[00:00:00] Olivia: Hi there. It's Friday, and I'm so happy you're here. Your time is precious and because of that, I want to let you know right away, what you'll gain by listening to the very last second of this episode. It is election week, and I released the episode with Ari Gerzon-Kessler this past Monday. Ari's work around Families and Educators Together, teams, FET teams, has made me think all week and since our conversation about safety. And how we process fear ourselves and how we also need to ensure that every student and their caregivers feel welcome in our school spaces. That is what I'm going to focus, um, this reflective solo episode around today. And I am really happy to have you stay with me and be a listener today. Let's go! 

[00:00:54] Olivia: This is: Schoolutions: Coaching and Teaching Strategies, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that offers educators and caregivers strategies to try right away and ensure every student receives the inspiration and support they need to thrive.  

[00:01:13] Olivia: So with it being election week in the United States, um, it's made me lean on the words of my friends and mentors to process my feelings and show up in schools the way the kids needed me to.

[00:01:26] Olivia: It's also helped me show up with my own kids and my family, the way that I need to. So I pulled books off of my professional shelf and I can see my friend's faces that write the words in their books. And. I go back to them time and time again to ground myself when I'm feeling unsteady, and that's what I thought would be helpful to share with all of you today.

[00:01:54] Olivia: So I want to start with one of my brilliant colleague's words, um, her book, Risk, Fail, Rise, M. Colleen Cruz, um, it's A Teacher's Guide to Learning from Mistakes. And I go back to this book all the time, um, because it's, It's so much about the messiness of our work and how we have to be willing to take risks and make mistakes.

[00:02:21] Olivia: But after this week, I went to the section that speaks about fear and, uh, that “we need to be aware of our fear so that fear does not control our teaching.” Those are Colleen's words. I also wanted to read an excerpt because there's a section on page 47 and it says, Fear as Insight Giver. Um, so this is what she has to say, “when we take the time to reflect on our fears and our common reactions to those fears, we can learn more about what we value and what doesn't quite seem as important to us. When we see what other people fear. It can also give us insights into others.” So I'm going to pause and just think about that because, you know, no matter what we think about the results of the election, I think it's so important to pause and ask how the people and the children in our schools, how they're processing this week after the election and what are they feeling?

[00:03:28] Olivia: It can also help us develop empathy, which is something our children need to see more now than ever. So I appreciate Colleen's words and also just her research around the amygdala in general. If you don't understand how important that part of our brain is, you need to really do a deep dive. And so again, Colleen's words, “The amygdala is the part of the brain that deals with fear. It pauses other parts of our brain to deal with conscious thoughts so that we can just focus on the threat at hand. Generally speaking, the most common responses to fear are fight, flight, and freeze. We either run, lash out, or don't do anything.” So after I read those words of Colleen's, I went to my friend and colleague's book, Why Do I Have to Read This?

[00:04:20] Olivia: Literacy Strategies to Engage Our Most Reluctant Students. And, uh, this book is written by Cris Tovani, and a section I jumped right to is, I Don't Want to Get Political. I'm going to read Chris's words because I heard this the day after election day yesterday, time and time again, and, um, I think this is important for us to think about and consider.

[00:04:48] Olivia: ‘I have to be very careful about my political views around here’, a teacher says to me. It can't bring controversy into my classroom. I heard this over and over yesterday, I hear this all the time. And Cris responds, ‘Why, I ask.” Teacher says, ‘Lots of parents support what X, Y, and Z are doing in the White House, and I don't want to rock the boat.’

[00:05:12] Olivia: So let's pause there. How many teachers had to go to school yesterday? Fearing and wondering how to respond, um, or excited and wondering how to hold their feelings. I don't know. It, it, you know, how do we show up in spaces with holding our emotions and making sure that kids really don't know? Our political stance, um, Cris goes on to write, “For whatever it's worth, here's my take on the issue.

[00:05:43] Olivia: Our job as teachers is not to convince students to believe what we believe. I'm going to read that again. Our job as teachers is not to convince students to believe what we believe. Part of our job is to teach them how to take a position and defend it with solid evidence. It's not about indoctrinating students.

