In this part II episode we get further into the root causes and hear more from the youth themselves about the support they need to feel well right now.

This conversation was organized through the DC Consortium for Mental and Behavioral Health in Schools (or DC COMBS), a group of more than 30 school-based behavioral health organizations working in DC. EmpowerEd has been a member of DC COMBS for more than three years now, and we have learned so much about the important, intersecting needs of educator, student and family well-being. We think it's so important to have open spaces like this to discuss these themes both broadly and intimately. 

Please see our resource list for supporting students with anxiety here.

A big thank you to our guests: DaVaughn Montgomery and Alfons Prince - both great DC educators; Tara Brown and Andrea Jones - two wonderful DC parents of students and a very big thank you to Daniel and Naomi - two DC high school students who bravely shared their experiences with us. 

Also, I want to give a shoutout to Dr. Megan McCormick, cofounder of MedStar WISE who does incredible work supporting mental health in schools and did a great job facilitating this conversation. 

We appreciate you all being open to these deep, important conversations about what it means to be well and how schools can do a better job supporting students, teachers, and families. Thanks for listening and as always, let us know what you are thinking! 

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For this, EmpowerEd has been working for the past three years with the DC Consortium for Mental Wellness and Behavioral Health in Schools (or DC COMBS) run through George Washington University. This is a group of more than 30 organizations who support the wellness needs of all stakeholders within a school community.

Through DC COMBS we've had some really rich discussions about how to strengthen our wellness system overall in schools, particularly when tackling big complicated issues like managing student anxiety (which we are discussing today).

Our guests include two DC educators (DaVaughn Montgomery and Alfons Prince), two DC parents (Tara Brown and Andrea Jones) and two DC high school students (Daniel and Naomi). Together, we discussed why anxiety is impacting so many students in difficult ways, and how caring adults can support kids while also addressing the root causes for anxiety. 

This session is also facilitated by Dr. Megan McCormick, cofounder of MedStar WISE who does incredible work supporting mental health in schools, and has been a guest on the podcast before. I always love being in conversation with her and know you will too. 

Because the conversation was long, we are dividing it into two parts. The first episode (this one) focuses on what anxiety is, why it seems to be getting worse for students, and how it impacts schools and families. In part II, we'll get further into root causes and hearing from the youth themselves on the support they need right now.  

As always, thanks so much for listening and for everything you do!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

As more and more students become identified with special educator needs, how can we truly care for and retain these incredibly important educators?

To have this conversation, we were so excited for Dominique Moore, a long-time SPED teacher and current community organizer at EmpowerEd to be in conversation with Emily Griswold, also a long-time SPED teacher and the founder of 11:11 Wellness, an DC school wellness organization focused on creating ecosystems of care and trust for teachers and students.

As you'll hear, Dominique and Emily each bring an important understanding and powerful perspective about the SPED landscape in DC. Together, they explore similarities and differences between SPED and Gen Ed teachers, and what’s being missed in our current approach to supporting SPED staff and students.

In particular, they discuss:

Their journey to becoming SPED teachers, and how their classroom experiences have shaped their view of our education system;

How schools can shift from burning out SPED educators by intentionally building cultures of care.

Relational strategies that school leaders can use to make wellness an integral part of student and school success.

And much more!

We are inspired by both Dominique and Emily's wisdom and vision. We hope you find validation and inspiration in their conversation. As always, please reach out if you have any thoughts, or if we can support you in any way.

Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the episode!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We also want to recognize that many teachers, because of other life responsibilities, don’t always have the capacity to go above and beyond—and that is more than okay. Still, we wanted to better understand the educators who continually support the wellness of their fellow staff members (and students and families). Because while we absolutely adore working with them, we also worry about their risk of burnout. We often ask ourselves: how can we—both as individuals and as a system—take better care of these teachers so they can keep taking care of everyone else?

To explore this, we invited three of our favorite D.C. teacher extraordinaires. Chandler Dennard is a music teacher at Kimball Elementary and has done incredible research on teacher well-being through the WTU. LaQuontinesha Atchinson is a second grade teacher at Ludlow-Taylor ES who serves on multiple committees at her school. And Noudjal Gamougoun is a SPED TLI at MacFarland MS who recently earned her Master’s in Social Work.

Together, we discuss:

- What motivates them to show up and share so much with their colleagues and schools.

- How they’ve learned to protect against burnout—and the systemic changes they’d like to see to support their efforts.

- The role teachers could play in designing and implementing better SEL practices for students—if only they were consulted.

- And much more.

As you’ll hear, these teachers are incredibly caring, thoughtful human beings. It made my heart happy to hear more about their motivations and their vision for our education system. We hope they also inspire you to take better care of yourself (if you relate to them) and/or to better support the extraordinaires in your school.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We know families are essential for student success, but too often the pressure for this falls on individual teachers rather than being supported by a systematic approach that creates consistent, empathy-driven interactions.

We were so lucky to speak with Emily Garcia, Executive Director of the Flamboyan Foundation. Flamboyan has partnered with over 70 schools in Washington, DC, to help educators improve their proactive family engagement practice and provide systems-level support to help ensure that all leaders see families as partners in a student's academic and personal growth.

Emily shares the core strategies for better family engagement, including taking an assets-based perspective and challenging internal biases when interacting with families. She also outlines best practices that help educators enlist families in ways that actually make their jobs easier, rather than adding to the overwhelm.

We also discuss:

- The biggest misconception about effective family engagement—something we see all the time in schools.

- Why making family engagement a top priority helps educators and schools achieve all their other goals.

- The magic of the "home visit" and how schools can better support educators in this practice.

- And much more!

We loved this conversation and hope it inspires you to focus on family engagement in new ways this year. As always, we’d love your feedback. What family engagement strategies have been most effective for you?

Thank you for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In a city like Washington, DC—where some schools are actual historical buildings—facility maintenance requires constant upkeep. Yet, citywide systems break down far too often. Most of our schools grapple with ongoing facility issues, and teachers are left to mitigate the stress of HVAC failures, water outages, vermin problems, and more.

To have this crucial conversation, we were honored to speak with Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 Council Member who oversees the Department of General Services (DGS). DGS is responsible for school building maintenance. Every year during pre-service, she visits DC schools to ensure they are ready for student learning.

As you'll hear, Council Member Lewis George is a lifelong DC resident and an amazing graduate of our city's education system. She also recently announced her candidacy for Mayor of DC and has made education—and teachers—a central focus of her campaign.

In this episode, she shares more about her own K-12 journey and why she cares so deeply about supporting our school system and educators. She explains why functioning school buildings are the lynchpin of student success, and highlights the many people and systems that work together to care for our schools.

