Imagine the profound impact a single educator can have, not just on a classroom but on an entire community. De'Shawn Washington, fourth-grade inclusion teacher and Massachusetts Teacher of the Year for 2024, joins us to share his transformative educational philosophy integrating social and emotional learning with academic success. His approach has shaped students into compassionate change-makers, fostering a classroom environment where trust and accountability are as fundamental as the ABCs. De'Shawn's passion for empowering students resonates throughout our conversation as he reflects on the significance of his achievements and the inspiration he provides as the first black male to receive this prestigious honor in Massachusetts.
Our discussion takes an inspiring turn, highlighting the indispensable role of black male educators in the Massachusetts educational system, representing less than 2% of the teacher population. De'Shawn sheds light on the notable increase in student performance when children are taught by black men, emphasizing their presence as essential at every level of education. De'Shawn illustrates how educators can cultivate culturally inclusive classrooms through heartfelt anecdotes about mentorship and community building. We also delve into his innovative classroom strategies, ranging from restorative practices to adopting an alligator as a class mascot, all aimed at enhancing the joy and connectedness among his students.
To our listeners, we issue a rallying cry to champion educators like De'Shawn, who are at the vanguard of nurturing social and emotional growth. We remind you to kindle your commitment to education, and we eagerly anticipate the following conversation that promises to enlighten and inspire.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with De’Shawn via his website, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Check out these resources shared by De’Shawn:
Imagine the profound impact a single educator can have, not just on a classroom but on an entire community. De'Shawn Washington, fourth-grade inclusion teacher and Massachusetts Teacher of the Year for 2024, joins us to share his transformative educational philosophy integrating social and emotional learning with academic success. His approach has shaped students into compassionate change-makers, fostering a classroom environment where trust and accountability are as fundamental as the ABCs. De'Shawn's passion for empowering students resonates throughout our conversation as he reflects on the significance of his achievements and the inspiration he provides as the first black male to receive this prestigious honor in Massachusetts.
Our discussion takes an inspiring turn, highlighting the indispensable role of black male educators in the Massachusetts educational system, representing less than 2% of the teacher population. De'Shawn sheds light on the notable increase in student performance when children are taught by black men, emphasizing their presence as essential at every level of education. De'Shawn illustrates how educators can cultivate culturally inclusive classrooms through heartfelt anecdotes about mentorship and community building. We also delve into his innovative classroom strategies, ranging from restorative practices to adopting an alligator as a class mascot, all aimed at enhancing the joy and connectedness among his students.
To our listeners, we issue a rallying cry to champion educators like De'Shawn, who are at the vanguard of nurturing social and emotional growth. We remind you to kindle your commitment to education, and we eagerly anticipate the following conversation that promises to enlighten and inspire.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with De’Shawn via his website, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Check out these resources shared by De’Shawn:
Welcome to SEL in EDU.
Speaker 2:Where we discuss all things social and emotional in education. I'm Krista and I'm Craig and we are your hosts on this journey.
Speaker 1:Hello, sel, in EDU family, we are back again working on season three. It's probably February around this time that we're releasing this one and we have another amazing guest for you, a very special guest, and I'll let Craig introduce him, because we've really been looking forward to this opportunity to chat with our individual friend here. But, craig, how are you doing today? What's on your heart?
Speaker 2:Gosh. It is the excitement and enthusiasm that we're in 2024. 2023 was very jam packed with a lot of really great things that have happened. You know from getting married and actually seeing a lot of bucket list and dream things happen. Maybe we'll talk about it more in our deeper view when we talk a little bit more about some of our reflections on where we are, but really excited about it and the year has been incredible so far and I'm excited yes, I am excited about our guests today.
Speaker 1:And I love that you talked about what's coming up, because by the time this comes I'll be gearing up for some international trips. So I just got on and I did the little application for global entry. So I guess it makes it smoother when you're coming back into the US. So I'm looking forward to some travel coming up. So, and I'm excited, maybe we can talk to our guest as well, because I have a feeling you're going to be seeing and hearing quite a bit of him around the United States. Great, why don't you, without further ado?
Speaker 2:We have with us Mr Deshaun Washington Deshaun Washington, sorry fourth grade inclusion teacher at the Maria Hastings Elementary School in Lexington, massachusetts. He was named Massachusetts Teacher of the Year for 2024. He is actually the first black male to become Massachusetts Teacher of the Year and the fourth from Lexington, which is pretty amazing, and he's actually a four national teacher of the year. What I'm excited about are just some of the incredible accolades that have been shared about Mr and soon to be, dr Washington being an incredible champion for young people, someone who continues to build and cultivate the kind of environment where not only that his young people, his scholars, thrive, but his colleagues around him also do so. And as we talk today, I'm hoping that he'll talk a little bit more about, like the student leadership team that he has developed.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to also learn a little bit more about how you know how is he cultivating? You know some strong, you know citizens in his care and under his instruction. Some of his superintendents say that Mr Washington's commitment to building a joyful learning community is an asset to the school and the district. Also, shared superintendent Hackett says that he's an exceptional teacher who inspires his students to work hard and contribute to one another's success, but I think it's what he shares about his experience and how he sees this work, which is an incredible calling, mr Washington says. As a teacher, advocate, student and a cultivator of young change makers, it is my duty to continuously learn how to empower my students to not only master grade level standards but to be upstanding individuals with the capacity to ignite change in their communities. Without further ado, I'm excited to, and we're excited to, welcome Deshawn Washington. How is your heart?
