Ideas to improve education

Creative solutions to systemic challenges facing our schools

I am offering to my audience a few stories on a bi-weekly basis that promote good ideas and demonstrate bold leadership. I have been inspired by great ideas that often make their way into my classroom or into my leadership journal. The more good ideas we share, the greater the chances for improving education policy and practices.

When I get a little down and feel like I am delivering a twentieth century education to my students, I turn to reading about innovative thinking within the profession. When I feel like the status quo is winning, I search for inspiration. Usually I quickly snap out of the funk to deliver the best I can for my students and school.

There are some pretty cool ideas out there - too many to count - but my mention here is worth the effort. These writers provide reporting that could be the creative fuel and inspiration needed to creatively solve our problems.  Please read and share.

Each headline is an active link to the original story.

Many Detroit educators have never worked in a high-performing school. This program imports coaches who have

Photo By Nick Gregory

This article featured in Chalkbeat by Erin Einhorn lays out a super ambitious plan at work in Detroit to improve Detroit Mumford Academy. It is clear that a blend of innovation, best teaching practices and clear goals are pitted against several challenges.

It's not that the leaders in charge do not want to face the uncertainty, it's just that they are so determined to win that they do not spend time wishing for outcomes. Instead, they are taking action with a bold approach. Part of the premise is based on the fact that winning in Detroit is tougher because many of the teachers and leaders in Detroit's school system have never worked in high-performing schools. With that fact in mind and with incredible support from the Team Fellows Program funded by the Detroit Children's Fund, a new model for leading and teaching is emerging as you read this.

The work of the education leaders featured in the story is couched in a clearly defined mission and they are setting out to cut "shadow missions," a term for all the work that takes away from their priorities. The ideal Detroit Children's Fund Leaders Institute candidate characteristics:

• A track record of positive results for students
• A clear vision for an engaging and rigorous culture of instruction
• A growth mindset and the ability to translate feedback into action
• A desire to take personal responsibility for every child’s success
• A sense of urgency and dissatisfaction with the status quo

It is refreshing to see a new approach in an effort to move the needle on progress. Obviously there are all-star teachers and leaders on board, and their challenge is one that most suburban teachers cannot relate to due to inequity and circumstances. The lessons on innovation apply to all education systems however. You will read this story impressed by the effort, nervous about whether it can work and most of all proud to see a laser-focus approach to give every child and teacher a school where learning and preparation for the future are the priority.  I badly want to be part of an initiative like this one!

When Administrators Keep Teaching - Teaching keeps school leaders connected to students and other teachers and lets them feel the effects of their own decisions

With subheads like, "Walking the Walk" and "Recharging the Batteries" this interesting idea written by Heather Wolpert-Gawron of Edutopia is worth reading for school leaders looking to step-up the learning in a stagnant school culture. Heck, it's also worth it for schools that have a proven record of taking risks in order to serve students. These risk-taking schools are most likely to seek imaginative ways to increase collaboration among staff and administration and this article will start you on that journey. 

Why is it that so many schools fail to give teachers and leaders room to grow? Too many schools lack creativity. Imagine how much could be gained for everyone if building administrators actually taught students.

Lately I have been spouting off to my colleagues that my dream job would be to teach at least one class and assume an assistant principalship role simultaneously. Then I am usually quick to follow-up with a complaint about the archaic nature of most schools and the fact that path does not exist yet. Well, I could not have been more wrong. This is quick read at less than 800 words got me thinking about how to find a leadership position with the capacity for a hybrid role. Thank you for Ms. Wolpert-Gawron and Edutopia for giving me hope!  

What Happens to Student Behavior When Schools Prioritize Art 

This article is not just for the die-hard fans of the arts. It's also for visionary leaders and anyone who appreciates a good risk.

By Nick Gregory

In a tale of nothing to lose the featured school, Orchard Gardens Elementary in Roxbury Massachusetts may have even exceeded their own expectations by scrapping the old way for something better.

In an age of cookie-cutter attempts to improve test scores, this piece from You, Your Child, and School: Navigate Your Way to the Best Education by Sir Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica sheds some light on good ideas that harken back to the good ole days. The basic gist: the arts and providing space within the school culture for students to find their voice is a win.

