(SOUND BITE: Door opening)
(SOUND BITE: Classroom chatter)
(SOUND BITE: Intercom)
(THEME MUSIC IN)
JONATHAN SANTOS SILVA, HOST:
From Teach For America’s One Day Studio, I’m Jonathan Santos Silva and you’re listening to “Changing Course.”
Last season, we traveled across America and learned how schools are partnering with young people to move education in a new direction. This season, we’re doing something NEW.
We’re exploring what’s possible with education when we build a more sustainable and diverse teacher workforce.
We’ll examine the barriers (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) or BIPOC teachers face when they step into their schools:
SHARIF EL-MEKKI, GUEST:
We can do the grassroots, we can recruit, but if there are other racial biases baked into the system, it's gonna be hard to not only recruit, but especially to retain Black teachers.
SANTOS SILVA:
We’ll talk about why representation in the classroom matters:
KIMORA HARGROVE, GUEST:
I probably only had like one or two Black teachers before I came to Henderson Collegiate. I had a lot of teachers of my race teach me. It make me feel like, 'Okay, it’s like you understand me.'"
SANTOS SILVA:
And we’ll figure out how to better support BIPOC teachers once they’re on staff by rethinking the foundational theories we use to train them:
EL-MEKKI:
There were so many ed prep programs that saturate people in white educational theorists, white behavior theorists and then send them to teach Black and brown kids. Theorists who never even envisioned Black and Brown folks being a majority of public school…
(MUSIC TRANSITION)
SANTOS SILVA:
On each episode of Changing Course, we’ll talk to leaders who are reinventing the future of education and creating lasting change:
YOLANDA BIVENS, GUEST:
There are young Black males out there who've never had a teacher that looked like them in their entire educational career, and so when they open that classroom door and he is standing there, he is a walking, talking example, and reminder that they can make it.
SANTOS SILVA:
And we’ll also highlight the students they’re impacting:
BRIANA JOHNSON, GUEST:
Having a teacher who can just relate is very life changing because you just feel like that's an outlet for you and it's somebody you can really talk to.
SANTOS SILVA:
We have so much to learn from leaders across America moving education in a new direction. So pull up a chair because class is back in session, January 2023. Follow Changing Course wherever you listen to podcasts. Hope to see you there. Peace.
(SOUND BITE: school bell)
(THEME MUSIC OUT)
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