Worth Work Podcast

This episode offers a profound look at the transition back to the classroom, exploring the nuanced feelings and thoughts that come with resuming educational responsibilities after such a significant event.

Key Highlights:

1. Desmond's Dilemma: A Teacher's Crossroads: Peek into Desmond's inner world as he grapples with tough decisions about his teaching career. How does an educator reconcile personal well-being with professional duty?
2. Jesse's Transformative Experience: Uncover the emotional journey Jesse undertook during the strike. What profound realizations emerged from this blend of pain, joy, and gratitude?
3. Thriving in Adversity: Dive into the discussion on thriving post-strike. Can maintaining an open heart in times of challenge lead to personal and professional transformation?
4. Envisioning Education's Future: Explore Jesse's 'Genius Awakening Curriculum.' How can tapping into collective and individual genius revolutionize the educational process?
5. Healing and Hope in Education: Join the conversation on navigating systemic challenges with honesty and kindness. What does a future built on open-heartedness look like in education?
6. An Uncertain Yet Hopeful Path Forward: Contemplate the future of the podcast and the education system. Will the mantra "genius over doubt" guide educators and students into a new era of learning?

Tune in for an episode that not only reflects on the aftermath of a teachers' strike but also delves into the broader implications for personal growth, systemic change, and the art of thriving in the complex world of education.

Welcome to 'Worth Work: The Strike Work 3', it's Jesse, the Imaginer here, going solo in this episode to share some vital insights from the Portland Association of Teachers Strike. Today, we're deep in the heart of the strike, facing some tough realities regarding the recent decision Portland Public School Management about our health insurance.

I'll share clips from today's rally to help us align with the themes of community health and individual well-being. This episode isn't just about listening; it's an invitation to join in a journey of understanding and contemplation.

We explore the deep connections and support systems we've built on the picket lines, the power of community, and how we're facing our fears head-on. There's an urgent call for our leaders to face their fears too, to engage in honest, vulnerable communication. It's time to question and dismantle the fear-based structures in our schools and replace them with systems that recognize our humanity and genius.

I'll share some personal reflections and a rap I wrote, capturing the emotions and vibrations of this historic time. It's about seeing every obstacle as a pathway to new possibilities and transforming our struggles into a thriving way of life.

-Jesse the Emajyner

Welcome back to 'Worth Work: The Strike Work 2'. I'm Desmond Spann, joined by Jesse Gardner, and today, November 15th, marks day 10 of the Portland Association of Teachers Strike.

In this episode, we explore the emotional highs and lows of the strike, from the strong sense of community among educators to the looming uncertainties and fears. We delve into the recent negotiations, the complexities of union decisions, and the ongoing challenges with PPS management.

This strike isn't just a protest; it's a deep dive into the systemic issues facing our education system. We're not only fighting for better conditions but also for the recognition and respect of our profession. It's a historic moment for Portland Public Schools, and as we navigate these uncharted waters, we're reminded of the power of community, the importance of honest dialogue, and the need to stand up for what we believe in.

As always, genius over doubt.

Enjoy the Episode

-Desmond

Welcome back to 'Worth Work: The Strike Work 1'. I'm Desmond Spann, and it's been a while since we last connected through this podcast. After a hiatus of one year, we're reigniting this platform due to the unprecedented and historic nature of the Portland Association of Teachers Strike. As we enter Day 9 of this groundbreaking event, I find myself deeply immersed in the challenges and triumphs of our collective action.

In this episode Jesse interviews Desmond about his upgrading practices to stop using grades to have power over students but create a classroom culture increase learning through enriching classroom experiences. Desmond talks about the joyful mess of this process and in this short bonus episode there are many gems. So many gems we had to contemplate in silence and not lay down our usual freestyle at the end. Ha. Enjoy!

03:02 Desmond "We want there to be an objective measurement of learning, however when you start diving deep into what learning is... the learning experience is inherently a personal one. And there is no real way for me to know actually know what a student has learned. I know what they choose to show, I know what they choose to do.... and I can make a judgement that they've learned something based on that. But the actual experience of them learning and internalizing that connection is ultimately theirs.

04:36 Desmond "I noticed I was holding back creative ideas and insights that could really make a difference for students because I wasn't going to grade it. If I'm not going to grade it then what is the incentive for them to do it? I'm giving them less than my best creative thinking because I'm trying to manage my work load of all I'm trying to do. Then when I did my little tricks of like alright I'm going to make you think I'm grading this even when I'm just grading a small piece of this... it didn't feel right.