(Now, if we can just get schools to understand that recess and enough time to eat lunch will also help schools meet the learning needs of students)

"Innovative schools everywhere are breaking the mold of convention to meet the best interests of their students, families, and communities. As well as great teachers, what they have in common is visionary leadership." 

- Sir Ken Robinson & Lou Aronica

Be inspired.

Please message me your ideas and interesting reads using the "Contact Me" tab on this link.

Coaching high school sports is an awesome opportunity to lead

With more than 700 games on the bench as either the head coach or an assistant, my leadership journey started with organized sports

I absolutely love coaching so when I began seeking K-12 leadership positions last year, it hit me that I will be stepping away from coaching high school basketball. This fact makes me sad. In addition to leaving the classroom at a time when teaching brings me incredible fulfillment, coaching has been a major part of my professional identity for more than 15 years.

Trading team huddles for something new leaves me conflicted because my involvement in high school athletics has given my life so much meaning. After all, the joys and challenges of coaching were factors that pushed me to explore my interest in advancing a career in leadership. Educational leadership is a career move that excites me and I am ready for the challenge.

This was the scene after a last second basket to beat our top rival. 

We are the team in white. The basket came after a timeout where 

we designed a play to score. As often happens, the players adjusted 

when our plan was not working and the unlikely shot won the 

contest. The picture was sent to me by a parent.

My growth as a classroom teacher has gone hand in hand with my development as a coach. Many of the parallels are obvious - a shared community of like-minded people working to help others. In addition to working on the craft itself, through coaching I have learned how to gain trust, communicate more effectively and listen better.

I am proud of my association with hundreds of parents as well as dozens of coaches and referees throughout my career. Most of all, the student-athletes in my charge have been at the center of my pride. Since I began working toward the next chapter on my career journey, I have enjoyed coaching at a deeper level. The thrill of coaching in big games and the connections made with young people on the hardwood never gets old.

In coaching, the drawbacks are humbling and failure is on public display. Those failures steel a coaches approach to leadership and simultaneously make us vulnerable. That realization led me to these nine takeaways from a coaching career that includes buzzer-beaters, raucous locker room dancing, season-ending injuries and even hostile parents demanding I be fired.

I often tell people that coaching is just teaching with a ball and just like classroom teaching, reflecting on the lessons learned is a valuable exercise.

1. Being right is overrated; losing is underrated

Most of the time it’s not worth it to be right. In fact, it usually doesn’t even matter if you're right because the failure to understand and validate people’s perspectives comes at a greater cost than being wrong. I wish I had figured this out sooner. Whether dealing with student-athletes, parents or even my athletic director, not being right has liberated me to focus my energy on building stronger relationships. The time wasted fighting to be right is better spent listening. Regrettably this lesson usually materializes in losing scenarios when it is most difficult to properly evaluate the situation.

Sometimes it takes a loss to recognize weaknesses that were present all along. A loss at the right time can lead to more success in the long run. We have a saying on my teams that when you win it doesn't mean you did everything right and when you lose it doesn’t mean you did everything wrong.

Coaching requires leaders to distinguish the process from the the results. Striving to win is great, and my teams remind me not to be fooled by scoreboards or other people's measures of our success. Losing is a necessary and healthy part of growth. This lesson is directly linked to lesson number nine, it ain't about me.

2. Respect is given, trust is gained and confidence is earned

From the whiteboard in the locker room - I enjoy 
delivering pre-game speeches and this one was 
especially intense. We won a close game and the 
celebration is one of my favorites. When I step back 
from coaching I am not sure how I will fill the void. 

Despite popular lore, the notion of people having to earn respect is outdated and backwards. My student-athletes do not need to prove to me they deserve my respect. I do not want them clamoring for my appreciation and approval. Each player takes a risk by trying out for the team, they sacrifice their time, meet immense physical demands, fail repeatedly throughout the season and bounce back over and over again. Who am I to determine whether they deserve my respect? Commitment to our team comes with a mutual understanding that each player is naturally respected.

My teams have shown me that we are better off putting forth our effort to gain mutual trust rather than trying to prove we're worthy of respect from coaches and teammates. If we can build trust both collectively and individually then it becomes safer to take risks, exert maximum effort and get to the business of improving. We begin earning our confidence in a culture where trust is acknowledged and valued every single day. Self-confidence and confidence in teammates comes with hard work, repetition and discipline. There are no shortcuts to earning confidence - it requires effort, respect and trust.

