Beyond My Years

Embodying your passion, purpose, and personal values as an educator, starring Daniela Anello

• Amplify Education • Season 2 • Episode 9

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Ana is joined by Daniela Anello, CEO of DC Bilingual Public Charter School, to discuss how educators can create environments in which they can be their whole selves. Daniela tells her own story of identifying her values as a teacher and claiming the sense of purpose she wanted to bring into her own classroom; and then lays out how she works to incorporate them on a day-to-day basis. She also explains why its important for teachers to take chances, make mistakes, and try again—behaviors should be modeled for students. Ana is then joined by our Classroom Insider, middle school science teacher, Eric Cross, who delves into the importance of "being yourself on purpose" when. you teach.

Show notes: 

Quotes:

"I needed to be in a place where I could be my full self, demonstrating all of the identities that make me who I am." —Daniela Anello

"The first step is recognizing your own identity and your own values and the aspects of you that you want to see reflected in the place that you're going to pour your love and heart into." —Daniela Anello

"Change and improvement happen over time." —Daniela Anello

"Go where you're going to grow." —Eric Cross

"If I'm in an environment where I can't be my authentic self, and I know what that is and I know what I value, then it might be time for me to go somewhere where I can flourish." —Eric Cross

"A system is not a person. If you build something on a person, then when that person leaves or gets burned out,  your system falls apart." —Eric Cross

[00:00:00] Daniela Anello: I think that one of the things that we have to be really clear about is what we are trying to accomplish. The idea of goal setting... I think that's been really transformative for me personally and professionally.

[00:00:14] Ana Torres: This is Ana Torres, and welcome to Beyond My Years from Amplify. We know teachers never stop learning, and we are here to help educators extend their reach. Each episode, we share research-backed strategies and tried-and-true lessons from experts and experienced educators. These longtime educators are here to equip you with actionable advice and the confidence to put it all into practice.

I am joined by my amazing Classroom Insider, seventh-grade science teacher, Eric Cross. Yeah, Eric.

[00:00:51] Eric Cross: Yay. I like the fanfare.

[00:00:53] Ana Torres: How are you, Eric?

[00:00:54] Eric Cross: I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Yeah. Thanks for asking.

[00:00:56] Ana Torres: So, Eric, are you ready to hear about the challenge we're going to be focusing on today?

[00:01:01] Eric Cross: Lay it on me.

[00:01:02] Ana Torres: I feel like you're ready. So, today's episode. It's going to be all about discovering, or even rediscovering, passion and purpose, and also the importance of honoring who you are as an educator. Has this ever been a challenge for you, Eric?

[00:01:20] Eric Cross: Finding my passion and purpose. I don't know if it's something that I've faced. It might be a situation thing, where there might have been a situation where I might have been discouraged or not feeling like I'm able to meet my students' needs the way I want to.

[00:01:35] Ana Torres: Okay.

[00:01:36] Eric Cross: You know, you always think about the one or two students that you're missing, and you don't think about the hundred or however many there are that you're really showing up for.

[00:01:44] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:01:44] Eric Cross: And so, in those moments, when I focus on the few that I don't feel like I'm making connections with, I've felt that before, but it's typically been temporary.

[00:01:54] Ana Torres: Situational. Okay.

[00:01:55] Eric Cross: Yeah. I try not to live there, because when you do, it's really hard to show up for the rest of your students because it can get to you so much.

[00:02:03] Ana Torres: I think we both equally know these are big ideas, but it's exciting that we're going to actually really drill down into how to actually take these questions on.

And so today's guest is someone who, early in her teaching career, didn't feel like she could be her full self, and I can still relate to that, but she turned that around in a really big way. And on this episode, she's going to offer some lessons from her own personal journey.

So I'm going to bring her on now. And then Eric, you and I, we're going to reconnect and break it down, break that conversation down together. How does that sound?

[00:02:38] Eric Cross: I can't wait, Ana.

[00:02:40] Ana Torres: All right, Eric. Thanks.

I am so excited about today's guest. Her name is Daniela Anello, and she has gone through an experience that I think a lot of listeners like yourselves will find very, very familiar. Earlier in her career, she was in a role where she didn't quite feel like she could be her full authentic self, and I can so relate to that.

The reason I'm super excited to have her on the show today is that now she is in a role that aligns perfectly with who she is, and she's one of the most passionate educators that I've met in a very long time. Daniela has been the longtime head of school, and now she is CEO at DC Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.

