So I participated in a #ClearTheAir chat on Twitter for the first time last week. One of the questions asked about ghosts we carry with us as parents or educators. I've been thinking a lot on and off this summer about beliefs or expectations I held to be true growing up and where those came from and why. So that's where my brain went when @ClearTheAir (@ValBrown) posed that question. You can see my original response below.
0 Comments
My Story As is the case with a lot of children, the first day of school for me often led to confusion about my name. They would surprisingly usually get my former last name of Hirschy right (said like Hershey; was often pronounced by others as Hirsky), but my first name was another story. I would likely get called Jo Ann and/or RaeAnn (my twin sister's name) at some point if not multiple points on the first day. Coaches of sports where we were on the same team would often just call us Hirschy to not have to learn or mistake which of us was which. In college I found myself debating whether or not to correct other college students I met while out and about with friends on calling me JoAnn after I had already pronounced it once for them. What was the likelihood I would interact with them again? Was it worth the time and energy to correct them? This was how I started thinking. Friends would often correct people on my behalf. As an adult professional going into my 10th year of teaching and my 5th year in the same building, I still have a few colleagues that misspell my first name in every email they send to me. Names matter. Repeatedly mispronouncing or misspelling a name sends a message that you do not deem it worth your time to learn the correct pronunciation or spelling. Names are always worth our time. Mispronouncing names or insensitive things people say around names are also microagressions. I've heard folks say things such as, "I'm never going to get that right," "I have no idea how to say this one," or attempt the name and then say, "Oh I give up, that's too hard. What is it?" Please stop. Those are harmful things to say Breaking old habits & starting new ones I had a few librarians interested in diving further into equity work ask me about who I learn from on Twitter, so I started a Twitter list entitled "DEI" (diversity equity inclusion) that currently has 47 accounts to suggest to them. It is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it includes many of the folks I've learned a great deal from this year or recently. (Since I am a school librarian, some of these folks are publishers, advocates for diverse books, and so forth. But many are individuals or organizations that are putting in DEI work.) This blog started out with a focus on my journey with starting a makerspace, but as a school librarian a lot of my job also involves library programming/thinking and integrating educational technology, so those became a natural part of what I was writing about. As you may have noticed from Twitter, my thinking, tweeting, reading, etc. have also been having some important shifts with equity work over this past year especially. I'd been involved in equity work for a while, but I wasn't nearly vocal enough. I knew that. I called myself on that. I've been working to speak out more, amplify the voices/works of others more, and be noisier.
So naturally I wanted to add this Equity section to my blog. I want to share some of my learning and unlearning with others. It will keep me accountable, push me to reflect honestly, share my vulnerability and mistakes along the way (They happen, and I'm learning that there's power in sharing or seeing that.), and hopefully encourage others (I'm looking at you, my fellow white educators, especially. Although of course all are welcome!) to get started in this work, keep going, or go deeper. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |