From Deficit to Belonging: Equitable Math Instruction & Instructional Coaching Strategies

In this energizing conversation, Dr. Tami sits down with Laneshia—math coach, curriculum designer, and host of Make Math Happen—to unpack what equitable math instruction actually looks like day-to-day. From combating deficit narratives to designing joyful, rigorous lessons, they explore why Tier 1 planning is urgent, how instructional coaches serve as “knowledgeable others,” and practical ways teachers can build classroom belonging, agency, and discourse. You’ll hear actionable strategies for the first weeks of school, embracing “productive messiness” during new curriculum rollouts, and how a simple “Power Hour” can transform your productivity and peace. If you support middle school math—or care about equitable learning anywhere—this episode is your blueprint for planning with purpose and leading with joy.

• Why equity starts at Tier 1—and why you can’t “small-group” your way out of weak whole-group instruction
• What effective instructional coaching looks like (and why every pro needs a coach)
• Practical back-to-school moves: planning, anchor charts, discourse questions, and organization
• How to replace deficit narratives with assume positive intentions and better family communication

Coaching Discovery Call

Transcript

Dr: 0:32

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Equity Hour with me your host, Dr. Tami. I am so excited to bring to you Laneshia. She is a math coach, curriculum designer, and the voice behind Make Math Happen. Podcast. I am so excited to have her on the podcast today. She helps educators bridge, the gap between what we say we believe about students and what we actually do in classrooms. Her work centers. Belonging agency and joyful, rigorous math instruction. I don't know anyone who doesn't need some joyfulness when they're doing math, but welcome, welcome to the podcast.

Mrs: 1:15

Thank you so much, Dr. Dean. I'm excited to be here.

Dr: 1:19

I am so excited to have you because I mean, honestly, I got to be on your podcast and if you guys don't know, I'm gonna link the, I'm going to link. The show that I was on with Laneisha so you can listen to both of these once they drop.

Mrs: 1:38

Look at that reciprocal relationship.

Dr: 1:40

Look, I love it. But that's all about community and I talk about that all the time on this podcast like it is all about community. So welcome to the show. Welcome to the show. Now you're back to school.?

Mrs: 1:51

Yes, we are back. So this is actually our second week with teachers coming back into the building. So we're preparing for kids to come back tomorrow. We have open house for our students who are new to middle school. So our sixth graders are coming in with their families and we're gonna kind of take them through some things. And then the next day is open house for everybody else. So fortunately, my district gives us two weeks where we can kind of get ourselves together. We can kind of get some training done, get our classrooms together. Uh, get some lesson planning done before those kids come back. So I, I like that structure.

Dr: 2:24

Oh, that is glorious.'cause there's always that tension right at the beginning of the year between, we need to get information into teacher to teachers. We need to have, you know, we do the professional development and then the educators are just sitting in the space like itching and dying to get into their space to get it, ready for students. So snaps and shout out for your school district. I, I love that. I love that. That's just such a perfect balance and. Also, okay, first of all, middle schoolers get a bad rap. That's my personal opinion. I used to be a middle school teacher way back in the day

Mrs: 3:00

they get?

Dr: 3:01

that they're just so difficult and no one wants to, you know, work with them. And how do you work with, you know, middle schoolers? Like you hear people say like, oh, I wanna work with the littles. Or they're like, oh, I need the, the big kids. And to me, the bad rap is they feel like middle school is like. Purgatory for a lack a better word.

Mrs: 3:22

Yeah, I think the teachers that work in middle school love middle school, like the, the ones that have been there. But I think like if it's someone that's like passing through, I think if, if. I think it's easy for them to get turned off from it because it is a very challenging age for the kids. Like they're figuring themselves out, they're smelling themselves. They want to be grown, but they also want to be nurtured and wanna be coddled. You know, they, they, they don't really know what they want. So it, it's a very interesting age.

Dr: 3:52

It is, but you know. Okay. So. That's actually my favorite thing about middle schoolers. And now I've taught the littles like first graders. Like I always, I'm like, don't, kindergarten is not my jam. Bless you. Kindergarten teachers,'cause I cannot do that. First grade is the lowest. Like I've taught the first graders, I've taught the middle schoolers, I've taught the high schoolers. But what I love, love, love, loved about the middle schoolers is exactly what you're saying, right? They're really trying to be grown or they think they're grown, but then they realize they're not and they love. Things they love just being kids still. And then you still see that side of them. So, I don't know. I just think it's such a joy and a privilege to teach middle school and kind of watch kids emerge into themselves. Almost kind of like the butterfly coming outta the chrysalis, right? Like they're really starting to figure out who they are. Um. I don't miss the, the smelliness, like of them not quite understanding, you know, how their bodies are changing, but you know, that's just par for the course. But yeah, I just love that little, like, where's the swing?