So, on this episode, she's going to share some strategies for listeners who want to discover, or really rediscover, what their true passion and purpose in education is. Welcome, Daniela Anello.

[00:03:49] Daniela Anello: Thank you so much for having me, and thank you for that beautiful introduction.

[00:03:53] Ana Torres: You're very welcome. So Daniela, before we dive right in, I always like to ask, do you feel you are seasoned educator?

[00:04:03] Daniela Anello: At this point, I have to admit, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing in my job, but it hasn't been something that happened overnight. I just finally feel that I've been in it long enough, it's been 21 years in education, that I think I know what I'm doing at this point.

[00:04:21] Ana Torres: So, in the introduction, Daniela, I referenced the experience that you had early in your career where you really felt something was missing. What was missing in your earlier roles in your career?

[00:04:35] Daniela Anello: Yes. Thank you so much for asking. I started as a teacher, and I taught in schools in Boston, New York, and I also taught in Washington, D.C., in Southeast.

One of the things that became really, really clear for me was that I needed to be in a place where I could be my full self, like demonstrating all of the identities that make me who I am. And when I taught in a school where there were very few Latinos and no one spoke Spanish. People didn't really care if I was bilingual, multicultural, if I spoke Spanish.

And so what I realized is that being in a monolingual setting as a teacher didn't give me my full experience with being all of the identities that I am. And so, I felt like something was missing. And so, that was a pivotal moment for me where I realized I need to be in a place where I could be my full self.

[00:05:27] Ana Torres: And, obviously, showing up as your full self, it sounds like you felt that you couldn't really show up as the multifaceted Daniela Anello.

[00:05:38] Daniela Anello: Exactly. And maybe, it wasn't so much that I couldn't. Maybe I just didn't know how to show up in a place that demonstrated all of my identities. And maybe at the time also I was younger and trying to really figure out who I am as a first-generation Latina immigrant in this country and a professional. Like, what does it look like to be able to embody all of my identities in the place of work?

[00:06:02] Ana Torres: Well, and isn't that what we do, Daniela, as good educators? We're always reflecting. I liked how you kind of pivoted and reframed. Like, maybe I just didn't know how to do it. Now, I'm wondering if you can share any specific moments that became apparent to you where it was, wow, if I could just show up as my authentic self, X could happen.

[00:06:26] Daniela Anello: I had friends visit my classroom. And I had one friend who was Asian, and she came in and she wanted to talk about her culture. And the first thing that came out of the kids' mouths was, "Are you guys twin sisters?"

That was a pivotal moment where I was like, "Wow. My kids have no idea about my cultural identity or my culture." And so they thought I was Asian, even though I've been their teacher for this whole school year. And so, that's when it became clear that there has to be work done that goes along with what we're teaching every day around reading and writing and science and instruction that truly takes into account who people are, what their culture is, languages they may speak that are in addition to the English that we may be speaking in the classroom, and incorporate that into what we're doing every day, in addition to teaching content areas.

[00:07:21] Ana Torres: You were probably like, "Wait a minute. I have a visitor. She's allowing herself to express herself and who she is, and my students connected to that."

But you must have also felt like, "Wait a minute," like you just said, "I haven't been able to really make that kind of connection with my own students." So, talk to me a little bit about how that particular moment impacted how you move forward.

[00:07:45] Daniela Anello: Yes, absolutely. So, it did take me a moment to shift a little bit of focus, because I was so focused on teaching reading and writing, especially to first graders who are just learning how to read and write.

And so, it was how do I do that with an element of culture? How do I do it? What are the books that I'm selecting to read to students? What are the songs I'm incorporating into the routines or the structures in the day? How do I tell them about my country of origin?

And so, I realized that it wasn't going to happen just because I am Latina. It's going to happen with intentional teaching, sharing, singing, reading books. And then it shouldn't just be me providing my cultural identity in that space. It should be everyone that comes, each of the students, as well as their families, as well as any visitor that would've come with me to teach. I think every single child brings a sense of culture, traditions, values, foods they like, things that are really special and representative of their home life.

And so, that was a moment of reflection. If I'm truly knowing my students fully and they're knowing me fully, then what are the elements in the day-to-day classroom learning environment that we're doing to ensure that everyone feels like they're showing up as authentically as they can.

