The Counter Narrative: Changing the Way We Talk (and think) About Education

Its that time to give thanks. To be appreciative for all that you have. However, in our current setting, that is much easier said than done.  In this episode, I stress the importance of being thankful despite the chaos that seems to be ever present in the world around us. It is easy to identify all of the wrong in our lives but, upon careful examination, we can almost always identify those positive elements, those for which we should be grateful.  This episode also takes a short dive ... yes ... not a deep dive ... into mental health. This often overlooked consequence of the pandemic has resulted in numerous psychological breakdowns and has now begun to impact those who have never dealt with these issues.  Whatever your plans for the upcoming holiday season, please be safe.  

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal, and an educational consultant. In this episode, I chat with Tracy Scott Kelly, a ten year veteran of teaching Special Education in California. He has taught grades K-12, and is also both an Adjunct and Full Time Lecturer at the University Level where he works with aspiring General Education and Special Education Teachers. Tracy has earned a B.A. in Economics, an M.A. in Special Education, and is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership. He has even edited six books as he continues to write his own dissertation on the shortcomings of Special Education. During our conversation, Tracy shares his own educational story and how his academic struggles developed a passion for helping students experiencing similar issues. He points out that many school missions and visions sound great on paper but questions if their actions support their words. Tracy, like so many others, speaks out on the facade that is school reform and confesses that little has actually changed. He believes that this is due to educators being forced into positions of managers as opposed to leaders. Tracy encourages us to stop waiting and to start doing ... to speak up and provide the supports to push back against the norms. I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Follow Tracy Scott Kelly on Twitter

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal in Chicago, and an educational consultant. Let’s get started. This episode is a pause to ponder segment. These biweekly sessions will allow me to share with you my personal thoughts and reflections on a wide spectrum of topics as they relate to education. It is my hope that you will be able to take something from these segments and apply it in a meaningful way as you continue to do amazing work. Remember, while we all have different roles, we all have a single job, educating our students. In this episode, I reflect on a quote that I recently shared with my staff, "You have the power to create change." Far too often we wait for change to happen, we hope that others will make changes for us. If we expect lasting and meaningful shifts to occur, we must not only focus our efforts on systemic changes but we must also embrace the power each of us has to begin implementing change within our own spaces.  In what ways can you model change within your classroom or school? How will you push back on traditional methods that no longer serve the needs of our students? 

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal in Chicago, and an educational consultant. In this episode, I chat with P. Sloan Joseph an instructional leader with over seventeen years of experience working with grades K4-12 in the areas of school & classroom culture (diversity, equity, inclusion, engagement) and technology. She has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (SC State University) and a Master of Arts in School Administration (Gardner-Webb University). Her career has included being a Business Education teacher, Title I Facilitator, New Teacher Mentor and Administrator. Sloan is currently the Instructional Technology Coach at Greer Middle School, where she facilitates training for students, parents/guardians, and staff. She is a co-organizer for Edcamp Greenville and co-creator of #BreatheEDU, a platform assisting school and district leaders with creating racially inclusive & equitable learning environments. She is a member of the Teach Better Team Speakers Network, and a member of SCASCD Emerging Leader Class of 2020. Sloan is also the host of Greater is in Me, a podcast centered around her life as a wife, mother, and educator. The purpose of the podcast is to inform, inspire, and influence listeners to fulfill the greatness that exists within. Greater is in Me is available on iTunes, Google Podcast, Anchor & Spotify. During our conversation, Sloan addressed a common thread in education today - relationships, but helped to deepen our collective understanding by encouraging us to consider building a rapport with students. Relationships are simply connections and can be either positive or negative. Rapport, however, is dependent upon mutual trust and respect, something she reminds us that needs to be curated over time. Sloan also connects this to diversity in that we need to be cognizant of our own privileges, both earned and unearned, and to learn how to respect the innate differences that exist between all of us. She suggests that we listen to varying perspectives, even if we do not agree and that maybe, just maybe, we could help to address the teacher shortage by changing what our students see in front of them each and every day. How are you showing up? I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Connect with Sloan! Instagram: @greaterisinme Twitter: @psloanjoseph Podcast: https://anchor.fm/greaterisinmepodcast 

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal in Chicago, and an educational consultant. Let’s get started. This episode is a pause to ponder segment. These biweekly sessions will allow me to share with you my personal thoughts and reflections on a wide spectrum of topics as they relate to education. It is my hope that you will be able to take something from these segments and apply it in a meaningful way as you continue to do amazing work. Remember, while we all have different roles, we all have a single job, educating our students. In this episode I reflect on the need for deep, systematic change to address the current needs of education. The COVID-19 pandemic provided us with an opportunity to look at education in a very different way and to consider the myriad of possibilities on how we could best improve an antiquated system. Although innovative approaches were adopted, they are struggling to be maintained because the current system does not support them. Unless we address the foundational educational system, we face the very real possibility of returning to structures that we know do not work for all students. 