05:36- Desmond "It got to the point where I'm like alright, I'm not doing my best work and I'm not liking the dynamics it creates amongst students with myself. And I also don't like the effect it creates on students."

06:22- Desmond "I would create a system where I would try to promote action and thought from my students. As long as I had the power to evaluate their work and have real outcomes for them, they were trying to figure out the cheat code to get the A and not actually learn."

06:45- Jesse "What I hear you saying is that grading was preventing a depth of learning. For genius to awaken, to get into the meat of learning, was prevented by grading."

07:00- Desmond- "I want to be very clear when I say grading, I mean when you get a whole bunch of assignments ini,ts when the only feedback your giving is a number. They can't do anything about that. There is a lot of work of being done to put the check marks into the system...and the feedback on the paper is greatly ignored because students are conditioned to only look for the grade."

07:54- Jesse "How would you describe upgrading for our listeners?"

8:00-9:26 Desmond answers the question...

08:25- Desmond the feedback you give is specific to what you see in the work... talk to me about your process... learn through the mistake... mistakes are necessary for learning...

09:25- Jesse "In your class how is this process facilitated?"

09:34 Desmond- "For me, I'm okay with the messiness.... There is what I'm actually doing and there is what I want to change as I get further along in the process of it... A lot of self reflection, the grade comes from students, we do self evaluation. Students assign themselves a grade based on the work they've done, what I'm calling the process portfolio... I would rather document that they are engaged in the class and thinking...

12:23- Desmond "The accountability comes in through frequent reflection... I give them guided reflections to probe them deep into their self awareness."

13:47- Des- I have a process where students post questions to a service called Packback. Which focuses on inquiry. Shoutout to Packback. They post one question and respond to two. Thats minimum. I say minimum is average and average a C. 'your still using that grading language?' A little bit because they are still in it.

14:33- Desmond "We've trained them with escapism; the game they (students) are playing is what is the least I need to do to get the maximum result. I give them the minimum and tell them that the minimum is average. What I'm trying to do pry into their brain is that if you can do more, do more... because that is what gets you the best results... That is criteria. I hit them with that a bit into our journey.

15:40- Desmond "Its training at this point, its training them to get into different habits, if you want best results in your life, then you have to do more than just the minimum."

15:55 Jesse "This reminds me of a poem by M.K. Asante who is the author of Its Bigger Than Hip Hop. He has a poem called 2 set of Notes

16:30- 2 B.A.R.S. Guided mediation

18:48- Desmond- "When I say the minimum is a C and you are grading yourself, I'm priming it into your brain, 'well shoot, I want an A, but all I did was the minimum.' Thats the key, and when I ask you questions like, 'how did you push yourself?' in the reflection... the criteria is in the questions I'm asking in the reflection."

19:39- Jesse "What have you seen are the benefits and challenges being two years in?"

19:46 Desmond "Benefits is that I can really spend my time prepping an enriching learning experience because I'm not saddled by having to go over absolutely everything and put numbers on it. I can look at their work, take it in a human being and deliver honest feedback directly to the student or the class as a whole, that is more thoughtful then what I was doing in the past. Sometimes experience is the feedback, and their work can guide future learning experiences."

21:00 Desmond "The I create experiences and provide material to guide based off where they want to go. From a real place of 'I want to learn.' not 'I just want to get through the class.' There is a shift that needs to take place from all those years of escapism. Once we make that shift... they experience the joy of developing their own ideas and their own creativity."

22:06 Desmond- "Student anxiety is lower around it. There are other things I do around it, its not just that I upgrade and yea!....

22:16 Desmond- "I would say for me and the ungrading practices, it freed up a lot of time, attention and energy for the real work of crafting and experience that really allows students to learn."

22:33 Jesse "What's been student feedback so far?"

23:20 Jesse "Thats inspiring.. the possibilities that can exist in a classroom if we get curious enough to get outside the box a little bit and be willing to take a risk."

23:57 Desmond "Quarantine was the tipping point to go all the way with the upgrading."

24:43 Desmond "Ultimately it came down to the experience- 'I have less conversations with students about a letter, and more conversations about an idea, a skill or something that they are interested in that comes up from the experience in the class. And more conversations about their life."

26:10 Desmond "What some students do, what some people do is think, 'I'm not doing well in this domain so thus I'm going to de value what it is to justify my choice to do something else.' "

26:29 Jesse "How do you see upgrading connecting to systems thinking and 'real life'?