Speaker 3:today, sir. Oh, my goodness, that's one of that's the greatest introduction I've ever had in my life. I'm beyond. I'm beyond words. Right now, I'm listening to everything that was shared, craig, and I'm like, oh, wow, like I really did say that, wow, I really have accomplished all of this that is being shared right now. You know, because when you're in the hustle and bustle, right like you know, sometimes you have tunnel vision. You're just focused on what's the next objective. It's not always that we get a chance to reflect back on our achievements or our successes, and I think that's the first lesson in this story that we're going to be talking about today is taking the opportunity to celebrate the good that we're doing in this work, and so I'm just grateful to hear all this great stuff and what is to come, because there's so much more coming out. So, craig, krista, thank you so much for just having me, and just I can't wait to share the story with you all today.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I mean, you know what has this week been for you. I'm not sure whether or not people have a good sense of for a teacher of the year. Are you still in the classroom? Do you have a sub who's in there? You know, how are you balancing out all of the opportunities that are coming with sharing your story and sharing the impact and sharing your gifting with the world, but also from at least from what I want to believe of you that it's also hard to leave the classroom because you're young people, like they're part of that fire that wakes you up and starts you on your day. So I'm just kind of curious what has the week been for you?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so week to week is still the focus is still in that classroom. So I think that's the biggest joy of it all is that I get to continue the story with the students that I'm working with here in fourth grade. I'll tell you real quick, I had these students back in third grade as well, so I'm looping with my students up to fourth grade. That means I'm following the same students from one grade to the next. So in third grade you know these students. They saw the whole process of me becoming teacher of the year, from the application to me asking students to write recommendations for me, teachers writing recommendations, having the big camera come into the classroom and people observing us as we're doing teaching and learning together. You know people coming in and visit our classroom interviews. So they got the chance to see the whole story, literally from the beginning in third grade all the way to the end in fourth grade, and be able to celebrate that with them in particular. I think it's a very special time because really I have 25 eyewitnesses of the account of what cultivating change makers is all about, what it means to build a community that is full of trust, building a relationship, working together to build accountability and responsibility with each other. It's a beautiful thing that in itself. So staying with the classroom and staying in the classroom, I think, is the biggest joy but also have a service as well.
Speaker 3:Being a Massachusetts teacher, the year requires me to go out into the world and really expose some of the great teachers, some of the great students that we have in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. So I'm going into different classrooms, I'm literally taking pictures and talking with teachers all over the Commonwealth and being able to sit down with them in the classroom and be able to observe and be able to celebrate what great learning is happening all around our schools, all around our public schools, and be able to see that firsthand really ignites my passion to continue this work. Because when you have the work of being a teacher, you become honed into your classroom. Maybe your grade level, you're familiar with that area, maybe your content of your teacher higher grade, but when you go from school to school you're seeing how different schools operate, different cultures operate and you, like you, start to take a little bit of nips that you got from each of these other places and like, wow, there's still even more growing for me to do as a leader, and that's the great thing about teaching is that as I go out and do this Massachusetts teacher the year thing and seeing different classrooms, is that I'm a learner too.
Speaker 3:I'm pouring water in my own seed. I'm still growing every single day, and that's, I think it's the biggest thing. I'm learning from these other teachers, modeling what it means to be a learner firsthand, and so that's the coolest part of it all. But to answer the question fully, still in the classroom and I have other duties as well podcasts, appearances, interviews, observing classrooms, dc, california, my doctorate program in Nashville, all types of stuff going on and we're still doing it all with the joy at the heart. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:And I see that you also support other educators doing M-Tel prep.
Speaker 2:You're doing the equity inclusion work.
Speaker 2:You're deeply involved in the church community and the faith community as well.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know how you do it, but I am grateful that I get to stand alongside you in this work and continue to find myself inspired as I'm learning more layers about your drive, your passion and just the different ways that you're really pouring yourself back into communities and inspiring folks who are really questioning whether or not this is the thing like do they want to continue the journey, and so I know that Chris is going to jump in a second. But I'm also curious, being the first black male, you know, I was actually one of the very few black male principles of the year, elementary principles of the year for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and it's, you know, a number of people came and talked to me about their you know, their curiosities, their, their wonderings with things, a lot of inspiration that you know that meant for them. And I'm just curious what the what has this meant for you in being, you know, a black male in the state of Massachusetts and just what has been some of the reactions about that?
