Wholehearted Teaching with Adrian Del Monte

This week's conversation is meant to help teachers-- particularly white teachers-- move from feelings of shame that immobilize us to connecting with healthy guilt that can guide us forward.  Guilt moves us to anti-racism work and that work is full of love.

Our guest, Registered Psychotherapist Kristen Hodges, helps us understand the difference between shame-- the feeling that makes us feel like there is something wrong with us-- from guilt-- a healthy feeling that actually moves us towards action.

At the end of the episode, I bid farewell to my good friend, Atticus Finch. It's a sad farewell, but one that Kristen helped me through.

Connect with Kristen at https://www.kristenhodges.com/index.php

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This question-- WHY ARE YOU IN EDUCATION??-- frames our conversation today.  If you stop to think about that, what would you say?

My guest, Salima Kassam is a principal with the Toronto District School Board and has given her life to the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression. She is as wholehearted as they come. In this episode, Salima reminds  us that anti-racism is not a lens (that can be taken on and off) but is actually a stance. A stance becomes who you are whether we are inside the classroom or not.

But most importantly, Salima reminds us that true anti-racism works requires genuine action and not just talking about the problems. She gives us many suggestions for how you can become anti-racist in your classroom, starting immediately.

In the episode, Salima also speaks of much of the reading she has done to support her work. Below are some of the names. Check them out to continue your own journey!

1. Natasha Henry, President of the Ontario Black History Society
2. bell hooks, author of Teaching to Transgress
3. Ibram X Kendi, author of How to Be an Anti-Racist
4. Audre Lorde, writer, poet, feminist, and Civil Rights activist
5. Kike Ojo-Thompson, Principal Consultant at the Kojo Institute

You can connect with Salima on her twitter account and find her January 6th "WHY ARE YOU IN EDUCATION?? tweet here.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK! Be sure to follow or subscribe so you get them first thing Tuesday mornings!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wholehearted-teaching-with-adrian-del-monte/id1538305754

 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1v39FRoSHRYfOThic1MZQL?si=-b0U_cJLQ9aAmBb8zWIsXw

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/search/wholehearted%20teaching

Find ALL our episodes here: https://wholeheartedteaching.buzzsprout.com/

The second episode in our Anti-Racism series made me nervous.

Lavinia is the most lovely person, but her role as Humanity Equity Advisor at the Toronto Catholic District School Board is to look at problems in the education system...and advise things that need to change.  I knew what she would say was going to challenge me to now go out and be brave enough to take and demand action.

Lavinia's experiences working for equity first as a lawyer--we discuss several cases that jarred me, big time-- and now in the education system, make her the perfect person to have this conversation with. She's smart, experienced, and articulate.

We do talk about one thing that teachers can do immediately: start your own Anti-Racism education. Below is a list of books that we discussed. Buy one and read it this week! That's your next step.

Why I'm No Longer Talking With White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
White Fragility by Robin De Angelo
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man with Emmanuel Acho
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

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NEW EPISODES EVERY WEEK! Be sure to follow or subscribe so you get them first thing Tuesday mornings!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wholehearted-teaching-with-adrian-del-monte/id1538305754

 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1v39FRoSHRYfOThic1MZQL?si=-b0U_cJLQ9aAmBb8zWIsXw

Google: https://podcasts.google.com/search/wholehearted%20teaching

Find ALL our episodes here: https://wholeheartedteaching.buzzsprout.com/

In this conversation, we speak with TCDSB Superintendent of Equity, Diversity, Indigenous Education and Community Relations, Derek Chen. 

Superintendent Chen speaks about the importance of being brave enough to have courageous conversations about anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, white fragility, and systemic problems that oppress non-white students in the education system. 

It's a powerful conversation, and one that I'm sad took so long to have. In having it, I realized that I will never been a fully wholehearted teacher until I confront my own biases directly.  I hope this is the start of a journey for me. 