26:42 Desmond "The question comes up what if we were all upgrading...Trauma aside- mostly all students want to learn and feel capable; What do we need a grading system for to enforce that? To hold them in on it. we say, 'If you don't do this it will effect your grade.'.... What if we release that?... The control and power always lies within the student...

28:07 Desmond "I don't think we do a service in todays world by trying to control students power with arbitrary standards.... If you competence then the skill of self evaluation is key. The skill of motivation is key. Self awareness is key... I did this work now reflect on the process. From a systems perspective it shifts us towards the growth of our students and less the measurement of our students."

29:06 Jesse "What if over the course of high school... from freshman to senior year your got used to ungrading... what if you learn that self awareness, that self evaluation, the joy of learning, the community, your getting feedback, your giving feedback out, your making as many mistakes as you can to learn and grow as a human being and that was the impetus?

29:40 Desmond "Going in this whole idea of Worth Work and building worth is that we start to feel we don't have enough worth when we don't measure up to somebody else's expectations. And that's what our grading system does. Thats what creates all this anxiety...

30:30 Jesse "Its important to stop and reflect on our trajectory, the hill we're climbing, what we're asking students to do and what is really worth pursuing? What is this human experience really about? What do we want to draw out of it?

31:00 Desmond "The challenges is trying to craft one experience in the class that meets all the students needs. That is messy and difficult. Thats another episode- the art- How do I create an experience that allows students to feel a part of the class and connected to what we're doing but have enough autonomy for them to do their individual work... This has always been the challenge... but by doing upgrading then I'm focusing on it more and I'm seeing the complexities in it. There is an urge to go back to the simple solution, 'okay for you how about I do grade you' because if they aren't engaging... then do I for you?"

32:41 Desmond "I'm forging ahead even though there are not a lot of models for what I'm doing."

Welcome! This episode invites listeners into the heart of Worth Work: story telling and practices that help us tell our stories from our depths. Desmond shares triggering experience of racism at the school he works at. The practices Desmond is immersed in help him navigate the experience, feel it deeply and authentically express himself. Take this story in like you're sipping a special beverage.

01:35- What comes up for your when you think of worth work practices?

01:58- Jesse "Embracing our whole selves so that we can embrace others. In a quantum sense- 'you are my other me' and that comes from the In Lak Ech poem, that ancient Mayan concept. We are all connected, so its practicing that connection. Practicing our humanity."

02:36 Desmond- "There are a lot of folks dealing shame, a lack of self worth. Which creates all sorts of ways that our pain in manifesting in the classroom and in the systems. The idea is worth... of self worth, the value we innately have by being here and being here another day.... every time we see the next day there is something that decides we are worthy of seeing another day, without having to do anything. If we can stay connected to that, we don't fall victim to the way we convince ourselves that we're not enough."

03:32 Desmond "There is the work piece and the practice piece. Not just showing up to do the work when the work is needed, but practicing the skills you need in order to do the work. Its continuous, its daily.... there are times when we lose the human connection and we need to practice the skills that help us maintain the human connection while we deal with the challenges of meeting everyone's need in the system."

04:21- Desmond "A worth work practice is something you create yourself to practice internal skills, so when its no longer a drill, you're ready to act."

05:15 Jesse "In Worth Work- the vision is to create a world where everyone has access to everything they need to live their highest selves. In our context- eradicating white body supremacy.... we need practices to evolve. Some practices are passed down from our ancestors and then we also need to develop and expand new practices to adapt to what our times are calling for."

05:55 Desmond - "And having the skill set to adapt. Which may not be present if your don't have a creative practice... We are attempting to create something new...humans have always been dealing with the human condition... What we are trying to do is deal with the human condition together. "

07:00 Jesse- "These practices are way to deal with out pain. Like Resmaa Menakem says, clean pain over dirty pain. Pain will be expressed some how. Our practices help us express pain in productive ways, in ways that bring connection.... With worth work we are trying to build that human connection in the context of the institution of school despite all the obstacles we face on the daily. Which might be a good segue into your story of how to channel pain and the value of having practices."

08:18 Desmond "Yea cause when you said how to bring humanity into it. The simple answer is allowing our stories to be heard and told in community, in our classes."

08:45 Desmond sets up and shares an experience 2/15/22....

14:02- Desmond "It got to the point where I said 'the human part of me wants to go and have a conversation with the other classes, the teacher part of me is hesitant to do so. It was in that point that I realized, 'oh I'm a human before I'm a teacher.' I experienced the dehumanization of what was happening, through the word and the culture context that we're in..."

