An Open Letter to the 2019-2020 Educators

Dear 2019-2020 Educators,

This past weekend I received a Facebook message from a former student. She was one of over 100 students I taught in sixth grade at the Canandaigua Middle School, in upstate New York, in my first full year of teaching during the 1994-1995 school year. She shared a note I wrote in her scrapbook. It wasn't fancy, just a simple note that read:

"You've had a terrific year in reading and language arts! 

Hold on to those dreams of being a teacher. I'll miss you." 

Twenty-five years later, she thanked me for writing that brief note. It was incredible to hear from her. She shared that middle school was not a good time for her at home, so those three sentences of encouragement were very appreciated. 

Truth be told, she was easy to encourage. She was kind and hard working. The best part, she IS a teacher now and has been for 14 years. This young woman is the teacher she dreamed of becoming as a sixth grader. And she thought enough of our time together in 1995 to let me know.

The 2019-2020 school year is concluding or has already concluded, whether you worked in a P-12 setting or on a college campus. Sure, your students will remember COVID-19 but, more importantly, they will remember how you helped them through this time — that you encouraged them to keep going, that you were "there" when things weren't good at home, that you cared and that you showed up each and every day. 

They will remember that you showed them that their lives matter. 

You will be remembered. 

Your career as an educator matters, and you matter in the lives of your students.

So when you are feeling down or feeling burned out, be prepared for that one day, when you least expect it, when one of your students may reach out to you and share a little note you wrote. It may not seem like a big deal but to that child it may mean the world.

Thank you for shepherding your students through this unprecedented year. 

What students will remember about the 2019-2020 school year won't be the computers, iPads or packets. They will remember you and how much you cared for them and were there for them when they needed you most.

With gratitude,

Jolene 

Additional Resources to Teach About Bias in America Following our #NYSUTchat on June 14th

Thank you for taking part in our #NYSUTchat on Sunday, June 14th!

Below are books and resources our NYSUT Research and Educational Services and ELT departments assembled along with other NYSUT members to complement the resources shared by all of you during our latest #NYSUTchat on Twitter. 

You can read an archive of all of our chats by going to https://wakelet.com/@NYSUT. 

We hope you will find these resources helpful as you engage in critical conversations with both students and colleagues on cultural, racial and historical biases in America. 

21 books for elementary students:

1) I Love My Hair by Natasha Tarpley

2) Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Tarpley

3) Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

4) Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs

5) Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett Smith

6) Shades of Black by Sandra L. Pinkney

7) I Am Latino by Sandra L. Pinkney

8) The Colors of Us by Karen Katz

9) My Princess Boy by Cheryl Kilodavis

10) I Am the World by Charles R. Smith Jr.

11) Can You Say Peace by Karen Katz

12) And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

13) A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory

14) Malala's Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai

15) The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad

16) Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw

17) A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

18) We Are All Alike, We Are All Different by Cheltenham Elementary Kindergarteners

19) The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

20) Don't Touch My Hair by Sharee Miller

21) Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry with the short video here: 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hair-love-won-an-oscar-its-smart-its-funny-and-that-makes-me-furious/ar-BBZXAWH

More Children’s books:

• https://www.maisonette.com/le_scoop/diverse-childrens-books?utm_source=Instagram&utm_medium=organicsocial&utm_campaign=DiverseBooks 

Early childhood resources: 

• https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/vu-web/lab-wpcontent/sites/96/2020/06/05133841/Talking-About-Race.jpg 
• https://www.iecmhc.org/resources/equity/ 
• https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/equity 
• https://www.zerotothree.org/policy-and-advocacy/equity 
• https://www.buildinitiative.org/blog/fighting-racism-working-for-equitable-outcomes-for-young-children-and-their-families  

•      There are more images/info on this Pyramid Model page:  
• https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/Implementation/Equity/index.html 
• https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/Training/Webinar/archive/2019/03-27/2019-03-27_Early-Childhood-Suspensions-The-Impact-on-Families.html 

Book list for Adults or Secondary Students: 

Center for Racial Justice and In Education: https://centerracialjustice.org/resources/reading-lists/

Websites:

• Welcoming Schools- https://www.welcomingschools.org/
• Anti-Defamation League (ADL)- https://www.adl.org/
• Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)- https://www.splcenter.org/
• Teaching Tolerance - https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-tolerance
  

Links related to anti-racism and creating an anti-racist workplace: 

• https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/05/how-to-thoughtfully-talk-about-racial-inequality-with-your-coworkers.html 
• https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21278245/antiracist-racism-race-books-resources-antiracism 
• https://bthechange.com/4-steps-we-can-take-as-white-people-to-fight-racism-a582e826eb92 
• https://qz.com/work/1864529/how-to-build-an-actively-anti-racist-workplace/ 
• https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/health/how-to-be-an-anti-racist-wellness/index.html 
  

