Episode 3: On the Ground in New York

Tina 0:10
We need to open it up, and we need to explore and be uncomfortable and have conversations. Our world is so divided right now. And in order for us to move forward, it's not about who's right or who's wrong. It's how we treat each other.

Kelley 0:26
When our students weren't in front of us, and they were at home learning, it taught us that we really had to become partners with their families. And that took on a whole different meaning. When we were teaching through a computer screen.

Andrew 0:40
I'd gone through the district down to Texas to teach restorative practices to educators for a summer. And every black person had some kind of really negative experience while they were in school. Whether it was a woman or a man, it didn't matter. The stories were quite powerful, and you just realized this pattern.

Millicent 1:03
Hi, you're listening to Vital Voices Podcast from Corning Incorporated, exploring innovative ways companies can be a force for good. I'm Millicent Ruffin. And I'm

Sissy 1:13
sissy Siero. The voices you just heard were from our three guests for today's episode, all educators at Beecher Elementary School in Elmira, New York Town, just east of Corning.

Millicent 1:23
And this episode, we continue our discussions around DNI in the classroom, and we'll hear about the efforts in the school districts where our education coordinators are working that you previously heard from an episode two. So we'll hear from three educators on their firsthand experiences. And I can't wait. Let's jump into it.

Kelley 1:48
When I come into work every day, I feel like it's an honor to be trusted to be the leader of the building in our team's mentality is just whatever it takes every day, all day, all the time, whatever it takes to help each other to help the kids to help their families. And whenever we're faced with the decision, it's in the back of our minds, just whatever they need whatever anyone needs from us while we're there.

Millicent 2:09
That's Kelly Baccales, principal of Beecher Elementary School here in Elmira, where Kelly actually grew up.

Kelley 2:17
I always felt very supported here. And like I could make a difference here where I grew up, I feel connected to our school families because of that, and that comes up in a lot of our conversation. I think that Elmira has a lot of people that live here that have lived here for a long time. There's a lot of family pride in the town. And a lot of people that are currently working and teaching their grandparents came here, or their great grandparents came here, or they really feel connected and special in that they want to give back and just do what's best so that people want to be here and live here.

Sissy 2:54
Kelly is now in her fourth year as principal at Beecher Elementary, which has about 370 students grades three through six,

Kelley 3:00
we have a wide range of socio economics that come to our school. And we have a few Spanish speaking families that come to our school. We have a lot of students whose families also went to Beecher so they are just really so caring and supportive, and they get in touch with their teachers and through me, and then we just try to be a hub of resources for them. And it feels like we're rich with those resources.

Millicent 3:31
Kelly's School District has a Community Schools Initiative, and that allows speaker Elementary to act as a hub for students and their families by providing a host of services, medical agencies, children's integrated services, food, banks, dental care, all in one location. But even with all of this support, dealing with the pandemic threw everyone for a loop.

Kelley 3:57
When our students weren't in front of us, and they were at home learning. It taught us that we really had to become partners with their families. And that took on a whole different meaning when we were teaching through a computer screen.

Sissy 4:11
And here's Andrew Colucci, another teacher from Beecher elementary we spoke with,

Andrew 4:15
I think the pandemic has sort of exposed to a lot of problems and things that were broken before but now we really just have a lens and it really I think it was really difficult on the population that we serve. At first it was somewhat uncomfortable. But once you got to the point where it wasn't it's just is what it is. You just lock eyes and then you really started to see what is it you need.

Sissy 4:40
I love that lock eyes and then you just start to see what it is you really need. What I hear is seeing a humanity through the screens.

Millicent 4:48
I agree. I think he also saw the need that went beyond what was in the textbook. It's hard to say the great thing about the pandemic but you know, one thing that pandemic did was really lift up the veil around how families that come from different socio economic backgrounds experience education. So coming back into the classroom, it was more than just, okay, let's pick up from, you know, three months of being off for the summer to really think about, okay, how do we address the regression that happened from nine months of online learning, and that that distance and the impact of that distance one of the great things that came out of the New York State Department of Education was the framework for culturally responsive sustaining education, which we abbreviate as CRS, you know, that framework helps educators create learning environments that affirm cultural identities and elevate all voices, with a focus on four principles, welcoming and affirming environment, high expectations, and rigorous instruction, and inclusive curriculum and assessment. And then ongoing professional learning.