As the school year rolls into its start, this episode is a reminder that human connection transfers real learning to students.

Enjoy this episode. More show notes on the way.

https://worthworkpodcast.substack.com/

Today, in Portland Public Schools, we start planning for the year.

It's a great time to think about our systems. So enjoy this episode. It's one of my favorites.

-Desmond

Show Notes:

03:05- Desmond- "The book I pull from heavily is Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows ... and Systems Thinking for Social Change by David Peter Stroh"

03:36 Desmond- "Thats when the lightbulb went off, Oh! that's why I'm good at systems thinking because its about the inner connection between all things."

04:22 Desmond "The only way we can understand and conceptualize this stuff is by creating separation between ourself and the system and the different components of it. But the reality is that the separation only exists in our understanding of it, not in the lived day to day experience of it. Thats the hard part... when we begin to think about systems..."

05:37 Desmond "When you here the term (systems thinking) Whatever comes to mind for you is essentially what your operating with... When we think about systems we often think about it as something separate from ourselves. We often thinking about the conglomerates of corporations and institutions, bureaucracies and school districts....the problem is that we start to think that the part is the whole. We start to think that our experience is the only experience, that the system is in charge and has all the power."

07:18 Desmond "We separate the mind from the heart, and the mind from the body but it's all one body. We separate them to have different kinds of conversations, but we don't have a practice to brining them back together and having conversations about how they relate to each other as a whole system."

09:24 Desmond- "Its important to understand: The system is the map and the map is never the terrain...."

11:51 Whats the relationship between systems and culture?

14:03 What is the purpose of our education system? Desmond- "I'm gonna give you a quote from Thinking in Systems- The least obvious part of the system, its function or purpose, is often the most crucial determinate of the systems behavior. I don't have a straight answer for you about what is the purpose of the education system. Because it's the least obvious part. You get what I'm saying? I know what I think the purpose is and that's what I teach from. But is what my purpose of education- human being development. "

15:20 Desmond "If I had a false dichotomy choice between giving a student all the skills in the world vs. Know who you are. I'm going to go with the know who you are."

16:08 Take two BARS guided mediation. Breathe Align Relax and Shine.

18:15 Jesse shares how the education system doesn't value the knowledge of self by how the system is set up. He shares story of the power of Step Up Camps. "I learn more about my self in those five days than a whole school year."

23:22 Desmond- "When I get excited about systems thinking is because Oh this explains how the system is fundamentally human because it becomes hypocritical at some point... "

26:26 Colleague clip- Sam "I think we need to blow the whole thing up. I think the way we educate our students is preparing them for either jail or becoming robots. Just the way that we make em line up, sit and not say anything in class. All that is preparing you to be a worker and not a boss."

Not said in the episode but this quote makes me think of another quote by Buenaventura Durruti “We are not in the least afraid of ruins. We are going to inherit the earth; there is not the slightest doubt about that.... We carry a new world here, in our hearts. That world is growing in this minute.”

29:25 Jesse reads lyrics from the third verse J Cole's song High For Hours- What good is takin' over when we know what you gon' do? The only real revolution happens right inside of you

30:47 Desmond "It gets to this idea- policy created racism, racism creates racists ideas, racist ideas reenforce racist policies, and what we have to remember is the people who created racist policies weren't necessarily operating with the racist ideas, since they hadn't been invented yet, but they were operating with the human condition. They were operating with self interest and that balance that we all play with: doing for self and doing for others. We convince ourselves that doing for self is doing for others... convincing ourselves that our we are doing the policy for the greater cause... we start to tell stories about how other people are less than human.

34:08 Desmond- "one of our greatest powers and our greatest weaknesses as humans is story. I came to realization about how stories are a weakness because stories have a to have a beginning, middle and end... We use stories understand the system around us and to understand ourself. Stories are simulations of reality."

36:26 Desmond "Map not the terrain... I have a story of my life, story of what my classroom should be. Something comes in that's not a part of that story. Instead of changing my story, because that's the harder part to change- stories are powerful. I ignore and push out the part that doesn't fit."

37:33 Colleague clip Same- "Kids are the most adaptable people in the world. Whatever we say we're doing we're rocking with it. Whether its courageous conversations this year, whether its RJ. Whatever, they're going to adapt. Its adults that push back on all that stuff."

38:40 Desmond "Thinking about the systems work we can do to bring more equity into it. How does our system bring in normally marginalized folks?... Marginalizing folks are marginalizing themselves. It's the systemic result of how we do things. So do we then rethink our systems to bring in folks that are normally left on the outside, that have been pushed out of the story by default. Not by intention by the lack of attention to the normal experience..."