Two of my players after a game. They hurried 

out of our locker room to perform in a concert 
and I got to see part of the show. It is rewarding 
to coach well-rounded players. I stay in touch 
with dozens of my former players. 

3. Relationships make the experience

One of my most successful seasons came later in my coaching career. While we lost 70% of our games, I learned how to adjust and focus on building stronger relationships with my players. Winning teams thrive on trust and losing teams depend on it in order to stay together. I was constantly working on forging a positive culture by starting with personal relationships with and among members of the team.

Relationships have always been critical to my fulfillment as a leader but this was different because my competitive nature could have made the process miserable. We were not a good basketball team and I had grown accustomed to coaching teams that won a vast majority of our games. My struggling team helped me learn how to adapt and coach with a winning mindset. We developed meaningful measures for our growth and we hung on to high expectations. Success and failure are never by accident and both are a function of relationships.

4. Learn to follow

Some problems have a lot in common and others are so unique they leave your head spinning. The common denominator that has spanned nearly every one of the headaches in my coaching career is that people have an unwavering need to belong. A condition of that fact is that players and their parents ultimately want to be heard and understood. When I have lost sight of these simple common denominators, my ability to lead has suffered.

We should not expect people to understand what we want as leaders if we fail to listen to what they need as players and parents. From the most disgruntled to the most valuable, everyone wants to belong. In roles outside of my own leadership, I have witnessed good leaders helping others and bringing meaning to the experiences of others and it reminds me that all leaders benefit by learning how to follow. I have had to learn how to get out of my own way so I could grow into a better follower. Coaching has taught me how to adapt to the various leadership styles of authority figures in my school. Leading a team provides great opportunities to build rapport with diverse parent groups and establish that I care about the young people in our program at a crucial time in their development as adolescents. There is no better training ground for learning how to follow than coaching children.

5. It is a marathon, not a sprint

This is the mantra I repeat most often during the season. I love planning and leading our practices because I know the reward for the entire process is in the journey. The annual basketball banquet at the end of the season is a highlight of my year both personally and professionally because it marks the celebration of our team and our seniors in the basketball program. As coaches, we invest so much in our teams that it naturally becomes part of our personal life. Coaching has never been a hobby for me. It is an extension of my teaching.

Over the years I have gained a better appreciation for 

all the people involved, even the refs! I have a lot of 

respect for referees and have gotten to know quite a few.

Devising practice plans, evaluating our team needs and helping fellow coaches gives my long winter days a little extra punch. The whole process is a series of steps and unexpected challenges that keep my team engaged. Injuries, opposing teams, road games, the referees, rigorous practices - so many unknowns to contend with every week makes the process alive.

There’s also something about the daily work that brings out my best energy. I love working with my players. I enjoy the details and the drills. I love building habits and teaching our system. When my players simply feel prepared they are more likely to have success. Sometimes that feeling can go a long way, but actually being prepared is critical for teams trying to get to the next level. That is the marathon part - stringing together days and weeks of working our tails off to be better today and at the finish line.

Whether it involves the promise of the early season or the late-season grind, my coaching experience has taught me more than any other leadership endeavor that the process is the result. Focusing on the marathon keeps my leadership in perspective. I love a strong finish.

6. Making the experience uniquely ours

My student-athletes have spent their youth hearing and seeing all kinds of motivational quotes about how to be great. The slogans are plastered on t-shirts, placards in locker rooms, in song lyrics and all over social media. Being great is marketed to kids as a product they can have by simply watching motivational YouTube videos. I don't buy into the hype, but I do intentionally find moments to share motivational stories with my team. I try to create those moments in my pre-game speeches to set a tone. Those pre-game speeches and motivational lessons always have a basis in our shared experience and that's what makes them meaningful.

I thoroughly enjoy when those special occasions emerge in a season and they become part of how we define our team experience. I refer to this collection of events as "honest moments" and like my best coaches, I have learned how to harness the power of those unplanned parts of a team experience that are consequential to our story.

Each November, our boys and girls basketball

programs lay wreaths at the graves of military

veterans as part of our community service

initiative. This is part of our program culture.

