Identity Talk 4 Educators LIVE

In this episode, I'm honored to end the year with high school history teacher and motivational speaker Rakim Amalu Jenkins.  In our conversation, he shares his personal journey into education, how he evolved into "The Insightful Teacher", the impact and future of the"Teachers for Good Trouble" movement, and much more!  To learn more about Rakim's work, you can visit his website at https://linktr.ee/theinsightfulteacher or follow him on Instagram (@theinsightfulteacher).  

BIO: Rakim Amalu Jenkins is a high school history teacher, motivational speaker, and life coach based in Brooklyn, NY. He is a 2013 alumnus of The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York and a 2014 alumni corps member of Teach For America-New York City. He is also a recent graduate of Relay Graduate School of Education (MAT).  Popularly known as "The Insightful Teacher", he uses insights from his life, history, and classroom to speak truth to power, and he believes that we can collectively create a better education system and world for our youth.

In this episode, we're honored to have Bronx, NY based educator Maria Tan on the podcast to talk about her personal journey in education, the emergence of The Thriving Teacher Project, and the urgent need for schools to integrate trauma-informed and mindfulness practices in their day-to-day operations.  To learn more about Maria's work, you can visit the Thriving Teacher Project page on Facebook or follow the organization on Instagram (@thethrivingteacherproject).  

BIO: Maria Tan is a high school science teacher turned mindful educator, facilitator, and coach. She promotes equity in education through mindfulness and contemplative practices. During her five year tenure in the Bronx, she chaired her school’s first Equity Team where she delivered staff-level professional development around culturally sustaining pedagogy, facilitated racial affinity groups, and redesigned the advisory curriculum to include restorative circles as a school-wide practice.   Her professional training includes trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness with the Holistic Life Foundation, restorative circle facilitation with Morningside Center, and facilitating the Contemplating 400 Years of Inequality Experience with Dr. Angel Acosta. She is a New York City Teaching Fellow, Relay Graduate School of Education alumni, and a Stanford Hollyhock fellow. Maria is the founder of The Thriving Teacher Project which creates healing spaces for educators to thrive.    She empowers wholeness by incorporating practices of self-care, self-compassion, and reflection as tools to allow teachers to show up fully for their lives and their students. Outside of work, Maria is a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and she collaborates with DJs and visual artists to create guided meditation immersive experiences.

In this episode, we're honored to have Shelby Kretz come on the show to talk about her personal journey in education, her doctoral work in social justice at UCLA, the founding of her company, Little Justice Leaders, and so much more!  To learn more about Shelby’s work, you can visit the Little Justice Leaders website at www.littlejusticeleaders.com or you can connect with her on Instagram (@littlejusticeleaders) & Twitter (@JusticeLeaders).   

BIO:  Shelby Kretz is an educational researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the creator of the Little Justice Leaders subscription box. Little Justice Leaders is a monthly box that provides resources for elementary school parents and teachers to engage their kids in meaningful learning experiences about social justice. Her research at UCLA focuses on the connection between the education system and the juvenile (in)justice system.

In this episode, we're honored to have Tyshia Seldon, the founder & CEO of Black University, come on the show to talk about her personal journey in education, the importance of teacher self-care during COVID-19, her passion for creating safe, affirming spaces for educators of color, and so much more!  To learn more about Tyshia’s work, you can visit her website at blackuniversity.org or connect with her on Instagram (@themillenialeducator, @blackeducatorsconnect and @blackeducatorsapparel).   

BIO:  Tyshia Lene’a Seldon, popularly known as “The Millennial Educator”, is a proud native of Baltimore, MD.  She completed her undergraduate studies at Bethune Cookman University and then obtained my Master’s in Education from Relay Graduate School of Education in August 2019. She’s an educator by trade and entrepreneur by nature. Growing up in Baltimore taught Tyshia to be a problem solver and to “hustle” naturally. Relocating to Denver from Florida has been and still is a culture shock. Being 1 of 2 black educators within her school building and feeling like she was just a seat filler prompted the start of her company “Black Educators Apparel, an apparel line dedicated to educators of color who are putting in the win and out of the classroom. She also founded Black Educators Connect, a safe space created for educators of color to connect, feel nurtured and supported. When Tyshia’s not developing her businesses, you can find her motivating others and just living life. Her motto is to simply be light and spread light.

In this episode, I'm honored to have the 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson come on the show to share his personal journey in education, the importance of prioritizing SEL practices in our schools, his experience as the National Teacher of the Year, his thoughts on who should be our next Secretary of Education, and so much more!  To learn more about Rodney's work, you can visit his website at rodrobinsonrva.com or follow him on Instagram & Twitter (@RodRobinsonRVA).  