We also discuss:

- Why building issues are ultimately a solvable problem, and the concrete policies that can drive improvement.

- DC's incredible new school designs that build community-centered learning environments.

- How to address deeper issues of school safety, including the terror of ongoing ICE actions near our schools.

- And much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode, and we wish you a wonderful winter break! We look forward to sharing more with you in 2026. Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In our years of educator wellness experience, we've seen how a school's culture can make or break a teacher's well-being. And yet, even when we understand its importance, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly why one school is thriving while another feels "toxic," especially when they exist within the very same school system.

To help us better understand the building blocks of positive school cultures, we invited an expert, Dr. Nia Nun. Dr. Nia is a teacher, scholar, and DEI consultant based in Ithaca, NY. Her work blends research, creativity, and community engagement with a focus on "radical vulnerability." She uses this approach to encourage the reflective, human-centered practices that are foundational to building positive cultures—in schools, and really, everywhere.

In our conversation, we discuss—and even practice in real time!—the elements that help build community and encourage belonging for staff, students, and families.

In particular, we dive into:

• How shared rituals, like greetings, can set a powerful relational tone.
• The important connection between fear and toxicity within a school culture (and how radical vulnerability can help address it).
• How to begin healing a culture that has felt toxic.

And so much more!

As you'll hear, Dr. Nia is incredibly inspiring. You can find more of her work at her website, DrNiaNunn.com, listen to her fantastic 2014 TED Talk, or check out one of her beautiful books: Super-Girl: Strength & Sadness in Black Girlhood (2016), Deep Breath: A Poetry Book and Curriculum (2022), or the digital textbook The Community is My Classroom: Radical Vulnerability as Curriculum.

Enjoy the conversation, and as always, thanks so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

At EmpowerEd, we've been talking a lot about how to practice wellness right now, especially in schools where educators are on the front lines.

For the first installment in our series, we were very lucky to have Queen Adesuyi who runs Reframe Health and Justice and her colleague, Jessica Peñaranda who is a mind-body somatic practitioner focused on grief support within movement work. Together, we discuss the specific challenges facing DC due to our lack of statehood and all the resilience and joy that the amazing people who live across our eight wards are cultivating anyway.

In particular we discuss:

• The specific justice and equity-influenced reasons why DC has been denied statehood and how our deeper values as a city can help us navigate this moment.
• How different concepts of safety can be a hindrance but also an important conversation to engage in to come out of isolation and really practice connection.
• The ways this occupation can worsen outcomes for our already justice-impacted youth and how to stay vigilant on supporting the student, rather than supporting the system.
• and so much more.

We are inspired by Queen and Jessica and grateful to be able share their voices and vision with all our listeners. We hope you find hope and connection in this conversation in their message. As always, please reach out if we can support you in any way.

Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the episode.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

To discuss ways to care for ourselves in school communities, I was so grateful to speak with Melissa Sellevaag from the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. Melissa is a longtime social worker who supports DC schools through difficult moments, including the loss of a student or teacher, and is working to meet the needs of this traumatic time we are living through.

In particular, we discussed:

- How to approach behavior in schools with curiosity, rather than blame and shame, to hone our "compassion lenses"

- Why it's important to think systemically to understand the behavior issues we are seeing in school (for both students and staff)

- The reason that it's so difficult to find and offer connection when we get stuck in the "protection" function of our nervous systems- and much more. 

Although the problems ahead of us are immense, we hope this conversation can help us all practice more self-care and cultivate the resilience we need to support students, families and our teaching communities. 

Please reach out if you have any questions, comments, or just need a little extra support right now. You are doing so much to support others, and we want you to know that we are here to support your wellness as a DC educator. 

Enjoy the episode and thank you so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

From early on in our lives, we are taught the importance of teamwork for achieving a goal. There is no "I" in team right? And yet in education, where our goals are so incredibly important, we often lose sight of how teachers need to work together as a cohesive team to truly support students. And when teachers act as individuals, they quickly get siloed and burned out. 

To discuss why this happens, and the necessary design to help teachers work better together, we are so excited to be speaking with Leslie Edwards. Leslie is a longtime educator,  instructional coach, assistant principal, principal, director of school leadership development - you name it! - and currently runs her own educational consulting firm called Ed Leadership 4 Liberation. After such a rich career in education, Leslie's main passion is helping schools to redesign the way their teachers collaborate more effectively. 

In our conversation, we'll discuss;

• Why a "students first" mentality can actually work against the progress we want to see for our learners. 
• How the concept of working together as a team isn't a series of trust-builder exercises, but rather requires real systems and policy work.
• The reason that mindset work for leaders is so critical for great teaming and true educator wellness (and often falls by the wayside in our current education system)

 -and so much more.

As you listen to Leslie, we hope you are inspired to rethink and uplevel the teaming practices in your school this year. Leslie has an exciting upcoming Virtual Global Cohort for Educators & Leaders that you can register for here: www.tinyurl.com/thevirtualglobalcohort

Also, get ready for an exciting new season where we go deeper into EmpowerEd's themes of educator wellness, staff voice, and how retaining our educators is the most important way to transform our education system.

Thanks so much and enjoy the episode!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Today, we’re diving into this conversation with two powerhouse advocates:

LaJoy Johnson-Law, Ward 8’s elected member to DC’s State Board of Education, and Dominique Moore, a long time DCPS SPED teacher and EmpowerEd’s new community organizer. As educators, mothers, and fierce champions for students, they’ve dedicated their careers to fighting for those too often left behind.

In this episode, we’ll explore:

✅ The ongoing struggle for true inclusion—and the systemic changes needed to make it happen.

✅ How policy failures—like pushing SPED students toward certificates instead of diplomas—hurt our kids.

✅ Why dumping everything on SPED teachers fuels burnout—and how real co-teaching can lighten the load.

✅ Ways to empower families navigating the SPED process—because they shouldn’t have to fight alone.

And so much more!

You’ll hear energy, joy, and urgency in this discussion—just like EmpowerEd’s mission: human-centered and policy-driven. We hope it sparks new ideas, pushes you to rethink inclusion, and hopefully even moves you to, as LaJoy says, "Be Bold!"

This is our last episode before our September return. Please enjoy the break and reach out with ideas for Season Four!

Thanks for listening, and have a great summer!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

And yet, too often we leave the work of special teachers out of the conversation about educator wellness. Because these teachers have access to most grade-levels, they both have a different perspective and different wellness needs than classroom teachers. By taking time to understand their experiences, we can learn essential information for education policy and design. 

To explore their wellness needs further, we are joined by three specials teachers in DC. Rachel Hargreaves teaches art at Deal Middle School, Dr. Robert Bannister is Burroughs Elementary School's music teacher, and Kerri Richardson-Redding is Savoy Elementary School's library/media specialist. As you'll hear, they represent a wealth of education experience and human knowledge.

We discuss:

• The ways planning time and daily scheduling can look very different for specials teachers.
• The importance of specializing within specials to create a strong program. 
• How the education system could become stronger with a greater emphasis on intercore.
• And much more!

We are so grateful to our guests and for the rich topics that emerged in the conversation. We're also grateful to you for listening and sharing our podcast with others! As always, please take good care of yourself and reach out if you need anything!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

To celebrate properly, we wanted to focus this episode on ways to reimagine teacher appreciation week beyond traditional gestures like food and gifts.

For this, we invited the amazing teachers and EmpowerEd Fellows and Board Members, Jackeline Peña and Gabrielle Dubose, to share the memorable and meaningful forms of appreciation they have received during their education careers.

Together, we discussed:

• How to handle the under-appreciated aspects of teaching, such as emotional labor and behind-the-scenes tasks.
• Ways to infuse teacher appreciation efforts with a human-centered touch.
• How city-level policy reforms and policy change can be the most impactful way to show appreciation for educators.

We are so grateful to be working with so many amazing school leaders who understand the power of teachers' contributions and work to support the wellness of their educators.

Please let us know the ways you like to be appreciated and please share this episode with another educator in your life! Thanks for listening and all you do.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For this, we decided to invite Gracy Obuchowicz, our very own director of educator wellness at EmpowerEd, to be our podcast guest. Gracy has spent her career supporting both individual and group wellness. She taught yoga for many years, helped hundreds of individuals through her own self-care coaching business, and has been running EmpowerEd's teacher wellness programming since 2016. Since 2021, she's coordinated educator wellness programs in more than 25 partner schools. She even wrote a book about self-care and how it can be applied to help us through difficult life moments.

All this to say, we knew Gracy might have some wisdom to offer us and our listeners about the role self-care and wellness can play in these moments.

During our conversation, our team discussed:

• The ways our views of wellness can change with the political climate
• How to balance personal self-care and community care as we engage in activism
• Why taking a break from reading headlines could be a form of self-care
• and much more!

We really enjoyed this discussion and hope you do too! As we mentioned at the end of the episode, we want to know what self-care is currently working for you. Write to us at wellness@weareempowered.org and let us know. As always, thanks for listening and please take care of yourself!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

During a time in society when more and more students seem to be checking out, how can teachers keep them engaged? Further, how does this kind of professional development add to teacher wellness, rather than land as one more initiative.

To have this conversation, we were really happy to speak with Robert Barnett, former DCPS teacher and founder of the Modern Classroom Project. His pedagogical approach uses technology to create dynamic teaching tools, especially for reaching diverse learners and to shift student behavior dynamics. In our conversation, we dive into why thoughtful pedagogy matters, and how to use it in a way that is sustainable and empowering for educators.

Additionally, we discuss:

- How to use technology to actually enhance the human component of teaching and learning.

- Why you may be thinking about the term "differentiation" in a way that works against your teaching aims.

- Ways to effectively work with the realities of student absenteeism while still helping learners create mastery.

We hope this conversation invigorates your pedagogical practice and increases your wellness. To learn more about the Modern Classroom Project, please visit: modernclassrooms.org

As always, thanks for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We were so excited to speak with Lucas Cooke, a DCPS Principal at MacFarland Middle School where EmpowerEd has partnered over the past few years. Principal Cooke was a longtime teacher who was supported by his mentors to become an assistant principal and then principal before he knew he was even ready for the job (this alone is a great practice of mentorship). As you'll hear, he has a wonderful philosophy of the importance of "pouring into his teachers" so they can truly serve their students. 

In our conversation, we discuss the importance of supporting new teachers within the many competing priorities of a school environment, and the big and little successes that have come from EmpowerEd developing a dedicated MacFarland Mentors program this year. 

Additionally, we discuss:

- How creating a "safe" mentorship process sometimes means school admin stepping to the side and letting others lead.

- What incentives the mentor teachers get out of participating in a dedicated mentorship program (and why they aren't always the most important thing).

- Principal Cooke's feedback on the practical and therapeutic value of participating in a reverse mentorship program with one of his teachers.

- And more!

Although this is the last episode in our series on mentorship, we are still building momentum in all our school-based mentorship programs. Please reach out to us if you are curious to keep tracking this process, or are interested in us supporting a mentorship program in your school. As always, thanks for listening and please take care of yourself!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In this episode, we speak with Jen Briones, Deputy Director of Policy and Research for DC's State Board of Education. For those who don't know, the State Board of Education is the only elected body that is exclusively focused on education in Washington, DC. With representatives from all of DC's eight wards, including current and former educators, they represent a diverse and informed perspective on how to create the strongest education system possible in our city.

The State Board's Educator Excellence Committee recently passed SR24-27, a resolution which calls for a comprehensive mentorship and ineducation programming for new teachers in DC. This committee wanted to focus on professional development for new teachers because over half of the DC educator workforce is currently between their first and fifth year of teaching. As many people know, this early period of teaching is a vulnerable time, and without critical mentorship support, these teachers won't stay.

During our conversation, we discuss:

• the tension between providing quality system-wide support and adding one more mandate to teachers' overloaded schedules.
• why teacher retention is particularly important as an equity issue.
• why teachers should be paid for their time participating in mentorship programs.

And so much more!

Thank you to Jen and for such a thoughtful and informative conversation. Please sign up here if you'd like to give public testimony to the State Board. We hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

It turns out that research backs this up. Studies have shown that nearly 92% of first year teachers with mentors return for second year, while almost one in three without mentors leave within the first five years of teaching. But despite this, many schools don't have the necessary time, money and energy to create these essential programs. 

For this, EmpowerEd is very excited to currently be developing mentorship programs at several of our partner schools. The results look a bit different in each school as we think customization is a really essential key for program success. However, the feedback has been great so far and we're excited to share more with our podcast listeners. 

Over the next three episodes we'll be exploring best practices of both policy and practice in educator mentorship. In this first episode, we're bringing together clips from a longer mentorship call we led specifically our mentorship teams (aka our "staff support superstars") with commentary and context from Scott and Caroline.

