1st Class Educator: A Conversation with Locha
From the moment we connected with Locha, we could just feel her passion. After a decade in the classroom as an English Language Arts teacher, Locha realized that her goals for herself and how she wanted to impact the education world needed to shift. And she is now doing the work…bringing school communities together by having critical conversations about the diverse history of all people, sharing their stories & uncovering how this affects the current ways we relate to each other.
Calling it “the largest class project that I have ever participated in”, Locha created the internationally recognized consulting organization, 1st Class Educators LLC. She specializes in staff development and enjoys assisting organizations and educators with providing strategically aligned culturally responsive practices.
From Starbucks hacks to dissecting generational ideas of race, Locha is truly making waves in not only the education community, but also the larger networks of those being impacted from this profound work. This episode covers diversity and equity practices, tangible resources for staff development & the importance of loving what you do (“you gotta be happy!”) . If you are looking for a fresh perspective from a fellow (homeschool) teacher & renowned consultant, look no further!
Locha's Education Consulting Course (10% off!): https://bit.ly/3HRSYJA
Locha's Instagram: instagram.com/lochapowermoves
Georgia
Hello fellow educators & welcome to Making the Grade podcast! We are your hosts, Christine & Georgia, & we are so excited you’re tuning in to share your teacher voice. Today we will be talking with our guest Locha about equity, diversity, and educational consulting .
Locha is the Founder of 1st Class Educator LLC an Internationally recognized educational consulting firm specializing in staff development. She is a former English Language arts teacher with her Administration Certification for Missouri and Texas. Locha completed her postgraduate studies at Harvard for Women in Educational Leadership. Stick around to learn more about how she assists organizations and educators through her company, common misconceptions about diversity, equity, and inclusion, AND which Olympic sport she dreamed about competing in as a child!
Christine
Teachers, we often hear about the importance of equity and inclusion in our schools, in our workplaces. We probably have all received a training or some type of PD targeting these objectives, but do we really know what this means? What does that mean? How is it effective in our workplace? What is the best way that we can be seen the fruits of this labor? Our guest, Lucia, is an expert in this field and is here today to provide clarity and address these common misconceptions on this very important topic.
Georgia
Thank you so much for being here, Locha. We are just happy that you're here. We're so excited to get to know you more and we think our listeners are really gonna love your story.
Locha
Yay. So first, thank you so much Miss Georgia and Christine for allowing me on your platform. I'm super excited to tap in to making the grade and I'm so excited for this conversation. So thank you all for allowing me again to come on and just add value. I appreciate what you guys are doing for the education industry, so it just brings me great pleasure to come on.
Georgia
We're so excited that you're here. We were talking with you a little bit before we started recording our episode and we found out that we are recording this just three days before your birthday, which also happens to be Christine's birthday.
Locha
Yes. Shout out to the Aries in the building. Yeah,
Christine
Definitely some Aries energy going on in this podcast. I love it. Yes,
Georgia
My birthday's not till July, but that's okay.
Locha
Well, July is a cool month. It's always like a cool month, so it's true. That's
Georgia
So true. Cool. Well, we are so excited to dive into, you know, everything about what you've been doing in the education world, but we always like to get to know our guests a little bit more personally beforehand, so we like to play some. Would you rather, have you ever done that before? Are you up for it?
Locha
I, I am up for it. I cannot say that I've, I've ever done would you Rather before, so I'm excited.
Christine
Nice. Okay. It's always been a favorite of ours, so Yeah, it's just, it's quick. It's rapid fire. Okay. Okay. It's a good way to get, get to know you a little bit more. So. All right. We, I know that you love avocados. One of the things you had shared with us, so would you go with GU or queso when you're going out to eat?
Locha
Oh, that, that is really hard, isn't it? Oh my gosh, I, I'm going, oh, although I love avocados and I love guac, I'm probably gonna go with the queso.
Christine
Same, same. And I asked it cuz it's so, it's so hard cuz I love avocado too, but I would go with queso as well.
Locha
Yes, yes. I make my guac and I add like some stranger things. I add blue cheese crumbles and red onions in my guac. So there is no other guac that can live up to it.
Georgia
That souds Delicious.
Locha
Yes, we'll go with the queso.
Christine
Nice. Yeah, I agree. All right,
Georgia
We're coming over. I know.
Locha
Yes, please do. Taco Tuesday. Yeah,
Christine
Perfect. Go. Yeah, I was curious. Yeah, I figured you would, but yeah. All right. And then we know you did a little bit of post-grad work at Harvard and being from Boston, big coffee drinkers, we gotta know, are you a dunk or Starbucks?
Locha
Ooh, easy Starbucks.
Christine
Yeah,
Locha
That was too easy.
Christine
You're probably disappointing a lot of our listeners in this area, but No, no, I love Starbucks too. I agree. Same, same piece.
Locha
So if I can add something into that, I am not a coffee drinker and when I go I get a frappuccino if that counts. So of
Georgia
Course that counts.
Christine
Yes. My gosh. Yes. So
Georgia
I love a Frappuccino. I, when I got my tonsils out a few years ago, which was miserable and the only thing I wanted was frappuccino and like I could have it cuz obviously you're not chewing anything, so, and I still love it to this day. Yeah, that's it. I like caramel.