Speaker 3:There's so many things to reflect on this question statement. I want to do my best to get through everything. I think first and foremost right when it comes to how I'm doing all these different things, I think it really starts with, as you mentioned briefly, the faith piece of being grounded in faith and being grounded in terms of my ability to engage in the word each day and just pray and meditate, take time away from the work right, and be able to replenish myself. It's almost like you go into the gas station and you have to fill up the car, you know, from empty back to full, because it's doing this on an empty tank and you're going to break down. And once you break down, I mean look when the body breaks down or you're going to break down. It doesn't matter if you're young, young, seasoned experience, it doesn't matter, you're going to break down. So I want to do I do my best each day to replenish myself, faithfully each day and prayfully each day, so that when I go on to the world, I'm able to do the service of giving back to the community.
Speaker 3:And speaking of giving back to the community right, being a black man in particular, one of my biggest passions and goals of this work is being able to amplify the voice of the black male teacher in particular. You know, that's that's really what I'm really excited about, because you know we have in Massachusetts less than 2% of all of our teachers is black men. Yet research has shows that black men it doesn't matter what grade we're talking about, what content you're talking about, when you have a black male in that classroom, all students don't know. It doesn't matter what gender, doesn't matter. We're race, all students, their performance increase, achievement occurs. So I want to make sure I go out into Boston and Worcester and Springfield teachers, that black teachers that I know, as I was in those areas in other areas as well to be able to share with the world the impact that black men are having in our schools, especially then in elementary school, where you don't really see a whole lot of men in particular in elementary schools, but then also to share that black men in the early education K to 2, 3 to 5, in those classrooms making a big time change.
Speaker 3:That's like one of the biggest joys of doing this work is being able to recognize that, hey, this black men that help go my teaching capacity up when I was young and learning how to do this teaching work. It was black men like Dwayne Nunez and Sean Descott and Sean Guthrie brothers who literally allowed me to go under their wing when I couldn't even stand them on two feet, helped me to become a strong teacher and now I'm able to share that love out to other black men and other teachers all around the Commonwealth. So it's a really great joy and to be able to empower teachers as well. Being able to support them with their mtels and help them in the study and become licensed teachers and have a high pathway over 90% and have testimonies for the last seven years of people who went through my course, passed the test and became astound teachers. I mean, that's just.
Speaker 3:This is the joy of being able to serve right Like all those fruits that are able to see out in the world now and know that you had a little hand on that along the way is a beautiful thing and it's a humbling experience too, because it's a resemblance of what God put us here. To do is just to go out and serve to love. That's the beautiful thing is to go out to express love into the world, you know.
Speaker 1:You actually hit on something that I was going to bring up. I'm remarried now, but I was a single mom of young boys. I loved when there were men in their elementary school years and so, both of you being elementary leaders in the classroom in the building, I loved knowing that my boys were exposed to positive male role models when they were younger, and so thank you both for doing that. I don't know how many people who might have been in a situation like I was. You know it's just you always want to have your kids surrounded by good role models, and I think that you know when you look at elementary too, there's not that many men who are there, and so thank you for being that role model for our boys.
Speaker 1:And when I was listening to one of the other podcasts around some of the culture the way that you set up your classroom I was just like my SEL heart was melting. I was a secondary teacher and so teaching high school. You know it's very different working with elementary, but so much needs to happen in elementary to prepare them for not only life but for those next levels, and you talked about it. There's just a couple of things that really resonated with me, one that you're exposing them to different cultures outside of their classroom. So we talked about you know we want a classroom to represent mirrors and windows and doors, and you talked about having a land acknowledgement, how the students got to be part of creating that Constitution, and I loved how they picked that.
Speaker 1:They wanted to be the alligator, and so I'd love to hear a little bit about it. Came down to being an alligator or a cobra, and so I'm curious. I'm not a snake person at all. I don't like animals that don't have legs. There's just yeah. So I'm really happy they went with alligator, but I'm curious about what that conversation was like and because of being in New Orleans and you have you wrestled an alligator before down there, no, I got you, chris.
Speaker 3:So the alligator name right. It actually came seven years ago when I first started teaching. So I was at Young Achievers K-T-A Pile School in Madapan in Boston and at that school right, they have like every teacher has like a classroom name is built around an animal. I don't like alligators and I didn't like cobras either. My favorite animals like turtles that was gone. Lions gone, tigers gone all these animals I really wanted gone. Everyone already had them. So like I had a kind of go, like I was so what's the next? I don't know what else is next Eagles was gone. So I'm like all right. I asked my students. So it was my first year teaching. I asked my students what should our classroom animal name be? And so like there was like a list of animals and then it became a debate between the alligators and cobras.
