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Reflect on One’s Cultural Lens

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Lesson 2, Topic 1
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Competency #4 Episode Copy

https://vimeo.com/481716840
Click for Video Transcript

I recently shared with a group of Black males…I was speaking to my fraternity during the founders day and I talked about how their observations must become their obligations. This is not about sharing pity. We don’t need to create the others and share pity. What we need to create are mentors and role models and individuals who are lifting individuals up and showing individuals within our respective communities that they too, have the ability to do these things. The more we do that individually and collectively, the better off the children are. 

For so long, individuals thought of the teaching profession as just these individuals who have all of the information. I’m trying to shift that narrative more towards the social justice side of this because there are also individuals that want us to be the individuals that equip in that young person the ability to ask the question. 

The ability to say, 

“Hey, here are my thoughts on that.” 

The ability to say,

“This is how I interpret what I just read.” 

and/or,

“This is how I see myself in that piece of text or in that history.” 

That’s what we want to create. It’s not just the individual who is able to solve the math problems the best, but it’s the individuals who are saying,

“Hey, how do you see yourself in this and what problems could you solve as a part of this?” 

“What are solutions that you would bring to this work?”

FOJ VIDEO REFLECTION

When we read the transcript of Dr. Hite for this competency, there is one line that emphatically sticks out to us.

“I’m trying to shift that narrative more towards the social justice side of this because there are also individuals that want us to be the individuals that equip in that young person the ability to ask the question.”
Dr. William R.
William R. Hite Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent, The School District of Philadelphia

The ability to ask the right questions is a skill and one that is highlighted in the “Innovator’s DNA” as a fundamental skill of an innovator. If we frame this competency around “real-world” issues, then our ability to solve them is deeply rooted to the questions we ask. See The Innovator’s DNA from Harvard Business Review.