Season 5 closes with a tender and inquiry-centered conversation between Alcine, Shane, and the luminous Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz who shares that “Critical love is a profound and ethical commitment to the communities you’re serving… to the human flourishing of those young people in your classroom.” Dr. Sealey-Ruiz discusses her powerful Archeology of Self framework, quoted in Shane’s forthcoming book Pedagogies of Voice (PoV), making deep and seamless connections to Street Data and PoV. She invites us into the “Warrior Work” of solidarity, explaining how these respective bodies of work speak to each other, specifically how the 10 toxins in Pedagogies of Voice intersect with her racial literacy development framework. And the conversation ends with an emotional conversation about the 2024 election and the need to “name the suffering” as a condition for healing while also “hospicing grief to make room for something new to be birthed.” Don’t miss this final episode, which ties together so many threads of our Season 5!

For Further Learning: 

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s TEDTalk: Truth, Love & Racial Literacy Read Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz’s recent titles:  All About Black Girl Love in Education: bell hooks and Pedagogies of Love, 2024 Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces. 2021 The Peace Chronicles, 2021 Love from the Vortex & Other Poems, 2020

An Archaeology of Self™ for Our Times Visit The Acosta Institute

Tune in for another re-release! Shane and Alcine are back with this on-FIRE conversation with Cincinnati math educators Crystal Watson and Dr. Dawn Williams who remind us that “The sun does not ask permission to shine, and neither do I.” These Black women leaders take us on a journey to understanding the type of math pedagogy that will transform and empower future generations of learners. We learn from Dr. Dawn why it’s important for leaders to create a place called home for teachers and, in turn, for students. Crystal and Dawn model a culture of listening to students, always asking, “How will that one child feel…?” and engaging in learning alongside students, all in efforts to affirm to students that the classroom is “your space.” They also teach us how to have a student-centered Data Meeting, how to support teachers to practice active listening- even when it’s uncomfortable! They explain how anxiety specifically with math triggers fight or flight, diminished executive function, and distracting behaviors in the classroom, and how building authentic and trusting relationships can help teachers guide students through that anxiety. Finally, we celebrate the truth that Black educators are “everything” while acknowledging the emotional labor of being a Black woman educational leader.

For Further Learning: 

Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula: Promoting Language and Content Development with specific Math Language routines classroom teachers can implement The Memo and Right Within by Minda Harts on overcoming racial trauma and discrimination in the workplace Choosing to See by Dr. Pamela Seda and Kendall Brown Crystal Watson is co-author of Shane's upcoming book Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency! Pre-Order at Corwin Check out this Webinar about Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency which features Crystal Watson on 5/21:

Come and join Alcine and Shane as they visit with British Columbia educators John Harris and Denise Augustine. We begin in the realm of story as Denise describes being situated “between generations” in her renowned Coast Salish family of carvers, artists, and leaders and John shares his experiences of growing up on the land and watching his father negotiate treaties as the official liaison for their community. Drawing on her legacy as the Superintendent of Indigenous Education for British Columbia, Denise provides powerful historical context for the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, which created space for residential school survivors to tell their stories and led to 94 distinct “calls to action” in 2015. She pulls this thread into the fabric of educational change, illuminating how BC is leading the way in reconciliation through a Tripartide Education Agreement and the more recent Declaration of the Right of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which requires that school districts create Indigenous Education Councils that view First Nations as “governing bodies”, not just “special interest groups.” From this exploration of reconciliation in education, John takes us into his own family’s legacy of the “Sixties Scoop”, in which his father was taken from his grandparent’s home nearly a dozen times, all the way to his family’s recent visit to the Field Museum of Chicago, which holds over 4,000,000 cultural artifacts, many of which were purchased from Indigenous Nations in the Pacific Northwest. John describes the unsettling experience “as if someone went into your house and took everything.” They end their visit discussing the nuances of place-based versus land-based education and the ways that John has woven his upbringing and community cultural wealth into his pedagogy, which is depicted in the integrative case study which concludes Shane’s forthcoming book, Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency (Corwin, 2025). Speaking to student agency, John reminds us that “When we give youth opportunities to give back to their communities, they really shine.” Join us for this incredible and luminous conversation reinforcing relationality and reciprocity as core values from Indigenous knowledge systems that hold the potential to transform education everywhere.