Speaker 3:The image of the cobra I thought was like really cool looking. It was like a really nice looking cobra with like the little with the tongue sticking out. I thought I was like really tight. And then there was the alligator as well. You know, it's just like a really like strong bite and you know there was a fault and then alligators won that fault and so it just stuck over the years. I think it just had like a nice little ring to the name. It builds like this team spirit where we're all on the same team. So no matter if I was in Boston or in Lexington, where I'm currently at now, the name stuck, you know, because it's like everyone's really buying into a team for that year that they're on together. And then you become part of a community where you do want to invest more into your classroom space when you feel that you are empowered by your voice, you being heard, you being seen, you being valued. Your voice becomes amplified when you're able to help construct the Constitution of what each student needs to be successful from their voice, from their point of view, and then to have the students also to write that Constitution and then post it up with every student signing off on it creates accountability Right. So, as you're creating a team for success, each member of the team has their duty, what they're going to do in order to maintain safe, supportive, respectful, responsible this joy factor that's in the middle. And then how we making sure that each student is being seen, valued and heard in a community space.
Speaker 3:So we do that by having what we call open circles, where we do like activity games, we do shout outs opportunities, which is having like conversations to like if anything comes up in the school. We have those type of conversations where we just wrestling with an idea and how it feel, how we feel about it Sometimes just good to give students an opportunity to talk about things that happen and that they may not otherwise have the space to do so. We also have what we call restorative circles. This is when we have like classroom conflicts or stuff might happen outside of recess or something like that, and you're creating a space where for those students you know the people who are involved they able to have a conversation with each other and we have like a little talking piece I'm using like a pen right now is like a talking piece that they will use them to go back and forth to share their truths, their perspectives of what happened, and it allows them to first understand the other person's perspective, then be understood of what their mindset was, and then this allows for everyone to kind of get that oh, I got it. I understand why you did what you did Still was wrong, I understand why, and then they can get to this place of what we want to do is forgiveness. We don't want students to hold grudges, but we want students to feel that they're empowered to forgive and to be able to forgive in a way that they will, to allow the season to be between for them to learn about what happens, so they don't repeat again. So I love the restorative circle piece.
Speaker 3:We also have another thing called the thinking chairs, like a chair in the classroom, and occasionally this will be like the opposite of like, maybe like a restorative circle, where a student might come up and say, hey, I pushed another kid at recess and I want to apologize to them. I don't know how to do that. Then we all actually come together and give that student strategies like hey, you know, you know, we think that you might want to include a mutual friend. Is there a mutual friend that can get you all together? Maybe you should consider writing the letters that may be going up to them today. Maybe it's not today's not the right day. Maybe write a letter, leaving in the locker or what have you, and then we'll say like alright, we'll give you like a day or so to try one of these strategies out. Let's meet back again tomorrow in the same chair. Let's talk about this.
Speaker 3:So it allows for students to also gain, plan and strategize, like, when I do make a mistake, how do I go about cleaning this up so I can apologize to them.
Speaker 3:So those are just some of the things that we do in the classroom. And, oh, and we also have an empathy circle as well, which is like in a classroom of 24, we have like pockets of four students and they do like certain activity games and structured activities. What have you? The idea of the empathy circle is for students to really build a deeper connection with three other students in the community space. So if anything happens during the year, like they actually have people that they build a close bond with throughout the year, that they can lean into, talk about things and, you know, help solve problems. So that's what we try to do in our community space, the alligator community space, and I think that's the essence. That then leads into academic learning, when students feel that they have the ability to make mistakes, be able to grow from the mistakes, and it's enables them to take ownership of those mistakes and then be able to become better citizens in our community environment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really admire those processes and you sharing those specifics, because sometimes people aren't sure where to start and I can tell you from those same things could still work in a high school, those same strategies. People are like, oh well, high school kids should know this by now. No, some adults don't know this right now. Some days I don't know this Upon what my day is like like. There are days when I mess up to and I'm like, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do about this.
Speaker 1:You know, I know I need to fix it, I know I need to take accountability, but I'm not sure the way to go about it and I'm like this thinking chair that's fantastic. Like bring some other people on board to help you. You don't have to hold that on your own. And I think about to that forgiveness piece and letting go of grudges, because that when you're holding on to stuff like that that consumes people, and you've mentioned many times about joy and exuding that, and if I can just ask you to clarify that a little bit, because you mentioned a couple pieces that really resonated with me about joy coming from the inside versus some of the other things that we talk about in schools, and so, if you don't mind, kind of sharing that with our audience as well, because I think it was really impactful.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. This is this concept of joy versus happiness, and I think when we think about both of them, both joy and happiness, this is a beautiful thing, you know, like if in the ideal world, which was always happy, which was always walking in that joy. The cool thing is that we can actually hold on to joy in every circumstance. I think of happiness as like circumstantial. Something happens outside of the environment, we feel a certain way from it. Sometimes that is this thing called happiness and that's great. We want to make sure that we're happy. And then other times we might have other emotions too. You know, like if we hear it is a death, we might not have such a happy response to that. It might be a different response tears or anger or something. Joy is from the heart, it's from the souls, from the spirit. Right, and the real cool, powerful thing I tell my students is joy is something that not a person can take away from you. It's a selection that you're able to maintain. Even in situations where you feel less than happy, right, you can still have this thing called joy, and you might be in a situation where it may not be the most happiest situation, because it's ingrained in the hearts, the foundation of how you operate each day, and I think that's like really a big thing for kids to really walk away with. It's like it's a choice that I can have and it's something that's internalized within me, right. And so I tell my students all the time like, hey, we're all going to go through stuff. I want to prepare you now for this world. You're going to go through some stuff and there's going to be days you ain't happy about it. I'm just letting you know this now, and when I tell them this, they're like, oh, this is what. But then they go through something and they say, oh, now I understand, because even though this situation made me feel a certain way, I still did feel joyful on the inside as well about how my life is going. I'm still grateful about some of the other aspects of my life. I still have this home that I get to go to.
