Martin's

It's time to acknowledge the systemic tensions minoritized teachers face in education

In this episode, you’ll hear from Dr. Christopher J. Cormier. Dr. Cormier is a former special education teacher and a current postdoctoral fellow in the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Christopher's research focuses on the professional and socio-emotional lives of minoritized teachers. He also researches the culturally informed practices of minoritized students in special education. Dr. Cormier is the current President of the Division for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners (DDEL) of the Council for Exceptional Children.

The unique challenges teachers and students of color experience in our schools

The workload for all educators is intense. For special education teachers, it may be even greater due to the range of students’ instructional needs, the nuances of multiple classroom instructional formats, and the quantity of due process requirements. Although all teachers experience stress, teachers of color (TOC) often experience unique stressors. The experiences that TOC endure are multilayered and complex. In this episode, you’ll hear an interview I did with Moemen Ibrahim and Danielle Danielles. Two special education teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota. They discuss the challenges that minoritzed teachers and students experience in our schools and what we can do to mitigate them.

How to support, value, and respect educators and students of color

In this episode, I interviewed Mrs. Donielle Lawhorn, a special education teacher coach in Minnesota. Mrs. Lawhorn discusses her experience as a teacher and special education teacher and the importance of supporting, valuing, and respecting educators of color.

It's time to raise expectations and empower students and teachers of color

In this episode, you’ll hear from Deeqaifrah Hussein. She is a former High School Special Education Teacher who educated students with autism and emotional behavior disorders. Now Deeqaifrah is in her 14th year in education and she is a Director of Special Education at Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota. Deeqaifrah is a parent of two children with autism, a community advocate, and the vice president of the Somali Parents Autism Network. She is on the board of the Autism Society of Minnesota and on her state senate autism council.

How to improve outcomes for students with disabilities

In this episode, you'll hear an interview with Lindsay Griendling, a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Virginia. As a former special educator serving students across urban, suburban, and rural middle school settings, she saw firsthand how ambiguous policy terms flow through federal, state, and local systems to perpetuate inequities among adolescents with dis/abilities from minoritized racial/ethnic backgrounds. These experiences inform her research, which centers around supporting effective communication across special education policy and practice to improve schooling experiences and outcomes for multiply-marginalized youth. During the interview, Lindsay shared a wealth of ideas to support the needs of students with disabilities.

An interview with a culturally sustaining special education teacher

In today's episode, you’ll hear an interview I did with Sharifa Sheyba. Sharifa is a former resident of the Saint Paul Public Schools Urban Teacher Residency program (also known as SUTR) and was nominated as Resident of the Year. Now, Sharifa is currently in her second year as a special education teacher and provides specialized services for students with a variety of needs.