For Further Learning:

Learn more about John and his family’s artwork and clothing line at www.aylelum.com Learn more about indigenous ways of knowing and being by reading

Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit by Jo-Ann Archibald Land as teacher: understanding Indigenous land-based education - UNESCO Canadian Commission June 21, 2021

See land-based education in action by following Land-based Education K-12 Plains & Woodland Cree Tanya McCallum on Facebook Learn more about the work of the First Nations Education Steering Committee in British Columbia, Canada Read up on the The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People Act

In this re-released episode,  with Blackfoot scholar Dr. Sidney Stone Brown, Alcine and Shane are gifted many stories and teachings. We learn about the Native Self-Actualization model that Dr. Stone created and how she was told by her elders, “We’ve been looking for you” before she wrote her book. We dig into her original research into Abraham Maslow’s archives and discover the truth that Maslow’s concept was not originally a hierarchy, but that the corporations utilizing his work asked him to convert it into a pyramid to “motivate their employees”. We also explore the deep layers of what it means to heal, to come back to our wholeness, to understand time as circular rather than linear, and to situate listening as the ultimate act of transformation. Your heart will sing as you listen to Dr. Sidney Stone Brown.

For Further Learning:

Visit Dr. Sidney Stone Brown’s website www.transformationbeyondgreed.com/ to learn more about her work Get your copy of Transformation Beyond Greed by Dr. Sidney Stone Brown, PsyD

Get ready for a re-release! Shane and Alcine dream with colleagues Matt Alexander and Jessica Huang, surfacing shared learning from a combined 80 plus years in education. Matt and Shane reminisce about the early years of teaching in San Francisco pre-No Child Left Behind and how they aspired toward a pedagogy of student voice. Jessica shares her experience working in international education in Asia where the West is “exporting stereotypes into neocolonial schools” and ways she is disrupting the Model Minority myth. These four leaders explore how the American Dream is a facade, lessons in democracy from the world of community organizing, and why leaders need a power analysis of their school communities. Finally, they consider what authentic accountability looks like and what it means to walk toward becoming elders in the movement for educational justice, and preview a project they are working on to “radically dream” together with educators across US + Canada.

For Further Learning:

Dive deeper into the 6 Key Aspects of Social Justice Pedagogy developed by June Jordan School for Social Justice educators. Learn more about Faith in Action Bay Area and the work that they do to uphold the dignity of all people. Read up on AB 540 which expanded in-state tuition eligibility in california and check out whether you may qualify.

Get to know transformational teacher leaders Marlo Bagsik and Nina Finci in this beautiful conversation and new episode! Co-hosts Shane and Alcine explore with their guests what it means to “choose the margins” of our classrooms as they hear about Marlo and Nina’s development of a districtwide Humanizing instructional framework. Together, they unpack how to create the conditions for belonging as a core domain of Student Agency for students at the margins. And they conclude with a poignant moment of witnessing Marlo’s experience of collaborating with Shane, Sawsan, and Crystal to develop Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency, the sequel to Street Data which will be on the shelves the first week of August!

For Further Learning: 

Pre-order your copy of Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency today HERE Watch this powerful video of educators from across the country sharing their thoughts about about student and teacher agency. Learn more about the Bridge Program, where Nina teaches Learn more about the Youth Legacy Project by Carlos Hagerdon, where Nina first learned about the Heartifacts task Visit your local library or bookstore to find some of Marlo Bagsik + Nina Finci’s favorite books that have help them teach and lead from the heart: Everything We Never Had- Randy Ribay  On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison  All About Love – bell hooks  Community at Work - Sam Kaner Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning – Andratesha Fritzgerald

Today’s episode is a re-release with high school students Ari and Harshan and it is life-giving! These fearless leaders, along with 50 of their peers, have been using Street Data to shape school transformation projects on issues ranging from disrupting bullying through Indigenous, restorative practices to centering students’ mental health in schooling to reimagining assessment practices. In this episode, Shane and Alcine get to hear about Ari and Harshan’s names, the identities that matter to them, and the changes they seek at their schools. The episode ends with an exploration of the kinds of classrooms and conversations young people need in this complex, volatile moment we are living through. Don’t miss this wonderful dialogue!