Speaker 3:Like Mr Washington, thank you for reminding me about those other elements that I still have, and I think that's really important for all of us to really take away too, as we're thinking about our own health our own mental health, our physical health, our spiritual health is recognizing that there are some choices that we're blessed to make that joy that comes in the heart. That's a beautiful thing that we can hold on to and recognize too and prepare that. Hey, not every day is going to be easy, not every day is going to bring the most smile to our face in every particular moment. And if we recognize this early and recognize that there's this other thing called joy, that nobody could take away, no circumstance could take away, and believe that to be the case, we'll be able to make it through even the toughest of days. That is allies ahead of all of us in the classroom.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I think that was the philosophy behind the joy and the happiness piece. We all want to be happy at all times. We recognize that, but we know we live in a world that's not always going to be the case. Joy we can have internalized in the heart.
Speaker 2:Well, I got excited and ignited by it and I went and found Black Joy Stories of Resistance, resilience and Restoration by Tracy Michael I think Lewis Giggins and Tracy talks about Black Joy being a liberatory strategy. In that I was trying to remember, I wanted to make sure I thought about she shared, like in any initial chapters of her book. She talks about an observation of her daughter going out and saying hey, mommy, can we go out into the rain and can we go and just play in the rain? And she took a moment to say well, I'm a Black woman and I got a Black daughter who is going out into the rain. So you just think about the hair element alone.
Speaker 2:But what she said was that that was an act of radical joy but also an act of radical reimagining, that it can be daring, it can be defiant and what I I guess bring this awful circle for young people today who carry so much the. You know we're still navigating through the pandemics, because it's more than one. I, young people feel everything and people don't think. They don't always give our young people, especially our babes, credit that sometimes, even if the kids don't have language, they know something in the atmosphere is or is not right, and so they're trying to pull the tools they can in order to find themselves being OK.
Speaker 2:And when you talk about joy, especially in the context of losing someone, experiencing trauma, the food deserts and food insecurities, housing insecurities and transitions that some of our young people have to deal with and some of them are systems involved, so they have multiple entities that are involved in their caregiving and sometimes that thing of joy is hard to reconcile, like how do I find joy? But when they have a Mr Washington in the classroom, you just be. Your existence is radical and revolutionary and magical and memorable and immeasurable. As a secretary, tutwile, let's say, you know, characterize you in some of his remarks. I am curious how are you centering joy for yourself as a self-care measure?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely. You know, what's really powerful is that joy is a love thing too, and so that means that it's loving to myself, to make sure that I'm joyfully taking care of myself in order to serve you in this work. So one of the things I like to do beyond just the classroom space in terms of how do I take care of myself joyfully is I like to do things that's not related to the work. So I like to do intermural sports football, kickball, dodgeball activities. That allows me to run around and play freely, even if I don't know how to play the sport, I play it because it allows me to be in a new environment around people, and it just gives me the opportunity to have some laughs, play with strategy, to think about winning. But most importantly, I think it's just to be infused with again people who, just for an hour, just escaping their stresses of life, just to have a good time playing some football, playing some kickball, dodgeball. So that's one of the things I alluded to this before. From a spiritual standpoint, I like to begin in my day in prayer and I like to begin in my day in the Word as well, and the reason for that is it grounds me to understand what I am called to do as a teacher, as a leader, as a servant, because that's really what this work of teaching is is to serve. I'm serving children, people who are developing into their own becoming. So, as I'm serving our children, I need to know what the steps are. I don't want to lead students astray. I need to set them into the groundwork of what they're going to be doing in life.
Speaker 3:And so we talk about this all the time, about hey, kids need you all to start thinking about what your purpose is. What is your? What is the what's in your passion that you want to do for your life? Yes, you need to start thinking about this at 9.10, right? Because before you know it, you're 18, 19, 20, and you're still trying to figure things out. So I need you to start playing in the seat now. I want to play a little bit for you, because I'm only going to be around you for a little while, but I need you to start thinking about this along the way.
