A Conversation with Students: Reimagining Education

Nikevia Thomas:

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to MAEC…

Daniel:

Good afternoon.

Nikevia Thomas:

A Conversation with Students: Reimagining Education. Just going to give people a few seconds to come on in the room and then we’ll get started. So while we wait if you would be so kind as to share with us where you’re joining us from today? Can you please type in the chat? Let’s see, who do we have?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Wow, Hawaii, Utah.

Nikevia Thomas:

Wow.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Indianapolis, D.C.

Nikevia Thomas:

Tacoma Park, Austin. Paul is here from beautiful Baltimore.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I saw a PA, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Cali, west coast in the house. Utah.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Nikevia Thomas:

Wow, this is nice.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Massachusetts, and Florida. And my hometown of DC. I’m a Baltimore guy now, but I was born in D.C. Shout out to D.C., my D.C. folks.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Be more, be more.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Notice, I said Baltimore. I didn’t even say Maryland, I say Baltimore. No, I’m just joking.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Hawaii. Welcome. Welcome.

Nikevia Thomas:

Welcome everybody. This is great.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

North Cackalack in the building. We see y’all.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Cackylack. Where in Delaware? Tell me where. [inaudible 00:02:42]

Nikevia Thomas:

Oh my goodness.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Dover, hey. All right. Dover Sussex county. I know about Smyrna; Smyrna, Delaware.

Nikevia Thomas:

Okay let’s move on. Thank you everybody for sharing where you’re from. So before we begin, I’d like to go over some webinar etiquette. So as you have done, please use the chat box to engage with other participants. We recommend that you click on the chat icon at the top or the bottom of your toolbar on the screen. If you missed it during the check-in. So, we will have a poll later and the poll will appear in the center of your screen. Please check on the appropriate button and then results will be read. There is another option. If you all fit into that category, please type your specific response in the chat. Okay? There will be a Q&A toward the end of the webinar, and we ask that you please put the questions you want to ask the panelists in there to answer, and we will get to those questions.

Nikevia Thomas:

So we have live caption for English. To do that you would select … the live caption should show up on your screen by default. To turn it on, on your webinar controls at the bottom of your zoom window, select live transcript or closed caption button, and then select. You can also select hide subtitles to view them again, repeat the same steps and show this in the subtitle will show instead, okay? So for webinar support, we have me, my name is Nikevia Thomas, and I’m a Senior Specialist at MAEC. We have Jessica Lim. She is a Finance and Bookkeeping Associate, actually not, Assistant. She will also do tech support. Kathleen Pulupa is a Communications Coordinator and she will be monitoring the Facebook live. And then Paul Smith is our Project Manager and he will be in the chatbox. And our moderators for the afternoon are Mr. Sadiq Ali. Mr. Sadiq Ali is the Executive Director of MENTOR, Maryland DC, and our very own Dr. Darryl Williams. He is a Senior Specialist here at MAEC as well. And I will pass it on to Sadiq and Darryl to introduce our student panelists.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome from all over the country near and far. It is great to have you participate in this webinar conversation with students re-imagining education. Brother Sadiq, how you doing?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, I’m doing very, very well. Peace and blessings to yourself as always. It’s great to see you and great to be with you as well as this really esteemed group of, not just adult participants, but especially our young people joining us from around the country. So I’m feeling good. I’m feeling really good and excited about today’s conversation.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Great. You know, we’ve had an opportunity to speak with students before, but it’s really important on these webinars and in these conversations that we have… The voices of students too often, their voices are absent from the major decisions that affect them. And so, brother, we are here to give them that voice, that platform to elevate their concerns so that adults can hear what they have to say. What do you say about that, my brother?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And to that point, if we may, I would just like to offer a couple of acknowledgements before we get started with this powerful conversation. First and foremost, just shouting out the ancestors, right? That’s all of our individual ancestors. That’s all of those whose shoulders we stand upon in order to do this work. I also want to shout out those and really be reflecting on those whose lives have been lost. We’re still in the midst of a global pandemic, right, which is what gave rise to our initial conversation over one year ago. But the lives that have been lost to COVID, those lives that were lost, right? The 20th anniversary, just now with 9/11, those who have lost their lives to gun violence, to police brutality. I also want to shout out those victims, those continuing and ongoing victims of racism, sexism, and all the other isms that exist.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

And last but not least, I just want to make sure that we get this party started off properly, big brother. And that is if we can just shout out right now in the chat box, just drop a one, which represents some good vibes and good energy for these young people who are joining us. Because as we all know, as adults, it takes a tremendous amount of courage at our levels. I don’t see no one’s yet in the chat box. Y’all hold on, hold on.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Put those ones up there!

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That was for real.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Come on, put those ones out there.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

As adults, it takes tremendous courage for us to get up and speak. That’s amplified for our young people. So they deserve our encouragement and our appreciation for them being courageous enough to be vulnerable and share with us this afternoon. Big brother.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah. Like I said, brother, their voices are the key to elevating the concerns, not just for their education now, but for the future. And so we, as adults have to be cognizant that their voices must be heard. They must resonate loudly and we got to step out of their way so that they can transform this nation to benefit their lives and the lives after them. So, brother, we have a great panel of young people. Sorry, I have to call you young people. You know, I’m a senior citizen. I’m about to celebrate 65 years of wonderful life on earth in two weeks.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Congrats.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Young people are truly an amazing group. So let’s just shout their names out. We got Daniel from the Granny Project, graduate in Maryland.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Yeah. We got Esmee joining us from Oregon. Beautiful Oregon, college freshmen.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

All right. Janai, seventh grader. Welcome Janai from North Carolina. Cackalack in the house.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

We also are joined by, I believe they are related, they are siblings, Jordan also from North Carolina. Tenth grader. So shout out to Janai and Jordan for being here.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

All right. And brother Larry from DC Engagement Center graduate. DC in the house.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

And Sasha. I’m so excited to introduce Sasha. Sasha and I have known each other for a couple of years, worked together on a youth leadership development project in Montgomery county back there in Maryland. But she was really the one teaching us, so I’m excited that Sasha is with us as well.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Great, and thank you for the happy birthday senior citizen wish. I got my senior citizen card. Let’s get this party rolling. How about that, bro? I wish I had some music to go in the background, but you know [inaudible 00:10:47] that one. So, let’s go. Okay. Let me tell you all a little bit about our organization. MAEC, Inc. So, we are formally the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium. We were founded in 1992 as an education nonprofit. We are dedicated. Our work is really structured around high quality education for linguistically, culturally, economically diverse students. We have a mission that really focuses on equity and excellence in education to achieve social justice. And our vision, as you can see, is that all students, regardless of what their biological, physiological, beliefs, whatever the characteristics of life might be, that every one of you have an equitable opportunity to learn, to achieve at high levels, and have your voices heard.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

We can go to the next slide. Within our organization MAEC we operate the Center for Education Equity. We are a project of MAEC. We are one of four regionally equity assistance centers funded by the United States Department of Education under title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you’re not familiar with the Civil Rights Act, go back and do some research because we’ve been talking about civil rights since the early dawn of time, and we’re still talking about it. And that’s why we’re having this conversation because we need the voices of these young people to push a hard agenda around civil rights and social justice. You can see on this slide some of the partners that we work with at MAEC: WestEd and AIRR.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