For Further Learning: 

Pedagogies of Voice, Shane Safir's new book, is coming soon! To get 30% off of your pre order, click here! Get your copy of Street Data by Corwin Press

Join us for this opening episode of Season 5 as we dive into the instructional core with THE Zaretta Hammond, who needs no introduction! Get to know Zaretta as she enters her self-described “Maker Phase” of life. In this season, Alcine and Shane are exploring the question, What needs to be true—at various levels of the system—to awaken and center student voice and agency? Zaretta cracks open this conversation by challenging all of us to couple “equity work” with “instructional equity”, beginning with a deep focus on literacy to interrupt what she has deemed cognitive redlining. Listen as Zaretta unpacks a pedagogy of possibility in which educators leverage neuroscience to make learning “sticky” and help students get smarter and sharper about the core skills they need to thrive. Zaretta offers so many insights on where we need to pay attention as educators, starting with a reminder that curriculum is not a magic wand that will generate learning and belonging is a precondition for cognitive capacity-building, not the end goal. She grounds us in the truth that learning is messy, predicated on making and thinking strategically about mistakes, and that students need both care and push. And she gives us a powerful vision of classrooms rooted in the kinds of “studio habits” that artists have, in which students are cognitively apprenticed into the vital skills and habits of learning required for the global societies in which they live.

For Further Learning:

Visit Zaretta’s organization Ready 4 Rigor HERE Get your copy of Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain HERE  Listen to Zaretta Hammond on the following podcasts: Whole Student Podcast: Who Helped You Thrive as a Student? (2022) 180 Podcast Part 1 and Part 2  The Future of Learning with Tim Logan (in the UK) - April 3, 2024 Minding the Gap with Tom Sherrington (UK) - Jan. 2024

In this final episode of Season 4, Alcine and Shane return to a conversation with Dr. Sawsan Jaber, contributing writer to Shane’s forthcoming book Pedagogies of Voice: Street Data and the Path to Student Agency. They explore the impact of the genocide in Gaza, and the backlash against Palestinian advocacy, on Sawsan as a leading Palestinian educator voice. And Sawsan shares what it’s meant to her to be a part of this next Corwin Press project. In the second half of the episode, Shane and Alcine walk down the Season 4 Memory Lane, surfacing moments that moved them and stayed with them. They close with a sneak preview of Season 5, which launches in January 2025, a few months before the debut of Pedagogies of Voice. Join us to close out this dynamic season!

For Further Learning: 

Envision Learning Partners’ criteria for high quality performance assessments Read Shane’s article in ASCD’s Educational Leadership magazine, “Cultivating A Pedagogy of Student Voice”

In this penultimate episode of Season 4, Shane and Alcine explore the contours of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies with the illustrious Dr. Django Paris. Their conversation explores the ideas of shared communities and solidarities across difference, intersectionality, and chosen kinship. We learn how Django’s experiences of reading, writing, and art as a little person inform his scholarship and remind him “what it means to keep that voice and dedication to expression” as a scholar. We unpack the central tenets of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, including CPS as a pedagogical expression of both community care and the abolitionist ethos, “We keep us safe.” Finally, this intimate fireside chat uplifts the student-led movements for a Free Palestine that have emerged across the U.S. and beyond as spaces of abundance that resist a scarcity mindset. Don’t miss this groundbreaking, heartstring-tugging conversation with one of today’s educational dreamers and thought leaders.

For Further Learning: 

To learn more about Dr. Paris and his scholarship, click here. You can find his book Education in Movement Spaces: Standing Rock to Chicago Freedom Square at Routledge Press and the book series Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies Book Series at Teachers’ College Press. Dr. Paris’s new conversations series can be found at An Educational Otherwise To learn more about the Popular University for Gaza at UW, click here.