Sissy 6:18
I think that's great that New York State has that. But I was wondering if Kelly could explain what this meant to her.

Kelley 6:24
What it means to us is that wherever the kids are coming from that we need to be as understanding as possible, because if they don't believe in the adults in the school, then there's no chance that they're going to learn all they can from us. So they really need to feel like we are making an effort to know what their lives are like, and what's important to them, and what drives them.

Sissy 6:48
When it comes to understanding students lives, I think Andrew spoke really well to this.

Andrew 6:53
When kids fall asleep, like head on the table drool, they're tired. If I wake them up, their body's going to be stressed. Right? So we're just going to leave now. And they get it. So we have a lot of kids who are unsupervised. And they stay up late at night. And they come to school, but they come. So I'm happy you're here. What do you

Millicent 7:13
need. This year, Kelly and her staff have focused on two of the four CRS principles,

Kelley 7:18
we really take in the welcoming and affirming environment piece, and the ongoing professional development piece as our two main priorities this year. welcoming and affirming environment really means welcoming students when they're there so that they feel like they're at home when they're at school. I really want our family members who possibly grew up not liking school, to trust us, and to feel like we are here for them. And I feel like we got to a jumpstart on it when our schools were closed or partially closed. And then the second item that we chose the ongoing professional development is because we had students coming in to us with needs that we couldn't even fathom, we just had to try to get ahead of it. So on our professional development time, we had different workshops that we would do all together. Some of them was just how can we make our instruction be more student centered? And not just teacher speaking of the student? In really how do they become more of themselves with getting to know their students at the same time.

Sissy 8:23
I love hearing that, because it's so true. We think of students and teachers as being such separate entities. Well, I have anyway, and to hear them talk like this, to really put that focus that consciousness on the fact that they're see me as a person, I'm seeing you as a person and meeting there, you know, and then teaching then learning,

Millicent 8:41
I really love the focus on you know, student centered instruction and understanding what the students need. And as you said, meeting them there. The other thing that really impresses me with Kelly and her team is that they dedicate time on a weekly basis to professional development. And so their priority, you know, every week is how do we get better at meeting the students where they are?

Sissy 9:11
Do they meet together and just bring up the different experiences that they're having and try to share with each other too.

Millicent 9:17
It's a little bit of both. And so that's one of the things that Jarvis Marlo MacAllan our DNI education coordinator does for the school district. So we first heard from Jarvis in our last episode, one of the avenues of support that he provides is weekly professional development training for the staff.

Sissy 9:39
Wow, that's so great on a weekly basis. Okay.

Kelley 9:44
Jarvis appeared to sneak right in. And we were so grateful for it because we're going to be dealing with topics with students that make people nervous that make people uncomfortable and no one wants to say the wrong thing or make someone else feel uncomfortable because it's something that they did or said So Jarvis has come in and done some district wide trainings, which have been great to just open the door and say, Hi, I'm here to talk about identities and bias and how that plays a part in everything we do. I think our teachers know and our kids know that we don't want to shy away from those hard conversations. And really what's to the root of the problem, or if something was taken out of context or the wrong way? Well, let's just talk about it so that we can get it out in the open. And I think that's one way that we can show our students that we really care about them. And we're not just there to do a job that day. Jarvis is the one who brought those ideas to us. So we were building our plan with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. We sort of knew what sounded good, but we didn't really know what what it looked like. And now I feel like we live it every day.

Sissy 10:54
One thing Jarvis did was introduced Kelly and her staff to a program called Better lesson, which provided one on one coaching with teachers to improve their lesson plans from a DNI perspective,

Kelley 11:05
each teacher got a coach that they worked with for four different sessions. And they got to explore one piece of what they really felt drawn to, and then kind of be accountable to that coach to how they're going to implement it in their classroom. We had to make sure that we were ready to be coached. Because just because you're getting coaching doesn't mean you're doing things wrong. It just means that you have someone to help hold you accountable. Sometimes we forget that we need that. But we do.

