Our Voice Academy

“Behind every successful woman is a group chat hyping her up.”

How does one explain the most empowering professional development they have ever experienced? This is my attempt. Our Voice Academy (OVA) rooted me in a community of powerful change-makers in education, recognized and celebrated my identity, and amplified my voice and personal sense of empowerment.

Community & Conversation

We were placed into a Google Hangout chat weeks before OVA actually started and people got to know each other quick. People were sending videos, pictures, and links to blogs and resources. I felt like I did not have much to add so I hopped in and out of the chat to stay up to date, but that was all. What I didn’t know was how much these educators would change my life in late July. Upon meeting for dinner on our first night, many of the group had heard about my tough traveling journey that day and welcomed me with hugs and laughs. We sat at dinner together and shared our stories about family, friends, and education.

After dinner, we found a local karaoke spot. Now I am pretty shy with new people, but can you believe I did karaoke for the first time in my LIFE, on the first night I met my hype-team? I also had no choice because they played California Love and so I had to represent. Throughout our 4 days at OVA, we probably spent an average of 9-14 hours together a day. From Jennie’s keynote wisdom to Dee’s sharing of the heart, Sarah’s marketing hacks, and Monica’s graphic design wizardry – we kept on building together. After dinner each night, we would meet in the hotel lobby to snack, laugh, and practice our keynote throughlines until 1 am. Since OVA ended we have heard from someone in our Google Hangout at least once a day. To call us a community is an understatement, we created a family.

Identity & Belonging

Being a female teacher of color is not easy. I have not always felt like my voice was heard or appreciated. I started off teaching (as ChrisEmdin coins it) with “brown girl syndrome.” I was quiet, compliant, and did my job in my classroom. I attended all of the meetings, followed up on every email, and said “yes” when asked to do anything at my school. I worked hard to create engaging lessons and connect with my kids and created a classroom that looked like it would have earned a gold medal in the Pinterest Olympics. From an outsider looking in, it probably looked like I was loving life as a new teacher. And I mostly was. I loved teaching and I loved my students, but I did not love how I felt at school. I did not feel like it was always my place to share or my place to voice my opinions or experiences. So, I trusted in a few colleagues and kept working, teaching and trying. So now here I was approaching my 6th year of school, and my excitement about being accepted into OVA was rooted in my desire and eagerness to have a group of educators who I could authentically share with. I left OVA knowing a lot. First, I know I belong to something bigger. That as a female teacher of color, I have a sounding board of brilliant educators who have been there. I know that I have a group who will lift and amplify my voice. I know have a space to talk about inequity in education. I know I can celebrate my friends and follow their examples. I know I have influential leaders who I can look to and be guided by. I know I have a safe space to let my guard down and really challenge the status quo in education. I know I can share me.

Empowerment & Voice

I went straight to the Google Hangout chat my first week back at school when I had to overcome a challenging conversation with a coworker. Normally, I avoid confrontation at all costs. I would rather comply and be quiet and then take the issue home to stress about for another 48 hours. But, OVA changed the way I process tough conversations at school. I know that the stakes are too high for me to comply and let people just be people, or to let schools just keep doing the same thing. I have been empowered to use my voice. I am finally ready to use my voice as a vehicle to drive change. I am no longer afraid of the tough conversations. I am not afraid to push for what is best for kids. I am not shying away of my own experiences in the classroom and relationships with kids. I am not going to water down my successes, instead, I am going to share and invite others in. How is it possible that 4 days changed the way I communicate? Clearly, there was something in the cookies. Since being back from OVA for 28 days (but who’s counting?) and as I walk into my 7th week of school, I know how to use my voice to make a change. I know how to let go of my “brown girl syndrome” and speak up.

Our Voice Academy connected me with educators of color who have been doing the work. Educators of color who have been making an impact on their schools, districts, and states (and provinces, didn’t forget about you Jason!) for longer than I have been breathing. Did I gain my hype-team? Absolutely. But I also gained a network of beautiful human beings who check-in on the regular, show support on and offline, celebrate the victories, show compassion on the hard days, but most importantly – offer unconditional encouragement in this complex and often challenging field we work in.

P.S. Jennie, do you see my 3 points and a hopefully clear throughline? You taught us well!

