Sheldon:

I've always been an individual who tries to learn a little bit about everything. I'm one of those dudes that if I'm in a conversation, I'm engaged in a topic, and I have no clue what's going on, I'm going to go back and research it, I'm going to Google it. I am going to go in. Maybe that's the PhD part of me, the researcher side of me, or just my thirst for knowledge. But anytime that there's a conversation or just something, a subject matter, that's going on, if I don't know it, I will do my best to try to learn a little bit about it. So that the next time that conversation shows up again, then I'm prepared, I'm ready to go, I'm ready to engage in this conversation.

Sheldon:

I am one of those dudes who loves to watch Jeopardy!, I will sit there and watch Jeopardy!, I love the topics I love... Maybe that's the nerdy side of me, but I'm a pop culture fan. I'm big on just trying to know a little bit about everything.

Sheldon:

When I lived in Oregon, I remember moving to Oregon and the moving truck, everything, and fortunately I had some parents that were very helpful, new principals coming in, and the parents, some of them showed up to the house and they helped me unload. And I remember having this conversation with one of the parents who got so mad at me, because I'm in Oregon, and one of the things I didn't know that I learned quickly was the value of Christmas trees.

Sheldon:

So, we had a artificial Christmas tree. And so I have... The parent is unloading the stuff off the truck and he sees this artificial Christmas tree and he says, "This is Oregon. What are you doing? How dare you have this artificial tree in freaking Oregon? This is the Christmas tree capital of the world." Quick lesson that I learned.

Sheldon:

And so, one of the things I learned from being out there was just, I couldn't tell you how many conversations that I had regarding agriculture, regarding forestry, and just being part of nature. That was kind of like my introduction, because this was my first time moving to the Pacific Northwest. And I didn't know a lot about the conversations.

Sheldon:

And initially, I'll be honest, initially it wasn't of interest, but again, those conversations would come up so much that you know what I did? Not having a green thumb in this world, I sat there and took the time to do some research on forestry, learned a little bit about agriculture and gardening and all these things. Because again, these were topics that were coming up and again, isn't it helpful as a principal, as a school leader, as a face part of the... As being part of the school culture, to be able to interact with your families, with your parents about common topics that are relevant to your community?

Sheldon:

One of the things I always say, when we think about being culture responsive, and again, culture responsiveness is not limited to who just race. I was in Oregon, predominantly White area. My school was predominantly White. And when we think about culturally responsive teaching, what does that look like? That means, you know what, there's a lot of culture, there's a lot of things within the community that I am serving that I should learn about. I'm in this community. I am serving this community. The community is not here to serve me.

Sheldon:

So, again, I'm one of those people that likes to learn a little bit about everything. That's what I do. And that leads me to my next point, the power of educating yourself. Now, I could have sat there and talked to every parent I knew, that my might be interested or know a little bit about forestry, which was very common where I lived.

Sheldon:

However, I wanted to educate myself, because sometimes when we see people that... Based off of stereotypes, we assume that a individual might have some sort of knowledge or understanding of a topic, because of a stereotype. So, if I lean to them and I assume that they know about it and I try to engage in a conversation, you know what? It might be offensive if, again, they don't know about the topic that I assume that they should know about.

Sheldon:

So, my thing is always the importance of educating yourself, because you know what, at the end of the day, it's not someone else's responsibility to educate you. A lot of folks that are representative or have identities that have historically been marginalized or underrepresented in many situations, and what happens? We become the spokesperson for our identities.

Sheldon:

My daughter's the only Black girl in her class. She's always been that way throughout the time that she's been in school. And guess what? How many times has she come home from school and told me, "Daddy, we talked about Africa today," or, "Daddy, we talked about civil rights today. Daddy, we talked about Black history today. And guess what? All eyes are on me." Imagine how that feels when you're in a classroom full of 20 kids, you're the only person of color, or you're the only Black person. And here comes a topic centered around your background, ethnicity and culture, language, your identity, your sexual orientation, those conversations come up and everyone is staring at you. Imagine being in second grade and that experience is happening. Imagine being in first grade. Shoot, imagine being in 11th grade. Being an adult in a staff meeting and the conversation's happening.

