Show Notes
For this episode, we are joined by Ginni Winters, a School Culture and Equity Consultant at Wayne RESA, and Dr. Velicia Humes, a School Climate Consultant at Wayne RESA, to discuss school culture and climate, and how the pandemic has brought to light issues that can occur when the culture and climate of a school is not conducive to learning. In addition, they give ideas on how teachers and leaders and take steps to improve the culture and climate of a building using Bruce Perry's 3Rs - Regulate, Relate, and Reason.
Length - 52 minutes
Transcript
Jason Siko: Welcome to another healthy serving of Wayne RESA’s podcast, Getting to the Core. Today's topic features a conversation around school climate and culture. Here to chomp and chat with us today are Virginia “Ginni” Winters and Dr. Velicia Humes. Before we take our first bite, let's learn a little more about our two guests. Ginni Winters is currently serving as a School Culture and Equity Consultant at Wayne RESA. Prior to Wayne RESA, she worked with a variety of organizations, which include educating and leading inside the Detroit Public Schools system for over 20 years. A design team member for MDE’s Coaching 101, and serving as a national faculty member for the school development program at Yale university. Ms. Winter’s immediate educational goal is to complete her doctoral degree in curriculum instruction and assessment.
Her dynamic partner, Dr. Velicia Humes serves as School Climate Consultant with Wayne RESA, and is currently part of the leadership of the Wayne County School Justice Partnership and SE Equity Coalition. Dr. Humes has a background in secondary, post-secondary, and adult educational leadership, as well as talent management. Examples of prior work include implementation of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and positions within the human resources department at the City of Scottsdale, one being the Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
And with that, I welcome you both.
Virginia Winters: Thank you so much. I just want to say, good evening to our audience and good evening to Jason and Kyle, our colleagues and, of course, Dr. Humes and it's a real pleasure to be here.
Velicia Humes: Hi Jason, hi Kyle. Hello everyone, thank you for tuning in.
Virginia Winters: So, before we begin this conversation, we'd love to do just give me a moment to do a check in. And we do this in anticipation of some of the things we want to share with you today. So just take a moment to check in and just with yourself to think about what are some of the things that are in your environment that serve as stressors for you.
And after you had an opportunity to bring that to your awareness we’re going to ask you to take a moment to think about what else is in your environment that can serve as a place where you can decompress and relax. Because what we're talking about today really lets us know that we have to take these moments to just have a real awareness critical consciousness about ourselves, and so we welcome you to a conversation that we’re titling: Culture, Climate and COVID-19, the impact on learning.
Velicia Humes: We know that, over the last 20 months or so we've we found ourselves living and working through two crises: the COVID pandemic and the social upheaval and racial reckoning from the injustices that have occurred across the country. During this time, we've had to go into total remote learning, many of us, and then move in transition back to hybrid learning or face-to-face. I think it's safe to say that we've endured even more of our share of stress, anxiety, and for many of us trauma and this stress, anxiety, and trauma doesn't stay home, but it comes with us in the spaces, that we go to. So, it's imperative that we realize that everyday staff, building leaders, and students, as well as their families, are bringing this stressor… these stressors in. At the same time, there have been young people who thrived in these remote environments, and research says that they were able to do that because they had a sense of agency, some purpose, and then leadership.
So, when we talk today about how culture, climate, and COVID impact learning and teaching, we want you to think about this conversation on two levels: a systemic level, as well as an individual level. What do you think, Ginni?
Virginia Winters: Yeah you know, I was thinking Velicia, as you talked, is that you know we have really been busy and harried lives and in schools and we mainly have our gaze fixed on teaching and learning. And what seems to sometimes fall to the wayside, is the idea that we are living in a climate and a culture, and that they hold an influence on our everyday goings on. And so I think will be important for us to really lift this idea that the content and the culture are actually the factors that influence how this whole scenario begin to unfold.
Velicia Humes: So, tell us more about that, Ginni.