Locha
Yes caramel. I get the, the caramel and I add Java chips, almond milk, extra caramel on the topping on the side, like that's it. Wow.
Georgia
Yum. That's awesome. And actually when we were chatting before, you mentioned you have a little secret when you go in to order at Starbucks, is that you wanna keep that your own or you wanna share that out?
Locha
No, I want everybody to use this secret, please, y'all. Okay, so okay. I also have to say excuse my Ebonics. I'm sure when you guys listen to Georgia and Christine, you know, you may have some, you know, good perfect grammar. I don't have all of that. I speak fluent Ebonics. Okay. So just wanna start there. But when y'all go to Starbucks and they ask you do you want anything else and you just ask them to make it with love and you will be surprised if the the different ways the Starbucks employees show you all love, like it's just amazing and you can feel the love in your drinks or if they give you a little extra treat, whatever the case may be, you'll just feel the love and it's just amazing. So that's like a Starbucks ordering hack. When they ask you anything else, just say, and if you can make it with love. Yes.
Georgia
I can't wait to try that. I know
Locha
You have to tell me like what is the first thing that happens when you say that? Like what do they do for you?
Georgia
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I cannot wait. Okay, cool. Next time I'm in New Mexico, but I haven't seen a Starbucks in a while, but next time I see one that's where I'm going. That's where,
Locha
And they're gonna, they're gonna give you some love for sure.
Georgia
I can't wait. All right, this is the last one. This one is an education related one. Okay, so would you rather pr, would you prefer to teach a professional development to a bunch of teachers who are about to retire, they're retiring like the next day, or a bunch of teachers who are starting summer break the next day?
Locha
Oh my gosh.
First of all, like who's gonna listen? It's like I am going to go with the group of retired educators because I would just be thinking strategically about maybe onboarding them to do some consulting work. Nice. So that's not what we expected you to choose, but I like it. Yes, no, they're the sweet like, because really if you really love the education industry, if you really love it, I don't, I don't see like you see retirement, but you still wanna be active. Like it's so many things you can do. You say, oh I'm gonna travel, I'm gonna this, this and that, but you still kind of wanna exercise that like passion. So yeah, I would rock out with the retirees because they still, they love it. If they love it, they love it and they gonna do it. So that's,
Christine
That's a really good answer. I love it. Yeah, no I love that attitude too. I was like, oh, there's no way she's gonna want to work with a bunch of teachers wanting to retire all grumpy and everything. But no, I love that. That's perfect. All right, so we gotta know more about what you're doing now. So we know you started in the classroom, you, you were teaching. And can you tell us a little bit about that and your journey to the company that you have now? First class educators?
Locha
Yes. So educator English background, that was my content area. I loved high school English. My last position before transitioning into school consultant, I served as a middle school English teacher, eighth grade fun times. I absolutely love being in the classroom. I absolutely love my students and for me, I just knew fairly early that I wasn't retiring the traditional route. I wasn't gonna do 30 years. And so even in preparing, you know, to transition from just being a classroom teacher, I got my administration degree, master's in education administration and thought about becoming a principal and I just knew like based on the lifestyle I wanted to live, being with my kids, loving to travel, that that was not gonna be conducive with that type of lifestyle at all. And so I knew that I still desired an impact in the education industry. So I gave myself a hard pause at 10 years so that I would be able to go full force with the consultant.
And so now here we are four years into consulting full-time. I love it. I love it. Our lens is diversity, equity, inclusion. So we focus on opportunities where we can go in and assist organizations that are looking to make systemic change whether or not they're fully committed to it or if it's just something that is like a checkoff for them. We go in and we really help them do a deep dive in what I feel is a very, very strategic manner. The, the way that we go in and approach it, it is just, I love it. And so I am very sensitive about how we present material because I don't ever want to offend anybody in this process because it is very, and people can be sensitive and easily offended when you're talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion. And so I just think that you have to be emotionally intelligent when you are administering this type of content.
And I just know to see education reform, how I truly wanna see it. We have to start there. And I think just the current state of education, the current state of, you know, our country and dealing with these types of issues, you have to be strategic when you are doing the work if it's something that you actually care about. And I totally care about it because in my classroom as an English teacher, I made sure that I always brought in material that reflected my student demographic because I knew that's how I was gonna optimize engagement, optimize student success. And so with having teachers coming to me asking me, you know, Loha, how do you get your students to engage? How do you get parent engagement? Like it's just amazing we see all of this, you know, coming outta your class, what are you doing? And it was just culturally responsive teaching.
And so that on the skill that we're doing and with professional development translates into equitable practices or d e i, however you wanna term it, just don't call it c r t, like that's, that's the main thing. Okay. That part. Okay. So we really doing some awesome work and I really just like talking about it because I think so many times people are afraid to even dive into it cuz you walking on eggshells, you don't wanna say the wrong thing. And it's really the exchanging of dialogue that really gets you to the point to feel comfortable with. Number one, understanding that a lot of the things that we as teachers come to the classroom with is based off of childhood experiences. And once we can unpack that and move forward, it's okay. It's a learning process not just for the students but teachers as well. Especially when we think about the, the change in generations that are coming and having to adapt to them and just exercising more intelligence with the learning process. So All right, I'm gonna stop talking and lash, ask me the questions. No,
Georgia
That's incredible. I love that there's, yeah, thank you for explaining all that.