Alicia Johal is a sixth-year science teacher, curriculum specialist and underwater robotics coordinator in Sweetwater Union High School District. She teaches 7th & 8th-grade science, biotechnology and marine biology. Alicia is an equity warrior who works to create opportunities on and off campus for her students to have access to and achievement in science. She has been recognized by state and federal programs for her work creating inclusive STEM programs and building community partnerships. She presents at local, state and national conferences on topics such as technology equity, student agency and engagement, and mastery-based teaching and learning. You can follow Alicia on Twitter @AliciaJohal.

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I walk into the workshop…the conference…the meeting…the event…the opportunity. My eyes involuntarily dart around the room. I realize immediately what I am looking for. I am looking for other people of color in the room.

Then the sad realization hits me that I am the only or one of a few in the room. This situation has happened in my life time and time again. With no control over changing that fact, I became resigned to it. I would take a seat at the table (the opportunity) and learn from others who were supposed to be there. At times, I would feel like “the other.” Even if I knew without a doubt I got there because of my hard work, I would still question whether I was there because I checked a box as a person of color or because of my worth. I would also question who else was questioning my worthiness as well. However, this has changed after attending the Our Voice Academy (OVA).

When I was first invited to OVA, I had my reservations. A program to help people of color become keynote speakers? Even though I knew the company who sponsored the event was worthy (thanks so much EdTechTeam) and the people running it were legit (I mean how can you beat Jennie Magiera, Dee Lanier, Monica Martinez and Sarah Thomas), I was still hesitant. Any time I hear of programs for people of color, I have to question the reasoning behind the program. Is it a program to close any gaps in opportunity or is it a program because we, as people of color, need help to be comparable to those not of color? I decided to take a leap of faith and attend.

I am thrilled that I did. This was a life-changing, empowering event. To be in a safe space with people of different races, genders, and nationalities, but all people of color who have experienced some of the same situations was transformative. One situation we had in common was seeing the same people presenting and keynoting at conferences over and over again and wondering how we could get a seat at that table. I went to the event with the hope that this event would either open a seat at the table or at least teach me how I could ask for a seat! However, this event taught me so much more!

I learned that I had to change my mindset about that special seat at the special table. Of course, I still want to be humble and thankful, but understand that I deserve a seat at the table and that whoever owns the table is lucky to have me sit there. I should be grateful for the opportunity while also understanding that my talent and what I can offer teachers is the reason I am there. I also learned that we can create tables of our own as well! That is where having a strong professional learning network (PLN) plays a part. I am so inspired and motivated to work together with my PLN to create opportunities for us and others! Working together is the key because I feed off of the positivity, brilliance, and innovation of the others in this group (I am honored and lucky to have met them). Being able to let my guard down and just learn from others to better myself was and is invigorating. Besides this, learning some of the technical aspects of keynoting was well worth it as well. I learned what makes a great keynote, how graphic design can relay my message, how I can use physical movement to make my point, how to stay authentic to myself and my message, and how to brand myself and get my message out there to the world.

Seeing myself and others change and grow over the span of the 4 days of the Our Voice Academy was unbelievable. I will never forget this experience because it has changed me to my core. The amazing keynoters who attended OVA have become part of my family. I think I can speak for all of us when I say as we go back to our everyday lives, we are inspired to turn tables so our voices can be heard. We are here, we are ready, and we will be heard.

Desiree Alexander
Founder CEO
Educator Alexander Consulting
Regional Director of North Louisiana
Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana (A+PEL)
www.educatoralexander.com
Twitter: @educatoralex
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube: EducatorAlexander

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I had the pleasure of participating in the Our Voice Academy  (OVA) as part of cohort 2 presented by EdTechTeam. Cohort 2 was comprised of 20 amazing educators from all over the world. I am writing this reflection to capture my thoughts and unpack my experience. Hopefully, Our Voice Academy will continue, so educators of color can gather to share their experiences.

The Experience

Our Voice Academy allowed for a safe space where people of color could come together and share authentic experiences with one another. I have to give a big shot out to Brian Smith for nominating me. I truly cherish the friendship and camaraderie we’ve developed. I want to also give a shout out to all of the participating men of color that shared the space. It is very rare that I get to share impactful spaces with men of color at this level. I was so empowered and connected to the group on so many levels.