39:50 Desmond breaks down what happens when teachers try to take on a strategy without doing the work to embody... Teachers revert back to old habits and the same story.

40:40 Jesse "Doing the inner work is changing the internal systems by receiving the work from the outer systems. Whats working and not working?"

42:10 What are systems for? What is education for? To serve the needs for the people apart of the system.

47:29- Desmond uses an analogy of NBA draft to apply to the education system. Teams/schools at the bottom should get the first pick for funding.

50:00 Desmond "Where do we begin this work? We begin were we are... We seek to understand more than we do now... We can begin making decisions that are more aligned with the whole..."

50:41 Colleague clip- Sam- "I think emotionally for the people in power they don't have the capability of doing that. Of admitting wrong. Because, its just like going into RJ the first thing you do is identify what happened, who was affected by it, what can we do to make things right, and how can we keep things right. The key part of it is taking accountability and responsibility for what you did in that situation. And I don't think our education system in the United States is ready to take accountability for what they've done. And you can't fix a problem if you've never admitted it to being a problem."

54:15-Desmond "A lot of these episodes, these themes, is a lens for analysis of our experience to maintain the curiosity and openness to act towards equity. Once we close off from that and go into strict self preservation mode we default to status quo... Then we do the harm of the status quo."

54:46- Colleague clip-Sam- "What you like you don't hurt, what you feel a part of you take care of. If we get to a space, you like your teacher, you like your classmates, - that's from learning each other. Thats why the whole community circle process is so important. You get to know each other on a level- not just as my classmate or my teacher. Because you're less likely to hurt who you like. Once you feel a part of the fabric of your school you more likely to police yourselves. "

55:20 Key Words and Phrases Freestyle edition: capitalism, it' s all connected, cliches, revolution, blow it up, stake holder.

Worth Work in full effect. This episode focuses on the relationship of power in our teaching profession in individuals and in the system. What do we gain when we give up power? How can we shift the culture so power is more evenly distributed? A real gem in this episode is around the 30:10 mark hear a story from from a few years from students (now in college) about how they were able to shift the power dynamics at their school in a event called Time to Talk, where adults had to be the primary listeners and how that student voice impacted the school. As always tune in to the end where Desmond and Jesse freestyle rap with key words of the episode.

01:36- Desmond- "Its good to understand power to use it in ways that isn't based in default conditioning and the need to self protect. That is the impetus if you will. The question is How do we use power in a way that can bring equity and inclusion into classroom spaces as well as the world.

02:24- Jesse "When I'm empowered I feel it in my chest and solar plexus, thats when I'm using all my genius and gifts to make the world a little better.... When I'm feeling threatened by power or unsure of my own power, I get in my head...being aware of the dynamics of power in my own body.

02:50- Jesse -"On a collective level... I'm contemplating power in all the hierarchies we live in. Having access to things you need, food, water, shelter. Today power is symbolized in money...

03:20 bell hooks in Teaching to Transgress: "It was only when I began to interrogate my fear of power that I began to understand that power itself was not negative."

4:10- Desmond -"As a black kid, I'm navigating power structures to get my needs met. Not from a place of inherent self worth as a human being... which is the default of the culture.... In our culture You have to prove yourself before you have power.... to bring change and inclusion we have to recognize that every person has power.... We have to interrogate it for ourself to understand it's not the force thats the issue, it's the use of it."

05:30 What is the definition of power? Brene Brown in Atlas of the Heart. Echoing Martin Luther King Jr. "A defintion of power is the ability to take care of needs and effect change."

06:07 Jesse- shares how his realizing of social power came when he participated in courageous conversations about race working for Step Up and realized he had a certain amount of power because of his skin color.

06:43- Desmond refers to wheel of power or privilege. This tool helps us realize our social location in our context.

08:34 Jesse- "Courageous conversation was the first time I could own my power in terms of race. I look at my power as my genius and abilities I can contribute to my community. I can give and receive.

10:30 Desmond- "I've been thinking of the domain of spiritual power... Spirituality I was raised with taught me to turn inward, and by turning inward and connecting myself, with my body... There is innate wisdom in my body that guides me.... We need to recognize that there is something larger than us that effects us. It doesn't have to be gods, angels, demons, it can be the culture. The culture effects us....That force that is culture in collective story and sense making, has a spiritual component we need to pay attention to.