Sheldon:

Sometimes, as educators, we're so smart or covert rather with some of the language that we utilize. So we utilize these coded language, urban kids, we'll say street kids. I've heard that before. I've heard teachers say street kids, or parents say street kids, inner city, Title I. We utilize these terms. We won't say specifically who we're addressing, but there's that under current language to where it's like, "Okay, I know exactly what you're talking about." And don't let there be opportunities for folks to not... Again, don't let there not be a large population or demographics of students that are "inner city" or whatever you're calling. Then it really gets down to like, "Oh, I know exactly which family someone is talking to or talking about or referring to."

Sheldon:

So, again, we don't want to generalize. We don't want make assumptions. The question or the answer that I always tell people, when you want to ask a question and you're not sure how to ask a question, but you, based off stereotypes, or based off of your assumptions, you don't want to make that assumption, but you're just curious, I always say, "The question that you can ask is, has this been your experience?"

Sheldon:

I remember one time when I was at school working in my position, and I remember one of the staff members came up to me and asked me a question regarding housing within the community that I was serving. And they were talking about the housing and they asked me, they said, "Sheldon, was this like that for you when you were in the projects?"

Sheldon:

I took a moment for a second, and I'm like, "How in the world did they assume that I've come from the projects? That has not been my experience." But this individual looked at me, they assumed that I must be from the hood. That hasn't been my experience. One way that she could have reframed that question to me, as opposed to assuming that this is where I'm from, was to simply say, "Has this been your experience?" Then I can say, "You know what? No, hasn't been my experience. I'm not familiar with it."

Sheldon:

One of the things that I've let learned from living in the Northwest is a child of color, let's get more specific, a Black child growing up in Oakland, California, a Black child growing up in the South Side of Chicago, their experiences throughout their education, throughout their neighborhood, or their life experiences are going to be different than an individual, a Black child, growing up in Idaho, in rural Idaho at that. Does that make that individual who grew up in rural Idaho less black? No. Because at the end of the day, people don't know where you're from.

Sheldon:

You see me on the street, you see my color, you see who I am, that's about it. That's all you know. But then what happens? Those stereotypes start to come in. Those assumptions start to be made. And again, limited information, it's all we know. All we can see is somebody's skin color and we start to make these assumptions. At the end of the day, an individual's experience is that individual's experience. So, that's the question you ask. Has this been your experience?

Sheldon:

The other thing about... My good friend, there's this term called cultural taxation. Going back to the idea of it is not someone else's responsibility to educate you. And couple that with the idea that we don't want to make these assumptions based off of stereotypes, limited information, there's this thing called cultural taxation.

Sheldon:

Cultural taxation is essentially, I represent a group of people, this is my identity, and I'm me. Maybe I'm looked at as a spokesperson. Maybe I am called to do additional work outside of the scope of my job responsibilities, because no one else is there. For example, I see a lot of my Latinx folks that work as educators in schools are called in to be translators. I've seen a lot of teachers be put into these positions, where someone from a office, like the administrator or an individual, a staff member, comes into the classroom and says, "I'm going to watch your class because we need some translation done."

Sheldon:

Not only does that interrupt an educator's flow when it comes to teaching, classroom dynamics, middle of a lesson, we can all, I think we can all agree, we have some great substitute teachers out there. We have some great stand-ins out there. But at the end of the day, they're not the content experts for the subject that they're teaching. So, they might be able to follow a lesson plan. However, they may not be able to go much further than that, because it's not their area, this may not be their subject matter.

Sheldon:

But that cultural taxation happens where maybe you're called to translate, maybe it's not Spanish, maybe it's a different language, or maybe you're called in to be a mentor to students that represent the same identities as you, where, again, you're doing these additional jobs that you're not getting paid for. This is not a complaint, because my mentality has always been, if I don't do it, who will?

Sheldon:

But when we think about these type of situations and then you add to that, so I'm being called to do all these additional responsibilities, and then I have a staff member or I have colleague that is picking my brain, asking me as if I represent the entire community that I identify with additional questions, that again is taxing. And sometimes it causes fatigue. I don't have the stats regarding teacher burnout, but that sometimes can be a factor, contributing factor, to teacher burnout.

Sheldon:

Now, here's my thoughts on educating yourself. Because it's one thing to say, "You know what? I just Googled something. I just found a nice article." One of the things that I want you to please pay attention to is who wrote that article, who wrote that book, who wrote or created that video, whatever content you are consuming, where did it come from? Who wrote that? Does this individual have lived experiences that they can talk about? Hashtag own voices, that's important.