Get ready for another re-release from Season 3! In this delightful dialogue with the wizard behind Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez, and middle school drama teacher Amanda Liebel, Shane and Alcine walk alongside two brilliant educators to think about service, street data, and pedagogy. You’ll learn the origin story of the magical blog and podcast called Cult of Pedagogy. We’ll think about what it means to have a “heart of service”, as Amanda characterizes the deep work of teaching as always a reflective practice. We’ll also discuss how Shane, Jamila, and Jennifer came together to create a 9-hour free video series that follows two teams of teachers as they move through the messiness and richness of the Street Data process! Finally, this episode offers one-inch windows into a pedagogy of student voice, including:

How to receive difficult street data from students with an open heart How to take deeper risks in the classroom (for example, to “Indigenize our learning spaces”) Why being a perfectionist works against you as a teacher  And what it means to “walk alongside students” and listen to what they want

Enjoy this priceless conversation!

For Further Learning:

Listen to the original Cult of Pedagogy podcast episode with Shane and Jamila, “Street Data: A Path Toward Equitable, Anti-racist Schools” (October 5, 2021) Access 9 hours of free professional learning in Street Data Cult of Pedagogy video series Listen to the follow-up Cult of Pedagogy podcast episode about this learning series with Shane, Jamila, and Amanda (January 29, 2023) Check out the mentioned Cult of Pedagogy podcast and blog on The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

We are back with another re-release from Season 2! In this episode, you’ll listen at the feet of the incomparable Dr. Lisa Delpit, whose books Other People’s Children and Multiplication Is for White People deeply impacted Shane and Alcine, alongside her brilliant mentee and Street Data co-author Dr. Jamila Dugan. We get a one-inch window into Dr. Delpit’s early experiences in “white teacher education” and the Open Classroom model where Black teachers’ wisdom and skill was often undervalued. We witness a beautiful exchange between Dr. Delpit and Dr. Dugan about the intergenerational work they are involved in and what it means for all of us to step into being elders-in-training. If you’re as confused as we are about the Science of Reading “debates”, this episode will help you shift and lift the discourse about literacy, as Dr. Delpit brings complexity and nuance, helping us all remember that while phonics instruction is necessary, successful teachers of Black students do so much more: affirm their humanity, create relationships, make them feel a part of the literacy “club”, and elevate their intellectual history and legacy. These leading thinkers help us envision classrooms where children have a voice and leadership roles, and schools where students begin to enter adult spaces in order to influence education. Finally, we end with a deep discussion of the Warm Demander concept and why demanding is not the same as diminishing because the love and belief in the kids has to be there first. Join us!

For Further Learning:

The Silenced Dialogue:Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit

Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit

“Multiplication is for White People”: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit

Teaching When the World Is on Fire: Authentic Classroom Advice, from Climate Justice to Black Lives Matter by Lisa Delpit Radical Dreaming for Education Now by Dr. Jamila Dugan

In this hot-off-the-press episode, Alcine and Shane chop it up with Joe Feldman, author of Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms. As you listen in, you’ll get a primer on grading, assessment, and how to reimagine grading as a tool for equity. We dig into the principles of grading for equity including accuracy, transparency, and bias-resistance. Joe’s innovative work is transforming the field and bringing joy back into teaching as educators shed oppressive practices and colonial mindsets around grading. Join us for this illuminating conversation!

Further Learning: 

Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms (2023) “Empowering Students by Demystifying Grading (ASCD, 2020)  “Beyond standards-based grading: Why equity must be part of grading reform” (Kappan, 2019) “School Grading Practices are Inaccurate and Inequitable to Black Children” (New York Amsterdam News, 2018) 

In this double-header, Alcine and Shane close out Season 3 by talking with Dr. Sawsan Jaber, internationally known educator and consultant. Sawsan shares her heart, her story, and her legacy as a descendant of Nakba survivors, helping listeners consider how centering Palestinian students helps us “lift all boats” and create more radically inclusive classrooms. From this powerful exchange, Alcine and Shane shift into a Season 3 reflection, offering moments that stayed with them and digging into Alcine’s wealth of knowledge on transformative assessment as well as Shane’s forthcoming book project, Pedagogies of Voice–for which Sawsan is a contributing writer. They close by previewing a slight shift in podcast rhythm for the upcoming Season 4, which will launch in February!

