Roberto Germán [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of, but not limited to, what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Robelto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session.
Roberto Germán [00:00:28]:
Today we are going to listen to reflection by Lorena Germán as she dives deep into the intersection of education and the current political climate. With the upcoming school year coinciding with another intense election cycle, Lorena calls on educators and caregivers alike to prepare for the emotional and social challenges that lie ahead. Drawing from her rich experience, she outlines a three step process centered on self care, community building, and equipping ourselves with the right tools to navigate difficult conversations with students. Whether you're a teacher, parent, or anyone working with young people, this episode offers actionable insights and heartfelt advice on fostering resilience and understanding during these turbulent times.
Lorena Germán [00:01:26]:
I want to talk about this political moment that we're finding ourselves in and how it relates to what we're doing or should be doing. I've said it in a real or somewhere that, you know, we are about to start school. So there are some places, like in Georgia, for example, that actually start. I think it's next week, y'all. Okay. Like, their teachers go back next week, which is crazy. Crazy. Certainly, you know, I am sending them all the love in the world.
Lorena Germán [00:01:56]:
A number of us don't go back until, like, first or second week of August. And others who are blessed enough don't have to even think about this until September. Regardless. Regardless whether you start in a week, three weeks, or in another month, we are all starting up in what is an election year. And we are seeing the. How hectic this is, right. We are seeing how intense this moment is right now. Um, you know, we're seeing that it is rather violent, even.
Lorena Germán [00:02:26]:
Right. And so I know that right now, for those who are not Maga or. And who don't necessarily who aren't, you know, like, voting for Trump or anything, are. Are probably feeling somewhat hopeful right now because of Kamala's appointment and candidacy. And, you know, cool. And it is still very heightened, um, election time. Right. We see that there was just an assassination attempt.
Lorena Germán [00:02:53]:
Whether you like him or not, you know, it's a lot going on. And now Joe Biden has stepped down. Right. So, like, there's all of this additional complexity. We know in a number of people, particularly black women, like, we're bracing ourselves for what this is about to be. Right. We are bracing ourselves for the comments, for the jokes, for the attacks on Vice President Kamala. And you know what that is gonna be emotionally.
Lorena Germán [00:03:21]:
We are right now reeling and trying to take a breath, recovering from what's happening in this moment with Sonia Massey and reading about her and reading about what's happening, paying attention to the news cycles, paying attention to how she's being ignored. I could talk about that for a good hour. And I want to. I want to spend a moment there. But like I said, I really want us as educators to take a minute. And you know what? I actually want to expand this from educators to people that are with kids in a house, okay? People that are at home. You're with some type of young person, and you're in this moment. We remember everybody right now on here is an adult.
Lorena Germán [00:04:09]:
And we all remember 2016. We remember the intensity, and then we remember 2020. We remember the national tension that we all felt. You know, that 2016 cycle that awakened so much, it got so ugly to the point that we have yet to recover, right? Like that 2015 and 2016 election cycle did something nationally where people have decided that they can come out and be as racist as they want to be. They can say the things that before they wouldn't have said, right, the things that used to be, quote unquote, you can't discuss at the dinner table. They're saying it everywhere. Been saying it since 2015, 2016. And so there is no doubt that this is going to trickle into school and we start again, whether it's in a week or a month, right? Like, we are walking into a classroom where all of these emotions, all of these feelings, all of this reality is walking in with these kids and us.
Lorena Germán [00:05:13]:
We are feeling it, right? It is heavy on our shoulders, and therefore, it is heavy on their shoulders. And so the tensions that are going to come into Our Classrooms, the tightness of the chest, if you will, that are going to be coming into Our Classrooms, right. The stress on the bodies that are going to be coming into Our Classrooms. It is real. And so the way that schools ended, I want us to think about the fact that, you know, the way that schools ended. Like a lot of, a lot of teachers, if not all the teachers that I know, were concerned. They were stressed. They were tired.
