Sixty minute Twitter chats are never long enough to explore an author’s published work, but JoEllen McCarthy shared a number of memorable tweets during that hour that allow us, as educators, insight into her commitment to book choices that resonate with students. You can view the entire chat here.
I hope you’ll do yourself a favor and read personal thoughts from JoEllen on writing Layers of Learning; what she hopes teachers will take to heart as they read, and how she believes that kids and book/heart connections can go far beyond the classroom.
1) What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?
Over the years I have spent many hours and many dollars searching for books that help lift the level of our conversations with kids. It is always exciting to explore the craft lessons in books, but more importantly, I believe sharing powerful stories can connect us to one another, help strengthen our relationships, acknowledge our differences, and encourage us to be caring members of our learning communities. This is why I wrote Layers of Learning to explore the ways we can layer reading, writing, and life lessons.
What a powerful thought–that books can be co-teachers that facilitate discussions leading to empathy, compassion, and commitment to celebrating diversity for students and teachers. JoEllen’s passion for using thoughtfully selected books that knit hearts together is beyond inspiring. This labor of love, Layers of Learning, is exactly what’s needed as teachers learn from JoEllen how to artfully “layer” texts with authentic life lessons.
2) What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices? ****
It is my hope that the texts and connections will invite teachers to extend the possibilities that balance academic and social-emotional growth in order to reach the whole child and the whole community. Part one shares a framework for thinking about the ways we can use read alouds to spark student-led conversations and discussion possibilities for Life Layers. The connections (additional texts, Ted Talks, professional resources and more) paired with literacy snapshots illustrate messages of authentic, student centered work, at the same time, expand the possibilities to extend the conversation beyond the books.
One big take away: We need to think beyond book lists. More important than the texts we choose is the line of thinking around our choice.
JoEllen shares in her book additional tools to promote deep thinking and reflection about texts and their indelible connection to our lives. Additional texts, media, multiple modalities that partner with books to allow deeper, more complex thinking are included in Layers of Learning. Kids need opportunities in their learning day to safely practice issues of life through discussion, reflection, writing. A stage, if you will, where they can comfortably act out concerns, relationships and everyday matters of life.
3) What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?
Books just BEGIN the conversations… through stories, we can honor our students’ identity, community, culture, traditions, and values and—through those stories—encourage habits of acceptance, appreciation, and respect as we learn more about ourselves, others, and our world.
JoEllen’s book could not have come at a better time. With the upheaval of every day life in this pandemic, the fight for disenfranchised people to be allowed a voice, a desire by many to unite the people in our country, JoEllen’s “heartwork” is sorely needed in today’s classrooms.
Now, thanks to JoEllen, we can do this. We can take inspiration and practical moves from Layers of Learning to facilitate discussions around great books as the impetus for thoughtful, intentional change.
Just over a year ago I was sitting at dinner with my wife Julie, Bob Probst and Kylene Beers (pinch me it was one of the greatest moments of my life) and as we visited they mentioned a new book they had been working on. I was obviously excited because any time to learn from them is a welcome opportunity. A few months later I received an email asking if I would preview the book and provide a little blurb. I was so grateful to do so and dove into the book fully unaware of how important the content inside would be.
Power and Privilege
As a teacher, I would talk to my kids about what literacy meant all the time. We would discuss reading and writing as tools of literacy. That same weekend I mentioned earlier Kylene was presenting and asked that question to the audience, “What is literacy?” She listened and smiled as answers poured in and then she presented a different take. She spoke about literacy being power and how that power has been wielded as a tool of control and that it is our duty as teachers to wield that power in the name of disrupting the systems that have so often suppressed as we need to help provide our students with the power of a literate life to be the agents of change we need in a world still filled with so much injustice. This framing of what literacy was impacted my thinking last February and as I pored through the pages of Forged by Reading both the history of literacy and the damages that abusing its power has caused and the hope for a future where all students are informed and have the tools of literacy available to them to help shape a better, stronger, more just society were evident. Literacy has the power to do that.
Click the Tweet to expand the thinking
Responsively and Responsible
As we learn more of the history of literacy and the power it has to be both liberating and suppressing I am again reminded of this idea that was first brought to my attention in the wonderful Disrupting Thinking. This notion that we need to be both Responsive and Responsible readers. In the simplest of terms, we have to be open to the idea that reading can impact us, lead us to think, create a sense of urgency to act and then we must act. We spend so much time teaching kids to read for information that we inadvertently teach them to ignore the feelings they encounter. As teachers, we are guilty of doing the same. When we not only recognize the thoughts and feelings that we have around a text but then act we are opening doors to new discussions and opportunities to grow and facilitate change. In Forged by Reading Bob and Kylene expand on a great Framework that they gave us in Disrupting Thinking to increase the role of responsibility in reading. The Book-Head-Heart Framework is an amazing tool to help readers be more responsive, providing a structure to responsibly organize their thinking around a text and reflect on the importance to them. In Forged by Reading it goes a step further asking what we can DO. BHH-D asks us to take that next step and our students are ready for it when the opportunity is provided because our students want to talk about and work to make better the problems of the world. Just sit down and ask them.
Click the tweets to expand the thinking
They will change the world; just get out of the Damn Way
In Forged by Reading Kylene and Bob share a list of items that students are interested in talking about. All of the major issues facing the world come up. Our students want to solve the problems of today because they will be inheriting the world of tomorrow. Too often adults determine what is “too much” for our students. As the world starts to face these tough conversations there are forces that want to keep these topics from the discussions we have with our youth. Lawmakers are trying to ban discussions around racial injustice, gun safety, poverty and the environment because they know that literacy is power and they want to hold on to that power themselves. When we work to make sure our students have the opportunity to address these issues, to challenge the status quo and work for better we start to do the work that will bring about change. Every year my students participate in #ProjectSpeak. They identify issues important to them and research the topic in hopes that presenting it to others will not only spread awareness but attract others to their cause. Topics have ranged from feed formulas so that cattle are better sellers to pay equity in sports and everything in between. When we provide the space to explore meaningful topics our students will always rise to the occasion.
