Teaching is Political: Early Conversations on Race and Justice with Dr. Megan Madison

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In this thought-provoking episode, Dr. Megan Pamela Ruth Madison joins us to explore why teaching is political and how early conversations about race, gender, consent, and body positivity can shape a more just and equitable future. A political educator and co-author of the award-winning First Conversations book series, Dr. Megan shares insights into addressing complex topics with young children in an age-appropriate and impactful way.

Drawing on her Sociopolitical Ecology of Development framework, she highlights the profound role early education plays in fostering self-awareness, self-esteem, and critical thinking in children. Together, we discuss actionable strategies for educators and parents to create inclusive spaces, engage young minds in discussions on justice, and confront bias in their everyday interactions.

Whether you’re an educator, a parent, or someone passionate about equity in education, this episode will equip you with tools and inspiration to approach these vital conversations with confidence and compassion.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • Why early childhood education is a critical foundation for political education.
  • How the First Conversations book series empowers adults to navigate complex topics with toddlers.
  • Practical tips for discussing race and gender with young children in ways that build their empathy and self-awareness.
  • Insights into Dr. Madison’s Sociopolitical Ecology of Development framework and its application in education.
  • Strategies for overcoming discomfort or resistance when discussing social justice with children.

Key Timestamps:

  • 00:00 – Introduction: Why teaching is political and why early conversations matter.
  • 05:30 – Dr. Madison’s journey: Radical Black feminism and the Sociopolitical Ecology of Development framework.
  • 12:45 – Breaking the stigma: Talking to toddlers about race, gender, and body positivity.
  • 20:15 – Practical tips: Engaging young children in anti-bias discussions at home and in the classroom.
  • 30:40 – Addressing skepticism: How to respond to critics of early political education.
  • 40:00 – Tools and resources: Recommendations for educators and parents.

Resources Mentioned:

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Enjoyed this episode? Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review the Conscious Pathways podcast. Share this conversation with a friend or colleague passionate about equity in education. Listen to more episodes of the Conscious Pathways podcast for more insights on education, social justice, and advocacy.

Let’s continue to reimagine education—together.

Transcript

[00:00:09] Brittney: Hi, and welcome to conscious pathways.

The podcast where we explore the intersection of education and social justice through transformative conversations. I am your host, Brittney. And as always, I am so happy to have you here on this journey with me today. Today I am joined by a. Today I am joined by Dr. Megan, Pamela. Ruth Madison.

She is a political educator

And a lifelong student of radical black feminism.

In addition to the, I would say pages long. Of just experience and background and work and committees that That Dr. Megan is on. She is also one of the co-authors of the first conversations series, which was my first introduction to Dr. Megan. Actually, I started seeing the first conversations. A book series.

It’s a book series centered around anti-biased and social justice education. for young children and their grownups,

Exploring all different kinds of conversations around racial justice and anti bias. They have books on race and gender.

If you or someone in your life has ever said, yeah, I’m on board with anti-biased I’m on board with equity and inclusion in my classroom and for my young children, but I have no idea where to start. I don’t know how to have these conversations with them. This book series is made for you. It is fantastic.

Throughout my conversation with Dr. Madison. We dive into so many different topics. We talk about the politics of teaching.

Her dissertation around developing a theoretical framework within early childhood education

That addresses equity, inclusion, belonging, race, gender. that is really full, all encompassing. framework. We also talked a lot about just belonging. We talked a lot about finding community and early childhood education and just our role as educators and how we can use our power as being educators to develop a future for good. This conversation as always is for you.

If you are someone interested in social justice. If you want to learn, if you want to grow,

then this is exactly where you need to be. I’m so excited to have you here. So let’s get into that interview.

[00:02:26] Brittney: Welcome to Conscious Pathways. Today I am joined by Dr. Megan. Thank you so much for joining me.