The center serves schools and school districts in a regional territory that expands across 13 states and two territories. From the map, you should be a geography buff to know that these states are on a map. So they start at the bottom left side from Kentucky or Norfolk all the way to Maine. We also serve school districts and state departments of education in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Next slide. Still me? So we’re going to have a poll question. And in the poll question, we’re going to ask you, what is your role or position? And you see, we’ve listed a few things here. You’re a teacher educator, parent guardian, or caregiver, an administrator, student, nonprofit staff, community staff, recent graduate: that can be undergraduate, that could be masters, that could be doctoral. And any other that you want to identify as your role position. And the chat is moving. Hey, yes, OCR. Thank you. Thank you. Departments of education. Yes. We’ve got a good representation from our poll. We see most of our respondents are educators/teachers. About 40, 39, 40%.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Department of Ed. Yeah, couple Department of Ed, DCD. These are those important people we talked about earlier, Paul; make lots of decisions, right? So that means young people, we talking to these Department of Ed folks.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

That’s right. Hi Christy Peters from MSDE. Young people, you need to know the people from these Department of Educations as brother Sadiq mentioned. They are individuals who are at the state policy level, where they set the guidelines for school districts, for student, for achievement, for discipline, for services, for curriculum. These are the people, if you want to really affect change in education, these are the people you need to get to know in your state. We’ll let the poll go maybe a minute, a couple more seconds. It’s great to see the nonprofit staff represented; shout outs to you. Parents love you to death. Glad to have you.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Students and educators, parents, students, educators. That’s the partnership trifecta right there.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

You got that right, brother.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

None of it works and no more blame game. We all on the same team: parents, students, educators.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

That’s what it’s all about. That’s what it’s all about. Okay. We’re going to stop that right here, because I think what’s important is that we get to the point of the meat of this meeting. Our agenda: we’ve done introductions. We’re going to engage in this conversation around reimagining education. What exactly does that mean for you, for your peers, your families, for your communities? We will have an opportunity for audience Q&A’s, and then we’re going to close it out.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That’s right.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

You got your hand up, brother Sadiq.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Let’s go. Let’s do it. Let’s do it. So we can stop sharing if… There we go, right on cue. So I think … to our youth panelists, are y’all ready? Let me just see a hand. Y’all ready to get this conversation started? Okay. Yes, we see clapping. Okay. Okay. So the first question that we have for you all is really in the realm of reflecting. This has been a crazy ride for all of us. These last, almost two years that we’ve been in this thing over 18 months now. So this first set of questions is really directed to you all to share some of your reflections with the audience from the last 18 months.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

So if we can start off with this question and again, we can either call on you or we can take the first volunteer, but the first question that we have for you all is what have you learned? What can you share that you’ve learned about your ability to adjust or be resilient over the last 18 months? What have you learned? And if you could please just open up and just share your name one more time, where you’re broadcast and from that will be awesome for the audience. But again, open up with your name and again, please share with the audience what you’ve learned about your ability to adjust and, or be resilient over the last 18 months.

Daniel:

Hello?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Yes, sir. We can hear you, perfect.

Daniel:

Yeah. This is Daniel, coming from Baltimore, Maryland.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Right. Welcome.

Daniel:

Your question was how did you, what did you learn about your ability to adjust due to the … over the last 18 months and your resilience.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That’s exactly right.

Daniel:

I believe that the best way for me to cope with the last … it was very dismantling, last 18 months. The best way for me to cope was a physical workout and conditioning because when you strengthen your mind it made my mental sanity better. And that’s what I did. I worked out very, very much often. And that’s why The Granny Project, it was about who’s old and healthy because your health is your wealth. So we’re trying to get people to attack obesity and help people who are suffering from mental illness and that’s it.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Brother Dan, you’re great. A strong mind really is the key to a strong body. And so I appreciate you sharing how you’re building your mind power because that is going to be important to help you face the obstacles, face the barriers, create the strategy for how to address it. Thank you. Anyone else?

Sasha:

Yeah. So I’m Sasha as mentioned before, I’m a freshman here at BYU, Provo, Utah. So the year and a half that we’ve had to do online school, it was hard in the beginning. If I’m being honest, time management was really hard and I have ADHD, so it just made it harder to actually pay attention in my classes. So what I did, I got a good old regular planner or binder or whatever, and just scheduled my day, my to-do list, what I needed to do. And it was an amazing feeling at the end of the day to be able to cross off everything that you’ve done, you see what you accomplished. And that’s taught me to have a structured way of keeping my day.

Sasha:

And I agree with the previous panelist that stated that not only do we have to work on ourselves mentally, but physically, because we need to keep our sanity and we need to stay healthy in the hard times, especially when it’s hard to not communicate with others in physical ways and talk to them other than the screen. So I think that everyone here has learned how to manage through hard times and kudos to everyone.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That’s great, Sasha. What I really heard you say is that you’re proud of your ability to grow and evolve and kind of meet these tough times and not kind of get beat down from it. I so appreciate that. Wanted to shout out really quickly, we are joined by Jennifer from the also DC Re-engagement Center and Jennifer, Janai, Daniel, you all should be able to share your screen now as well. We just fixed the video issue. So please try to share video so we can all see your beautiful faces, but Jennifer welcome. I don’t know if you want to jump in right away into the conversation, introduce yourself, but the question in case you didn’t hear it was what, what can you share with the audience about what you’ve learned about being resilient and your ability to adjust over the last 18 months?

Jennifer:

Hi. So my name is Jennifer. I’m from DC, also a part of the DC ReEngagement Center. Being a student there just helped me a lot with organizing my life and being on time for stuff. They made sure we was on time to class, made sure we did what we had to do in order to get our GED. Also is helping us find jobs. So at the same time some of us was going through emotional things and they was always there as a family. So they didn’t just push us and say, “Oh, you have to do this just so you can hurry up and get out the program.” No, they was there for you trying to explain, “Okay, this is why we are here. We’re here to be your emotional support here.” Just to listen to any problems that you had, if we need help with doing our work, they’re here listening.

Jennifer:

They’re like so what time do you want to work? We’ll get on a zone, start working. They understand most of us are parents, too. We have kids. Some of us and some of them don’t, but they understand what we dealt with on the regular and that we have lives outside of just school. So I do appreciate them a lot and it just helped me a lot. They just motivated me to keep pushing instead of giving up because I [inaudible 00:22:23] . That’s why I’m still here now because I need to do what I have to do in order to better my life.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

And Jennifer, we are so happy for you. That whole piece of how you have to balance life. You don’t sit back and feel sorry for yourself. You got to get out there and you got to grind and you got to take care of you and take care of your family. You got to not let life beat you down so much. And it’s tough in this environment. Again, as we talked about with COVID with some of the issues that we are facing now in schools and communities around racism

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

We are facing now in schools and communities around racism, it’s tough. It’s tough with sexism. It’s tough with homophobia. It’s tough with a lot of things in life at this time. And so keeping yourselves grounded and constantly, constantly reevaluating where you are in life is really so important. And I thank you for that testimony that you’re sharing. Anyone else?