Click the Tweets to expand the thinking
We have the power to change the current reality.
The power of Forged by Reading and really any book is in the hands of the reader. The words and ideas that Bob and Kylene have presented us with are wasted if we do not take them and act both responsively and responsibly. One of my favourite type of Superheroes are reality manipulators, I think it is the idea that only their imagination can hold them back. Literacy has the power to unlock that imagination in all of us. It provides us with the tools to see the world beyond where it currently is. As I close I share this tweet from Kylene,
What is the reality we want our students to be able to imagine? What is the reality we want our parents and community to see? We have the power to change it. To make the shifts to a better place for our students and our future. The time for sitting back and waiting is over. The time of enjoying our comforts while others struggle to get ahead are over. We can and must do better. As someone mentioned in the chat, our students are world shakers. We as teachers either need to help or get out of the way. There is important work to do.
Neither the weather or the continuing pandemic was able to dampen spirits and pull folks away from the #G2Great chat with Colleen Cruz on Thursday, February 11, 2021. As we began planning for this chat, I worried about being able to write about both the book and chat in a credible fashion that would do justice to the brilliance shared. As the chat ensued, I realized that I was right to worry with so much greatness packed into a 60 minute chat!
I first met Colleen almost eight years ago when she was my staff developer at my initial Writing Institute at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Eye opening. Jaw dropping. Work. Writing. Learning. And in the interest of full disclosure I have learned from Colleen, live and in person or virtually, every year since as I continue to grow my own literacy knowledge and skills.
So where to really start with this mutual adoration of Colleen Cruz and her brilliance, this book and the chat? I reread all of my notes about Colleen’s books and presentations. I perused the Wakelet artifact from this chat and liked or retweeted almost a hundred tweets that included every single one from Colleen. How to organize? How to find a manageable set of tasks to meet my purpose: What to share in this post?
A Mistake. Two paired tweets from Colleen from the last question in the chat.
The following tweets offer a glimpse into definitions of mistakes. You can learn more from the text excerpt, the audio book or the Heinemann blog listed below in the resources. Mistakes are hard to define unless you spend some time thinking about what they are and what they are not as #g2great team member Val Kimmel offers in the second tweet. Stacey and Nadine add on to the learning properties of mistakes.
What are the different types of mistakes?
Getting beyond mistakes are “good” or “bad” takes some work or study. Not all mistakes are equal. Four kinds of mistakes include: stretch mistakes, aha moment mistakes, sloppy mistakes, and high-stakes mistakes. You can read more about those at Heineman here, “Not All Mistakes are Good”, check out the Facebook Live series here, or read from Eduardo Briceno at either Mind/Shift here or his Ted Talk here.
The goal: to be aware of the types of mistakes, when they happen, why they happen, your response to mistakes, and the effects of those mistakes. This will take study, thoughtful reflection and a bit of self-awareness. The danger is in continuing on the path of sloppy and high-stakes mistakes after knowing that these are harmful. Many sloppy and high-stakes mistakes are avoidable with careful attention to our words and actions. I wondered about characterizing Colleen’s Tweet mistake above as one of the four types . . . and yet, without an edit button in Twitter, mistakes can easily happen from nimble fingers on less than responsive keyboards. I didn’t see the mistake when I first saw the second tweet as I read the word “msitake” as I expected it to be – during the fast pace of the chat – rather than the word as presented on the screen.
My past week and two mistakes …
1. Missed a webinar. I signed in on the last five minutes. Yes, sloppy mistake on the time zone recording on my calendar. I emailed and apologized for missing and will take greater care in recording/checking the times on my calendar. (Self care? Definitely a tired mistake!)
2. Fabric rows on my quilt did not match. Border and final two rows were more than an inch longer than the above 7 rows. At the time, I thought it was a high-stakes mistake, but it was really a stretch mistake as this was my first “pieced” quilt and I had never even thought about the difference in the rows. Future: check and double check connecting rows as the pieces are assembled.
Fran’s notes
Are all mistakes equal? When do we give grace? And to whom?
Jill’s tweet above is the bridge between reflecting and learning and offering ourselves grace. Mistakes are not a cause for self-flagellation. Mistakes vary according to the type as to intent and impact. Even more, our responses vary. Do we automatically offer grace to some students? Do we like to share our magnanimity with the entire class when we bestow grace? Which students have to earn grace? All of these are questions just about grace that stem from Colleen’s tweet below. The most “telling” factor may be “Who do we withhold it (grace) from?”
So now what?
Think of a recent mistake of your own. Which of the types was it? What was your response? What is your plan for next time?
Now think of a recent student mistake. What happened? What type was it? What was your response? What might you say or do differently? Do you know enough? Consider which of the resources below will be helpful?
As Colleen Cruz says in Risk. Fail. Rise. and Val and Mary emphasize above, the value in studying our mistakes is so we “can learn to separate our ego and form a mistake-welcoming culture.” Mistakes as learning experiences. Mistakes as a sign of growth and a source of data to use to ascertain growth.
The warmth of spring made everyone’s thoughts turn toward the freedom of endless summer days, and although students were anticipating the break, they (thankfully) still engaged in class conversation and reading. We were studying the 1960s, using texts by S.E. Hinton and Walter Dean Myers to anchor our unit of study and further explore the time period through the lens of fiction. As discussion stretched to the Vietnam War, the kids had plenty of questions that our cursory conversation would not touch, so I scoured textbooks and websites for texts that would help us think about the war, and answer many of the questions that piqued their curiosity.