12:13 Desmond refers to an incident with a racial slur on a desk at school and how he called us to examine the culture. He invites us to all do the work to change the culture so the impact of these actions doesn't do as much harm. Desmond asks "How can we change the culture to allow more voices to be heard."

13:40 Jesse talks more about courageous conversations about the exchange of story. To be in-formed by peoples story. As teachers with our words and actions we are teaching students how to interact with power.

15:21- One of the things we gain when we share power in the classroom is relationships. Desmond shares about power being shared in his classroom by grading differently. More details on that in episode 10- Ungrading.

16:27- Jesse- "how do we empower outside the institution? Empower our physical bodies, emotions, intellect, our spirits. There are so many levels to power."

17:00 Two BARS guided meditation. Breathe, Align, Relax, Shine.

19:05- Colleague clip- Ken Gadbow- "If I have the privilege of being in a classroom where people are genuinely listening to each other that is an element of equity to me. Usually we don't listen to each other, usually we're waiting for the other person to stop talking... Instead of really listening and accepting whats happening right her in front of us."

20:05 Jesse- "Thats a worth work practice right here. If we're confident in our self worth, we are ready to hear and take in the worth of the people around us. And not only listen, but implement, act on it, feel it."

20:45 Desmond breaks down how important it is to make mistakes... mistakes and continue to grow... His experience with rapping, is he can go to the edge of his ability because I'm willing to make a mistake. He refers to educators who don't want to make a mistake in the race conversation, but then they don't fully listen to students and the inaction causes harm because of not wanting to make a mistake. Getting to self worth is to really feel a student or another adults story, and have the ability to stay present with it if it's difficult to take in. And then do the healing work. Thats another use of power. You don't have to use power to defend yourself.

22:48 Jesse reflects on a culture shift were its normalized to talk about power dynamics in a non-threatening way. Examples: Asking what pronouns a person uses, talking about race and where the power dynamics are at any given situation. The invitation of Worth Work, is to have practices that help us shift how we use power in the classroom.

23:55- Jesse- Freestyle rapping is a great practice to make mistakes, and grow from them. And shares a bit about encouraging students to 'embrace the cringe' when they share their work.

24:51 Desmond- "If I'm pursing mastery in anything I need to be okay with mistakes. Mastery of freestyle is how do we respond when we make mistakes? How do we respond internally? Do I maintain the joy of the artform."

27:09- Desmond "If you avoid the cringe, you are avoiding your true power...Really its transformation. The resistance to transform is that cringe... The rules of culture won't always serve our transformation and change."

28:40 Desmond- "...part of being alive: pain, guilt, death.... If you going to make your life meaningful and filled with joy, then recognize I can't avoid these things. Feeling uncomfortable emotions will help you know where your power lies."

30:10- Jesse sets up the next clip. Its important we have creative examples of how distribute power, enter this clip of two college students reflecting on an event a few years ago where they helped shift the culture of a school.

30:30 Colleague clip- peer mentor share about an event called Time to Talk about school resource officers in schools. Student leaders asked community leaders to come into circles led by students. Adults had to listen in the small circles then report back to the whole group what they heard then check in with students to make sure they got it right. The event helped get a restorative justice coordinator hired in at McDaniel. A great example of students getting out of way and letting youth shape culture.

35:05- That event flipped the normal power structure where adults had to be the primarily listeners. How can we get creative and have more events like this?

35:50- Desmond "We need the youths perspective because they haven't been conditioned by the system as long." If we keep that in mind as adults, being self secure enough to know we make mistakes thinking we know everything and ask 'young person- how do you see it?' Feeling heard is a part of the human connection. Imagine when these young people take over our positions they can operate with a different sense of how school can be.

37:10 Recent graduates clip- "Everyday, every hour, its always I'm right your wrong, go to class, you can't be here, get out. Thats what they're relaying to these students. And then they wonder why these students miss class... The first time someone listened to me, I was like 'Oh, no I have to actually think about why I'm mad....then we can actually talk and communicate. Compared to when your not listened to and there is a power structure."

38:15- Jesse If a student isn't being heard in the class and they don't want to be there, where are they going to go? Bathroom, hallway, etc. Then we talk about a place that used to exist at my school- The Spot- which was a place students could go, check in with an adult, and be in a safe place if they weren't in a position to go to class.

39:27- college student clip about The Spot- "Elias had a way to connect with you and make you feel like a person. The Spot is ours he would say.... It was the only spot in the building that I felt like I belonged. It kept me in the building. If I couldn't be in class, I would have just went home. But going to the spot I could go do my homework and catch up on assignments.... Feeling like you belong will keep you in the building. If there is no place like that then you'll leave...