[00:06:05] Olivia: It's about helping them research, analyze and synthesize ideas so they can discover who they are and what they want their world to be. In the classroom, it doesn't matter what I think, (Cris Tovani), what I think the United States should do about anything. What matters is that I can show students how to argue their thinking in a polite and logical manner.

[00:06:32] Olivia: So that requires us to welcome all student perspectives.’ She also does lots of work that I believe in around studying an issue and examining it from multiple perspectives and then providing evidence to support the position that we choose to take. How, as educators, can we offer all different perspectives around a topic and open our classrooms for conversation?

[00:07:01] Olivia: How can we be facilitators as teachers and hold space for that safety? And then I go to Jess Lifshitz. She, this past week actually, before Election Day, had shared a document that she and her colleagues had created. Um, this is what I saw. It was actually October 30th on Twitter. ‘What do we as educators and caretakers say to kids on the day after election?

[00:07:31] Olivia: The incredible DEI committee that I am a part of, um, Through my union created some talking points for educators with things to keep an eye out for and ways to respond.’ So I opened this doc and I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes. It's absolutely brilliant. And the title at the top is: Creating Safety Post-Election 2024.

[00:07:52] Olivia: Um, and I want to just read the words that are at the top of the document. “In the days after the election, emotions will be running high, our students will sense the tension around them, and we'll be hearing words from adults that they may not fully understand. Any time of transition can prompt anxiety.Our job as educators is to listen to what our students are telling us and use their words and questions as a launching point for conversation. We cannot ignore our students' reality, and we have a responsibility to help them process the moment unfolding around them. In the coming days, we must ensure that all of our students feel safe, seen, and heard.’

[00:08:36] Olivia: And this document is written in such a brilliant way. Every time I pop in and out, there's tons of humans from all over the world that are accessing it. And that's just the power of incredible teachers that work together to create resources, to keep our kids feeling safe and their families as well. The documents’ framed in a T-chart.

[00:08:57] Olivia: And so on the left, it's things to keep an eye out for. And then they offer ways to respond that are humanizing and compassionate, um, all encompassing. And I, I feel it's just so, it's a beautiful, beautiful way to frame conversations for our kids and their caregivers as we're navigating uncertain times, I also lean on the words of Nawal Qarooni, um, her book, Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Elevating Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care.

[00:09:33] Olivia: And she says, ‘We cannot profess to value learning for every human if we do not value the sight of every human's initial and most enduring learning, family.’ She goes on to say that ‘there's hope in embracing reflection.’ And so a huge part or point of these episodes I'm going to start doing on Fridays is, you know, we can read all of the books we want, we can steep ourselves in other people's words, but until we reflect and see how it can impact our lives, um, whether we agree or disagree with what we read, whether we agree or disagree with what is being said by other people, um, we have to dig really deep and ask ourselves, you know, what can we take out of embracing reflection?

[00:10:28] Olivia: And my friend Nawal continues to push me to, to find hope and embracing reflection. In her book on page 15, there's some research from Jennifer Eberhardt, and she's a social psychologist and researcher of implicit bias. These are Jennifer's words, ‘Neither our evolutionary paths nor dooms us in being held hostage by bias. Change requires a kind of open-minded attention that is well within our reach.’ Well, that's hopeful. ‘Our brains, our minds, are molded and remolded by our experiences and our environments. We have the power to change our ways of thinking. To scrub away the residue of ancient demons. Eberhardt contends that one way to correct our brain's bias automaticity is to slow down and force analysis.

[00:11:23] Olivia: To move from the primitive to the reflective.’ And then I'm going to pause and take myself back into the school building I was in yesterday, and there were mock-elections on Tuesday, and different caregivers felt very differently, um, about that. Some felt that it should have been handled in a way that had nothing to do with the candidates.