Sheldon:

Too many times I've seen conversations or I've seen articles written by people who do not identify. They do not identify with the community that they are talking about. They did some research. They studied, or they overheard, or someone of that community talked to them about it, and so now here they are reporting it. At the end of the day, they're still cultural outsiders.

Sheldon:

What's a cultural outsider? Cultural outsider is an individual who appreciates one's culture, but they are not born or they are not... This is not a part of their daily experience. I used to love to go to pow wows. I used to get invited to pow wows, and I still go to pow wows every now and then. And I enjoy pow wows because I love the fellowship, I love the dancing, I love the drum, I love the songs, I love the community. I love the sense of family that's together. But guess what? I'm not indigenous. That would make me a cultural outsider.

Sheldon:

So, I appreciate another community and culture that I do not represent, and as a result, I'm participating in events that are planned, financed and operated by cultural insiders. However, I'm not a part of the community. I've been asked to judge pow wow dances. I'm very familiar with the various categories within dancing. However, again, I am a cultural outsider. So, again, whatever you are reading, when you're educating yourself, find books, find articles, find videos, find whatever sources, content, that is written by or created by individuals who represent that community.

Sheldon:

The next part when we're thinking about educating ourselves is the consideration of tokenized celebrations. But what I mean by that? Sometimes when we're at a place where we're saying, "You know what? There's something that I do not know about. I want to learn more about this culture. I want to learn more about this practice. I want to learn more about this." But the reason why we want to learn more about these individual celebrations and holidays is because they are individual celebration or holiday. So, there's a one time in a year Black history Month, maybe it's Native American Heritage Month, maybe it's Latinx Heritage Month or Asian Month or whatever it might be.

Sheldon:

There's this time frame that's coming up and we want to bring this in. We want this to be part of our lesson, our content. So, we might spend a month or a month before or a few weeks before and do some studying, some research, and that's it. We create one lesson. We create one unit. Maybe if we're lucky, we create one unit based off of a tokenized celebration, cuisine, culture, whatever it might be, celebration, holiday.

Sheldon:

Now, I think it's important that our students learn about various cultures and think we're doing our kids a disservice when we don't do so. I just don't want that to be the only time that you try to learn about other, or educate yourself. I don't want it to be the one and done. I don't want that to be the only time that you educate yourself. Educate yourself, again, finding content written by cultural insiders and study up on it. Especially if you have representation within your classroom.

Sheldon:

Sometimes I'll hear somebody tell me, "Oh, well, we only had one or two students of this identity." "And?" That's my answer, "And? Where's the threshold? How many more did you need in order to really consider or take this seriously?" I think we can all agree that we want our students to feel welcomed. We want them to feel like they are included within the school. Not some others. "Oh yeah, those kids. Oh, we only had one of those kids. We only had two." So what? They're not important because you don't have "enough"? What's the quota? How many did you need in order to say, "You know what? These students, this student, this student is worth my time."

Sheldon:

Sometimes, when we think about those tokenized celebrations, some of those celebrations, the impact of those celebrations come from an oppressive or a negative state. So, we do some research on the civil rights movement, but what was the civil rights movement? That was people, a group of people of color, Dr. King [inaudible 00:18:48], just trying to get civil rights.

Sheldon:

So, if that's the only content that a student is getting or learning about when it comes to various communities is a struggle, one could argue, "Yes, we got some laws passed back in the '60s for civil rights," but I would argue that the civil rights movement is still happening.

Sheldon:

And when we think about what's happening within our country, if you're in the United States, when you're thinking about what's happening in our schools, the movement continues. We don't want to just lean on tragedies. We think about the conquistadors, that's the only history that our students are getting about Spanish and European conquest.

Sheldon:

We're doing our kids a disservice. Man, there's some amazing things that various communities, civilizations, have done. But if we don't highlight those things, we don't talk about the medicine, the inventions, the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from various cultures, and women as well. Again, not just a racial thing. But if there's not representation there, again, we're doing our kids a disservice. The other thing which leads me to my next point about just being joyful, that term Black joy, where we're celebrating the great things. I'm proud of who I am. How do we celebrate that?