I arrived at school rather early the next day with one text in particular in mind. Once in the workroom, I made photocopies of “Calling Home” from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and imagined, as the bar of light hummed across the open-face book, the different questions students might ask. We’ll treat it as an inquiry, I thought. I’ll gather their questions and use them to find more texts. Or, better yet, send them out to research the answers themselves. When the final photocopy emerged from the machine, I gathered the stack of papers and ambled to my room, excited at the prospect of what I believed would be an engaging conversation.
My excitement was short-lived.
I read part of Tim O’Brien’s piece to them, invited them to jot down their thinking, then asked them to read the rest by themselves. “When you’re finished, ask two questions that you really want to know,” I said before sending them to read the rest on their own. Compliantly, heads turned toward the page, but very few students were actually reading. I glanced around the room and recognized an overall detachment and lack of interest. O’Brien’s story is one of longing and emotion, an imaginative exploration of what it means to feel distant, yet connected. There was so much to think about, but once they were finished, most of the class doodled in the margins of the page or put their heads down. And only a few kids wrote something down once they finished.
Believing a conversation would bring everyone back together and energize the classroom, I started with an open-ended question: “What did you think of the story?”
The expected students offered elliptical responses, but even they seemed disengaged. Allen, a student whose insightful comments across the year had deepened class discussion, sat twirling his pencil. Ask him, I thought. He’ll offer something worthwhile.
“So Allen, what did you think of the story?”
“Oh, I didn’t really read it.”
“Well why not?”
His voice was louder when he responded, “Because this was boring!”
He held my gaze for several seconds, then turned his attention back to twirling the pencil, and I, hurt, frustrated, and embarrassed, moved the class to something else. I don’t even remember what it was.
I tiptoed through the rest of that year with Allen, and for fear of the same thing occurring again with successive groups of students, I spent several years opting for easier texts, ones I felt would engage kids and that no one would label boring. But these texts minimized class conversation even more. Students read, but there was little to sink our teeth into. Discussion fizzled after just a few minutes. Time to move on to something else, students’ eyes told me.
So we did.
It would be several years before I realized how wrong this all was. Anyone who knows me understands the value I now place on professional reading and digging deeper into the craft of teaching, especially the craft of teaching language arts. But it wasn’t always that way. When I discovered that there were people who were answering the questions I had about reading, I devoured a host of books. Leaning into the words of wise educators caused a shift in my practice— I abandoned the tired strategies that did nothing to engage kids and sought methods and ideas that would lift my level of instruction and the enthusiasm in the room. Cris Tovani’s Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? was one of the many books I pored over, and although connected primarily to content-area reading comprehension, I found myself jotting down tons of notes, chapter after chapter, realizing how I could help students unpack texts in class. While I had loved every single professional book I’d read, something about Cris’s writing made me feel as though she had walked into the room I’m sitting in and had joined me for a chat just between friends. I’ve learned so much from other reading specialists, but Cris’s delivery is specific and dependable. She grafts experience with strategy and moves you, the reader, into an imaginative space where you can see yourself engaging kids in the beautiful work of reading and thinking. Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? gave me a way to approach reading with kids, especially in regard to outlining why I’m using a particular text. Defining my instructional purpose first, then exploring how I want students to hold their thinking as they read helps me not to arbitrarily choose a text. It encourages me to select a text with purpose. Cris made me consider my why and understand the barriers I was putting between kids and deep, close reading. My reading instruction evolved.
But Cris is always teaching us. When she is inspired by a question or is seeking a more profound understanding of teaching readers, she molds her thinking into a book and gifts it to the world. Her newest book, Why Do I Have to Read This? has stretched my thinking about reading instruction even further. While her other work has challenged my thinking, Why Do I Have to Read This? provides more shape and structure to the literacy work I do. Story drives the work she does in this book. She doesn’t just tell us or show us. She models it. Narrative, rich dialogue and beautiful writing all combine to pull us further and further into her method of teaching.
I love how Cris discusses the masks that students wear and how she has learned to recognize them, to understand them. She approaches teaching with such empathy, helping me critically examine the biases I carry with me into the classroom and reflect on how I approach conversations with students. Right now, thinking of Bryan in third period who is a class clown, who loves to voice his opinion, with evidence, during discussions about controversial topics. Cris knows about him. She explains,
“When I value compliance over controversy, I’m just asking for students to disengage. After a while, vanilla gets boring. Students who wear the mask of the class clown thrive on controversy. They want to argue. They need to argue. Learning reasons why they feel a certain way about an issue and then being able to articulate those reasons is empowering…” (p. 99).
After reading this part, I walked into class the following day a much different teacher. My lens changed, and although I had given Bryan the space he needed to discuss his thinking, I understood him differently. There was a nuance there that hadn’t existed before. He must have felt the difference, too, because that day, he engaged in holding his thinking in his notebook for the first time all year.
In addition to the mask of the class clown, Cris explores the masks of anger and apathy, minimal effort, and invisibility. Real-world connections give meaning to what we study, she asserts, and when we give students interesting things to read and to consider, those masks start to fade. Engaging, authentic questions move us to press closer to the heart of an answer, and although we may never find a full answer, the journey, and what we learn along the way, are what matter.
Throughout the book, Cris offers real teaching examples, showcasing how she models close reading and annotations for her students and the feedback she gives to kids. I am in awe of her authenticity. Using her CYA structure (Content You Anticipate) — topic, task, target, text, tend, and time — teachers can better meet the needs of students. Good teachers anticipate what students may already know about a topic, what authentic tasks will help them explore the topic, what students need to know (target), the texts that will help them make sense of the topic, the needs of the students (tend), and how much time learners will need. CYA, coupled with long-term planning, gives our teaching room to breathe. It helps us curate a wide selection of texts that will meet the needs of our students in case our first choices aren’t a good fit. And, it helps us anticipate the students who will ask, “Why do I have to read this?”