[00:02:31] Dr. Megan: Thank you for having me i’m thrilled to be here

I’m so excited to have I know we were just talking about it, but, we were talking on Instagram and I was like, I love your work. And you’re like, I love your work. And we were both like, just girl crushing. It was great. So it’s so exciting to have you actually on the podcast and be able to speak with you. I want to know a little bit more about how you got your start in education. question, and I’m so glad that you start your interviews here.when I think back, as a child, I loved to play school with my baby dolls, with my cousins, with my siblings.

And then that turned into my first job, which was working in my church nursery school. I didn’t want to go to services, and it was a great way to sneak out, but still participate in the community.

And I loved hanging out with the infants and the toddlers. So then, after I graduated high school, I went to the University of Michigan. Go Blue! For undergrad. and even though I had a scholarship, I still needed a part time job to help make ends meet. I started working as an assistant in a Waldorf preschool in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

And that really opened my eyes. I was like, what is this strange and magical place where children are at the center and early childhood education is really valued. , when I graduated with a four year undergraduate degree in studies in religion, I thought to myself, hmm, I need a job. and the organization Teach for America was recruiting really hard at that time, particularly where I was, in Michigan.

And I thought, well, teaching, you know, I might be good at that. I have some experience, and they were offering 40, 000 a year. And I was like that, for me and my class background, I was like, all I’m set. If I can make 40, 000 a year, I can pay rent. I can help take care of my siblings. So I was like, sign me up.

So I moved to Chicago and I started teaching in a Head Start Center called the Carol Robertson Center for Learning. it’s still there. They have several locations, but I was in the location in Lawndale. and that was my first lead teaching position in early childhood education. and it was a crash course.

A crash course in how effed up ed reform and TFA was. A crash course in how difficult it is to support young children and families when you can barely make ends meet, as an early childhood educator. A crash course in how to talk to kids about systemic injustice. They had great questions about class inequality, racial inequality, gender stereotypes.

even though I was getting a master’s degree in early childhood at night, we did not cover that in my coursework. I ended up graduating still feeling completely unprepared to talk to kids about those inequities, much less to do anything about them. So naively, I thought, well, maybe if I move to the east coast where there’s a bunch of liberals and there’s all these academics in higher ed.

They’ll be able to teach me. And, yeah, so then I moved to Boston, started a PhD program. Turns out the academics and the liberals did not have the answers, but I was able to build community with other radical early childhood educators and community organizers. And that’s where I’ve been since I now live in Harlem in New York City on Lenape land.

I lead professional development for early childhood educators across the country. on anti bias education, more broadly.

[00:06:10] Brittney: Yes, I love that you found that group of radical early childhood educators and found that community because that is so incredibly important and I’ve talked about this on the podcast before but when. When you’re in this space, especially anti bias, especially looking at social justice, restorative justice, all these different things in early childhood educator,

it can kind of feel like you’re alone on a boat, just screaming into the void.

So I love that you found your community. And I know from my personal experience of going to school, so I went to law school for my master’s and

I also kind of thought that, okay, if I learn more about the law and educational reform and education

policy, you know, like I’ll find my way. And

we didn’t talk about, the racial impact of these laws. We didn’t talk about any of that. And I just I finished it. I got the degree and I was like, okay, so now what?

[00:07:01] Dr. Megan: Mm hmm.

[00:07:03] Brittney: Where do I go with this? so once you find your community of people, it’s like, okay, we’ve got this.

I understand where I am now. Um,

[00:07:14] Dr. Megan: social justice curriculum fair. In Chicago, there’s a community of social justice educators. And so I went to the curriculum fair and this might be a familiar experience for people who watch your podcast. You show up in these radical education spaces and it’s really hard to find early childhood educators.

there’s lots of K through 12 folks, which is not bad. K through 12 is super important, but also we need and deserve community. And there’s unique ways that this work manifests in early childhood settings. So I found a copy of Rethinking Early Childhood Education, which is a Rethinking Schools publication.

And I remember, laying in bed and I devoured the whole thing in one night. I was like, it was that feeling, exactly like you’re talking about. Like, I’m not bananas. this is a real thing. And I’m not the only one who’s ever thought about this before. Now I gotta go find these people. so that’s how I ended up at NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

For Which is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a radical organization. And, yet, it is a large organization, and it’s our only professional association as early childhood educators. A field that is largely not unionized. I would love to be a union member, if there was a union for me to join. But that doesn’t currently exist for us in early childhood.

So, I joined NAEYC, and within NAEYC there’s these things called interest forums. Which is the weird neoliberal way of talking about caucuses. When they were founded, they were caucuses.

There was a Black Caucus, a Latino Caucus, a Tribal Indigenous Caucus, an LGBTQ Caucus, and there was one caucus called DEEA, the Diversity and Equity Education for Adults Interest Forum.

And that was actually co founded by Louise Derman Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, who are the co authors of Anti Bias Education. So I found that caucus at the time I joined, it was actually kind of dead. There wasn’t much energy. and they were like, we need a new chair for the caucus. And I was like, I guess I could do that.

Like, I’m a community organizer. I’m a new community organizer, but this will be a good opportunity for me to practice and develop my skill set. and through that work, that’s how I connected with folks like Ijumaa Jordan. and some of the people for whom our work is built on. Off of I got to meet them in person at conferences and hang out with them and get to know them.

Tell them that I thought the gender chapter in the previous version of anti bias education was no good. And they listened to me. They were like, oh, you’re right. We’ve heard that feedback from other people. And then they updated the gender chapter in the newest revision. So yeah, community is everything.

It can be hard to find, but it’s there. Don’t stop looking.

[00:09:53] Brittney: don’t stop looking. It is out there. Find your people. Come join us. Bye. Yes, we would love to see more people looking and being a part of our work from any backgrounds and of course any level of understanding of social justice too. You can be a complete noob It’s like as long as you want to put in that work and you’re curious and you want to learn Then yeah, come come join us.

[00:10:16] Dr. Megan: whatever your flavor is, often gets this rap as being a super serious space. And like, there is a seriousness to the work. And we do hold space for big feelings like rage and confusion, sadness and grief. But ultimately this work is so joyful.

I have a blast when I hang out with my anti-bias education friends. Like there’s always smiling and giggling and cracking jokes and dancing a lot of joy.

[00:10:47] Brittney: there’s so much joy and so much, I could talk about this all day. but we had a NANDI conference here in San Diego a couple of

weeks ago, and it was all about educators who, teach in community colleges, but like specifically black women educators

in the community college academic space. And I walked into that room. And just looked around and all of our hair was just amazing. We had big curls, we had straight hair, we had locks, we had braids, everything. All the colors, all the faces, all the skin tones. And I just had never been in a space that was that centered around black woman wellness.

[00:11:24] Dr. Megan: Mm,

[00:11:25] Brittney: Like, it was food to my soul. My soul felt so happy and complete. I was like, wow, I found my space. I found where I’m needed to be.

And this really all has me thinking about the concept of community and belonging and the place that this has in the field of early childhood education. And I know that during your doctoral program, you wrote a dissertation and you developed a framework looking into the development of young children and how they find belonging and community. Would you mind talking a little bit more about this framework that you created?

[00:11:59] Dr. Megan: Okay, so maybe I’m a storyteller, so I’ll start at the story. I needed to figure out what I wanted to write my dissertation about. and I knew I wanted it to be a dissertation that wasn’t just studying problems, but that was action oriented. That did something about those problems. And I also knew I wanted to be the kind of scholar that rooted my scholarship in my own standpoint.

My racial identity, my gender identity, my lived experience. So, I went back to my classroom teaching experience. And I guess I mentioned I was making 40, 000 a year, which is not enough. and it was twice as much as my co teachers were making. and I, I guess I was earning a fancy shiny master’s degree at night, but I did not have 10, 20 years of connections to that community of fluency in the languages that were spoken.

But my co teachers did. So by many of the metrics, they were far more qualified than I was to be leading that classroom. The only thing that was different is that I was a part of this elite, mostly white cohort of TFA teachers.

and that somehow got me access to a livable wage.