Locha
Yes, I love it. I truly love it.
Georgia
I was just gonna say, it sounds like you love what you do, like the way that you're talking about it, like your face is lighting up, it sounds like you could go on about it all day,
Locha
Aw
Georgia
Day and that's how you know that you love something and and it's amazing. It's amazing when what you, when you love what you do, but also when what you're doing is really important work too.
Locha
Yes.
Georgia
Who could ask for anything more in a career? It sounds like when you go into an organization and you know you're there to kind of help them establish equitable practices, it sounds like you wanna, one of the biggest things you're considering is making sure you're being sensitive to what's going on there and kind of finding out, okay, are they really interested in making change or are they just checking off a box here? What would you say is the most important thing that you, or where do you start when you first go into an organization? What's kind of your starting point to know where to go with your work there?
Locha
So really looking to see if they have any initiatives that align with the work that we love to do. So if a organization says that, you know, they really would like to work on diversity, equity, and inclusion for their entire organization, seeing what initiatives are literally wrote down and not just somebody just saying it, but do you have maybe a resolution on racism or do you have anything inside of your strategic plan? Every organization has a strategic plan, does anything in there align to it? And then moving from there with looking at their data. So what does the data show? We are very data driven. So we look at, you know, any disparities that they may have with minority students and their gifted and talented programs or any type of discrepancies with discipline or anything like that. But then not just stopping, they're also looking at what type of initiatives have any of their school buildings adopted.
So do they have any, one district that comes to mind, they had a program called Operation Calculus and that was where they were trying to get access to more minority students to get into the AP track and things like that for calculus or other AP courses and just highlighting the things that they're already doing in the district that other schools might not know that they're doing. So that we can bring that into the full piece of our professional development as we're curating our session. So we look at, you know, what are their actual goals, what are their commitments that they have stated, look at the data and then we tailor our sessions or tailor our professional development towards that organization's needs and go from there. So, and it's also awesome to have the buy-in from the top down. So we like to start with leadership.
So ideally you wanna come in and you wanna work with the whole district, all of the staff at the same time, but it's not realistic that everybody is not on the same page. So you wanna come in and you wanna make sure that everybody at the district level understands what you're, what it is that you are providing as a service, how that aligns to what they're doing. And so working with them and then working your way down to work with the teachers in a, not even in the same year in some instances because it is a lot of unpacking if you're trying to actually create systemic change. And that has just been our practice. And so other organizations may do it differently, but I really, I'm in it for the long haul and I really wanna see the systemic change. And so I truly believe that you have to be strategic in how you administer the content, all the way from making sure that you start with that top level buy-in
and work your way down.
Christine
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. And just to, to clarify, where are you based out of? I know you, I think you said you do this, you know, remotely and everything for districts, but where are you based out of?
Locha
So I am, I'm in Dallas. A lot of my team is out of the Midwest, St. Louis back home where I'm from. A lot of my team is from there. But then we have consultants all over. We have a nice amount of consultants that are here in Dallas as well. And so we work nationwide as well as internationally with organizations, which is pretty cool. And so we do go in person, we do some things virtually and sometimes a district may us to do like a hybrid where we come in person one month virtually the next month and switch back and forth. We love in-person work. I mean it's, it's fun that way. I'm, I'm really tired of staring at a computer screen. I like that in Personness. But whatever gets the job done, whatever works for the organization and whatever works best for the content as well. So out of the Midwest is where I will respond. Yeah.
Locha
Outta the Midwest. No, that makes sense. No, I was just, I was curious cuz at the beginning of, of your talking and explaining the, the important work that you're doing, you had mentioned, you know, we don't call it critical race theory and we hear that term like thrown around in the news and you see headlines of the, these insane stories coming out of like Florida and the south in Texas. And I guess what, what are the conversations that the schools that you're in are having around that? And are you facing opposition because of those things? I'm, I'm just so curious to hear about it.
Locha
So you certainly face opposition I think no matter what state you in, no matter how progressive a state may seem. But I think the, the importance is really exchanging the dialogue on what we are actually doing. And so when we talk about going into an organization or when people say unpacking hidden biases, unpacking, you know, things like that, it's really bringing in information that is going to help educators to see how some of the things that we, and when I say we, it's a shared experience. It's not just non-minority educators learning something, it's a shared experience for minority educators, all educators of different backgrounds to see how our upbringing has impacted maybe how we administer our content and our instructional practices with working with students. And so we bring in exercises or activities that get us to look at when did we first see in my instance, when did I first see Native Americans and you know, the media or how was that portrayed to me?
How was, how did I see African Americans portrayed in the media? Things like that. What were conversations like in the household around, you know, these different ethnicities or these different subgroups. And so we start unpacking things that way and when we do get the opposition from people, you know, we explain what C r t is and there are some amazing people on my team that this is like, this is they lifework. It's to really, you know, really take deep dives into these conversations and really dispel any myth in regards to it and how that is truly not the work that we are doing. I mean when you think about it and you know, for people who really know that is really something that's taught on a collegiate level. It's not anything that's K through 12. And so I really like informing people and you know, letting them know some of the content that we're using.
