Abbott Elementary S1E13 "Zoo Balloon" w/ Felina Rodriguez (Restorative Justice Reflections)

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How can you use Restorative Justice when navigating career transitions, being vulnerable with students, and figuring out what it means to be a good teacher? Find out on this episode of Restorative Justice Reflections!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Heyo, david here. Restored of Justice Reflections was created as a video first medium because we're including video clips from the shows we're talking about. You can still hear our full conversation here with the audio from the clip, but for the full experience and to see our beautiful faces, head over to our YouTube page link below. If you're only going podcasts or your thing, please bear with the mentions of video and clips and use your imagination. Enjoy.

Speaker 2: 0:28

Get ready to see my favorite animal, the Tuatara. It's a lizard that arrived here at the zoo the same year I started teaching Melissa. They have retired my buster Retired like my uncle Anthony, or retired like my uncle Tony.

Speaker 1: 0:52

Welcome back to Restored of Justice Reflections. I'm David Ryan, varsega, cast, joe Harris All five names for all the ancestors and today I'm here with Felina Rodriguez to dive deep into the restorative themes or lack thereof found in Season 1, episode 13 of ABC's hit show Abba Elementary Zoo Balloon. This is the finale of Season 1 and, as always, our conversation here is not to critique the story or production choices of the creators, but we'll highlight how Restored of Justice could apply to navigating career transitions, being vulnerable with students and figuring out what it means to be a good teacher. Hopefully, this will give you some insight about how to apply restorative ways of being into your life in and out of the classroom.

Speaker 1: 1:30

If you want to take a deeper look at applying Restored of Justice to your life, join our Inner Circle community to connect with RJ-minded individuals and get bonus content. Deepen your practice by checking out our courses and if you want to see this work in your school or organization, invite us for coaching or training on implementing this work, of course, links to everything down below. Now let's get to it. Felina, so good to have you Tell us about yourself.

Speaker 3: 1:54

Yeah, I'm happy to be here. I am entering my ending I should say my sixth year in education. I focus predominantly in secondary education, so I have taught students sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and now eleventh grade.

Speaker 1: 2:12

What do you teach?

Speaker 3: 2:13

I teach US history and I also teach a new course that we've built on our campus, which is US History through a Mexican American lens, but in the higher education field it's known as Chicano Studies or Chicanx Studies.

Speaker 1: 2:26

now, Absolutely, absolutely. You and I have collaborated a number of times within the context of Amplify RJ, highlighting the importance of Chicano Studies as we navigate life as people in a pluralistic society, or a society that is, in some ways, in shapes and forms, attempting to be more pluralistic, but also as it comes to the importance of affirming students' identities within the classroom. So, thank you so much for all of your work, but let's talk about Abbott. Right, you're a high school teacher. This isn't a show set in a high school, but, like you, can still relate. In what ways.

Speaker 3: 3:07

Yes, and it's also because I have a lot of respect for elementary teachers in particular, because the K-5 system is a whole different beast in the things you encounter day to day, and so I always have had a lot of respect for the kinder, first and second grade teachers, because I happen to have both the benefit and some people would call it a curse, but I love my job of being able to teach students when they're grown, and there are certain skills that you don't necessarily have to teach at the secondary level.

Speaker 1: 3:43

I'm going to read the summary, loosely based off of what Wikipedia tells us.

Speaker 1: 3:48

So in this episode, abbott Elementary takes their annual year-end school field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo with Tariq, taylor and Zach in tow serving as additional strap-roans, while Mr Johnson, the Jander, is left supervising the students without their permission slips.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Tariq gets an opportunity to move to New York to record an anti-drug theme rap album, and Janine is not sure if she wants to leave Abbott to go to New York with him. While they're at the zoo, Janine is pondering this and Barb is pondering her future at the school when she sees that her favorite zoo animal is retired due to old age. Gregory tells Janine that this next school year he'll be a full-time teacher at Abbott, and Janine ultimately decides to break up with Tariq and not move to New York with him, as they are all left reflecting on their remaining choices for the rest of the school year. So when we think about this episode, there's a lot of transitions happening, and I think that's what we want to think about when we're coming to this idea of transition and change. What stood out to you and how can we put it through a restorative lens?