Whenever I read a professional book that speaks to students’ reading engagement, Allen is one of the first students whose face materializes in my mind. His story haunts me each time I sit down to plan a unit of study and search for texts that will move kids to ask more questions and reconsider what they already think. While I have gone to Cris’s other books for several years to guide my teaching, Why Do I Have to Read This? will be close by anytime I attempt to plan an upcoming unit. I’ll also keep it close by as a reminder that all students come to class with unique needs, and it is through understanding and compassion that we begin to unpack what those needs are.
Cris’s writing has mentored my teaching for several years. When I feel frustrated or isolated, or have no idea what to do next with students, her soothing words build a bridge from where I am to where I need to be. Early in the book, she shares a letter from Sam Bennett (author of That Workshop Book, which is a wonderful text for teachers) that left her angry, but nudged her to reframe the way she taught some of her most vulnerable students. The beautiful thing here is that Cris opens up about how her thinking changed, and the ways she challenged and transformed the way she taught striving readers. Even after years of experience, Cris models for us what it means to confront feedback and use it to move our classrooms forward.
Several weeks ago, while reading Why Do I Have to Read This?, I laid the book face-down on my desk and stared at a stack of responses to texts we had been reading in class. Students’ writing was lifeless and detached, and even though I believed we were talking about good stuff, their connections were not as deep as mine. And yes, I saw Allen’s face, too.
As I sat there, I recognized how conversations across the year had proven that students wanted to talk about deep topics, ones that were relevant to their lives. They wanted to talk about controversy. They had been ready for the “hard stuff,” but I had not yet given it to them. So, I recognized my own mask of minimal effort, slid it off my face, and returned to Cris’s book. I generated stronger overarching questions, invited students to evaluate them with me, and gave them a chance to explore their initial thinking before diving into a new collection of texts that would help us press closer to the heart of an answer.
But like every other teacher, I am still learning.
Cris’s book is a work of (he)art. It challenges us to rethink our teaching, but most importantly, it reminds us of the humanity of teaching. When we walk into the room with our students, we know them best. We know what they need and the things that will make their hearts sing. In the last part of the book, Cris says,
“We have a choice. We can stormily enter the room and with a grumpy face look at our students with disappointment and disdain. Or, we can be a ray of light and come to class giving and expecting the best. We can blindly follow a curriculum guide that someone else has made, or we can use it to enhance our own long-term planning to ensure that our content is compelling, accessible, and reflective of all learners. It’s up to us. We decide who we give up on and who we try to re-engage. We hold a lot of power” (p. 178).
We hold a lot of power.
What a beautiful statement.
In a time when high-stakes tests dominate many district conversations, it’s important to remember that we still have agency. It may not seem that way all the time, but it’s there. Cris explains that it’s important to interrogate the texts we use and to recognize that controversial topics give us a chance to discuss topics that for too long education has ignored. If you’re like me, Cris’s book will remind you of the light that shines inside of you. And while it may be a flickering flame, it still burns and has the power to burst into a roaring fire.
References
Bennett, S. (2007). That workshop book: New systems and structures for classrooms that read, write, and think. Heinemann.
O’Brien, T. (2009). The things they carried. Mariner Books.
Tovani, C. (2004). Do I really have to teach reading?: Content comprehension, grades 6-12. Stenhouse.
Tovani, C. (2021). Why do I have to read this?: Literacy strategies to engage our most reluctant students. Stenhouse.
Travis Crowder, M.Ed., is a middle school English/Language Arts teacher at East Alexander Middle School in Hiddenite, NC. Travis frequently shares his thinking about teaching on Twitter @teachermantrav and you can read more of his exquisite writing on his blog https://www.teachermantrav.com. Our #g2great chat team is honored that Travis is a guest writer to our blog several times each year. We are so grateful for his thoughtful contributions.
On 1/28/21, #G2Great was honored to celebrate the remarkable work of #DisruptTexts and co-founders, Tricia Ebarvia, Lorena Germán, Dr. Kim Parker, and Julia Torres. Our #G2Great team steadfastly supports their efforts and are grateful for this opportunity to spotlight the guides they created for all of us so that more teachers can bring them to life in the company of children.
What is #DisruptTexts? I can’t think of a better way to respond to this question than in the words of the founders. In a January 2021 Statement they help us to understand both what #DisruptTexts is and is not:
#DisruptTexts is “a crowdsourced, grassroots effort by teachers for teachers to challenge the traditional canon in order to create a more inclusive, representative, and equitable language arts curriculum that our students deserve.” We believe that education, and literacy in particular, can be transformative. Through a more equitable curriculum and antiracist pedagogy, we believe that we can effect a more just world. All students deserve an education that is inclusive of the rich diversity of the human experience. They deserve one that introduces them to and affirms the voices both inside and outside their individual lives.
In addition to helping to spread this important work, we specifically wanted to share their #DisruptTexts Guides that include eight titles. The four Core Principals of these guides are shown in this visual.
Throughout our #G2great chat, we shared their wise words:
A gift for all teachers are the eight guides that are located on the #DisruptTexts website. These guides will spark conversations about the texts that are used in classrooms. Are they representative? Do students see themselves? Can these texts be paired with existing resources? Could/should some texts be replaced with texts that will be more relevant to students in 2021? The existing guides created by the founders offer rich mentor texts that will support thoughtful additions based on your students.
The guides include:
At the Mountain’s Base by Traci Sorrell
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
What Lane by Torrey Maldonado
Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
As I looked at the eight guides above, one thing that immediately struck me is how far removed they are from traditional “lesson plans” riddled with the ‘telling and doing’ that leaves little room for respecting teacher decision making guided by foundational understandings. Rather these powerful “guides” are designed to provoke and support new THINKING through considerations, suggestions, vocabulary, key concepts and questions to ask ourselves as trusted professionals. They explain in the guide description:
“Each principle stands for actions that are culturally sustaining and antiracist. Through each principle, teachers aim to offer a curriculum that is restorative, inclusive, and therefore works toward healing identities and communities. As you read this guide, you’ll see how each of these principles informs the approach recommended …”.