One of the books that we love to use is called Everyday Anti-Racism by Micah Pullock is a very good collection of different, I guess case studies, if you will, from different educators across the nation about their experiences with dealing with equitable practices, how they may look in any K through 12 or college setting. And it's just very good to bring in that information when you pair it with a book study so people can know like it's not just a personal agenda, but it's grounded in data, it's grounded in research. We also bring in a lot of local history. So for whatever district that we're working in, we bring in local history that is important to them, understanding how did their community get to be the way that it is, even from, you know, redlining, showing them how redlining impacted their particular community, where the schools are, how that may have impacted the student demographics and population just within their district based on redlining and how that may look.
Different events that have happened historically that have, may cause some unjust situations or things that have transpired within their district. And they absolutely love it because it is one thing to be in your community, but it's another thing to actually know the history of your community. And so unless you actually are, I'm a nerd, I will say that I just love research. So I always, anytime we going somewhere I'm like, oh, I just wanna see like, you know, when did this happen? When did you know? So I take deep dives. Everybody is not like that and nothing is wrong with that. But when we come into an organization, we are heavily grounded on data and research that's specific to that location, which it drives home the connection and the importance of the work. So that is really how we kind of approach it, is just really sharing the information on what we are actually doing and what our intentions are.
Another thing that I'm very strategic about is how we actually staff the different opportunities. So I, I don't just go in an organization with like a black agenda, like, y'all working with these black students all wrong or you, that's never the case. And we approach it from an assets base. So we make sure that we have consultants that can relate to the, the demographic of teachers that we're working with because we know that they're going to receive the information better that way. And so we are pairing, we're very strategic with our staffing and then we approach it again from the assets base. So always looking at what are they already doing within their organization and just how can they enhance what they're, what they're already doing. So you just gotta be strategic with it all because if you really wanna see it, you have to know like it's just a certain way that you have to approach somebody with this, this content and information.
And by the end of it just the lights and the, you know, the thank yous and I never looked at it this way and you know, that type of vibe. I love it because teachers are actually, they're, they're more appreciative when when they know that you have the heart in mind. And a lot of people don't talk about that. Like they, you know, it's the heart that actually matters too. When you can need the emotions of people to help them understand where you are coming from, you gonna win that way. That's the same with your classroom. When your students know that you actually care about them, then they'll, whatever you trying to teach them, whatever the content is, they'll be more open to receiving it because they know that you care first about them and then we can move into the heavy lifting with the work. So
Christine
That's incredible. Yeah, that's, that's really hard work and it sounds like you found a good system to, to start. Cause like I was just thinking of while you were talking to, I was like these are big topics that she's going in to talk to people about. And I'm sure in places where a lot of people don't want to hear it and they don't, they might show resistance unfortunately and you know, to, to meet them where they are and say like, hey we're in this together and like everyone you know, experiences this to an extent and do you know your story? I love that. That's incredible. Georgia and I both love to dig into stuff too, so I totally relate to that aspect, but that's incredible work you're doing incredible.
Locha
Thank you. Thank you. And so yes I do you know as far as the pushback as well emails, you know, saying like, oh we know you coming to work in this school or you know, are you doing again the c R t and stuff like that. And it's just really just informing them on actually what we are doing. I love presenting to the board meetings and the boards of education so that they can know as well because I also think when you don't allow the community in on what's taking place, people form their own narratives. You know, so you really just being transparent throughout the whole process with everywhere, all of the stakeholders is very important to me. So we just try to share the story and help them with the narrative. It's like, if you want to share and, and talk about what it is, this is exactly what we're doing.
So it's fun, it's good work to me. I'm not gonna lie, I, I use this analogy that this is like the the largest class project that I have ever participated in. That's how I feel about the work and I always like to have a really nice class project. Okay. So really with it. But the people on my team, like my, my staff, they are, they are golded like 100%. They are the best. They are the best in the business and so nice. Yeah, they're awesome. Shout out to my teachers that are on staff. These are some of my old teachers. Like they're awesome. I love that from college and from grade school and they're the best. Wow. Like all different backgrounds. And they, as a student, I know how they made me feel and that was like one of the reasons when I started my school consulting, I went to a school, if y'all haven't heard the term, it was a deeg school, meaning minority students were bused in from the city to desegregate the school essentially.
And a lot of my teachers did not look like me. And I'm like, I know all of these teachers can't be racist. Like, and they weren't, it was, they never had training on how to work with students of a different cultural background. And that is, that's what we're doing. We're assisting in that process because it is easy to think that one is a particular way or put that label on them and it's like they literally have never interacted with, you know, students of a different cultural background and just helping them and being that buffer and just exposing them and just opening their minds to a different way of thinking. Oh it's just, it's amazing. It is just, it's amazing. It's amazing. That's
Georgia
Great. I think, you know, one of the most important parts of being a teacher is being open to learning yourself. Yes. And those are the best teachers who can recognize, I don't know everything like my upbringing, like where I grew up, my parents, like all of that influences who I am today. And there's nothing wrong with that. You are who you are, but you have to be open to learning from people like yourself who have different knowledge than you do. And it's important to learn and be open to taking that in and kind of digging into yourself. You know, for in anything in life it's important to look at your past and how it affects who you are today and dig into that and be open to learn. And I love that not only are you trying to create change by starting at the top so that it actually can change, but also when you are working with individualized individuals, you're personalizing it, you are right individualizing it.