Speaker 3: 4:53

There are a few moments that stood out to me in particular the transition of careers and the decision of whether or not to stay within the field of education and within the classroom. And then, of course, the other piece being how we finally decide when someone is considered a veteran teacher, Because for me it's every year within my teaching career and I've been doing this for six years there's a moment in the school year where I have to decide. I start questioning my life choices and whether I'm going to come back next year, and you see teachers in different phases of their teaching career making that decision for themselves. So that struck a chord with me a lot. And then, of course, what ultimately dictates what a veteran teacher is.

Speaker 1: 5:48

And we see that a couple of ways right.

Speaker 1: 5:50

One like Gregory has made his decision that, like you know, I'm going to be a teacher. Right, and we think about, like, all of those things that have led up to this in this season him wanting to be a principal, him substituting, him struggling as a substitute, him making the decision not to like go after Ava's job and decide that, hey, I'm going to like develop my teaching practice and, you know, be in proximity to Jeanine, of course, right, but those are choices that he's making based off of, you know, the environment that Abbott's provided for him, the support that he's gotten from teachers. We have Jeanine who, like we know, is like I was born to do this, I need to do this, like for the kids, can I do this in New York? We have Barbara who is, like all definitely in on being a teacher for her whole life, but as she's reflecting on, you know, her 30 plus years, like Do I want to continue to do this? How have you navigated those moments where you're questioning whether or not you want to stick with it?

Speaker 3: 6:54

For me. What I think about is let's see how I feel over a summer, after I've had a chance to take care of myself, after I've had a chance to just breathe, and see if I feel like I'm going to do this again, because what works personally for me is being able to have those breaks and being able to decide when I feel centered okay, do I still feel like I want to be in education or not? And I'm one of the people that decides to go back and come back the next year. So that's kind of the conversation I have with myself and I'm not going to lie. Every year I've been teaching, I have had one day where I go home and I just cry and you feel better after crying. That's just something that happens. But it also speaks to the difficulty of the job that we have, and I can completely understand when people feel like it's their time to go and not continue education.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Yeah, and the work that you do is so appreciated. And I think one of my favorite moments of this episode is I think it's the final ending tag where Mr Johnson has had this kid who had to stay behind write an essay about who their super heroes, what their superpower would be or who their favorite superhero was, and they had this beautiful essay about why their teachers are their heroes, why they have superpowers.

Speaker 3: 8:25

Dear Mr Johnson, we know we couldn't go to the zoo because we didn't have sign permission slips, but we think it's bananas. To make us right about what superhero is our favorite? Because our real heroes are our teachers. They don't have cool powers like Spider-Man or invisible cars like Wonder Woman Some of them can't afford cars but they still are our heroes. Does that answer your?

Speaker 2: 8:46

question Sincerely yours, the Abbott Elementary.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Breakfast Club, and I think what gets lost for folks when we're thinking about restorative justice is that you know, yes, we're thinking about, like, how do we build, strengthen and repair relationships rooted in equity and trust in our classrooms and our school environments? But, like, also, the relationship with yourself is really important. Right, I know you get a lot of kind words and affirmation from students, families, sometimes even your colleagues and people like maybe those at the coffee shop are like goodness, like I could never do, like you bless you, right. But the conversations that you have to have with yourself, being in right relationship with yourself, like knowing that you're subjecting yourself to suboptimal work conditions, right, to do something that you care deeply about is something that we can do in a rather restorative, balance way or in a very marker approach, and that's not what I heard from you. But how do you prevent yourself from getting into that? I'm going to give everything that I have for this.

Speaker 3: 9:51

Yeah, and that's something I wish someone had told me in my first year teaching, because the way we prepare teachers in this current system and I can only speak for Arizona, just because I've only taught in my home state of Arizona but when we prepare teachers for teaching, a lot of it is focused on theory and practice and pedagogy and newsflash. None of what you've studied in teacher college or teacher preparation programs can ever prepare you for being in front of my largest class has been 34. So 34 young people with their own individual needs and their own individual ways of doing things, all who are going through puberty. Their brain is wired to push limits, to see what they can and cannot do, and you have to be the grown up to show them what is a healthy response to a pushed limit or a broken boundary. So it's like theory can never match practice. But for me, I have been very intentional in realizing okay, maybe my grading wasn't updated every two weeks, but I did get it done within that two week, one day off window. Or maybe I didn't grade everything, but that's okay, don't grade everything. Design your classroom so that you have smaller amounts to grade, which is why I don't give homework, because I'm not going to grade it. The kids don't want to do it, why bother? And so those are the limits I've set for myself. And then of course, I set my hours. Between 7.30 and 5 o'clock is the latest I stay. Maybe if there's an event I'll stay after goods, but I refuse to take any of my papers home. So that's the limit I have to set for myself and my work life balance.

Speaker 3: 11:36

Because for teachers we are kind of taught or expected that we shouldn't have one, and that is so dangerous and treats us like martyrs. Because then we're told but it's for the children, but it's for this. And for me, being a brown woman in education, I also remember this education system was never designed for me to survive. So I have had to create my own way of surviving and my own system, and I do know that I've had a lot of time to try and practice it. But that's. It's taken me six years.

Speaker 3: 12:12

I am telling you now my first, second and third years teaching. I feel like I've made a lot of mistakes and I can never take back the mistakes and the harm I inflicted on students, whether it was intentional or unintentional. But you do improve over time and so those are kind of like the parameters I've set for myself. And then I do take into account the advice that one of my teacher mentors told me, and it's the minute you start resenting what you do and the minute you start feeling negative only towards the students, that's when you know you have to leave, because at that point it's no longer about helping students and doing the job we were trained to do. You become trapped in this cycle where you're doing this for the paycheck and that's not healthy for you and it's not healthy for the students in front of you.

Speaker 1: 12:57

And it just doesn't make economic sense because there are a lot more ways that you can get paid more money. You talked a little bit about your growth as a teacher. We see Janine and I think in the first season of ABA, elementary. I believe this is her second year teaching and you mentioned some of those mistakes. We've seen lots of things that Janine has done over this first season that we've talked about in previous episodes. Right, but when you think about her in this episode, what were the things that you saw in yourself or things that made you go oh, or like I'm proud of you?

Speaker 3: 13:33

For me there were a few.

Speaker 3: 13:36

The first is realizing just that the greatest fear a lot of teachers have is losing a student while you're on a field trip.

Speaker 3: 13:47

I have had nightmares about this because it is such a real fear, and so, seeing how Janine is able to handle it by talking to the student, and I did like the way she built a relationship with fearful students, because in Arizona one of the changes we see in our approach to pedagogy is diversity, equity and inclusion, and I know there's an entire podcast on why that may or may not work in educational systems.

Speaker 3: 14:15

But our school district in particular is like relationships, relationships, relationships, but we're never told how to build those and it just starts by just talking to students and meeting them when they're at. So, like when a student is fearful, the steps she took in speaking to the student and like maintaining a somewhat sense of calm, because when you're in a balloon it's not easy to maintain a sense of calm. So I did appreciate that and just even finding the student, because it's always been a nightmare to lose a student in a field trip, and this is when I've taken a group of middle schoolers to the state fair, so it is a kind of somewhat organized chaos.

Speaker 1: 14:57

Yeah, that moment in the balloon was really important. I think a lot of the times teachers and people, adults in the world, feel like they have to like be like brave and not show emotions but, like Jeanine, admits her fear to the student right.