Across each guide, these four remarkable educators keep this promise as they honor those principles within all titles. And through these eight guides, they offer a pathway that will support each of us in embracing instructional practices that are “restorative, inclusive, and therefore works toward healing identities and communities.“
Questioning Curriculum
It is our shared humanity that quickens the urgency for change. As I reflect upon the collective wisdom of these brilliant educators, I find that more questions are stirring inside me. How can healing and restoration begin? What are the long-standing practices that have gone unchallenged by me? What are my biases, and actions sustaining? What voices are silenced in the texts I am using? What voices are amplified in those texts? Why? When we interrogate our curriculum in this way, we are honoring all students. What better place than school, a public yet intimate space where we can broaden perspective and raise expectations that there are many sides to any story.
Taking Action
Now. Now is the time to take action to change literacy instruction for the better. Right now, we can take steps towards a more responsive curriculum. Find a partner. What can one teacher do without a partner? Begin with the four core principles from #DisruptText and you may well be the spark in your school that ignites a movement towards equity, antiracism, and social justice.
You can access the entire chat provided by Wakelet.
We’ve all been talking about the issue of inequity since last spring when the pandemic brought face-to-face learning to a halt. It wasn’t hard to admit that disruption of business as usual in education was going to make it glaringly apparent that many of our kids were not privy to resources, support, technology. The tragic part of this reality was that the inequity has been there for years and it took a global pandemic for the conversation to be raised to a heightened level.
In September of this year, the Economic Policy Institute published on online article, COVID-19 and Student Performance, Equity, and U.S. Education Policy. I was most interested in what the authors, Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss would have to say about what we’re doing, what we’ve learned, and how we as an educational community are going to bring about AND sustain change.
The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated the well-documented opportunity and enrichment gaps that put low-income students at a disadvantage relative to their better-off peers. By opportunity and enrichment gaps, we mean gaps in access to the conditions or resources that enhance learning and development between low-income students and their higher-income peers (with low-income students less likely than their better-off peers to access these conditions and resources).
We have a responsibility as educators to be keenly aware of how our students are affected by based on their needs whether those needs are academic, emotional health and well-being or basic needs of food, housing, healthcare. Our peers in the chat Thursday evening expressed concern for similar issues mentioned in the EPI piece.
We’re concerned for students and their families. Some issues are easier to tackle than others. There have been far too many issues of inequity that have been pushed down repeatedly for years. As much as the pandemic has caused great disruption, we can be grateful for the way this difficult year has brought issues of inequity to the forefront. It’s time to use what we’ve learned in the past nine months to make the needed changes.
Our #g2great chat on inequity raised some similar and other differing views of learning from what we’ve observed during this pandemic.
We know that historically crises give opportunity to challenge the status quo. In the wake of this pandemic, we must have the difficult conversations about the structures and systems in education. Our focus has to be on investing in new and innovative solutions We would do well to commit to creating and sustaining equity for all stakeholders–students, families, teachers, and support staff. Ensuring equity in education means we must admit the disparities in student success by race and class. Those disparities can and must be transformed into opportunities for all students. The time is now for redesigning systems and structures toward excellence and equity so that every child succeeds.
One thing I think everyone can agree on is that our classrooms are not isolated environments. The events of the world will always bleed their way into our classrooms. The unique identities of our students and their experiences will influence not just how they learn but also what interests them and their peers.
When insurrectionists and terrorist stormed the Capitol building a few weeks ago we almost instantly saw teachers asking how we planned to address the events in our classroom. Reports came in from all over the world that people were watching. Regardless of your politics you have to recognize that this event was one that not only our students, but all of us could learn from.
Starting with our students
I have this reminder from the brilliant Dr. Gholdy Muhammad on the wall behind my desk. At the start of the year, I have my students reflect on this and write out their excellence. We have spent much of the year focused on writing about themselves and different elements of their identities. We structure our writing around their interests. Through this, I have been able to present my students with scenarios that pique their interests while also providing learning opportunities.
Currently, we are looking at Food Insecurity in Canada. This is a current topic and as we explore it my students are working back to how living with this might impact their identities. It has been interesting to see their reactions and questions. I feel strongly that if we didn’t spend time understanding ourselves first that we would have less success in understanding others and ultimately to develop and hold the compassion to be moved to action in this situation.
As part of the chat, teachers shared ways they focus on identity and build community in their classrooms.
From Self to the World
Throughout the chat we discussed how we bring in topics that are happening in the world and how we model respectful conversations about them. Generally it seems that people have forgotten that a conversation requires more than one voice. We need to be open to listening attentively not listening to respond. Our students need that explained and modelled to them.
When I taught third grade we spent time practicing this skill. Funny enough we practiced it talking about ourselves. Then sharing with peers to introduce our partners. The second point to conversations that we often come to is not only listening but respecting that not all people think or see things the same way and that respecting their right to have a different opinion is important.
Where I think the events of the last few years have created a need for change is in students ability to identify truth. Misinformation and half truths are a huge stumbling block when discussing bringing the events of the world into our classrooms. Our students young and old are not only getting the facts as they occur and bringing those with them to our conversations. They are getting a version of those facts often times distorted by political ideology at the very least and hateful rhetoric at its worst.
Because of these changes language matters. Questions matter. I appreciate the work of educators like Bob Probst and Kylene Beers that help us to examine non-fiction texts with their signposts to ask questions about the way information is presented. I appreciate Kelly Gallagher pointing out and asking students to identify what is said and not said. Largely in my own practice, I am asking of my students lately the question I first saw Tricia Ebarvia pose “Who benefits?” When our students are bringing the events of the world into our classrooms to learn we need to teach them how to navigate those waters.
In closing
The world is a classroom for our students whether we acknowledge it or not. It is important that we know our students and they know themselves as they enter the world with the tools to navigate the texts that they will be inundated with. The 24 hour news cycles, the “alternative facts” the politically biased reporting. We can’t just ignore all that is going on and hope that our students will find answers elsewhere. If the world is a classroom then we should be providing our students the tools and strategies to navigate it.
“Both what is taught and how it is taught is shaped by the cultural, social, political, and historical contexts in which a school is situated. We can’t pretend that teachers can leave these contexts at the door.”
Alyssa Hadley Dunn, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University
I sit at my computer. With fingers perched joyfully on the keyboard I type. Six-Year Anniversary Chat. I pause to soak in the magnitude of those words. I swell with pride.
Each year on our #G2great anniversary, I linger in the glow of dialogue past as I eagerly anticipate those that are yet to come. These celebrations still feel so unexpected since our 1/8/15 birth was intended as a ten-week study of my book, Good to Great Teaching: Focusing on the Literacy Work thatMatters (Heinemann 2012). On our 5th anniversary, I wrote a post about the book that launched #G2great: 10 Lessons Teachers Taught Me About Good to Great Teaching. It seems fitting to share my post for the second time as we celebrate a new year of the chat that carries its name.
Standing joyfully before the year six gate, I’d like to express my deep gratitude for what has been a collective labor of love among dear friends; co-moderators Jenn Hayhurst, Fran McVeigh, Valinda Kimmel, Brent Gilson and chat advisor, Towanda Harris. It’s a blessing to continue the #G2great chat experience alongside friends committed to our shared learning. I’d also like to express appreciation for every educator who has ever shown up on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. across the year. Your unrelenting dedication for your own learning in the name of children is the perpetual conversational fuel that keeps #G2great thriving into year six.
As I glance back at the last five years and look ahead to year six, I think about 286 #G2Great chats that have allowed us to take a closer look at authors, students, topics, series, articles, blog posts and podcasts along with 243 blog reflections extending each one. Past chats lovingly reside in our Wakelet home where future collaborations will join them in the coming days. Our celebration for each of our anniversaries is captured in the blog posts and Wakelet artifacts below:
While our #G2great 2015 maiden chat voyage was based on one book, we have since broadened our vision. Our respect for collegial discourse inspires us to maintain this collaborative space where educators come to share their understandings, curiosities and wonderings in service of professional introspection and inquiry. These collectivethink partnerships challenge us to put our beliefs on display in a twitter style reflective mirror where we can look beyond ourselves. Our goal has always been to offer a range of topics and texts, but we will continue to expand our selections to those that push us to engage in dialogue that further nudges us out of our respective comfort zones. For this reason, we thought that courageous conversations was a fitting launching for Year Six.
Before I turn my attention to #G2great tweets, I’d like to emphasize what courageous conversations are not. The day before our anniversary chat, the antithesis of courageous conversations reared its ugly head as our democratic process erupted into a mob mentality fueled by social media, conspiracy theory lies and failed leadership. We watched as cowardly confrontations riddled with venomous intent unfolded into real life horror across our TV screens. Compounding the sadness and fear this evoked was the realization that it would have been a very different scene if this mob had not been mostly white. At a time when police brutality and racism run rampant, we cannot ignore this stark distinction of realities.
Courageous conversations invite us to recognize social injustices and inequities and to speak out against them. Courageous conversations invite us to listen before speaking. Courageous conversations invite us to stand up and be heard when it matters most. Courageous conversations invite us to step out of our comfort zone even when we fear how our words might be perceived or even acted upon. Courageous conversations are not motivated by hate but by carefully weighing our words. Courageous conversations ask us to look beyond our own reality and see the reality of others. Courageous conversations are thoughtfully responsible and allow us to look within to consider our own biases that may well influence those conversations.
While courage (or the lack of) can happen anywhere including on social media, many have argued that it is impossible to have a “conversation” in a twitter chat. While we do not consider our chat a substitute for face-to-face, back-and-forth real time dialogue that we also hold dear, we do believe that it offers a starting point that affords an opportunity to engage with others even when that may be otherwise unlikely given our wide range of cities, states, and even countries. We also worry that many educators who attend our chat do not have a safe space where they can have these conversations. We would like to think that a twitter chat, while not the traditional kind of conversation that would be far more powerful, offers seeds as a first step along a pathway that could reach far beyond our chat.
Here are a few tweets that reflect seeds of courageous conversations
Courageous conversations can also reflect the ways in which we stand up for the instructional practices and the impact those practices may have on children for better or for worse if they are not carefully considered and equitable. These conversations implore us to speak out when we recognize that our practices marginalize any child or that those practices ignore the right of all children to receive a responsive, equitable and meaningful education that respects them as unique individuals with unique needs.
Here are a few tweets that reflect seeds of courageous conversations
After looking back at our #G2great chat, I noticed some things to keep in mind as we encourage and support the courageous conversations we hope might begin on this chat and move into our schools and our classrooms and ultimately out into the world.
Courageous conversations traverse along a journey, not a stopping point
Courageous conversations are not something we schedule into the school calendar and then pat ourselves on the back for holding a ‘courageous conversation event.’ We must, rather, commit to courageous conversations for the long-haul as we create an invitational spirit for conversations as opportunities arise day after day, week after week and year after year. Our journey into courageous conversations is a never-ending proposition with no point of arrival. It is our responsibility to challenge ourselves so that we might begin to find a certain measure of comfort within discomfort.