Lorena Germán [00:05:48]:
Tired and exhausted by the misbehaviors, tired and exhausted by what felt like overwhelm, right? Being overworked and underpaid. Not only has none of that changed, but I would add a layer that's about to make this worse, which is that this is an election cycle, y'all. And so, you know, I'm going live not to necessarily be a Debbie downer, but to remind us of reality. Remind us of reality. We are going to have to do some work to take care of ourselves, to prepare ourselves. Those first days back at PD, they're going to be sweet. We're all going to like, you know, see our colleagues if we like them, right? Like, that's all going to be fine, but we are going to find ourselves in severe stress from the get. When these kids come back into school, whether they are kindergarteners, 8th graders, or first year college students, I think about the ways that college campuses ended this spring.
Lorena Germán [00:06:49]:
Hello. With encampments like that. Same energy, same energy is coming in the fall, right? So I don't care what, where you're at in this education, like train or kind of where you find yourself in terms of the, the age of the young people you're working with. We're about to hit some tension and, and, you know, I, I've been thinking about, okay, well, then what do we need? Right? Like, what do we need in order to prepare ourselves? What do we have to do? One is we're gonna have to do better work on ourselves. I can't stress that part enough. Like, we're going to have to spend the rest of July, spend a good portion of August doing a self inventory. What are my triggers? What are the topics? What are the words that are setting me off? What is causing me stress? What is it that a kid can say that is going to require that I step out and go to the bathroom and take three deep breaths? Like, we are going to have to do that self inventory. We cannot expect that of the kids without doing it ourselves.
Lorena Germán [00:07:56]:
And just know that when I say kids, I'm talking even of like 18 year olds, okay? In college, 1920 year olds in college. When I say kids, I'm talking about everybody in k through 16 or whatever, right? Like, that's step one. Absolutely. And without a doubt, you're going to have to do your own work. We are going to have to do our own work. If we are parents, we are going to have to do our own work. Right? If we're at home with our young people, we are going to have to do our own work. We are going to have to be concerned about how am I walking into this space? How am I prepared to engage with these young people, with everything that is going on around me? If you're a prayer prayer warrior, then you better get to praying, right? If you are the type of people that meditate or you turn to yoga, well, then stock up have your routines in place because you will be tested.
Lorena Germán [00:08:48]:
Come this fall, you will be tested. And so you are going to have to put on your armor. You're going to have to put up all of your, you know, your boundaries, like, whatever your protective gear is. That's what you're going to have to do. The second thing that we're going to have to do, right? So that's first. The self. The second thing is we need community. We're going to have to be extra intentional.
Lorena Germán [00:09:10]:
You're going to have to have your accountability people, your therapist, your counselor, the person at work. Like, be explicit about it and say, hey, buddy, at work, best friend at work, work wife. We're gonna have to set some time apart, either daily or weekly. Have a routine. Maybe it's every Friday. We just check in with thumbs up, like, whatever, go get a drink after. Maybe it's Friday mornings, we're gonna get together and have a word of affirmation for the week. Or Monday morning, whatever you need.
Lorena Germán [00:09:38]:
Wednesday afternoon, that hump day, like, you are going to have to set yourself up for success and you're gonna have to do it in community. Isolation won't work. Thinking that. You got this. No, no, you're going to fail. I'm telling you this right now. So first is self. And notice that.
Lorena Germán [00:09:55]:
I'm not saying, I'm not saying that. That, like self care, you know, just think about what I know. I really want you to be thorough and intentional and meaningful about what it is that you're going to do for yourself. Okay? So the selfdevelop, then there's others. Community. Right? And then in third place, we're going to think about our students. They're not number one, they're not number two, they are not number one, they are not number two, they are number three. After we think about ourselves in terms of like, doing our own work, our therapy work, our growth work, our social and emotional learning for ourselves, right? After we do that, then we're gonna turn.
Lorena Germán [00:10:41]:
We're gonna turn to our colleagues. Oh, I forget that my phone be doing that. Y'all ignore them. Balloons. Okay. After we do ourselves, then we're gonna think about our colleagues and we're gonna build community. And if you don't have community in your building, if you are in fact alone, there is community online. Come here.
Lorena Germán [00:11:01]:
Go on. You know, other pages on Instagram. There are so many educators who have pages. Join my classroom, y'all. Multicultural classroom has a. Has a digital space for this so that you do not feel alone. Join my classroom for free. Ask us and we'll let you know.