My student-athletes have taught me to appreciate the authenticity in the moments we experience together as a team and build our lessons around our struggles. They have also helped me remain mindful of the togetherness outside of practices that help define us too - the times when we do community service, joke around after practices, and go through shared experiences like final exam week together - all of that is part of the team story.

I learned how to shape the stories we tell and the strategies I employ for practice around the qualities that make each team unique. My players taught me how to leverage our unique story to inspire them rather than depending on general platitudes.

7. Who gets your water?

If you want to see how a high school team is really doing, look at the bench during games. My best teams have always included players who were willing to fill up the water cups before timeouts and deliver them to players in the huddle. These small selfless acts, often by the players who play least, contribute to a culture of lifting others up.

Your team culture reveals your values. A culture includes a lot of elements and often times the guys pushing others in practice despite a lack of playing time are central to the culture of a team. Expressive cheering and shows of support are part of it too, but even those things can be fleeting. A culture is built in practices and in the habits, the body language and the approach taken by players and coaches every day.

The cool thing about a winning culture is that it remains constant in times of struggle or great success. Everyone can embrace the culture because it’s based on who we are and our commitment, not unpredictable conditions.

8. Space required

I am so grateful that 
my wife and children 
support my coaching 
commitment. The 
experience is one that 

we share and it means 
the world to me. (By 

the way, my team is 
the Tigers - hence the
striped costume)

Great teams dance with risk and failure and balance it with security and predictability. We need space to grow and that means we should expect and embrace some discomfort. My teams have helped me accept that uncertainty and frustration are a necessary part of our growth. My players have helped me learn how to let go of futile stubbornness and old ideas in the face of new evidence. In order to become our best as leaders and teammates, we need space to grow. This space encourages all team members to own mistakes, honor the team and remain mindful. As a coach, I learned to embrace opportunities to model this ownership and the response from young people and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.

9. It ain't about me

It seems that at anytime in my coaching career that I began to lose focus of this lesson I was humbled and realized quickly how much I don’t know. The games, the team record, the big wins or tough losses - none of it is about me. Admittedly, it took a few seasons to realize that not only is it not about me now, but that my success leading others in anything will never be about me. The positive relationships with young men and women (I have assisted with high school girls basketball too) that I will keep forever leaves me feeling grateful that I am aware that none of this is about me.

Coaching has accelerated my professional growth and the realization that my passion revolves around improving the lives of others. My life is richer because of a career spent in education.

Coaching lineage is often referred to as a "coaching tree" and I have always been grateful that I can trace my roots back to some remarkable men. I am hopeful that as my players approach adulthood, they will feel the same way about me.
 

Dedication 

My junior high basketball coach Steve Walter made the 100 mile 
trip to watch me coach. We are pictured here with my children. As 
it turned out, our team completed a come-from-behind win on a 
last-second shot after trailing the entire game. I was so proud my 
coach came to support me. I was truly fortunate to have a lot of 
special coaches in my life. 

I would like to dedicate this entry to the special coaches in my life.

• Starting with Kyle Henry who introduced me to baseball, which I still love. Now I share that love and coach my own children.
• Phil Agostini who taught me how to be a part of a team and stuck with me as a kid when I had a tendency to challenge authority.
• Steve Walter is the coach I wish my own children could have because he was such a great teacher.
• Mitch Mercer with his incredible ability to relate to kids and see the big picture.
• Darin Magley, a remarkably patient and kind role-model. Great for kids.
• Jim VanSyckle & Chris Booth - Both men spent a lot of time helping me learn the value of patience and hard work as I sat the bench trying to earn playing time. A lot of coaches don't talk about sitting the bench, but I share the experience with my teams every season. These two coaches helped me grow through the challenge and I am a better coach because of them.
• Scott Swinehart - the most prepared and detail-oriented coach I ever had as a kid. Our team respected him and responded to his demanding expectations. A master of consistency.
• Jim Graham - Skillful deployment of the pre-game speech and motivating his players to go all in. Fired up and proud.
• Jerry Reams - One of my all-time favorites. "Old Dawg" was the finest assistant coach a young man could want. He always encouraged us, made us laugh and kept the game of baseball a game. I appreciated him at the time because his calm approach to coaching and his kind heart kept some negative influences at bay for me. He always found the positive and we knew he respected the game. More importantly, he cared about us as players and we knew it.
• Joel Leipprandt was my JV basketball coach and I still call him each season before big games. I knew early on how lucky I was to have him in my life. He was a selfless leader, an authentic man with high expectations and integrity; on my coach's Dream Team.