BIO: Rodney Robinson is a 20-year teaching veteran. He graduated from King William High School in rural Virginia in 1996. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia State University in 2000 and a master’s in educational administration and Supervision from VCU in 2011.  He started teaching at Virgie Binford Education Center in 2015, a school inside Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, in an effort to better understand the school to prison pipeline.  His classroom is a collaborative partnership between him and the students.  He provides a civic centered education that promotes social-emotional growth.  The knowledge he is gaining from his students is also helping develop alternative programs to keep students from becoming part of the school to prison pipeline.    

His accomplishments in education vary from his professional growth to his students’ personal growth.  He has been published four times by Yale University.  He has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out of the classroom, most notably the R.E.B. Award for Teaching Excellence.  He has worked with Pulitzer winning author James Foreman to developing curriculum units on race, class, and punishment as a part of the Yale Teacher’s Institute.    He was named the 2019 National Teacher of the Year by the Council of Chief States Schools’ Officers.  He is used his time as teacher of the year to advocate for cultural equity to make sure students have teachers and administrators who look like them and value their culture.  He was recently named HBCU male alumnus of the year by HBCUdigest.com. He was also named #8 on the Root magazine’s Top 100 influential African Americans of 2019. Last December he was named Richmonder of the Year by Richmond Magazine. His passion is helping the underprivileged and underrepresented populations in America.

In this episode, we're excited to have poet laureate Ryan T. Parker come on the show to talk about his personal journey in education, the "Happyvism" Project, the evolution of hip-hop culture in public education, and so much more! To learn more about Ryan's work, you can visit his website at ryanparkerthepoet.com or follow him on Instagram (@peaceloveparker).

BIO:  Ryan T. Parker is a Manchester, CT based poet, teacher of the year recipient & artivist. Raised by a strong, single mother in Norwich, Connecticut, he has been penning poems and preaching peace since the age of ten. After graduating from Norwich Free Academy, he went on to receive a degree in English at Eastern Connecticut State University and a Master’s degree in teaching at Sacred Heart University. Influenced by the strength, wisdom and humor of his mom, love for hip hop and people, his practices with tutoring at ECSU, and his personal frustrations with his own educational experiences and education system as a whole (his 10th grade English teacher had a sign in her classroom which read, “Silence is Golden” –Ahhh! Freaky stuff!), Ryan developed a passion for teaching and promised himself he would break that golden silence and bring golden noise into education! For the last fourteen years, he has kept his promise teaching English in Manchester, CT public schools, coaching youth poets, and performing and presenting on hip hop poetics and the significance of empowering youth. In addition to teaching middle school students, Ryan also consults with educators running workshops and professional developments centered on The Open Mic Movement in Education and teaching educators strategies for establishing and maintaining effective classroom environments.

Ryan has also presented at numerous educational conferences including LID, CONFRATUTE, NYCORE and COESBOC, NEAG, delivered a TEDx Talk titled 'Transforming Struggle into Strength', featured as a guest poet performer along with Pam Nomura in Hartford Connecticut’s Riverwood Poetry Series, starred as the feature poet at Hartford’s RealArtWay’s’ Inescapable Rhythms Poetry Series and is currently writing a Memoir and a guide to The Open Mic Movement in Education. Ryan also devotes time towards traveling to various school communities performing poems, giving motivational talks and training staff and students in igniting open mic movements. When he’s not teaching or presenting, Ryan loves rapping, laughing, poeming, coaching youth poets, running, snowboarding, kayaking, hiking with his bloodhound, Otter, and eating chocolate chip cookies (preferably organic).

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In this episode, we're excited to have Chemistry professor and STEAM advocate Dr. Yasmine Daniels come on the show to talk about her journey in education, the release of her brand new book series, "Building My Self-eSTEAM in Science", the current state of STEAM education for young women of color, and much more!   To learn more about Dr. Daniels work, you can visit her website linktr.ee/ClassyChemist or follow her handle @classychemist on Instagram & Twitter.

BIO: Dr. Yasmine Daniels has a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and has done a great deal of research in Environmental Remediation. Environmental Remediation a fancy way of saying finding ways to make the environment cleaner. She has worked on projects where she designed eco-friendly particles that were capable of removing toxic substances (like heavy metals) from water. She also spent some time improving analytical methods used for analyzing nanoparticles and inorganic polymers.

Currently, Dr. Daniels works as an Industrial Hygienist in government and spends a lot of her time reviewing and assessing industrial and airborne particulate hazards. Her work focuses primarily on ways workers can protect themselves from health hazards while at work (e.g. wearing respirators) and the bulk of her time is spent researching, reading, writing and interpreting the science behind workplace hazards and methods of protection.

