Public Education Matters

Intro - Various members and students speaking 0:08
Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters because every student matters. Education Matters. Public Education Matters because it is the foundation of our democracy. Public Education Matters because we are stronger when we speak in one voice. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters. Public Education Matters, public Education Matters. This is public Education Matters, brought to you by the Ohio Education Association.

Katie Olmsted 0:41
Welcome back to Public Education Matters. I'm Katie Olmsted, and I'm part of the communications team for the Ohio Education Association and its nearly 120,000 members across the state. These public school educators serve students of all races, backgrounds, genders, abilities, and more. Ohio's public schools are for everyone, no exceptions. That's what makes them great. This diversity should be celebrated, because the things that make us different from each other are exactly the things that bring us together and make our communities strong. A little later in this podcast, we'll talk about how OEA is partnering with the East Cleveland Education Association and so many other groups to bring that local community together. It's a huge book giveaway that is all about helping students learn from diverse voices, while finding their own voices through the diverse books they read. But first, we're talking about a new book that is helping connect communities and cultures by amplifying the voices of Westerville Central High School students who came to the United States as immigrants. It's called "The Ones Among Us: Memoirs of Culturally Diverse High School Students in America" and it was born out of a collaboration between Deb Jones who teaches English Learners in Westerville city schools, and Pablo Chignolli, who teaches Spanish there. Pablo Chignolli grew up in Lima, Peru, and learned English as his second language as a young adult. Mr. Chignolli recently sat down with the editor of OEA's "Ohio Schools" magazine, Julie Newhall, to share his own story, and how it led him to help share the stories of his students. Let's listen to some of their conversation.

Pablo Chignolli 2:37
My passion for promoting cultural awareness and fostering social responsibility is what inspires this book. I believe that everybody has a story to tell. I love living in the US. And it's a great country. But as an immigrant in the US, I have experienced a lot of hardships. Un my first years in the US, and not being able to communicate, due to not understanding the English language and American culture very well, was a big problem for me. I have endured discrimination by people making fun of me because of the way I speak, or my ethnic origin. I know that this, I know this. And more it's happening a lot to a lot of this is happening to people close to me. So I created this book to allow culturally diverse students to express their voices, as well as to allow others to listen. The driving forces behind these books extends beyond personal experiences. It is deeply rooted in, in our desire to ensure inclusivity and acceptance for all, including my own two daughters, who are half Peruvian, half American. I don't want them to be unwelcome by others due to due to the different culture. I have friends, colleagues, neighbors, and I know a lot of people who are living here in the US and are from different countries. And they inspire me to create this project, too.

Julie Newhall 4:21
Now Pablo, you've shared that you are an immigrant from Lima, and that because of your background, you're deeply passionate about cultural awareness and social advocacy. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about when you came to the United States. And what were you doing before you became a teacher.

Pablo Chignolli 4:40
I came to the United States in 2003 when I was almost 25 years old. And before stepping into the role of a teacher, I walked the path of an ESL student, much like many immigrants, my arrival in the United States marked the beginning of a journey full of linguistic and cultural challenges. I was not familiar with the language or the culture. I didn't know how to speak English and the American culture was unfamiliar to me. My first job was at a restaurant washing dishes and taking the trash out, something I didn't really enjoy too much. But years later my situation improved. I earned a bachelor's degree in Latin American Cultural Studies, with a minor in Andean and Amazonian studies from The Ohio State University. However, the road wasn't easy, I juggle full time in schooling with full time work. Sometimes, I'm struggling to grasp course materials due to familiar English terminology. Despite this situation, I was able to do well in my programs. Continuing my education, I earned a master's degree in World Language Education. Early on my master's program, I was honored to be selected for the Ohio State University Project Aspire. This program, a collaboration between the University and Columbus City Schools, aims to prepare top tier master's students to become teachers, and to serve... students. I became a certified Spanish teacher, and I started to work as a teacher the same year I graduated from my master's program.

Julie Newhall 6:02
And as an educator who is passionate about teaching the Spanish language, and promoting equity and diversity, how have you used cultural awareness projects to foster educational excellence, social responsibility and community?