Martin Luther King’s influence on me as a teacher

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From the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance: On April 4,  2018 we will observe the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. As we approach this milestone, we'd like to know how his life influenced you and your teaching. Tell us what Dr. King's legacy means to you.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy can be seen at every positive turning point in our nation over the last year.

The thousands of courageous young people standing up today and demanding safer American schools reveals the brand of energy and organization Dr. King displayed during the Civil Rights Movement. By refusing to cave to the NRA and ridiculous critics, Parkland High School students have drawn awareness to our longstanding national failure on gun policy in the United States. These inspiring activists have a vision for our nation that their older counterparts gave up on after political inaction following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. The creativity and passion modeled by these young activists is motivating people young and old to take action. It is refreshing and there’s no doubt that Dr. King would be proud.

Art work by Eric Patrick Kelly, a friend of my brother. 
We all grew up in Ionia, Michigan together. Eric created 
this marker drawing on MLK Day. He said, "I drew his fist 
a lot larger than the photo - for some reason I imagined 
him shaking it at the current administration.”

   

   We have also witnessed Dr. King’s lessons about standing up to injustice as teachers continue calling people to action to improve education for the millions of children left behind in American schools. First in Detroit, then West Virginia and now in Oklahoma teachers continue to organize on behalf of students who face poor learning conditions and inadequate funding. Just as Dr. King spoke out against awful policies that harmed the poor, American teachers have led the fight for equity by speaking out against inept leadership and dreadful education policies plaguing our children.

   And we also feel King’s legacy in the tears of parents crying out when their black and brown children are gunned down by police in American streets. When we call out injustice and seek to understand the legacy of the darkest parts of our history (slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, etc.) and how those truths connect to our problems today, we honor Dr. King and American heroes who continue to shine a light on the truth.

From Ferguson to Charlottesville and every stop in between and after, Martin Luther King, Jr. marches with us today just as he did in Selma, Birmingham and Washington, DC.

Our March Continues at Rallies, on Twitter and in Classrooms

We see the resemblance of Dr. King in our new leaders as they inspire us and hold us accountable for who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation.

Young activists have taken to Twitter to organize and they use Instagram to influence the hearts and minds of followers. They are using the same social media tools that have helped divide our country and flipped the script. American corporations whose advertising supported hateful commentary have been called out through social media channels and have since chosen to change course. Social media helps people mobilize to action as town hall meetings, walkouts and rallies are planned on a global scale.     

I try to channel King's remarkable persistence when we tackle topics like privilege and bigotry in our classroom. Dr. King’s ability to nudge, pull and prod people away from the comfort of their own indifference remains his legacy for thousands of teachers coast to coast.

My teaching philosophy and my ability to keep my own light shining is inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. He taught a nation how to come together and take action and make the positive change we desire. I make it a priority to do my best to help students find their own meaning and appreciation for diversity and equality. We read, we watch, we listen, we discuss and we try to understand what is happening in our world by digging deeper. I try my best to emulate Dr. King’s intentional and honest approach in my own efforts to eliminate prejudice from my heart and the world.

Dr. King had the capacity to convince people that indifference toward oppression was part of our American DNA and he also showed us that it doesn’t have to remain that way. He was uniquely qualified to help hundreds of thousands of people understand why we needed to change by articulating and devising strategies that revealed a real-life honest account of America’s failures that could no longer be denied. Simultaneously, King showed a nation how to change as he skillfully unified people from every race, creed and background in a fight for equality, love and justice.

Whether we look to the Black Lives Matter movement, the Me Too movement or the Parkland students demanding change, we see Dr. King’s blueprint that requires we use the tools at our disposal to make the truth inescapable to the masses. Sometimes that involves video and the use of social media to shine a light on realities that only some people know first-hand. King was no stranger to the fact that it is messy and difficult to open people’s eyes to ugly truths that require collective action to address. He was a master at helping people dig deeper into the weighty issues of prejudice, poverty and policy. These topics still deserve the attention and commitment of every educator, spanning every single school in America.

