The biggest barrier I face when advocating for teaching with a process lens, is sustainability. It is easy after decades in the classroom, fighting for a more just and equitable public education system, to begin feeling demoralized and burned out. Just like Ursula Wolfe-Rocca tweeted, all of the injustices are overwhelming! I take solace in pulling at my own thread, while challenging myself to be more present with the changes needed outside of my classroom. This slow-read book study is helping to reinvigorate my changemaker spirit, meeting like-minded educators and other stakeholders who are working toward a better future. I love Grace Lee Boggs' quote, "groups of people of all kinds and all ages to participate in creating a vision of the future that willenlage the humanity of all of us" (p. 26). I believe that is what I am trying to do in my school building and what we are doing here with discussing this book.
Reading this chapter, I’m flooded with memories from so many spaces in my 30+ year career as a public school educator. Teacher, department and grade-level chair, mentor teacher, small school director, AP in a large school, central admin roles including multiple roles in professional development with varying levels of remit and scope. I’m struck by how rarely I’ve worked with leaders who really understood how to lead adults in investigating their practices, letting go of what wasn’t working, and taking up some new practices that work better. I’ve had even fewer experiences where leaders led a group of adults in collaboratively investigating old practices and taking up new ones. My Critical Friends Group experiences were probably the closest.
At Alex’s first rest stop on page 22, I’m met with sadness. I think the large majority of adults in meta- and micro-cultures in which I’ve worked as an educator have not done much work to understand their own trauma and oppression and how they repeat those patterns in traumatizing and oppressing kids. It’s not just leaders enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on staff and children. It’s staff enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on children and each other. And children enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on vulnerable peers. The group dynamics in nested bureaucratic hierarchies (classrooms within departments within schools within districts within states) compound these tendencies. (A friend told me last week that Jung refused to work with groups because of this dynamic — I can’t verify this but … whoa.)
I’ve sat in trauma-informed instruction sessions at schools and district leadership institutes that were so oblivious and ham-handed that I experienced re-traumatizing. I’ve walked many schools with leaders and on my own and have been stunned by the number and variety of micro- and macro-aggressions I witnessed. I can see more and more clearly as the years wear on why change initiatives in schools and districts so often fail to influence thinking and practice in the intended way.
The kind of classroom Adrian and Marcus seek to create are rare in my experience. I think we who are on the tail of the bell curve can see our sole responsibility as remaking our spaces (classroom and heart) into havens, but I think we have to be brave enough too to seek to influence our peers and administrators too. It’s so hard because we have to hold the mean teacher in our heart, and the one who badmouths kids, and the one whose instruction is inept, and the one who complains about any new initiative, and the one who talks through PD, and the one who gossips about your peers. Just like our students, we have to see them and empathize with them in order to address their concerns and meet their needs.
What a thoughtful, generous post—and so much is on my mind reading this. (And, yes, those "rest stops" Alex thoughtfully included in the book are incredible opportunities to sit with our own emotions.)
This point you raise really resonates with me: "The group dynamics in nested bureaucratic hierarchies (classrooms within departments within schools within districts within states) compound these tendencies."
The complexity of these interconnections (and interdependencies) definitely leads many, I think—myself at times, even—to choose the simpler/more-direct path to a given outcome. And there is a lot of harm embedded within "efficiency," we all know, no matter the intentions.
What I'm also really appreciative of this book for: a more universal, all-consuming way of understanding how trauma works, particularly in our world as educators. We just read "The Blanket" by Anna Besh in one of my classes and there is a wonderful observation towards the end:
"Except it was not unraveling, but raveling. It expanded, seamlessly, and for a moment she understood that the universe must expand, if only to make room for this miraculous afghan blanket, which did not end, and would not end. It was in and around all things."
The story shifts towards magic realism as a way to expand beyond the confinements of a single object, and I think in my own consideration of the impact of trauma that "raveling" mindset is the path forward. And I'm very motivated to lean into this more in the chapters ahead.