Courageous conversations can only thrive in a respectful culture of mutual trust
Our schools can either be a breeding grounds for courageous conversations or quell the possibility for conversations with any semblance of courage. But before we can support people in stepping out of their comfort zones, we must first ensure that they know they can do so within a safe space. It’s hard to encourage anyone to speak up in an environment where verbal attacks will likely follow. This begins with the school leader who supports these relationships across time and models the same discomfort asked of teachers. Creating a culture of mutual trust takes substantial time, effort and ongoing collective commitment.
Courageous conversations rise from our awareness of growth opportunities
It’s hard to engage in courageous conversations unless we are aware that those courageous conversations are warranted in the first place. Since life often informs this important dialogue, we must be willing to pay attention so we might notice the real-life experiences that could inform and support conversations that beckon us into courageous action. We can only have courageous conversations with others if we are open to and notice these opportunities. This is then likely to increase the potential that we will be moved to engage in them.
Courageous conversations empower us when they have transformative potential
Our chat subtitle, transformational action through life, was intentional. We believe that the heart and soul of courageous conversations is that they are informed by life, or what happens around us directly or from a distance. These events can and should elicit conversations that can then spur us into action in transformational ways. In other words, we don’t simply engage in courageous conversations for the sake of wearing courageous conversation badges of honor. Rather, we engage in these conversations because life implores us to have them knowing that the learning that comes from shared conversation can become an invitational springboard to action.
Courageous conversations can begin with teachers but are meant to transfer to students
Courageous conversations are an important first step, but we can’t stop there. We engage in these conversations for the purpose of making our schools more equitable in honor of students. But what we do in honor students we must do in the company of students as we model courageous conversations in action. If we step out of our comfort zones with students, we show them courageous conversations in technicolor view and invite them into the conversational experience. As we become better humans, we are more likely to offer opportunities for students to do the same. If we see this as a one-way proposition, we do kids a great disservice and alleviate discourse that could transform them into action. Sara Ahmed reminds us that the world hands us a curriculum. We have the choice to turn our backs or welcome that curriculum so that life is for the greater good of all.
CLOSING THOUGHTS:
2020 is a year unlike any other we have ever experienced. This pandemic continues to burgeon out of control along with escalating inequities we have seen in and out of our schools whether teaching occurs in face-to-face or virtual settings. We have all watched educators bravely teach in new ways, often with little support, and still they rise to the occasion in ways we could never have anticipated. Couple this with tragic events of the last year and we could have a recipe in disaster. Yet once again, so many teachers have risen to the occasion. We still have a long way to go and I would hope that this pandemic and the fear and loneliness that came with it will inspire us all to take the next steps to bring those courageous conversations to life.
We can just turn our back on a year we may hope to forget or we can use this experience to inform and inspire the courageous conversations we choose to have with each other and with students. These conversations are often fueled by our life experiences, but they only have the potential to be transformational if we are open to thinking that comes from a broader perspective than our own.
Courageous Conversations in Action
Two days before our Six-Year #G2Great anniversary Kathy Collins, Matt Glover, Aeriale Johnson and Vicki Vinton joined Renee Dinnerstein to engage in a video discussion: Supporting and Nurturing Young Readers and Writers during the Pandemic and Beyond. This remarkable group of educators model what courageous conversation looks like, so it seems only fitting to end with their wisdom.
On behalf of my #G2great team, we would like to thank you for five years and counting of dialogue and the many courageous conversations that we are yet to have. Just as we want to venture into uncharted territories in our #G2great chat, we hope that each of you will venture into those territories alongside us – both within and beyond our chat.
Thank you for helping us to grow side-by-side with you twitter style!
What a year 2020 has been! Ups and Downs. A pandemic. An election year. And so many conflicts. Oppression. Suppression. Police Brutality. Deaths. Riots. Peaceful Protests. Murder. Teachers feeling stifled because administrators asked them to dial down “political” actions. Matthew Kay’s book, Not Light, But FIRE: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom was the perfect book to end our chat year on our 44th night of gathering together in the Twittersphere.
We have the setting. Now for the context. We ask our authors three questions. The third one is my favorite and seems like the perfect way to begin this post.
3) What is a message from the heart you would like for every teacher to keep in mind?
We don’t have to win the game with one big home run swing. It’s not one big conversation, one big classroom moment. We can take the pressure off of ourselves to change the world with big classroom moments. We just need to make consistent, reliable contact with race conversations that are thoughtfully planned, well executed, and thoroughly reflected upon. It’s a cumulative effort, but at the end, we will see that our efforts have been more than worthwhile.
Matthew Kay, email.
When we begin “with the end in mind,” I often find it easier to consider the journey. No flashy grand slam home run. No 500 person Zoom meeting. No all school convocation.
“… consistent, reliable contact with race conversations that are thoughtfully planned, well executed and thoroughly reflected upon.” What will our journey look like? Will each journey be different? Will there be common or parallel threads?
Let’s get this journey started with some essentials for our road trip.
Selecting Our Road Map
Where are we right now? Sometimes this is best done with a self-assessment tool. Sometimes a survey or google form can begin to identify starting points. Is there formal leadership for this work or will the leadership be distributed across a variety of levels and be more collaborative in nature? What have we chosen as a collective goal? How will we know when we reach it?
Evaluating Systems for Year Long Study
What big, broad ideas are worthy of study? Sometimes the first topic is one that serves as a “model” for future actions so it is not one that will need intensive, long term study. Identifying these systems in advance helps school communities discern the depth and length of future systems studies.
Some systems identified in our chat that might be worthy of study include:
Who leads the conversations?
Leadership is tricky as the above tweets share. Everyone needs to work at being a better listener. Everyone can and should improve their conversation skills. This will take time, effort and practice. During a pandemic, all of these are at a premium and will need to outweigh time spent on issues that can be handled in a memo, an email, or a quick conversation. (Or, maybe something ends up in File 123!) What’s the prize? Collegial banter/house talk? Water cooler/Dining room table talk? And in this quote, Matt reminds us that we must “earn our seats.”
