Ep. 81: Getting Comfortable with Discomfort

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EQ: How can educators intentionally make space for challenging and engaging conversations in the classroom, be it virtual, hybrid or in-person?

Guests:

  • Milton Reynold, a San Francisco Bay Area based career educator, author, equity and inclusion consultant and activist. 

  • Stacey Kertsman, a veteran educator and has worked with schools and nonprofits around the country and internationally developing partnership-based programming for students and learners.  

This episode is a continuation of a panel discussion with Milton, Stacey, & Hope “Engaging Conversations Online and Off” about why we should embrace challenging conversations in the classroom and how to facilitate these dialogues. One theme of the episode is how to hold complexity of thoughts and seeming contradictions when pursuing equity and justice in teaching and learning. We are often socialized for avoidance and white teachers are especially adept at this, particularly if the conversations include analysis of race. Another theme is what it takes to  maintain a sense of urgency while also moving with the ebb and flow of the work. Instead of running towards simple solutions, educators need to grow capacity for discomfort and invest time into the process. Milton and Stacey leave us with practical advice for how to engage in the difficult conversations with ourselves, our colleagues, and our students in the new school year. 

Related Reading:

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Stacey---get proximate with someone and push your understanding

  • Milton--wrap your head around eugenics and read Eugenic Nation by Alexandra Minna Stern

Ep. 69: Working Toward Liberation--An Interview with shea martin

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Note to listeners: This episode was recorded prior to the corona outbreak in the US so you will not hear any discussion of its impact on this particular topic.

EQ: What does it look like to center anti-racist work and marginalized populations within a k-12 classroom?

Guest: shea martin, “lit teacher, researcher, and community organizer who dreams and works toward liberation with teachers and students across the country.” They also play the jazz vibraphone.

We begin our interview by defining the importance of brunch and setting parameters for a “brunch window” and the necessity of planning for a nap. Then, shea shares experiences growing up in the DC metro area where many teachers of color encouraged academic excellence and called out the hidden potential. However, shea identifies significant experiences that push them out of the classroom and reiterated the fact that many educators often unconsciously project bias without considering its impact on students. Throughout our discussion we circle back to several key ideas but specifically that “identity is elastic and fluid.” If we internalize this idea and adjust our curriculum to reflect this, we are more likely to actually achieve our goal of inclusive and affirming classrooms. shea leaves us with some practical advice: 

  • If you are curating a more “diverse” classroom library, be sure to include books that counter the narrative of oppression of people of color. Your books should also reflect the brilliance of black and brown people.

  • You will not be able to teach or represent every perspective, but you can be transparent with your students about who or what is being left out (and why).

  • If you’re trying to do transformative work (such as disrupting white supremacy) you must be prepared. Students need routines and parameters for safe discussions. You, the teacher, need to be extra prepared.

  • Consider the ways you can incorporate LGBTQ authors, characters, and stories.

  • Go read Juliet Takes A Breath. 

Check out shea’s writing and other interviews:

Champagne 🥂 & Real Pain 👎🏻

🥂 Val Brown & Clear the Air Crew; Disrupt Text Ladies; Cody Miller & Josh Thompson, Liz Kleinrock, Lizzie Fortin

🥂 POC at BCCS crew and all our AMAZING STUDENTS; Queering the Classroom 

👎🏻 Well-meaning white people who don’t want to do the work; people that don’t wash their hands!  

👎🏻 Educators who consistently get names and pronouns wrong.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: Read 1 Teacher in 10 by Kevin Jennings. I think I’ve recommended this before, but it’s really helpful for understanding the experiences of queer educators. 

  • Hope: Read the post from Crawling Out of the Classroom “If I can’t opt my kid out of the homophobia she will experience, you shouldn’t be able to opt your kid out of reading books with LGBTQ characters.”

  • shea: Go out and listen to Brittany Howard’s album Jamie

You can find shea on twitter at @sheathescholar or through email: writeshea@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter @IWL_Podcast or Facebook: Interchangeable White Ladies Podcast