We want our students to feel the gravity of our greatest challenges today just as Dr. King taught us more than fifty years ago. He reminded us there is incredible value in recognizing and facing the the complexity and nuances of racism. Standing up for what is right and fighting for causes that advance progress will always be a part of who we are as Americans. That is his legacy and we should try to honor that legacy in our classrooms and beyond. Dr. King had the persistence and patience to teach us to never give up on people who seem, at the moment, unwilling to confront their own intolerance.

Building Our Empathy Muscles

Dr. King taught an entire generation the value of empathy and in classrooms across the nation we continue to honor him with meaningful conversations about American history and our responsibility to keep striving to do better. We build our empathy muscles every time we try to walk in the shoes of others and there’s no better leader to guide us than Martin Luther King, Jr.

As an educator, I try to confront my own biases and lead by example for my students. Dr. King taught us that we can not afford to shut the door on important conversations and listening is one of our greatest assets when confronting bigotry. If we seek first to understand then we can slowly let go of the need to be right and turn our attention to taking action to make our communities better for everyone. Dr. King helps me and my students to work toward measured words and persistent action in hopes we can make America whole.

  

Dr. King reminds us that when we try to feel the pain of others, we can grasp an inescapable truth: we will always have our humanity in common. He taught us to embrace an empathetic approach to understanding the world and we honor Dr. King when we choose love over hate. We can feel Dr. King's legacy in the embrace of someone whose ideology, background or views may be different than our own. King reminded all of us, "Let no man pull you low enough to hate him."

As teachers, we need to show our children that our desire to do better and to be better requires that we maintain the courage to speak out against intolerance and demonstrate a personal ambition to understand others.

The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. can be seen by today’s leaders - ordinary men, women and children - who are taking action to fulfill our dream for a better America.  

Note: Dr. King creatively weaved his lessons about fellowship and resistance into a sermon (1956) in which he read a letter from the Apostle Paul to Americans and that sermon inspired this blog entry. His teachings are just as relevant today as as they were more than 60 years ago.  I strongly encourage you to check it out HERE.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.                                     - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

MLK and Letterman remind us to pay attention to our drum major

Reflections on a snow day: On this, our sixth snow day of the school year, I have decided to allow myself a limited amount of time to write while my two unsupervised children make forts and destroy the house. I have a strict time limit, otherwise this entry might stretch into a week-long project.

Dr. King and David Letterman headline my learning today. The iconic late night entertainer was an unexpected answer to writer's block after many futile attempts trying to write about Martin Luther King's lessons for today's world. King and Letterman are a unique combo and their ideas laid out in this blog post are worth connecting.

Dr. King (undated) - AP, creative commons

I spent a lot of time leading up to Martin Luther King Day pouring over his “B-side” speeches and writings looking for something new to help me make sense of the modern political landscape.

That’s when I discovered his Drum Major Instinct speech from February 1968. I was familiar with the portions where he spoke eloquently about his own eulogy (Link here) and famously said, “I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others... I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity."

It was the other parts of his 35-minute sermon that made an impression recently though. In light of of President Trump’s January 2018 reference in an Oval Office meeting to El Salvador, Haiti and African nations as “shit holes” Dr. King's words from fifty years ago struck a chord.

“Do you know that a lot of the race problem grows out of the drum major instinct?" King declared. "A need that some people have to feel superior. A need that some people have to feel that they are first, and to feel that their white skin ordained them to be first.”

I read the speech several times, listened to it and parsed the passages, playing them against the video reels in my head from Charlottesville, Ferguson and news stories about good people recently deported from the United States.  

President Trump continues to both exploit and expose racism in the United States. Sure, Trump’s disgraceful remarks reveal his character, but they also beg the question, who are we?

Who we are is complicated. It is hard to accept a reality where a sizable portion of our electorate either has the luxury to ignore the consequences of Trump's words and actions or worse, chooses to support him despite the negative consequences. Maybe worse, some people are unaware that silently looking away is accepting the Trump world view and that also has consequences that will be difficult to fix. Sadly, children can get swept up in adult complicity and that's where schools can play a vital role in calling out intolerance and bigotry. Even in the age of Trump, American values like diversity, equality and civic engagement can still be taught independent of politics or ideology. This is one of the great social studies education challenges of our time.