Speaker 3:What is the end goal? What are you called to do in serving the world around you and helping this world be a better place? And that's always fueling for me, just as a person to be able to think about how I can make sure to put every child in this situation where they're moving steps forward towards their purpose. But to do that I have to also make sure I'm grounded in what the calling is for me as a servant to continue to give back and continue to give others. So that humbles me, but I also put me in a perspective where I could do the work with a clear vision, right? Because sometimes what happens is I got this planner and it's filled with a whole bunch of color-coded stuff on here, right, and it's like you can easily get lost in a planner that has a whole bunch of stuff on here because it's just a lot of busy work. But really the planner is an opportunity to structure the steps of servants. So that way I know what my call is, what I need to do, how to do that for the people around.
Speaker 3:And, of course, besides that, who doesn't like to just sit down and just chill out for a couple of hours, sometimes doing nothing? Some of the best two hours you can have to, literally. The other day I was on my couch and I just looked up in the ceiling for an hour and I was like, wow, this is actually the coolest hour and at times I didn't feel like it moved. I felt like I was the only five hours, only an hour. I need more of that in my life, sometimes as well. It's OK to sometimes close the computer, turn off the phone, put away the readings and just sit down. Sometimes just sitting down and have the absence of work and being present with yourself, which is like an hour. I'm telling you, these small things at least are the big gains.
Speaker 1:We were just talking earlier today with our friend Ali Rodman, who was also talking about embracing a pause and time to reflect and hearing you talk, because I am also like I have a planner and like what needs to be done and where do I focus? And trying to be very intentional. And I know I have done the. I don't do resolutions because I won't stick to a goal. I know me. So I look at you, know what's my word that's going to help ground me moving forward. And so I'm curious with the and I'm going to use the word discipline because I admire that in you, because I aspire to be that, and I'm not there.
Speaker 1:I have a long way to go, but I'm listening to what you're saying about having a planner and just but using that as the steps towards the goal, not everything. And so I think my question is is we go into a new year? Do you take on resolutions? Do you think of a one word? Do you use something that grounds you? You know you've talked about your daily routines. Is there an overarching piece that kind of grounds you as we start a new year?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so, you know it's funny. So yesterday I was telling my students yesterday I said to them like I, I, I, I, I, I, I do. You know what day the gym makes them their most money? And all the kids said January 1st. I said why is that? And you know kids thought oh, you know, people say like, oh, I'm trying to lose 15 pounds this year. Oh, I'm trying to get more muscle this year, oh, I'm trying to look, you know better this year for the summer. What have you right?
Speaker 3:And I was like you know what day that the people stopped going to the gym. Like, oh, it's like January 7th, january 8th. Like why is that? Or because people have already pulled back on that initial like buzz of getting to the gym and doing their rest, that they've started to pull back on it. And so by the end of January it's like people are not even going to the gym. And they got your money and I told them that part. Like they got your money, they got the $30 a month and again, I accrued every single month. So the gym is good. They're like we made ours. And then like you're just paying $30 and you're not even going to the gym anymore, but you're still paying in. You don't even know that you're paying it.
Speaker 3:And so you know, when I think about resolutions, I think about and this is something I told my students too, I think about for them to start thinking about a success goal that you have in mind, that you can track with many steps along the way. Think of a ladder If the goal is on top, well, the top step of the ladder you have to walk up the ladder. As you walk up the ladder, that means you've gotten another goal that you have achieved and you're able to keep seeing those progress that's making happen. So, for example, how does students tell me like all right, my goal is to get like 0.15 seconds faster on my swim meet so I can be ranked in the like top five in the town and swimming for their age range, and so, like, all right, what does that actually entail? And so, like, all right, I have to have to change my eating. Like I have to stop eating the candy for right now. I need to eat more vegetables and more fruit. I need to practice more. So, beyond some only practicing once a week, I need to start doing that three times a week and like, instead of thinking I'm only 0.15 seconds faster. I need to think that I'ma race, that I have to prepare for and get faster on that race. I need to stretch my body out more and continue to practice in the swim and the swim meets.
Speaker 3:And I said like that, that's how you do. You know your success goal, so goal that you're trying to reach, that helps to get really to overarching mission. But it's just like a one little step to get there and then over those steps is just small little ladders, ladder steps or stairs that you're taking to get up to the next floor. That's what it all is. And so I think, when we think about resolution, sometimes we think about all right, I'm from the bottom floor, I got to get all the way to the top, and it's like actually we can think about from going from one step to the next, one step to the next, All right.
Speaker 3:Once the end told me I want to just be able to do my homework and be done Thursday instead of Friday, and so instead of doing all my homework Thursday night, I rather do my.