For Further Learning:

Get your copy of street data HERE. Use code STREETDATA for a 20% discount. Want to try creating a grad profile or vision of a learner for your classroom, department, school or district? Here is Envision Learning Partners’ (ELP) Grad Profile quality criteria. LP has some criteria for creating high quality vision of a learner or grad profiles. Should I include it here, seeing that Sawson references grad profiles? If you’d like to learn more about Envision Learning Partners and the work that Alcine does there, visit ELP at www.envisionlearning.org. Listen to Episode 24: “Get Off Your Pedestal!” and Other Brilliant Advice from High School Student Leaders Ari and Harshan  Link the Episode 4: “What Does it Mean to Freedom Dream?”: Disrupting Traps and Tropes with Dr. Jamila Dugan   Link to Episode 12: “We Made Classrooms Public Spaces” with Jessica Huang and Matt Alexander

Today’s conversation with high school students Ari and Harshan is life-giving! These fearless leaders, along with 50 of their peers, have been using Street Data to shape school transformation projects on issues ranging from disrupting bullying through Indigenous, restorative practices to centering students’ mental health in schooling to reimagining assessment practices. In this episode, Shane and Alcine get to hear about Ari and Harshan’s names, the identities that matter to them, and the changes they seek at their schools. The episode ends with an exploration of the kinds of classrooms and conversations young people need in this complex, volatile moment we are living through. Don’t miss this wonderful dialogue!

For Further Learning:

Get your copy of Street Data by Corwin Press 

In this beautiful conversation, Alcine and Shane embrace storientation to hear Dr. Montessa Muñoz’s journey from a young Latina mother to a school and district administrator, and what it has meant for her to be a role model for students who “look just like me.” We unpack the problem with making decisions for and about students based on satellite data alone and explore the “hack” of “students-as-consultants”... What happens when a bunch of school administrators are asked to sit in the back of the room and simply listen as 8-10 students talk about district-wide data on attendance and “achievement”? According to Montessa, the experience was “amazing… there were administrators in the back who were crying.” They also discuss the powerful, agentic experience of students serving on a Kiva Panel and Montessa’s radical dreams for assessment: to center student voice into a truly balanced assessment system.

For Further Learning:

Assessment Leadership: Leading a Balanced, Comprehensive Assessment System to Improve Teaching and Learning by Jessica Arnold and Robert Sheffield, with Chelsea Talakoub

In this re-release of Episode 7, Alcine and Shane to listen and learn from Dr. Kevin Godden and Dr. Perry Smith, former Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of the Abbotsford School District near Vancouver. Through one-inch windows into an evolving system, the conversation distills the role of deep listening in school transformation. We talk about Kevin’s first day of school in Canada as a Jamaican immigrant, confronting the ugliness of racism, and his mom’s messaging that restored him. We learn Perry’s journey of wanting to wear moccasins to school as a young Indigenous student in Abbotsford with virtually no representation around him. And we think about what it means to carry the heart of a teacher and lead like a teacher. Join us.

For Further Learning

Learn more about the Deeper Learning Dozen, a community of practice that supports superintendents to transform their school districts in ways that create equitable access to deeper learning experiences and outcomes. Get a copy of Perry’s beautiful children’s book, Powwow Dancing with Family.

In this inspiring conversation, Alcine and Shane listen to principal Linda Pollastretti and vice principal Sandeep Gill about how they supported teams of 11th grade students to engage in Street Data cycles. We learn about the ways these incredible leaders have been gathering Street Data, from home visits to “entrance interviews” to having students write their own stories. We walk alongside them and their students teams to witness how student voice can change the most sacred structures in schooling, such as bell schedules that create more flexibility for learners and assessments that attune to mental health needs. We also hear about how this work scaled organically emergently from one district all the way to the Ministry of Education for the province of British Columbia, when student voice leaders spoke to Ministry leaders, the BC Teacher’s Federation and the BC Trustees. Finally, we get a birdseye view of how to lead from behind students, resisting the urge to become defensive or reactive and learning that “I am not the problem solver. I am the engager and the listener. The kids will come up with the solution in the end.”