Esmée:

Hi everyone. So I am Esmée. I use she, her pronouns. I like to introduce myself with pronouns. It’s fun. I am originally from Massachusetts. It really warms my heart to see a lot of people from Boston and some people from the department of education. And I am a freshman at Reed college in Portland, Oregon. So I’m right in the center of it all. And to see some fellow Oregonians, that’s really nice to see. And my response to this question is a very interesting one. There’s many parts of it that I can get into, but during the beginning of the lockdown, essentially, we had to transition. So I was the president of a club called the Gender Sexuality Alliance or GSA for short, and it’s a support system. And during the pandemic, what happened when we went from in-person to virtual, we essentially lost all of our support networks because we could not be in school and in person with them.

Esmée:

We had to suddenly switch to be online and being in a zoom format, kind of like we are right now. And essentially we had to redefine the concept of our support system. And it took a lot of adjustment to be able to do that because we had to create, we had to find a place for people to message. We had to find a place for people to meet. We had to find a way for people to reach out for help, if they needed them. We had to find resources. We had to move everything digitally. And let me tell you something, moving 70 kids to one giant Discord call is about as chaotic as it sounds, but essentially what really helped me was having a calendar. I never really started using my calendar until my senior year when COVID happened, I’m sorry, until my junior year when COVID happened.

Esmée:

And when I started freaking out, hey, I can be so much more productive if I would just use this calendar that’s on here. I have ADHD and I used to try to remember all of my work. That’s never helpful. Does not work at all, do not recommend. And another thing about that is I actually like to joke around that I did better in school because I was able to adjust to that. And obviously it was a really hard adjustment, especially during my senior year when we started out virtually. There was a lot of resilience involved in that.

Esmée:

Being able to just get on a zoom call and get yourself out of bed every morning, that’s hard enough. But when you have no social interaction as a reward, you have to motivate yourself in so many different ways. And I had a really good support system in place in Massachusetts and pretty much all over the place, but support systems really do help that resilience and having to recreate them is not fun. But the benefits of having an accessible space for everybody, particularly the fact that Zoom is becoming a more accessible platform. Discord is a very accessible platform. Having that accessibility really helps create that resilience and helps people adjust better.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Right. You were on fire just now. You were on fire just now. I took so many notes and I hope that our educators, our adult leaders really took note of several things that you said. I put down here in big bold letters, retooling support systems, folks, retooling support systems. And in my mind, I’m thinking immediately, especially those ones that are broken or thinking about support systems that are either faulty or don’t exist for our most vulnerable students. Jennifer just talked about students that have kids or students that have a different gender orientation or sexual identity or gender identity, et cetera. Really thinking about this idea of retooling support systems I think is such a powerful, powerful notion. And Discord, the use of Discord, that’s something for us old folks to learn. If you don’t know what Discord is, hop on Google and find out, visit Dr. Google, learn what Discord is. There were so many amazing things that you just said. I just wanted to shout that out.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

And you know Sideq, I think one of the things that is really resonating just in this immediate conversation is that those of us who have reached these ages, that we are, we don’t understand the needs and the language of the young people today. And we need to sometimes just shut our mouths up and open our ears up a little wider and listen so that you all tell us what you need instead of us thinking we know what you need.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

And the last thing, you just made me think of it too. The power of peer support groups. Because Esmée if I heard you correctly, that was a peer led support group.

Esmée:

Yes, it’s a student-led, adult-supported group.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Come on, student-led, adult-supported. Y’all need to be writing that down, y’all. We should be writing that down, student-led, adult-supported. Adults need to learn how to be great allies. Sasha, you want to jump back in on that one.

Sasha:

So I agree with the peer mentor. So here as a freshman at BYU, we have what is called first-year peer mentors. So a senior or a junior is paired up with the freshmen and they’re here for anything. They’ll be able to help you with classes, social life, honestly, you just need a therapist they’re there for you. If they can’t help you with the specific way that you need, they can reach out and find someone to help you. So I think that’s an amazing program and it should be started in multiple different places. And I know that there’s a lot of people here from different states. And I think if we were to implement that in different parts, it would be a big union, and it would just be amazing. You know what I’m saying?

Sasha:

I’m a first generation student. I live out here by myself. I don’t have anyone around me, no family, no friends, and sometimes it just gets a little hard. And I remember I always have this person I can talk to. And I mean, I’ve hit them up before at two in the morning. I didn’t know what to do. I was just lonely. And they were there for me. We went out to get ice cream and it was just a nice feeling to know that you have someone there for anything. And it just doesn’t have to be academically. It’s just like a friend you have, and you didn’t expect it, but you have them for you. So I think that’s a smart one.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

I see Esmée nodding her head. I don’t know if you want to jump in there, but I see the affirmation coming from you. You want to jump in there with something to share?

Esmée:

Yeah. So I think that’s a really good system, and I’ve done a lot of work in mentorship and making sure that everybody has someone to go to at least. I think that cannot be understated. When I was actually transitioning all of my projects from in-person to virtual, that was one of the major things that came up. I’m in something called the GSA region, which is basically a coalition of GSAs that unite, and we have 70 or 80 members coming into one location and learning various topics about LGBTQ plus and queer topics. Trying to transition that to a social platform is really hard, especially when you have, again, you have 70 people inside of one zoom call. That is really not fun. But something that I took away from it was the fact that a lot of these people, they’re looking for mentors, just as much as we’re looking for people to talk to. A lot of these people come from environments where maybe there’s one other queer person.

Esmée:

And this is just an example, this could go with many other different social groups, but I’m just using this one as an example because I’m familiar with it. But people really do appreciate that support system put in place and whether it just be one-on-one communication, like the peer mentor thing, or whether it be something as sophisticated as having 80 people on a Discord server. I’m trying to explain this in a way that I can explain Discord to people who may not use it. It’s like a Facebook group chat, but just different. But there’s different group chats. You can have one for memes, one from music, et cetera. And it’s all on one giant server. But the thing I love about it is that somebody can come up to someone and say, “hey, I need some support,” or, “hey, I need some help,” and we have that ability to be able to say, “okay, what do you need, how can we help you?” That’s what I really admire about these groups and these student organizations that are leading this discussion.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

And I hate to put students on the spot, but Larry posted a comment and I really want to hear a little bit more about that safety net. I think there’s power. So if you wouldn’t mind Larry, talk a little bit more about the safety net.

Nikevia Thomas:

In a sense, essentially, I’m saying, basically, sometimes you know you can do something, but just having that extra support will push you even more. It could be the simplest things. It could be the hardest things you do. You really could do anything. But when you have the extra support, it helps you make that leap. It’s like an extra push.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah, important, truly important. And then Sasha’s comments about reaching across the airways. Support systems that are not just in-person, but you build those connections across the total internet environment. And so you share opportunities with each other, how you cope, how you deal with some issues. I think that was a perfect segue to the question that asked about how was your social life affected or changed as you look at pre-COVID and look at now, your social life, what’s that like?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

And Dr. Darrel, if we can get Janai or Jordan into the conversation. We need their voices. Are y’all still with us Jordan and Janai, Daniel? Can you turn your video on? Let’s hear from Janai. You want to take that first question? Daniel we’re going to let Janai take this one. We haven’t heard her voice yet. Janai, you with us? Okay, there we go. We can hear you perfectly.

Janai:

What was the question again?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

How is your social life now compared to before COVID?