Speaker 2: 15:12

Sometimes the best things you can ever do are the scary things, and they help you grow, and you're going to have a pretty cool teacher to help you every step of the way. So we're going to do this together. You know we're going to love it, even if it scares us. So now, do you love being on this balloon? No, I'm so very scared, but I'm going to try to be brave and stand up. Let's look over the side. Not that brave yet.

Speaker 1: 15:47

And like, while they're not going through the same circumstances. You know, in the show she's talking to the student about like what's going on in her life really, but like that kind of vulnerability is important. I think there are limits to what vulnerability looks like from a teacher to a student, but showing students that you're a whole person who has similar fears, has had experiences that are similar to what your students are going through like, can be an incredible way to continue to build relationships.

Speaker 3: 16:17

Yeah, and there are definitely limits to what you can say to your students because, again, you're trying to be a role model. So you as me, being a 26 year old, I can't tell them what I, as a 26 year old, do on my weekends, but when we talk about vulnerability with students, my students came into class today. We're like four or five weeks away from the end of the school year. We're all tired. I think Mercury is in retrograde. So when they came in, they're like how are you doing, miss? And I'm like I just want to go home. And they're like me too.

Speaker 3: 16:47

We agree, and I designed our day to be a short mini lesson and then we get work time and I did see some of them take a nap, but we're all exhausted and I understand, so I'm not going to hold it against you. So, like those little pieces of vulnerability, just being honest at this job is also taxing, creates that understanding With students too, because in our teacher prep programs, a lot of the narrative is that we have to be this perfect person that 100% regulates their emotions, that understands the rigid lines of discipline, and that's just not human and it's not going to work.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Ooh, you said one of the buzzwords that we have to dissect. When you say on these airwaves, right, when you say discipline, what does that mean?

Speaker 3: 17:38

Ooh, okay, so this is where I get to go back to my ethnic studies practices and even within the own indigenous knowledge systems that I am a part of. When we talk about the idea of discipline and education, it carries a negative connotation, but we have this idea of self-discipline, meaning the way I present myself and have this presentation of my, of who I am and my character, and it is so shocking, when I talk to students about this idea of self-discipline, that we're here not just for me, but for my ancestors and people who will come after me. This is the first time they've ever heard that discipline doesn't have to be negative, and so that is something I always think of, because when my students first meet me at the during the first semester, a lot of it is on learning what we have been taught in a colonial school system, and then, when we get to the second semester, that's when, like, all the fun things happen, because we've we've spent 18 weeks getting to know each other.

Speaker 1: 18:41

Yeah, I also think about right, even thinking about like colonial structures. The word discipline has been co-opted right Because discipline in Latin like disciplines, like means to teach, right. And so when you said like rigid discipline, right, like discipline isn't bad. Right, like what are the ways that we're conducting ourselves, right? What are the ways that we're going to learn, what are the things that we're trying to teach people, and the method that we go about using when we're trying to teach folks is very important and it doesn't have to look like punishment. So you know, you said the word.

Speaker 3: 19:17

I just want to make sure that like people have that orientation when you say it, yeah, and it's interesting you bring that up because I just realized in Spanish disciplina is not a negative connotation, it's more of that concept of self-discipline, but disciplinar when you are doing the action of creating discipline or acting discipline on someone else, that one has the negative connotation, which I realized is very interesting just because I grew up in a Spanish-speaking household.

Speaker 3: 19:49

That kind of shifted my way of thinking of the word discipline Sometimes. But Spanish is a very subjective language. So the way my mom is the word disciplina. She's like necesitas disciplina, like you got to be set a routine for yourself, you got to be doing your homework at this point in time because it's going to help you in the future, or you have to like go to bed at a certain time. That's when. That's the way she taught us about the word disciplina. But when I use it in conversations to interpret with parents like today we translated about the student handbook we use the word disciplina meaning the consequences or discipline practices of what you do when a fight breaks out.