Like, like you said, you're making, you're showing people you care and I'm sure that you did a great job of that when you worked with kids and working with adults is the same way. You have to make them know that this is, this is for them. It's not just this blanket thing that goes to everybody. Like everyone learns differently. Where you are affects how you learn and what you know. And yeah, like Christine said, you're doing really hard work but it seems like you're hitting all of the important parts of it to make it actually create change.
Christine
Yes. It's gonna last generations too. Like everyone coming out of there, they're gonna have conversations with their loved ones at home and then they're gonna have that mindset shift in their workplace, you know, in the classroom. And it's, that's, that's only gonna make the world a better place.
Locha
Yes. And that was my thing with coming out of the classroom and knowing that I wasn't gonna do 30 years. I'm like, well I, I just desired this impact in the education industry that like, and so one of the things with doing this work, I can't do it all. So now I'm showing other educators as well how to start their own school consulting to help with these types of initiatives because I can't do all of the work like we are, you know, a first class educator is doing well but there are so many organizations outside of, you know, the area that we are currently serving that can benefit from this work. And I'm like, the more educators that know that you can be of service with the skillset that you have, the better. So that, that is another thing that has sprung out of this.
Because I don't want everybody to think like, to do this you have to come work for first class educator. That's not the case. And even just like what you all would have in this platform, it's just so many different ways that we can, that we are enhancing the education industry by continuing the dialogue outside of the classroom. You know? And it was, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. It's just so much more when you wanna live like Miss Georgia, like y'all out there enjoying the world, you know, but you're still enhancing because you're hosting this conversation. Other people's gonna benefit from hearing this conversation and you still being able to live the life that you wanna live. And that's what I, I just want people through the power of education to know that we can do all of these different amazing things. One of the most important things is just exchanging dialogue and understanding we not the same and like you just mentioned, we don't learn the same and just the things that we choose to unpack about ourselves will help us become better people in this whole entire process and we can still live our life how we want to. Okay. So yes,
That, it's interesting cuz we spoke with another guest a couple weeks ago and the topic of education consulting came up and she, you know, kind of sparked interest in her. She was like, you know what, that sounds like something I'd be interested in doing and it seems like it could be another powerful way to use my voice in education other than being a teacher. But she was like, I don't know where I would even start with with doing that. So we're really excited to have you now as a resource for all the making the grade listeners whether they were to go off and do that on their own or you know, work for first class educator, which would be a great option. Yes. You know, I'm where do I apply? I was gonna say
No listen. No for real, for real. Because the work I'm telling you is so many school districts right now y'all hear, if y'all don't mind and y'all shape this however you want to because I know, you know, we have a whole script and everything, so however y'all want to,
But there are so many school districts that have funds these answer three funds that y'all heard about, all of these schools getting all of this extra money where they can pay for consultants to come in with their, their body of expertise and they're gonna lose this money if they don't have it earmarked by a certain time. And so again, me sharing with educators, like if you have a skillset or service, these districts will pay you to come in. You just structure, again, I referenced that strategic plan. All you have to do is look up an organization's strategic plan. If there's a service that you can provide that aligns to it, just make a proposal. Like we already, you know, know how to write papers and all, you know, all of the different things that we've done. You write a proposal and you show how you're going to assist that, that district, that school, however you created and you show how you're going to assist them and they have funds to bring you in.
The most important that I submit to people is that make sure you collect data. I'm just very big on data and even if like some of the work with d e I, like you mentioned Christine, like we not even gonna see the impact that it's gonna have for generations to come. That's not something that you can quantify with a number, that type of impact. And so whatever type of data that you can collect qualitative, if you just get a recording from, you know, somebody that participated, I just submit to anybody that's doing this type of work, collect the data, show the transformation, and again, you know, some of the work, you're not gonna be able to even quantify the impact that it's gonna have for generations. But you can show an organization how it's enhancing their overall building culture, school staff culture, all of that stuff.
You can be able to show that through collecting pre and post data on the work that you're administering with the district. So just always be data driven and aligning with their goals. They gonna want you to come in because they don't have the capacity. You already had the mass exodus of the seasoned educators, the educators who were already inside of the buildings who were maybe leading a professional development or things like that. And so they need any type of assistance. It's like all hands on deck. So they're looking for, it's so many opportunities and yes, I'm always looking to add to my team for surely, but again, me showing other educators how to do it, I never want people to feel like, you know, they have to come and work for first class because you truly can. You can do that. And I always tell people, collaborate.
There are other master educators that, you know, collaboration is totally key. It's gonna take you far, especially when you're talking about getting the large scale contracts. If they see that you're doing good work and they're like, Hey, we need y'all to come in and work with 10 schools. If all 10 schools are doing their PD at the same time you're gonna need some other content area experts who can also be of assistance to, to help serve with that. So I love it. I just love this. It's just amazing. And one of the other things that I wanna say too is because I don't ever want people to think that with school consulting, like we trying to get everybody out the classroom, that's not the case. We truly want to help those educators. It it is certain people that's their calling is to be there. Not everybody desires to come out of their current, you know, position.