As you'll hear, we also feature Tara Warrington, a longtime educator and Caroline's mentor, who is a repeat and inspiring podcast guest. There is so much goodness in all these conversations which focus on good mentorship practice both mentors and mentees. Please enjoy, and tune back into our next installment which will focus on policy to support mentorship programming. Thank you as always for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Gracy Obuchowicz, a long time self-care coach and Director of Educator Wellness for EmpowerEd, offers three perspectives to help you feel rested and ready to start 2025. 

In particular, she shares: 

- Why many educators are conditioned to be overgivers, and how to handle the guilty feelings that may come with taking care of yourself. 

- How to figure out your "rest style," and why that can change for us as life changes.

- The importance of avoiding the New Years Resolution trap, and ways to focus on small, continuous change.

- And more.

Thank you for listening now and throughout the year! We are so grateful for everyone who is engaging in this deeply important conversation about how to care for and retain our amazing educators. We are looking forward to sharing more wellness with you in 2025! Until then, we wish you a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year! 

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

To make sense of what happened and what is ahead, we to have an open conversation about our initial reactions to the election, and how we'd are planning to navigate the new reality of work and lives. This episode is more unscripted than our normal ones, and we share more about our thoughts and feelings than normal.

In particular, we discuss:

- Why it's important to "microdose" hope and understand how the feelings of hope and despair work in our brain (thank you, Brene Brown!).

- The particular changes we are facing in DC, and how we are coming together as a DC advocacy community.

- Issues facing particularly vulnerable students, such as using student data and how it could be used in policing.

- and much more!

As you can hear, we don't have easy answers for the situation we are in and perfect optimism for our near future. What we do have, however, are the wellness tools we've been honing over the years, such as proactive self-care, community support, and the power of our collective resistance.

For those who want to be involved in Defend DC, you can sign up for more information here.

We hope this conversation can help you make sense of your own post-election feelings, and provide a little comfort as we all figure out how to move forward. Thank you for listening, and let us know if we can support you!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

To ensure this student learning happens in a structured, positive way, teachers need a framework and toolbox of conflict resolution skills. However, what happens when educators don't have training? Further, many educators have difficulties in their peer relationships without meaningful support. What is the impact of adult conflict that doesn't get resolved in schools?

These are vitally important questions for creating a positive school culture, but it can be hard to find time to go deeply into both what is needed and what gets in the way of real conflict resolution.

For this, we were so grateful to have this conversation with Leila Peterson, Executive Director of SchoolTalk/Restorative DC, a DC-based organization that serves many schools, and Linda Ryden from Peace of Mind, a conflict resolution and mindfulness program that operates in the District and throughout the United States. Leila and Linda share their vast experience and expertise in successful, and unsuccessful, conflict resolution, and the particular ways this applies to teachers.

Specifically, we discuss:

• the vital connection between mindfulness and effective conflict resolution.
• the very real impacts of ignoring adult conflicts in schools.
• ways to ensure conflict resolution is culturally responsive and safe for participants.
• and much more!

As you'll hear, Leila and Linda are awesome and very generous in sharing their learned wisdom. We hope they help you feel inspired to implement conflict resolution in your schools, and especially focus on tools to resolve adult conflict. Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the show!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We are joined by two of DC Wildflower's educators. Ebony Marshman is a founding educator at Wildflower, and one of the school's two teacher leaders. Celia Daughtridge is a special education teacher who joined Wildflower's team part-time to recover from teacher burnout, and was quickly convinced by its vision to join the team full time.

At DC Wildflower, there is a strong commitment to the student experience without burning out its educators. As you'll hear from Ebony and Celia, they love education so much that they remain committed to NOT burning out. To do this requires a constant focus on and team commitment to educator wellness.

In this episode we discuss:

- How a teacher-led model can uplift and leverage the professional expertise of its educators.

- The ways self-management can release teachers from fear, and reestablish trust in the school environment.

- The reality that even the most well-designed school can still be pushed too far by the frenetic pace of our education system.

We hope you're as inspired by this conversation as we are by the whole DC Wildflower operation. As always, thank you for listening and enjoy the show!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For a while now, we've felt that the key to unlocking a better work environment is helping individuals cultivate more self-awareness. With self-awareness, we are better able to see our growth areas, coach our colleagues in meaningful ways, and be the change we hope to see in our workplaces.

And yet this is SO much easier said than done! As we found during this podcast conversation, even fully defining self-awareness can be a challenge (although we all agreed we know when we DON'T see it), and it gets more difficult to apply these inner skills amidst the pressures of a school day.

We are joined in this episode by Tiara Hudson, an ECE teacher at AppleTree Early Learning Center and a current EmpowerEd Fellow, and Michele Burbank, a longtime teacher and now instructional coach at Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy, where EmpowerEd just started a new partnership.

Both of these educators are passionate about the importance of self-awareness, and honest about the ways that our personal and professional growth can falter within the education system. We discuss tangible tools for being more self-aware, and the importance of transparency to help create an environment where everyone in a school can become more accountable to each other.

As you'll hear this is a big and important conversation. We are interested in continuing exploring these themes in further episodes, and would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. As always, thanks for listening and enjoy the episode!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

And yet, despite DC's rich history and legacy of Black educators, many Black teachers still don't receive the wellness support they need. With incredible demands on their time, the current intensity of student learning recovery, and the "racial battle fatigue" that comes from operating while Black within a system conditioned on white supremacy, many Black educators are burning out from accumulated stress.

Because of this, we are so excited to have this conversation about the importance of wellness, community, support and JOY for Black educators in Washington, DC and beyond. I'm joined by Jordan Daugherty, a dance educator and family engagement liaison at Center City Petworth Public Charter School, and Dallas Cherry a chemistry teacher at Maya Angelou High School. Both Dallas and Jordan are great teachers, involved community members, and all around fabulous people, and are currently serving as EmpowerEd fellows where they are working to make systemic change in our District schools.

Our discussion ranges from the power of Black representation in the classroom to learning about and valuing DC’s unique Black culture. We also talk about how to avoid the burnout and empathy fatigue that comes from supporting Black students through the highs and lows of life in our current society, and the futures we want to build with them.

We also announce the launch of EmpowerEd's new group for Black educators, Rest + Rise, a space dedicated to community-building and joy for Black Educators. If you are in the DC area, please save the date for our kickoff Happy Hour on October 11th and keep an eye out for the rest of the Rest + Rise events series all year long. You can learn more at our website www.weareempowered.org

As always, thank you for listening to our podcast. Please share your thoughts with us, and forward this conversation along to someone else who needs to hear it. Enjoy!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We decided to focus this first episode of our season on a concept we call human centered leadership. Over the past month, we've been able to work with a few leadership teams in our partner schools. In these sessions, we've explored how narrow definitions of leadership can impede staff wellness, and hurt student progress in the long run. It's also been great to see the ways innovative, human-centered school leaders make huge strides in staff wellness, which creates a trickle down effect for students and families as well.