[00:09:08] Ana Torres: This idea of needing to be intentional about the things we're passionate about as educators is what I feel like you're exuding right now, Daniela. And I think, on this episode, we're going to talk about some of those strategies on how to discover, or rediscover, that passion.

I want to take us a little bit back. You mentioned really needing to find a place where you could be your full self. I think it would be helpful to hear a little bit about your background, Daniela.

[00:09:39] Daniela Anello: Yes, absolutely. I would be happy to talk about that. So, I am a first-generation immigrant from Chile. I'm from Viña del Mar, Chile.

[00:09:47] Ana Torres: Chilena. Woo!

[00:09:49] Daniela Anello: Chilena.

[00:09:51] Ana Torres: My first Chilena on Beyond My Years. How exciting.

[00:09:54] Daniela Anello: How exciting. I immigrated to the United States. We came to Astoria, Queens. I was four. My sister was seven.

[00:10:05] Ana Torres: Oh, wow.

[00:10:05] Daniela Anello: And my parents were in their thirties. We settled in Astoria, Queens, in a one-bedroom apartment. And it was so different from what our family and home life and traditions felt like in Chile. In Chile, we had relatives everywhere. We could run around. It was beautiful, fun, safe. It felt easy. Well, it was what I was born into, so it felt very comfortable,

[00:10:31] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:10:32] Daniela Anello: And then you move to Astoria, Queens. I wasn't allowed to necessarily leave my parents' side. I had to go everywhere with them, holding hands, looking around in a way that felt a little stressful.

My parents needed to navigate how to get us to school. And at school, they needed to navigate what that was like, and how do they even enroll me and my sister. And they didn't speak English.

[00:10:57] Ana Torres: Yeah.

[00:10:57] Daniela Anello: And so, quickly I realized that, wow, this was a very new way of living. I became aware that my sister and I had to a little bit step into leadership roles for our family.

[00:11:12] Ana Torres: Yes. Oh, I can relate. I remember being 5, 6, 7 years old and knowing how to read my mom's bank statements.

[00:11:18] Daniela Anello: Right. So we needed to learn language first. There was a growing-up thing that happened very fast.

[00:11:25] Ana Torres: Yes. I remember resenting that when I was little, but now I'm so proud that I was able to kind of pay it forward to my parents and say, "I am a proud immigrant, [proud] to be able to help you, and I thank you for the sacrifice you made."

[00:11:38] Daniela Anello: In addition to that, I want to say that, because of the message that my sister and I were receiving about the sacrifice that my parents made for us, there's the value of education.

[00:11:50] Ana Torres: Yes.

[00:11:51] Daniela Anello: And the "We must do well in school, we must respect our teachers, we must show up prepared, and we must be successful here."

[00:12:00] Ana Torres: Because the sacrifice was made for you.

[00:12:03] Daniela Anello: Exactly.

[00:12:03] Ana Torres: I can so relate to that in my own upbringing, of "Education is the only thing that can't be taken away from you, and we moved here to give you a better chance." That was a big burden to carry.

[00:12:16] Daniela Anello: Yes. Very big.

[00:12:18] Ana Torres: Yeah.

[00:12:18] Daniela Anello: And so, you fast forward. I ended up, and our story's a little bit complicated, in the sense that we did move back to Chile. So, I have childhood memories from being nine through 13 in Chile, and then immigrating again at 13.

So, then there's this middle and high school age of being a fresh, again, new immigrant in a middle school age period.

[00:12:42] Ana Torres: Wow.

[00:12:42] Daniela Anello: High school. And so, I have a lot of experiences around, "Do you assimilate? Am I proud to be Chilean and have these traditions that are very much unique to my family? Or do I want to hide that at school?"

So, that was my struggle through middle and high school. It took a long time. [I was] already into my professional career when I did decide to dedicate my profession to education, and, in particular, I wanted to connect with the most vulnerable families, the most vulnerable kids.

So, my passion was around public school education and connecting with kids like me, that are navigating this world of a lot of change, that need stability, and where school has to be the stability, because they spend the most amount of time at school. So, that was my vision around becoming an educator.

But if you fast forward, the time that I spent after experiencing various cultures in types of schools led me to really believe that I would be the best educator if I found the school community that matched my values and my morals and my tradition and the things that I believed in wholeheartedly, as what I think children need to get out of their system of education. That's what led me to DC Bilingual.