Mrs: 5:01

in, I've only worked in middle school and high school. I will say, well, when I was in high school, it was ninth grade, so that's kind of middle too.'cause it's right there at the beginning. So it was pretty close. But I really do enjoy middle school. Now, I won't say it's not without its challenges, but like you, I enjoy, I enjoy middle school because I feel like I am early enough to have an impact. Uh, I, but, but not early enough that they're all over the place. So it's kinda like a sweet spot for me and I, I need that sweet spot.

Dr: 5:35

I love that. The sweet spot. The sweet spot. And it, I, I just like that you were mentioning that they were giving the sixth graders some time to come and get acclimated because it is, it's a whole new world. Is your building six through eight.

Mrs: 5:47

Six eight?

Dr: 5:47

Yeah, see, and then also by the time they get ready to leave and they're eighth graders, like just their whole trajectory. But anyway, we we, your eyes, we could talk about middle school like all day, but I wanna, I'm gonna bring us back'cause I wanna talk about, you know, the work you're doing in middle school. Um, and, you know, supporting educators, supporting teachers, and how we think about equity and education. I love this idea about joy'cause I believe education should be joyful. I just posted about this, right? Like that's where the learning happens and the mess that we were just talking about in middle schoolers, like embracing the. That's where the joy comes, you know, oftentimes in the mistakes we lit up laughing. So I'm curious, and I always ask all my guests to kind of ex tell me a little bit about your journey into equity, because really equity work is a marathon and it can look so many different ways, um, depending on what it is you're doing. So I would love if you would share a little bit about, um, your work and your journey.

Mrs: 6:53

So funny because I, I just told this story at a conference recently and, and I always start with, I always have a little bit of apprehension with introducing myself because everybody that I'm surrounded by in education because of the work that I'm doing. Because of the rooms that I'm in, they always say, I've been teaching, I've been in education for like 20 plus years, or however many, like just this long period of time. Okay. Listeners, that is not my story. Okay. So education was my second career and I started out after graduating from college in accounting and finance, and I was a supervisor for several years. But it came a point that that was not, it didn't feel me. Okay. I wasn't feeling. I wasn't feeling filled up by it. It wasn't, it wasn't waking me up in the morning and, and getting me excited. So I decided I had some savings. I decided I was going to go out and find myself. Okay. I don't even know if people say that anymore, but I decided I was gonna go out and find myself. I started volunteering in classrooms and people started seeing things in me that I didn't yet see in myself. So I had some. Some awesome experiences with some middle schoolers. Okay. I was in my mom's classroom at my mom's school, and her principal was like, have your daughter ever thought about teaching? And it crossed my mind, but I didn't think that I was patience enough. I didn't think that I was the educator type, so I didn't know if that was for me, so anyway, long story, less long. Because she asked the question, I said, well, let me, let me do some research. Maybe I can sub, I can stick my toe in and see how things will go and I'll kind of build from there. Well, when I went to Central Services to figure out about substituting, they let me know there was a math position open at a high school. They saw my resume. I had the finance background. They set me up for the interview. I interviewed, I got hired on the spot. So that started, and that was only eight years ago, eight. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years ago. And so, so in that time, in that time, I have, I obviously I've created the, finished the, the beginning teacher program. I was beginning teacher of the year. I was department chair while still being a beginning teacher. Like it was very interesting. It's a very interesting journey because the person that was my mentor told me that I was mentoring her more than she was mentoring me. it wasn't because. I wasn't mentoring her from a place of experience in education. I was mentoring her from a place of experience just with developing people. Because as

Dr: 9:21

Yeah.

Mrs: 9:22

supervisor, you have that experience of developing people. You're wanting them to grow, to get from one place to the next, and that's exactly what we're doing in education. The differences that we have, content standards that we're focusing

Dr: 9:32

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 9:33

So. In those first three years, I was digital model classroom teacher. Like the, the technology was my jam. I was department chair. As I mentioned, I worked with student council. Like I was so active. I was bringing teachers together across my district as a vt, teachers together across my district to have conversations about how can we impact student outcomes. Well, through all of that. I was still kind of frustrated because the middle, the, the middle school students were coming to me as their ninth grade teacher, and there was so much that I felt like they didn't know. It was surprising to me to go into the classroom for the first time and these students had so many unfinished learning. I was like, this doesn't look like the classroom that I was in whenever I was growing up. It was just so different to me and, you know, just having conversations with, with my friends about. current, the landscape of education. At that time, I just realized that the students needed a lot more, and I wanted to be able to impact them earlier in their math journey. So that's when I applied for a position at a middle school. Now, my, my high school principal was sad to see me go, but you know, I had to do something for me,

Dr: 10:44

mm-hmm.

