Thread by @AFTunion

.@DenaSimmons is joining @AFTEVPDeJesus now for this afternoon's roundtable: Self-Care, Healing, and Equity-Responsive Practices. You can watch live👇👇👇

https://twitter.com/AFTunion/status/1413581949269118983

.@AFTEVPDeJesus, as the officer overseeing the AAPI taskforce, starts off by encouraging folks to revisit this week's recording of the AAPI history workshop! #TEACH21

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@AFTEVPDeJesus: I am proud of my union for brining us teachers like @DenaSimmons for us to learn from and I am honored to be able to introduce her today.

.@DenaSimmons starts us off with a quote from Martin Luther: Even if I knew tomorrow that the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

"For the moments when it gets difficult, think about that apple tree and plant it anyway." @DenaSimmons

We have suffered a lot of loss and frustration and stress but this has been a time for use to reflect. It has been a time for us to see what we have not been doing well and for us to innovate. @DenaSimmons

We saw how communities and corporations came together to provide for our young people to support or teachers and our schoools and as we go into this next school year we have to keep that same energy. @DenaSimmons

Not only did Black and BIPOC folks suffer through and die from the pandemic, we've also seen an overwhleming anti blackness publicized, on display. @DenaSimmons

It's important for us to begin to talk about the people we lose like family because it is my hope that one day we treat each other like family. @DenaSimmons

If there's any discomfort that you feel in hearing this, I want you to really interrogate what's causing that discomfort, who's feelings you're centering when you feel that discomfort, and to move through that discomfort so we create necessary social change. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

The coronavirus pandemi and the civil unrest has created so much heaviness for all of us. There is a collective trauma that all of us are feeling. And for the teachers out there, even before the coronavirus we were burntout. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

When teachers are stress, students are stressed. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

A stressed and burnt out teaching force is an equity issue. When we don't take care of our teachers, it is an equity issue. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

When we think about care we need to think about how care is not equitably distributed. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

We have to think about who gets cared for and who doesn't get cared for. We have to also think about that in our schooling and our education system. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

But the first relationship we have is ourselves...We are our first data point. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

If we have nothing left to give, what do we have to offer? @DenaSimmons

Are you checking in with yourself and your burnout inventory? #TEACH21

Once we understand what is causing our burnout, we can create a self care strategy. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

Yes, we do need social-emotional learning but we have to be very clear that we can't SEL away racism. We need to be sure that we are also addressing systemic issues. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

We need to apply an equity and anti-racist lens to SEL. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

If we don’t apply an equity and anti-racist lens to SEL we risk SEL turning into white supremacy with a hug. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

“We have to stop asking the wounded to do the work.” @DenaSimmons

Racial justice is everyone’s fight. #TEACH21

Who does neutrality benefit and who does it erase? @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

Like when they say “see something say something,” when you see racism, do something. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

#TEACH21

We have to think about who thrives online. @DenaSimmons

Have to be compassionate to ourselves to our students to our families and to our colleagues. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons As we continue to continue to think about the pandemic, we don't know what Sept. is going to look like. Whatever we do for our pandemic safety plans, it must include protections for BIPOC students. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons Create and hold space for healing, for individuals and communities. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons Above all, I love you. @DenaSimmons #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons .@AFTEVPDeJesus is now introducing the next #TEACH21 event, a roundtable of AFT members LaCresiea Olivier, Josephine Shelton-Townes, and Cheryl Shuff.

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus It's what makes the nurturing part of the classroom. - @AFTCT paraprofessional Cheryl Shuff on how she uses #SEL. #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus @AFTCT We actually do care about the whole child. #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus @AFTCT LaCresiea Olivier, a school social worker, says #SEL helps students connect with the adults at school. #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus @AFTCT Social-emotional learning is not just about what we can teach students, but what they can teach us. - LaCresiea #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus @AFTCT Josephine Shelton-Townes recognizes that not all schools have equal resources, she challenges districts to use their support staff in the area of their expertise. #TEACH21

@DenaSimmons @AFTEVPDeJesus @AFTCT "The pandemic taught us lots of things—many of them very painful, as @DenaSimmons said—but if we follow her, and learn the lessons of the past year, we really can create the Renaissance in public education @rweingarten is talking about." - @AFTEVPDeJesus #TEACH21