Curated Questions: Conversations Celebrating the Power of Questions! Creating Disruptive Educators & Restorative Classroom Practices | Bobby Morgan #06
"Our inability to ask better questions of each other, and build proximity, is the reason why we went from larger porches and shorter fences to taller fences and smaller porches." - Bobby Morgan
Bobby Morgan is passionate about education and started his career teaching math in Camden, New Jersey, which was voted one of the most dangerous cities to live in. The students taught him a lot. He is now an assistant principal in New Jersey's Willingboro Township school district outside Philadelphia. As a school district board member, he gains further insight into the inner workings and challenges school districts face.
Additionally, Bobby is a speaker and consultant who builds disruptive educators through culturally responsive teaching, social justice education, and restorative practices. Much of this work is publicly expressed through The Liberation Lab Podcast.
Bobby Morgan opens the episode by recounting the realization that his approach to teaching did not inspire the intended results in his students. This realization prompted a process of unlearning while asking questions and listening to the very students he was there to teach. This conversation provides an exhaustive list of questions for students, teachers, parents, and anyone involved with school-aged kids... and we are all students. Bobby provides practical, real-world examples of meaningful ways to serve every aspect of the educational system by building disruptive educators.
Episode Notes
Bobby discusses his experience being a math teacher in Camden, New Jersey, and unlearning negative behaviors [2:10]
How we can encourage students to show up in their full humanity to class [9:00]
The good news stories are kept from us to maintain a single narrative [11:10]
Understanding personal bias and getting curious with one another again [16:00]
How questions and power affected curiosity growing up [21:15]
Children are by nature curious and how to encourage helpful dialog [24:40]
Discovering the power of questions [27:40]
Engaging Internet trolls [31:50]
Engaging students and parents with questions [32:25]
Questions parents should be asking of their schools [36:28]
Fostering equity and justice in the classroom [42:10]
Engaging the community beyond the school grounds [49:45]
Lessons from the movie Mulan [54:05]
You can't teach what you refuse to see [56:10]
What are you thinking when kids are not asking questions [59:39]
Are we conditioning and teaching for the results we want in the future [1:03:55]
How teachers can embrace AI in the classroom [1:07:55]
Asking questions of myself [1:11:20]
Curiosity at home [1:14:10]
Engaging parents in difficult conversations [1:15:15]
The Liberation Lab [1:17:47]
The Liberation Lab Podcast [1:22:25]
A radical dream of not being needed [1:25:08]
Resources Mentioned
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Liberation Lab Podcast with Keisha Garrison
Questions Asked
What did the kids in Camden teach you?
What is a practical example of you coming to your students with the wrong perspective?
What does disrespectful, defiant, and disruptive mean to a teacher?
Where did the relationship go from there?
Were curiosity and questions a part of your childhood?
Do the children in your life have free reign to ask you questions on anything and everything?
Why do they look like that?
Am I hearing you, that you are noticing a difference?
Why is that different than how I normally see people?
Isn't his skin beautiful?
What if that curiosity that the child had was used as a launching point to talk about the beauty in our differences rather than shushing?
When did you first understand the power of questions?
Why is it that when I see me in a book, there's some violence or something wrong happening?
Why wasn't there better representation [in textbooks]?
How did [the power of questions] express itself with students and parents?
What do the numbers on an assessment mean, and why does it matter?
Does your kid really have mastery over this standard?
Can they operate with this skill in the real world, and is it something that is transferable?
Do they know how to do this thing?
Are there standard questions parents should be asking?
Can people who are different from you show up and be their authentic selves here?
who is most different from you on your team, and how do you make that work in your leadership?
When was the last time they reviewed their code of conduct policy, and is it consistent with the current students?
What was a time when a teacher on your staff needed instruction or improvement, and how did you support them?
What do you do to support teachers who don't meet the mark?
How do you ensure there is instructional excellence in your classroom?
What does a student's grade really mean?
What are the gaps in my child's learning?
What are you doing as a teacher to help close the gap?
What could I be doing to support at home so that we can fill these gaps?
How can we work together to fill any instructional gaps in my child's education?
How can we foster equity and justice in the classroom?
Do you have adequate Wi-Fi at home?
Do you have a place to work quietly at your home?
Do you have a space to sharpen your pencils?
If grades are about skill, then why am I grading the time in which it came in?
Who is supported by this rule, practice, policy, or procedure?
Who is left out by this rule, practice, policy, and procedure?
Why are they left out by this rural practice policy or procedure?
How do I change this rule, practice, policy, or procedure to better support everyone in my learning community?
Who was harmed by that action?
How can we make that right?
Do you think that only the student you said it about was hurt by it?
Have you ever been mad still after somebody apologized for something they did to you?
When somebody apologizes to you, does it always make it right?
What if we saw the community around our schools as a strength?
What if there were ways the community could teach us how to better serve?
What if instead of asking families to come to the school all the time, we showed up in their places of value, of their places, of meeting spaces?
What if I didn't have parent-teacher conferences or an event at the school? I instead had it at the community center where they're already showing up. What would that say and communicate to the community if I'm willing to show up on their terms?
What if this little task right here is serving such a better purpose, would you be willing to allow me to show you how that works?
What goes through your mind when the kids are not asking questions?
Who silenced you?
Who told you that your voice doesn't belong here?
What are you trying to tell me right now?
When you raise your voice, do you think I hear you better?
How can I do a better job of listening to you when you're talking?
Is she really better in class or is it just better for you?
Is she alive in your class? Does she feel valued, seen, and supported? Does she feel like she belongs and she's supposed to be here?
What are those conditions that we have established for someone to show up?
What about the Baldwins in your classroom, whose genius could be seen if we allowed them the creative license to think outside the box? How can we create space for that?
Have there been any times when you've been scared to ask questions?
Who am I, and what makes me tick?
Does your family encounter your curiosity and questions?
How do you prepare for meeting with parents and students?
Do you have a favorite question to get a breakthrough?
If we switched places right now and you were in my seat, what would you do differently or what would you want to be done?
Can you trust me in the process? If it doesn't, we could revisit it. Is that all right?
What is the changes you're seeking to make with The Liberation Lab?
How do we best relate to students when they blow it?
What are our code of conduct and our policies, created to do?
What is the impact you would like the Liberation Lab to achieve?
How might questions be used that we haven't touched on?
Where's the best place for folks to engage with you and learn more about what you're excited about?