Mrs: 10:45

I, I went to the middle school and literally I was at the middle school for a year. I was inviting everybody in my classroom, everybody from the district to come in, give me feedback, look at the, the things that were going on, help me get better, help me support my kids. Um, I had already, I was already on the pathway of meeting growth and exceeding growth even in my BT years. Um, but. I exceeded growth. I had high proficiency. I helped my school exceed growth as well. Like we worked really hard that year and I just specifically remember a parent saying, I know my daughter is not gonna be proficient. She's never been proficient. I just want her to do as best she can. She had a a 5 0 4, so she had some accommodations that she

Dr: 11:31

Yeah.

Mrs: 11:32

She worked at a a slower pace. And I told the mom, I was like, you know, I don't want us to count her out. I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that your daughter has the tools to be successful. Do you know how excited I was at the end of the year to call that mama? Tell her that her daughter was proficient?

Dr: 11:47

Oh, snap.

Mrs: 11:50

so excited.

Dr: 11:51

I, I love this story and I love it because the power of believing in your. The potential of your students, right? And then your students believing in their own potential. Like I think that is a missing thread in a lot of, you know, quote unquote equity work or how we're thinking about how we're individualizing instruction, We spend a lot of time in education right now, looking at data, talking about data. Where are we moving? But are we really getting down to where does the rubber meet the road? And if we don't believe in set up systems that allow students to believe. Where we're allowed to believe. And if we're consistently passing a deficit narrative,

Mrs: 12:37

Yeah.

Dr: 12:38

you know, of a student, or they then now own that, or a parent now owns that because that is the narrative we've keep sharing, whether intentionally or unintentionally sharing, it, it sets up a certain pathway like. We have a voice. You have a voice. Use your voice. Use your skills to be an interrupter to that pathway, to forge a new path.

Mrs: 13:02

Yeah.

Dr: 13:02

that says to me.

Mrs: 13:04

I mean, and, and you are a hundred percent and I think, you know, parents, that particular parent, you know, we never think that we are limiting our students or

Dr: 13:15

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 13:16

We just like, I don't wanna put too much pressure on them, or this is what history has shown, or, I just want'em to do the best they can, but. The best they can do might be even better than what they've shown over these past years. If they're in a classroom with a teacher who is willing to do what needs to be done, like to willing to scaffold, willing to meet them where they are and take them to the next level. And I have so many stories like that from that year. So with inviting people into the classroom, people. me, they saw my passion, and then I was tapped on a shoulder to go into a coaching role, and that is literally what my path has been. So I spent three years as a district coach supporting between two and four schools, and now this year I transitioned back to a single school as a multi classroom leader. So I'm super excited about this position. I'm gonna be able to really focus, uh, I won't be split between several schools. And so for me, when I think about equity, I think about a lot of providing equity for kids to me comes from the planning. So if you listen to the episodes of my podcast, you're gonna hear me talk about planning a lot because I feel like people love to improvise. And I don't think that where we are right now with our students things, it is too urgent. For us to go in there and improvise, like, I think we need to have a plan. It needs to be well thought out, and we need to consider where our students are, the things that they own in terms of content knowledge, and how can we meet them there to get them to where we need them to be. And planning is a critical part of that. Mm-hmm.

Dr: 14:56

okay. I'm so glad you said that because it is right, like and I used to be a professor of teacher ed. And that was one of the things we talked about a lot, like, you have to plan, you have to plan, you have to know who are your students, where are we going? Da, da, da. And then sometimes they would go into classrooms and they'd be like, oh, my teacher doesn't have lesson plans. And doesn't know. Like, I get, I get it. Like I'm, I've been on both sides. And it is time consuming. But what you're also saying, right, like what is there saying about a plan? Like, uh, you know, something about a wish, you know. Whatever. You know what I'm talking about that, that wish, that's something, not a plan. I'll think of it, it'll come to me, but where I'm going is we have a tier one problem right now in education. We have a tier one problem and we have a tier one problem because we're missing exactly what you're talking about. Like we're talking about all these intervention students need. And I keep wanting to say to people, if you have 50 plus percent of your students needing tier two and tier three intervention, you don't have an intervention problem. Your students aren't having a problem. We have a tier one instructional problem that we're trying to place on students, and we're not gonna tier ourselves out of this challenge until we address this tier one. You know? And. So I love to hear this idea about planning because it's intentional planning and honestly, and tell me what you think about this. To me, I feel like the more you intentionally plan and get to know, like how to scaffold these appropriate pathways, the easier right it becomes to do that, um, on the fly as you need to now that you wanna, you don't, do you know what I'm saying? Like, you're exercising that muscle.

