So often at these gatherings, there is so much stimulation flying in strereo that it is hard to take in and process all the greatness that is happening at once. Every second of working with pre-K-5 students today was brilliant - there is nothing like working with and listening to youth.
No matter what corner you turned, what step you took, or what hallway you walked down, there was Dr. Tracey Flores doing as she does best: hosting, teaching, guiding, smiling, coaching, and moving. She is a national treasure...the real deal...the type of human being we should desire to be.
I caught her writing with students in my Writing Our Lives workshop, participating, sharing, and encouraging as she does best.
This morning, I'm walking over for another 12-hour day, although I'm not sure I'll be able to make it the entire day (I have an afternoon presentation with the Divergent/Initiat(ED) team which I'm excited about and several session I can't wait to attend, too).
Wiping the yawn away and beginning again. This, however, is for Tracey. I see you. We all do.
My introduction for Dr. Tonya Perry.
Hello, Scholars. Friends. Colleagues, Mentors, and NCTEAR family…
I mean, you’re NCTE President Elect, a mentor, a colleague, a fellow National Writing Project teacher leader, and more importantly a dear friend. I promise to behave.
While I have the Mic, though, I absolutely wish to applaud like others the hard work and excellence of Dr. Tracey Flores and her leadership team for bringing us together in Austin, Texas. Today’s visit to Dr. Janis Guerrero-Thompson Elementary School was both inspirational and stunning. Community. Community. Community. Education. Education. Education.
For over a decade I was a classroom teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, where I first learned of THE, one and only, Dr. Tonya Perry of Birmingham, Alabama. At the time, I was a member of the Louisville Writing Project, cohort XXI and legally writing. Not only was Dr. Perry the first African American to be named teacher of the year in the State of Alabama, she quickly to beame a familiar face across the National Writing Project’s teachers-teaching-teacher network. Like Many, including Dr. Flores, I became a super fan and sought her expertise as I moved along my own academic journey.
I’ve been fortunate to work with Dr. Perry through the Red Mountain Writing Project, both in 2013 and 2019 through the NWP urban sites network and NCTEAR, and with teacher online workshops during the trying, and frustrating days of teach-from-home Covid.
No one does it better than Dr. Perry – In fact, I’ve used her greatness as a template to my own work, and shared her advice with author Kwame Alexander when he inquired about hosting conferences for young writers: First, find great people you know, trust, and love, second: gather as many teachers and kids as you can, and third: throw a memorable party.
If you’re Dr. Perry, you also bring a marching band.
Dr. Perry models for all who know her integrity, compassion, and grace. I still cherish a friendship created in 2013 with the Sudanese artist, singer, actor, and activist, Emmanuel Jal, author of War Child who I met because of Dr. Perry’s NWP leadership and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute she partnered with. For those who don’t know him, he would later go on to star in The Good Lie with Reese Witherspoon. And I also cherish a photograph of one of my boys sitting with Dr. Richard Milner on a school bus as we traveled to the Legacy Museum. the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama. For her, it’s always been teachers and young people first.
Dr. Perry’s book Teaching Racial Equity: Becoming Interrupters co-written with Steven Zemelman and Katy Smith has become a staple for the professional development I lead with teacher sin Connecticut, and more recently, her article When Teachers Write and Heal Together: Using Critical Race Theory and Historically Responsive Literacy in Digital 3rd Spacecowritten with brilliant teachers who also do the work in Birmingham, has been a go-to piece for me as I try support educators doing the work, fighting the systems designed to destroy them, and operating with a kid-up framework. Time for a shameless plug: you can check out two features on NWP’s THE WRITE TIME, including her unforgettable interview of Felicia Rose Chavez, author of The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop, and the discussion of her own book.
Yes, Dr. Perry is legendary. Not just that, she’s a visionary. I know, personally, I am a better man because of her, and we’re all better literacy scholars and teachers because she leads the way. I couldn’t admire a person more.
This is for you, Tonya,
and the children of lacrosse,
the teachers of the cradleboard
& the speakers of dugout canoes
as our imagination grows
in the race & restoration of human rights,
in the belief of sincere peace-making,
and the desire for more simplicity,
It is your care that leads towards hope and sparkled dreams.
As you taught me,
we are the warriors, those who are sincere, sequined with beliefs,
ready to restore silver linings from memories,
to believe in the finesse, the human togetherness -
of Ubuntu, you, me, them, us
discovering how to love
without destroying,
or harnessing grudges
...without hurting ourselves,
You help to keep us from falling victim
to the slippery wreckage of these systems
that hold us down.
I wish for us to sing, NCTEAR,
to bring instrumental hues
to our villages, to our youth
to all gearing up for success,
& to be the melodies of evening moon’s moods-
She is the serenity of John Coltrane’s smoky-bourbon blues,
whoprojects possibilities and pedagogical dreams.
And that is my introduction…friend. So, it seems. So, it seems.
Thank you, Dr. Perry, for being you and for helping so many of us. We are honored to have you with us as our keynote this evening. It is a true honor to introduce you tonight.
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