Janai:

In-person school?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Life in general, how has it been? So we’re talking this conversation about school, but your social development is an important part of your intellectual growth. And so the relationships that you build, the connections that you have, even in a social setting, how is that to you now? What is the difference now and before COVID?

Janai:

Before COVID, I was usually late a little bit, but I’m not actually late this time. Before COVID and virtual, I was usually late, but I’m actually early this time of day because I have to take the bus and wake up around six.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Okay, so make those adjustments like you talked about.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Now, what about your friends and your social life? How did you use to interact versus how you interacted with your friends and family, having fun and with your social life during the last 18 months? How was it before and how did it change during the pandemic?

Janai:

I still interact with friends like [inaudible 00:36:04]. I have school friends that I usually like to interact with during classes or at my lunchtime.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Awesome, awesome, I appreciate you. Daniel you were going to jump in earlier as well, please, my brother.

Daniel:

Yes, I was. Yes, I was. I would say my social life was impacted very drastically. I’m very much of a people’s person, so when the whole social distance thing happened, it really messed me up because I really want to see my family and everything just started really getting worse and worse and it got different stages and things like that. It seems like we’re going to be going back into that same situation and it’s just very sad.

Sasha:

If I may, I totally understand Daniel when it comes to being a people’s person. I too like being involved in everything. I’m a dancer, so I’ve always been dancing, and when COVID hit I completely stopped dancing. And as Sideeq knows, I was always at some conference or a part of a town hall or something. And once COVID did hit, thankfully I had Sideeq as a mentor and the catalyst. And we still continued to go through our plans, although it was through zoom, which was a little bit different and difficult, but we got used to it, so I was thankful that I have that and I didn’t take a big space out of my time because I don’t know if I would have succeeded just because I get caught up in my thoughts if I keep them to myself, so I needed some outlet.

Sasha:

I’m so thankful to be able to be here right now. I feel like I’m back my game, back in my zone, so I’m super thankful. My social life here in Utah is completely different to the one back home because I have all the freedom in the world. And COVID here is honestly like normal life. No one wears masks. It’s normal like COVID never existed, which is bad sometimes. But we’re vaccinated, we have our things ready, cases aren’t that bad, so I think we’re pretty good. But that’s for me right now.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Go ahead Larry, were you going to say something?

Nikevia Thomas:

I was going to say that I’m the total opposite. I’ve never really been a big social person, but I think my social life has been impacted in a good way. Before the pandemic, I was a boxer, I’ve always been a boxer for a long time. It’s not really a sport where you got to be social. There’s no ball I could pass to nobody. I don’t got no teammates nothing like that. It’s really just me in my corner. You see what I’m saying? So I never been a social person, but I think the pandemic has made me more social. It sound weird, but the pandemic made me more social by self-reflection. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect instead of being around people you steady looking outwards, but when you’re by yourself, you really can do stuff that’s true to you. And it’s made me a better person all around so I could be more social.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Oh wow! That’s powerful. Constantly looking within and making the adjustments about life. Even if you were not social at first, now you understand a different perspective. That’s important in your development, in your growth. You may need to connect to take yourself to another level. That is awesome. That is awesome. Brother Sideeq, where do you want to go here?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I just wanted to comment on Larry’s perspective as well. I thought that is super, super thoughtful. And again, just a very, very unique and I think positive way to look at it because I mean, the reality is that this has been a challenge for all of us. More so for some than for others, right, acknowledging both privilege and intersectionality. But I think we’d all be remiss if not acknowledging the fact that there have been silver linings as well, and the opportunity for us to all grow and develop and learn something about not just ourselves, but I think we’ve also learned something about others around us as well. For those of us who were cooped up with somebody for those first several weeks and months, you learned a lot about the people in your house or your family, et cetera. And again, for some that was a positive, for some, that was a negative. So I just really appreciate hearing that perspective.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Speaking of which, I think that’s a good segue. What has been your favorite part of quarantine? What would be your silver lining takeaway from all of this over the last several months? We kind of heard a little bit from Larry. He learned himself, kind of came out of his shell a little bit, instead of only beating people up in the ring. I heard you loud and clear Larry don’t say nothing crazy to Larry. He got you. But besides that, what would folks share as their silver linings, your favorite thing about quarantining over the last 18 months?

Esmée:

Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m going to jump in. I am going to have to say that my favorite part has been getting to know people online, and I’m a very social person echoing some of the people who have said that. The saying that I’ve used is that it’s easier to get to know someone, it’s not easy to connect with someone. It’s harder to connect with people when you’re online, when you can only stare at them face to face on a zoom call. In-person interaction really means a lot, but my social life has greatly improved, my organizational skills are greatly improved because I’ve had a lot of time to be able to work on stuff, and my activism work has improved also. I find myself having more time to finally do what I love, and that is queer activism work. I started a nonprofit, I appeared on a bunch of advertisements and stuff like that, and I organized a protest for trans athletes.

Esmée:

And overall, what I’ve learned from this is that the ability to persevere, the ability to succeed in a situation that is very tough, you have the power to succeed anywhere you are, regardless of if it is virtual, regardless if you were in person, you have that power within you to do amazing things. Sometimes all it takes is just someone to go up to you and say, “hey, you can do all these amazing things.” “Hey, you have the ability to be a very social person, you have the ability to play this sport.” And I just find it very powerful when people think like that. But overall, I’m very happy about my progress I’ve made during quarantine. It could have turned out a lot worse.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

A thousand percent. Somebody tweet that out. It’s easy to get to know someone, but it’s harder to connect. Major key. Jennifer, please.

Jennifer:

I love your confidence by the way. But it actually helped me out a lot. I agree with Larry. I did not have nothing bad going with it. I don’t know, I’m really not a talkative person unless I know a person. And zoom and meeting with the people that I met with on my team, they helped me talk more. I was very shy. I’m a shy person, even though I’m an artist and stuff, I still be shy towards that kind of stuff too. I want people to share my stuff, but I’m shy. I don’t know, but now I got out of it and I’m still getting out of it more and more and it’s a process, but hey, I’m still here.

Jennifer:

Also, it just helped me push and motivate by myself. I thought I’m a mom now I can’t do nothing. What can I do to make money, or how can I further my education? And I never really went out in the first place, so it actually looks better for me. I’m like, yes, finally some at home stuff, so I can get to do what I want to do. So I’ve been making money online, and also I’ve been going to school and it’s been apps and stuff that’s been teaching me what I needed, so now all of my GED tests, I’m already go ready, and I already passed two and I just got to pass the next two. It just helped me a lot and I’m thankful for that. And that push and drive that I needed is me being younger, a little bit younger than I am now. That’s all.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Again, all that we have all been through adults, teenagers, young adults in this environment has caused us to adjust one way or another. Some adjustments have been good for us. Some adjustments have been difficult. I think one of the things that I want to really focus in on is the adjustments it’s had on your learning.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Is the adjustments it’s had on your learning and more importantly, what is the structure of education? Where should the structure of education be now? And let me preface it a little bit deeper. So before COVID, the pandemic and other kinds of issues, particularly political, schools were structured in a very, I tend to call it archaic way. You go to a building. You sit in a classroom. And I’m not knocking education. I’ve been an educator for 40 plus years. But sometimes the sameness, the stagnation of a structure can be a part of holding you back. And now suddenly we’ve got this unusual circumstance called COVID that impacted our lives, caused you to adjust socially, caused you to adjust how you communicate with each other or not able to communicate. And so the structure has to change. What do you think the structure should change to look like?

