Inside Out

Sometimes you need to go outside so you can look in.  Honestly, I haven’t gone outside very much this year - in a professional sense, anyway - especially as compared to years past. (My husband would tell you that I had to be talking about my professional life since I do everything I can to stay indoors in all other aspects of my life.)  I’ve engaged in the deepest learning that I’ve ever experienced through the Aspiring Principals Academy, and I have been focusing on applying all of my learning through this experience to the teaching and learning in our school building.  Last weekend, I had the opportunity to step out to an event that I thought was going to focus solely on celebration, but this celebration was another part of my journey in learning and reflection.

On Saturday, I went to the Columbia Urban League’s Young and Gifted Awards Program where African-American seniors were honored for their accomplishments.  I attended this year because a previous honoree I was close to, Miles, made a point last year to tell me that I didn’t attend when he was recognized.  In a conversation in my office, MIles went on to say that no leaders from our school went to the awards ceremony, and he commented, “That told me we aren’t a priority.”  I’m not sure I even knew about the awards last year, but when it came across an email last week, I immediately put it in my calendar. I would have felt badly about Mile’s sentiment in the past, but with all of the work we’ve done this year in race and equity, I know how much that guilt and remorse are worth - nothing.  It’s time to show up; it always was.

One of the featured speakers at the awards ceremony, Carlos Brown, a Vice President and General Council for Dominion Energy, is one of only twenty-five African-Americans to hold the position of General Counsel in corporate America. He talked about growing up in Virginia in a small, crowded house with no indoor plumbing.  He told the kids that he made a success of his life because of his faith and the importance his family placed on education.  Mr. Brown also shared with the students and other members of the audience that he had gone to see the film Black Panther the weekend before; he said he sat in the theatre in awe of the mythical African land of Wakanda where the people were strong innovators and thinkers. He continued, saying that when he looked out in the audience, he believed that Wakanda wasn’t  a myth because of the students he saw before him. (“Wakanda, forever!”)

When I looked at the hundreds of students in that sanctuary waiting to be individually recognized - because, as the President of the Columbia Urban League stated, there is power in having your name spoken aloud -  I hoped that the students were surrounded by those who had impacted them, those who believe that these students are capable of making the world a better place. It was my honor to be present, and that event will be a priority in my calendar, just like our district’s Excellence in Education Banquet.  I want the students who are acknowledged at the Young and Gifted Awards Program to know that they are valued. I want them to feel that the recognition they received from outside of their school matters inside of it, too.

Equity - A Call to Action

“The answer is in the room.”  The members of our Aspiring Principals Academy cohort heard this expression frequently from the APA faculty when we were growing through (that’s right I said “growing through” instead of “going through”) our three-week summer intensive experience.  We learned quickly that we couldn’t look for the answer in a book, or seek it from a person of authority.  We, as Principal-Residents, had to find the answer through the work, in collaboration with our colleagues, and, most importantly, inside of ourselves.

When I attended the 1^st Annual Equity in Education Conference, organized by the Center for the Education and Equity of African American Students, I thought about this expression – “The answer is in the room” – especially after listening to the keynote address given by Dr. H. Richard Milner. Dr. Milner shared with us points about equity that affect all students of color, especially African-American students.  “Our talk matters,” and “When the music changes, so must the dance,” easily could be clichés; Dr. Milner supported the the points he was making, though, with quantitative data, challenging the attendees to consider what biases and prejudices could be holding educators back from supporting children of color in ways that they need to be supported to learn, to be successful. (I understand that the discipline data that Dr. Milner showed was troubling to some of the people from the districts whose numbers were shared. Frankly, it was my wish that Dr. Milner had created a table with the discipline data from all of the Midlands’ districts, including ours, so that we could all get those cards on the table.) I did not expect to leave that powerful keynote with THE answer, a clear course of action to write the wrongs of inequity. But Dr. Milner achieved his purpose; I was thinking.

Two third-year Social Studies teachers - one white, one black – who teach in a high-poverty, high-minority middle school in downtown Columbia, conducted the first session I attended, entitled, “Critically Conscious and Engaging Social Studies Instruction.”  I could tell that these two young teachers were very nervous, but the content of their session gave me the opportunity to consider what it looks like/sounds like to ask students to be “critically conscious” – not just to accept the stories that traditionally have been told or the histories that have been passed generationally as TRUTH.  The answer I found in that room wasn’t about strategy or terminology in teaching students of color to examine how society defines them.  The answer I found in that room was in how these two amazing teachers viewed their children – as thinkers, as doers, as change-agents, as scholars who could do the research, ask the hard questions, find their own truths and define themselves in their own terms. I left wishing that the children in their classes would only ever feel as valued as they are by those two teachers as they progress through their education, but knowing that, in all likelihood, that would not be the case.

After the conference was over, I found myself reflecting, no, seeking an answer – I couldn’t help myself - for how educators must not only address inequities, but change them so the education, the lives of students of color are valued.  What can I DO? I needed only to look as far as the theme of the conference, “Start Where You Are, but Don’t Stay There.”  The gauntlet was thrown.  The conference itself was the challenge.  The members of the cohort and the faculty of the APA probably left the Equity Conference and have generated through our own work more questions than answers centered on equity, but none of us are content with just having a conversation anymore. Now is time for action; we can’t stand still.  The power is in the room.