The prejudice and fear underlying the current debate about refugees, immigrants and border security (AKA "the wall") are evidence that it will take more than the passage of another five decades to heal our open racism wounds in the United States. With each mean-spirited tweet and hateful rant by the president, the opening for for a worthy policy debate gets swallowed by Trump's shadow. King’s 1968 Drum Major sermon was a warning to Americans about what can happen if unfit leaders obtain power. Meanwhile, in 2018 too many people have taken cover under Trump's shadow and chosen him as their drum major. Acknowledging the intolerance and prejudice espoused by President Trump and making honest efforts to do better is as important today as eradicating racist voting laws was in the 1960's.

About the impulse for people driven by ego and intolerance King reminds us, “...The final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities.” With conviction, King added, “God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now.”

King's words in 1968 were a harbinger of modern America. Policies carrying the stench of bigotry cannot be separated from the words and deeds of the man who promotes them. It has become increasingly more difficult to separate the merits of policy disagreements from the ugly insults President Trump uses to disparage minorities, his opponents, the media and sometimes even members of his own political party.

Remaining vigilant and seeking the truth may be exhausting, but not doing so could lead to a crisis.

How was I not aware?

John Lewis (far right) with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (center) leading 

a march in Alabama to protest restrictive voting rights for 

African Americans in 1965.  (Public Domain)

David Letterman brought this topic full circle in his conversation with President Obama that recently aired on his Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

A portion of the interview centered around the courageous work of US Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) during the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis and King organized the March from Selma to Montgomery, later known as Bloody Sunday due to the violence that ensued at the hands of law enforcement.

Letterman and Obama reminisced about the bravery of Americans throughout history who blazed a trail for others in their quest for a more perfect union. In the interview, President Obama marveled at the ordinary people who courageously took action and joined together to make change. He remarked that presidential leadership involves more than governing and he credited his wife Michelle Obama for bringing that fact into focus for him.

“One of the things that Michelle figured out, in some ways faster than I did, was part of your ability to lead the country doesn't have to do with legislation, doesn't have to do with regulations," Obama said. "It has to do with shaping attitudes, shaping culture, increasing awareness.”

Increasing awareness of the current US challenges may be the first hurdle we need to clear in order to dig into the more complicated work of creating a better future. We need to overcome narratives by the current White House and their allies that tell us everything is just fine and that real problems related to economic inequality, racism and sexism do not belong to all of us to solve.
.

President Obama made the point that hard work and talent are necessary to lead effectively, but that good fortune and luck also play a role.

To that point Letterman claimed luck helped propel him to a national platform as an entertainer. He made that point by suggesting that the failure to respond with empathy to the real struggles faced by others is part of our American legacy.

President Obama and David Letterman backstage as part of the hour-long 
Netflix special that aired in January 2018. Photo by Joe Pugliese / Netflix

“Mr. President, this is what I’m struggling with at this point in my life: I have been nothing but lucky,” Letterman solemnly stated. “When John Lewis and his friends [marched across the bridge], in April of ’65 me and my friends were driving to Florida to get on a cruise ship to go to the Bahamas because there was no age limit to purchase alcohol, and we spent the entire week, pardon my French, shit-faced,” Letterman quipped.

“Why wasn’t I in Alabama? Why was I not aware? I have been nothing but lucky.”

Letterman’s response hit home and made me realize that the American story that we talk about in schools is at worst contrived and at best incomplete. Letterman’s conversation with President Obama has prompted me to raise my own level of awareness.

I never want my students to say in ten, twenty or even fifty years when they look back at this period in our nation’s history, “Why was I not aware?”

Intentionally tackling issues and raising awareness in schools

The challenge to tackle these tough topics does not rest solely on the shoulders of educators, but we are a critical part of the solution. We should feel a profound sense of opportunity as educators because we can help students usher in a better way of understanding our world.

This documentary from 2017 is on my list to watch 

as soon as possible. It was nominated for an Oscar and 
won the Audience Choice Award for the Best 
Documentary Feature at the 2016 Chicago International 
Film Festival.

Yes, we can read and discuss James Madison and James Baldwin. Modern black authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and the classic standard-bearers like Toni Morrison and W.E.B. Du Bois (List here) can be intertwined with textbook accounts of American history and politics. A start here is better than the alternative of reading chapter three and regurgitating cookie-cutter answers.