For this episode, we recorded our conversation live as a full EmpowerEd team. We shared our own stories of human (and not so human) centered leaders, brainstormed our favorite leadership practices, and explored ways to make the whole school system more human-centered in general.

We hope you enjoy this episode! If you have any thoughts or your own human centered leadership stories, we'd love to hear them. Also get ready for the rest of our new season for the Educator Wellness Revolution. We have a lot of exciting episodes in the works and we can't wait to share them with you!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Although this term is typically applied to the criminal legal system, abolition is also a wider lens for viewing the world and is rooted in antiracism. We can use abolition to create wellness, liberation, and freedom in schools for students, teachers, and families. It provides the framework for us to collectively move away from punitive measures that further harm those most marginalized, and move toward an education system where all people are truly cared for and resourced.

This conversation is hosted again by Caroline Pryor, EmpowerEd's lead organizer and master student in Educational Transformation. As you'll hear, Caroline has done a lot of deep thinking and study on the connections between abolition and educational equity, and we are so grateful to have her here. 

Caroline is joined by longtime DC educator Sarah Cole. Sarah is on the National Faculty for PBLWorks and is the Founder of Rooted Liberation, an organization that provides equity-centered and justice-driven school-based coaching and consulting. Like Caroline, Sarah has done extensive thinking and practice to create school wellness through an abolition framework and has so much to share with us. 

Sarah and Caroline unpack the many historical connections between capitalism and our education system, and how that continues to harm Black and brown people today. Caroline and Sarah discuss how abolition can help untangle the damaging effects of multiple systems of oppression that show up in the school to prison pipeline, and the unlearning that is necessary to truly support the freedom dreams of our students.

Additionally, they discuss:

- Why abolition doesn't need to be a scary word, but rather one that promises good food, safe transportation, and healthy relationships.

- How using an abolition framework can create schools that are truly developmentally appropriate for young people.

- The ways to use a restorative and transformative justice framework to create the healing journey that is needed for everyone in a school building and beyond. 

- and much more! 

We hope this episode is both challenging and thought-provoking, and that you continue to ponder these themes this summer. We'll look forward to sharing our third season of the show with you when we are back in September. 

Until then, take good care of yourselves and thank you so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In this episode, we wanted to go deep into examining the root structures in education that hold back true equitable outcomes for all students. From the language we use to our attitudes toward student voice, so many systems are still steeped in the United State's colonialist and white supremacist history.

For this, we invited Raymond A. Mullings, a dedicated educator who has held many teaching roles in different parts of the United States. As you will hear, Raymond has done some important thinking on these issues, and spends his days working to create bigger structural changes. 

We were also joined by a guest podcast host, Caroline Pryor. Caroline is EmpowerEd's lead organizer and a current masters student in Educational Transformation at Georgetown University. She has a huge passion for equity in education so we knew she was the right person to help us host this conversation. 

Together, we discuss

- The difference between sameness and fairness for students from different backgrounds, and how this shows up in both policy and practice.

- How school hierarchies can unintentionally reinforce power imbalances, and how to unpack these dynamics to better understand each other's culture and context.

- Why we have to balance the immediate need to support our students with the slow and steady pace required to make lasting change. 

- and much more. 

There is so much more to say in this conversation, and for this, our next episode on abolition in schools will go deeper into these themes. Our hope is that if we can start breaking down these interlocking systems of oppression, we can begin enacting truly meaningful change. 

As always, enjoy the episode and thanks for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Universal Prekindergarten has not only alleviated a great cost to DC parents (because let's face it, daycare is so expensive!), but it's also ensured that all DC children receive the educational support they need during this critical period of their development. 

Despite this importance, we don't speak very often about the different experiences of ECE teachers and the specific wellness these educators need. For this, I was so excited to get the "dream team" of early childhood educators to talk about the importance of ECE and what more wellness would mean for this sector. 

- Jackeline Peña is a PreK4 teacher at Bancroft elementary school in DC, is a current EmpowerEd fellow, and has been supporting our new Parents Who Teach initiative. 

-La Shada Ham-Campbell is the owner of the great Petit Scholars preschool network in Ward 5 (where my son Jonah went from when he was an infant!), and has done great advocacy work for ECE in DC. 

- Larrisa Lei-Wilkson is the Deputy CEO for Pre-K 4 SA, an amazing citywide expansion of prekindergarten in San Antonio, TX where I have been lucky enough to help their teachers with self-care over the past few years. 

During our conversation, we discuss:

- How our collective perceptions of ECE have changed over the years. - The incredibly important equity issues involved with supporting ECE teachers.

- The policy and advocacy changes that can better support teachers, students and families.

- And much more! 

Since the recording of this episode, the Pay Equity Fund which we discussed has indeed been removed from the Mayor's draft budget. We are outraged that the city is breaking its promises to some of our most important workers, and urge anyone who lives in DC to contact their councilmember and voice their support to bring back the fund. Let's all fight to support the educators who are supporting our youngest students and their families. 

As always, enjoy the episode and thanks so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

On today's episode, we speak with two assistant principals in Washington DC who have taken an active interest in educator wellness. Inspired by their own personal wellness practices, they have sought to make their schools places where both students and staff can maintain their own well-being during the school day.

Sara Arranz is the assistant principal at Military Road and Thaddeus Stevens Early Learning Centers, and Christina Morado is the assistant principal at Garnet-Patterson STAY Opportunity Academy (formally Roosevelt STAY). They both have had long careers in education, and carry so much insight into how educators can evolve to better serve everyone in a school building.

Together we discuss:

- What gets in the way of them giving the wellness support they want for their staff.

- How to navigate the tension that can arise between admin and teachers.

- The structures and systems that could help retain educators, and get young people more excited about the teaching profession.

- and much more.

This conversation is great for assistant principals to hear, but we think everyone who works in a school will benefit from listening. It's so inspiring when education professionals can take this time to reflect on their roles, and the intentional ways they build culture in their schools. Enjoy and as always, thanks for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

But despite this awareness, so many barriers stand in the way of teachers getting the therapy they need. Mismatched schedules, out of network expenses, and long waiting lists are just a few of the factors that keep educators from dedicated time with trained mental health professionals.

MedStar Georgetown Center of Wellbeing In School Environments (WISE) is an organization that is figuring out how to break down these barriers by providing in-school therapy for educators. Their mission is to promote educators’ well-being through assessments and personalized improvement strategies so that they may thrive in their personal and professional lives.

EmpowerEd has coordinated with WISE in a few of our partner schools and wanted to share more about their awesome work on the podcast. For this, we were so grateful to have such an in depth conversation with Dr. Megan McCormick, Co-Founder, and Director of Programs and Innovation at WISE.

During our conversation, we discuss:

- The benefits and drawbacks of bringing therapy to teachers in schools.

- The common themes many educators are struggling with right now and the supports that are helping them.

- The difference between "demoralization" and "burnout" and why it's important to separate the two terms.

- Why a human-centric form of leadership is necessary to create a true culture of mental health in schools.

- and much more.

We nodded in agreement to pretty much this entire conversation, and think that you probably will too. This is a vital discussion and we were so lucky to have it. Please enjoy and consider forwarding it to someone else who may need to hear Megan's message!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For this, we spoke with Markus Townsend, the Director of Culture and Students at Sela Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Sela is a Hebrew dual-language elementary school in Northeast DC. Many of their staff members come to teach from Israel, and many others are native-born Washingtonians, and this creates a truly unique cultural dynamic.  

EmpowerEd worked with Sela from 2021 to 2023 to help them address their cultural divides. After a little trial and error, we finally landed on an educator-led task force model. These working groups were organized around three central themes we kept hearing about from staff (the Hebrew/English divide, staff-led professional development, and creating a culture of professional accountability). They met regularly for small group discussion, and began leading professional development sessions for their colleagues. These groups uplifted staff voice and empowered educators to have difficult and inspiring conversations about culture, race, and identity at their school.  

We share more about our work in this conversation and also discuss:   

- The benefits of and potential conflicts that arise in a school that is so devoted to exploring culture.  

- How the current geo-political dynamics since October 7th have affected their staff.  

- Why human-centric leadership is so important to help staff members grow and heal during challenging moments.  

- And much more.  

We highly recommend this podcast to everyone, but especially hope school leaders  can listen and reflect on how to meaningfully address staff cultural divides and help promote a culture of open diversity in their schools.   

As always, we want to hear from you! If you enjoyed today's episode please rate us five stars and let us know your feedback. Thank you for listening and enjoy the show!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

School staff members are recognizing how they have absorbed trauma from their students - which has only increased through the pandemic - during their daily interactions. And unlike therapists, educators are not trained to recognize or care for themselves within a cycle of vicarious trauma.  

For this, we were really grateful to speak with Dr. Perry Camp, a longtime mental health professional with in depth experience in schools, and Mr. Antoine Harris, a licensed social worker who currently works with students and staff at Garnet Patterson STAY in Washington. They have so much experience navigating vicarious trauma in their own lives, as well as counseling educators to recognize the symptoms for themselves.   

During our conversation, we discussed:  

- Why educators are prone to picking up other people's trauma, especially in this pandemic era. 

- How to recognize vicarious trauma and the self-care educators can practice to help themselves if they see symptoms.

 - The trauma-informed policies and procedures schools can have in place to help educators take care of themselves. 

- and more!  

We hope this episode inspires a more open conversation about the vicarious trauma people experience in schools, so educators can get the support they need. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments about this episode. We always love to hear from you!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

A little background on this panel: Lately in Washington, DC we've been experiencing a very tragic and unsettling time of community violence, which is definitely being felt in our schools. There are many city and educator leaders trying to answer the question of how to establish a new sense of safety but we have noticed how rarely educator voices and solutions are centered in this deeply important discussion.

For this, we put together an educator-led panel on the topic of school safety and educator healing and shared it with a room full of Washington, DC educator wellness leaders. These five inspiring educators are Calvin Fletcher from Garnet-Patterson STAY, Katrice Fuller from Monument Academy PCS, Chandler Dennard from Kimball Elementary, and Raynalle Rouse from Friendship PCS.

As you'll hear in our conversation, these educators have so many important insights and ideas that come from working day in and day out with students who are experiencing these traumas. They want to center mental health, student agency, and community investment to help regain a sense of safety for both students and staff in Washington DC.

We heard amazing feedback from our Symposium attendees on this conversation and are so excited to share it with you. Please enjoy and share with someone who may also need to hear these important educator solutions. Thank you!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

But putting mindfulness to work in schools has been a challenge for us! At our partner schools, we've struggled to find time in overloaded PD schedules, had yoga classes interrupted by school needs, and sometimes have experienced pushback from teachers who don't want to participate. For something so important, it's felt pretty difficult to put it into action.   

For this, we were so happy for us to have an in-depth conversation about mindfulness in schools with two long time DC teachers and mindfulness practitioners, Parag Bhuva (he/him) a teacher at Washington Latin PCS and Vipassana meditation practitioner, and Dekebra Crowe (she/her) who teachers mindfulness at Turner ES and also teaches Vinyasa flow and yin yoga.  

Our conversation is super real. We talk about the importance of mindfulness, how it actually works in a school setting and where school leaders can go wrong when setting up a mindfulness program for staff and students.   

For those who are interested in learning more about mindfulness, EmpowerEd has recently formed a partnership with the David Lynch Foundation (yes that David Lynch from Twin Peaks!), an international organization that teaches Transcendental Meditation, or TM, to first responders, veterans, and anyone who is on the front line of difficult situations.  

If you are a Washington, DC educator (or work in education) and interested in becoming certified in TM at no cost please reach out to wellness@weareempowered.org. We're going to start organizing DC educator meditation trainings in the new year, and we'd love to answer your questions about joining one.   As always, please let us know your comments and thank you so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

At EmpowerEd, we see advocacy as a central component for educator wellness in Washington, DC and beyond. To create an enduring system for both students and teachers, we need to change our system so that educators can more easily achieve real work/life harmony and avoid burning out.

This week's conversation goes deeper into that theme. We were so excited to interview DC Councilmember Robert White about his new legislation, the Educator Retention for Student Success Act of 2023. This proposed bill strives to holistically address educator wellness and retention through innovative measures like flexible scheduling for teachers, better pay for paraprofessionals, and providing more wellness coordinators in schools.  This bill reflects so many great ideas that come directly from educators so we really believe they will be effective!

As you'll hear in our discussion, Councilmember White understands the deep importance of mental health - for students, for educators and for himself. We discuss concrete ways to support mental health and create real equity in schools. As you'll hear, high school was a difficult time for Councilmember White, so the wellness measures of this bill are quite close to his heart.

If you live in Washington, DC, please consider signing up to testify at the bill's hearing coming up on November 21st. We need DC's councilmembers to hear why the measures of this bill would help keep quality teachers in our schools. Please sign up here by November 17th!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

At EmpowerEd, we deeply believe in the connection between educator wellness and our ongoing advocacy efforts in Washington, DC and beyond. To us it seems pointless to ask educators to better manage their stress when we could instead be trying to create a less stressful system. For this reason, we are always speaking with our elected officials and other key decision makers to inform them of educator ideas for change so we can make an education system where teachers feel valued and cared for as professionals.

For this episode, we were so excited to speak with Washington, DC Councilmember Christina Henderson. Councilmember Henderson is progressive member of the DC council and we speak with her a lot about our educator initiatives. We were really excited to hear that she is co-sponsoring upcoming legislation to aid educator wellness in Washington, DC. She is also introducing the Student Loan Repayment Assistance for Educators Act act will offer significant student loan relief to DC educators who qualify.

As you'll hear in our conversation, CM Henderson understands that student loan debt is a huge impediment to building a stable and prosperous life for so many educators. In particular, it’s a burden that falls particularly hard on educators of color that are so important to student success. Supporting these educators through enhancing their financial wellness is a great step toward building a stronger school system in DC.

We urge Washington, DC educators (and supporters of educators) to sign up to testify at the bill's hearing coming up on November 21st. Please sign up here soon!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

We are very aware of the significant barriers keeping people from staying in the classroom. When other careers offer more flexibility or less stress, why would someone stay in teaching?

To discuss further, we brought together an amazing panel of veteran teachers with a wealth of teaching and educator wellness experience.

Tara Warrington is a longtime educator with experience at every level (classroom, coach, principal) up and down the East Coast. While in DC, she worked at Excel Academy, and currently is consulting in schools around the country.

Gabrielle Dubose is a 30 year teaching veteran who now runs the writing center at Duke Ellington HS in DC, and is the lead teacher facilitator for EmpowerEd. She helps empower the advocacy of DC teachers so they can change the system to support teachers, students, and families.

Terra Jones has taught for more than 20 years, including abroad, and now is an ELA teacher at MacFarland MS (a current EmpowerEd partner school), and is helping us start a mentorship program there to support new teachers.

Together, we discuss:

- the personal and professional wellness practices that have kept them in the classroom for so long

- how they handled the moments when they wanted to quit teaching

- what steps decision makers could take to help teachers in the game right now.

- plus much more.

We appreciated this conversation so much and hope you will too!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

'A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all women, men, and children. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick. There are certainly other causes of illness, numbing and hurt, but the absence of love and belonging will always lead to suffering." (The Gifts of Imperfection)  

Belonging is also tricky. It's great when a school community provides a space of support and acceptance, but what if it doesn't? A lot of us know from experience that belonging can be a difficult thing to create within a staff culture that veers toward toxic.  

For this, we were so excited to speak with Gab Sussman and Victoria Lebrón from Bmore Transform, a Baltimore-based learning collective that creates and facilitates transformational community experiences for both students and educators.   

As you'll hear in our conversation, Gab and Victoria are both former educators who encountered difficult experiences in their school environments. For this, their transformative approach centers the "B" in DEIB initiatives, and believes deeply in the connection between how much belonging adults feel in a building and positive student outcomes.   

During our time together, we also discuss: 

- The big emotions that come up for educators when belonging is not present in a community

- How can school leaders set the right tone for their staff to truly support each other

- The day to day practices that support belonging for both educators and students

- and much more!  

Gab and Victoria bring so much vibrancy and authenticity to our conversation. We hope you find a lot to relate to and some solid tools to help you build more belonging at your school and in your life. Enjoy and thanks for listening! 

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

One of the main ways we advocate at EmpowerEd is through our Educator Fellows program. This program organizes and empowers a representative group of DC educators to lobby lawmakers for the policy changes that most support DC educators like: flexible scheduling, fair pay for paraprofessionals, school safety measures, and pipelines for educators of color.

In this episode, we are so lucky to have two of those teacher fellows join us to discuss how changing policy can be the most effective way to support school staff wellness.

Ben Williams is a former EmpowerEd fellow and current member of the State Board of Educator for Ward 1. He is a high school social studies teacher and a passionate advocate for DC public schools.

Alison Rice is long time teacher and first year fellow who has been working to support EmpowerEd's school-based work at our partner school, Ida B. Wells MS, where she teaches social studies and leads the educator wellness team.

We were also supposed to have Katrice Fuller on our panel, who teaches at the incredibly innovative Monument Academy PCS, but had a last mintue emergency. We look forward to having her on a future episode!

During our conversation, we discuss:

- How advocacy can help us achieve educator wellness outcomes that can't be done at just a school level

- Why having a school leader who innovates policy can breed important professional trust with staff

- How to keep moving when you reach roadblocks in your advocacy.

And much more!

Advocacy is a topic close to our hearts at Empowered. We hope this episode inspires you to use your voice and start changing the system. As always, we love to hear your feedback and appreciate your attention!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

As we gear up for our next season of the show, Scott and Gracy check in about practicing wellness this summer, the stress and beauty of the back-to-school transition, and what we are excited about for our educator wellness work at EmpowerEd this year.

We also discuss a few of our upcoming episodes for this next season, such as:

1. The confluence between educator advocacy and wellness work

2. Exploring longevity in teaching

3. Inclusion and educator wellness

4. A two part episode on liberation and safety in schools, including exploring the connection between police-free schools and community schools

We'd love to hear your feedback on what other topics you'd like us to explore this season and guests you'd like for us to invite on the show. Hope it's a great start of the school year for you!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Sadly, we find ourselves in a moment of incredible political divisiveness where the history and realities of marginalized communities in our world are being leveraged to deepen divides and win elections. As these battles increase, the well-being of educators, especially educators of color, is being harmed and we are at risk of the situation getting even worse.

In this deeply insightful panel conversation, we discuss the difficult situations that many educators find themselves in states with anti-CRT legislations, how these attacks on CRT and the book bans are particularly impacting Black educators' wellness, and the ways educators can deepen their wellness through resistance and community.

Our panel includes:

- De'Ana Forbes, a U.S. history and social studies teacher in Northern Virginia who has been featured for her curriculum during Black Lives Matter Week

- Colin Brown, a history and social studies teacher in Texas who teaches under a current anti-CRT legislation in his state

- Vanessa Williams (she/her/hers), a former social studies teacher is the program manager for D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice a project of Teaching for Change

- Gabrielle Dubose, a 30-year veteran educator and Lead Teacher Organizer for EmpowerEd

Links from Teaching for Change:

• DCAESJ home page: https://www.dcareaeducators4socialjustice.org/
• To sign up for e-news: https://www.dcareaeducators4socialjustice.org/updates
• Zinn Education Project's Teach the Black Freedom Struggle online classes: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/teach-black-freedom-struggle-classes
• Apply to create a Teaching for Black Lives study group: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/t4bl-study-groups/#:~:text=Each%20year%20the%20Zinn%20Education,teacher%2Dled%20professional%20learning%20communities.

***

We recognize that we're closing out our season on a big conversation. We hope you take the summer to keep thinking about ways to increase equity and wellness for educators and the students and families they serve. We've learned that it's only in our willingness to have difficult conversations that we can create real wins for our teachers and schools.

With that, we'll say goodbye for now! We'll be back later in the summer to begin our second season on all topics related to education wellness. Please feel free to reach out to wellness@weareempowered.org if you have any ideas for future episodes or guests. We'd love to hear them!

Thanks again! Have a great summer!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In this podcast episode, we dive into the "how." With the help of DC-based educators and EmpowerEd follows Rian Reed (Kramer MS) and Lucia Appelquist (Columbia Heights Educational Campus) we discuss the many ways to make flexible scheduling work for educators, students and families. Rian and Lucia share their vision for how increased flexible scheduling would support them and their students, and respond to the most common criticisms of making education more flexible for everyone.   

Specifically, we talk about: 

- The different models of flexible scheduling that schools could try.  

- How flexible scheduling would increase community involvement in schools. 

- Why funding is really important to make flexible scheduling work well.  

- And much more!  

If you'd like to learn more about flexible scheduling, EmpowerEd has done some important research on different models that can be right for each school. Please see: www.weareempowered.org/flexiblescheduling

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For this, we were grateful to speak with Dr. Danielle Palmer and Monique Leopold, co-founders of Bridges Mental Health, a mental health consulting agency that supports DC schools. Their school healing work comes from a lot of lived experience - Danielle worked for many years as a school clinician and Monique still works full time as a School Psychologist in DC public schools in addition to running Bridges.  

In our conversation, they walk us through the timeline of how a school would ideally handle a traumatic incident so it can address both student and staff wellness. They also help us to make important connections between the immediate interventions that should happen after a traumatic event and the ongoing attention to staff wellness within a school environment.  

We also discuss:   

- The ideal way for school leadership to respond during moments of crisis. 

- What wellness practices can help a school staff grow closer together during difficult moments (and also what could divide everyone). 

- The important ways they maintain hope when they meet opposition in their work.  

-  And much more!  

We hope this conversation can support you during any difficult moments at your school and can help inspire the important healing these challenging situations can bring when they are met with wellness.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In this episode, we speak with wellnesses coordinators Johanna Ulseth of Briya PCS and Jacqueline Baron of Digital Pioneers Academy PCS, both in Washington, DC, on the role of a school wellness coordinator and why they are becoming more popular these days.

We discuss:

- the difference between a clinician and a wellness coordinator.

- how student and staff wellness initiatives can work together.

- how to care for school staff when there are varying ideas of wellness.

And much more!

We hope this episode expands your view of what a wellness coordinator can do for whole school wellness!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

For this, in our sixth episode we speak with child behavior specialist Alexandra Vann of Building Capacity, LLC about ways to meaningfully address student behavior concerns while caring for yourself as an educator.  

Over the last 10 years, Alexandra has provided positive behavior support to elementary and secondary students within the public and private educational setting as a Child Behavior and Intervention Specialist. While helping to support the success of students, Alex has consulted and coached leaders, educators, and caregivers in mental and behavioral health strategies.  

Together, we discuss: 

- The difference between a student's behavior and their attitude (not the same thing!) 

- What to do when teachers within a school have different approaches to student behavior interventions 

- How to "go upstream' to get the full picture of what is happening with a student (and yourself)

 - and much more!  We hope you enjoy this conversation and that it helps your approach to student behavior!  

*** More about Alexandra Vann:  As an expert in the field of Child Behavior Services, Alexandra Vann  has been afforded the opportunity to work with outstanding educators, administrators, school members, leaders,  students, and families from diverse cultures and backgrounds.      

 Over the last 10 years, Alex has provided positive behavior support to elementary and secondary students within the public and private educational setting as a Child Behavior and Intervention Specialist. While helping to support the success of students, Alex has consulted and coached leaders, educators, and caregivers in mental and behavioral health strategies.  Alexandra is the founder of Building Capacity, LLC and currently consults for The George Washington University and Mary’s Center for School Based Mental Health support and programming. Alex co-facilitates Crisis Response & Intervention and Suicide Prevention practice group, in addition to Teacher Wellness workgroup for the Community of Practice under the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at GWU.  In addition to supporting GWU, Alex also supports and assists with the development of the School Based Mental Health Post Graduate Fellowship Program at Mary’s Center.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

These are some of the questions we explored with educator Toni Barton, a former DC principal, charter network executive, and the visionary of the Spelligent inclusive school model. She shared her experience of running DC schools and her bigger vision for creating a school based on connection for both students and staff.

We also discussed:

- Why it's important for principals to be vulnerable with their staff members.

- Innovative ways to reduce the workload for school principals.

- How to hire for mindset rather than expertise to create a unified teaching team.

- and more.

We loved this conversation and hope Toni's vision helps to inspire you as well!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

In this conversation, award-winning DCPS World Language teacher Chiara Monticelli shares about a period of overwhelm in her life and how this difficult time helped her begin recognizing and acting from her self-care needs.   

We also discuss: 

- The particular "human giver" demands on teachers who are parents and how flexible scheduling can help.  

- How "breaking the rules" by having a deskless classroom and using more non-evaluative feedback with students can give teachers more energy. 

- Perfectionism and how it causes more stress for teachers.  

- And much more.  

We hope this conversation gives you new energy and permission to focus on your self-care as we enter this new year!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Specifically we discuss: 

- How "Thinking Thursdays" (and soon "Wellness Wednesdays") came to be at Ida B. Wells. 

- Why staff-led PD can be a place for more open, curious learning than traditional PD's.  

- Ways to find the right balance of planning ahead and staying flexible to changing needs. 

- And more!  

We hope this conversation encourages you to consider more staff-led PD to feature the teacher expertise in your school!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Specifically, we discuss: 

- why adults need to model restorative practices for it to work with students. 

- the difference between venting our difficulties and actual restorative practice. 

- how to address the lack of time in the day to do restorative adult work. 

- and much more.

We hope you enjoy this inspiring conversation and that it sparks more restorative practices in your school communities!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at <www.weareempowered.org> or email gracy@weareempowered.org