Jennifer:

So I feel like this structure should change. I feel like they should continue to do zone because right now it’s a lot of stuff going on, especially like the COVID. I feel like the ones that are on Zoom and the ones that make it to class every day are the ones that want to be there, the ones that are determined to get their education and do better for themselves. So that way you’ll be able to focus on each individual like this on that chat. So you’ll know, okay, this is who I’m working with. Like I’ll give you a schedule, you a schedule. Like they gave us separate schedules of when they was going to have time just for us. Also they was telling us how much hours we should put in and what goal they wanted us to do.

Jennifer:

And if we had a problem with that or anything’s going on, to just let them know. Because they’ll still be there even after your time. I feel like we just really need that support system because back then in them classrooms, they did not care. Honestly, they just cared about them making money. Kids would be disruptive in class. They’ll just stop the whole class just because of that. Or when you miss something, they don’t tell you. They’re like, oh, well you’ve got to look for it yourself. They didn’t care about you how they should. So it made us want to disengage in all of it. So it was like, do you really want to go to school and put up with this while kids are like doing whatever they’re doing? Because I’m not [inaudible 00:48:52] to do the things that they was doing, like fighting, bullying, all that. I just wanted to sit there and learn. But I couldn’t because of stuff like that.

Jennifer:

So I just stayed home. And I did wish that I finished school. But I’m like, now that this opportunity came along and these people came, I’m like, wow, is God talking to me? He’s like, you can still do it. Don’t stop. Keep going. So I kept going. And I kept trying. And I kept listening because at first I wouldn’t listen at all. I’d just do what I felt was right. But everything that I feel is right is not always right. And you have to have people to come out of nowhere to guide you and you take that. So I just felt like it betters situations when they do stuff like that. So they really should have more options like these, even when COVID is over. Because people need more help. They do.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah. Come on, young people. I’m trying to keep my mouth shut. It’s time for me to listen.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Come on.

Sasha:

I think … oh. My bad.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, no. Go ahead, Sasha. And then after that, we’ll pass it to Esmée. I know she has to hop off a couple of minutes early. So you just pass it right to Esmée when you get done. But amazing, Jennifer. Amazing, amazing, amazing. That’s all I wanted to say.

Sasha:

Yeah. You go, girl. You are inspirational. Anyways, I think it’s necessary for teachers to have a personal relationship to their students. Because back in high school, you sit in your seat, go to class, just listen to the lecture, and you leave. You don’t even acknowledge the teacher. You don’t acknowledge anything other than the actual notes, even that. Because half of the time, people don’t even pay attention to that. I think maybe have office hours and implement and ask students to come in. Maybe once. That’s all it really matters just to get to know them, ask them what they’re interested in. Well, how do you prefer to learn? How they actually will engage? Like what is necessary for them? How can they help the student? Because teachers have their own way of teaching and their own … they already have their course and they already have it planned. But there’s always going to be different situations.

Sasha:

I mean, it’s always going to be different. So I think it’s important for teachers and not even teachers, just principals or their mentors or their counselors just to actually reach out when they least expect it. Because back home, my counselor and I, we would just talk maybe once every three months just for college things. And that was maybe if we did hang out. After that, it was whatever. And I did need him at times. But I didn’t feel like I should reach out to him because I didn’t feel the connection there. So I would just leave it at that. I would just leave it be. And I was like okay, I can deal with it on my own. But that’s such a messed up mindset if you really think about it. Because we should be able to have someone to talk to, especially in high school. We’re going through different reactions and hormones and so many things that we can’t control. And we just need someone there for us. And it’s just personal relationships, is all I’m going to say.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Major, major key. Major, major key. Esmée?

Esmée:

Just going off of what you said about personal relationships, I agree. When I envision schools in the next 10 or 20 years, I honestly envision four major things. There’s inclusion, there’s accessibility, especially focusing on a racial, queer, and disability justice lens, there is active learning involved, and there are support systems involved. Going off of the inclusion one, I really want to see teachers learn from their students to be more inclusive, whether that be through student presentations, whether that be addressed by attending a student led meeting, like a black student union or a queer student union or something along those lines. I think that teachers really should be going to these meetings and keeping an open mind and going above and beyond to try to expand their knowledge and make the classroom as inclusive as possible. Just asking for the student’s pronouns, just asking for if they’re comfortable using a certain name in class or at home, or with their parents or whoever teachers.

Esmée:

That’s a really important thing because it makes your classroom or more trusting place. And it makes your school a more trusting place if you implement these policies. Accessibility is a really big one. I understand that Zoom has probably made things a little bit more accessible for people in terms of originally, some spaces are not that accommodating in terms of folks with disabilities. But Zoom kind of gives that platform, it’s like a reset button. Everybody is in one place, and nobody has a greater [inaudible 00:53:58] space than everybody else because we’re all on tiny boxes on the screen. And looking at this through a racial, queer, and disability justice lens, that really has to take priority. Because we’re living in a time where there are protests, there are things going on, and we’re finally starting to open our eyes and dig our heads out of the sand and realize, okay, it’s time to get to work and fix all of this.

Esmée:

That’s what schools should prioritize. Schools should prioritize teaching through these lenses and allowing students and teachers to learn through them. That learning component, we need to keep open minds when we are learning. That includes being outside of school. And that also includes for teachers teaching subjects that maybe are a little bit off topic. Let’s say you’re in a history class and you want to learn more about a particular topic like the Harlem Renaissance or the Stonewall, the Compton riots, we want to keep an open mind to having these conversations, especially the difficult ones. There’s going to be a lot of difficult conversations that come up. People want places to go and feel supported. But people also want places to voice their concerns and opinions and voice their experiences. We should not be shunning these conversations. We should be allowing them to happen. And lastly, support systems. That’s a really important chapter. We need better support systems that are student led and adult supported. Adultism is a really huge thing where sometimes adults will control the conversation, will control a space. But students should have every single right to lead a space that they want to. Students should have the opportunity to lead a space, develop leadership skills, and become a better person overall.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. She just laid out all the policies and everything that we needed. Between Jennifer … I mean, this panel has absolutely been amazing. There are … number one, Esmée, I know you have to hop off. Can we please give Esmée some love right quick before she has to hop off? Amazing, amazing [crosstalk 00:56:07].