[00:11:50] Olivia: Um, others felt that what a gift to have the opportunity for students to experience a mock election that happens every four years. So again, pause and think of perspective. You know, what are your beliefs and how do your beliefs show up in schools as a teacher, how are we making every child feel safe and their caregivers feel welcome and safe?

[00:12:19] Olivia: I'll end with. Going back to Ari, Ari's book On the Same Team: Bringing Educators and Underrepresented Families Together. Um, it struck such a chord with me when I read it for the first time, when I read it for the second time, and now when I go back to all of my pages tabbed with little blue sticky post-it notes.

[00:12:39] Olivia: Um, and there's a section on page 84, that's called view self as instrument. And a huge part of where we go from here is how we become strong facilitators for the children in our classes, but also for our own children. Um, so I wanted to read an excerpt, um, um, what it means to become an effective facilitator, because I've got to say, as a mom of two boys, a tween and a teenager, you know, I'm finding these days life is so much more about being a facilitator and almost a coach in the household.

[00:13:24] Olivia: Offering a lot of autonomy, a lot of hopefully, you know, instilling agency and so then we can get to some mastery before these kids leave the house. And, um, that's Daniel Pink's work from Drive. And I live with those words, you know, autonomy, agency, and mastery. Um, they strike a chord with me too. So now I'll circle back to the excerpt from Ari's book.

[00:13:51] Olivia: View Self as Instrument, because I think this is something that we all have control over. How are we reflecting on what we believe to be true and how we can show up in spaces to be, uh, strong facilitators and commit to ongoing personal development. So, um, this section is filled with nuggets of great research that can have your back, that you can lean on.

[00:14:17] Olivia: ‘Becoming an effective facilitator means committing to significant and ongoing personal development and viewing self as instrument.’ That's research from Hamilton’s Personal Communication. Keegan and Leahy offer that research shows that ‘the more developed a person becomes, the more self-awareness they have.The driving notion behind self as instrument is that we see ourselves as a powerful force for change. Like a musical instrument, we need to be optimally tuned, which means constantly refining ourselves. This requires taking a closer look at our strengths, weaknesses, and biases. For instance, this might look like asking a trusted colleague for feedback after a FET team meeting or reflecting on what you did well and where you could improve.’

[00:15:09] Olivia: So that's where I want to end my thoughts. What I'm finding these days is the teachers, the grownups that I surround myself with, it's not that we have to agree. It's much more that I am trying to figure out, you know, why they believe what they do and to ask a lot more questions to stay curious. And that's the behavior I am trying to model for my own kids, for students in schools and for teachers in schools.

[00:15:43] Olivia: I'm going to flip it back to you as a listener. How can we, when we're feeling fear, how can we, when we're feeling uncertain about the future of the world, stay curious? And be better listeners than we are fixers. And then we are, um, sharing how we feel. So I, you know, I think we need to take a lot of time and make sure that we are working to create safety and invite our families, our children into the spaces and to see them, to hear them and to love them. So I'm working on making sure that everyone feels loved in my household in my friendships and in the schools I'm working with, the teachers feel lifted and, um, they have their dignity and, um, that all of the work we do moving forward in the public school system recognizes children for what matters to them.

[00:16:47] Olivia: Thank you for listening, and I hope some of my friends and mentors can help guide you in where you choose to go as a teacher, a caregiver, an administrator, a coach these remaining months of 2024 and how you choose to start the new year. Take care. Schoolutions: Coaching and Teaching Strategies is created, produced, and edited by me, Olivia Wall.

[00:17:19] Olivia: Thank you to my older son, Benjamin, who created the music that's playing in the background. You can follow and listen to Schoolution's wherever you get your podcasts. or subscribe to never miss an episode and watch on YouTube. Now I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email at scholutionspodcast@gmail.com.

[00:17:37] Olivia: Let me know how you are working to ensure every student and their caregivers feel welcome and safe as part of your school community. Tune in every Monday and Friday for the best research-backed coaching and teaching strategies that you can apply right away. To better the lives of the children in your care.

[00:17:56] Olivia: I can't wait to have you join the conversations next week. See you then.