Ep. 160: New Lunch Bag, Who Dis?

EQ: How can we navigate the evolving landscape of education to ensure a successful and fulfilling return to school for students, educators, and families?

We are baaaack to school. Full disclosure, this is an educator centered episode so those of you who want to skip to the next episode, we don’t blame you! In this episode we discuss various feelings about the return to school. Megan opens up about her current state of affairs and Hope is already back in the classroom! This year she is focused on the role of psychological safety in collegial relationships. 

Related Links:

• Florida bans AP Psych

• Worst Teacher Shortage

• Psychological Safety in Classrooms

• Harvard Why Psychological Safety Matters in Class

• From Center for Creative Leadership

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Hope: approach this year with openness to others–how can you improve the psychological safety of your students and colleagues by your behaviors, interactions, etc? 

• Megan:

Ep. 134: Back to Life, Back to Reality

EQ: What concerns, questions, ideas, or fears do you have for the upcoming school year?

In this episode of IWL, Hope and Megan recount the last few years in education. From ”we think the pandemic is over but wait, surprise it’s not” to ”we’re back to normal” to ”Pandemic is over now…maybe, we think.” They’ both excited and nervous about the return to school this year. There are a wide range of contextual factors shaping the upcoming school year. Their discussion centered on how teachers might “protect your peace” this school year. 

Previous Back to School Episodes:

• Ep. 109; Back to School, Mail Bag Edition

• Ep. 110: Back to School—Love It or Leave It

• Ep. 111: Back to School—Go to Board Meetings

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Megan: evaluate your situation, cut ties with the negative folks, prune your circles or get involved in something that inspires you.

• Hope: Belonging Through a Culture of Dignity: The Keys to Successful Equity Implementation Cobb, Floyd

Ep. 122: The Scoop on International Schools, Part II

Note: This episode was recorded mid-February, prior to the invasion of Ukraine.

EQ:  How are international schools uniquely situated to fight, perpetuate or contribute to educational inequities around the world

Guest: Yvette Santos Cuenco a school counselor at the Edmund Burke Independent School in DC.

Hope and Megan continue their conversation with the amazing Yvette about the inner workings and nuances of international schools. In this episode the three of them dive into what the DEIJ landscape looks like on the international level. They discuss how over the last several years there has been movement in being open about the work, but discuss how and why the work can feel so slow on the international level. Also, how International schools have unique responsibilities, barriers, and challenges to equitably serving all students in DEIJ work. The conversation focuses on what those might be as well as how International schools as well as educators in these spaces can continue to tackle the work within this. On the flip side of the challenges, they also discuss how International Schools are uniquely positioned to tackle this work in ways that schools in the US are not.

Related Sources:

• Ep 116: Our Role in Upholding Anti-Blackness

• Darnell Fine @de_fine

• Diversity Collaborative (ISS)

Champagne & Real Pain 

🥂International School Services (ISS) pushing the DEIJ work in international schools

🥂 Raise a glass to all past students. Especially those celebrating Black History Month or Lunar New Year

🥂All those that are having honest and challenging conversations around DEIJ work.

👎🏻Book burning, cameras in schools, and overall the laws restricting teachers

👎🏻Any school district that is making it more difficult for their staff. Also those that are sending in bomb threats for HBCUs; HBCUs are undeterred

👎🏻Another no knock warrant murder of Amir Locke in Minneapolis

Do your fudging homework: 

• Hope: Educators, look into your options! Don’t stay where you aren’t appreciated! 

• Yvette: Find a place where you are valued as a teacher!

• Megan: Find the right fit as a teacher, don’t leave the profession!

Ep. 107: Hot Teacher Summer

EQ: What are you doing for YOUR hot teacher summer?

The 3 Interchangeable White Ladies are back together and in studio for the first time since pre-Covid times! Hope and Megan are joined by none other than the amazing Annie, who gives an update on her life and the major changes that have happened since the last time that she was on the Podcast. The ladies discuss how Covid provided time and space to reflect on your own happiness, and also learn how to honor the things that serve you and let go of the things that don’t. The back half of the episode is dedicated to celebrating the time honored tradition (can something be called a tradition if it’s the first time we are doing it?!) of Hot Teacher Summer! They talk about what they are doing to relax and unwind and have the best summer after a hellish year!

Champagne and Real Pain:

🥂Seattle Cancer Care Alliance

🥂Nurses and Doctors who are putting in all of the work 

🥂People who are fighting hard to be empathetic coming out of Covid and people who are fighting to advocate for people experiencing housing insecurity

Do your Fudging HW:

Hope

• Stakes Is High: Race, Faith, and Hope for America - Michael W. Waters

• Reading While Black: African-American Biblical Interpretation As An Exercise in Hope, - Esau McCaulley

• First Comes Like - Alisha Rai

• Dial A for Aunties - Jesse Q. Sutanto

• Legendary - HBOMax
  

Annie

• The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson

• This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

• Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey

• The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

• Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line - Martha A. Sandweiss

• Giddeon the 9th - Tamsyn Muir

• The Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo 

• The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin - Colette Moody

Ep. 30: Decolonize Your Bookshelf

EQ:  Why is important to decolonize your bookshelf and how do you do it?

Guest: Kristen Sierra, Tacoma born & raised, Lincoln teacher-librarian, TPS mom

Kristen helps us understand what it means to decolonize your bookshelf, including challenging us to read more authors from diverse backgrounds! We also learn more about Project Lit, a Nashville based program that addresses the problem of “book deserts” in urban areas. This program focuses on providing high-quality, culturally relevant books that empower students as readers and leaders.

Support her work to transform the Lincoln Library by:

• Donating to Project Lit Lincoln Abes  

Learn more information about Project Lit as a Nation wide Movement:

• Jared Amato who started Project Lit

• Project LIT: How a Nashville educator turned a class project into a nationwide movement

• Shifting the Culture of Reading in a School

Other useful links:

• Contact for Tacoma Public Schools Library Director for information on supporting our Milgard Fundraiser & support in general: Ms. Suzanna Panter: spanter@tacoma.K12.wa.us

• Link to Tacoma Public School Library websites for supportive citizens to contact their local school librarian (scroll down and click on the name of the school) https://www.tacomaschools.org/libraries/Pages/default.aspx

• Contact for our Superintendent & our Assistant Superintendent to voice your support of school libraries:

• Superintendent Santorno: csantor@tacoma.K12.wa.us; Superintendent Pace: tpace@tacoma.K12.wa.us

• Link to requesting materials and sharing suggestions with our Tacoma Public Library (must sign in first to access this feature)  

• Attendance at events matters and created more opportunities for events! Link to event pages

Come out to Kwame Alexander Author Event on 10/15 at Urban Grace in Tacoma: tickets here

Guilty Favsies:

• Hope: good ranch dressing (fancy spices)

• Annie: niiiiice office supplies.

• Kristen---People, Gossip

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Hope: On Building a Personal Library

• Annie: use your public library.  Support your neighborhood school’s library. Libraries are vital to our communities.

• Kristen: buy a book for our library! Donate to Project Lit Lincoln Abes

Special Announcement:

We are going to read White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo! #IWLreads #readlessbasic

Ep. 24: Countering Slow-cooked Misogyny: A Coaching Chat w/Cat Peterson

EQ: How can we understand the slow cooked misogyny of male-dominated professions?

Guest: Catherine Peterson, Physics Teacher & Soccer Coach, one of the hosts of Flounders B-Team Podcast and Teachers United “Cat Peterson Award for Courage”

The beloved and fabulous Cat Peterson joins us to talk about working in male-dominated spaces: science education and soccer coaching.  Cat shares her story about...

• Growing up in a small town and the importance of female role models
• Falling in love with soccer and science in high school, college, and beyond
• The intense demands of coaching and teaching at the same time
• The BS she puts up with as a female coach
• Equity issues in soccer and other high school sports - who has access and who doesn’t?
• The overwhelming whiteness in high school coaching

Guilty Favesies:

• Annie: white bread - especially English muffins
• Hope: Ketchup
• Cat: Candy all the time!