Jennifer:

Very smart, educated for sure. I love her words that she used. That’s what I said. I really love everything about her because I’m like, wow, the confidence is all the way there. It’s there. That’s why I was like, confidence. Okay. You’re giving me confidence. That’s why I feel like, wow. Okay.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That was a master class. If I could just make one comment as well. There was a question. I mean, the chat box is on fire with both affirmation, as well as just some really amazing conversation. And one piece that Arnold brought up in the chat box said, just thinking, what does this kind of system look like? What policies do we need for focus on personal relationships, inclusivity supports, change in systems and educated behavior. And I just wanted to offer a couple of items on that really quickly in that I’m a part of a couple of different work groups, both with Mentor National, as well as locally, where we’re really focusing on this concept, this framework called relationship centered schools. And we’ve seen iterations of it all across the country.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

But just imagine a school where the entire student body is broken up and assigned in a cohort model to every adult in the building. Doesn’t matter if they’re a classroom educator, paraeducator, principal, assistant principal, part of administration, a lunch lady, the student resource officer, the bus drivers. Everybody has a group of students that they check in on. Just like Sasha just said, checking in to make sure you got to school, checking in to make sure you got enough to eat, checking in to make sure you got a ride home, checking in to make sure that … notice I didn’t say anything about grades yet. Checking in to make sure that all of these other things, what I call the non X’s and O’s are in place to allow folks to be able to then focus in on the academics and the X’s and O’s. Right? Because when that other stuff is taken care of, then the academics magically increase.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

So there are a number of models and frameworks that are out there. But ultimately for me, we’ve got to get everybody in every school building involved first and foremost. And then I saw there were some other comments, engaging parents and families. Please, Dr. Darrel.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Let me just jump in on that note. Because I looked at Arnold’s comment also. And my mind was just opening up because what I wanted to ask the students to respond to in his comment … so let’s say you are sitting in front of the school board and the superintendent today. Give some thought to what are the policies that you want that these people get to write, that you feel need to change the system? Need to change the system. Okay? What would you say to a superintendent? What would you say to the school board members?

Sasha:

I think I would say that it’s important to take into account that every student has a background and family life that we do not know about. And that can affect their mood, their attitude, the way that they learn, everything. So it’s important to realize … even I sometimes fail to realize that others go through things as well as worse or maybe just the same as I do. And I think it’s just important to keep in mind, to be sensitive, as well as to just keep an open mind and just be focused in specific ways that you can help. Like for education. To keep it interactive, because I know I cannot be in a lecture just sitting there taking notes the entire time. I need to have hands on experience, or watch a video, or just do something like that that’ll just give it a little spice into the classroom.

Sasha:

So far, I also saw that [inaudible 01:00:11] I’m so sorry if I’m pronouncing that wrong. She said that she was taught from a young age that school was a second home. And I think that is very beautiful. For many, it’s a way to escape what people are going through. Just a place to have fun, people have friends. I mean, you might not have friends outside, but you can hang out with them. Things like that I think is essential to just have connections, create a sense of unity, a safe space, just something in which we can feel at peace. Because school causes so much stressed and it induces anxiety and just things like that. And I just like want to meditate. Something like that. I’m not sure.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Please jump in. Please jump in.

Daniel:

My advice I would give to the superintendent is I go back to what I was saying about physical working out and conditioning. What other option is better than recreation? Everybody knows that the kids and students, all they’re thinking about is the recreation. So I feel like during this pandemic, everybody knows over 70% of the people that die from COVID-19 was obese. We need to tackle this thing about obesity and we need to start taking the recreation seriously, fitness, health. And it also contributes to self-help, which is mental health. So it can help people be aware and prevent many other things from happening that going on during school time like bullying and things like that can help someone build their confidence back up. So I’m really strong on this working out thing.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

And you’re saying that that education, re-imagining education should be more than just heavily focused on academics. It should be whole [inaudible 01:02:16] development. It should be social, relationships. It should be on our mental and our physical health. You know, too often schools are taking recreation and physical education and moving it out of the realm of the structure of education. But to build the mind, the body, the spirit, the soul, you have to tell boards of education the things that are important to you, these are important for your growth and development. What do you have to say? Talk to us.

Sasha:

I totally agree with Daniel. I actually did research on how physical therapy, dance, just physical movement can help so much, not only physically, but mentally. Health-related wise, just moving around, having a dance party to music, just doing whatever you want to do can help improve your health so, so, so, so much. And it’s also just like fixates a mentality that you can do whatever you want. You know? I know at least when I’m in school, I’m like, I need to do this, and I need to do this perfectly. If I don’t do that, then I’m just going to be stressing out. And it’s a domino effect. But if I take maybe like 30 minutes to just listen to music or just read a poem or write down feelings that I have, it just releases so much pressure and weight off my shoulders.

Sasha:

So I think it’s essential to have some type of break or relax time. Because when you’re in lunch, you have to eat because your body’s asking you for food. So you can’t take that time to relax because you’re just so worried to eat. And then you have to go straight to class. And then you have to head home and do homework. That’s your entire day. You have no room for a breather. So I think it’s essential to just have some time set in your day just to relax, and collect your thoughts, and just listen to yourself, listen to what your body is telling you.

Jennifer:

I agree.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I’m hearing as students, y’all also need to be kind to yourself. That’s what I just heard Sasha say. That as students, y’all need to be kind to yourself too and look for those moments to reflect and be mindful and present. I love it. I love it. Jennifer, you want to jump in?

Jennifer:

Oh, I was just saying how I agree with her. And also I learned about that also because [inaudible 01:04:44] engagement center, they showed us some stuff. It’s like we host our own show, basically. That’s what we do. We have different departments in that show. And we have a health person named Joseph. And when I tell you, he tells us health tips for the day. Like he’ll tell us everything about how COVID is or how to fix situations when you do have COVID, what’s good for you. Like he’ll explaining, okay, this is some kind of therapeutic things that you can do to relax yourself. Or even if you don’t have COVID, he’d brought somebody from … they’re like a heart person that showed you how to breathe correctly.

Jennifer:

And they really will come on there and show us, tell us to relax our mind, remove everything, make us count and everything like that. They’ll do breathers and stuff like knowing that we be going through stuff. We do have mental breakdown sometimes. Some people are going through situations [inaudible 01:05:51]. Breathe, relax, talk to yourself. Don’t always be hard on yourself. Or they’ll also tell us, even if you can’t eat, eat a small portion and just start off slow. But you can’t just starve yourself. They just are there for real. Physically, mentally, anything for you. And I agree with like that kind of system that they do provide is very helpful.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah. Hey, let me throw this out there. Can I throw a curve ball out there, Saddiq? Okay. Let me throw this curve ball to the panel. I heard someone say once, it’s important to take care of the people who are entrusted to take care of the students. And so in this conversation that we’re talking about, somebody mentioned earlier about reciprocal support learning. Do you think that there should be a conversation with superintendents and boards about the adults focusing on their mental health, their physical health? Because if they are going to be entrusted to provide students to be the models for you, shouldn’t they be doing some introspectiveness on their own physical, mental health? What do you say, Sasha?

Sasha:

I think everything that I’ve said goes for both ways. Teachers need their own time. I mean, I honestly would get bored of seeing students every 24/7. Like I would want some time to myself. And I think it’s also important to realize that they have their own lives. They have their own struggles. They’re going to come one day being upset. They’re going to come being mad. But they need to take that time to just reevaluate themselves just as much as students need to. I think it’s just both ways. Like I said, they teach, they go off, give homework, they’re done. We have to go on, student, we have homework. And they’re like, oh, I understand you have a lot of homework. But every time they say that, I don’t think they truly understand. Like we have one class that might give us a little bit, one that gives us a ton.

Sasha:

So that is so straining, so, so straining. But it’s also just as straining for them because they have to deal with us, our problems, their problems, their own time, they have to grade homework, they have to plan for their lessons. So I think it’s important for themselves to take a break as well, take a time to reevaluate everything. Because sometimes there’ll be teachers who will be upset and they’ll take some of that anger off on their students. And it’s a little messed up and it shouldn’t be happening, but it happens. So I think it’s essential to be mindful.