Whenever I work in an education setting I do a quick check to see how many black men are present. When looking around the room during our #OVAcademy experience, there were people who looked like me and had similar experiences that I had. I didn’t realize how important that was for me. I’ve gone through my professional experience just living with the fact that I was the only black male in the room. Jay Z said it best when he said he only spots a few “black men” the higher up he goes. I’ve experienced that as I look to work in more leadership spaces. The educational spaces that are most influential have very few if any, black males lending their voices to the conversations.

That’s why I feel like the kind of space that was created by #OVAcademy is so important. I was able to lend my authentic voice and my experiences to important conversations. I didn’t feel like I was the token black guy or that I had to make sure to represent the entire black community with my presence. It was quite liberating and empowering.

The Takeaways

In the work that I do with schools, I focus on positive success experiences because those experiences build self-efficacy (the belief that you can achieve a specific task). Also, to increase self-efficacy, one must see peers succeed in what you’re trying to accomplish. The connections we made allow us to build a peer mentor group and seeing us all succeed was important and built efficacy. Desiree (@educatoralexander) was first to perform her keynote and all of the subsequent speakers were so important in building our individual self-efficacy. We also received lots of encouragement from the coaches as we finished our speeches which also contributed to our efficacy.

I believe the biggest takeaway for me was the connections. On our first night, many of us connected by going to Karaoke and singing the Chicago night away. That singing experience was the glue that held us together because we sang throughout the spaces we shared with one another for the entire weekend. We had a practice keynote session and a session where our 5-minuted keynote synopsis was recorded. It was pretty stressful because everyone wanted to put their best foot forward. Because my tribe in the room was giving me positive energy, I felt really calm. In future spaces, I know I will not have the same safe space, however, this was a great start to build our individual confidence.

Connections

I have 19+ other educators as part of my tribe that can amplify my voice and vice-versa. 19+ other people in my tribe that I can turn to for encouragement and be a critical friend. When I connect with these individuals THEY WILL GET IT with very little explanation. That’s what a tribe is all about right? We can talk about our challenges and they get it. I believe it is so important in today’s climate that people of color band together and move as a unit to impact change in our communities. I believe we also need to be able to uplift one another so that we can be present in influential places and lend our collective voices to the challenges that face our communities and our profession.

It’s not just enough for one of us to make it and spread the good word across all education spaces. We need all of us to break down the doors and tell our stories. Who can better tell a diverse story than a person of color? I was so inspired by everyone’s story. We all had powerful stories and now we have the confidence and the platform to share our stories. We know that we are all connected in telling this story and our stories need to be shared.

Impact

I want to give a quick plug for #passthescopeEDU on twitter because the experience I’ve gained by being a part of this community has been very impactful to me as I continue this journey of developing my voice. In giving my speech I was very comfortable because of our experience with passthescope. Also, I would not have met some of the awesome educators I call friends now without this experience. #Passthescopeedu takes place the third Thursday of the month and it is open to all educators willing to share their stories (if you are interested hit me up on twitter @toutoulentoya). #passthescopeedu has allowed me to find my voice and #OVAcademy has taken that voice to a new level.

These two experiences have been some of the best experiences (dare I say PD) I’ve had in my education career. These kinds of experiences are what shifts the trajectory of one’s career. Knowing what the possibilities are and stepping into the path of those possibilities is such a powerful thing.

Next Steps

What’s next for me? Well, I am really passionate about working with educators around STEAM integration and makerspaces and am looking to expand my work with STEAM and makerspaces.  I’ve seen how both integrating STEAM and makerspaces can shift the culture of a school from the principal to the students. I also see how empowering these success experiences can be for students. Our cohort is so dope, not only do we have a soundtrack for our #OVAcademy experience (OVAcademy on Spotify) but we are in the works of putting together a group podcast and future reunions. There are so many heavy hitters in this group and I see great things on the horizon.

The sky is the limit and I hope we can continue to uplift one another. I am going to refine my keynote and look to give it very soon. Albert was my critical friend during the 4 days of #OVAcademy and he’s waiting for my book so looks like I have some writing to do.

I want anyone reading this to think about how important your voice is in the spaces you represent. I want people to read this blog and imagine how they can feel empowered and share their stories for others. Often times, we feel that we don’t have a meaningful story to tell when we do. Someone is going through the exact same experience you are going through.  So find ways to share your experience and develop your own tribe of folks to support in your journey. I am pretty sure you have an experience that other people are dying to hear.