In this episode, I chat with Kwame Sarfo-Mensah, a 14-year veteran urban educator and the founder of Identity Talk Consulting, LLC., an independent educational consulting firm that provides professional development and consulting services to K-12 school districts, educators, colleges & universities and educational non-profit organizations. He is also the author of two books: "Shaping the Teacher Identity: 8 Lessons That Will Help Define the Teacher in You" and "From Inaction to 'In Action': Creating a New Normal for Urban Educators". As a staunch ambassador and advocate for teacher empowerment, Kwame has spoken at numerous national education conferences and worked diligently to support the recruitment and retention of teachers of color in the education system. In January 2019, he was selected to be in the inaugural cohort of the InSPIRED (In-Service Professionals Increasing Racial and Ethnic Diversity) Fellowship, an initiative organized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education for veteran teachers of color to recruit students of color to teach in Massachusetts. As an InSPIRED Teaching Fellow, Kwame facilitated professional development workshops for aspiring teachers at universities Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations.and has served as a guest speaker for non-profit teacher pipeline programs such as Generation Teach and Worcester Public Schools’ Future Teachers Academy. A proud graduate of Temple University, Kwame holds a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and a Master's Degree in Elementary Education.  He was honored as the 2019 National Member of the Year by Black Educators Rock, Inc. for his unwavering commitment to the advancement of the teacher profession.  Kwame's work has also been featured in Edutopia, Education Post, WGBH News, The Educators' Room, LLC., and Medium. During our conversation we engaged in a controversial, yet needed conversation around the idea that educational systems were not designed for students of color. Kwame discusses the need for teachers to actually begin developing content rich, culturally responsive lessons so that all of our students are prepared to transition into higher ed or the workplace. He stresses that students of color are often not being developed as critical thinkers and thus contributors to society but instead being conditioned for compliance and obedience. Kwame suggests taking inventory of our students' talents and developing opportunities for them to tap into that potential as opposed to adhering to narrow definitions of achievement. We also discussed the concept of advocacy and standing up for the students in our care. That it is our job, our duty to recognize our value and worth so that we are not intimidated to speak on behalf of our students when there exists injustice. Follow Kwame here  Shaping the Teacher Identity: 8 Lessons That Will Help Define the Teacher in You From “Inaction” to “In Action”: Creating a New Normal for Urban Educators

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations.  I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal, and an educational consultant. This episode is a pause to ponder segment. These biweekly sessions will allow me to share with you my personal thoughts and reflections on a wide spectrum of topics as they relate to education. It is my hope that you will be able to take something from these segments and apply it in a meaningful way as you continue to do amazing work. Remember, while we all have different roles, we all have a single job, educating our students. In this reflection, I consider how we seem to be stuck in a seemingly never ending cycle of battling systems of oppression. How is it possible that after so many years and with so much reform, we are still having the same conversations? Well maybe that's part of the problem. We need to move beyond simply having conversations, of talking about ideal situations and the forces that preventing that from becoming a reality. Maybe we need to stop waiting for someone else to save us and to instead take targeted and intentional action.  Listen as I share examples from history that have resurfaced in today's society and my call to speak up and act out. Afterall, nothing changes if nothing changes. 

Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal, and an educational consultant. In this episode, I chat with Aviva Levin, a passionate podcaster who loves interviewing educators about their practice as the host of “Lesson: Impossible – An Exploration of Educational Innovation”.  She was a teacher in Canada for ten years, and is now a grad student as well as an enthusiastic volunteer and professional development presenter in Washington State. During our chat, we acknowledge that there are issues within education and explore the ideas of rebuilding within the system or designing something new and innovative. We also discuss how lonely it can be when we push back against common practices but how we can find like minded individuals and use those connections to help make necessary changes. In exploring the obstacles in changing the narrative, Aviva points out that there is often a disconnect between the experiences of our educators and that of our students. Teachers strive to bridge that gap but are fearful because of doing it wrong or even being ostracized by peers for not adhering to norm. Despite this, she encourages everyone to live their values, understanding that not everyone will agree with them. She also suggests developing solutions, something that can be done by starting small within your own space, and not simply pointing out the problems that exist. I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Be sure to follow Aviva here: Facebook - https://facebook.com/lessonimpossible/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/avivalevin Instagram - https://instagram.com/lessonimpossible/ Linked In - https://linkedin.com/in/aviva-levin-8483511a7 Website: http://lessonimpossible.com

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Welcome to the Counter Narrative Podcast, a show designed to change the way we talk, and think, about education. By sharing stories of successes and triumphs, we aim to challenge the dominant narrative that often negatively portrays our disenfranchised populations. I’m your host, Charles Williams. An educator for 15 years, a current school principal, and an educational consultant. In this episode, I chat with Carly Spina, an educator with 15 years of experience in Multilingual Education, including her service as an EL teacher, a third-grade bilingual classroom teacher, and a district-wide EL/Bilingual/Dual Language Instructional Coach. She is currently serving 8 schools (EC-8) in a linguistically rich community of over 60 languages and over 800 active EL students. Spina has engaged in the successful co-creation of several parent outreach programs, Title I tutoring programs for students in grades 3-5, mentoring programs for middle school students, co-teaching initiatives, and more. She is deeply passionate about equity and advocacy for multilingual learners and fights for access and inclusive opportunities for kids and families. Spina actively fights against food insecurity in the community she serves. She has spoken at various national conferences and events and has received several awards over the years, including the Illinois Education Association Reg Weaver Human & Civil Rights Award in 2015 and the Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in the Team Category for EL Community Engagement in 2019. She was the WIDA Featured Educator in April 2019 and was named a Paul Harris Fellow in July of 2019. Spina is an active member of the EL/Bilingual community on social media and enjoys networking and growing with teachers and leaders across the country.  She is currently working on her first book with EduMatch Publishing. During our chat, we talked about the need for us to change the systems in which we operate. She shared her experiences working with parents of linguistically diverse students and the importance of amplifying their voices, not speaking on their behalf. Spina also examined the varied definitions of parental involvement as they shift due to cultural differences. Maybe this is a reflection of perspective and not attitude. We also discussed methods of engaging the community, beyond simply checking off tasks, and instead embedding into our everyday practices. She encourages educators to embrace their statuses as change agents and recognize that there are no small wins. In fact, incremental gains lead to monumental success. I hope that you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Be sure to follow Carly on Twitter @MrsSpinasClass and check out her district at #Glenview34.