Yes 🙌🏼 — and this raveling metaphor is a great way of thinking of leading change among the wounded, and who among us isn’t wounded. Whether in the context of teaching kids or influencing adults, we can honor the scars we each carry and understand we are not damaged goods but are always in a state of repair — neuroplasticity, soul-plasticity — we are challenged to not only bond as survivors but as healers. Kitsugi is the Japanese art of repairing cracked pottery with gold. Maybe that’s what we go for.
I agree. A thoughtful post indeed. I will be attempting to endeavor to hold various stakeholders in my heart all day. And if I’m strong enough on many days up ahead.
Dr. Brené Brown's work on trauma, armor, and vulnerability comes to mind when I read your comment. How can we recognize the fear and trauma that students carry with them, and create a safe space where they will eventually feel comfortable taking off their armor?
I am struck with how you are able to recognize the impact previous trauma has on teaching and learning. In my experience, most teacher and administrators are not that reflectivel they just keep doing things like always without questioning intentions or potential harm caused to students.
I can definitely empathize with sitting in PD sessions that re-traumatize. It is frustrating when school leaders profess STUDENTS-FIRST! but then lead PD where it is clear they do not value the learners in the room.
I love this piece. Mess is such a ‘time-and-place’ factor in teaching. We’ve just had a art week and I step back as much as possible when children make art, let mess happen and let the final pieces be entirely, authentically theirs, whatever their skill level. But the application of routines and consistent standards is essential and my academic year has started in pretty hectic fashion, making the job more difficult than I would have liked. Some things couldn’t be helped but a few changes came in and it felt like a lot. Wrong kind of mess.
Consistency, routines, and boundaries are all important for building any classroom community. What resonates with me is how Venet believes none of these outcomes should come at the expense of "the needs of the unique humans in your classroom." How can we build a caring and equitable classroom community with collectivism and community where high standards still exist? I I think this is a wonderful question to think about throughout the book.
Yep, this is 100% living in my head after Chapter 1. I know it's a both/and but understanding how to manifest that both/and practically—especially across six very different class periods in a sustainable way—is a tad daunting, I'll admit.
Even at the high school level, I feel myself wanting to replicate this intention: set really strong (also: controlling) routines to begin the year, then gradually release once the culture + environment solidifies.
But the first chapter of this book sort of made me question that, too, as I'm having to reexamine what the potential costs are of front-loading so much of the vision-making and systems-establishing of the classroom without inviting the voices of students into that process? (Especially at the HS level, where they definitely have stuff to say!)
I love how you are reexamining your practices! Whenever I hear or read about "vision" or "vision-making" I always ask, "Whose vision?" I think the same holds true with establishing systems. Whose systems?
Dr. Christopher Emdin has this great quote: "It essentially boils down to whether one chooses to do damage to the system or to the student." When framed this way, I want to make sure that I am involving my students as much as I can when establishing systems in my classroom.
To your point, Marcus, the dynamic tension between teacher control and power-sharing is one I’m still wrestling with after decades. I am still seeking to understand what level and kind of control is and isn’t necessary for learning and safety. Kids have certain expectations of the limits of their power vis a vis adults in group settings just as they do at home. They push against boundaries to see where those are, but I don’t think they feel safer to learn when they don’t trust that the adult will be ever vigilant for dynamics of passive aggression, judgment, unkindness, and address those when they arise.
Within my classroom, I continue to unearth the impacts of my layered traumas on my actions, perceptions, needs, etc. My fear of anger and chaos makes me more rigid in the classroom, and I’ve done a lot of work to investigate those tendencies and the underlying needs. I have realized lately I’m attuned to protecting kids who are sensitive, traumatized, different, silenced, shut out, and-or ashamed. I identify with them and can become too focused on protecting them, like a vigilante :-) , sometimes making the kids who may be engaged in unkind or thoughtless behaviors think I don’t have their backs. I have a hard time holding that second group of folks in my heart with the same tender regard as the first.
As I become more aware of my own trauma interactions, I still must work to see others’ reactions, perceptions, and needs as perhaps arising from or at least shaded by their trauma experiences.