41:15 Jesse- "I'm inspired to interrogate my own power. And inspired to take risks and look for opportunities to flip power on its head. Be creative and make platforms for students to share their voice."

42:21- Desmond "I'm curious about how we can create practices and policies that normalize power with and power to... My grand experiment in the classroom is how can I use my power the least saying what to and how to do it, and my power the most in waking students up to themselves, understanding they have abilities, gifts and genius that they can express.... so the culture can shift when they have positions of power."

44:37- Key words and phrases freestyle edition. Power, empowered, culture, mistakes, practice, cringe, conversations, mastery and connected.

In this episode of the Worth Work podcast the quest begins with the question: Why are teachers leaving the profession? Enter these fifty three minutes and twenty three seconds where Jesse and Desmond have a conversation and contemplate the heart of the matter. The invitation that emerges from their conversation; Worth Work is a way of being, a beneficial way to expand our humanity. Deeply knowing our own worth will help in little shifts to create conditions for justice and equity to be more present. If we dare to feel our fear, learn from it, pivot into the joy of the process who knows what types of creative visions emerge. Be sure to catch the 2 BARS guided meditation at the 15:35 mark and the key words and phrases freestyle rap summary at 50:45 mark. Enjoy!

01:37: Desmond- "Worth work as this idea to reframe equity from the burden and the 'when will it be done' type of approach. Switching it to a way of being. And from this way of being you will experience your worth and others will experience their worth more often. So they don't have to question it. They have more resilience for others and they can be more compassionate. its being, its movement, its not done, its continuous..."

02:42- Mentioned Cornelius Minor from his book We Got This. The actual quote that Jesse alludes to is "The true masterminds- the real enemies- in this dystopia are the business as usual attitudes, binary thinking, and inflexibility with which we have been conditioned to approach these problems."

03:23 Jesse- "The biggest hindrance to creativity is fear of all sorts." Jesse shares a metaphor for fear that have been helpful from him. Keep fear in the backseat of the car but don't let him DJ and play the music when you're driving. Listen to fear's 16 bar verse but not his playlist. Hear what fear is saying and be informed but don't let fear control the vibe. This metaphor he credits to hearing somewhere along the line from author and speaker Rob Bell

04:57 Desmond- "It's acceptance that every person is on their journey." Desmond shares an analogy about a labyrinth [from a book called Find Your Red Thread by Tamsen Webster] Labyrinths exist in our minds- we can see where a students journey could take them into vitality, but we don't know where the students labyrinth will take them. We can provide space to navigate the labyrinth.

07:38-08:32 Jesse explores how as educators can build capacity with an alive-it (word play off diet) what we feed ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally to take a vibration into the world that helps heal instead of getting sucked into the fear based vibrations that exist all around us- in the news and all the gossip.

09:05 Quote from a Forbes Article: This is the Hard Part of Teaching. Its Getting Harder by Peter Green- "A fundamental challenge of teaching is coming to grips with this: There is never enough. Never enough time, never enough resources, never enough you..."

10:03 Desmond- "The idea of not enough...This brings up a few questions- What's vital? What's enough?"

10:10- Jesse- "What would it look like to serve the whole? Ideally thats when we are the most whole hearted and alive, when we have that vision tucked into our daily actions."

10:20- Desmond- "Yes- moments of whole heartedness. It's not permanent where you reach this state and you're done. It's this dynamic equilibrium. Meaning the amount going into the system is essentially the same as the amount going out. The flow is balanced and there is always movement and change.

11:00 Quote used at the 01:37 intro mark- Desmond: ""Worth work as this idea to reframe equity from the burden and the 'when will it be done' type of approach. Switching it to a way of being. And from this way of being you will experience your worth and others will experience they're worth more often. So they don't have to question it. They have more resilience for others and they can be more compassionate. its being, its movement, its not done, its continuous..."

11:55- Desmond- "Imagine people having this way of being- 'I have a lot of power in this room, I'm going to step back, because I should not have this much control and power in this room. I'm going to empower somebody else so that equilibrium of the space can be maintained."

12:40 Desmond- "Whats vital? At the core of any learning is relationship. I can't teach anybody anything if I don't have a connection with them... But the way we've constructed these systems to facilitate taking care of our needs, our learning needs, our eating needs, our child care needs and all that... the system is constructed to not really care about our race. (BIPOC)"

13:28 Jesse mentions an interview he did with Carlos Chavez and how he made a connection about covid pandemic being a metaphor for the virus of racial injustice thats been existing in our context and culture. The whole interview with Carlos Chavez is worth checking out.