[00:13:11] Brittney: Yes,

[00:13:12] Dr. Megan: D. Is in policy. So I was like, I get how someone far away removed from classrooms thought that this policy made sense. But on the ground in classrooms, it’s not helping Children. And it like arguably is hurting Children were whitening the workforce.

and we’re perpetuating these deep class and racial inequities,and that has an impact on kids. Kids are watching not just what we say, but also how their lives are structured. so I was like, okay, maybe I can make my dissertation about that problem. And so luckily I have a dissertation committee, of mostly women of color who are committed to excellence, not perfection, but excellence.

And so they were really pushing me on if you’re going to study this problem that has everything to do with race and class and gender and language justice, you need a theoretical framework that attends to race and class and gender and language. And honestly, I scoured the literature, but I couldn’t find it.

Everybody was citing Uri Brafenbrenner’s ecological systems framework. I think it’s really useful. It talks about how none of us are individuals. We exist within a broader ecosystem. That our relationships and the institutions that we’re a part of and the societal norms that frame those are all impacting the development of any one child.

And that that child isn’t just acted on by the world, but there’s a reciprocal relationship, that kids have agency, that they’re acting on their relationships and their institutions and their society as well. So it’s like, there’s some good stuff about this framework. But when you go to the back of the book, I probably, yeah, I’ve got it here.

Here’s the book. I flipped all the way to the back, and there’s like a big long index. And if you look at the index for any of those words, race, Class, gender, language, they just don’t exist. The framework is fundamentally colorblind. and I also looked at the theoretical literature and there were some, Dr.

Cynthia Garcia Cole, had kind of a race conscious, child development framework published, more recently, but it was still limited. it didn’t have the action orientation. It was a framework that looked at. Just the, development of what she called minoritized children. which is important.

And I want to stress, it is an important contribution, right? My work would not be possible if not for, both of these theorists. And especially from, Louise Derman Sparks work. You probably know this one. What if all the kids are white? That systemic racism doesn’t just impact kids of color.

It also shapes the development of white Children. So I was like, we need an ecological framework that explicitly attends to the role of systemic racism in shaping child development, not just for kids of color, but for all kids. And because it didn’t exist, I had to make it. So yeah, I made a new one. And that’s now the framework, not just for my dissertation, but for all of my research and practice moving forward.

[00:16:23] Brittney: Yes, I cannot wait because you know when we go through our schooling and early childhood education, a lot of the theorists that we are exposed to are Old dead white guys

over and over and over again. And even when I used to, for my bachelor’s, I went to a social justice school.

I went to Pacific Oaks and it was just very social justice oriented. Like that’s, that’s the purpose of the school. you know, they did their best to incorporate other schools of thought, more indigenous ways of thinking, ways of knowing. and that’s also very beautiful. so I feel very excited to have another framework that is built for us, by us, and incorporates a lot of the things that we naturally see, and is happening in the current day. I can’t wait to just like, Bring this into my, my classroom like, okay, alright, future students, future teachers. Let’s learn about more framework. I’m tired of talking about Vygotsky. Yeah, he’s fine and all but like, can we get some other theorists in here? So I’m so excited and I love that, like you mentioned it, it covers a lot of these aspects of modern life and looking at diverse perspectives. And these perspectives weren’t something that was taken into consideration in the 1800s, in the early 1900s, in 1960s.

This wasn’t something we were really thinking about on this kind of scale. And so to see someone bringing up a new form of thought and incorporating, more things is so incredible. So I’m so excited. and it kind of goes into my next question. There’s this concept of teaching is political, and it’s something that I’ve been thinking of for years at this point, and especially now, now that we’ve had the results of the most recent election, our 2024 election results have now been solidified. So you know, we’re hearing a lot of people saying, Oh, why does everything have to be political? Like this doesn’t have to be political, or this doesn’t have to be about race. And especially coming down into education, people saying like, well, teaching isn’t political.

But we know that teaching at its core is political.

