat was sore, 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.560 and the doctor pick said, let me see your foot, 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.119 and you say, well, wait a minute now, I said, this, 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.119 my throat was sore. What're you looking at my foot for? 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.520 And the doctor said, you know, I ain't ain't. I 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.280 ain't really get a chance to study grades anatomy. I 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.240 got to the foot and you know, and I ain't 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.119 really had it. You would take your paper gown and 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.879 gatting your things, man, and walk up out that office. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:50.879 When you look at educators, I believe our profession is 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:53.480 not looked upon the same as other professions. We don't 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:56.879 receive the same kind of professional development that is ongoing, 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.920 consistent and comprehensive, that is up to to date around 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:05.840 research and development, that looks at the landscape of global 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:10.600 majority learners and gets us to ask the question, how 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.439 do I teach students and allow them to come to 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.280 school as their whole selves? How do I teach my 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:23.800 students academic English while honoring their home language at the 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.320 same time. And so I tell educators all the time, 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:29.760 you got to find a network where you are professionally 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.280 developing yourself. You got to ask the system what's the 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.800 professional developer you're providing me on teaching and needing? How 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.960 do I become a better math teacher? So those are 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:43.320 the pieces that I really try to push for folks. 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.359 Join us as a community, find your community local, look 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.560 at the professional development that you're being doused with. And 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.640 for God's sake, this is the last piece. You got 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.520 to do a self examination. You got to ask yourself, 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.080 why am I standing in the middle classroom? What is 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.080 it that I What is it that I as a profession? 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.320 What am I looking for? What am I seeking? And 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.240 what is it that I can offer my students standing 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.120 before me? I think when a lot of people ask 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.359 themselves that question, did you become a teacher because you 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:23.440 couldn't think anything else to do? Because and if that's 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.880 the case, honey, you need to go on indeed, okay, 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.560 because this profession is worthy of those who deem it 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:36.120 as essential as their passion, as something that they want 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:38.600 to grow in, just like being a doctor. A loyal 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:40.479 a candlestick maker, or a baker. 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:44.359 No, but it's not true though, Like it's not I 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.440 used to always tell like my when I first started teaching, 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:50.640 you know, I had some coworkers that didn't really share 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:52.879 my enthusiasm for teaching. And I used to say, you know, 0:21:52.920 --> 0:21:55.080