Speaker 3:I want to do a little bit of homework on Monday, tuesday, wednesday. Then she said I got me a plan, it's just like you did, and I'm going to write down the 30 minutes that have available on these days and that's when we're going to do my homework. I said that's, that's the win right there. So now we have a success goal where you're going to achieve this, because now you have a document that's going to keep you accountable and you can measure your success. You can measure how successful you are in that goal. So that's really what it's all about you can measure it and you can keep track of it and keep yourself accountable. That's the win right there. When we, when we make our mistakes for our resolutions, that is difficult for us to really see and measure where that success is. And so we we have that initial burst, that initial seal, but then it rains and becomes still bread after a while.
Speaker 2:You're going to make some folks a little upset because they're going to be like he was right, I'm doing the gym, no more. I literally was doing the research while you was talking. I was like, well, what other things are people quit? And so it says like, yes, but in January, 50% of people Americans, you know have ended their whole improved fitness. You know goal. Other things that come up like finance is mental health, losing weight, diet. You know other addiction. So it's really interesting to consider.
Speaker 1:I've heard too that what they used to say was it takes 28 days to make or break a habit. But it's actually is it two times that? Or like 45 days, like it's much longer than what we were told, at least when I was told growing up.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And then the other thing about these goals and these like resolutions, things like that, is when you think about, like how your measurements? Right, like, yeah, maybe you go to the gym for six weeks and maybe you do lose the 15 pounds, and it's like now, what Right? It's like all right, what's the next step? Cause if you keep doing the same thing, you're not going to get the results anymore. You actually have to change your regimen up in order to keep seeing the progress happen, cause your body also adapts to what you're doing. If you're just doing cardio all day, yeah, you might initially drop some pounds, and that's a big win, but then a plateaus. You have to constantly be changing up your strategies along the way so that way it doesn't become a steel break, but that the zeal continues, cause you're seeing the results happen month to month.
Speaker 3:That's the big, that's the big piece of these resolutions, these goals, is being able to track your progress, but also know when you have to almost like pivot in a way to continue the progress forward. Right, cause now you've maybe internalized a habit, but now the habit, now, at this point, is that it's not producing the results that it once did, and you're like why is that the case? Well, because now you built in such a habit that now you're not adjusting to what the body needs, or what the soul needs, or what the mind needs. Now that you made this other adjustment, so now that you have the gym as the routine, now you got to do something else to keep the body from falling off or having that plateau. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So do you have a goal that you have in mind for yourself? Because I'm thinking about all the things you're doing. You're working with your students, you're working on a doctorate, you're creating an educator pipeline for other black male educators to continue to come into the field and make a mark and help our students thrive. You've got a lot, a lot on your plate right Going out and elevating the status of other teachers and learning from them. What do you have in mind for yourself?
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of goals. I'll give you one. So for school this year at Vanderbilt University I'm in a doctorate program, study in educational leadership and policy K to 12, concentration right and so one of the goals this year is that in April, may, we're going to be taking our composition exam. This is basically an accumulation exam of the first two years of our doctorate program. So it's really compiling everything we learned, from stats to accountability, to leadership, you name it. It's putting it all into this big paper and this big research sort of activity.
Speaker 3:What I did was that I said, all right, I got this exam. It's gonna come between late April and early May. I'm gonna backwards plan this Because, like I just said, we want to be able to measure success. So I said what the end goal was and I had a backwards plan. I had to flip it. So I plan each week, me and my colleagues, we're going to have study sessions on Sundays and on these study sessions we're gonna cover a class and we're gonna cover the main three topics that came from the class and we're gonna compile this into a document and the document is gonna be our study notes of literally everything that we've studied in that class for that particular week. We're gonna compile into like a nice big document, right. And then I was like you know what? We're gonna need some accountability. So I got.
Speaker 3:I asked one of my professors from one of the class like, hey, can you come to one of the study sessions and help us lead a 60 to 90 minute session? He said absolutely I can't. So now we have a professor coming in for one of them. He's gonna help lead one of those sections on like approving the signs. Then we have another professor who's gonna come in for statistics and help us lead through some of the statistics problems and correlations and regressions and things like that, and that helps to again build the structure for reaching that end goal.
Speaker 3:But each week we have just a small little goal. That would mean is that whatever's the topic for that class and whatever's the main subjects, we're gonna compile that into notes and we have that all set up ready to go. So now the anxiety for this test goes way down, because now you have the plan and you have the measurement goals of what you need to hit the plan and you inserted accountability. You got other people professors, coming in, that kind of just keep things so much structured, but also the ability to have community as well while you're studying. So that's just one of the many goals, but I thought this would be a really good one because it requires some planning, some accountability, some people coming in to make sure that you're following through and, of course, are you able to track success each week.
Speaker 1:Lili, thank you for that, Of course.
Speaker 2:Well, we see that time is of the essence and we wanna make sure you can enjoy the remainder of your evening, as we use podcasts. So a couple of things to close out. One is how, if people want to connect with you in any way, what would be the best ways for people to connect with you or stay, I guess, plugged into some of the great work that you're doing?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So. Two main ways, two main platforms. I'm not really a big social media person, to be honest with you. I just don't really have the whole lot of time, but one social media platform do use is LinkedIn. So you can just search me, deshaun Washington, and be able to find me on LinkedIn, and I'm pretty active on there.