This echoes a lot of what I took away from the first chapter, and especially the more-holistic lens of trauma to view what the classroom is and should be.
I also think it hearkens back to the timeless conundrum: what one kid needs a classroom is different than what another kid needs a classroom to be. (And the more kids you put into a given classroom, the more impossible that conundrum can be to reconcile.)
For me, the stability/control of having strong and clear systems to begin the year can in fact be supportive of students who need the space to be just that: reliable, clear, and planned out.
But of course there are many others who would benefit from not just flexibility but more agency in designing their space. (How to do that authentically and sustainably across different class periods that inevitably would want/need different spaces? I have no clue...)
Neither have I! Maybe though we can’t meet all those disparate needs, we can think about the fundamental human motivators of autonomy, relatedness, and competence suggested by self determination theory. (Autonomy not as in do your own thing but a sense of internal locus of control in learning.)
I try to teach my students about accountable freedom. I want them to be independent, but not at the expense of me or the other learners in the classroom. This is where my We over Me fits in building our classroom community. It's not easy, but I strive to be transparent with my students about everyone getting what they need to be successful, even if that doesn't look what what someone else receives. Sometimes, I'm not even the best person to offer support. Perhaps a classmate can give their peer more immediate and effective help than I can, which allows them to both act independently and accountable to each other.
I believe that trauma can force us to act in particular ways. For example, I know from personal experience that having a very authoritarian childhood taught me to try and control as much as possible, even when it is not best for me or my students. It has take me decades to begin relinquishing control in my classroom in favor of collectivism. Still, it is daily, oftentimes challenging work! I notice that when I get stressed, my previous trauma appears and I begin falling back into controlling my students.
We do something pupil-voice related at the start of the year but it’s very tokenistic and not impactful. I’m always willing to question the norm and see what we can bring in that’s new so I’ll have to give this a read.
That right there, “tokenistic and not impactful,” is the exact thing Alex cautions against in Chapter 1 of the book—the kind of thing we do when we already know where we want to go.
One barrier I face when advocating for change at my school is turnover - with admin and teachers. When I’m having conversations about a change and/or on a committee to make a change in the past 5 years or so, there’s nagging voice in the back of my head that thinks, “I wonder if any of these people will even be here in 2-3 years from now,” and then we’ll be starting from scratch again. I don’t want that to hold me back from doing the good work that needs to be done but for me that’s been a barrier, especially when thinking long-term.
I think in some aspects that circles back around to the idea of planting seeds that we may not see grow. What’s a barrier for long term change in your setting may also be sending seeds of change that spread beyond, taking the message with.
Thank you, gentleman, for leading this experience and also to all the commenters so far. I can’t wait to dive into this book with you all.
I’ve often thought that the teaching profession would be elevated by an emphasis on holding the tensions between many aspects of teaching and learning and classroom life. Between classroom community and the individual student. Between control and empowerment. Between productive struggle and repetition. The list goes on and on. And we may not, I’m afraid, be alone in our profession. An either/or mindset seems to infect so much of our society, leading to entrenchment and overly sharp rhetoric. Those who hold the mysteries held in tension typically lead the ways. I appreciate hearing about all of your leadership on this.
And I appreciate the focus on this book which seems to offer some forward thinking about the tension points of change.
I really appreciate this framing of "holding the tensions" because it forces you to not relinquish a hold on either side of the given dynamic. When exhausted (and teaching is indeed exhausting), it is really easy to just forfeit that grasp and "pick a lane"—but the work takes place in the margins between one side and another.
I think so much of teaching and learning is a BOTH/AND instead of an EITHER/OR. We've been socialized to think in binary terms, when in reality, human-centered teaching and learning contains both the community and the individual, empowerment and control, etc.
Thank you for joining the discussion! I look forward to continued conversation.