Virginia Winters: So let's just define that. We always talk about culture. And now, sometimes we some may confuse that with holidays, but I’m talking about the culture of a group who are coming together and we define culture as the way we do things around here. Years ago, I remember a serving as a counselor in Detroit and a mother came into the office, one day, and asked a question. Her son had forgotten his lunch and she said, “What would have happened if I weren't you weren't able to connect with me?”
And so, everybody said, “Well, we would’ve done something.” I said, you know, I had a conversation with the office staff, and I said what she was asking was what's the way you do things around here…how do you treat children around here…In the absence of parents? And so culture is the way we do things around here, the way we learn to behave, operate, problem solve, intervene, intersect with each other, connect with each other as we've gone about our work. And the climate, I mean the culture, really is that overall piece that really is very hard to to really influence outside of climate. So, unpack for us a little bit the idea of how climate interfaces with culture and why aren’t they the same.
Velicia Humes: I’m glad you asked that because often I hear our professionals interchange those terms and they're quite different. So, you said that culture is how we do things around here where climate actually is how we do things around here, makes me feel and others feel. And so to give you a great example of that and whether or not you know it's true or not I’m gonna identify an agency, and then you think about how you respond when I say: Department of Motor Vehicles. You have to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Look at everyone, everyone has the same response. That's an example of how things around here make people feel that come through the door. One thing I can say about the Department of Motor Vehicles is that they're very consistent. I have lived in several states, do not take this personal, that climate is in every office that I’ve ever gone to, and the reason is because the culture that is found in those departments are centered on getting the work done of the individuals that sit behind that desk. It’s not focused on the efficient delivery or the customer service level of those at their survey. And so the processes that are put in place, the protocols that you hear the “go stand in this line” and then, “come over to that line.” Nope, you're in the wrong line, now you have to go to the end of the line. All of that is because what's more important is the completion of that document that you have in your hand and who has to have it, and what they have to do with it next. So, culture and climate is huge when we're talking about moving in to a school, or going back to work, even with the trauma and the anxiety that we have lived through over the last 20 months or so. It's important that our culture is one that provides individuals a safe and healthy and emotionally well experience and we've discovered that's even more important, at least at first, before you even start to teach and you try to instruct. What do you think about that Ginni?
Virginia Winters: Yeah. You know, I was thinking is really powerful to have an understanding about the difference between culture and climate. Culture, of course, being the things that we've learned to do as part of the way we've operated, and then climate is that lever that allows us to influence the culture. But here's where the intersection becomes interesting. Add something like COVID-19 to the formula and you've got an event a something that shaped the whole context. And it doesn't mean that your culture goes away, it still rings around those same patterns of behavior. But one of those patterns of behavior are not powerful and influential enough to support a safe, healthy, emotionally balanced climate.
Velicia Humes: Correct.
Virginia Winters: COVID-19, in effect, turned our schools upside down and exposed many inequities.
Velicia Humes: That existed prior to the pandemic.
Virginia Winters: Absolutely, and so, while we really would like to be finished with COVID-19, but fact is we're still in the midst of it.
Velicia Humes: A COVID’s not finished with us, right?
Virginia Winters: COVID is not finished with us, and so what we'd like to do is just have a different dialogue with our viewing audience and also think with us. What's the relationship between a climate in your building, how you feel about the way you operate, your modus operandi; the culture, and the factors that COVID-19 have brought for you to wade through negotiate?
And so, many of our schools are returning back to their physical buildings. And we want to say, “Yay! We're able to go back to our physical buildings!” And yet, we’re wondering why life hasn't returned to its pre pandemic state. So let's just unpack that. All right, go ahead.
Velicia Humes: That’s simply because we're not in a pre-pandemic state; we are in the midst of a pandemic and until herd immunity is established, either by vaccinations or everyone has gotten it or however the epidemiologists are saying that needs to happen…but we know that 80% at least 80% or more of our population has to be vaccinated in order to manage COVID.
I think, even with that said, I think we're running back, ignoring the fact that there are some external factors that have occurred and some lived experiences that have resulted from, like I said earlier, COVID-19, social unrest, and in the racial reckoning with all of these movements. They didn't cease and, as a matter of fact, we can see some of the anxiety and the stress playing out amongst adults: that the violence on airplanes, the fights in grocery stores, the fights in parking lots of restaurants, you know, this pent up anxiety.
And, and one way that that's being played out in schools is fisticuffs. Kids are… there's more discipline going on, physical disciplines even even in schools that aren't known for that type of conflict resolution they're finding that a lot of their social media interactions are being solved in their in the hallways.
Now, that's not a phenomenon. What is somewhat of a phenomenon is the increase in those instances because being at home and not being face-to-face with their friends everyone moved to social media. So that's where those conversations have been taking place. So, when they're coming in and the kids are having these types of conflicts, we have to ask what are telling us?
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: Because that's a form of communication, whether it's acceptable or not, what are they telling us? And just based on what Bruce Perry talks to us about, he’s a neuroscientist, he's saying he has a three R’s framework. And he's saying that, in order to have a trauma informed environment, that provides safety and support to not just students but also to staff and their families, there are three things that we need to do. And I pulled up the…I raised the example of the fights in the verbal conflicts, because we need to really find our place, ourselves in spaces to help us regulate.
Virginia Winters: Yes, you know, Velicia, here’s a piece… before we move on to Bruce’s steps that he's talked about, I want us to just focus the central question How can we create a culture of care for staff growth and well-being, as well as student growth and well-being? Now, for me that's a departure oil, and it is because what we tend to do is say what can we do for the kids? While they are central in our focus, we cannot and dare not ignore that these precipitating factors impact staff, students, families, communities. You don't live in a vacuum.
Velicia Humes: That’s right.
Virginia Winters: And so, if we don't have that recognition, then our strategies, no matter how well executed, no matter how well meaning, won't have the same impact of stabilizing the environment, so that we can have successful teaching and learning.
Velicia Humes: That’s true, Ginni. I’m going to liken what you just said to like when you take an airplane ride and the stewardess is telling you just in case we lose compression in the air, these masks will drop. And what if you're traveling with the child? First, put your mask on and then see to the child. That's what needs to happen in schools. Yes, we have to provide support for teachers. They have gone through the same well lived experiences as children, and not only that, but the children are taking cues for from them in terms of how they regulate themselves. So, if parents and adults are out, you know, using physical means for solving their problems or rage solving their problems, then it shouldn't be a stretch by anyone's imagination, that their counterparts called their children are doing the same.
Virginia Winters: Absolutely.
Velicia Humes: So, I believe, just as you said that it is really important to identify the realities of teachers, as well as staff and students, and families, and I say this because we realized the disproportionality that occurred as a result of COVID. And let me put it like this: no, the disproportionality already existed, so COVID it ripped that band-aid off, and move that curtain back, and it was stuck in front of our faces. But that means that not everyone has the same COVID experience.
You literally can have three groups or demographics, in your school that all experienced COVID differently. But you have one set of protocols. This isn't a one size fits all remedy situation that we're in.
Virginia Winters: That's right.
Velicia Humes: So, for one, the first part of that is acknowledging that everyone has had a different experience with COVID. Not just the students and the families, but even the teachers.
But you don't know what they need until you know what the realities are.
Virginia Winters: Absolutely. That whole idea of going into a person's lived reality, and I have to say, Velicia, one thing that I think that works against us, is that our schools have not been structured so that we have… we do that. Our school, the protocols in our schools don't allow time for people to sit down and have a conversation around the lived realities that are presenting. What we do is we start on the other end we start on the systematic behaviors.
And we don't really take the time to get to the causal effect. And so, hopefully, when we think about culture, climate, and COVID 19 and the impact on the learning that's going to happen, no learning will occur, unless we understand the impact.
Velicia Humes: And let's be candid about something else: the cult of education. Right now we're being driven by tests and standards. And, if the first thing you're hearing is that we need to get back to face-to-face because they've lost, they lost, they lost, they've lost so much, they've lost so much… I want to push back a little bit, because I think our kids gained a lot, too. They've gained a lot during this. Unfortunately, those aren't the variables that we're choosing to mention. So, I mean a lot of them gained empathy, a lot of them game compassion, a lot of them gained agency, a lot of them found purpose and actually realized that they could be leaders.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: They were leading their own lives and taking responsibility for. And so, the question is, well, what's that difference in that environment that provides that, in the ones that they're finding themselves walking into in the schools? And so, how do we recreate that agency that purpose, a sense of purpose and leadership? And when we talk about agency, Ginni tell them what we mean by agency.
Virginia Winters: So agency is the sense that whatever types of situations I am faced with, I have the knowledge, I have the skills, and I have the emot… now here's the piece we don't grow on the emotional savvy and intelligence to navigate it for the good of the student and myself. And and here's the piece, if you are told to just do everything by rote, then you lose that opportunity to develop agency. And you begin to doubt yourself, which is the lack of efficacy. I’m not sure, you know, we've got consummate educators in the schools. And given the right climate and culture that nurtures agency and you can't get there without consciousness, if you can't get there without reflection. You can only…you know people think, you know, I learned a lesson, by doing just doing this… No, reflecting on the experiences is how you learn the lesson.
Velicia Humes: Or even how you got the wrong answer. I tell people all the time we fail up all the time. I failed my way to success. You know, that’s part of learning. I mean and having that grace, but you have to have a culture that recognize and values, the journey of learning.
Virginia Winters: And you know what? I see teachers create that in their classrooms every day, every day, in the questions they ask… And so it's not a question of whether or not they have the ability to do it, it's whether or not we pay enough attention to both our climate and culture to create, recreate, and we create the spaces that happen.
Velicia Humes: So Ginni, what I’m hearing you say is that our teachers have the abilities to actually engage students around the explicit curriculum.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: You know, the math, science, the vocab…But that implicit curriculum, you know getting through to Bloom through Maslow; having to go through Maslow before you get to Bloom, is paramount these days. And so, how safe is your classroom? And I don't mean safe physically, but how safe emotionally and socially? Because if I’m not creating an environment that is acknowledging and honoring the funds of knowledge that every child is bringing in that classroom and their COVID realities, I’m trying to educate them when, in fact, they could be in fight flight or freeze. They could be in the bottom portion of their brain. No learning happens there and, quite frankly, their families can be operating in those three stages, too.
And you're trying to figure out what why won't they read the letter? Why haven't they… they need to drop them off at this place, not at this place and not really understanding or valuing the fact that they have them here every day. What do they need in order to hear the rest of it? Again, understanding the realities that individuals are bringing. And so, that's the first part of what Bruce Perry was talking about.
Virginia Winters: Regulating. Listen first. Then I love the way he says this: codevelop our strategies. That means at no time do you assume that you know you have the whole story.
And that that other person brings something to contribute to the working out of strategies and improved container strategies that will support them as well. So that means you have the assumption that they bring something to the table.
But you know, Velicia, as we were talking about this, I thought about what you said at the beginning. I need to think about this a couple of levels: inter-personally and also on the systems level. Just as we want to prepare for our students, someone has to actually do the same thing for the teachers. Someone must do the same thing for the administrators, so then this work is actually pervasive through all levels.
But I want to bring it down because we have our beloved teachers listening to us and our school leaders. We want you to be able to take away things that allowed you to really zero in and just… First, the first question is, how can I create the climate in my classroom, in my school, that's going to allow for teaching and learning? Which means I’m allowing people to be able to negotiate the trauma they felt like COVID 19. That puts them in the back of their brand, to help them get up to the front, where they can do some thinking. That's why I love that Bloom’s before Maslow…err…Maslow before Bloom’s; because we can't ignore basic needs.