Sissy 11:33
Here's teacher Andrew Colucci again,

Andrew 11:36
I loved having this coach, she was younger than me. And she was black. And I just thought, How lucky am I? Because I would keep asking her, what am I missing? What am I not seeing? She would give me a little something. And I would grab it and take it right back. And it would be like a layer effect. And she would either affirm or, you know, gently guide me over here. So it was great.

Millicent 11:57
I really love the vulnerability that Andrew shares and being willing to ask, What am I missing? What am I not seeing that openness is what all of our students need what all of our classrooms need. And it's great that Kelly has been able to cultivate that in her building.

Sissy 12:17
Yeah, yeah, it is, you know, and we also spoke to Beecher Elementary, special education teacher, Tina Elmi, who shared how she was able to teach her students about the concept of perspective. And she was able to do that with the help of her coach,

Tina 12:30
you know, a lot of students with special needs don't have a lot of higher level thinking. So what I do is I tried to be very concrete, and I use a lot of visuals. So with this whole concept of looking in the eyes, or using a different lens, when you look at the world, one of the coaches through better lessons, she helped me design this, I got a bathroom mirror, and I took a frame and I took out the picture. So it was just the actual frame itself. And it looked like a window. So first of all, the basics was the difference between a window and a mirror. And when you look in a mirror, you see yourself, so I would say Okay, now, when you look in a window, who do you see, you don't see yourself? You see others? So what are other people thinking? What are they feeling? I mean, I've had a lot of great experiences being an educator. But this was something that I was really nervous because I didn't know if they could, you know, it's so abstract. But they got it and they applied it. And it's really exciting.

Millicent 13:32
How great for a child at this age to learn that practice of okay, I'm going to focus on me, and then I'm going to take some time and focus on my friend and focus on my classmate, and really understand how they feel as well.

Sissy 13:51
I think that's that's such a practical, practical lesson. And you're right at that age, they're going to bring that into their whole life. So it's wonderful. Tina actually added another layer to her metaphor, which I really loved. If you

Tina 14:05
want to go one step further, we have the mirror, you have your window, and then the next step is a sliding glass door to actually step in and engage yourself into change. So

Millicent 14:21
Tina has been teaching for 28 years, but it's only recently that she's become passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom. And that impetus was a district wide book study during the summer of 2021. That Jarvis our DNI education coordinator organized they read a book titled biased uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see Think and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt.

Tina 14:47
I would recommend that book to anyone, everyone and I have it just explained to me that wow, I have to look outside the box more. We would all sit around and talk about it. and some of us were more out spoken and some of people were very uncomfortable with talking about it. But you have to learn to, you know, to discuss things that make you uncomfortable. Our world is so divided right now. And in order for us to move forward, it's not about who's right or who's wrong. It's how we treat each other. But it takes a lot of self reflection first, and I took on that. And since then, I've been just so excited about where we're going in the Elmira, Sydney School District.

Sissy 15:33
I love it, someone who's teaching for 28 years could feel this excited and see a whole new opening, you know, for herself and for her colleagues, the kids. Yeah, I

Millicent 15:42
love her comment about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Oh, yeah. Because that really is how we grow and how we move forward.

Sissy 15:54
You know, Tina's self reflection made her realize that she had some implicit biases. And she realized, of course, she was not alone in this,

Tina 16:03
we all have implicit biases based on the experience that we have. I mean, I grew up in a Catholic school, everyone looked like me. And I didn't even get exposed to difference until I went to college. Well, actually, my first four years, I went to a Catholic college. But then once I started student teaching, and city, Syracuse, I was just amazed, like, my education did not prepare me for the world. I can't change my past, but I can look at my experiences and advocate for difference.

Sissy 16:35
Like what a great model, you know, again, that someone in this point in her career can just kind of go back and go, Wow, looking back on it, not getting stuck in it. And this is what I'm going to do moving forward. And especially noticing how you know where she came from not having that experience. She brings, I think, even more depth of it to where she is now with her students.

Millicent 16:57
What I love about Tina, is that she realizes that her experiences growing up, were not reflective of the world versus moving into the school district in Syracuse. She's like, Oh, this is the world. Right. Right is, you know, this is normal. And so you know, that, I think, is a growth mindset. to, to, to possess. Yeah. And here's Tina's colleague, Andrew, again,

Andrew 17:31
who wouldn't want to know where your blind spots are? Right? Who wouldn't want that? So, for me, it was easy to get past whatever the ego problem is, and go, Yeah, I used to be this way. I am this way. Now. Here's the difference.

Sissy 17:48
Andrew told me that he became passionate about D. And I, after a formative trip he took to Texas,

Andrew 17:54
I'd gone through the district down to Texas to teach restorative practices to educators for a summer, we would do groups of 10 or less. And there was a question. The question was, what was one time you needed something from a teacher, and you didn't get it? every black person had some kind of really negative experience while they were in school that was so profound and moving because you couldn't escape that it was like, day after day, group after group, whether it was a woman or a man, it didn't matter. The stories were quite powerful, and you just realize this pattern. And that was such an incredible experience. Because at that time I was I started to read a ton of hace codes, and Abram Kennedy and white fragility and all these books. It was a new awareness. And so I couldn't wait when I got back. Kelly, the principal, I kept going, Kelly, you got to read this book. Get out ahead of it. She said you need to be out there a second. I was like, Absolutely.

Millicent 18:56
Andrew was excited about joining the race equity team. But his expectations had to change quickly, something he realized with Jarvis's help,

Andrew 19:06
I was a little bit more gung ho like, Yeah, we're gonna get groups of people and show them this and show him that and he's like, Well, no, this is really what we're in for the long haul. And so I quickly said, I really don't know. I'm just talking. But now I'm going to shut up and listen. And it was great, because I've just asked questions, some things I didn't understand. And he was great because you just jump in

Sissy 19:28
no judgments. Andrews colleague Tina joined the race equity team at feature two and she also joined a district level committee dedicated to race equity.

Tina 19:37
It's about our community, but we're really trying to focus more on the lens of equity and not equality. Equity is so much different and it really makes us think of the world differently. You know, it's one thing to be equal, but we need to provide equity. The every student learns differently. They come from different backgrounds.

Andrew 19:59
You It was equal, everyone would have the same size, but they'd be our data. But it doesn't help that little kids or the tall kids or your everyone has to have a bike that they can ride.

Millicent 20:08
The easiest thing, right, it's just to give the same thing to everyone. But what the district is doing is recognizing different needs in different people and in different families and tailoring to those needs. Right? Then the office of racial equality and social unity, one of our strategic initiatives, obviously is focused on diversity in schools. And we have a lot of efforts underway to increase the number of teachers of color, in classrooms in New York and North Carolina, where we focus our work. But what's happening in New York is raising awareness around DNI topics for educators who this may be their first interaction with families of color. And so to have teachers like Andrew and Tina and have administrators like Kelly, who can really put their ego aside their expertise aside and say, I want to learn more. I want to be better at serving this particular group of our student population. This particular group of families in our community is really transformational, and is how, you know, we value all voices and how we amplify all voices in a school and in a community.

Sissy 21:47
Yeah, I know what I asked Andrew, if he had any advice for listeners out there who may be interested in embarking on a similar journey, as he and Tina,

Andrew 21:57
it was important to read white fragility she has to out and there are many like that, because I understood that there's going to be a lot of people who are really resist it. And that that understanding sort of took any of the edge off. So you didn't start going those people right there. Okay, they're just not ready yet. What What could I do to help them? How can you do it in the most disarming way? Because presentation is 90% of almost anything, how you present. And there are ways to get people who are sort of guarded, to drop their guard, and to really think about it and reflect. So if you like reflection, and like growing, read those, find out where you are on that spectrum. Do you think you should get past that part and are just willing to go Oh, yeah, boy, that was dumb. I used to do that. Thank goodness, I'm evolving.

Millicent 22:49
I love that. Andrew prisons, it is just being very easy. You know, this is a thing I used to do. I don't do that anymore. Right. And that's, that's it.

Sissy 23:03
I'm evolving. It's just really about being willing. Yeah, exactly. Thanks for listening. To find out how you can support a diverse pipeline of future educators. Please check out our show notes. Join us for our next episode, where we traveled to North Carolina to learn about the exciting work being done in Edgecombe County early college high school and the edge for tomorrow future teachers grant