The biggest barrier I face when advocating for teaching with a process lens, is sustainability. It is easy after decades in the classroom, fighting for a more just and equitable public education system, to begin feeling demoralized and burned out. Just like Ursula Wolfe-Rocca tweeted, all of the injustices are overwhelming! I take solace in pulling at my own thread, while challenging myself to be more present with the changes needed outside of my classroom. This slow-read book study is helping to reinvigorate my changemaker spirit, meeting like-minded educators and other stakeholders who are working toward a better future. I love Grace Lee Boggs' quote, "groups of people of all kinds and all ages to participate in creating a vision of the future that willenlage the humanity of all of us" (p. 26). I believe that is what I am trying to do in my school building and what we are doing here with discussing this book.
Reading this chapter, I’m flooded with memories from so many spaces in my 30+ year career as a public school educator. Teacher, department and grade-level chair, mentor teacher, small school director, AP in a large school, central admin roles including multiple roles in professional development with varying levels of remit and scope. I’m struck by how rarely I’ve worked with leaders who really understood how to lead adults in investigating their practices, letting go of what wasn’t working, and taking up some new practices that work better. I’ve had even fewer experiences where leaders led a group of adults in collaboratively investigating old practices and taking up new ones. My Critical Friends Group experiences were probably the closest.
At Alex’s first rest stop on page 22, I’m met with sadness. I think the large majority of adults in meta- and micro-cultures in which I’ve worked as an educator have not done much work to understand their own trauma and oppression and how they repeat those patterns in traumatizing and oppressing kids. It’s not just leaders enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on staff and children. It’s staff enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on children and each other. And children enacting oppressive behaviors and beliefs on vulnerable peers. The group dynamics in nested bureaucratic hierarchies (classrooms within departments within schools within districts within states) compound these tendencies. (A friend told me last week that Jung refused to work with groups because of this dynamic — I can’t verify this but … whoa.)
I’ve sat in trauma-informed instruction sessions at schools and district leadership institutes that were so oblivious and ham-handed that I experienced re-traumatizing. I’ve walked many schools with leaders and on my own and have been stunned by the number and variety of micro- and macro-aggressions I witnessed. I can see more and more clearly as the years wear on why change initiatives in schools and districts so often fail to influence thinking and practice in the intended way.
The kind of classroom Adrian and Marcus seek to create are rare in my experience. I think we who are on the tail of the bell curve can see our sole responsibility as remaking our spaces (classroom and heart) into havens, but I think we have to be brave enough too to seek to influence our peers and administrators too. It’s so hard because we have to hold the mean teacher in our heart, and the one who badmouths kids, and the one whose instruction is inept, and the one who complains about any new initiative, and the one who talks through PD, and the one who gossips about your peers. Just like our students, we have to see them and empathize with them in order to address their concerns and meet their needs.
What a thoughtful, generous post—and so much is on my mind reading this. (And, yes, those "rest stops" Alex thoughtfully included in the book are incredible opportunities to sit with our own emotions.)
This point you raise really resonates with me: "The group dynamics in nested bureaucratic hierarchies (classrooms within departments within schools within districts within states) compound these tendencies."
The complexity of these interconnections (and interdependencies) definitely leads many, I think—myself at times, even—to choose the simpler/more-direct path to a given outcome. And there is a lot of harm embedded within "efficiency," we all know, no matter the intentions.
What I'm also really appreciative of this book for: a more universal, all-consuming way of understanding how trauma works, particularly in our world as educators. We just read "The Blanket" by Anna Besh in one of my classes and there is a wonderful observation towards the end:
"Except it was not unraveling, but raveling. It expanded, seamlessly, and for a moment she understood that the universe must expand, if only to make room for this miraculous afghan blanket, which did not end, and would not end. It was in and around all things."
The story shifts towards magic realism as a way to expand beyond the confinements of a single object, and I think in my own consideration of the impact of trauma that "raveling" mindset is the path forward. And I'm very motivated to lean into this more in the chapters ahead.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful reflection!
Yes 🙌🏼 — and this raveling metaphor is a great way of thinking of leading change among the wounded, and who among us isn’t wounded. Whether in the context of teaching kids or influencing adults, we can honor the scars we each carry and understand we are not damaged goods but are always in a state of repair — neuroplasticity, soul-plasticity — we are challenged to not only bond as survivors but as healers. Kitsugi is the Japanese art of repairing cracked pottery with gold. Maybe that’s what we go for.