Velicia Humes: So, a culture, a culture of how we do things around here has to intentionally incorporate regulation.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: It has to intentionally core incorporate relationships.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: And it has to intentionally identify the rationale for these things and develop a need and value so that it drives what we do. So, the reason…and don't think of it as so amorphous. Of course, there's some systemic strategies, but these things also need to happen on a microcosm, which is in your classroom. So this… when we started today, you started with regulation; helping us center ourselves. That was very simple and teachers need to do that in their classroom.
Virginia Winters: And I just want to make sure we have that handles for each person for each container. Remember, first to regulate. Then to relate, and then third “R,” reason. If you keep those things, those are the three R's. They’re not reading, writing and arithmetic.
These are our three “R’s.” Regulate, Relate, and Reason. So, let's unpack that for them so that they can have something they can take hold and try even tomorrow when they return to their classrooms.
Velicia Humes: And what we're talking about is not a one and done. When we’re talking about culture, how we do things around here, it means consistently, formally, on an ongoing basis, the same way. You know Ginni, I've seen teachers, you know, struggle in terms of grades, and things like that, but there's one educator that I don't care what year you look and evaluate their performance, they are always successful, and those are coaches.
When you when you see coaches, I mean like athletic coaches, you know, isn’t it amazing when kids show up at practice, they started practice. They’re 15 minutes into practice before coach even comes out, right? And they're 15 minutes into practice because of the agency that coach has developed in them, because they know when you get into the locker room, this is what we do when: we put this on, we take this on, when we get onto the floor on the field, these are the things that we do. In fact, some of the upperclassmen or older kids will lead that process, so all of this autonomy or agency is built there. The other thing is there's some consistency on how people are trained to. So, you come late, it doesn't matter, 50 laps. I don't care, whatever it is, you know, everybody knows. You don't have to agree with it or think it's fair, but you're doing it okay. And everybody is there, so that consistency, where kids can take the what is next, what's going to happen next, out of the equation and know what's going to happen next, allows them to take the risk of agency, to take the risk of leadership. So when you come in, when these students come in, well, actually, when you come to work, I need you to at least take 10 to 15 minutes just center yourself. How am I doing today? You know, did I take that last argument that I just had with my other or or my kids? Is it with me here in this place right now?
Center yourself, because you're going to have to put your mask on before you put the mask on the kids.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: What that said Ginni, what do you think they could do with students?
Virginia Winters: So, not only do they regulate themselves so, see here again, that attention and consciousness is really important. See where you are. How do you provide spaces in your class, for your students to come in and find themselves in that space? Now they can do that a couple ways. They can begin to do the deep mindfulness activities, they can do deep breathing. I remember having a listening chair in my class. And the kids knew that if they came in and they felt overwhelmed all they had to do was sit in that listening chair and that would give them five to 10 minutes just collect themselves. Now I have to teach their behavior. They didn't abuse it. Children learned to really utilize it and respond to each other in a way, that was constructive and helpful. So how do we, number one, teach the kids to recognize what they're feeling? Students have to learn the emotions. They can't, they don't always come with that.
Velicia Humes: You have to teach them. You know, actually, some of us have to learn. I’m serious, because we don't really, we're not conscious of things. You know we react and what we're hoping you do is move from reacting to responding. And the only way you can respond is to intentionally be monitoring the environment at all times, so that it's not an additional thing you have to do… this is how we do school. So I’m constantly looking for, you know, what most teachers can tell you who's gonna lose it before 10 o'clock in the morning. Or who's gonna lose it in the classroom before the Pledge of Allegiance, or whatever. And at the same time, you know that at 12 o'clock if you hear five people sharpening their pencils and you're gritting your teeth, then why aren't you allowing people to sharpen their pencils at 11. You know, because you know after 12 you don't have tolerance for that.