And so with that, this is just showing people how professional development can be such a powerful tool when it's intentionally thought out and planned. Not the one-offs because I'm sure y'all done said through it maybe where you have somebody come in and they do this session and you like, okay, how does that like translate to my classroom? You know? So just making sure that you are very intentional about the service and then if you are a educator that's still in the classroom, like find outside professional development to attend to perfect your craft. Because again, going back to if this is something that you love, that you like, that you're passionate about, perfected in any way that you can, your school district has professional development funds that will pay for you to attend conferences if you're a math teacher, if you're a science teacher, find something specifically in that content area and just become more knowledgeable about it if that's what you so desire. But consulting, oh my god, it's the way of life for me.
Christine
Nice. I mean the way that you're talking about it is it makes it sound like I can just go sign up and do it, but it's, I mean even in which sounds so easy and I'm like, oh, I, I don't know. But, but you're right. The schools do have the funding and I'm, I'm in higher education right now and I do, I do a lot of work around standardized testing for teachers in particular. But I caught wind of a project that was happening and I know what I would've charged for it at my contract rate. And then I caught wind of the funds available. It was like five times the amount that I was ex, I had the number I had in my head and I was like, wow, this is, this is definitely an untapped thing that we need to, we need to pay more attention to. So you're right, I'm excited to,
Locha
Yeah. And I think about it think educators have this, you know, this thought process like oh you know, bare minimum. It's like we created all of these other positions, you know, all of these other professions just based off of what we're doing in the classroom and Lois paid on the totem pole. So I tell people when they tap into my ecosystem with consulting, I'm like, if you just wanna make like $50, a hundred dollars a hour, like you just, you could do that tutoring or after school program there. But if you're really pouring into other educators and you're showing a transformation within the organization, you deserve every bit of what you may put on that paper. You know, and I tell people, you also wanna prepare to scale too because if Christine and Georgia go out there and they see that y'all doing some amazing work again, they're gonna want you to come in and service more.
So now you're gonna have to outsource that work and you need to pay your staff as well as you still have your overhead and all of that. So you can easily justify wh what is available based off of the work that you're doing for that organization and the transformation that they're going to experience. And I'll use this for example, we do a beginning teachers training. A lot of organizations spend a lot of money every year because they're not retaining their teachers. And so if they pay to have a beginning teachers program, they're saving so much money on the front end because they're going to retain, there's research that shows when you have those mentorship programs or those zero to three teachers, there's research that shows the improvement in retention rates versus every year you having to onboard teachers, you having to do X, Y, Z for them and then they leave in a year or two and you still, you're spending all of this money trying to recruit but you're not doing anything for the retention. So if you spend the money on the front end and make sure you have this system in place and organizations, once they see that, if they know that you have a good beginning of your teachers program to assist them, they will be willing to invest in it so they can save money from having to keep on recruit and do the same process over every single year. So yes, that's
Georgia
A good point. I was just reading an article over the weekend written in the Boston area about the teacher shortages in this area in particular, meaning Boston area, but throughout the country. And it wasn't news to me by any means. I'm very aware that there is a teacher shortage and that's something we are trying to talk about a lot on here and create that dialogue like you were saying. So that's a excellent point of it could save them money.
Locha
Oh my god. And the thing about it is the beginning teacher programs truly, truly help and assist because I feel it's not like when I came outta school, I, I got my educational degree from A H B C A historically black college, I just have to shout them out. Harris, south State University and my teachers that worked there, they also worked in one of the school districts that I attended in grade school, St. Louis Public schools. And it was just the whole art of the education process, it just seems totally different. You know, once you go through your teacher program and you see like new age, it's like certain things were like left out in a, the teacher training and process. But I reverted back to what I knew with my teachers how they, again, they incorporated the they care part, you know, not like, oh we gotta perform for this test.
Which a lot of it now is just based on performance for a test. And it's like if you get back to just teaching, if you focus on literacy, okay, which is a big thing, language acquisition phonics. And we don't talk about that. We don't, you don't see a lot of people that are doing small groups and things like that. That's why I say if this is something that you actually care about, go get some outside professional development. They have the funds that will pay for if your district is not, you know, providing the type of PD that's gonna assist you perfects your craft. But even things like, again, with the whole, and when I taught English in high school, I had some students that were still needed some assistance with phonics. As bizarre as that may seem, I'm talking about ninth grade, even 11th grade, I believe
Christine
It. I would believe it. No special ed background. I, I was amazed at how students were just pushed along or just like basic literacy. My background is in language a lot too and I feel like that's, everyone needs it.
Locha
I took it back. Old school, I had centers, I did the small groups. I had a student to come in, he was a senior, he came into my freshman class and I taught him English Street, which was his 11th grade here. And he was like, y'all listened to Ms. Brooks. She taught me how to read last year. And I was just, I was amazed. Wow. But you have to, you have to see where your students are. You gotta look at your data. If you have a baby that's in 11th grade, that's on the sixth grade reading level, I gotta, I have to get some one-on-one with you. We using our tracking finger when we read, we going over our phonics and letter sounds, you have to do that. And you see exponential growth when you just hit on them, them small basic skills and it catapults them to the next level.