I agree. A thoughtful post indeed. I will be attempting to endeavor to hold various stakeholders in my heart all day. And if I’m strong enough on many days up ahead.
Dr. Brené Brown's work on trauma, armor, and vulnerability comes to mind when I read your comment. How can we recognize the fear and trauma that students carry with them, and create a safe space where they will eventually feel comfortable taking off their armor?
I am struck with how you are able to recognize the impact previous trauma has on teaching and learning. In my experience, most teacher and administrators are not that reflectivel they just keep doing things like always without questioning intentions or potential harm caused to students.
I can definitely empathize with sitting in PD sessions that re-traumatize. It is frustrating when school leaders profess STUDENTS-FIRST! but then lead PD where it is clear they do not value the learners in the room.
I love this piece. Mess is such a ‘time-and-place’ factor in teaching. We’ve just had a art week and I step back as much as possible when children make art, let mess happen and let the final pieces be entirely, authentically theirs, whatever their skill level. But the application of routines and consistent standards is essential and my academic year has started in pretty hectic fashion, making the job more difficult than I would have liked. Some things couldn’t be helped but a few changes came in and it felt like a lot. Wrong kind of mess.
Consistency, routines, and boundaries are all important for building any classroom community. What resonates with me is how Venet believes none of these outcomes should come at the expense of "the needs of the unique humans in your classroom." How can we build a caring and equitable classroom community with collectivism and community where high standards still exist? I I think this is a wonderful question to think about throughout the book.
Yep, this is 100% living in my head after Chapter 1. I know it's a both/and but understanding how to manifest that both/and practically—especially across six very different class periods in a sustainable way—is a tad daunting, I'll admit.
Even at the high school level, I feel myself wanting to replicate this intention: set really strong (also: controlling) routines to begin the year, then gradually release once the culture + environment solidifies.
But the first chapter of this book sort of made me question that, too, as I'm having to reexamine what the potential costs are of front-loading so much of the vision-making and systems-establishing of the classroom without inviting the voices of students into that process? (Especially at the HS level, where they definitely have stuff to say!)
I love how you are reexamining your practices! Whenever I hear or read about "vision" or "vision-making" I always ask, "Whose vision?" I think the same holds true with establishing systems. Whose systems?
Dr. Christopher Emdin has this great quote: "It essentially boils down to whether one chooses to do damage to the system or to the student." When framed this way, I want to make sure that I am involving my students as much as I can when establishing systems in my classroom.
I love this quote and would be curious what involving students in systems looks like in your classroom.
A few things I do to involve my students in creating systems for our classroom:
Student-generated class commitments
Weekly student-led class meetings to discuss positives and deltas
I involve students in reaching a consensus for many decisions that impact the entire class (e.g.: seating arrangements).
My goal is to have meaningful systems in place; nothing arbitrary or just for the my convenience as the teacher.
Thanks for sharing, Adrian!
To your point, Marcus, the dynamic tension between teacher control and power-sharing is one I’m still wrestling with after decades. I am still seeking to understand what level and kind of control is and isn’t necessary for learning and safety. Kids have certain expectations of the limits of their power vis a vis adults in group settings just as they do at home. They push against boundaries to see where those are, but I don’t think they feel safer to learn when they don’t trust that the adult will be ever vigilant for dynamics of passive aggression, judgment, unkindness, and address those when they arise.
Within my classroom, I continue to unearth the impacts of my layered traumas on my actions, perceptions, needs, etc. My fear of anger and chaos makes me more rigid in the classroom, and I’ve done a lot of work to investigate those tendencies and the underlying needs. I have realized lately I’m attuned to protecting kids who are sensitive, traumatized, different, silenced, shut out, and-or ashamed. I identify with them and can become too focused on protecting them, like a vigilante :-) , sometimes making the kids who may be engaged in unkind or thoughtless behaviors think I don’t have their backs. I have a hard time holding that second group of folks in my heart with the same tender regard as the first.