Mrs: 16:42

I could see that. I could see that. Um, I'm also thinking about how people interpret planning. Like when you talk about lesson planning, what do you envision? what is that experience for you? Because I think a lot of people think. Lesson planning is I'm filling out some type of document that I'm gonna submit to administration. I think some people look at lesson planning as, okay, let me look at, let me look at this curriculum. Okay, boom, I'm gonna teach this, this, this, and this. Okay, got it. Boom, I'm ready to go. And then some people look at lesson planning as, let me sit down'cause I'm a math coach and do the math. I need to think about what questions I'm gonna ask. How am I gonna engage students in discourse? How am I gonna consolidate everything? How am I even going to launch the lesson where I'm connecting to prior knowledge? That's the planning that I'm talking about and I think, I think that there is a, a difference between what we submit to administration and what we do personally. make sure that we can facilitate that tier one instruction at a very high level. As you were mentioning, we cannot fix in small group. What didn't happen in whole group small group is generally a smaller amount of time. So if you didn't, if it didn't cross, if it didn't get through in the 60 minutes that you had, why do you think that the 15 or 20 minutes is gonna make a difference? And that's really what I want people to. Themselves. Does it make sense for me to think that I can fix all of this in small group? No, it doesn't make sense'cause I have less time and the majority of my class needs it. So no, it doesn't make sense. So it is definitely a tier one problem

Dr: 18:32

I think this scenario also brings up like. How important instructional coaches are to the learning and support of educators? So to me, there's a lot. I feel like sometimes instructional coaches are the first people to go when they're looking at budget cuts, which. To me is unfortunate. There's a lot of things unfortunate about that, but mostly because, like yes, you have a set of professionals. One, we need to trust educators to be professionals. But professionals, like all professionals need to learn and grow and like collaborate and support each and so you have a guide, you have someone who's helping you, like coaching, everyone gets a coach, like professional athletes have a coach. Like high school, like look at all these spaces. We have coach business, very successful business people. Have a coach like coaches help us see something. Kind of what you were talking about earlier, right? See something that you might not see in yourself. And it doesn't mean like a coach has, like, I am like this, you know, big egghead of knowledge. It, it just means I have a skillset to help grow and develop where you have the ability to already go, but I might just help you see a different way to get there or find the path to get there.

Mrs: 19:48

Absolutely. Yes, a hundred percent. As you were talking, I wrote down, uh, other. This is a, a phrase that one of my friend uses, uh, Natasha Kirkland. She's also a coach in the DMV AR area, and she uses knowledgeable other all the time to describe her relationship with teachers. So I don't think that this means that you know everything, but as you were stating, it's kind of like. We can be seeing something from different perspectives and you never know what I may say that could spark something in you or vice versa. when I think back to like whenever I first started teaching, I didn't have a knowledgeable of other, I just had myself. And then I was building networks with people virtually trying to create my network so that I would have somebody to bounce ideas off of. I would have done anything to have a coach with me because I could have

Dr: 20:38

Hmm.

Mrs: 20:38

better.

Dr: 20:39

Right.

Mrs: 20:39

that's the, that's the way I think about it. But I think sometimes coaches in education get a very, very bad rap. Um, one of my teachers was talking to me today. She was like, you are so different from the coach that I experienced previously. She said, you're so hands-on. Like you're, you, you are so knowledgeable. Like you just seem so supportive. And I'm thinking, you know. I thought that's what a coach does, but obviously I'm sure that there are coaches that do not do the same things that I do, and I think unfortunately because have those experience, we all kind of get lumped into that same

Dr: 21:14

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 21:15

of a waste of position. You should just go back to the classroom.

Dr: 21:19

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mrs: 21:21

Mm-hmm.

Dr: 21:21

Well, you know, I think that could be like anything you might've been, and this can be true. There are people that might be. Fabulous teachers and they move into a coach role. But that is a different skillset. Like coaching and working and developing people is a different skillset in some ways. Working with an adult learner versus a child learner. So it's similar and different. Like how do you approach an adult learner different than a child learner? Um. Some people are just uncomfortable with that. They might feel like that conversation is confrontational even though it's not.. So maybe that's not the role for them. Just like a really great teacher may become an administrator or, you know what I mean? Like there's lots of people that grow into positions both inside and outside of education that might not be the best fit. We've all had a not so great, you know, a doctor with not so great bedside manner or you know, whatever it is. So. That just to me, speaks to the power of like humanity and like stereotyping and like, I've had this experience with this one type of person or this group, and now I think they're all, they're all this way. So I think what's that bringing me to is like I want you all to be open, right? Open to your coach, open to, you know, the possibility for a coach. And if you're a coach listening. How can you build your network with other coaches to support how you support others? Because a coach, even a coach, needs a coach. I just think everybody needs a coach. That's just my philosophy. Like I love a good coach, right? Like, I need to work on something. Please help me. Like, you know, a little accountability, a little, you know, thought partner. I mean, heck, I have a podcast. I like thought partners. I like collaborating, like I like talking to people. But I think we all benefit from that because that is humanity. Like we are meant to communicate and talk and, and like have a community to help us be better humans in whatever it is. We're trying to be better at.