Pablo Chignolli 6:27
Since my first year working as a teacher, I have integrated cultural awareness projects into my teaching approaches. To promote a great learning experience, social responsibility, and community engagement. I incorporate immersive cultural activities such as music, dance, and art into my curriculum. For example, during Hispanic Heritage Month. Ani Palacios, a Latino writer, winner of multiple international Latino literary awards, visited my classroom and talked to my students about her experiences as a writer and actor. During Black History Month, Professor Leila Vieira from OSU visited my classroom multiple times, and talk to my students about Afro Latino culture. Then Julio Beltran, also from OSU, run a Capoeira worship in my school, and the students were able to play different musical instruments and practice Capoeira movements. By exposing our students to various cultural elements, they gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Spanish language and diverse cultural communities, which is what I'm aiming for. Also, I collaborate with local individuals and organizations. For example, I have hosted professors from OSU, including Professor Zevallos-Aguilar from the Spanish and Portuguese department at OSU. I have collaborated with Otterbein University arts and our history department. My students have visited OSU multiple times, and they have not only taken a tour of OSU but they participated in college level classes, and met multiple professors. My partnership with the community not only enriches the learning experience of my students, but also fosters a sense of connection and solidarity between the students and the community. Additionally, additionally, by creating the book title, that was known as Memoirs of culturally diverse high school students in America, I believe I have provided our resource to fellow educators on cultural competence and sensitivity. The Ones Among Us equips educators a tool to create more inclusive learning environments for students. By incorporating cultural awareness approaches into my teaching practices, I am to cultivate not only linguistic proficiency, but also a broader understanding of respect for diverse cultures, ultimately, contributing to educational excellence, social responsibility, and community engagement.

Julie Newhall 9:07
How has this project helped to bridge communities and culture?

Pablo Chignolli 9:13
This book has been instrumental in in bringing communities and cultures together by serving as a powerful symbol of empowerment for diverse voices within our community. It began as a humble tribute to cultural diversity and quickly evolved into a remarkable collaboration, uniting individuals and organizations towards a common vision invited in the pages of this book. Key contributors to this project include the Westerville Education Foundation, my colleague Deborah Jones, Professor Louise Captein from Otterbein University, Assistant director Leila Vieira from OSU, and the Arts Council of Westerville. All of them provided invaluable support and pushed this book forward. Through their collective effort, this book stands as a testament of a shared commitment to fostering cultural diversity and inclusivity in the community.

Julie Newhall 10:14
I know that later this week, you and your students and artists from Otterbein are planning to speak at the opening of "The Ones Among Us" exhibition at Deer Creek State Park. What do you hope viewers of that exhibition and those who read your book will learn about your students' experiences?

Pablo Chignolli 10:36
There are several goals within this book. One of the goals of this project is to promote open conversations among individuals aiming to bring to bridge our cultural gaps and develop more inclusive, a more inclusive community. Also to serve as a resource for educators from the implementation of cultural relevant pedagogy within their teaching practices and to empower cultural diverse students. Ultimately, I seek to empower cultural diversity students by amplifying their voices and experiences. Through this dual approach, I hope to promote understanding empathy and inclusivity within both educational settings and community.

Julie Newhall 11:26
What's next for you and your students?

Pablo Chignolli 11:30
We are committed to promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity. With the coming presentations are scheduled at Deer Creek, as you mentioned before, and as a keynote speakers or a statewide teacher conference in November, and the portraits of students will remain on display in the community, next at Deer Creek, then moving to Uptown Westerville, the Columbus Metropolitan Library Main Library, and the College of Education and Human Ecology at OSU. The publication of our book has sparked interest from various community members, leading to exciting collaboration opportunities. I have already lined up projects for the upcoming academic year, including a service learning project with Professor Zevallos-Aguilar from OSU and Brazilian Art History capstone project with Professor Veiria, also from OSU. This means more chances for students to engage with the community through our projects. Many students have already expressed their interest in joining my future initiative, underscoring the significance of our work and its impact on students and the community. I have I have worked in many different projects. One of the first one being actually a video project in which several students advocated for what was happening in Venezuela, during the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro. Another project that that I work in - nd this included 60 students - many of the students either in some member of the community when I was a teacher in Reynoldsburg City Schools. We created a big painting, a mural. We named it "We the People." And it was a remarkable work. It was the first time I actually engaged so much with the community. Now "The One Among Us" was - I just wanted to give students a platform for them to express their voices, tell their stories, and hopefully, somebody will listen and make the arrangements that are needed to provide these students with a much better learning environment. And soon enough, this project just blew out of my hands. The community started finding out it. Rather than spending time sometimes working on the break, it was more about spending time, a lot of time answering emails from the community, answering phone calls, communicating with different members of the community about what this project was about. And multiple people reaching out to me, telling me, hey, how can we help? What can we do next? And things like that. It was a great project. Again, I didn't even think about publishing a book. We wanted to print a book. And we didn't know how. We didn't know how to print, we didn't know how to publish. We didn't know anything. And in three months, we published a book together. That that was amazing.