Speaker 1: 20:33

That framing of discipline doesn't have to be negative either, right? Because like that's when we're saying that we're talking about punishment, yeah, and that's not what discipline means, right? So we have all the things that are going on with Janine, but the other thing that you know you're not necessarily like 30 years into your job. I know a lot of people are thinking about transitioning, or there are some people who are, who have more years in the game, who can relate to what Barbara is going through. What came up for you when you were witnessing that?

Speaker 3: 21:05

It's something I've noticed amongst my teacher colleagues who've been in the profession longer than I have, and the reason I bring that up is because, if you think and again, I'm a history teacher, so my math is rusty but 30 years back would have been the early 2000s, which means most teacher training programs would have been in the 80s and 90s, before the first iPhone, before YouTube, before Google, and back when you use the World Book Encyclopedia, where you had to put in a CD in the computer and then take it out and put a different CD in the computer to find information.

Speaker 3: 21:40

And education has changed so much within that span of time and the students have changed so much within that span of time and I'm speaking as like a relatively young teacher in comparison to my colleagues and many of them do feel especially with the pandemic and how we had to turn towards technology, Many teachers who were within that 20, 30 year veteran space felt overwhelmed and felt like they could no longer call themselves veteran teachers because the profession had changed so much.

Speaker 3: 22:17

So I did see that a lot, because it is painful to realize when some of the things you thought you were fantastic at are kind of outdated, and I'm saying this as a 26 year old, when my students tell me that the Nintendo NES is an ancient artifact and so the 90s are the new, vintage and retro, and I'm learning to understand what that means. And so I do understand, from observation of my peers, how Barbara must feel, because that is a very tough position when you think about it, and time is a very strange thing. So that's what I've noticed, of course, but it's also. There is no such thing as a teacher who knows everything. You can have 30 years of experience, but if you're following carceral or colonial practices within your classroom, can you really say you are a good teacher? And even like what is a good teacher? Because at this point I am welcoming anyone to please tell me, because all of us are still figuring it out, even after the five year milestone.

Speaker 1: 23:29

If you're appreciating this video, like to help us in the YouTube algorithm. Subscribe so you won't miss the video, and share it with someone to help us further amplify this work. Now back to the show. One of the things that we've seen over the course of the show is how Barbara has been propped up as like the model teacher and like the perfect example. And you know, over the course of the show, and definitely at the season two, we see some of the ways that, like she's not right, nobody is. Jeanine puts her on that pedestal and is so desperate for her approval. And when we come to the end of this episode, when we see demonstrations of discipline right or correction in that vein being glorified right, what does that say about what we're expecting for teachers to be? Quote, unquote good.

Speaker 3: 24:41

As I navigated my first year in education, I gravitated towards the teachers who we saw as veterans.

Speaker 3: 24:50

The teachers that I looked up to did not have restorative practices within their classrooms and actually followed the punitive systems that many of us are taught within a teacher preparation program or a teacher education program.

Speaker 3: 25:05

So I'm never going to forget a student. I had my first year teaching because I modeled what I saw, but I will own up to the fact that I did cause harm. I would tell students, sit down or point to a desk, sit and then realize and the student responded to me, I'm not a dog, don't talk to me like a dog. And that has stuck with me forever because I'm remembering what I thought what teaching was and how it harmed students. And having to own up to that and still seeing that being shown in a TV show where the epitome of being a veteran teacher is that you say one word and students will do immediately what you say is still presents the problem of power dynamics in education, where the teacher is presented as the authoritarian figure and students are expected to listen and obey, which is unfortunately still our school practice, because if you look at referral forms or school handbooks, defiance is still a referral form practice. It's still something you can send a student and write up a student for a referral.