And I’d love to get your thoughts on that. What does teaching is political mean, especially in an early childhood context?

[00:18:33] Dr. Megan: Oh, what a good question. Thank you for asking it. I’m sitting at my desk so I can’t help grab all the stuff that’s close to me.

what I grabbed is this postcard of Paulo Freire, old dead white guy, and, visionary, in, Leading our field and thinking about what it means for education to be political.

When I think a lot of people, when they hear that, they think of politics with a capital P, like Republicans and Democrats and our two party system and that form of politics is important and definitely connected to education. If Project 2025 happens and Head Start is defunded and the Department of Education is gutted and librarians are sent to jail for giving kids access to books that reflect their lives and their families and their communities, like that is a direct impact of politics on early childhood education.

And when I think about teaching being political, I think about politics with a lowercase p. Meaning how does power operate in our society and then how does power operate in our early childhood classrooms? So that looks like everything from disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion for black kids, boys and girls, and non binary kids in early childhood settings.

teachers exercising their power over children to make those exclusionary choices. It looks like whose voices are included in our read alouds. What stories do we choose to tell and promote? Do we buy books that feature LGBTQ characters and put them on display? Or do we actually take them off of the shelf and read them with young children and talk to families about why we’re reading what we’re reading?

there’s just so many ways that the choices we make as educators. our choices we’re making within systems of power. So that’s what I think about when I think about teaching being political, right? Like all of those choices have to do with power. And all power is politics.

[00:20:47] Brittney: yes. I just wanna, I wanna have that sound clip, and I wanna listen to it every day. Just clip it, just like, need to feel empowered real fast, let me play this clip.

[00:20:57] Dr. Megan: Well, I also, that, I’m so happy that you said the word feeling empowered, right? Because there’s also early childhood educators as a profession we are Treated like shit. Am I allowed to swear on this podcast?

[00:21:13] Brittney: Go for it, girl.

[00:21:14] Dr. Megan: We’re not treated well, to put it nicely, by our country and by our society. Our work is devalued and we see that reflected in unlivable compensation and also the way that people talk about our work and devalue the expertise that we bring to these conversations about what should be taught and how.

and so it’s really easy to feel small. And like, we don’t really have much power. And when I feel like that, I like to remind myself of, well, what does it look like from the perspective of young children? And for young children, when I’m in a classroom, as a grown up, I have so much power! I get to decide if they go to the bathroom or not.

I get to decide how they spend the majority of their waking hours. Right? Like, that’s an incredible amount of power. The way young children look at us is like, Whoa, that person gets to make lots and lots and lots of choices about my well being and my day to day life. And so, like, remembering that helps me access that feeling, of feeling empowered.

Not through, like, feeling bigger than, or having power over children, but by feeling a sense of responsibility. I get to vote. Kids don’t get to vote. They get to tell us who they want for president, but they don’t actually get to cast a ballot. that’s our responsibility as the grownups and as they’re the people who are trusted to take care of them and build a world that they deserve.

So yeah, I want all of us to feel that sense of feeling empowered because it’s hard.

[00:22:48] Brittney: It is rough out there. and you bring up such a powerful point, too, that as the adults in the room, we do make a lot of decisions. for young children and about young children. And very rarely do they get to be active participants in this, right? A lot of the viewpoint of education is that, I am the one with the power.

I am the one who knows everything. So you have to listen to me. And that’s the way that you get to participate is by

listening. And I think when we look at how people learn and we look at how you know, the best practices in learning and education, that that’s not how we learn things.

We don’t often learn things by just sitting on our feet and sitting on our fingers and just watching, right? we usually need to be a part of it. We need to be doing something. You need to be actively a part of the thing that we’re trying to learn. That’s how you actually deepen our understanding and deepen our learning. And for a lot of young children, they don’t get those access. They don’t get that opportunity. and, it does play a lot of power over and what does that say about these young children and especially, you know when we look at Head Starts We look at state funded schools and the ways that these schools are structured is In some ways oppressive not that it’s intentionally being oppressive not that they’re trying to oppress these children but They’re under so much scrutiny, everything needs to be a certain way just because the government is their funder. And I’ve worked in both, I’ve worked

in, state funded and I’ve worked in privately funded, and, the freedom that I have outside of that state funded

preschool, I could allow the children to explore, to be free, to make mistakes, to,

I have the power over the curriculum.