Speaker 3:I probably post maybe a couple of times a week, posting anything from what's going on in the classroom to highlighting the teacher, to just highlighting some of the good stuff that's going on all around the country, really as some literally all around the country these days Able to highlight some of those awesome stories for everyone. I also post on my YouTube channel as well. We're gonna change the name of it, but right now it's just my name, deshaun Washington, if you search for that YouTube channel as well. I'm gonna change it to Cultivate and Changemakers at some point, and in that YouTube channel is gonna be some teacher talks that I've done in the past. It's gonna be some highlights of interviews, it's gonna be some podcast appearances, other things like that. It just really talks about teaching and it talks about the concept of learning, some of the things we talked about here today and other events that is going on in the world of being teacher of the year.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying. So those are the two main ways. I think the YouTube is really good and starting to get a little popular because there's videos and there's interviews, and, of course, linkedin gives you more of the immediate interactions with me as well. So those are the two main ways that people get in touch and will be able to make connections there, and I'm more than happy to support anyone that is looking to have anyone to come in to talk about teaching and talk about what it means to be an effective educator be able to model for you social, emotional learning through restorative practices. What have you? So those are the best ways to reach me, you know.
Speaker 2:Nice, and it sounds like you also answered my second question, which was what do you believe is your SEL superpower?
Speaker 3:Yes, I think my superpower here is, I think, it's really to help students be able to navigate conflicts. That, I think, is the biggest thing. It really starts with the seed plants and the fact that you're going to have a conflict. Sorry to bring it to you, so let's just call this right now. You're going to have a conflict, but I want you to also understand that there is actually steps and methods of how to solve it. I'll tell you this quick story.
Speaker 3:There was a student who something happened that I recessed for a lunch and I asked that student like you know how's everything going? So he's like I'm good, mr Walsh, I'm doing real good, you know having a good time, you know. Then he goes home, he's crying to his mom like you know, this happened to happen as I get this email, bam, like all these things that happen. So I had to ask the student next day. I said, yeah, come here for a second. I was like hey, you know, actually yesterday after lunch, you know how you doing you said you was doing good, but then I get this email, all these other things, and he's like oh, you know, I didn't know how to approach you to. I was like let me pause you right here. Right, this learning thing as awesome as math and reading and writing all that stuff is, and this is so important, no doubt about it that comes second to you. So I can always pause, hit the pause button to help you resolve a conflict Because actually, believe it or not, this is a conflict that we're just a little bit of navigating. We'll be able to solve this actually pretty well and I'll be right there with you. We'll be able to have like a little circle. I'll be there with you and I can even coach you on what you need to say, how to say it. So now you have the being empowered to be able to approach those people about what happened and how you felt about that.
Speaker 3:And as soon as I was able to do that, he's like wow, at the end he's like it was just a big release off my chest, thank you. But I said thank you to him for allowing me to help teach this aspect of being able to be a conflict resolvers, resolving conflicts and being able to just have healing. He was carrying a burden for like a day or so and he's like hey, you don't need to carry that burden. There's things in school and life that's more important than learning how to do multiplication. We can always come back to this, but let me show you how to navigate the skill that you need for the next 60, 70, 80 years of your life. That's more important. Then we'll be able to be able to have access back to the multiplication work when we're at the healing place. You know what I'm saying. So that thing is just.
Speaker 3:One of the more important elements of the teaching and learning is recognizing that there is times where, even in the midst of important teaching and learning, of the instruction and the curriculum, there's also a time where we have to teach kids how to navigate life and being able to navigate the inevitable conflicts that we will ultimately run into At a young age. You're gonna be very well equipped with doing this when you get older and you're becoming your own CEO of your business. Tell our students all the time you are the CEO of your learning and it starts with you being able to be CEO of being able to be a advocate for yourself. The learning is gonna come. Our problems should learn is gonna come, but being able to do these other life skills, that's a lifetime.
Speaker 1:Like a mic drop moment right there.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:All right, all right, all right. Sel and EDU family. We have to let the doctor Washington go because he gotta rejuvenate for the next day, got some young people who will be looking for him and we don't want him to not be there because he's just still kicking it with us which is great, but got pulled back into the young people. So we are incredibly honored that we've had this opportunity to chat with you and connect with you. We are sending well wishes on your full journey and I am excited to just be in space. I know we are both Chris and I are both and we wanna wish you continued success and thriving. We are two partners in the works and in any ways we can be a resource to you. We also wanna do that as well.
Speaker 2:All right, sel and EDU family. Thank you so much for listening in and plugging in. Please make sure you check out Mr Washington and all of the wonderful work that he is doing and until we meet again on these podcast streets, hold yourself quite dear and quite tight and continue to stand strong in the SEL life. We love you y'all. Take care, take care. Decoration.