Mrs: 23:23

absolutely. I agree with that. I'm thinking about, um. I'm thinking about the importance of building relationships in that coaching and teacher relationship or that, that, that situation and it's just so important. One of the things, because I'm at a, a new school, I was at the school four years ago, but I'm still calling it new'cause I'm just coming back. One of the things that's super important for me is for us to communicate because. personality is, I'm very organized, very, I guess you consider it type a, I don't know. Maybe some people might even consider it OCD, I don't know, but I'm, I'm very methodical with the way that I do things. I wanna have a plan. I wanna know what we're going to next. I am not as much a cushy, cushy, phily, phily feely, so I'm always gonna smile. I'm always gonna ask you how you're doing, but I'm probably not gonna spend 15 minutes. Doing SEL activities. So it was very important for me to let the teachers that I work with know who I am, so they would know what to expect when working with me. I don't want you to expect something that I'm not, and then all of a sudden now there's not such a a good relationship between us because I'm not meeting those expectations. I wanna let you know straight off who I am, and it's important that we communicate whenever. There's something that, that's, that's wrong, right? So when teachers are feeling stressed out or they're feeling overwhelmed, because it seems like there's a lot of things being thrown at you. Communicate and let someone know versus allowing those things to kind of build up. then, because once they build up, Say something, the way that you say it. Everything is just gonna be so much bigger than it would've been if you would've just communicated from the beginning. So it's so important for me with the relationships that I'm building with teachers, is that we are communicating openly. I have to create that space for them so that they feel safe. Tell me what's up.

Dr: 25:19

Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We all need to feel safe. And so I feel like this is like you're supporting your teachers in your building, but you also have your podcast. So I wanna talk a little bit about what you do in your podcast, who it's for, and what some of the things you are sharing with teachers and educators. As you know, everyone's coming back into the school year. I love back to school season. It's like so exciting. You know, it's, you know, it's just a great thing. But yes, so. To me, you're like expanding your sphere of influence with your podcast. So tell us about your podcast. What can people go find there?

Mrs: 25:58

Sure, sure, sure. So on the Make Math Happen podcast. I drop an episode every week, and right now we are in that beginning of the year buzz where I wanna put out, or I am putting out episodes that will support teachers as they're getting started. Obviously, all over the world are starting school at different times, but these episodes are things that you can consume implement them in your classroom with, you know. Low risk, I guess you can say. Um, and there's not a lot of things that you need to do to kind of put them in place. So for example, in August we talked about getting better faster. So if anybody has ever heard of that book, even though it features or it's focused on new teachers, I think all of us can benefit from it. Just making sure that we have. basic foundational things in place. Then I went into planning, like what does that planning look like? Just like we were just speaking about what does that planning look like for you to be personally ready to get up there in front of your students? And then we talked about making thinking visible with anchoring charts. And then I'm gonna talk about some organization. So the reason why I'm sharing these things in August is because I wanna provide teachers with the things that they need right now. As they're welcoming those students back into the classroom, and that's essentially what I do with the podcast. I want to provide the listeners with things that make sense, PD on the go, 30 minutes, sometimes 60 if I'm interviewing somebody. But I try to keep it short where you can consume this information and it is something to, to, to inspire you, to spark some action within you, for you to understand just how much the moves that you make. how much of a message they send, because if you show up in all of your, your awesomeness, you're gonna inspire your neighbor, your teammate, your grade level, and then hopefully your whole school will be positively impacted.

Dr: 27:47

Oh, yes. I am a firm believer in the power of what I call it, the snowball.

Mrs: 27:53

Mm-hmm.

Dr: 27:55

Right. Because if you're willing to try something and you're doing something and it's working, and then people see your students are engaged and they're making, you know, the growth, like you were talking about earlier, you know. Whatever that is that they see, then they're like, Hey, how'd you do that? What did you do? And then they're trying it, right? So I always tell people, don't be afraid to be the person that tries something. The person that goes and does something. Because at the end of the day, you're still probably gonna learn from it. Just like we want our students, right? I to go try something. Like it is better to move forward and it's a little bit messy. And you've tried it, and then you can reflect and you can refine, and you can do all those things then to wait for perfection. And I think of all, like, I don't wanna stereotype, but I'm gonna do a small stereotype right now. Teachers are so passionate about their students overall that there is this. Almost need for perfection that I sometimes see. Like they want to make sure it is all right and good and I always wanna like there is space again for the messy, for the, the trying it out. So I dunno, that's kind of just what I see. Like I think of all the hundreds of teachers that I know, they wanna do right by their students. And it's. It can be scary to do something new if you're not sure how it's gonna work out. Do you have tips you share for the teachers that, get them to try something or how do you Yeah.

Mrs: 29:34

I think it's I'm, I actually wrote down as you were talking, I was like, okay, it's okay for things to be messy, so right now in my district, we are taking on a whole new curriculum. We have all of this new stuff that's going on, right? So the thing that you have to tell yourself is it's not gonna be perfect.

Dr: 29:52

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 29:53

is new for everybody, it's not possible for it to be perfect. So right now I need to just. Teach myself how to be flexible so that I can adapt to whatever situation presents itself. Now, obviously we're gonna have a plan, so we're gonna plan and try to be proactive, but the reality is things are gonna show up and things are gonna happen that you didn't plan for. So you just have to be flexible in those times and just be willing to make the tweaks as they need to be made. So. And I'm thinking back to Raquel Hopkins. She's another person that I like to follow. She talks a lot about capacity, and I think when things are perfect, are not always, or what we, we perceive as perfect. We're not always or operating at optimal levels. I think sometimes it takes things to be new. It takes risks, it takes things to stretch us for us to really expand our capacity or build our capacity. So I want everybody that's listening to be okay with just a little bit of chaos. Just a, just, just a hint, just a hint of risk. Um, because I think from that, we all grow, we all

Dr: 31:01

Yeah.

Mrs: 31:01

learn to adapt and become better.

Dr: 31:03

Oh, absolutely. Yes. So I wanna challenge you like find the one little piece, right? Like what is the one piece you're willing to try something new and bring in that little bit of chaos, and then it's like gonna roll down the hill,? And then a little something else. Oh, that's working. Now I can add a little something else, right? Um, yes. Yes. I love that.

Mrs: 31:26

one thing I also want to share with your listeners is. As you're moving into this new year, it's gonna feel like you need to do so many things at once, because it's not too chaotic, right? We just want one little, one little piece of chaotic. You are gonna feel like there's so many things that you need to do at one time. Okay? One thing that I want to share with you is the power in the power hour. Okay? So taking 60 minutes of your time and devoting it to one thing that you wanna knock off your to-do list, that is one thing that you can incorporate to kind of help your productivity, to help you manage some of the chaos that can be coming, helping you manage some of the newness. It's just finding time to really just focus on the one thing. Okay. Um, another thing that, that I wanted to share with your listeners is that it's okay if things aren't perfect. It's okay that if things aren't perfect, and just be okay with, again, being flexible and then leaning on your teammates because I think a lot can happen when we're working together as a team and we're putting those heads together. However many people on your team, there's something beautiful that can really come from that. So leaning in the fact, leaning in on the fact that I may not have all the answers, but if I keep moving forward, something positive is gonna happen from that. So just keep moving forward.

Dr: 32:48

Yep. Yep. You gotta keep moving. Like Dory says, gotta keep, just keep swimming. Like, just, just keep swimming. And, you know, I also think that, that it's really important right to. Find time as you're planning and you're building these systems for students, like what is your system for yourself?

Mrs: 33:09

Mm-hmm.

Dr: 33:09

you cannot, you know, there's a reason why put your oxygen mask on first is a thing, right? Because you cannot help anyone else if you are not pouring in and taking care of yourself. And I think people try to, you know, share this narrative that if you're not. 24 7 with your educator hat on, that somehow you are less, you know, you know, you're not, you're not all that you can be as an educator no, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna say it like that's crap. Okay. Like you are a whole person with a whole life and. You are Yes. In a service career and you're here'cause it's important to you and you care about kids and families and all of these things, that can be true. And you also take the time to take care of yourself, to pour into yourself, to pour into your family, to spend time with your friends. Like it isn't a, but it is an and

Mrs: 34:09

Hmm. Two things can be true, right?

Dr: 34:12

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 34:13

So I'm gonna poke the bear just a little bit.

Dr: 34:17

Ooh. Okay.

Mrs: 34:19

I agree with you. have to always take care of ourselves first. One of the things that kind of frustrates me sometimes when I am on social media or I'm in conversation with educators is that they will say that they're going to go home at a specific time. It's the end of my contract hours, or they will talk about how they're going to do this for me when they haven't really done anything. For the students or they haven't really fulfilled any obligations at work. I think sometimes we listen to people saying, I'm gonna take care of me. When your scenarios, your situations might be completely different. There's one person, probably you, Dr. Dean, who has done so many things for your students to make sure that they are taken care of so that when you go home you really can unplug. You really can say, I'm taking this time for me. Right? But then there's another person that's hearing that they're relating to you because you're also an educator, but during the day, they ain't did nothing. They have not planned nothing. They have not taught anything. But because we have the same position, right, because we're doing the same thing, I am going to use what you're saying and relate it to me, and then we get put in the same boat when our situations are day to day are not the same. That's the only, that's the only thing about it. So I have to be, I've, I've learned that whenever I'm talking to educators, I have to be really careful because I wanna make sure. What I am trying to relay is clear that, that they can't take it and apply it to them. If it doesn't apply, if it doesn't apply, we, we gotta deny.

