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Cornelius Minor is a Brooklyn-based educator and author of We Got This, a book that shows teachers how to learn to listen to kids in order to transform schools into equitable spaces. His literacy work takes him into communities across the country (and globe), sharing his transformative approaches to education with teachers, administrators, and community members.
In this teacher chat, Cornelius sat down with Everyday Advocacy’s Cathy Fleischer to talk about his experiences with advocacy for teachers and students.
“Advocacy. . . often feels like a proper noun: Advocacy. You gotta be somebody big or famous or important to engage in advocacy. [But] advocacy is simply standing up for the people and things that you love.”
Cathy: What advice do you have teachers who might want to do this kind of work in their classroom, who might want to find the ways to stand up, safely, and ask those questions to try to make change?
Cornelius: Pay attention to the things that make your soul sing at school. If it is kids having a powerful classroom discussion, if it’s kids thinking creatively to design their own assessments [...] whatever the thing is that makes you come to life as an educator, that’s where your advocacy lives. So it’s not my job to advocate for everything, it’s my job to advocate for the things that live closest to my heart.
If you or someone you know may be interested in sharing a Teacher Story or joining us for a Teacher Chat about the day-to-day work of everyday advocacy, please contact us.
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