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Annie: Positive Coaching Alliance
• Cat: Find female coaches and follow, retweet them @CM_Peterson
• Hope: Support LHS Girls Soccer by donating from their Amazon wish list

Ep. 22: That's Pinteresting!

EQ: To what extent has Pinterest influenced the creativity of the modern women/men and specifically educators? When is Pinterest too much or just enough?

Guest: Cat Melaunie (Melani), middle school teacher, education activist, and general badass. She’s a Texas native and Washington transplant with a degree in English LA & Writing and minors in psychology and education from McMurry University.  She currently works in education in Washington and is a freelance writer, including writing for the Nerdfarmer Podcast. She hosts local trivia, emcees events, and volunteers all the time! Also, she has a guinea pig named Obiwan Guinobi who loves to dress up.

Cat’s Story:

• Her move from Texas to Washington, inspired by her best friend relocating and being RIF’d/laid off from her teaching job (Texas is a “right to work” state) because of her sexual orientation.  SHAME BELL.
• Everything she loves about her college, small hometown, and Tacoma.
• Full-time subbing in Tacoma and the differences between teaching in Texas and teaching in Washington: being 100% “on” all the time vs. being herself and “blending her worlds.”
• Accidentally coming out to students. Spoiler: it’s funny and not awful.
• Saying “no” for a long time and learning how to say “yes” to beautiful new experiences.
• Being Hispanic and finding out she was a person of color, including her different experiences in Texas and Washington.
• Watching Starbelly Sneetches with her students to teach them about how to be kind.

Segway: Pinterest...your favorite thing or your most favorite thing?

For the uninitiated, Pinterest is basically an online corkboard where you collect pictures of things you like from the internet - the pictures are usually connected to a link.  Cat describes it as the ancient art of finding great ideas that other great people found before you. It’s possible to scroll through Pinterest for 1,000 hours and not know what happened.

• Pinterest board numbers: Hope stopped counting at 30, Cat has 30, and Annie has...102. Hope has cleverly named boards about teaching, working out, and books worth reading.  Cat has a mermaid board, treats board, hair board, and two for Harry Potter - memes and HP stuff. Plus - Star Wars wedding. Annie has so many that it’s hard to pick a fave.
• Pinterest is renowned for its massive collection of recipes. Hope is doing the keto thing, Annie is vegan, so we decided to try and find something that everyone could eat. Annie made these.  They’re not a total fail!  Hope participated in the adventure, too - coconut milk chocolate mousse. It wouldn’t blend but it was delicious.

Bad advice from Pinterest!

• Flowery background with “bloom where you’re planted” - worse than “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
• Rustic junk like beach trash with inspirational quotes.
• The whole fitspo situation. You used to see a lot of “thinspo” or “thinspiration,” now its “fitspo” or “fitness inspiration,” which basically glorifies abs and squat challenges.  Plus the before and after weight loss pictures.
• Not exactly bad advice, but you can’t go on Pinterest without seeing white women all over the place using Starbucks cups as accessories.  The Starbucks cup is the new tiny dog in a purse.
• CAT WROTE US SOME POEMS ABOUT PINTEREST, including a limerick and a poem on the spot.  It was impressive.
• Men also enjoy Pinterest, especially posting pictures of their beards and beards they think are awesome.
• While it’s a social media platform, Pinterest is also a consumer trap.

Guilty-Favesies:

• These are things that you make feel “guilty” about but are secretly or not so secretly favesies.
• Annie: looking for government jobs so she can be like Leslie Knope.
• Cat: comic books - but not so guilty. Eating fried chicken and drinking cheap beer in a bubble bath. Netflix (laptop on the toilet - not over the tub. Don’t electrocute yourself).
• Hope: Diet Pepsi with a Twix bar.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

• Annie: Google “Pinterest Fails” and remind yourself that no one has a perfectly curated Pinterest life and that FAIL stands for “first attempt in learning.”
• Cat: say “yes’ to new experiences.  It will change your life.
• Hope: follow Cat’s guinea pig on Pinterest and make it out to the Black Kettle on Thursdays at 7:30 for trivia.

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