Jennifer:

I definitely agree with Sasha.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I think that was an excellent, excellent question. Parents support groups as well as again, educator support groups, I think is right.

PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:09:04]

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Because again, educator support groups, I think is… Right? Because again, if the doctor is sick, how they treating the patients? Right?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Right. And so in re-imagining schools, we can’t keep living off an old structure. COVID has revealed for us, not just from a health perspective, that education needed to change, but it just put it in our faces that learning has been so significantly impacted because we stayed stuck in an old model, and now we’ve got to come out of that model and build a better structure of leading for learning. Leading for learning.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

I’m a shut up. I know I’ve been running my mouth.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, this is an excellent conversation. There’s just some amazing convo in the chat box, just to lift it up. So again, we have about one and a half minutes. Our audience, before we move into one of my favorite parts as always, audience Q&A, that’s when we get you all in the game. It’s been me and brother Darrell doing all the talking up here. Far too much talking, but please, if there’s any questions, please drop those in the chat box or use the Q&A feature. But there’s a comment here from Cathy, a good point about how homework extends the school day for students. Not that teachers don’t take work home as well, but why do we think it’s okay for students to be in school all day, then take home… Homework? It takes school home, as well, while at the same time talking about work-life balance. Such a great call. Such a great call.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

[inaudible 01:10:48] Sasha.

Sasha:

One quick thing regarding homework. I actually had my mom once call the office, the principal, to talk because she thought I was spending way too much time on technology and way too much time on my homework. And he did not believe me, that I was doing my homework. So… Because they said that it would only take three to six hours. And I was like, “Maybe for one class.” But I have eight different periods a day that I have to work for different… I have maybe like two hours per class. I have to write papers one day, one time I have to read, it’s not going to take… It’s not going to be this specific time. So it was a struggle for me to explain to my mom. I mean, it took her speaking to the principal, to my counselor, to my teachers.

Sasha:

It was just… It’s frustrating. Because she’s like, “You shouldn’t be having this much homework,” but it is what it is, you have to get it done to get the grades. And it’s hard for… Especially my parents are the older generation, so they’ve experienced a different high school career, and it’s just hard when you’re dealing with it and they do not understand. So I totally agree with the parent support groups, because sometimes you just… They needed to just open their minds to what we go to. They’re like, my mom’s always said, “High school is easy for you. You have it easy.” Honestly, I think I have it really difficult. Or I did, because I’m in college now. But yeah, that’s all I wanted to say.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah. Thank you, thank you. I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly, [Shallah Challotus 01:12:24] forgive me if I mispronounced it, but you said, “Hurt people hurt people, and that’s not always physical.” And so again, I’m going to keep talking about re-imagining a place that we call school. Even if we are doing it in a virtual, a hybrid environment, we still have to build in those kinds of supports that help hurt people not hurt those that we are trying to help grow, and whether that growth is academic, whether that growth is social, emotional, et cetera. So thank you for that comment.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Brother Sadiq I’m going to turn it over to you, bro.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, no, we’re going to keep just filling up the airways until we get some questions from the audience, but brother Larry did just rejoin us. If we want to allow Larry to have the final word, if we can reassign him cohost duty so he can share his camera again. But Larry man, we’re having an amazing conversation about some of the supports that are needed potentially for our teachers, right? Our educators in the classroom as well. But any final thoughts, man, for, again just continuing to think through how we re-imagine the framework in the classroom, to reimagine how we do school.

Nikevia Thomas:

What I would say is in school, I was a different type of learner. So I would advise teachers to be able to explain things in various ways. I was a visual learner and kind of a hands-on learner. So some things I wouldn’t understand and it would just go on. But I know everybody learns differently. Also in school I think they should do more than just football, you know the usual football, basketball, I think they should do meditation classes if you want, and book clubs, things like that, just self-help things, because people be needing it, and school is stressful as is and kids go through a lot. And I know, it’s certain things that they might not ask for just because they don’t have [inaudible 01:14:31] school.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Powerful, powerful.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Still waiting on those questions. Come on y’all! You have questions for this panel?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Nah, we got to keep [crosstalk 01:14:45].

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Excellent [crosstalk 01:14:45].

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

There’s again, some amazing chatter. I’m just pulling out some of my favorites out of the chat box.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I agree with Paul. Paul has shouted out a couple of times. Just shout out to, again, both Jennifer, as well as Larry coming from the DC ReEngagement Center, it sounds like they are doing some frigging amazing work over there. We need to get them the leadership over there at DC ReEngagement Center on here to again, share some of those nuggets because I think so, so often, right? It’s that old adage, right? That the squeaky wheel gets the grease and that many of our students that choose, right? It’s not that they always end up with but choose to go to the DC ReEngagement Center, precisely because of some of the extra supports that are present there.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

When in reality they would have stayed in so-called traditional school. Jennifer and Larry have both told us, if some of those same supports were available in traditional school. So we always think of our AOP programs and our re-engagement centers as less-than or for troubled students, or for students that couldn’t cut it, right? I’ve done work personally in tons of engagement centers, et cetera, AOPs et cetera. And there are some of the most brilliant students ever in those programs, in those alternative schools, but they’ve self-selected out because school in a traditional fashion was not doing it for them. And they were like, “man, why am I wasting my time when I can come here? I can still work. I can get my GED or I can actually get my diploma, but not have to deal with these huge classrooms and/or inattentive educators that really don’t have time to, again, either instruct me the way that I need or to provide the support that would allow me to be my best.”

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

So I think that we have to look at… We talk about re-imagining education. How do we take the best from all of these different models and make them accessible for all? Instead of “I have to drop out of my traditional high school now in order to get these resources”, it shouldn’t have to be that way.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah, I agree. So, and to our attendees, what would you say to our panelists as they have shared with you, their experiences about education, about the challenges, not just from adjusting to a pandemic, but just education in general, how it is, how can we reshape education to meet their needs? So I want you to talk to this panel. I want you to share your ideas, your thoughts with them while we have these last few minutes, because that’s… They are talking about reciprocal conversations, reciprocal ideas, co-creating, new ways. And they throw some things out there, I need you to throw some things back.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Not that there… We actually did get… We got two questions, hot off the presses in the chat box as well.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

All right, let’s go with it.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

So the first question, and again, I think you threw out an amazing challenge as well so not to be lost on that, but one question from Anne, what is the most… And this is to our panel, our esteemed youth panelists, right? Y’all are young leaders. What is the most important thing you all would think would help people becoming teachers, or as they begin their careers, right? So, and she says she teaches people who will graduate as new teachers next spring. So again, I’m hearing this, what’s your words of wisdom or advice for new teachers coming into the classroom? Go!

Sasha:

I don’t know how well I should be talking about this, because I don’t really know, but I would just say, just tell them to enter the room with open eyes. I have expectations but, not… Expectations are not reality. Have goals that are going to be able to be accomplished, but also have some that are going to be up there, that are going to be difficult, but are going to feel amazing when you’re going to be able to cross them off. I would say, just learn your crowd, learn your students, direct, connect… Make a connection, stand your ground when you need to. I would say, just good luck. I’m not… I think that’s all I have for that.