Speaker 1: 26:18

And I imagined that there are people who are engaging with something around restorative justice who are like, yeah, felina, you tell him. And I imagined that there's some people who are like, if you don't want me to treat you like a dog, stop acting like one. Right? Like that's just the way that we are training you to be in the world. Right, we're expecting compliance. The people who you're going to engage with in the world are going to expect compliance.

Speaker 1: 26:42

I think a lot of the times with school teachers of color, right, when I think about this kind of model being handed down by teachers of color, black teachers, indigenous teachers right, sometimes it's rooted in hey, we just want to prepare you for the way that the world is going to treat you, and I think that is well-intentioned. But we can also build a world where students aren't treated like that. Why do we, the people who are supposed to care for them, understand them, have shared experience with them, have to treat them the same way? Right? All of this is rooted in behavior control, in enslavement, right, in colonialism controlling the Negroes, right, controlling the savages, right, it's white supremacy 101. And while I'm not saying that Jeanine or Miss Howard in this situation, were the extreme of that right. That is the thing that is replicated so often in schools, and to see that glorified in that moment as like, yeah, jeanine's a good teacher. Now I don't know what to do with that.

Speaker 3: 27:49

It's hard because what I have noticed with in my own classroom and there's memes about it on board teachers, which is a page that has funny videos and skits that I laugh about, but you still see kind of those patterns emerging there too, where there and I think specifically about a meme or it's veteran first year teachers, like one, two, three eyes on me or like all the different attention getters that you can think of, and then veteran teacher is just glares, and I've noticed with my own practice. I more say now I'm not going to talk over you, because the students, because we built enough of a mutual understanding and I've I want to say I've tried to make my classroom more engaging and fun, because there's this misconception that history can't be fun and it must be history. But if I'm going to teach the Red Scare and I can't incorporate among us and kind of make it a fun game, then what am I in the classroom for? And so, like using those activities, and the students by now know that I'm trying to see what they like and what they don't like. They have understood.

Speaker 3: 29:00

Oh, I as a person want to be heard and so I'm not going to talk over another person. So like it takes time, it is not easy, but I have noticed that there are ways to engage your students and have your students listen to you, based on an understanding of mutual respect that does not have to be authoritarian. And also, I teach secondary students and I know most teacher education programs tell you not to be sarcastic with students. But this is kind of like our love language and humor language, where we use witty banter to talk to each other and it's not done in a way that to harm or make fun of a student, but it's like a kind of humor that they laugh about but also kind of get the point like, hey, okay, we need to do what we came here to do.

Speaker 1: 29:48

You know I've talked to a lot of teachers over the course of my time doing restorative justice work within the context of schools and sometimes teachers are like but I've been doing this for so long, this is what the students are used to, and the beautiful thing about restorative justice is that, like hey, it's not just that, like we're repairing, like moments of harm, we can go back and build and strengthen relationships, change patterns that we've built up. Like it's not too late to adapt. Right, even if you're, you know, a couple of weeks away from the end of the school year, you can talk about hey, you know, the way that we've been operating isn't necessarily the way that I want to be in relationship with you all. What would it look like for the rest of this year to operate out of more mutual respect? What is it that you need in this classroom? This is what I need in this classroom.

Speaker 1: 30:40

Right, you're not a passive participant in your classroom. Right, you're a full participant, you get to articulate your needs to your students. But you know, when you do this collaboratively and then you have conversations about all right, this is the way that we want to be. What are we going to do when we're not this way, because that's inevitably going to happen. Right the way that they want to be corrected is something that you can engage in.

Speaker 3: 31:04

I also know that for someone who has done something a certain way for a really long time, it's kind of hard to embrace something new because you don't know how it will go. For me, the way I have kind of gotten over that is you never know until you try. So I tell the students we're going to try something new, see how it goes and, depending on how the activity or the lesson goes the next day or after that, I'll tell them okay, that did not go as planned, so let's try XYZ or let's try something new. Even with humor as well, I am finding out right now my pop culture references that I've been using for the past five years are becoming outdated. Because when I thought I was being funny when I asked my students if you can find Genovia on this map of World War One, I will give you extra credit. Think me personally thinking that everybody had seen the Princess Diaries and understood Genovia was the fictional country. And then I came to the realization that my students had not been born yet when the movie came out and it was something they had seen when they were little or their older sibling had seen. So like realizing something I hadn't. That I've been doing for a while has changed. That teaches me. Okay, maybe I need to learn what is on, what is trending or what's relevant.