Lorena Germán [00:11:16]:
We'll send you a link, but have a community that you turn to where you can breathe again, where you will feel refreshed, where you will feel affirmed. Well, where you'll get ideas, where you're gonna be held accountable, and they're gonna say, listen, listen, no, Kathy, try that again. Right? Like, that was not the best way to go. That was not the right approach. You know? And so you also want that. You want people that are gonna hold your feet to the fire because just because it's tough doesn't mean we can't do good work. We're gonna have to push through, right? So step one is ourselves. Step two is our colleagues and community, and then step three is the kids.
Lorena Germán [00:11:57]:
And for the kids, there is so much, there's absolutely so much that we're going to have to do. Again, if you're just joining, I'm talking about what we're going to have to do this fall in the context of this election cycle because it's about to be ugly, all right? There is no way that this is going to be a clean cut, fair election cycle, particularly with Trump being one of the candidates. But then also, now he's going against a woman, a black woman who is a daughter of immigrants, like, right? She's got all the things that are going to make her a target for his audience. And so I know that in my emotional preparation and mental preparation for what this is going to be on social media, I've been thinking, like, as an educator, what is it that I need to be doing? And that's how I got here, all right, to this. Live with all of you. And so the first one is we're taking care of ourselves. We're doing our own psychological work, you know? And then the second thing we're doing is we're creating community. We're building and joining pre existing communities and, or building our own.
Lorena Germán [00:13:02]:
And I was inviting folks to consider, to consider my classroom, to consider what we have going on. Yes, Tamara. Yes. She's saying that her heart goes out to middle and high school literacy and history educators. For real, honestly, these, these social studies teachers, it's like, what, what? They are going to have to engage in these really difficult conversations because that is literally their content. So, yes, we're going to light a candle for them, for sure. Particularly those of us teaching in southern states where we, you know, where there are muscles on us, right? They are trying to silence us. There are laws in place for us to not be able to process this with kids.
Lorena Germán [00:13:47]:
So back to the kids, right? So the third. The third sphere, maybe, of what it is that we have to do is the kids. And. And I want us to think about what is in our toolbox. We know our content. We know what lessons we'll teach. We know what strategies we've got. We know what manipulatives we're going to pull out.
Lorena Germán [00:14:08]:
Okay? So that's not what I'm talking about. I am saying what is in your toolbox to facilitate challenging conversations? What is in your toolbox to identify maybe racist lessons that you do not want to teach? What is in your toolbox to teach about anti racism and for anti racist understanding. What I'm saying is what is in your toolbox? Okay. To be able to walk into a room knowing and being confident about your anti racist pedagogy. So that's what I mean, right? If first I've taken care of myself, I know what my triggers are, I know how I'm going to cope on my own next. I have community that I'm turning to that's going to help me feel refreshed, that's going to hold me accountable. That is going to encourage me right. Where I can encourage others as well.
Lorena Germán [00:15:01]:
I've got those two things. Well, then now I can turn to the kids and I've got to be clear about a toolbox. And let me just say something. Being a prepared educator with this, you know, toolbox, this metaphoric toolbox that I'm talking about is what differentiates us between those that are professionals and those that have a job. Do you see what I mean? What I'm saying is that there are people who are coming into school at times to collect a paycheck, who are coming in because this is the job they were able to get, right? And come in. We need bodies, right? We know that. But there is a difference between those people and those of us who are dedicated to the craft of teaching, those of us who know what it is to design a learning experience, who are working on pedagogy, who are not babysitters. Right? And so those of us who fall into that category of professionals of this is what my degree is in.
Lorena Germán [00:16:02]:
This is what I do for a living. We need to be clear about our toolbox. We need to be clear about what it is that I'm going to pull from. And certainly multicultural classroom can. Can help you with that toolbox. Right? Like we've got the anti racist teacher. Course. We've got the anti racist teacher.
Lorena Germán [00:16:19]:
Oh, here it is. We've got the anti racist teacher booklet. We've got texture teaching, right? Like, we have so much. We have so much that we can offer. But this is also simply about, I need educators to come in there prepared, because what we're not going to do is walk into these classrooms come August and September, unprepared, as if we don't know what's coming with this election cycle. As if we don't know. As if we haven't been here before. We did this in 2016 and we did this in 2020, and we bout to do it again.