“Why was I not aware?” is the same question so many people were asking leading up to and since the 2016 election of Donald Trump. The roles of gender, race and economics in the 2016 election should be examined beyond 2016 though. I cannot answer the question, 'Why was I not aware?' for all of my readers, but I am honest with myself in admitting that I have had the privilege to not be aware.

That unawareness and how it manifests itself in specific beliefs and social constructs has to be part of the American story we boldly navigate in American schools. This is part of my own learning and it has pushed me to wonder if maybe we failed by teaching kids to memorize state capitals at the expense of asking them to think more critically about why inequality exists. My exploration into these topics is fueled by my growing concern that young people are giving up on the institutions and the people who serve them. Civic duty and service to others are at the foundation of the American spirit. We need well-educated and optimistic young people to take the reigns soon. My goal is to cut through the shame and blame and open myself up so that I can be more aware. Teachers need to model curisoity and discomfort with topics like race that are a critical part of the American story.

In doing so, I hope I help my students do the same - whoever they are, whatever their story, wherever their journey originated and whatever their political and ideological leanings. We all have a responsibility to dig a little deeper. For me, this aspect of my teaching and my being is very intentional. President Obama provided some insight about digging deeper and confronting racism in his recent interview with Letterman.

“It turns out that we come up with all kinds of reasons to try to put ourselves over other people,” Obama said. “Racism is a profound example of that, but obviously biologically there’s no actual reality to it other than we made this thing up. We made it up.”

My goal is to spark curiosity in students. We begin with the messy work of diagnosing problems and for me and the 150-plus students I teach, there is not a road map. We are not afraid to create one though.

Lately I have been listening to and reading speeches by prominent American leaders, investigating how their ideas might apply today. In my quest to make some sense of the vitriol and tribalism that is swirling around the Trump Administration, I have firmly landed on a few truths about my role as an educator:

1. Students and teachers need space to explore important topics in a safe setting where “right and wrong” takes a backseat to “learning and understanding."
2. It is critical that teachers at every level help young people grapple with the implications of privilege, bias and complicity. A failure to exercise our “empathy muscles” in school weakens the prospects for lasting change.
3. Mutual respect, trust and solid relationships in a classroom are a minimum requirement and those aspects of a learning culture simply allows for the work to begin. Expecting people to act boldly and truthfully requires a culture of learning that encourages people to change their minds when new information persuades us to think in more enlightened ways.

This book really opened my eyes to how 
much I don't know about the American 
experience. I agree with Toni Morrison 
- this is required reading. 

Read Coates work HERE
and HERE 

As a social studies teacher I have a responsibility to my students to provide an accurate historical context and a fact-based account of the events shaping today’s news cycle. I never expected that agreeing to the same set of facts would be so difficult. The time it takes to digest basic facts should be balanced with lessons about topics like prejudice, inequality and systemic challenges facing all of us. Letterman's conversation with President Obama encouraged me to stay mindful of what is at stake for our students.

I was reminded of President Obama's words following the murder of nine black worshippers in Charleston SC at the hands of a white supremacist when he called on Americans to make lasting change in regard to race in America.

"None of us can or should expect a transformation in race relations overnight," Obama said. "Every time something like this happens, somebody says, 'We have to have a conversation about race.' We talk a lot about race. There's no shortcut."

Perhaps one of the most glaring weaknesses of our republic today is our failure to recognize that racism still infects our politics and intolerance continues to pull the levers of American democracy fifty years after King's passing.

President Obama is right - there are no shortcuts. So, let's get to work today so that this era can mark the point in our history when we finally acknowledge our unawareness and actually do something about it. That is a legacy Republicans and Democrats could all be proud to claim ownership.

NOTE: Dr. King's Drum Major Instinct sermon was adapted from a 1952 homily by preacher J. Wallace Hamilton.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR of CIVICS ENGAGED: Nick Gregory has been a social studies and journalism teacher in Michigan since 2000 and he has been a National Writing Project Teacher consultant and a junior varsity basketball coach since 2002. Gregory is a Michigan Education Voice Fellow and he has exhibited photography related to Detroit and social justice causes since 2011. Gregory, who has a Masters degree in Educational Leadership, believes that building positive relationships helps students find their passion for learning. You can follow him on Twitter @CivicsEngaged.