But a lot of times some educators have never been introduced to how to even put 'em in a group, how to look at the data and put 'em Yes. I'm looking at who has the lowest score, I got 'em in a group and we doing that one-on-one. I had tier three students that were able to go on and be able to take a AP English class after having my class a remedial course that I was teaching because I brought in culturally responsive material and I took the time to meet them where they were to get them to the next level. And it's, it's not, this is not no rocket science, right? This is literally just taking it back. But people don't have that, they don't have that, that working knowledge of how to do that. That's why I say this intentional professional development, if you got that skillset and you can help educators disseminate their data, put their students in groups, and then be able to have some reflection time, how did that work when you utilize that in your class last month, give 'em some things to tweak, give 'em some things to do.
Locha
And once they start implementing and see that they'll stay in the profession, we won't have the teacher shortage because we have addressed it through intentional professional development. It's so important. It's so important. It's more important than these doggone, okay, y'all might wanna edit this part. Them them test scores, them standardized. Oh my gosh,
Christine
Them not totally agree. Like I feel like all the teaching is just so in I, our backgrounds are we similar like 10 years in and took a step back when, when the pandemic hit. But just from the special ed perspective of like a lot of my students that that that test is meaningless to them. That's not gonna show how they're gonna be an active participant in the community. How they're gonna have, you know, life skills, language skills, social skills. Like what is that show? It's just nothing. I'm just, I'm teaching them these standards to, to pass a test and then that's my reflection as a teacher when exactly what you were talking about. Like how am I going to engage with these students? If these students don't like me, they're not gonna work for me, they're not gonna do anything. They won't even wanna come into my classroom. So finding, you know, how to motivate them intrinsically and the, you know, whether it's like culturally responsive materials or, oh, I heard you like comic books, let's try to read this. You know, it's just, it's ridiculous. So
Georgia
Personalizing it.
Christine
Exactly.
Locha
Yep. Yes, totally. Yes. I love it. I love it. And what I, again, I, the most important thing for me is the exchanging the dialogue. Because when people are just in they silos and we know all of these different things that's going on in education, but we are afraid to talk about it or afraid to address it because of whatever backlash you might experience. It's like, so you want the reform or No, and I really, I want the education reform, like I wanna see it. So I always love, again, adding value and just talking about what it is that we are doing and how we can enhance this whole entire process because it is, it's happening. You know, we can talk about all of the, the laws that's being passed to prevent, you know, this book Bannings and all of this. But I think it's just a reflection of you have a movement, whether you, I try to stay away from, you know, scary words like radical, but you have a movement of radical teachers, I think like our generation that's like, Hey listen, we gonna do it our way and we gon, our voices are still going to be heard our way and we're still gonna make an impact our way because it's the only way that this going to get better.
We not gonna go back. I don't wanna go back in times, okay, I wanna go forward, I wanna see progress. And the only way to do it do this is by using the different platforms that we have. Keeping the conversation going, moving and flowing and just, you know, doing it from the heart. I can't say that enough. Just do it from the heart.
Christine
Yeah, you gotta shake it up. It's, you're shaking it up right now.
Locha
Yes, yes. So
Georgia
We can tell by the way that you're talking that you know, you're so happy about this work and it brings you joy And you know, that's something that we talk a lot about Christine and I, and also with our guests is, you know, setting the bar for success these days has a lot to do with being happy about the work that you're doing and the difference you're making. And you know, from our lens, you are so successful and doing such amazing work. But we'd also love to hear, how would you say your definition of success has changed for you based on when you started as a teacher and right now with this work that you're doing? How are you making things? It's
Locha
So that's so interesting and thank you. I appreciate it and I, I'm just a reflection of everything that I wanna see. So a reflection of you all doing your thing. Okay. So that is success to me, but it, my definition of success has changed. I mean tremendously. I remember when I first got into education, I was like, oh, you know, all of my students are gonna succeed. I'm gonna have 100%, you know, this and that. You know, and then I, I quickly realize it's like girl, like people, sometimes people will come into it at their own time. And so to me success is just doing what you know to be right and just going forward in it and feeling confident about it because I don't think success is like a end. There's no end to it. Like you have to keep on going and doing what you know to be right.
And so people in their own time will grow and it is not a reflection of you or what you are doing if somebody is not, you know, living up to what you think they should be doing at the time. And understanding that people are on this journey at their own speed. And so you just keep doing what you are doing. It's just, it reminds me of just like the roses outside, you know, they don't all bloom at the same time. And that's the same thing with the things that's going on in your life. If you know that you're doing the work, if you know that you are doing the inner work, however that may look, getting counseling, I just wanted to say, say that because I just had my first ever counseling session today. Okay, congrat, whatever. I wanted to do it before our 35th birthday. I wanna say that, but
Christine
Nice.