Julie Newhall 14:58
That is amazing. It's clear how much this project means to you, and how important it's been to you and your teaching. What has it meant for your students who are part of that book, whose stories are are told in your book?

Pablo Chignolli 15:16
You know, at the beginning, I don't think a students understand what this project was about. I told them, you guys are gonna write your stories when you do it together, and they want to put it in the book and print it. I don't think they saw the full picture, or they didn't see the picture the way I saw it. I was pitching, of course, a book that will end up in the hands of educators in my district. And with that, to share my students' stories, so again, they can be more included in our community. But the students later, during the process of creating this book, they realized that people were already hearing their voices. The community was reaching out to us, asking about who these students were. They wanted to know which countries they came from. They were asking how is that there were 14 countries represented in a group of 20 students, which is a big number of countries in such a small group of students. Later, when we have different presentations, at OSU and Otterbein Univeristy, the Westerville mayor came to our school to collect signatures from the students in the book that he acquired, and this made the students feel like heroes. They told me, "These people are coming to get our signatures - we're going to sign books to people, how is this possible?" they were saying. A lot of times, I think that individuals in general, don't understand immigrants, mainly because they have a very quiet voice. And probably immigrants see themselves in that way, too, as individuals with a very quiet voice. So when they knew that the community was eager to find out about them, the students were really, really excited. It really made them feel like, like powerful people. And it was nice for me to see that.

Julie Newhall 17:46
Well, they are powerful people and I know you know that as their teacher, and their champion. If there's a lesson that they can take away from their work on this project, and in their learning in general, what what would you want that to be?

Pablo Chignolli 18:03
Speak up for yourself, stand up, advocate for yourself, work together. It is amazing for me, when I realize the power of community, and what this can bring to us if we work together for the same roles. And as you reach your goals, also want to help somebody else. That's what I'm trying to do, too. Now, if somebody out there is reading the book, please, please, please don't just read the stories. Read the book from the very beginning all the way till the end. Because I have noticed with some people they are going - they're very excited about about the book The some people are very excited about reading the stories, the stories, and they're, they're skipping a few pages at the beginning and jumping straight to the stories. But the beginning of the book actually tells the story of how we collaborated with Otterbein University, how we put this book together, how students from Otterbein University painted portraits of some of the students. The beginning of the book also offers a little bit of information about culturally relevant pedagogy which will be good for educators to read just as a reminder of, you know, what we should see in the classroom. Also, in the beginning of the book, there's a little bit of information about what a memoir is. The reason that is there is because, well, the book is about memoirs. And also because the book could be used in English classes, especially when the students are writing autobiographies, biographies, or perhaps memoirs, the stories are great. And the stories are telling people what these students are going through, or what the students went through. What are the students about? What are their dreams and aspirations? That helps people to learn a little more, what's in the mind of the diverse high school student in the US. But the at the end of the book, there are two articles. I was lucky enough to, to contact a professor from the Austin University in Texas, and another person from this Migration Institute organization, and I was lucky enough to get permission to feature their articles. One of the articles talks about what happens in the mind of a student when they travel from one country to another, when they cross the borders, what happened with their identity. So it is very important for especially for educators to read this information, not just the memoirs, but to read, what happened with the identity of these students? How, how do they view themselves among us, when we're expecting them to keep learning? And the second article gives factual information and statistics into who is coming. Who are the teenagers coming to the US? Where are they coming from? What languages do they speak? What is the language at home? What language their parents speak? What is the level of education of the parents? I think that reviewing these statistics, will help us to understand a little bit better, what are the situations, the condition of the students, at least at home. And this will give us a better picture of who are we dealing with as educators. And this is also something that sometimes students don't tend to talk about. But teachers might be able to read this information in the book. So please, to anybody out there, if you're reading the book, don't just go straight to the memoirs, don't skip any of the pages. Everything's important. Something I would like teachers to maybe reflect on is the idea of being patient with the students. Not because I am a member of a minority group, I could say that I completely understand where minorities came from. Sometimes, I have not been able to understand even Latino students. Sometimes I have seen them sitting then not participating, not communicating. And I have wondered, why are they not doing any more. And I've been teaching for over 18 years. It was not until this year, in which I started this project, I engaged more with those students that I was wondering about. I read their stories, and I realized they already went through a lot. We cannot look at them with the same scopes as anyone else. We need to be more patient. And we need to learn about them, so we can serve them better. And when we think that they might not have some tools that they need to perform better in academic settings, we need to remember this. They do have a lot of tools. They do come with a lot of intelligence. But the thing is that this might come in a different language. So we need to be patient with them. Also, unfortunately, something that is not required for something like being accepted at college is survival skills. Some of these kids, at least the ones in the book have walked from Honduras to the US by themselves at age 15. They have, they have mastered survival skills. But again, unfortunately, that is not a thing that is required to go to college. So these kids are very smart. Very, very, very smart. They're very capable. We need to be patient. Something that caught my attention a lot was one of my students, in his story, he said something like, I can speak English, but I won't to speak English. I'm going speak Spanish to let them know who I am. So that, right there is a big, big message. We need to - I believe that we need to provide education to students that also rely with a cultural backgrounds. They come to the US. We're going to be bombarded - we are bombarding them with US history and things like that, which is great. I love this country, believe me. I have a US flag outside my house right now. But it will be nice, also, if these kids could keep learning about their own cultures, while they are learning the English language and something else. They don't succeed in classes, like environmental science, or science in general, but their countries are are places in which many, many universities from the US will go to do a study environment. So they they bring a lot to this melting pot. I just hope for teachers to be more patient with the students. Don't just think too quick or act too quick. These students love this country. In one of the stories, one students says that his American Dream is to serve in the US Army. And I'm thinking, "Wow! What is this kid's vision of the US to the point in which he is offering himself to serve and defend this country?" Just because he's been given education here in the US. These kids have a lot to give us. And they want to give us more. But I don't think that educators understand them very well. And unfortunately, these kids don't understand the educators very well. The main two barriers are the language and the cultural differences. These students have gone through a lot. And I think they're running low in fuel. So they are not like ready to keep learning the language more or maybe more about the American culture. So I think that educators have to step up, and maybe start learning about them a little more. One of the things that this project, this book project is, is bringing to my school community, for example is for our next professional day in August, we are thinking on our survival Portuguese language class and the survival Spanish language class for teachers. Because we realize that we don't need to speak the language. But we could speak a few words, a few phrases, something like Thank you, good job, good morning, well done. That will empower these kids. Little steps like that. I think it's gonna it's gonna bring the teachers and the diverse students closer to each other. And I hope this continues to happen in my district.