Dr: 36:08

Yes, I agree with, I don't even know if that's poking the bear.'cause I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Mrs: 36:13

Okay.

Dr: 36:13

Right. You know, yes, you got, you gotta show up and show out what, what you're supposed to,

Mrs: 36:22

Yeah, yeah,

Dr: 36:23

And if you're not, then maybe you gotta be doing some of that other stuff. You, you gotta get that taken care of, right? Because ultimately that is your responsibility, you

Mrs: 36:31

Yeah.

Dr: 36:32

and it is your responsibility for what happens and the learning that happens inside your classroom. That is your responsibility. That is not the parent's responsibility. That is not a family's responsibility. That is not society's. You know what I mean? Like you are responsible for the learning. And I don't know if you've read any of Lisa Del's work.

Mrs: 36:54

I'm gonna look it up.

Dr: 36:55

Okay. She talks in there about how it's really easy to blame students, families, poverty. Um, on why students aren't being successful, because it takes the blame away from the educator and the educational system and puts it outside of it. And what I'm saying is that is not where the blame belongs, right? Like, look, I'm not gonna get on a whole soapbox about homework and expecting parents to teach stuff, but I'm just saying like, that's, that's a subset of this we are responsible for the learning that happens. That is our job, our job as education and teaching students. So we need to take our job seriously.

Mrs: 37:37

Uh, I'm about to pass out on this floor because yes, this is exactly what, this is exactly what is what I'm thinking about when I made the statement. It is. Please don't be the that is always blaming the kids. It's not always the kids, right? It's not always the kids. have been people, there have been educators who have taken students who had several years of unfinished learning, and guess what they did? They helped those kids be successful. It doesn't matter what you come with, like you can come with whatever you come with, but if I figure out what you know and what you understand, I can meet you there and I can take you further. I don't like the whole blaming the kids thing. I don't like that. So you have, you got my, my, my, my, my, my blood pressure is rising. Dr. Dean, I'm hot over here because this

Dr: 38:27

Look.

Mrs: 38:28

it.

Dr: 38:29

Look, this is, I, I will be on that soapbox every day about kids because that is my least favorite thing, like, and just like I said, the majority of educators are here because they wanna do right by kids. Families are doing their best and doing right by kids. And just because their family doesn't look like what yours did or what you think it should, doesn't mean it's wrong or bad so this is where we have to think about. What am I in con control? What am I in control of? I'm in control with how I'm teaching and educating students in my classroom. That is what I'm in control of. I'm in control of how do I get to know students as individuals. So that I can make these important scaffolding decisions to relate to them to build a space of psychological safety like all of these, building a community in my classroom of learners where it's safe to take risks, the little risks that we're asking you to take, we need students to feel comfortable taking them

Mrs: 39:26

Yes,

Dr: 39:27

right. So how are you building the safe space? The safe space in your classroom? How are we building, you know, and then it just builds right within our grade level, within our school, within our district, how are we acknowledging the positive things instead of this deficit narrative? Like I will go to, mm, I will go all day talking about we ain't blaming no kids of like, no. Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 39:52

Thank you for saying that. So I wrote down one of the norms that we have whenever we do system-wide professional development or any type of POC meeting. One of them is assume positive intentions, because I think sometimes we judge situations and, and really maybe it's a a, a bias, I don't, it's a bias. I don't know. when you mentioned earlier about parents are doing the best they can, sometimes we make judgment. And we think that this child probably doesn't have X, Y, and Z or at home. This child may not have these types of supports. You have to assume positive intentions. What parents are doing is not always to negate the things that are happening in your classroom. Like you stated, the parents are doing the best that they can, or I'm gonna assume that they're doing the best that I can. I'm not gonna waste time. Complaining about parents, because that's not in my control. I can't control how they parent. But like you said, the thing that I can control is what happens in my classroom when I have them for those 60 to 90 minutes a day. And so that's, that's all that I can, that's all that I can do.

Dr: 40:56

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 40:56

That's all that I can do. So I will. Mm-hmm.

Dr: 40:59

I can control how I wanna build relationships with parents,

Mrs: 41:02

Oh yeah,

Dr: 41:03

How? How am I reaching out to parents? Am I only reaching out when something bad is going on? Because what kinda relationship are you establishing if that's all you do, right? Like, oh, I don't wanna hear from the school because all you're gonna do is complain something about my kid. These are things you need to reflect on. Like what are you doing that may be setting up the very thing that you are complaining about?