15:05 Jesse- "Its not as scary as we've been conditioned to really go into our fear..." But we can't do it alone- together we can create these conditions

15:35 2 BARS guided meditation. Breathe. Align. Relax. Shine.

17:54 Desmond- "Racism have convinced white folks they are fragile.... Humans are resilient, racism has convinced humans who identify as white that they are fragile. That they require privilege and power just to feel comfortable. The resilience of the human spirit, every person has, have you done the work to develop that strength?...It comes back to- experience is the best teacher. The experience of struggle will teach you resilience.... The shadow work will gift the most light."

19:38-20:58 Jesse explores an idea that whiteness is sampling the worst things about humanity: the fear based versions of power and control. The beautiful aspects of humanity were not sampled when whiteness in our context was created. The work is to sample something better then what whiteness gives us.

23:35-25:36 Desmond shares an analogy comparing getting honest music feedback to why we need different perspectives and background to do things differently.

26:46 Desmond "Its by committing to move through the tension that we ascend to the next level. And the tension is that we want to get to the next level with as little pain, guilt and death as possible. There will be pain, guilt and death. These are the doors we have to go through to get to the other side. Every time we see these doors we have the ahhh- I don't want to go through them."

27:34 Jesse- "Makes me think about a slowing down to give ourselves time to feel that... and back to that- 'every external thing happening is an invitation to an internal process.' I think that Worth Work is creating a world or communities or schools where its more and more accessible to take that time..."

28:35 Jesse "I'm still in the process, what is my piece to play in eradicating white body supremacy, my part in serving the whole, my part in creating a genius awakening, genius over doubt type of community and culture. It’s starts with myself and it’s connected to every one else. It's both doing my own work and creating and being a part of everyone doing their work..."

29:50- Desmond- "That manifesting of worthiness is dynamic equilibrium. When there is balance there is an equal worth thing. Imagine a classroom where every student knows they're worthy. They are worthy of a full life's experience..."

31:33 Desmond shares a vision for at sometime we will provide Worth Work habits and practices. So then when certain situations happen, we can trigger our habit loops. We can develop habits of responding that is intentional about building worth, equity, and conditions for justice to emerge.

34:38 Jesse shares some ideas for habits of building worth- taking 2 BARS to breathe, align, relax and shine. Have creative dreaming mode- to exchange knowledge and ideas. PDSAs (Plan, Do, Study, Act) at the end of a creative dream mode. Adisa Bonjoko's practice 3PA>1NT - Three positive actions are greater than one negative thought. From his book Bruce, Bobby and the Bronx- The Secrets of Hip Hop Chess

36:46 Desmond shares a practice that before you start any type of change initiative- do a practice of beginning the gathering by discussing what is working. Quick wins.

37:40-40:35 Desmond explores the idea how to track our growth in Worth Work with small practices. "Every time you practice a mode of communication that improves your listening skills- thats worth work. Every time you practice using language in an intentional way that doesn't trigger a fear based reaction... thats worth work.... Then we can model this way of being...

41:14- Another way to look at Worth Work is to build a capacity to grow and expand.

42:11 Desmond "The pursuit of perfection for me its the fallacy that joy only happens once I'm perfect. Joy can happen in the midst of imperfection and mistakes. Worth Work as the reward is the many experiences of joy that you will have in being this way.

44:06- Desmond explores what our fears can help us reveal. "The fear when we're in it, the Worth Work pivot is the idea of knowing what we are trying to protect (when fears come up) helps us reveal what we want. The pivot is too reframe and refocus on what we actually want. And have gratitude for what you want that is with you in the presence...even if it's just the dream of it."

45:34-49:00 Jesse explores the timeless aspect of our humanity, and how worth work invites us into envision higher frequency dreams: What does a world without racism look like? What could school be like where everyone is getting their needs met? Have the idea, the dream, be committed to it. And yet not attached to how we will get there. What if as teachers we had an entry way into what that dream is for us? A piece of art we make, a vision statement, a song or something of the like. That would help us re-member us to the depth of life.

49:01 Desmond builds off the idea of looking at our work as beautiful over being perfection driven.

50:45 Key words and phrases freestyle edition: enough, fear, propping up, business as usual, moments of whole heartedness, awakening, think tanking, resilience. Get it Des!