Katie Olmsted 29:38
Our thanks again to Pablo Chignolli and Ohio Schools editor Julie Newhall for this insightful, powerful conversation. You can read the full story in the June/July edition of Ohio Schools. Remember this one is a digital edition of the magazine, so you'll be able to find the link on our website, in your email inbox and on social media when that's released. We're @OhioEA on Facebook, X and Instagram. And in early June, we'll also post photos from our big Summer Celebration of Diverse Readers on our social media pages. And you will definitely want to check those out. I am so, so excited about this second annual event. I'm recording this part of the episode on May 28, just a few days before our huge community celebration in East Cleveland. OEA is partnering with the East Cleveland Education Association for this summer kickoff, where we are offering 1000s of free books featuring diverse characters, written by diverse authors, to students of all ages. It's all part of the NEA's Celebrating a Nation of Diverse Readers year round Read Across America initiative. This is so important. We know when students read diverse books, they learn to see themselves and the world around them in new ways. It makes our communities better. It makes us all better. And especially at a time when we are seeing diverse voices silenced through unnecessary book bans across the country, we need to create opportunities for families to access age-appropriate diverse stories with their kids. That's exactly what we're doing on Saturday, June 1 in East Cleveland. This year's Summer Celebration of Diverse Readers will be at the Chamber's Community Empowerment Center on Shaw Avenue from noon to three on June 1. And everyone is welcome. Not only will there be the free books, we're also offering free food and lots of free family activities from face painting and photo booths to arts and crafts, and a Reader's Corner where authors and community leaders are going to be sharing diverse books out loud. Oh, and there's free entertainment, including a performance from the very popular Shaw band. And we'll have a lot of community organizations joining us, including the East Cleveland Public Library, Food Strong, and so many others, to help connect families with tons of different resources that are available to them. This year's event builds on the success of OEA's inaugural Summer Celebration of Diverse Readers that we hosted with the Hilliard Education Association last year. We had a really good conversation with HEA member Tiffany Thomas about the power of diverse literature, and really the why behind this entire thing, in season 3, Episode 35 of this podcast. I encourage you to go back and take a listen to that when you get a chance. Next time on Public Education Matters, in the Season 4 finale, we'll hear from two former Ohio Supreme Court justices about why the citizen-led campaign to finally end gerrymandering in our state is such an important bipartisan issue. You don't want to miss it. Until next time, stay well. And remember in Ohio, public education matters.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai