SEL in EDU
SELinEDU Podcast is stories and insights from outstanding teachers, administrators, leaders, and students on all things Social Emotional Learning in education. These 30-40-minute podcasts are perfect for a commute, a nice cup of joe, or a self-care walk.
SEL in EDU
063: Creating Healing-Centered Educational Environments with Shannon Hawkins
How do we create learning environments that genuinely heal and nurture every child? In this episode of SELinEDU, we welcome Shannon Hawkins, founder and CEO of Leading A(head) Collaborative, to share her profound insights on transforming education through social and emotional learning (SEL). We start with reflections on the soothing power of water and the surprising weather, setting a serene mood for our discussion. Shannon's journey, inspired by her grandmother's story of resilience in Jamaica, reveals the profound importance of building healing-centered communities to support historically marginalized groups and combat toxic stress.
We explore the vital partnership between schools and families in enriching children's education. Shannon highlights the crucial need for schools to provide platforms where families can share their valuable experiences and cultural strengths. With the concept of "Freedom Dreams," we envision how visionary thinking can revolutionize the educational landscape, especially in these challenging times marked by economic pressures and the impacts of multiple pandemics. This conversation underscores the importance of acknowledging and utilizing the cultural and linguistic assets that families contribute to the educational ecosystem and the necessity of collaboration.
Finally, we delve into the critical role of emotionally responsive adults in children's healing process. Shannon references impactful work, including "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog" and insights from Dr. Barbara Sorrels, to illustrate how educators and caregivers can create nurturing environments. We discuss Leading A(head) Collaborative's successful after-school programs that educate parents and teachers on toxic stress, trauma, and SEL, emphasizing the transformative power of compassion and empathy in schools. Reflecting on the importance of collective well-being and collaboration, we celebrate the communal spirit toward creating supportive and transformative educational spaces for every student.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Shannon via her website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook,
- The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves by Shawn Ginwright, Ph.D
- Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Ph.D., MSW
- Freedom Dreams by Robin D.G. Kelley
- The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Dr. Bruce Perry
Welcome to SEL in EDU where we discuss all things social and emotional in education. I'm Krista, I'm Craig and we are your hosts on this journey.
Speaker 1:Welcome, welcome, sel. In EDU family. Craig and I are back again with another amazing episode for you. Craig, how are you today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well. I got on my good heart sweater so people can't see it, but I'm pulling at my own heartstrings today because, one, the weather is insane. We have a swimming pool we didn't pay for. That's sitting out in the backyard, that I'm looking at from my window and it's got this. You know, at this point in the recording we are April and we should be experiencing some warmth and some sun and butterflies, but everybody laid out because they like look all this slush and snow and foolishness is taking me out. So you know we're going to keep on doing what we do, but I'm pulling on my own heartstrings and allowing that song to sing today. I know how about you, chris? How are you holding up?
Speaker 1:I'm good. I'm good. I'm just coming off of a great day of work. I actually do some curriculum design on the side, so I got to work with an all-female secondary math team yesterday and that just I feel is really empowering, and as I was leaving they were expecting two to four inches of snow. So I hear you on the weather part and our guests. We were just talking before we decided to hit record about the calming effects of water and you mentioned your pool. So I have to say I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather, to being around water and kind of having that relaxation.
Speaker 2:It is Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, our wonderful guest today is a reservoir of love, healing genius and more. I'm excited to welcome Shannon Hawkins, who is the founder and CEO of Leading A Head Collaborative Ha Work on that A Head Hot dog. Through her work, she guides collective, healing-centered learning communities that retool educators and community caregivers with capacity-building skills that strengthen interpersonal healing and organizational wellness, so that we can disrupt that toxic stress that's going on out in this world. Good gracious, rooted in her values, shannon has dedicated her career to countering the narratives of historically marginalized communities so that our children across this nation and globe can grow uphold, fulfill their purpose and create generational change. Shannon has received numerous awards and fellowships for her innovative, social oh well, innovative work, which happens to be social, happens to be environmental, happens to be healing and more. She holds a master's from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Human Development and Psychology, specializing in child advocacy.
Speaker 3:Shannon Hawkins, welcome to our podcast how is your heart today? What an introduction, oh thank feels purposeful. I am just excited about where the work is going. I feel really just like I'm in a season of really seeing this be manifested and to flourish in a way that I only imagined in 2014, 2015. So this work takes me back many, many years and my heart today is excited to be in a community with you all and another step on the journey to share the work, to be in community and collaboration with people who also believe in this work and know the power of healing for our young people and for ourselves.
Speaker 2:I'm spending my time on your page and you, you look like my heart feels warm. I was on your Instagram and you have a post from last year. So, for those who are like Craig, what are you talking about? You got to go to leadingaheadco on Instagram and this is about July and I'm looking at your grandmother. She is stoic and amazingly beautiful and there's a level of warmth that is coming from her that, I mean, just overwhelms me with feelings.
Speaker 2:But you talk about freedom, dreams, and what I love about your post is you name that your grandmother dropped out of third grade, but she actually carried a great desire, you know, coming from Jamaica and wanting to build community, nurture community and nourish community. In my opinion, Like I'm all in her life right now, as if I'm right there, but it's your grandma and you talk about impact, and so I would love to help have you lean in a little bit more to talk about Leading Ahead and its origin story as well. As you know how is your grandmother, who's one of those chief teachers in your lives, hoping you to actualize. You know your journey.
Speaker 3:Beautiful question. I'm so glad you started there. My grandmother is my favorite person and there's a few people like my husband and my mom who would be very upset, but they know that's the truth. But my grandma is my favorite person because her origin story and the generational impact that her story has had on my life has been so transformational for me personally.
Speaker 3:She came well, she grew up in Jamaica and she grew up at that time with her family who lived in poverty. And so, because she lived in poverty back in that time in Jamaica, going to school that was a sacrifice, and so she had to, unfortunately, sacrifice going to school and learning because she had to help take care of the family. She had to provide, monetarily provide, and at such a young age really thinking back to these decisions that she had to make, but recognize that I don't want to do this. I want to learn, I want to grow, I want to be able to experience education and grow my brain and do all these things. But she recognized that she didn't have access. She didn't have access to have the level of wealth that she needed to go to school and learn and also help her family by providing. And so that origin story, the picture that you're also sharing about with my grandmother. That was a picture that I celebrated my grandmother and my mother with on Mother's Day, and in that picture we have on a scarf. We have on scarves that remind me of lineages right, like a liberated lineage. That's what the L for leading ahead means, but a liberated lineage, and what does that mean for our lineages to be liberated?
Speaker 3:And so for me, having a family who grew up in poverty, I'm a first generation American and, knowing that in this third generation I'm now a Harvard grad, two master's degrees, I don't attribute any of that to my personal walk or journey. I literally attribute it to my grandmother, to my mother, who then immigrated to the United States, going to Brooklyn, new York, then she being the first person in my family to get her degree, and then her opening up the doors for me to do so. And so, even with the experience with my mom, my mom fought educationally for herself. She accessed so many things and was able to really access the biggest school district, new York City School District, to figure out how to put me through school, what to do for me.
Speaker 3:She went to the library every single Friday and got however many books maximum and brought them home for me to read, and I devoured each and every book because of my grandma, who started that advocacy, who started as a immigrant, came to the United States, got her degree, grew her social capital with my teachers and the people who she met, who then my mom, then advocated for me and pushed down doors for me to go into schools and to take tests and advocated that my child is gifted. Whether she actually knew or believed it at the time, she knew something is special about my child and I need everybody to know, and she did those things for me. And so my hope is that what I've gained from my lineage, from my family, then I'm able to then pour it into the communities, into the students and families that I serve. And so that's our origin story and I'm so grateful for my mom, my grandmother and all of the things that they did to really help me to become and continue to grow who I am today.
Speaker 1:I love hearing stories of empowered women who are continuing to push against some of the systemic barriers that exist. And it's hard because if people haven't actually experienced that, they don't know that they exist, and so sometimes they're blind spots for people. And in the work that I do, sometimes people will not understand or not see and say, oh well, you know, education is not valued or and it's not that philosophy it's that there's a lack of access, or you mentioned social capital, and I think it's really important that you just demonstrated two really concrete ways that your mom and your grandmother were able to bridge that, build a bridge to that access through the public library, through conversations, ongoing conversations with schools. What else would you recommend for families who seem very disconnected or feel disconnected from the school system? What are some ways that they can start to enter into building that access when they maybe aren't feeling that they have that social capital or maybe their own educational experiences were not positive for them?
Speaker 3:Thank you for sharing that. I want to answer this in two parts. The first part I want to specifically answer your question about what should families do and what does that look like for them? I think that the main thing is the way that they understand their place in schools and their ability to really shift and change systems and environments for their children. Parents have so much cultural knowledge, funds of knowledge, there's so much research, evidence-based research, as to the ways in which, when families support their children educationally, that those children that they soar literally leaps and bounds, both educationally and in their social emotional development, and the research supports that.
Speaker 3:But oftentimes families are unaware and they may be unaware not because they themselves choose not to be aware, but many times our schools don't always position our families to take seats at the table to lead and to collaborate, to share. Hey, these are things that I think is important for the school to do to best serve my child. Or these are ways that I've noticed my child at home being successful. Are these ways that you all can incorporate this into the classroom? And so, because families don't always get the access from schools to be able to do that, the first thing that I would say for families is recognize that you do have so much more power power, so much more understanding and so much more the ability to really help your young person really truly transform and to become. I think that schools have to do a better job of not only supporting families but creating the spaces and the conditions for families to be able to come and share those experiences, share their knowledge, share their understanding of their child and share their innovations and creativity. Too often I don't think our schools do that. So the second part of my answer to that is schools have to be able to cultivate those conditions, because even a parent who wants to be able to advocate, they may not know how to do it. Come to the school, they may see themselves as advocating, they may see themselves as wanting to support their child and maybe the way in which they are doing that advocacy that may not line up with the way in which the school operates.
Speaker 3:As being a former school leader, a former teacher, I know that I have been in positions previously where I have felt like, oh my goodness, I really want to be able to help and serve this family, but the way in which they are communicating with me, it immediately put me on defense mode. It immediately put me on. I want to prove myself, I want to show that I care about your child as well. And so how do both families and schools come together and collaborate in a way where vulnerability is at the center, healing is at the center, courage is at the center and we're censoring the child.
Speaker 3:Too often, ego is at the center. Too often the want to defend is at the center and not actually the root problem or the issue at hand. And so families I would encourage families to definitely know that you have power, to definitely know that you have power, definitely know that you are purposeful and your ability to even want to maneuver through the education system because it can be crazy your ability to even want to do that, that shows already that you already have the tools. You want to be able to do this, and so I will say there are resources and ways that you can access, help and support. I know that that is what my organization does, so I would love to be able to connect with you. But as it relates to schools, there's a number of things schools need to get right and to support families who want to be able to advocate.
Speaker 1:I want to add in that as soon as I asked the question I immediately wrote down and what can schools do? And so I'm really thankful that you acknowledge from both sides that schools just can't keep doing what we've been doing, because in some of my experiences there has not been an acknowledgement of those funds of knowledge and the strengths the social, cultural, linguistic strengths that our community members bring, and how can we work together? So I'm going to kick it back over to Craig, but I wanted to say thank you for taking that into two parts thank you for taking that into two parts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate you as well for creating a level of illumination, not only about your personal story and how that's the driver for your personal work, but knowing that there is a level of alignment to not only the work that we try to do every day you know, kristen and I, through this podcast and the work that we do in our own individual walk but also in our, our work on the ground with folks, you know, with the youth and our our, our educators and caregivers, and you know partners who were in the school or, you know, ignited by the work in the school. I think about freedom dreams. I'm going to come back to this because I think that it opens up a really great conversation to talk about the power of healing and how do you situate that in schools, how do we activate schools and leaders and caregivers and more to integrate healing work as well as social, emotional learning work, even though that's the essence of what healing work is. But somebody may need that to be contextualized and something that I thought about and I had to go back and make sure that I was quoting this person correctly.