[00:14:08] Ana Torres: And we're going to talk about DC Bilingual and what you've been able to accomplish there. So in 2009, you joined DC Bilingual as a literacy coach, right?

[00:14:19] Daniela Anello: Yes.

[00:14:19] Ana Torres: Then, you became a resident principal, an interim principal, head of school, and now, woo! You are the CEO and I...

Do you hear her? Smiling and laughing. She is now in a role that she has expressed to me where she can be her full, full, authentic self. And I know that joining DC Bilingual enabled you to be that. So, was there a moment where that really clicked for you?

[00:14:48] Daniela Anello: It did. It did. The principal at the time was a turnaround school leader, and she is a Latina, a fierce Latina leader. Her name is Wanda Perez. She was hired to help turn the school around.

Back then, in 2009, if you walked into DC Bilingual, you would see it as this warm, nurturing, happy place. And you would notice that it was missing the rigor.

[00:15:16] Ana Torres: Ah.

[00:15:16] Daniela Anello: There was not an alignment around curriculum, around behavior management, around an understanding around how language acquisition works, not only for Latino students, but also for monolingual students or trilingual students. So, the systems were missing.

[00:15:33] Ana Torres: Okay.

[00:15:33] Daniela Anello: What clicked for me was the principal saying to me that she needs me on her team, that I have a skill set, vision, passion, and content knowledge that she needs, and that she wants me to be a member of the team that helps to design, create, execute, and hold the school accountable for its success.

[00:15:56] Ana Torres: Woo woo!

[00:15:57] Daniela Anello: And I have to tell you, that continuous improvement mindset continues to be the foundation that runs our school, and runs how we make decisions, and data-driven decision-making and alignment across all of the schools, people, and systems, and the schools having great success right now.

[00:16:19] Ana Torres: Well, I love your enthusiasm and your excitement about this.

It seems like everything aligned and you were able to use all of your skills, but also your passion about processes and content knowledge, and not only  valuing the whole students but also equipping teachers to be able to have the resources that they need in order to lift up that rigor.

Unfortunately, what we sometimes find, especially in the biliteracy-multiliteracy space, is we reduce the rigor because we feel like our students can't handle that.

[00:16:54] Daniela Anello: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:54] Ana Torres: But that's another TED Talk for another show. We're going to continue to talk about the passion and how to get our teachers reenergized and discovering that.

It seems very clear, with everything you've shared and your story, that it was very transformative to find an educational environment, such as DC Bilingual, that matched your values. There was a true alignment there.

[00:17:21] Daniela Anello: Yes.

[00:17:21] Ana Torres: And now that I'm thinking of all of our listeners out there who might need some help discovering, or even rediscovering, their own passion. What advice do you have for listeners, Daniela, as far as finding ways to be their true selves and discovering their purpose?

[00:17:40] Daniela Anello: I think that the first step is recognizing your own identity and your own values. The aspects of you that you want to see reflected in the place that you're going to pour your love and heart into.

[00:17:57] Ana Torres: I hear you say, obviously, we have to be reflective too, knowing what that passion is, recognizing what our values are first, and then hopefully finding a place where you can truly do it.

But can I ask you, and go back to something that you mentioned, that you said initially, you didn't know how to be that. But in your initial career, even though you may have been at schools that may have not aligned to that, how did you show up? How were you still able to be Daniela Anello in those moments?

[00:18:33] Daniela Anello: I think there has to be a self-reflection that happens after every single day that we do the job that we do. We're working so hard. Educators plan lessons, give it their best, really want the lessons to be successful, really want to see students learning. And then, what happens is that we have to stop, rest, pause, and recognize, "Did it work? How do I show up again tomorrow?"

It's the resilience. This idea that we're never going to think we did a perfect job, we are never going to think that was a perfect day, that everybody learned everything that was designed for them. But it's that sense of resilience that we try again and we try again. We build off of what we know worked, and what didn't work, we don't do again.

And so, I think that was a little bit of the methodology that helped me each day as I recognized if it wasn't quite right, I needed to do something different for the next day.

[00:19:27] Ana Torres: And so, then you were still showing up as your authentic self, in some regard, as we do this self-reflection. I do love the idea of self-reflection, because I think that's super important in the work that we do, that we're continuously evolving. I think back to one of our Season One guests who did a daily journaling process, and she did it in a very public way. But it doesn't have to be that.

