Inspiring Change in the Classroom and Beyond with Dr. Giani Clarkson

S1.E9.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Giani Clarkson joins Thembi to discuss his journey as an educator, the importance of mentorship and cultural representation in education, his approach to teaching civic engagement, and he even lets us in on which Abbott Elementary character that he most identifies with.

Dr. Giani Clarkson is a proud graduate of Dillard University and received his master's and doctorate from Concordia University. Clarkson is a chemist in the classroom, converting ungenerous personalities into individuals of great worth. Programs he has pioneered in District of Columbia Public Schools and Public Charter Schools have boosted test scores across the district and helped guide students to college and beyond. 

His mantra is simple: Every child deserves a chance to build the blueprint for their dreams and make it a reality. This message is consistent with his teaching style: pushing the envelope of conventional thinking and providing lesson plans that are relevant, and challenging, but as he says all the time..." learning covered in fun". 

He has been recognized by numerous organizations for innovations in teaching and mentoring children in civic engagement which includes community service and presenting policies to local government officials.

Clarkson also mentors 1st-year teachers through various programs at local universities. He has served as an adjunct professor at Coppin State University and the University of Maryland. Due to his expertise in the field of education and numerous accomplishments, Clarkson is now a featured editorial writer for the Dallas Weekly and several other papers across the country. 

He has won multiple awards from iCivics for excellence in social studies teaching, three Teacher of The Year awards, and won the first-ever Michelle Obama Award from the I Believe Project for excellence in teaching students about civic duties in connection to the importance of registering to vote. 

He has been selected as a Ford’s Theatre National Oratory Fellow for the past ten years. The Oratory Fellows Program gives teachers the opportunity to teach social advocacy through the power of oratory and history. Clarkson has presented on various occasions on behalf of Ford’s Theatre - discussing police brutality and gun violence. Clarkson has won Ford’s Theatre Lincoln Lead Teacher Award for his work with youth and social activism. In addition, Clarkson has recently been named a Board of Trustee Member at Ford’s Theatre. "What is important is to empower students no matter where they are from, love them through adversity, and celebrate their success." 

Want to be a guest on KeyBARD? Send Thembi a message on PodMatch: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1740803399472257afce75768

KeyBARD is produced, written, and hosted by Thembi Duncan, a theater artist, educator, and tech enthusiast exploring the intersections of art, education, and technology through conversations with creative thinkers.

Theme music by Sycho Sid.

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Transcript

Thembi: Hello, hello, and welcome to KeyBARD. I am Thembi Duncan, and today I'm so excited to be talking with Dr. Giani Clarkson. He is an educator, an advocate, an amazing person.

He's got so many projects going on. I need to tell you about him right now. Dr. Clarkson is a proud graduate of Dillard University and received his master's and doctorate from Concordia University.

Dr. Clarkson is a chemist in the classroom, converting ungenerous personalities into individuals of great worth. Programs he has pioneered in District of Columbia public schools and public charter schools have boosted test scores across the district and helped guide students to college and beyond. His mantra is simple.

Every child deserves a chance to build the blueprint for their dreams and make it a reality. This message is consistent with his teaching style, pushing the envelope of conventional thinking and providing lesson plans that are relevant and challenging. But as he says all the time, learning covered in fun.

He has been recognized by numerous organizations for innovations in teaching and mentoring children in civic engagement, which includes community service and presenting policies to local government officials. Clarkson also mentors first year teachers through various programs at local universities. He has served as an adjunct professor at Coppin State University and the University of Maryland.

Due to his expertise in the field of education and numerous accomplishments, Dr. Clarkson is now a featured editorial writer for the Dallas Weekly and several other papers across the country. He has won multiple awards from iCivics for excellence in social studies teaching, three Teacher of the Year awards, and won the first ever Michelle Obama award from the I Believe Project for excellence in teaching students about civic duties in connection to the importance of registering to vote. He has been selected as a Ford's Theatre National Oratory Fellow for the past 10 years.