Speaker 2:There's an author, robin Kelly, who's an author of Freedom Dreams, the Black, radical Imagination. He basically says and this is a quick surmise of this quote from the book he says without visions or new visions, we don't know how to build and we don't know what to knock down, especially in this, in this environment. So that could have us be confused and rudderless and feel cynical and sometimes we don't know why it is that some people are coming off a little bit more with edge. You know what I'm saying, and so what he says is we have to not we have to remember that making a revolution, even small, requires that there is some strategy as well as a process that can drive our own transformation. Had to do for myself as an educator of 20 plus years, as someone who led, you know, schools and communities, as someone who had to lead an entire community across and through the perils of triple pandemics that we've been in, and now we find ourselves in a new environment where we're at war. Where we're at war, we have educators who are leaving our profession because of many different factors, and we also have families who also are feeling the stretch intention of higher housing, higher utility bills, food costs are up and, as of today, in April, the annual income for someone just to survive. This is not thriving. Just to survive is over six figures.
Speaker 2:And so when you think about you know, we re-situate ourselves back to the conversation around social emotional learning. We think about what healing, you know. We talk about healing um leadership and healing centered a spaces. How do you work with uh people on the ground, because I know you work with a wide spectrum of of of individuals and organizations how do you situate that uh when, or surface that as a conversation with people when they feel so torn individually for their own journeys, but then they may be in position where they have to do that work on behalf of a classroom, a school, a community center, an organization, corporate and more. So I'm just curious about your work there.
Speaker 3:Craig, that's such a powerful question. I love these questions. Oh my goodness, I love these questions so much. There's a book called the Boy who Was Raised as a Dog. I'll be honest, I haven't read the book, but I have the book in my library. But Dr Barbara Sorrells, she actually quoted something from the book here recently and I'm getting ready to answer your question, but I want to wrap this around. She quoted something from the book recently and it says it's the ongoing daily interactions with loving, emotionally responsive and caring adults, be they a teacher, a caregiver, an aunt or a grandfather, that bring about healing.
Speaker 3:Okay, and I was just recently reading this book and from her quote, she mentioned this book a boy who was raised as a dog and she spoke about the fact that so often, many of us, we believe that healing has to take place in therapy. Yes, therapy is very important. I believe in therapy, I go to therapy. I think it is very important, especially for the work that we do as educators and as people who are working on social emotional learning, healing-centered education, working on social emotional learning, healing-centered education. I think that's very important. However, many of our communities and many of us sometimes, therapy is important. We can't always go, we can't always book an appointment, but you know what we do have? We have communities, our teachers, our families. They are the main people who a child sees on their day to day. So, whether a school psychologist is in the school, whether a school counselor is in the school to support kids, if we consider the fact that there is a daily interaction with our young people that parents and educators have literally every single day, then when we even, you know, go deeper, we think about how long our educators are with children day to day. And so if we provide spaces for our caregivers and our educators to learn and understand about toxic stress, adverse childhood experiences, ways that they can cultivate restorative practices at home and in that school, what does that mean for our young people, when not only do our families and our communities, who I'm going to think about it in a strengths-based way our best selves, we are our best thing right?
Speaker 3:Many of us, going back to the origin story that you mentioned, craig, many of us that you mentioned, craig, many of us we have grandmas and grandpas and play aunties and uncles and cousins and people who they feel like healing to us. We may or may not necessarily feel healed and restored in our bodies. But we know, when we get around grandma, what I feel so confident, I feel so good about my person, my personhood and who I am and who I can become. And I felt like that from a child. And so imagine if we take our funds of knowledge, our generational wisdom of what it means to cultivate healing, right, what if my grandma was leading a class? Okay, right. So I'm thinking about the fact that our communities are ready. We have a way to commune and to be amongst one another. And so when I think about the concept of freedom dreaming, I'm coming back to that.
Speaker 3:When I think about the concept of freedom dreaming, I think to myself well, when I think about the concept of freedom dreaming, I think to myself well, why are our schools not doing this? Why is there such a gap, disconnection, between our families and our educators? If we are creating schools that are children's second home, right, should that not feel like home? If we think about our home and if, again, moving into a strengths-based view of it, we are our best thing, if I think about a home, I think about a home that is restorative. When I think about a home, I think about a home.
Speaker 3:You know the song.
Speaker 3:You know the song.
Speaker 3:What was that? Stephanie Mills? I think that what you know feels and I actually could sing, but I'm not about to sing here feels love overflowing. Okay Right, love is overflowing. Okay Right, I'm not tuned up, but you get the point that love should be overflowing. But, my God, when we think about our schools, so many of our educators to your point, craig so many of our educators are leaving in droves because school doesn't feel like love is overflowing. Why, why not, why not, why not? It doesn't feel like that for our kids, it doesn't feel like that for educators, for school leaders, it doesn't feel like that for our parents.
Speaker 3:So when I think about freedom, dreaming, I think about how do we facilitate the change so that our communities, thinking about it in a strengths-based way we know that the generational wisdom of our grandmothers, of our play aunties, of our people, who we love and we adore, that they have that funds of wealth, that knowledge, to bring that into the school and infuse that.
Speaker 3:And then, also, if we then couple that with providing a restorative healing center relationship between our caregivers and our teachers, then now that relationship, as opposed to being divisive, is one that's restorative.
Speaker 3:They see one another as partners, they see one another in their humanity and then they use their knowledge together to better support young people. And so now we have schools that serve as our reservoirs. We have schools that are able to really hold, really cover and support young people in a way where they can be whole, fulfill their purpose and create generational change. And that's our mission, particularly our schools and marginalized communities. What we see is that we are not doing that and instead, what we're doing we're pushing away teachers and we're pushing away families who have, maybe they're curious about what's going on here. What do we need to fix? And to our schools, that feels like a pushback, don't push back on our system. And so when I talk about freedom, dreaming, I am talking about what do we need to do so that, yes, we can push back on what is not working and we can create schools that feel like healing and classrooms that support young people, not just here and now, but in their global identity and who they will become in the future?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always label our schools, our communities and just the folks who make the village, the village, culturally and linguistically prosperous. And I believe that every young person brings their own personal origin story to the table, that they have gems that they carry into their experience and they want to see that their experiences are of value. They may not have all of the tangible resources, but there's a richness in their name and the traditions that they hold in their own households and things that they value that are important to them. And one of the things that I'm positing as a curiosity, not necessarily because it's a solution, but it's. I think that there's a tension that the folks who were never in classrooms are making decisions about what schools are supposed to be, and that's tough when you have folks who are legislating what is at the heart of today's classrooms and you have teachers who are looking to leaders within their buildings in their districts to be the buffer between what they do in their classrooms. To create the hearth right, to create the heartbeat of this is what we do in our space. This is our family, where we're welcoming all of what you bring and choose to bring to the table. We're going to honor it to the best way that we can, and we are going to navigate the complexities of that human heart-to-heart connection, even when there's tension. Right, because if I recognize that you're human, you bring value in your own way. This is your beliefs, this is your traditions, this is your actual freedom, this is what may feel liberatory to you.
Speaker 2:But where I think that I am hearing teachers and educators and leaders, where we're stuck is that sometimes people don't look at them as human, that there has to be this sense of like they own and have it all together, and we don't actually make space for teachers to have that level of humanity. Same thing for leaders who are like, look, I'm trying to figure this out and navigate in between. And so then there is that point. And so you see this ongoing tension in the school, you see family to school that has this dynamic.
Speaker 2:And if we posit many of what you shared, many of the little nuggets of wisdom about recognizing people as human, working from a heart perspective, creating levels of nourishment where you can have community built through conversations and more, and I also think about the questions of how do I embed healing into the day-to-day work, and people think it's so much harder. But if you have morning meetings where you just say, how are you doing that's healing work, right, if you are? Actually, you make sure that there's space and time, that, hey, we can have lunch together or we can go outside. There's small ways that this happens tangibly, that it doesn't feel like it has to be this curriculum. It's things we embed into your day-to-day experience. So some of what you're sharing resonates so much and I have an overflow.
Speaker 1:But I also don't want to overflow my conversation and I know Krista is like ready Because, yeah, I'm here, let me gather my thoughts a minute because I have, like Craig, all of these ideas and I think I have two specific kind of questions for you. I know sometimes I stack my questions and, like Craig, how do we make this a reality? Because there is tremendous value in intergenerational connection and when we're talking about social, emotional learning. What has been consistently reinforced to me, especially this last year, is the more I learn about other people, the more I know about who I am Like. I don't have to know who I am to be able to show up for other people, but sometimes being around other people helps me define how I want to show up and how I don't want to show up and how I can grow and lean in.
Speaker 1:And so how can we make this a reality in schools, where we are tapping into our elders and I also acknowledge that in some parts of our country there's a mismatch and our elders are not necessarily valued the way that they deserve to be and then thinking about the logistics of coming into a school, and so my first part of the question is I know, with these documents, that people need to have to come into the school to interact. What recommendations or what have you seen work that really allows for our loves of the community, those adults who I love, you said are emotionally responsive, who carry that energy and that wisdom and that love to build those connections? What recommendations do you have or have you seen happen to allow for that connection to become a reality, absolutely?
Speaker 3:I am working to build this so it can be a reality, this so it can be a reality, and one of the things that we have done well with my organization, leading Ahead Collaborative, we've we actually just we just finished up some programs that we did in two schools, two local elementary schools in our district, and what that looked like was it was after school and we had parents and educators who came to our workshops, our community workshop sessions, and they were a part of a cohort, and so we created this cohort of both parents and educators and tangibly, we sat in our workshop experiences together and us as facilitators, we gave and provided what we call equipping tools and we helped to equip our families and our educators with understanding on toxic stress trauma. We spoke about power over power with what does that look like? With our students? We spoke about their ability to. We talked about internal family systems. We spoke about a whole bunch of things, but we provided evidence-based research. We gave them information about what we know about SEL, what works, and then in those spaces, they made it their own and so we had a curriculum that we created. So we have a created curriculum and with that curriculum we also it's, there's space for our families and our educators to commune and really talk about.
Speaker 3:You know what I've seen this in myself, part of the work that we also do is really for our parents and our educators, because we spoke about this, this, this, this gap in them seeing themselves as humans, right, the humanity of one another, and so part of that time together we spent time talking about. Well, you know, these are some of the things that I'm seeing in my classroom and, if I'm honest, I recognize these things in myself, right? Some of the teachers said that. Some of the families said, wow, to hear you all share this. As a teacher, I never believed or never understood that these were the experiences that were being had. So these kinds of conversations really helped both parents and educators to develop a deeper understanding of one another. I would say that they also built vulnerability and courage and sharing, which is another goal of the work that we do. And then the final step after they really begin to think about their own trauma narratives or ways in which they've experienced inequities and how that has shifted their view of schooling and what does that mean as it relates to educating, and what does that mean as it relates to me being a parent or being an educator. They use that first phase to then build their understanding of. Well, this is because of these experiences, or because I have believed education to be this way, or I've experienced it this way. Maybe this is now how I'm responding.
Speaker 3:And so by the next phase of our program, we really spent time really digging through. Well, what do I want to do differently now? What are some approaches that I can do differently? What does that look like at home and at school for me personally to go through my self-work and then also to be doing that in community and doing that with the child and the children in their care? Ultimately, we want to be able to see the next part of our work. We want to be able to see systems change, and so you mentioned in schools, and so that was an after-school cohort that we did with two schools. But our next stage of the work is actually going into the schools and using times in the day when teachers will already be communing, for families to be able to be part of those meetings, and what does that look like for them to do that work there?
Speaker 3:We also this is a longer term plan but we are also preparing for our parents to take leadership roles in schools and so for them to serve as cultural carriers of the work of the community so we can really develop kids, not just, as we were saying earlier, not just for the here and now, but their community and global identity.
Speaker 3:Again, our community members, our community caregivers, they have such funds of knowledge about generational impact things that are taking place in the community and how do we utilize their voices in the decision-making of systems change in schools so that our schools can be more healing centered and so that we can cultivate the conditions in our schools where we can really decrease some of the toxic stress, some of the issues that we know are taking place in education, and this allows our parents, our caregivers and our educators to come together in school settings to build, to be curious, to utilize the skills that they've learned.
Speaker 3:What does it mean to be healing centered? How do we eliminate toxic stress? And then they are then together cultivating shifts and changes in school systems that can help to transform them. So we have some practical steps that we're doing at Leading Ahead Collaborative and we've already been in three schools and have seen this be effective. And now, as we move into the next part of our work. We are sure that we'll be able to continue to make progress and see what that looks like, positioning our families and our community to really serve as leaders in school systems.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I'm so excited hearing what you're talking about because you're putting it in, you're making it a reality. It's not just theoretical like, oh, this is what we should be doing, but it's actually happening. And one of my core beliefs around infusing SEL into everything we say, we think and we do is that, as educators, we're not showing up with a definition of what this particular skill looks like, sounds like or feels like in practice, because we need to think about our students, our caregivers, our families, our communities and in my mind, we're co-creating what this means for all of us together. And having that piece right there where the educators are sitting with the families and caregivers saying this is where I'm coming from, these are my strengths, these are what I know to be true with our students, and how can we and I think of it as like a 360 protection for our kids really come together and make sure that kids are truly at the center of what we're doing? And my second follow-up question is a shorter one, but you hit on this as an educator, do you have a recommendation or a tip or a trick that can help us continually reflect on how we're showing up?
Speaker 1:One of Craig and my our good friend. His name is Dr Phil Eccles and he used to work in a school district in North Carolina and during COVID he put a post out around how, before he comes into a room, he thinks about who he needs to be and how he needs to show up to best serve. And I don't mean that in a way that he's being inauthentic. He is very in line with who he is, but he's putting the people in that room at the center of his time and his attention. And how can we you mentioned like check ourselves, or maybe those were my words that I wrote down how do we check ourselves as educators to ensure that we are continually being emotionally responsive and keeping kids at the center?
Speaker 3:So good. That's such a great question, krista. I want to initially say the first thing that comes to mind is I, ego, ego. I think that unfortunately, in the education profession, we are in a profession where everyone has thoughts, opinions and ideas. They didn't go to school for it. Many people haven't stepped in the classroom. They also don't recognize the pressure of preparing kids for state testing, don't recognize the pressure of being in toxic systems None of that. They have none of that information.
Speaker 3:However, that doesn't change the fact that, as educators, we are standing before children. We have the privilege to work with families and with children and because of that, and even in spite of all of the pressure and all of the ways in which the education sector is disregarded, as educators it's important that we are really understanding that who we are in front of our children becomes who they become, and I am certain of that, and I am certain that even in the small ways that we are doing things, that it has an impact, and I know that as educators, we are not always going to show up as our best selves, and even in the fact that we might try and all of the things and there's burnout. There's so many things at play for our educators, especially today, living in a post COVID-19 world. Right, but, educators, we make a difference. We make a difference and when we are able to really understand our own triggers, recognize and give ourselves the tools to build our own self-compassion.
Speaker 3:In the moments when we feel like, oh my goodness, does this person saying that I don't know what I'm doing? Oh my goodness, is this school leader coming at me? You know, I thought I knew what was best. You know, is this parent saying that I'm not best serving their child? In the moments when the triggers, when the the feelings of inadequacy and all the other things that come to the profession and come in our minds when all those things take place, I think we you know we talk about SEL an opportunity for an educator to really pause and really reflect and breathe, truly take an opportunity to breathe, to step back and just consider that what, in this moment, will help you to cultivate a student who is not just here and now, but their global identity into the future and beyond? How can I ensure that they become every single thing that they are purposed and called to be? And that is something that has been keeping me and that, within the last few years, I could honestly say, has really helped to shift my identity, not just as an educator, but as a human, and I want to also add the humanness of being an educator.
Speaker 3:It's such hard, demanding work. It really is, and we don't talk enough about that. If you're, then, a school leader, it's hard, demanding work. It truly is, and there's not enough credit for the people who do that work. Not enough credit for the people who do that work. However, if we're not taking care of ourselves as educators, as leaders, it's going to be hard for us to take those step backs. It's going to be hard to analyze a situation in a healthy way, and so it's imperative for educators, for school leaders, to pause, to steady yourself in the moments when it feels like I don't know if I'm going left or right. Consider who do I need to be in this moment, what do I need to say in this moment, so that I can ensure that the young person in front of me becomes everything that they need to become, and that's truly the thing that has helped to guide me. I hope I answered your question.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. That was beautiful and I wrote down a quote that you've said that I want to pull out. Who we are in front of our children informs who they become, and we need to look beyond the here and now because we make a difference Right. It's sitting on my soul right now. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of soul care, we ask every guest as they examine their own soul and place in light in this wonderful life of ours. What do you believe is your superpower?
Speaker 3:I'm going to say two, and I've heard this my whole life Compassion and empathy. I is compassion and empathy. I truly don't know where it comes from Maybe my grandmother, because she's this way as well but I can literally be watching a movie that I've watched two and three times and know what's about to happen and I will be sobbing. I mean to happen and I will be sobbing. I mean sobbing, sobbing, sobbing. My heart for people, my heart to see people win, my heart to want to just see generations, restored people, restored communities, restored children getting what they need, like all of those things they tug on my heartstrings, so much Empathy.
Speaker 3:I'm always looking at a situation with a deeper lens than I think a lot of people have done, and I say that because whenever I see a story of something or whatever situation, I'm always thinking about well, if this took place, what happened in this person's life for this thing to have occurred? When I see a student who is exhibiting a behavior, response that to others they might say what is wrong with this child? What is going on here? I'm always thinking to myself what is it that they are trying to communicate? What is it that they need in the moment, as opposed to this child is bad.
Speaker 3:This child is whatever of the word we want to fill in, and my superpower has propelled me in moments when, if I'm honest which I've been this whole time, but if I'm honest has really been the driver for this work. There's been many a season, many a time, when I've said to myself this is too hard, this work is too difficult. Gathering people saying that you know, cultivating the conditions in our schools where our educators and our families can be well, but then also pour out to our young people. That is hard work and it's guided me the change that I want to see. That superpower has just helped to guide me to continue to push forward, continue to to believe for more and continue to know that it is possible for our children to be whole, to fulfill their purpose and to create generational change.
Speaker 2:Wow, as I said, some soul care coming on. So for folks who are like, oh my gosh, I feel touching my spirit, I need to be in proximity to, uh, to all of this genius, uh, from you know, dr shannon hawkins, you know, I'm gonna, just, you know I'm gonna, I'm gonna just put it out and you do whatever you want with it. How do people get connected? I just subscribed because I'm like, I'm ready, I'm coming to the reservoir and I'm like, look if the Village Whale Fellowship, if I could fit it into my life, I would come, just so I could be in the water and navigate it, whatever it is. But how folks get connected to you and your genius?
Speaker 3:Yes, oh, I love that. Thank you so much. So the Village Wealth Fellowship is a program that we cultivate in schools and in communities, and we'll love to be able to serve alongside others who are supporting schools school leaders, educators but then we also have online experiences and things that we will be starting here soon. But if you join me at tinyurlcom forward slash LAC waitlist, then you can go ahead and join me. You can put your email in and then, when you put your email in, then you'll also receive a free resource, which is three ways to cultivate healing in our schools and in our homes, and in that resource you'll be able to receive healing centered activities you don't have to think about it Ways that you can really communicate with your young person and help them to understand best ways to support them. So I would love to journey with you and feel free to join me at tinyurlcom forward slash LAC waitlist. And you can also find me on the social medias at leadingaheadcoorg and on Instagram at leadingaheadco.
Speaker 2:I heard you when you said waitlist. So I'm just saying booked, already Booked, and like you just got to peer in, like if people could see me, I'm like let me look. Oh okay, okay, okay, yes, I'm going to stop acting out. I love it. I'm going stop acting out. I love it With a wait list.
Speaker 3:Oh right, yes, I love it.
Speaker 1:This has been so incredible. I have so many ideas and really powerful quotes from you to keep pondering and rethinking, and that will help me recenter myself in the work. And look, as we're talking, craig is still dancing. We need to pause the video, right? I'm just pausing, thinking maybe we need to put this one up on YouTube so they can not only see the heart sweater but the joy as well. Just thank you for your time and your knowledge and expertise, and I'm joining the wait list too. Oh, come on, we're coming around. We need more. All of us whose hearts are in the right spot.
Speaker 3:All of us whose hearts are in the right spot there feel so good having spoken to you all, and I'm so grateful and thankful for the work that you all are doing because it's important.
Speaker 2:No-transcript kids, then we can all be well and that's the hope and that's the goal, right? S-c-l-e-d family, I feel like my cup runneth over, like I started with a swimming pool and now I got a river. I might play some Timberlake, I don't know, we're going to see, but I ain't crying. I ain't crying, I'm just saying, oh my, oh goodness, okay. So uh, shannon hawkins, leading ahead, collaborative, you better go ahead, subscribe, get on like waitlist. Can we say clue for waitlist? All right, let me focus. S-e-l-l-e-d-e-e-u family. We love you, we hope that you are holding yourself dear and tight and you better go ahead and stand strong in that light and join the well Hallelujah, and we will talk to you soon. Love you. Ha ha, ha, ha, ha ha.