In this beautiful episode, Shane and Alcine listen to leaders Stacey Coonsis and Valerie Kie as they share their stories, identities, and deepest hopes for the schools they lead. As Elementary Head of School for the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque, Stacey talks about what it means to lead as a Dine’ matriarch toward NACA’s mission of creating new leaders who are not just academically prepared, but also secure in their identities and wellbeing. We learn about NACA’s holistic data framework, the Wellness Wheel, and the family conferences in which students and families analyze the learner’s physical, community, and relational wellness. Val illuminates how the NACA-inspired School Network (NISN) expanded from NACA, the original school, to 13 Indigenous-centered and led schools across the country. We get a one-inch window into the original curriculum design work at NACA that helps to build a curriculum “indicative of (our) ways of knowing and being and the values (we) have.” And we dismantle the myth of “learning loss” as Stacey paints a vivid picture of what it looked like for Indigenous children to learn in community, alongside adults and elders, before there were formal schooling establishments during Covid.

For Further Learning:

Read the most recent 2021-22 State of New Mexico Tribal Education Status Report  Visit www.nacaschool.org to learn more about Native American Community Academy Visit www.nacainspiredschoolsnetwork.org to learn more about the NACA-Inspired School Network (NISN) NACA interactive Wellness Wheel. In order to complete the wheel, you will need to click at the center and go outward. Click on the question marks to see the guiding questions for each domain.

In this conversation with Blackfoot scholar Dr. Sidney Stone Brown, Alcine and Shane are gifted many stories and teachings. We learn about the Native Self-Actualization model that Dr. Stone created and how she was told by her elders, “We’ve been looking for you” before she wrote her book. We dig into her original research into Abraham Maslow’s archives and discover the truth that Maslow’s concept was not originally a hierarchy, but that the corporations utilizing his work asked him to convert it into a pyramid to “motivate their employees”. We also explore the deep layers of what it means to heal, to come back to our wholeness, to understand time as circular rather than linear, and to situate listening as the ultimate act of transformation. Your heart will sing as you listen to Dr. Sidney Stone Brown.

For Further Learning:

Visit Dr. Sidney Stone Brown’s website www.transformationbeyondgreed.com/ to learn more about her work Get your copy of Transformation Beyond Greed by Dr. Sidney Stone Brown, PsyD

In this delightful dialogue with the wizard behind Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzalez, and middle school drama teacher Amanda Liebel, Shane and Alcine walk alongside two brilliant educators to think about service, street data, and pedagogy. You’ll learn the origin story of the magical blog and  podcast called Cult of Pedagogy. We’ll think about what it means to have a “heart of service”, as Amanda characterizes the deep work of teaching as always a reflective practice. We’ll also discuss how Shane, Jamila, and Jennifer came together to create a 9-hour free video series that tracks two teams of teachers as they move through the messiness and richness of the Street Data process! Finally, this episode offers vibrant one-inch windows into a pedagogy of student voice, including:

How to receive difficult street data from students with an open heart How to take deeper risks in the classroom (for example, to “indigenize our learning spaces”) Why being a perfectionist works against you as a teacher  And what it means to “walk alongside students” and listen to what they want

Enjoy this priceless conversation!

For Further Learning:

Listen to the original Cult of Pedagogy podcast episode with Shane and Jamila, “Street Data: A Path Toward Equitable, Anti-racist Schools” (October 5, 2021) Access 9 hours of free professional learning in Street Data Cult of Pedagogy video series Listen to the follow-up Cult of Pedagogy podcast episode about this learning series with Shane, Jamila, and Amanda (January 29, 2023)

Check out the mentioned Cult of Pedagogy podcast and blog on The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

Shane and Alcine are back with this on-FIRE conversation with Cincinnati math educators Crystal Watson and Dr. Dawn Williams who remind us that “The sun does not ask permission to shine, and neither do I.” These Black women leaders take us on a journey to understanding the type of math pedagogy that will transform and empower future generations of learners. We learn from Dr. Dawn why it’s important for leaders to create a place called home for teachers and, in turn, for students. Crystal and Dawn model a culture of listening to students as they enter classrooms, always asking, “How will that one child feel…?”, engaging in learning alongside students, all in efforts to affirm to students that the classroom is “your space”. They also teach us how to have a student-centered Data Meeting, how to support teachers to practice active listening (even when it’s uncomfortable!. They explain how anxiety specifically with math triggers fight or flight, diminished executive function, and distracting behaviors in the classroom and how building authentic and trusting relationships can help teachers guide students through that anxiety. Finally, we celebrate the truth that Black educators are “everything” while acknowledging the emotional labor of being a Black woman educational leader.