Virginia Winters: I like what you see, be proactive, as well as responsive. The other thing that I’m hearing, as I go into schools, Velicia, is that these 18 months have taken a toll in terms of the total overall climate of the school. And so, one of the things that we’ll have to be in recognition, we have to recognize is number one some children have missed, what, 18 months, which is almost a year and a half. Okay so, for example, they were going from eighth grade to high school, they've never been in high school.
Velicia Humes: They haven't.
Virginia Winters: There hasn’t been that onboarding and acclimating to the high school setting that they haven't had any chance to work through.
Velicia Humes: It's absolutely true, and we hear that, don't we, when we go out? We hear people say, “well, you know, they're still functioning like they're in middle school,” because this is the first… they're going into their junior year, but this is the first time they've been a high school. So, when they have that stress. Now, remember, I know it's a long time ago, when I started high school, but there was some stress involved in that, and that I still have my door keys around my neck. I just looked so goofy but anyway, there's a lot of stress going from big fish in the pond to little fish, you know.
Virginia Winters: That’s right.
Velicia Humes: So, when we have inconsistency in our norms - which is easy to do - given that we now have new protocols that we have to follow for school. And on top of that, I didn't know what the standard protocols were in the first place.
Virginia Winters: Right.
Velicia Humes: You know these these intentional orientations are really important to lift up the values of the school and the do's… the things that you want to see, the behaviors that you want to see. And, more importantly, that space has to be provided for teachers. so that they can make come to some consensus around how what is behavior, what is good behavior, what is inappropriate behavior. So, if I get in trouble, you know, chewing gum in Miss Winters’ class but Dr. Humes says you can chew gum, just make sure everybody has a piece, you know, that's, you know, that's inconsistency and already you're stressed.
Now, of course, I used something that was benign, of course, but let's talk about hats or hoods. You know, some teachers might, you know, feel uncomfortable allowing, you know, telling people to put their hoods down where somebody else who knows walk into the hall, you know put your hood down. But it's how you frame the norms that you want to see. So, there's a couple things I want to say. In your classroom this will be a great opportunity to have your students work with you to recreate your classroom norms.
Virginia Winters: Yes, so one of building leaders similarly. Let's go up that level that system.
Velicia Humes: Correct.
Virginia Winters: You need to do the same thing with your teacher, so they have some consensus on what's acceptable behavior in our school.
Velicia Humes: They need to build a common language around that. And the, let's face it, we have some narratives around what’s good behavior, what’s bad behavior, what's the proper dress, what's not proper dress. And, we have to, as educators, make the space intentionally to have these courageous conversations. And to come to some consensus of how we're going to uphold, model, and teach the behaviors we want to see. I think, right now, a lot of schools are leaning into rules and regulations instead of the regulating.
Virginia Winters: Yes
Velicia Humes: And so they're going to rule somebody into deference or rule somebody into the behavior that they want, but we already know that rules without relationship equals rebellion. And that brings us to the… right before we come to relationships, I want to talk about the need to identify the realities of teachers and students. We need to have some focus, we need to have some forums, we need to send out surveys. I know we sent out surveys pre-pandemic, or when we were going into remote, to see who had the technology and this, that, and the other, but you really need to know that there are kids who don't have their parents anymore, they lost both parents. They lost their caregiver or because I lived in a neighborhood that was disproportionately impacted, you may only have 12 of those kids in your school, but their reality is very different than the majority student population in your school. And so, when you say you don't have to do this, or you don't have to do the other, for them, their parents are, “Oh you're trying to kill us.” Because in their communities you needed to wear a mask and their communities you needed to distance 6 feet. So we need to know the reality, so we need to get that information from them. You said talk to them. And if you can't do that on a building level, you can reach out to the parents in your classroom to identify where they are, what they need. But, you know, some of them aren't even living in their homes anymore, maybe they've lost their jobs, maybe their kid is sleeping on a couch at a sister's house. You never know.
Virginia Winters: Well, you know what that really helps me to understand is that we can no longer assume that all students have the same context in which they're coming from. That's a culturally responsive understanding, and that's an equity focused understanding that everyone's reality may be very different.