Speaker 3: 32:31

Today's youth, what do they value? And I have the benefit of having a younger sister who is of the same generation as my students. So I've started recently started watching one piece and that's the way I've kind of adapted to changes in education. But when you've had something for the same few years, I'm at this struggle where, if you're not willing to change or adapt I guess the word change is not the right one I'm using it's it's the word adapt when you're not willing to adapt in an education system that will constantly change.

Speaker 3: 33:05

What are we in here for? Because new generations are going to learn differently. Now, in today's day and age, history is not so much about facts and figures, because we have Google, so the end chat, gbt, so the way I have to teach something has to look very different than what it did when I was going through school, and that's just normal. But I know there is a struggle with change and there is a struggle with trying something new and there's a struggle with being vulnerable and having funny moments with your students that I know not everyone is ready for. But that raises the question If you're not ready for it, then do you feel like you should continue in education, because the change is going to come and the students are going to push you into that change, whether we're ready for it or not.

Speaker 1: 33:57

You've heard from us. Now we want to hear from you. Drop your restorative justice reflections in the comments and if you want to join a live community conversation about our restorative justice lessons from Abba Elementary, join us for a live event on Monday, july 31. Link with more info in the description. And you know, over the course of this show going into season two, we're going to see a lot of change, a lot of growth from all the characters involved. Teaching is an ever evolving profession, right, and as we come to a close with season one of Abba Elementary like, we're going to see a lot of different growth points for all of the characters on Abba Elementary. But I'm curious if you were to be cast in your dream role on Abba Elementary, what would your role be? Who would you play?

Speaker 3: 34:44

If I were to be cast and added to Abbott Elementary.

Speaker 3: 34:51

There is this position that we have in a high school where you sometimes take your high school students and they do mentorship programs with elementary school students, and I have taken my students on a trip through a program we ran like this. So I would love to be like the high school teacher that shows up and builds a partnership with the students in that way, just because it's an easy way to see a dynamic between elementary school teachers and the different vibe of what secondary school teachers are and like see that interaction. Because the differences in our professions is also reflected in the differences of our personalities at times, because as a secondary educator I have a very different approach to what my students do than what a K5 elementary teacher. This and this is not a generalization, it's just because we have to be about around different age ranges, so some of our personality kind of molds into those and it just be really fun for this random high school teacher to just show up to happy hour with Miss Chimenti and Barbara.

Speaker 1: 35:57

Your lips to Quinta in the writer's ears as we're drawing to a close. Is there anything else that you want to shout out or draw attention to while you've got the mic?

Speaker 3: 36:08

I just want to give a shout out to the Instagram that I run, which is at teaching with Corazon, if you have any questions related to my work in education. But I also want to highlight the ongoing fact that Arizona, in particular, is facing attacks in its education system and, as of right now, our superintendent of public instruction created a hotline challenging that whether or not we should teach social, emotional learning in the classrooms, challenging whether or not we should teach about race, ethnicity and gender identity in the classroom, to the point where he's created a climate where teachers can be reported for teaching such things. And if you would like to become involved in supporting Arizona school teachers whether it's, you know, supporting our donors choose when they become public, or wanting to be connected to our community organizations that are continuing the battles with our state legislator and our state superintendent, feel free to send me a message at teaching with Corazon on Instagram, and I am just really happy to be a part of this ongoing community and restorative justice.

Speaker 1: 37:18

Thank you so much for all your wisdom, stories, experiences to share with us as we reflected on the season one finale of Abba Elementary.