Locha
Whatever it is that you are working on is gonna bloom in the right timing. And then, so success to me is just sitting in that knowing that you are doing what needs to be done and just being okay with what it look like right now because it's gonna continue to morph and form and evolve. So success is not 100%, everything is happening right here, right now. It's understanding that it is a process and it's a continual process. And as long as you dedicated to it, then you successful is nobody can tell you anything otherwise you are successful in your own right. No matter the degrees, the titles, the years, any of that. Like it's just feel good about what you are doing and where you are at. If you know that you giving it a hundred percent, it's all good. That's success.
Christine
Awesome. I love that.
Georgia
That. There's no end goal. You're never gonna be like, oh my gosh, today's the day I learned everything I needed to learn. I did everything I needed to do. Like that's it all done. That that's of course that's not gonna happen and it shouldn’t happen.
Locha
It's a journey. It's a journey for sure
Christine
It is. I love that. All right, so in wrapping it up, we just wanna know everyone's got a crazy story from the classroom days. Do you have, are there any that stick out like
wild or funny or favorite?
Locha
I would say, and this is so random, I'm not sure when I first thought about the answer, but I was in school suspension coordinator and this student came in and brought some money while whoever was relieving me, they brought some money and they was like, get this to Ms. Bricks, I owe her this. And so when I came in they was like, such and such brought this money in and they said they owed you this. And I was like, they don't owe me any money. Like that's weird. And so the relief left me and then the student came back in and he was like, here Ms. Brooks, here's a dollar. And I was like, you don't owe me any money. Like why are you giving me this money? And he was like, Ms. Brooks, like I owe you. And I'm like, it's just the most randomest thing.
But I just know students just always loved to come and see me. So it was almost challenging being in school suspension because I, my students know that I loved them so they would find the most randomest reasons to come down to in school suspension to see me. But that was like the most bizarre. I was like, listen, you have to take this money back because I will get in trouble if I take this money from you. Like it was, that was probably one of the most bizarre things. But yeah, I just loved the classroom so much and my students were amazing. But this is the, I'll share this one. I was taking my students on a field trip and the seniors heard about it. It was like open to my freshman students. The seniors heard about it. We were going to see Black Panther. I made it align with the standards, you know, we made it align with the standards. It was a, the day before spring break and it ended up being a senior skip day. Now that was wild. So they knew the movie theater we were going to and it was like the whole, all of the seniors were there and I was there with my students. So it was like my field trip ended up being like known as the senior skip day, like mito. But it was, it was so much fun. It was so much fun. Yes. So I love that.
Georgia
Thank you
Locha
Yes. Sharing. I miss the classroom. I miss my babies. They're doing well though. They're all doing good.
Georgia
That's awesome. I know, I know. I totally resonate with that. Yes. This episode has been filled with so many good things you've shed light on, you know, some important ways to make education better. Some really important advice for teachers. We learned how to order better at Starbucks. Yes.
Locha
Whoa. Life stuff
Georgia
I wanna make sure that you let us know where our listeners can find you and find, you know, learn more from you. And also, I do wanna know the Olympic sport that you wished you could have done, but I think it's good you didn't cuz look at the work you're doing. Yes. So you focused on this, but I do wanna know.
Locha
So I definitely thought I was going to be an Olympic swimmer. Ok. I was like, I love swimming and I was just like, oh, I'm gonna go to the Olympics one day. And I'm not sure when I got the message that, girl you are not going to the Olympics swimming. But, so that was random childhood, like, you know, gold dream, but maybe I'll just go to an Olympic game one year. But that was it. But I lo, as far as social media, find me on any social media, lota power moves, all one word. First name L O C H A, power moves. I love Instagram. I share a lot of information in regards to school consulting. How to get into it on Instagram, Twitter, I'm not like a huge twitterer, you know, but you can find me on there as well. I'm just everywhere. You can type in lota power moves and something should pop up. But Instagram is really like my home. I love it there.
Georgia
I do too. That is the perfect handle for you. You are truly making power moves. Oh,
Locha
Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Shake. This has been a pleasure. Before we get off, I really, again, I just, I wanna thank you all because not enough flowers are given to you all for the work that you guys are doing through podcasts and intentional podcast. Sharing this information, creating this dialogue where educators can tune in and kind of decompress from whatever it is they may be going through while they're still out there in their respective positions. I just wanna thank y'all because I'm pretty sure you guys won't see the impact of your work that you guys are doing because you don't know everybody that's listening and how it's truly impacting them. So Christine and Georgia, I appreciate y'all for allowing me again on your platform and just doing the work that you guys are doing. Oh,
Christine
Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate that a lot.
Georgia
We, we really strive to have our podcast be intentional and meaningful and kind of like you were saying before, we're not trying to encourage anyone to get out of education. We're just trying to open the dialogue, make a difference in education, and empower teachers to do what feels most meaningful to them. And whether that is being in the classroom or consulting or whatever it might be. And you know, yes. Do what makes you happy.
Locha
Yes. You gotta be happy. You gotta be happy.
Christine
I love it. Awesome. Well, thanks again so much for coming on with us today. So that wraps up our show. Remember to always listen to your teacher voice and measure success with your own ruler. Thank you for listening. If you like what you heard today, share with the teacher who needs us in their life. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to our show. If you like what you heard, see you later.