OUR GPS
Our navigational system, or North Star, is always set by our students and their needs. The pace may vary, the surfaces may include dips, bumps, and unmarked hazards, but our students and their needs will always be a priority.
Pacing
We don’t have time to wait on you.
Matthew R. Kay, Tweet 8:07 10 Dec 20
The clock is ticking. Time is not infinite for this journey.
Shared Playlist
The journey shared by teachers and students requires communication and discussion. Sharing the role of leadership in planning and implementing the travel plans is another crucial travel essential. Students should have opportunities to lead discussions (topic and time) across the day in all classes. This co-planning of the playlist for each day can be a catalyst to engage students in real-life work. Every day. Every class.
Respect for Differing Opinions
Many conversations in classrooms can be tough. Not just ones about race. Safe communities are necessary so every participant feels valued. Students need practice in taking the lead to share how life truly impacts them. Teachers need to make sure that mechanisms are in place to handle perceived and real problems. Input on ways to show learning and growth are just one example of a way that teachers can amplify student voices and share learning yardsticks. And best of all, there may be multiple choices, multiple opportunities, and multiple goals!
Bonus: Photo Album of the “Roads Taken”
1) What motivated you to write this book? What impact did you hope that it would have in the professional world?
To be honest, I have always loved telling stories, so I was always going to jump at any opportunity to write a book. I think that becomes clear in the classroom stories all throughout the book – I just love putting readers into interesting moments. I certainly had fun writing it, and I hope that folks feel like they are in my classroom as they read or listen to it. As far as impact – I just wanted to write a practical book on race conversations. I did not want to spend any time arguing that we should have race conversations – I wanted to focus on how. Too much time is spent on convincing hard-headed, hard-hearted folks that they should tackle race in the classroom. These folks aren’t going to be convinced anyway. I just want to focus on folks like me that are trying and want to get better.
2) What are your BIG takeaways from your book that you hope teachers will embrace in their teaching practices?
I just want fellow teachers to patiently build the ecosystem that can support healthy race conversations. If they commit to doing that stuff (or their own versions of that stuff) from chapters 1-4, they’ll be able to have conversations like in 5-7 (and even maybe survive pop-up conversations like the one in chapter 8.)
In conclusion, life in 2021 is going to require some changes. We would hope to see a return to increased civility. But at the same time, we would like to amplify voices and choice from our unrepresented and underrepresented students and communities. That means that we need to already be on that journey towards meaningful race conversations. “It’s not one big home run swing.” We need to practice, practice, practice so that our conversations continue to grow and develop. We need to understand the depth of the conversations that are needed to heal society. We need to begin by understanding ourselves, our role in the journey and then making sure that we are equipped with the essential tools to arrive at our destination sucessfully and joyfully. Matthew R Kay’s book provides the HOW to help you on your journey that begins with that first step!
On December 3, 2020, Erin Brown and Susan L’Allier joined #G2Great’s community and led an important conversation about coaching. Their new book, No More Random Acts of Coaching, is part of Heinemann’s Not This but That series. If you are not familiar with this fantastic series, it pairs the expertise of a researcher and a practitioner to give readers tips and insights on how to grow teaching practices that are supported by research.
Needless to say, when I found out Erin and Susan were to be our guests I was extremely excited because I am a Literacy Coach. Then as it worked out, the night of the chat turned out to be my school’s Parent-Teacher Conferences. So I didn’t get to be there live but I did get to read the Wakelet and boy were chatters inspired. I can also say that I really wish this book had been written when I began my career as a coach. Erin and Susan give readers a plan to grow into the coaching role. Successful coaching is not about being lucky. It is about careful planning and lots and lots of preparation!
There are three tenets that ran through the chat. When I discovered that I got chills because they are what coaching is really all about at its core: curiosity, communication, and responsiveness.
Curiosity
Being inside a classroom when a teacher is making connections with students, tucking in expert moves that accelerate learning is something to admire and wonder about. Being part of that process, even when things don’t necessarily go as planned, is thrilling. So many questions are born from those experiences: Why did that work? What was unexpected? Why do you think that happened? What did students do when that happened? Coaching and curiosity really work hand-in-hand.
Coaching isn’t about fixing. It’s filled with respect for the art of what happens with students in a school every day. A coach’s appreciation of a teacher’s strengths allow for real learning to happen during their conversations.
Erin Brown No More Random Acts of Coaching
And curiosity can't be faked, right @DrMaryHoward? When we truly seek to understand, and we expect we are going to learn something new from our colleagues in each interaction, our language naturally follows. #G2Great
Coaching requires precise language in terms of feedback but is also open-ended and generous to support deeper learning. We learn a lot by listening. Every time we paraphrase, we allow teachers to hear their own words come back to them. Pausing and making reflections are essential parts of the process.
We sometimes forget the research-established idea that when teachers, principals, and coaches work together to create a climate of intentional, ongoing professional learning, the likelihood of student literacy growth increases!
A2. Christy made a great point about being a good listener! As coaches, we sometimes tend to dominate the conversations without realizing it. Audio recording a few of our conversations will help us know if we are listening as much (or more) than we're talking. #G2Great
Whether a teacher or a coach, both roles are really about being responsive to the needs of learners and making meaningful connections. Whether it is a child or an adult we all want to be heard. This is a very important takeaway for anyone considering what it is to be a coach.
And I bet those notes are really specific, knowing how you lead, Shellie! Educators value explicit, pointed feedback from our colleagues. #G2Great
Let me send out a huge thank you to Erin Brown and Susan L’Allier. Thank you for joining #G2Great and thank you for this beautiful book: No More Random Acts of Literacy Coaching.
