“Now more than ever, the world needs to be turning its hearts and minds to the wisdom, knowledge and experience of Indigenous people all over the world. For thousands of years, we’ve raised our children, we’ve grown them to be productive members of our communities, we’ve laid to rest our loved ones and done that in intimate relationship with the place that we live. Understanding that we are part of the world, not dominant over the world; that we are part of a community, not dominant over the community. There’s something about that that the world needs to listen to.”

–Denise Augustine, The Young and the Woke Podcast

Dear Community:

I recently had the opportunity to record my first podcast, produced by Young Whan Choi in his series “The Young and the Woke” and in conversation with my friend Denise Augustine, who shared with me her thoughts on Indigenous Ways of Knowing, land acknowledgements, and the need for truth and reconciliation in the U.S. Below, you’ll find a few framing words from Denise about this conversation and the moment we are in. We offer you this resource humbly and would love to know what resonates for you from our conversation.

Also, Jamila and I are so excited that Street Data will be in out in the world in less than two weeks!!! Please join us for a Virtual Book Talk on the day the book comes out (register here). From a seed in The Listening Leader to a full-blown book, we can’t wait to be in dialogue with you all about how to leverage this book to reimagine education for the next generation.

With love and hope,

Shane

One of my teachers, Laura, reminds me that as educational leaders we hold the future of each child in our hands. The decisions we make – or don’t make – will impact learners today, and maybe those yet to come. For a long time education has used data to figure out which kids need “fixing” and then we have designed “programs” and “interventions” to help those kids better fit into our system. Perhaps it is time to stop using abstract data as a reason to point our fingers at “other” parts of the organization and instead use it as a reason to pause, and with humility, listen carefully to each learner so that we can better understand their experiences, their knowings, their questions, their wonderings, their possibilities, their dreams. Perhaps it is time for us to “fix” our system to better fit our kids. Shane and Jamila offer us a way to center the voice of learners and in doing so nourish the current education system so that it is no longer a sterile structure struggling to streamline the children and youth it is meant to serve but instead is a network of meaningful relationships rich in learning, bubbling with joy, and raising children full of possibility and purpose.

Denise Augustine, Coast Salish woman of mixed ancestry, educator, mother and student

The Young and the Woke Podcast

Shane and Denise had the pleasure of being featured on the latest episode of Young Whan Choi’s podcast, The Young and the Woke. The episode focused on indigenous ways of knowing and how we can awaken to the wisdom of indigenous communities. Check out the episode to learn about how indigenous ways of knowing can help us heal our relationship with one another and to the land we live on.

For Further Reading:

I found Larry Ferlazzo’s opinion piece in Education Week to be so aligned with Street Data. Check out this great resource for shifting the discourse:

Students Respond to Adults’ Fixation on ‘Learning Loss’

Key Dates

Tuesday, March 2, 2021, 3:00 PM Pacific
Street Data Release Date and Free Virtual Book Chat Webinar
Featuring: Shane Safir, Dr. Jamila Dugan, and Joe Truss
See flyer below for more details.
Register here.

Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 10:30 AM Pacific
Keynote by Shane Safir
Spring Virtual Leadership Summit, New Tech Network
More info/register here.

Monday, May 3, 2021, 3:30 PM Pacific
Free Webinar presented by Corwin
Street Data: A Next-Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation
Featuring: Shane Safir, Dr. Jamila Dugan, Jal Mehta, and Chris Emdin
More info/register here.