Lead Like a PIRATE

Lead For Equity

Last Saturday we were so fortunate to have Dr. Rosa Isiah-Perez (@RosaIsiah) host our #LeadLAP Twitter chat on the important topic of leading for equity. She serves as Director of Elementary Education in the Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District in CA. She is also the founder of the #WeLeadEd Twitter chat and the WeleadED BAMradio radio podcast focused on Ed Leadership and Social Justice. Dr. Isiah has co-authored three books on the whole child, equity, and the power of relationships and was the recipient of the Loyola Marymount University 2019 Leader for Social Justice award. You can read a few of her exceptional articles below and see some of her recommended resources at the end of this post.

Interrupting Implicit Bias: The Power of Mirror Checks via ASCD IL

The Myth of Colorblindness via Medium

Passive Oppression in Education: Fueling the Achievement Gap via Medium

We are also VERY proud to share with you that Rosa is the author of a new Lead Like a PIRATE guide, Lead for Equity, which will release in 2020 – we will keep you posted! In the meantime, we wanted to share with you an archive from the chat. Rosa asked us some insightful questions that caused us all to reflect and think more deeply about how we might better lead for equity.

The first question Rosa asked of us was this:

Q1 We understand that inequity, racism, injustice and bias exist in our educational systems, but many continue to avoid acting on that knowledge. Why do we have this Equity knowing-doing gap? #LeadLAP

A common answer in the chat sounded something like this… “We don’t act because we are fearful of getting it wrong”. We get it. We have both been there (and are sometimes still there), but what we are finding is that you just have to push past it and start. Start learning, start reading, start asking questions, start reflecting on your own practices and beliefs. But push through any fear or discomfort and just START.

If you don’t already know, I (Shelley) am the proud parent of Ash, who identifies as nonbinary. Ash came out as lesbian in middle school, but it is only in the last two months that they have shared with us that nonbinary is a better fit. Ash’s pronouns are they/them/theirs, and Dave and I are in new territory and working hard to learn and grow. Ash is an incredible human being who is extremely involved in the San Diego Pride Community. At the age of 16, their commitment to advocacy and their work to support the local LGBTQ+ community as a Youth Ambassador for San Diego Pride is so inspiring. Ash is helping us learn every day. Just this week alone, I have probably asked Ash at least 15 questions about things like how to handle a situation when someone else addresses them using their dead name, or what is their preferred way that I introduce them to someone – I used to introduce you as my daughter, so what should I say instead? I want to get it right, and they are helping me.

I am also opening myself up to new experiences. Just this week, I had the beautiful opportunity to visit the Diversionary Theater, a theater in San Diego committed to providing a platform to explore complex and diverse LGBTQ+ stories. Ash invited me to attend their panel discussion on transgender representation in theater, television and film. So I went, and I am glad I did as I learned more deeply about some of the significant challenges facing the community

After finishing the chat last week, I (Beth) headed to the Learning Forward conference in St. Louis. I had the distinct pleasure and honor to spend Sunday with Val Brown (@ValeriaBrownEdu) and Byron Durias (@ByronDurias) as they led the session Social Justice 101 utilizing both personal resources and resources from Teaching Tolerance (@tolerance_org)

They were both incredibly knowledgeable, caring, engaging and truly built an impetus for change.

I had some key takeaways that stuck with me:

Just get started. You do not have to be an expert on all things social justice to begin the work. Just get started.
Educate yourself. There are so many resources (we have some listed at the end) available to help build knowledge. When we know better, we must do better.
Educate your staff. Don’t wait for a district initiative or permission.
Ask questions. If you aren’t sure, take time to ask. So many are willing to help and support you.
Practice scenarios so that you are prepared when something happens that needs to be addressed.
Confront bias and teach others to do the same. Every.single.time. Microaggressions are often ignored, but build up and must be confronted.

As we concluded our day together, we specifically worked on how to confront bias. The four specific ways to react were 1) to interrupt the bias language being said, 2) ask questions to better understand, 3) educate the person, and 4) be an echo for someone that has stood up against the bias. Teaching Tolerance has an excellent resource that is a pocket guide for confronting bias that can be found HERE.

Our facilitators created a safe and brave space that built tremendous community. The time together affected me deeply. I didn’t want to leave and actually teared up as we said our goodbyes.

I also knew, though, that the knowledge alone without action wouldn’t make a difference.

We had already scheduled a staff requested training on how to best handle this very topic, specifically addressing bias directed toward our students that identify as LGBTQ+ or nonbinary. I connected with our teacher-leader that was leading the learning with our staff, and we planned to utilize the resources I had just learned about.

Were we experts? Not at all. But we embraced the messy, hard, uncomfortable-ness that these conversations might bring and worked together to better serve our students…ALL of our students. Another resource that was tremendously helpful and that I highly recommend is the book It’s Ok to Say They: Tips for Educator Allies of Transgender and Nonbinary Students by Christy Whittlesy. I will continue to learn, explore my own bias’ and make changes.

We invite you to join us as we accept the challenge of these words by Val and Byron. “I am a person who will speak up against bigotry. I will not let hate have the last word.”

Image content credit: Val Brown, Byron Durias, Teaching Tolerance

If you are looking to strengthen your ability to Lead for Equity, below is a collection of recommended resources to help you just START!

The Listening Leader: Creating the Conditions for Equitable School Transformation by Shane Safir
Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap by Anthony Muhammad
Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond
How To Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools by Tyrone Howard
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning: Classroom Practices for Student Success by Sharroky Hollie
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
It’s Ok to Say They: Tips for Educator Allies of Transgender and Nonbinary Students by Christy Whittlesy
Books shared by Val Brown at the conference

A More Beautiful and Terrible History by Jeanne Theoharis
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community by Martin Luther King Jr.

We would love to keep the conversation going on our #LeadLAP hashtag! Please share out your thoughts, reflections or any resources that have been meaningful as you lead for equity.

#LeadLAP Chat Archive

Just scroll within the template below to see the questions and responses from Dec. 7, 2019 #LeadLAP chat.

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