Anything that you did or advice that you might have for folks? How do I do it? What are some things that can be done in order for me as an educator, to show up as I need to?

[00:20:07] Daniela Anello: I think that one of the things that we have to be really clear about is what we are trying to accomplish. The idea of goal setting, I think that's been really transformative for me personally and professionally.

So this idea, as I think about like my teaching years and what I wanted to accomplish and the objectives and which children did it, which children didn't do it, what did I do that I could have done better, and how do I switch it for next year or next day. I think that goal setting around having clear expectations of where you want to go and what you're focusing on.

And even in that story I was telling you earlier, maybe the cultural identity parts or my connection with who I fully am wasn't completely incorporated into the day-to-day, especially at the beginning of my experience. That was also probably because my priorities were different.

[00:20:58] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:20:58] Daniela Anello: My goals, I remember clearly at that time, my goal was to have the children learn how to read and write on grade level. And so, when you have a priority like that, that is overpowering. That's what I'm looking at the assessments for, that's what I'm regrouping kids and trying a new lesson for, and that's focused on that.

So, this idea that if the goal is going to be something different, I need to recognize that. And then, if I want both goals to be there, then I need to find a way to build the connection between [them]. If cultural identity work is part of my mission and my priority, then I need to build those into the lessons that are also going towards having kids learn how to read and write on grade level.

So, it's a matter of prioritization and very clear goal setting, and then making sure we're working towards that all the time. If I think back to the time that I started at DC Bilingual, we had so many things to work on. That was also a moment to really be focused on, "What are we going to get right this month? Or what are we going to get right this term?" And let's pay attention to that. Go all in on that, and then maybe we can keep that going while we start to focus on a new priority.

So, this idea of having goals and clear priorities and objectives and knowing what it looks like to make progress towards them, I think that can span across multiple areas of the educational work.

[00:22:20] Ana Torres: Agreed. I liked how you expressed that goal setting is important. Whether you're a teacher, whether you're an administrator, those are components that are important. And I liked how you said you started out. I think we all start out, when we're newer educators, the goal is to make sure that students are at grade level.

[00:22:38] Daniela Anello: Yes.

[00:22:38] Ana Torres: I mean, that is what we're taught. I know in my alternative certification program, 'cause I came from higher ed, the goal is for all these students to be at grade level. And I was a fourth grade teacher, [I'd] be reading and writing in English and in Spanish, so I was tasked with that. I was very similar to you.

The identity piece of showing up with my story and the challenges that I knew that my babies were facing, that was also very important to me, which were later on infused as I became more of a seasoned educator. So, I really appreciate your self-reflection, goal setting.

That seems to be a strategy that you used. Let's go back to 2009 and you started that out. How was that helpful for you?

[00:23:25] Daniela Anello: Yes, that strategy has been the thing that helped our school grow and thrive over time. There were these initial roadblocks around not knowing what bilingual education could look like in a diverse school setting.

And so, a lot of our children did speak Spanish at home, but many of them didn't. They spoke English at home or a third language at home. We brought in a researcher about language acquisition who came and taught us what happens in the brain when kids are learning a new language. And then they did a professional development for our whole staff and that led to developing the systems and structures for the type of language model that we now have.

So, there was a year when we really audited the amount of time kids spend learning in one language versus another language. We had to have decisions around what content is taught in one language, what content is taught in another. But these are ideas of things that we had to focus on little by little and helped us design the systems.

And then, lo and behold, the achievement, student achievement, is the real measure of "Are they making progress?" And fortunately, the systems that we were putting into place did demonstrate that, year after year, our kids started to see progress on their yearly state assessments. When I first started, the children performed at a 3% proficiency score in math and 30 in reading and writing, and now we're the highest performing elementary charter school in the city.

[00:24:53] Ana Torres: That's exciting.

[00:24:54] Daniela Anello: And we just got the National Blue Ribbon School Award.

[00:24:57] Ana Torres: Woo. That is exciting.

[00:24:59] Daniela Anello: It's teamwork that's happened over the course of time. And the other advice that I'd love to share is that change and improvement happens over time.

[00:25:11] Ana Torres: Over time. Agree.

[00:25:13] Daniela Anello: Over time. And the problem that I see many of our school leaders face and educators face is that they want to see improvement too quickly.

[00:25:23] Ana Torres: Fast. Exactly.