Mrs: 41:25

What are you doing to set up the thing that you are ooh, complaining about? That's something to think about, listeners. That's really something to to, to let resonate in your spirit.'cause sometimes, sometimes I feel like we get, you know what? As a matter of fact, this is another thing I wanna say. If you are new to a school, or even if you are existing at a school, please do not get caught up in the negative groups

Dr: 41:52

Mm-hmm.

Mrs: 41:52

because I think too often we allow other people's visions and values and beliefs to come on us. We, we take them on. We shouldn't. As soon as I get into a group and they start talking negative, I'm gonna attempt to redirect the conversation and make it more positive. But if that doesn't happen, guess what I'm doing? I'm out. I'm leaving. And I, and I wish that more people would do that because I think that sometimes that is what opens the door. To stress, frustration, and needing mental health days. Because if you're surrounded by people and all they're talking about is the negative things going on, kids can't do this, these kids can't do that. This parent, this, this parent that you, you, you are probably gonna need a break from that. Where's the

Dr: 42:39

Yes,

Mrs: 42:39

at?

Dr: 42:40

yes,

Mrs: 42:40

positive? Where's the good?

Dr: 42:42

yes.

Mrs: 42:42

please, if you are in a workplace and you hear some negative, please insert the positive or remove yourself.

Dr: 42:51

Look, I, that's something I did like, I, I stopped eating lunch in the teacher's lounge because I just couldn't be, I couldn't be surrounded by it. Right. And like, and to be honest, my experience with these same kids they were talking about was not the same.

Mrs: 43:07

It is

Dr: 43:07

I,

Mrs: 43:07

same.

Dr: 43:08

I, it's just not. And they're like, well, well, one, uh. I'd be approaching them. Like people, they're people, they're just smaller people. Like, and this is one thing, I used to say this to my pre-service teachers all the time. I'm like, I just need you to remember. That children and kids and young are just smaller humans. So the things that you like and enjoy, they do too, right? Like you all cannot sit still in this class for an hour and you all are in your twenties. So you think a 6-year-old is gonna sit still for 50 minutes? No. You know, like these are like, these are just logical things that just. Chap, chap my butt a little bit, but, um, like we have expectations of kids that we don't, adults can't meet. So let's stop doing that too. Okay.

Mrs: 43:54

So on that note, okay, teachers, I'm interested to know you're in your classroom and you don't want kids to be on their cell phones or on other websites, you don't want them to be distracted, right? Because you're teaching, you have something that you wanna share with them. What do y'all do that when y'all go to pd? Why do y'all do that.

Dr: 44:18

That's a great question. That's a great question. Oh my gosh. So that's something for y'all to ponder. Just, just something to think about. The things that you do that you ask your students not to do, you know, like, and you be doing them. Like again, I'm gonna, we are humans, right? So these are things we do. So I want you to just, just reflect on that. Just reflect on that. Oh my gosh. I, I feel like I could just keep talking because this has been just such a wonderful conversation. I'm super excited for the things that you guys can think about. Our little nugget of chaos we're gonna use, and I know we've already given a few tips in the last like 10 minutes of this, but like, what's your one? Like this is what I want you all to leave here thinking about to do or go. Like, what is your tip as worth thinking about building a more equitable learning environment?

Mrs: 45:10

I want teachers to be encouraged. building an equitable environment is challenging. Teaching is one of the hardest jobs I feel like there is. It's one of the hardest jobs. So I want you, as you're going throughout this year to be encouraged. You're going to encounter speed bumps. You're gonna encounter hurdles when you're trying to create a more equitable class for your, your students is going to take time. It's going to require planning, but I want you to be encouraged because when you invest time on the front end, it usually pays off on the back end. It usually does. So if, if there was anything that I could leave your listeners with, it is, there's gonna be days when it feels like. Everybody has their hands out for something from you there are numerous deadlines that you're trying to meet. I just want you to find something good in what has happened in your day, and just be encouraged because what you're doing is needed. The position that you have is needed. The kids that are in your class, they need you. even though we joke about the things that teachers do, you guys are the backbone

Dr: 46:19

Yes,

Mrs: 46:19

of our society, and I appreciate all of you. So if nobody has told you yet today, I love you and I appreciate you. Stay encouraged.

Dr: 46:30

yes, yes. I love that. Teachers are the backbone. Teachers are the only career that make all the other careers. That is facts. That is facts. Well, thank you so much Laneisha for joining me today. Thank you listeners for listening to another episode of the Equity Hour. I am going to put a link in the show notes to my episode on Make Math Happen. I am going so you can go check out Follow Her podcast. Follow this podcast please podcast like share rate with your friends and remember to use your voice today. Thank you so much.