The Oratory Fellows Program gives teachers the opportunity to teach social advocacy through the power of oratory and history. Dr. Clarkson has presented on various occasions on behalf of Ford's Theatre, discussing police brutality and gun violence. Dr. Clarkson has won Ford's Theatre's Lincoln Lead Teacher Award for his work with youth and social activism.

In addition, Dr. Clarkson has recently been named a Board of Trustee member at Ford's Theatre. What is important is to empower students no matter where they are from, love them through adversity and celebrate their success. That's what he says.

Welcome Dr. Clarkson.

Dr. Clarkson: Thank you so much. I laugh because there's a meme from The Simpsons where it has one of the characters like this with their hands over their face and they're into their bio. And it's like, it's such the weirdest thing to hear someone talk about the things that you've done because you just do these things and you go, oh yeah, I did do that.

Oh yeah, that did happen...And that's what it looks like...Oh, that too. Oh, I did win those awards...Oh wow, I did win those. And then you start going, oh no, it wasn't three, it was five Teacher of the Year awards. I'm not counting. That sounds weird. Don't count. And it's all these weird things that go on in your mind when you hear your accomplishments, but thank you so much for reading them.

And even at this advanced age, there are moments that I fall into imposter's disease. I don't believe you're talking about me. And then I realized, yeah, that is me. So thank you so much.

Thembi: You're welcome. And thank you for being here with me to have this conversation. I'm so just grateful and appreciative of the work that you do in the community and the representation that you bring, as a black man in education.

So, so, so powerful. Yes, indeed.

I'm having a good time. That's all that matters to me.

Thembi: All right, so let's jump in. So tell us about your journey to become an educator. Did you always know that it was your path or did you find your way to it?

Well, actually, I found my way to it and I became a willing hostage. So I have to explain this. Like I was working at nonprofit for a good while and enjoying the work I was having at nonprofit.

And my father kept on saying, you know what, you'd be a really good teacher. And I was like, nah, I don't wanna do it. You know, I saw what you went through, all that stress.

I don't really think I want to be bothered with it. The nonprofit I was working for decided to go in a different direction. And of course, when that nonprofit decided to go in a different direction, I realized that my money was gonna go in a different direction as well too.

Thembi: Down?

Dr. Clarkson: Away, not down. So it was gonna go away.

So with the fact that I had money that was going away, I had a really great friend, really my best friend and may he rest, who encouraged me to apply for a teaching job at the school that he was currently working at. I applied for a teaching job there. The woman at DCPS looked at my resume and said, where do you wanna teach?

And I said, I wanna teach at Kramer Middle School, which is in Southeast DC, down the street from Anacostia. And that woman said, oh baby, you're smart enough, and your resume is good enough. You don't have to teach there. And that right there was the moment where I said, I'm in the right place. Because you're telling me that black children don't deserve nice things. You've identified me as a nice thing and told me of all the places, why would you want to teach in Southeast DC?

And from then on, I said, I know that I'm in the right place. And that's, from that moment, from 2011 until now, I've been in a classroom teaching urban education. And although private schools have politely knocked on my door and asked me would I like to come, there's no other place I'd rather be than working with children in urban areas.

Thembi: So you found, you said you were willing hostage, right?

Dr. Clarkson: Yeah, willing hostage. I don't, like, trust me, I did fight back for the longest, but eventually I put the duct tape around my own wrist and I went to work every day. And by me going to work every day, I realized that some of the most beautiful things are there inside of those neighborhoods.

And unfortunately have never been watered properly because they've been told consistently, you're not nice things. And I was fortunate enough to be around a brilliant group of educators and principals that spoke life into children. And these children are doing great things now, even now into the school that I'm currently at.

It's the ability to tell children of color, you deserve nice things. And it's a narrative, it's so disturbing because it's this narrative of that, because you're black, because you're brown, because your economic status is not where it needs to be, you don't deserve to have these nice things. You should have the worst teachers, you should have the worst resources, you shouldn't be able to go to plays and field trips.

And I was like, I don't want to be a part of that narrative. And I'm glad to be around people that said that narrative is unacceptable and do something about it every day.

Thembi: I'm glad you made that choice.