[00:25:24] Daniela Anello: Yes. They may adopt a new curriculum and then try it for a year, or two, and then feel as though it's not having the student growth that they would like to see, and they throw it away and get a new one.

[00:25:38] Ana Torres: And we know that year three, year three minimally, is where we all know best practices, as far as where the data will show if that particular program or curriculum or screener is working.

[00:25:54] Daniela Anello: Yes.

[00:25:55] Ana Torres: So definitely. I definitely, I so agree.

[00:25:57] Daniela Anello: And also, people get better at teaching with the tools that they have more time with. So, the teaching will improve over the course of time. The educators are more familiar with the resources and the curriculum itself. So, it's almost like sometimes we don't give it a chance to get really good. And that's damaging for the ultimate outcome.

[00:26:18] Ana Torres: It seems like you've built an amazing community with your trajectory in DC Bilingual. And so, I'm going to be really quick here, but I want to talk a little bit about that community building and how that is important. What lessons can you quickly share for our listeners?

[00:26:37] Daniela Anello: One thing that was very important for us to get right first was that there was a time where the school needed to home in on what we're doing and how we're doing it first, and become really good at owning the way we do behavior management, owning the way we do reading and writing instruction, owning the way we're going to be celebrating students for their success.

So, there was like a period of time during the transformation of the school where we didn't have great parent engagement because we didn't have the capacity to do it yet.

[00:27:10] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:27:10] Daniela Anello: And it wasn't until we created systems that felt that we could handle as educators, as staff, that we were able to open up the doors slowly to parents to let them in.

Once we had the hang of it, we could bring them in for helping with reading to your child on Fridays. And then, we could bring them in to celebrate as members of the community, you know, the cultural celebration. And we could bring them in to have meetings in which we may look at student data together and talk about where they're headed.

But there was a period of time where we weren't able to do that, because we were still building the systems to allow us a chance to know exactly what we're doing and exactly what we need our families to support us with. I just want to name that also didn't happen right away. It happened over time.

[00:28:02] Ana Torres: Right. If you could see her smiling and beaming. I know that's a part of DC Bilingual that you're very, very proud of. I'm super excited that you are able to share your story.

We're going to close out now with quick questions we're asking of every guest this season, and we're going to see how many of these you can get in about two minutes.

So, we're looking for short answers here. Okay, Daniela?

[00:28:29] Daniela Anello: Okay, I'm ready.

[00:28:30] Ana Torres: All right. So, if you weren't an educator, what would you do for work?

[00:28:35] Daniela Anello: I think I would be a psychologist.

[00:28:37] Ana Torres: Psychologist. Ooh. Would love to talk more about that.

What's one resource that you really recommend for educators?

[00:28:45] Daniela Anello: "The Marshall Memo."

[00:28:47] Ana Torres: Tell us the name of a mentor, educator, and one quality that made them a great mentor.

[00:28:53] Daniela Anello: Maureen Curran. She was my mentor-teacher, when I was a first-year teacher in East Boston. She was the best teacher I had ever seen teach, and she taught me everything. She would let me shadow her in her classroom, but she also came into my classroom and provided me with hands-on support modeling lessons, co-teaching. She's just phenomenal, and she continues to be a mentor.

[00:29:18] Ana Torres: Oh, and the fact that she continues to be speaks highly of who she is.

[00:29:23] Daniela Anello: Yes.

[00:29:24] Ana Torres: Next, we're going to do a few rounds of "This or That."

Whiteboard, or smartboard?

[00:29:29] Daniela Anello: Whiteboard.

[00:29:29] Ana Torres: Color-printed copies, or an in-classroom laminator?

[00:29:33] Daniela Anello: Ooh. I love laminators. I say in-classroom laminator.

[00:29:39] Ana Torres: Slow wifi, or no wifi?

[00:29:42] Daniela Anello: I think slow, better than no.

[00:29:45] Ana Torres: That always seems to give people pause.

Small group, or direct instruction?

[00:29:50] Daniela Anello: Ooh, I loved my whole-class read-alouds. That was all-class read-alouds, where you pour your love into the books you're reading, you know, act dramatic. That was my favorite.

[00:30:03] Ana Torres: What book has contributed the most to your work?

[00:30:07] Daniela Anello: Ooh, that's a hard one. So, it's a new one.

[00:30:10] Ana Torres: Okay.

