This episode was actually recorded about a week ago, but in the words of the mighty Yasiin Bey IT’LL COME OUT WHEN IT COME OUT AND IT’LL BE FIRE.

Peoples. We made it. We pushed, pulled, or dragged ourselves to the 21-22 school year’s midway point and at the very least we can (should) separate from all things work-related. We hope that this time gives you a chance to slow down and breathe in the joy and relief that comes from community and a new connection with self.

We open with a requiem to the Righteous and Brilliant bell hooks, who we lost just recently. We reflect on which of the hooks teachings that most impacted us, and pour one out for our fallen sister.

Then we reflect on what was, is, and could be the coming days, weeks, months as we keep hope alive.

We love y’all so much, and can’t wait to chop it up on the other side of ’21.

Also check out our friends from Quetzal Education Consulting at quetzalec.com!

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A long time ago, I got a chance to connect with my friend Luis Antezana, former classroom teacher and founder of Juntos 2 College and DACA recipient. Born in Bolivia, Luis has long wanted to provide undocumented students with the resources for post-secondary life, not limited to college, but also in terms of financial literacy, planning, and entrepreneurship.

For more information visit https://www.juntos2college.com/

To connect with our sponsor, head over to https://www.quetzalec.com/

And to support TooDope Productions, check us out on https://www.patreon.com/toodopeteachers

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The state of Colorado recently declared a youth mental health crisis that threatens the capacity of the healthcare system to take care of youth who are hurting. While this may be shocking to the general public, it is not shocking to public school teachers, who are often the first to learn that a young person is struggling with their mental health. This development is particularly not shocking to Jodi Miller, a doctoral candidate and former high school teacher who has developed WellCheq, a revolutionary way to monitor students’ mental health in a way that is safe, non-intrusive, and confidential way that simultaneously lends itself to professional support. Jodi, the soon-to-be Dr. Miller, observed the effects of stress on her students when she taught high school science, and decided to make this her doctoral and life’s work.

Plus possibly the greatest top five in the history of HD Top Fives.

Find more information on WellCheq here: https://wellcheq.com/

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This week, we are fortunate to bring you a conversation with Denver Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero! It is unusual to break down the walls between leadership and teachers across the system, but our new supah-intendent is game! Listen to his story, as a kid from the Bronx who became a district leader. Hear what he has to say about staff shortages and teacher evaluations. Hear his Top Five Rappers. But most importantly, hear his two invitations and challenges to us!

Hope everyone has a good week!

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We’re back this week with some things on our minds. It’s November, but for so many educators, it feels more like February. We are aging and exhausting quickly. In the first segment, we discuss mental health. The struggles, the challenges before us, and what can be done to protect and heal the spirits of teachers, students, and communities. We shout out the professionals doing the important work, but caution that heroism only goes so far. There is a mental health reckoning that we must face.

In the second segment, we discuss another reckoning: the racial one. Using the “two sides of the Holocaust” front of the culture wars, we share ways in which teaching truth and honesty may heal our nation. It is a terrifying time, but we can be a part of this important humanizing work.

This episode is brought to you by our amazing patrons, as well as Quetzal Education Consulting! Check them out at quetzalec.com for a free consultation.

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We are so humbled and blessed to bring you this conversation with the inimitable Dr. Gholdy Muhammad, author of Cultivating Genius, a seminal work in antiracist and abolitionist pedagogy. Dr. Muhammad shares with us a new vision of what teaching may look like. Dr. Muhammad discusses the potential to develop living teaching frameworks, and ways to cultivate genius for ALL students.

A keeper. And a fire top five. Check. It. Out.

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Michael Diaz-Rivera was a brilliant and respected teacher with a reputation for empowering and inspiring his Black and Latinx students. He rose quickly to prominence for his unapologetic radical love for his community and our children. A frequent advocate and organizer for his professional association, school, and district, Michael was featured in local stories across the city for his tireless advocacy and sacrifice for his communities.

Things went south, as they often do for Black educators. His outspoken nature landed him under thee microscope and he found his former allies turning from him. He departed teaching this summer. The classic Lauryn Hill lyric “ya might win some, but ya just lost one” springs to mind.

Michael will be okay. Maybe even better. But will we?

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We. Are. Back. We follow the wildest school year on record with thee wildest return to school on record. Amid social unrest, some on silly ish like masks, some more insidious, like attacks on educators and communities of color, we’re back with students, masked and maintaining flexibility as we live and work on the knife’s edge.
Things are hard, y’all. And we got jokes.

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If you are a Latinx or Chicanx/Xicanx person, you probably remember the very moment you first read Luís J. Rodríguez’s Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA. For me, it was when I had just finished college and happened upon a copy at my school. I had just read Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member, written by Sanyika Shakur, and I was searching, unwittingly, for a way to humanize and process the environment that was my home for my entire childhood and adolescence. Always Running shook me to the core, and I remember thinking how fortunate I was to have stayed away from “that life” as a youth.

As I have grown as a writer and educator, I’ve learned the power of healing, storytelling, and bearing witness to the consequences of systemic racism and capitalism. Don Luís has long given me the words to explain the pain and sadness I feel to this day when I think of where I grew up.

I messaged him on Instagram, not expecting any kind of response, but there it was. Almost immediately this brilliant and humble veterano of movements and cells agreed to come on the show and gave me more time than I could have ever hoped for. I have reached out to other towering figures in the arts and scholarship, but Luis will stay with me a long time, because he was so ready to speak.

This elder is a gift. Please enjoy this charla.

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Just wanna tell you that the mixtape doesn’t have a specific order. Track 2, the one we did SECOND, is very meta and reflective.

In the winter of 2020, Asia approached us with an idea. Having been forced from her teaching position a few years before, Asia was keenly aware of the conditions faced by Black teachers in these schools. This has been the basis of some of her research around Dr. William Smith’s work on Racial Battle Fatigue, and she had decided that these stories MUST be told. Thus was born the wildly successful Exit Interview series.

We wanted to examine ways in which this work has impacted Kevin and Asia. How have these stories impacted them? Do you feel inspired? Upset? Disappointed? All of the above?

As we return to the classroom this fall, we know that there are fewer Black teachers for the reasons outlined in this series. Plus a fire Top Five.

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