Jennifer:

So every morning we had an educator named Mr. [Sykes 01:19:23], he would play motivational speeches from people who did overcome things, and who are billionaires and stuff now. So he’ll play speeches like that. And a lot of them would show us how hard it was in school. And they didn’t even think they would be good, it was. But at the same time, he would also play [inaudible 01:19:47] station, music, before we start. First, okay, 30 minutes before or 20 minutes before, and you’ll always do that. So even if [inaudible 01:19:58] about anything, they would just go on. Everyone was back on a positive mindset.

Jennifer:

And I do think that would be helpful in classes. If they’ll play something on their little billboard, I don’t know what they use now, but on a screen or something, if they do that for like 30 minutes or at least 20 minutes, if they could, before class starts, then that will help a lot too with students and teachers. So they can both get piece of mind and then get their day started. Because a lot of people come to school tired, teachers and students. So they’re not really in the right mindset that they really should be in.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

[inaudible 01:20:40] jumped out. She wants to use, enter the room with open eyes. That’s… We probably need to start teaching teacher candidates. That’s the first thing, you walk into open eyes, open arms, open hearts for…

Nikevia Thomas:

Love what you do.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yes, sir.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Love what you do, love what you do. [crosstalk 01:21:03] Man, we have one other question, I don’t know, [Nikki VA 01:21:10]. I know, we’re running short on time. Are we supposed to be passing this thing back to you, Paul?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Somebody wants to jump in?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Yeah, please, Daniel.

Daniel:

Yeah, I be wanting to go, but I don’t know… Have everything in a row…

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Jump in, man.

Daniel:

But I believe that engaging… Teachers, that are becoming teachers… I believe that what they should bring to the table is more of a profile. Things we can engage and get more, on a personal, social level, because even if we were in school, back in the past, I always just knew my teacher’s name, I never knew who he really was. You know what I… You know what I mean? And he never really bonded with me to the point where I felt comfortable, and coming to confront any situation that I went through. So I’d just really like to know who my professor is, who my mentors are. And I really would like to engage in contact with them, and engage, get more of a better relationship [inaudible 01:22:07]

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah, yeah. That goes back to that relationship building. We have…

Daniel:

It’s a two-way street.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

You have to teach the educators how to build strong relationships with the students. I think, too often we try to make it happen the other way around. Responsibility to build a relationship with the adults. We got to do a better job building relationships with our students.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That’s right. Somebody used the word reciprocal, reciprocity earlier. Relationship building is a reciprocal deal, it’s a two way street. I can’t expect our students, our young people to come in and pour their heart out every single day, and I’m a closed book. And I think that is such an amazing and powerful point that Daniel just made. We have to be able to be vulnerable with our young people as well. They got to know that we didn’t just show up, what I like to say, sort of imperfect form, right? And sometimes it does. It certainly allows the relationship to go deeper, them knowing that we had some struggles and that we were still able to show up, right? And put on a positive face. So I think that is such an amazing point.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

We have to model even the struggles.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Wow. All I can say is wow. I think about my struggles and how I think, what I’ve struggled with in life could help young people understand their struggles. As a teacher, the connections, the bonds would be so much greater, I think the learning then would be so impacted by us building those bonds.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That’s amazing. So listen, we got some… We have a request for folks, don’t hop off yet, we see these numbers, got to fill out this survey! We need you all to complete this survey ASAP. And as you’re doing that, we need to make some noise, some virtual noise, or some real noise, in the chat box type a 1 or a bunch of ones. If y’all take something away out of this panel, can we please make some noise for Sasha, Larry, Jennifer, [Janai 01:24:13], [Esmée 01:24:15], Daniel? Man, this was an amazing conversation.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Role models to the max, Sadiq!

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Come on!

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Truly, truly, truly, truly, love to these young people! And it’s not just the courage. It is the strength of their lives, because you all are not just talking to us here that you can see, you’re talking across the nation.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Come on!

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

People who are listening to this, and they feel what you’ve shared. And you’re going to make a huge difference in somebody’s life today. You’re going to make a huge difference!

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Already did, you already did. Larry just dropped another one, “we’re not so different at all.” Come on now!

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

That’s right, brother Larry! That’s right! [crosstalk 01:25:01] Cathy, the future is in good hands, you know that? But you know what? Cathy, as adults, we need to turn the future over to these young people! Let them lead, let them lead!

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

And there’s conversations like this happening all across the country, where adults aren’t present. So I just, again, love that idea so much. We need to ask permission to show up in their spaces, and again, just be quiet and listen, and let them do their thing. There are, say brother Dr. Darrell, we didn’t even really need to be moderated…

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

We didn’t.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

I’m honored that I was asked to do it, but man, this is in many regards, not our conversations to lead.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

My heart is touched, and we can’t let this conversation be the end. We did this a year ago. We’ve got to give space more often for the student voice. And we’ve got to create those platforms so that they are leading the conversations, they are leading the charge for change. True change is going to begin with your voice. I got a rocking chair, a rocking chair!

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

That was great. [crosstalk 01:26:22] That’s hilarious. Do we want to turn this thing back over to Paul and Nikki VA?

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Yeah, let’s [crosstalk 01:26:26].

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Thank you all. [crosstalk 01:26:29] Thank you all so, so much. This was an honor, and a pleasure to be here, man.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Paul, Nikki VA. Thanks, Mandela! You are muted, Nikki VA.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, we still got nothing from you. I mean, we got something from you, you’re amazing! We just can’t hear you. I mean, we got something from you. Paul!

Paul:

Nikki VA, I think you’re still on mute. Can you hear me okay?

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

[crosstalk 01:27:08] We hear you, Paul.

Paul:

Awesome. Okay. Well, it’s so great to hear our panelists, the reaffirming of so many ideas we knew about over the years, right? So many ideas that have kind of come and gone, in and out of fashion here and there. But all the young people on this call have reminded us of all these basic ideas, caring for each other, relationships, being close with each other, listening to each other; basic stuff that… And a blending of all these educational models that we have out there, and coming together. So this has been tremendous. Absolutely tremendous. So thank you. And I think Nikki VA’s microphone is working now, she probably wants to… Well…

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Well, we know where our heart is.

Paul:

We do, we do, we do.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

We’re going to take this and move it forward. Thanks again to everyone, our participants all over the country. Please take some time to share with your colleagues, with your connections across the country about these amazing young people that we experienced today, but also look for those amazing young people that are in your communities. There are some amazing students wanting to do some awesome things, and we’ve got to open up avenues and opportunities for their voices to be heard. I’m going to keep saying it, but not just for their voices to be heard, for their actions to take place because they want to change this world. They want to change the way they are educated. They want to change the way they are treated. They want to change this world so that they are loved and treated like they belong.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

So when you get a moment, talk to your colleagues, talk to your friends, your neighbors, your family members, share with them, the beautiful stories, the beautiful testimonies, the concerns, this group of young people and the young people around which you live.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

I want to give thanks to my brother Sadiq. Man, you’re the best, you’re the best, bruh! No doubt.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

No, right back at you. It was my pleasure to be here. Shout out to you, as well as Paul and Nikki VA, the rest of the MAC team for putting this awesome conversation together. And again, when you see a young person speak life over them. That’s all I to say.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

MAEC rocks, MAEC rocks!

Paul:

That’s so great. And please remember to fill those surveys out. Thank you.

Dr. Darryl L. Williams:

Thank you everyone.

Mr. Sadiq Ali:

Ready, man, peace!