You can connect with Superintendent Chen on twitter at www.twitter.com/TCDSB_DChen

This conversation is the first in a series about Anti-Racism. Next week will look at larger systemic problems from a legal and system wide perspective. 

Welcome to 2021, a year that has so much potential for teaching!

We launch Season 2 through a wonderful conversation with Chey Cheney and Pav Wander, two Toronto teachers and hosts of The Staffroom Podcast who are just crushing it. Both Chey and Pav have taken huge risks,  put themselves out there to inspire their students and, as we discuss, are daring  greatly in the arena of classroom teaching.  I left this conversation inspired to take my own risks this year.

We also get into what happens when our great, big ideas hit challenges or attract pushback. Chey and Pav explain how they separate those voices which are just "performing" from those which are fully invested in their success.

I hope you leave this conversation full of courage to dare greatly in 2021!

You  can connect with Chey and Pav on Twitter:
Chey: www.twitter.com/mrccheney
Pav: www.twitter.com/PavWander
Staffroom Podcast: www.twitter.com/StaffPodcast
 

In our Christmas Special, we talk about seeing differently, through the eyes of kindness. 

In this episode, mom, daughter and Vice Principal Katie Akelaitis speaks about how her father taught her to treat others as "kin," as if they were her own family, a lesson she practices not only as a vice-principal, but also as a mother to her three beautiful "little people".

Katie will help you find your Christmas spirit and remind you that giving to others-- whether at school or at home-- is the reason we do what we do.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This episode shows that strong teaching has all the same attributes as strong families: an emphasis on following your passions, finding ways to serve others, collaborating together and, most importantly, a cohesion between what happens in the classroom and what happens in the household. 

In this episode, I talk with a whole family of teachers: John Notten, a retired teacher of 30 years and his two sons, Nic and Lukas, who are both just starting off in their teaching careers.  The boys talk about what they saw in their father, and their father tells  why he is so proud of his sons.

At the end of the episode the Notten men discuss how they would bring together all their subject disciplines-- Art, English, History, Math and Physics-- to teach the perfect lesson  together. It's a hoot!

Enjoy!

This episode is framed around a question: How has being female prevented you from bringing your whole self to the classroom?  It's an important conversation, and one that I am grateful to share a part. 

In this episode, we speak to Loretta Notten, the first woman to serve as Director of Education for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. Director Notten helps us unpack what it was like to be a woman in leadership in the early 90s, the challenges we continue to experience today, and speaks candidly about the importance of women and men working as allies to make progress. 

The episode will leave you reflecting on you own words, actions and perhaps even unconscious biases and micro aggressions. It will help you to consider the importance of seeing differently and embracing diversity in our staff rooms and, more importantly, in our classrooms. 

We also give a big shout out to Hermione Granger, the true heroine of the Harry Potter books.  While Harry is the title character, it is Heronine's wit and know-how that saves the day, time and time again.

Enjoy the conversation!

Going off the beaten path, challenging formal education practices, and untethering teachers to bring their own passions to the classroom are all the topics that we discuss with our guest, teaching legend and critically acclaimed writer, Anthony De Sa.

This conversation is more raw than some of the others: you'll hear the frustrations that often accompany teaching, especially in 2020.  But what Anthony reminded me of was that a teacher's passions--coupled with a willingness to break from tradition--is something that will leave a lasting impact on students and result in the very best learning. 

Be sure to listen right to the end. Anthony's final thoughts to a young Anthony De Sa arriving at his first classroom will be fuel for your teaching fire.

Enjoy the conversation!

Vulnerability, making mistakes and accepting ourselves exactly as we are are all topics that we discuss today with our guest and award-winning teacher, Barb Russell. 

10 years as an emergency room Nurse followed by 25 years in the classroom has given Barb a unique and often hilarious take on what it means to work with young people .  Through true stories that will tug at your heart, Barb's stories and experience embracing her mistakes is exactly what every teacher needs to hear. 

Barb will remind you that WHO YOU ARE TODAY IS EXACTLY WHO YOU NEED TO BE...AND THAT'S OK.