When she isn’t doing her full time job, Dr. Daniels is a full time mom, a Chemistry Adjunct Professor, volleyball coach, mentor and champion of STEM+Art (or STEAM) outreach.  Dr. Daniels obtained her B.S. in Chemistry from Hunter College and her M.Phil and Ph.D. from the City University of New York, Graduate Center. As a chemistry student, she was inspired and encouraged by her Chemistry professors and she has been dedicated ever since to give back to students and academia. She teaches both General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry and enjoys sharing her passion for Science with her Students.

In this episode, we're excited to have elementary Spanish teacher and anti-bias advocate Françoise Thenoux talk about her personal journey in education, her work as "The Woke Spanish Teacher", and the importance of prioritizing World Language education in our schools! To learn more about Françoise's work, you can visit her at her website thewokespanishteacher.com or connect with her on Instagram (@thewokespanishteacher) & Twitter (@TWSteacher).

BIO:  Françoise Thenoux has been an educator for almost 20 years. She is a proud Latina and worked as an ESL teacher for years, not only providing the students with the necessary literacy skills to survive the U.S schools system, but also helping Latinx families understand the benefits of bilingualism. She has been teaching Español at Elementary level for 11 years and has an M. Ed in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She is a passionate advocate for equitable, decolonial, inclusive, social justice-oriented World Language curricula. She shares her advocacy, tips, best practices, and self-made resources through social media as “The Woke Spanish Teacher.”

In this episode, we're honored to have award-winning educator and speaker Dr. Jamila Lyiscott on the show to talk about her personal journey in education, her best-selling book "Black Appetite. White Food", and the importance of integrating social justice education in K-12 schools.  To follow Dr. Lyiscott's work, you can visit her website at jamilalyiscott.com or connect with her on Instagram & Twitter with the handle @jamila_lyiscott.

BIO:  Jamila Lyiscott aka, Dr. J, is a community-engaged scholar, nationally renowned speaker, and the author of Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is the co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research. Dr. J is most well known for being featured on TED.com where her video, '3 Ways to Speak English,' has been viewed over 4.5 million times, and for her commissioned TED Talk, '2053' in response to the inauguration of the 45th occupant of the white house. She has been invited to over 100 institutions throughout the nation where she works closely with youth, educators, and communities to disrupt racial inequities and enact a vision-driven justice.

Dr. J's scholarship and activism work together to explore, assert, and defend the value of Black life globally. As a testament to her commitment to educational justice for youth of color, she is the founder and co-director of the Cyphers For Justice (CFJ) program, apprenticing NYC high school youth, incarcerated youth, and educators into research and activism through hip-hop, spoken word, and media literacy.

Dr. J serves as co-editor of the highly acclaimed journal of Equity & Excellence in Education, and holds faculty fellowships at the University of Notre Dame, and Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the recipient of the 2019 AERA Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award and the 2019 Scholar-Activist & Community Advocacy Award. In her active efforts to disrupt the bounds of the academy, she has also been featured in Spike Lee's "2 Fists Up," on NPR, Cosmopolitan, NowThis, and many other media outlets nationally and internationally.

In this episode, we're honored to have award-winning educator Jonathan Alsheimer on the show to talk about his personal journey as an educator, his book, "Next Level Teaching", and the importance of empowering students in order to transform school culture.  To follow Jonathan's work, you can follow him on Instagram and Twitter with the handle @Mr_Alsheimer!   

BIO: Jonathan Alsheimer is the unorthodox, energetic, and entertaining middle school teacher who refuses to live a life of limitations and works with UFC Fighters, celebrities, and clothing brands.  As a passionate educator and international keynote speaker, Jonathan Alsheimer believes in the limitless possibilities of teachers as a driving force impacting an infectious classroom and school culture. NEXT LEVEL TEACHING is about every teacher bringing their unique flair to better their school every single day, going the NEXT LEVEL engaging your students, establishing community partnerships, building powerful relationships, and always striving to be "That Teacher" that their students remember!  Jonathan, teaches at the world-renowned Fred Lynn Middle School, which was featured in two documentaries "Relentless" and "Relentless: Chasing Accreditation", has been featured as the teacher who forged a partnership with UFC Fighter and light-weight contender Paul Felder to bring a message of never giving up, fighting for their education, and empowering the students to believe in themselves, all principles that Jonathan promotes in his classroom.  Jonathan Alsheimer also partnered with Fear the Fighter, MMA clothing brand to establish a stop-bullying campaign with "Relentless" Principal Hamish Brewer. Jonathan Alsheimer didn't stop there and established a formed a relationship with Chris "Drama" Pfaff, MTV reality star and CEO of Young and Reckless to bring clothing to his "students in need" and worked to build student leaders in his school.  As Jonathan always says, "Game-changing is not a cliche motto; it is a way of life... some talk about it while others live by it!