For further learning:

Principles for the Design of Mathematics Curricula: Promoting Language and Content Development with specific Math Language routines classroom teachers can implement Books: The Memo and Right Within by Minda Harts on overcoming racial trauma and discrimination in the workplace

Book: Choosing to See by Dr. Pamela Seda and Kendall Brown

In this reflective conversation, Shane and Alcine wrap up Season 2 by sharing some of their own stories, lenses, and learning around the work. You’ll hear what’s emerging on the ground as Shane and Dr. Dugan try to bring the Street Data model to life through communities of practice. You’ll consider the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, tapping into the brilliance of Jo Chrona’s book Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racist Education. We also learn more about how Alcine’s mother influenced her student-centered pedagogy and how her experiences as a good test taker during desegregation efforts in the 1980’s shaped her views on standardized testing. And we say goodbye to our original producer, the incomparable Maya Cueva, who is off to work on a new film and other projects! 

For Further Learning: 

Podcasts Cheaper Than Therapy: Avoiding Resentment The Cult of Pedagogy with Jennifer Gonzalez 

BooksTomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies by Jo Chrona 

Articles Cultivating a Pedagogy of Student Voice by Shane Safir  Metacognition in the Classroom: Benefits & Strategies 

Films   Watch Maya’s film On The Divide ( https://vimeo.com/ondemand/onthedivide )

In this episode, you’ll listen at the feet of the incomparable scholar Dr. Lisa Delpit, whose books Other People’s Children and Multiplication Is for White People deeply impacted Shane and Alcine, alongside her brilliant mentee and Street Data co-author Dr. Jamila Dugan. We get a one-inch window into Dr. Delpit’s early experiences in “white teacher education” and the Open Classroom model where Black teachers’ wisdom and skill was often undervalued. We witness a beautiful exchange between Dr. Delpit and Dr. Dugan about the intergenerational work they are involved in and what it means for all of us to step into being elders in training. If you’re as confused as we are about the Science of Reading “debates”, this episode will help you shift and lift the discourse about literacy, as Dr. Delpit brings complexity and nuance, helping us all remember that while phonics is necessary, successful teachers of Black students do so much more: affirm their humanity, create relationships, make them feel a part of the literacy “club”, and elevate heir intellectual history and legacy. These leading thinkers help us envision classrooms where children have a voice and leadership roles, and schools where students begin to enter adult spaces in order to influence education. Finally, we end with a deep discussion of the Warm Demander concept and why demanding is not the same as diminishing because the love and belief in the kids has to be there first. Join us!

For Further Learning:

The Silenced Dialogue:Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit

Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit

“Multiplication is for White People”: Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit

Teaching When the World Is on Fire: Authentic Classroom Advice, from Climate Justice to Black Lives Matter by Lisa Delpit Radical Dreaming for Education Now by Dr. Jamila Dugan

In Episode 12, Shane and Alcine dream with colleagues Matt Alexander and Jessica Huang, surfacing shared learning from a combined 80 plus years in education. Matt and Shane reminisce about the early years of teaching in San Francisco pre-No Child Left Behind and how they aspired toward a pedagogy of student voice. Jessica shares her experience working in international education in Asia where the West is “exporting stereotypes into neocolonial schools” and ways she is disrupting the Model Minority myth. These four leaders explore how the American Dream is a facade, lessons in democracy from the world of community organizing, and why leaders need a power analysis of their school communities. Finally, they consider what authentic accountability looks like and what it means to walk toward becoming elders in the movement for educational justice, and preview a project they are working on to “radically dream” together with educators across US + Canada.

For Further Learning:

Dive deeper into the 6 Key Aspects of Social Justice Pedagogy developed by June Jordan School for Social Justice educators. Learn more about Faith in Action Bay Area and the work that they do to uphold the dignity of all people. Read up on AB 540 which expanded in-state tuition eligibility in california and check out whether you may qualify.