Sheldon:

The final thing, when it comes to educating yourself that I want to add, it's the importance of understanding the specific needs of your community. It goes back to my initial thoughts. It goes back to my initial story regarding, okay, I move to the Northwest. I moved to Oregon. The community that I was serving was into forestry. So, I learned specifically about what my community was interested in. Before I started working on the reservation, I will be honest, I did not know much about indigenous cultures, traditions. I lumped a lot of stuff. I lumped a lot of stuff as one.

Sheldon:

One of the things I learned from working with two tribes, that were forcibly put on a reservation and signed contracts that have continued to be broken over time, was that these who tribes had their own languages, [inaudible 00:21:50] their own traditions and culture. Now, over time, you have two indigenous communities that are forced, or you have two indigenous communities that are living together in a small area of land. Naturally, a lot of stuff is going to mix. And keeping those traditions is very important to them.

Sheldon:

But if I just grabbed a book, Native American Education, or How to Support our Indigenous Communities, it may not be relevant to my community that I'm currently serving. According to the US federal government, there are 574 federally recognized tribes, and to me, that's an insult. The idea of, well, the government is choosing to recognize 574 tribes. So, if you're not part of those 574, we don't count you as real tribes. The audacity. To me, that's crazy. That's crazy. But that's for another podcast.

Sheldon:

But when you think about the various tribes and nations that are here, they have their own traditions, their way of life, their culture, their communities, and they're proud. If I read a book on Latinx communities, Latinx communities in California, Latinx communities in Texas, might be different, right? We can agree on that. I need to find, again, written by, written by own voices, but I need to find... I need to educate myself rather on the specific needs of my community.

Sheldon:

Once again, find literature to support your learning and understanding of equity. Challenge yourself to read books written about historically marginalized people by own voices. Find books written beyond the area of education and seek books that portray stories about... Find books written beyond the area of education and oppression. Don't settle for books that are meant to make you feel comfortable, instead read books that will challenge your level of comfort and confidence.

Sheldon:

Approach the literature with an open mind to learn about historically underrepresented groups of people and their experiences. This will help you appreciate the challenges that historically marginalized, specifically, people of color, go through and live through. This will also help you gain a better understanding of what we traditionally view as how students should learn and how they should respond and behave in a classroom, comes from an assimilated mindset.

Sheldon:

And here's some questions I want you to think about. What books have I read on multicultural education and equity? How am I actively seeking knowledge to address social justice as a professional? You know what, as an alternative, we need to learn to disrupt the way we approach learning from a one-size-fits-all approach. The way your students see and exist in this world is different. And it's different for a lot of us as educators.

Sheldon:

Your students, many of your students... Many of your students have generationally had to deal with issues that continue to suppress their identities, require them to code switch, and survive in dual worlds, the world that they physically live in and the world that their teachers expect their students to live in, is a mindset shift. We need educators to change how they see and recognize culture in the world. Part of this process requires educating yourself and letting the books take you on a journey that will help you better understand cultural realities and close the distance between you and the students.

Sheldon:

Some last tips. Cultivates your classroom culture. Composing a classroom mantra is a tangible way to help both you and your students understand, acknowledge, work towards, and hold each other accountable for the dialogue that guides your classroom.

Sheldon:

The next step is the importance of instructional planning. As you select the instructional resources and activities that will support the learning experiences in your setting, ask yourself, "Who is seen and how are they represented? Who is centralized and who is celebrated?" These questions will help keep you accountable for affirming cultural diversity and adopting an anti-racist lens through your teaching.

Sheldon:

You need to have some feedback strategies. If we approach feedback as a collaborative construction of knowledge, our goal shifts from one-way communication to a process of listening, sharing, and learning from each other, whether you are interacting with students, staff, or families, aim to utilize feedback structures and create opportunities for honest dialogue through two-way communication.

Sheldon:

Finally, reflection is very important, because, at the end of the day, it's important that you designate a moment for genuine self-reflection. Think about how you showed up during the day, were you practicing anti-racist practices in your words and actions? Or were you solely non-racist? Where can you identify opportunities for yourself to make amends, increase equity in your learning environment, or advocate for greater representation and inclusion?

Sheldon:

As you discuss complex notions about race and ethnicity, be open to learning something new, especially from your students. Be careful, however, do not rely on another person to teach you everything about their identity. Engage people on their terms and do not expect them to accept the burden of automatically educating you about your... Engage people on their terms and do not expect them to accept the burden of automatically educating you about unfamiliar topics to you. It's not someone else's responsibility to educate you.

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