Articles/resources:

• https://nymag.com/strategist/article/black-owned-businesses-support-shop.html 
• https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-optical-allyship-3-ways-to-be-actively-anti-racist-22956518 
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/06/07/minneapolis-votes-to-disband-police-department/ 
• https://www.bustle.com/p/17-books-on-race-every-white-person-needs-to-read-76401?utm_campaign=feminismbustle&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned&utm_content=1591466101 
• https://trudreadz.com/2020/05/24/now-that-your-kids-are-home-teach-them-black-history-they-wont-learn-in-the-american-educational-system/ 

Our #NYSUTchat will return later this summer. If you have ideas for a future #NYSUTchat focused on professional practice, let us know. Thanks for all of the support!

 

It's Pride Month! Let's celebrate in our schools.

It's Pride! How are you going to celebrate Pride not only this month but every day of the year? 

As educators, we all want the same thing for our students and their families. We want our schools to be safe, welcoming places for teaching and learning. That means ensuring all students and families see themselves in our schools and our communities. 

But where do we begin? 

With your union, of course!  

Your union is a support for you and your students whether you are LGBTQ or an ally. NYSUT not only has an LGBTQ Committee but also has a resource center that includes information such as sample contract language and welcoming LGBTQ educators into your school. Our LGBTQ Committee also has a Twitter account, a Facebook page and its own dedicated NYSUT web page. At NYSUT, we are committed to equality for everyone. Check out https://www.nysut.org/resources/special-resources-sites/lgbtq and explore the resource center and more.

At the Education and Learning Trust (ELT), the professional development arm of your union, we have seminars for teachers that can assist you in creating a safe, welcoming environment: 

•  Addressing Anti-LGBTQ Bullying and Harassment in Schools
•  Inclusive Curriculum: Incorporating LGBTQ Topics into the Classroom
•  Creating Safer Spaces for LGBTQ Students

For our SRPs:

•  Our World, Our Students

Training for both teachers and SRPs:

•  Dignity Act: Training in Harassment, Bullying, Cyberbullying and Discrimination in Schools: Prevention & Intervention 
  

Want to learn about the seminars your union has to offer?  Go to https://elt.nysut.org/. 

Who else can help you celebrate Pride in schools? Your school librarian! Your school librarian can ensure the literature selections in your school are inclusive. By examining our classroom and school libraries to ensure a variety of reading materials are available, all students will be able to recognize themselves and their families in the books we use.  

Below is a small list of reading materials educators can use to start to create that safe and welcoming environment for their students:

• AND TANGO MAKES THREE by Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell and Henry Cole. It is a picture book based on the true story of two male penguins raising a penguin chick in the Central Park Zoo. A great book for the little ones.
  
• TeachingBooks.net LGBTQ Collection - A BOCES compiled LGBTQ Collection that includes over 800 books.
  https://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?adv=title&go=1&culturalArea=LGBTQ
• School Library Journal, "Pride for Tweens|Great Books" - School Library Journal usually updates this list each June. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=great-books-pride-for-tweens
• School Library Journal, "Happy Pride! 26 LGBTQIA+ Titles for Teens" https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=26-lgbtqia-titles-for-teens
• Rainbow (A Round Table of the American Library Association), LGBTQIA+ Resources for Children -A bibliography of various resources compiled by the Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association. This round table serves the information needs of the LGBTQIA+ professional library community. http://www.ala.org/rt/rrt/popularresources/children 

Our LGBTQ Committee also hosted a "book tasting" event.  You can learn more about that event and the books chosen: https://www.nysut.org/news/2019/september/nysut-lgbtq-committee-to-host-book-tasting-event

Here are some powerful questions we can ask ourselves to show Pride all year long in our schools:

•  Does your school have a student Gay Straight Alliance or a Gender-Sexuality Alliance? 
•  Does your school have inclusive curricula and policies?  
•  Does your school use preferred names and respect everyone's pronouns?
  
•  Has your school created a supportive environment for all educators?

Your union can assist you, NYSUT has the resources and works in partnership with organizations like GLSEN: https://www.glsen.org/. Another great resource is Welcoming Schools: https://www.welcomingschools.org/

On a personal note, when I was a local NYSUT president, we began working on changes big and small to make our schools more welcoming. 

Training was provided for any teacher or SRP who wanted it, so we could create safe spaces, appropriately teach all students and be better colleagues to our LGBTQ siblings. 

We also began conversations about changing forms that families have to complete. Changing words like mother and father to parent or guardian to be more inclusive of all families. 

June is usually a month packed full of celebrations, gatherings, parades and events. While many of those activities cannot take place in our current COVID environment, let's find ways we can celebrate remotely and safely to make our world one where we all see ourselves and feel a part of the fabric of our communities.