Velicia Humes: And the teachers, too.
Virginia Winters: And that's all contained in one school and the teachers as well. And so that's the consciousness about who are we serving. And so, when we think about that, when we think about that, for me, is the primary reason why we have to build relationships. People are not going to tell you their lived reality if they don't trust you.
Velicia Humes: That's right. That or they don't think you like them. Or they don't think you'll help them.
Virginia Winters: Exactly. Those three essential things really help solidify the relationships. And so we talked about this idea, first regulate. On variety of levels, building leaders can regulate how they give us create the space, to co-create the space with their teachers, to understand, first of all their own realities; they’re not automatons, they're very human beings, that come within this context. And what's the flavor of our building. What's the flavor there? What are we intentionally trying to evoke? And then teachers can do with their classrooms and that idea of relating.
So, we said regulate, we said relate. I want to shift for a moment for this idea of strategies about reason. Why do we do that? Because we do know that we're still responsible for the teaching and learning. We know that. And, you know, our educational systems are quick to rush into testing and all those kinds of things, so it's still moving there in front of us. But at the same time, we know that the route of going straight to teaching and learning and at the peril of ignoring where people are there lived experiences, the trauma they felt from COVID.
Velicia Humes: And they're still feeling.
Virginia Winters: And still feeling, correct. And without relating to them solidifying those relationships will not allow us to go to teaching and learning. And I, this is the piece I’m hoping that people will begin to understand: we really do need to take the deep breath. We have to be able to take the deep breath at schools. And no one, no one has to tell you, when you need to take your own deep breath. We can't wait for somebody to signal that for us. We have to take stock of ourselves and do it. But, so I have often wondered if people can give themselves the permission to slow down. I know we've had a lot of time with feel that we've lost, but we also have gained some things and maybe we can build on those things. And that's one of the ways in which we begin that idea of reason… moving us into the reason part.
Velicia Humes: So we go back to when we talk about reasoning: why is really, really important to reflect and refine the policies and practices with students and families; when we're talking about kids that, this is their first time being in high school but they're juniors. Then you need to intentionally create those spaces again. That allows them to understand how we do school here; what that looks like, how that sounds and how it makes people feel, right? Because then you're describing the behavior that you're seeking and the student then can measure whether or not he or she or they are successful, as well as teachers. I believe, and again I think you mentioned it a couple of times we're not doing this in a vacuum, right? We're bringing some different ideologies to school, you know, teachers and students and their families, bringing different ideologies to school. All these other superfluous things that are integral to who we are, as a community. But in the school, we need to make the culture of the school bigger than the cultures that are being brought into the school. And the only way you'll be able to do that is that culture has to communicate to me that you, like me. That you will help me and that the things that we do around here, the practices and the policies that have been designed are because I can… at the end of the day, I can trust you. And so we can't assume that all teachers know how to engage kids around social emotional learning. So we can't assume that because their heart and their intentions are correct, that teachers have the skill sets to engage them in a culturally responsive way. So, we need to make those priorities in their professional learning, just like we do for math, and just like we do for science, because that toolbox is also important and necessary to create these supportive and safe environments that we're talking about.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: So, again rules without relationship equals rebellion. So when I’m talking to staff and their first response is well, we just need to make sure they know the rules, I don't think they know the rules we need to keep going back to the rules…well, they're not hearing you these things, they can't hear you in the rules because that's not where they are in their brains. They’re just trying to survive whatever it is that's going on. So first, how do we provide them with an opportunity to regulate what they're feeling. Once we do that and the ways in which we go about doing that helps you create a relationship. Because if you take that time and put it in your day you're doing it because you care about me right and you're telling me that. And I’m telling that to my families and I’m telling that to my teachers. So teachers, I don't think it's a bad idea that before your staff meeting begins there's a regulating exercise or community builder or anything that allows them to express an emotion. Because they’re people, too.