Lorena Germán [00:16:51]:
And we don't have the luxury of not being prepared. We don't have the luxury of starting off the year not being able to manage these emotions in the room, our own and the students. So you better share it. Pass the word. Write. Pass it on. Talk to your educated friends, talk to your colleagues, talk to your homeschooling friends and parents, right? Or tutors. Like, talk to all the people that are adjacent to a classroom.
Lorena Germán [00:17:20]:
Talk to the janitors, talk to the folks that work in food services. Talk to administrators, like anybody and everybody who is going to be in or near a school. Talk to police officers, talk to security guards at schools, talk to sros at schools, talk to counselors at schools. We need to walk into schools come July and September of 2024, prepared, ready to deal with the anxieties that come along with starting school in an election fall, in an election season, and this one in particular. So this goes out to all of us, to all of us that are getting ourselves ready. To all of us that are feeling anxious, there is reason to feel anxious, there is reason to be concerned. There is reason to be preoccupied. There is reason to have big feelings, and that's on us, the adults, right? The kids are feeling it, too.
Lorena Germán [00:18:21]:
The kids are feeling that weight as well. The kids also are walking in with all of these anxieties and all of these fears and all of these concerns. The kids are feeling all of these things. And so we are either going to be prepared or we're not. There's no halfwaying this, right? And so as we get ready, as we start, you know, enjoying and continuing to enjoy our summer, I just want us to be emotionally right and cognitively prepared for what awaits us in weeks or a month. I don't want us to walk in there feeling like I don't. This hit me like a truck. I wasn't ready.
Lorena Germán [00:19:03]:
I wasn't prepared. I wasn't expecting this. No, expect it. Expect it. Kids are going to make all types of comments. Kids are going to have a lot of opinions. They're going to test boundaries. They're going to make comments about Vice President Kamala.
Lorena Germán [00:19:17]:
They're going to make hateful comments. They're going to feel afraid of a Trump presidency. They're going to feel afraid in the other direction, too. Right? Depending on where you teach, right? Like, you might have kids who at home are listening to rhetoric about how the country's going to fall apart if. If Vice President Kamala is elected, right? And so kids are walking in with anxiety, some legitimate, some that they feel themselves, some based on their lived experience, some based on the rhetoric that they've heard at home or things that they're hearing on the media. And what I'm saying is that as educators, it is our responsibility to be prepared. It is our responsibility to be prepared, y'all. This is hard work.
Lorena Germán [00:19:58]:
And I don't say it lightly, and I don't mean to necessarily, like, add. Right. I'm not trying to be like, oh, we need to add more work and we need to do more things. No, I. This is the only way this is gonna work in the fall. This is the only way. You are not gonna start the fall and make it to December if you're not prepared, it's just not gonna work. So it's not gonna work.
Lorena Germán [00:20:22]:
We have to do that emotional work. You're welcome. Cafe con speech. I love it. You're welcome. You're welcome. I've been thinking about this for a week. I've been thinking about this before her nomination.
Lorena Germán [00:20:37]:
I was like, yo, we are about to be in 2016 all over again. It's about to be 2020 all over again. The tensions. Feel it in my body all over again, right? The news cycles. Another murder of a black woman, another murder by police, right? And so it's like, manda, we can't catch a break. And that tension is walking into the classroom with you and with your students and with your colleagues and with your administrators and with the parents of the kids. Like, we're feeling it as a nation. It's going.
Lorena Germán [00:21:11]:
We're going to get exhausting. By the time September comes around, it is going to be almost unbearable. And so I am imploring all of us, I mean, I'm saying this to myself, too. I'm not going to lie. Right? Like, I'm saying this to myself. We have to take care of self. We have to make sure we have community, and then we have to think about what's our toolbox for these kids? What is our toolbox for managing all of this.
Roberto Germán [00:21:36]:
You know, as always, your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the inner city section of race bias, education, and society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com. peace and love from your host, Roberto Germán.