[00:30:10] Daniela Anello: It's called "Justice Seekers," and it's about how we turn schools into the types of schools that center the child.

[00:30:19] Ana Torres: Ooh, thanks for sharing that one.

And the last one. On tough days, what reminds you of why you're passionate about education?

[00:30:28] Daniela Anello: I just have to go into a classroom. That is it. I just have to see a child. Get a smile from them or help them with something they're working on. And that is it. That reminds me that all of it is for them.

[00:30:41] Ana Torres: That all of it is worth it. Right.

[00:30:43] Daniela Anello: All of it is worth it. Exactly.

[00:30:45] Ana Torres: Well, Daniela, it has been such a pleasure.

Now, before we go, we always like to give our guests an opportunity or a chance to shout out their home district. Would you like to do that now?

[00:30:57] Daniela Anello: Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So, I'd like to give a shout-out to everyone at DC Bilingual, Washington, D.C., the best city in the country. No, just kidding. I don't want to cause trouble, but I definitely shout out to my family in Washington, D.C.

[00:31:15] Ana Torres: What a great shout-out. Wow. Thank you so much for your time today.

[00:31:19] Daniela Anello: Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun.

[00:31:25] Ana Torres: That was Daniela Anello, CEO of DC Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. We'll have links in the show notes to follow her and to learn more about DC Bilingual.

Now let's bring on Classroom Insider Eric Cross.

All right. Classroom Insider Eric Cross is back on, so I really want to hear what you think.

[00:31:50] Eric Cross: Well, there's two things really that stood out to me.

I'll start with the first, which I think is really essential especially for newer or educators who are early in their career, this element of being yourself on purpose when you teach, being intentional about incorporating who you are, your identity. And our identities are so dynamic. There's so much to it. Gloria Ladson-Billings has written a couple books about how important this is. And bringing your identity and your culture into your classroom and making it feel like a space where you can express yourself and then your students can express themselves, too. Do your students see themselves in your classroom?

And one of the ways I do this is, when I was growing up as a kid, my mom had pictures of me around the house. And so, I realized that some of our students don't have photos of themselves around the house. And so, I would take photos of them in the class being successful, and then put that up in the classroom. So, when they walked in, it looked like their space where they belonged, in addition to their art and things like that.

Also, seeing themselves in the curriculum, the books that they read.

[00:32:50] Ana Torres: Mm-hmm. Right.

[00:32:51] Eric Cross: You know, as much as I think "The Outsiders" is a great book, there are definitely more modern books that can connect to our students in different ways.

Letting students bring their full selves and sharing their traditions in the classroom. Culture is a big thing. You know, there's all kinds of different aspects of who we are and our identity.

[00:33:08] Ana Torres: Obviously, as you know, identity and culture, as a former bilingual and dual-language teacher, hits home for me, and that was always infused.

I always showed up in my culture, in my identity as an Afro-Latina, so it was amazing for me. I actually had a great experience right out the gate. But we do know this is a complex issue.

[00:33:30] Eric Cross: Daniela did a great job articulating this. She said there could be two reasons, and this is easier said than done, why you may not feel like you can be yourself.

One is the environment doesn't let you, or two is you may not know who you are.

[00:33:43] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:33:43] Eric Cross: And that's okay.

[00:33:44] Ana Torres: And she spoke about that.

[00:33:46] Eric Cross: It was a great reflection where she didn't simply throw the environment under the bus. She said, "It could be me." You could tell that she was deeply, deeply reflective. And once you've done that, then you could really make choices that are going to be best for who you are as a person, as an educator.

Knowing what you believe about kids, what you believe about people, what you believe about your values and your ethics and about justice, and you may or may not know what they are, or you may not be in an environment where you can express those things, and those are two very different things. Sometimes we're not. We can't be our authentic self.

[00:34:22] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:34:23] Eric Cross: And then, that's the situation of is this where I should be. You know, go where you're going to grow. And if I'm in an environment where I can't be my authentic self, and I know what that is, and I know what I value, then it might be time for me to go somewhere where I can flourish.

And everybody fills a different role, and it creates a different dynamic. And for us as teachers, different schools are the same way. They're organisms. We may feel like we belong in one, but not in another, and that's okay. We can go to a different place where we feel like we can be our full and authentic selves.