Virginia Winters: Yes.
Velicia Humes: And they need to put their mask on first.
Virginia Winters: And you know, Velicia, we started out this this conversation with doing the check in. What we understand, I just want to kind of pull together for us: what we understand is that schools play a critical role in both the safety emotional health, the mental health and the teaching the cognitive growth and development of all of our students. I play that same role with their teachers, because they're on their level of development in terms of the careers. And so, climate, culture and COVID-19 really present us, not only with a challenge, but an opportunity. It gives us an opportunity to, number one, pause and ask the question how have we served or underserved students prior to this? How can we serve well all students? And as we learn to do that, how can we also take care of ourselves? And then how can this learning opportunity, you know it's a challenge, and there’s a lot of that we've gone through that has been traumatizing; what can learn that we can take into the next iteration of how we do school? Being mindful that we know we want to do those three things: regulate, relate, and reason. And also, that learning is iterative. This is an opportunity to see what new lessons we learn, what new forms of educating we've learned that we can use? It was no mistake that some students have agency when they went remote We need to unpack that, we need to understand that, and then the greatest thing for me is that we've got to take the deep breath that says we have permission to learn from this, to take care of ourselves, and to bring that learning to bear and all that we do so.
Velicia Humes: You know, earlier, because, those were very salient points that you made and and when we talk about how we do school around here, right? We have to be intentional about how we take those breaths and how we provide that space for us to take those breaths regardless of which stakeholder you are that's in that building. And one of the ways you do that, we were talking about systemically, because at some point we have to support what teachers are trying to accomplish in their classrooms. And we do that through MTSS approach. So those robust tier one strategies of providing explicit instruction of SEL in the classroom, integrating SEL in the academics and making sure that we have wraparound services. So, it's not just enough to identify a teacher’s or student’s or families’ reality and identify their needs. What support do we have available for them and how do we connect them to this? All schools usually have some form of this. What we're saying is, we need to be a lot more intentional about it and have really consistent ways in which teachers know these resources exist and how to navigate to them, or who to navigate families to when they find out. If we're talking about trauma, we know that's tier three. We're not asking teachers to be psychologists, social workers, but they should know where those sorts of those resources are in their buildings and who to connect people with. What do you think I think?
Well, I say this because I want to wrap this up in a way of hopefulness. We have a common language and that common language is MTSS. So we're talking right now instead of explicit curriculum we're talking about the implicit curriculum. And until you can honestly do that in your building, building-wide, the systems kind of will remain on supportive. Or let's put it like this, not as supportive as they could be, but what has been happening or taking place in the classroom, but don't allow that to stop you.
Virginia Winters: So, in essence, you're saying the tools that you have to actually reach into systems to not only to take that deep breath but take it with a new lens. I think I agree with that, and I guess, I would invite people to really just reflect on some of the things we talked the three handles, and take that deep breath and to know that RESA is here to support you, as you take that absolutely.
Velicia Humes: We have those resources; we have wraparound services that you can access the PBIS program. We have culturally responsive teaching and instruction in teaching that’s offered. We have COVID, we have a well-developed workshop around COVID and racism and the skill sets you need to navigate that in your classroom and then your buildings I think… I know that RESA has many of the resources that teachers will find very beneficial, as well as building leaders.
Virginia Winters: So, I guess, I hope that this this conversation has allowed them to catch their breath, so they can take a deep breath. Yes, yeah, thank you for talking with me about this. Really powerful. This helped me.
Velicia Humes: Thank you.
Jason Siko: And thank you both for putting on a master class with respect to culture and climate and how the current pandemic has influenced that in our schools today. With that said, I think we’ve had an interesting time today and for myself, Jason Siko, Dr. Ellen Vorenkamp, Kyle Gnagey, and Mellissa Wilson, we'd like to thank Ginni Winters and Dr. Velicia Humes for joining us today.
Virginia Winters: Thank you for inviting us.
Velicia Humes: And thank you for listening.