As I become more aware of my own trauma interactions, I still must work to see others’ reactions, perceptions, and needs as perhaps arising from or at least shaded by their trauma experiences.
This echoes a lot of what I took away from the first chapter, and especially the more-holistic lens of trauma to view what the classroom is and should be.
I also think it hearkens back to the timeless conundrum: what one kid needs a classroom is different than what another kid needs a classroom to be. (And the more kids you put into a given classroom, the more impossible that conundrum can be to reconcile.)
For me, the stability/control of having strong and clear systems to begin the year can in fact be supportive of students who need the space to be just that: reliable, clear, and planned out.
But of course there are many others who would benefit from not just flexibility but more agency in designing their space. (How to do that authentically and sustainably across different class periods that inevitably would want/need different spaces? I have no clue...)
Neither have I! Maybe though we can’t meet all those disparate needs, we can think about the fundamental human motivators of autonomy, relatedness, and competence suggested by self determination theory. (Autonomy not as in do your own thing but a sense of internal locus of control in learning.)
I try to teach my students about accountable freedom. I want them to be independent, but not at the expense of me or the other learners in the classroom. This is where my We over Me fits in building our classroom community. It's not easy, but I strive to be transparent with my students about everyone getting what they need to be successful, even if that doesn't look what what someone else receives. Sometimes, I'm not even the best person to offer support. Perhaps a classmate can give their peer more immediate and effective help than I can, which allows them to both act independently and accountable to each other.
I believe that trauma can force us to act in particular ways. For example, I know from personal experience that having a very authoritarian childhood taught me to try and control as much as possible, even when it is not best for me or my students. It has take me decades to begin relinquishing control in my classroom in favor of collectivism. Still, it is daily, oftentimes challenging work! I notice that when I get stressed, my previous trauma appears and I begin falling back into controlling my students.
We do something pupil-voice related at the start of the year but it’s very tokenistic and not impactful. I’m always willing to question the norm and see what we can bring in that’s new so I’ll have to give this a read.
That right there, “tokenistic and not impactful,” is the exact thing Alex cautions against in Chapter 1 of the book—the kind of thing we do when we already know where we want to go.
One barrier I face when advocating for change at my school is turnover - with admin and teachers. When I’m having conversations about a change and/or on a committee to make a change in the past 5 years or so, there’s nagging voice in the back of my head that thinks, “I wonder if any of these people will even be here in 2-3 years from now,” and then we’ll be starting from scratch again. I don’t want that to hold me back from doing the good work that needs to be done but for me that’s been a barrier, especially when thinking long-term.
I think in some aspects that circles back around to the idea of planting seeds that we may not see grow. What’s a barrier for long term change in your setting may also be sending seeds of change that spread beyond, taking the message with.
This is super helpful to remember - both as a teacher with the Middle School students I teach, and with change at my school. Thank you, Valerie!
Thank you, gentleman, for leading this experience and also to all the commenters so far. I can’t wait to dive into this book with you all.
I’ve often thought that the teaching profession would be elevated by an emphasis on holding the tensions between many aspects of teaching and learning and classroom life. Between classroom community and the individual student. Between control and empowerment. Between productive struggle and repetition. The list goes on and on. And we may not, I’m afraid, be alone in our profession. An either/or mindset seems to infect so much of our society, leading to entrenchment and overly sharp rhetoric. Those who hold the mysteries held in tension typically lead the ways. I appreciate hearing about all of your leadership on this.
And I appreciate the focus on this book which seems to offer some forward thinking about the tension points of change.
Peace. Talk soon.
I really appreciate this framing of "holding the tensions" because it forces you to not relinquish a hold on either side of the given dynamic. When exhausted (and teaching is indeed exhausting), it is really easy to just forfeit that grasp and "pick a lane"—but the work takes place in the margins between one side and another.
Very thoughtful reflection here.
I think so much of teaching and learning is a BOTH/AND instead of an EITHER/OR. We've been socialized to think in binary terms, when in reality, human-centered teaching and learning contains both the community and the individual, empowerment and control, etc.
Thank you for joining the discussion! I look forward to continued conversation.