[00:34:55] Ana Torres: And I appreciated Daniela bringing that up and being reflective about it. In her initial journey on, she was not always necessarily able to do that in her, in the early parts of her career. So I do appreciate that intentionality of being yourself.

How about number two, Eric?

[00:35:12] Eric Cross: This is one that I've seen be challenging in my own experience, and this is getting your classroom systems in place before inviting families in.

[00:35:19] Ana Torres: Yes. Yes.

[00:35:20] Eric Cross: And oftentimes, there's so many things to do, and everything feels like a fire. We're doing all of the things, but none of them well. You have to start with having these systems inside these internal systems. It's like you're building, if you build your house on sand, you can construct this beautiful house, but it's not going to have a solid foundation.

[00:35:39] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:35:41] Eric Cross: Before bringing families in with the intention of connecting with them, [if] there's no system in place for follow up or meaningful involvement, you don't want to bring them in while the cake is still being baked or while it's chaos.

In data, we know that like structured family engagement improves student success, but there has to be systems in place for that. There has to be avenues for parents to go. I've been in situations where parents would just show up and say, "Where do I volunteer?" and there was no system for that. It just fell on whoever was around to take them on.

And so, look at one or two meaningful entry points for families, and have clear roles and communication for family participation. Have those set in place before you reach out to families, so that families have a pathway that they can support your students in the school.

[00:36:28] Ana Torres: That was intentional. Where she's currently working, they really looked at all of their systems. Having caregivers come on campus was important, but if they would've done it too soon, it wouldn't have been successful.

[00:36:42] Eric Cross: In these situations, what can often happen is you get a bright, shining star. A person on your staff. It could be a student support person. It could be an educator. It could be an administrator. A system is not a person. And if you build something on a person, then when that person leaves, or if that person gets burned out, then your system falls apart. It's not a system. I know a lot of the people who are listening to this, some, many of these people are that person.

[00:37:05] Ana Torres: Yes.

[00:37:05] Eric Cross: They're that key person that everything is built upon. And that's a lot of weight and a lot of pressure.

[00:37:09] Ana Torres: It is. It is. Now, I know you always have a third one.

[00:37:14] Eric Cross: Yeah. You went into this. Give things time to grow before trying something new.

[00:37:19] Ana Torres: Mm-hmm.

[00:37:20] Eric Cross: And lasting change requires patience and consistency. Long-term investment. And again, as a science teacher, for me, we need to be able to collect data over a period of time, before we can really make a determination about results. And if you continuously pivot and never give it time, I think in the podcast you said about three years, right?

[00:37:38] Ana Torres: At least. Minimally. Yes.

[00:37:40] Eric Cross: At least, at least three years.

[00:37:41] Ana Torres: Year three is where you're going to really see, you're going to see the growth.

[00:37:46] Eric Cross: And for us as educators, we want to see improvement right away when we see something not working. But what often happens is when you try something new, you go through this trough of disillusionment, where you get discouraged because it's change and people push back or it's unfamiliar, and you're like, "No, no, no, I want to go back to the way it was." And changing strategies too soon, it's like digging up a seed every week to check if it's growing.

[00:38:10] Ana Torres: Right.

[00:38:10] Eric Cross: So, give it time, whether that's in your classroom or in your school. Allow things time to grow, collect data, and then look back on that data to see was this something that was actually working for us?

[00:38:20] Ana Torres: That's a really great takeaway. Give things time to grow before trying something new. And I think a lot of you listeners out there, a lot of educators out there know how important that is.

So, Eric, as always, so great chatting with you, and I can't wait to unpack the next episode with you.

[00:38:39] Eric Cross: I look forward to the next one, Ana. Thanks.

[00:38:43] Ana Torres: Thanks for listening to Beyond My Years from Amplify. Next time, I'll be speaking with Mike Flynn, nationally recognized expert in mathematics education, professional development, and online learning.

[00:38:56] Mike Flynn: Don't be afraid of your own teacher voice in exercising that. You can actually find that your voice can be really powerful in influencing district decisions, and collective voice is even stronger.

[00:39:10] Ana Torres: That's coming up in two weeks. You can find show notes, transcripts, past episodes, and lots of resources to help you extend your reach at our website, amplify.com/beyond-my-years.

I'm your host, Ana Torres. Our Classroom Insider is Eric Cross. Our music is by Andrew Smolan. Until next time, please remember to reach out and say thank you to a seasoned educator who has shaped your life.