Whereas in other spaces, I just didn’t have that. And so it just

felt like I was operating in a system that was already kind of oppressive

for students who their whole life is just going to be oppressive, right?

It’s like, I don’t want to contribute to that.

[00:24:40] Dr. Megan: It can be really hard to figure out our place in this field. I mean, one of the beautiful things about our field is that there’s a ton of diversity in types of settings.

I love nature, and I think, like, when you go into, , a healthy, thriving, natural ecosystem, there’s a ton of biodiversity, and I imagine healthy early childhood ecosystems being similar, that there’s, a ton of diversity of types, and I think you’re exactly right, that there’s real pros and cons in some of the different structures that we have.

It’s been really interesting leaving the classroom and becoming a professional development provider, because that means I get to, taste. Lots of different types. So I’ve been in the most elite, progressive private schools where the kids are super free, but sometimes I’m like, are they learning anything?

But no one’s actually worried if they’re going to learn anything because they’re all going to go on to be rich business leaders anyway. So I guess it’s fine that they just play all day, but there’s tons of freedom and sometimes tons of really progressive, like my books, This is the most recent one that came out.

We Care, our first conversation about justice. It’s all over the New York City super elite preschool world. You’re only serving mostly white, rich kids, but then you go to other programs like Head Start programs and you’re under mountains and mountains of regulation from federal and state and local rules.

and it can feel definitely oppressive in those settings and very difficult to figure out how do you maintain a social justice pedagogy in that context.

And then I’ve been to charter schools where some of them take the best of progressive education and the freedom that’s afforded by charter schools to make incredible utopias of progressive education.

And then others that are these like, no excuses, like Honestly, they feel like prisons. They feel they’re terrible. You know, it’s not just sit cross crisscross applesauce It’s like marching through the halls looking straight ahead. Don’t make a sound like walking on straight lines. It’s So yeah, and that’s that’s just the center based world, you know, then we have public schools Then we have family child care homes like our field is so diverse So if the place, I guess my advice to anyone listening is like, you know, there is good work and important work to be done in any setting.

And also if your setting is not the right one for you, like trust, there are other settings out there where you can find your people and you can find your home so that you can do your good work sustainably.

[00:27:15] Brittney: Yes, that is fantastic advice. I know I’ve been there where you feel like this just isn’t for you. This just isn’t working. This doesn’t feel right. And when you go to that place that it does feel right, it clicks and you’re able to again form that community. It is a life changing, beautiful experience. This is just such a beautiful reminder that. The art of teaching is political. And we as educators and facilitators of learning of young children, we have power. We have an incredible amount of power, and it’s really how we utilize that power that can make the greatest impact in a child’s life. And, thinking about the future of education, how do you reimagine education?

[00:27:58] Dr. Megan: How do I reimagine? You know what? This question reminds me of,

Rekia Rogers runs a school called the Highlander School in Atlanta, Georgia. and their school is amazing for many reasons.

Including that they have been an active participant in the movement to stop cop city. so they do both incredible progressive education in the community But they’re one of the only programs I know of that doesn’t just talk the talk about

Action in the world, but the community is actively involved in mutual aid efforts and community organizing so they walk the walk.

[00:28:39] Brittney: They don’t just talk the talk and as a part of that, they participated in this big call for all early childhood educators across the country last year to, articulate our vision for early childhood education. And what came out for me was, a collage. I made a collage. yes.

[00:28:58] Dr. Megan: and when I was in that artistic space, what came out is that. My vision includes a lot of connection with nature. and not just the land, but also waterways. and it includes families at the center. Like that came up a lot at the recent NAEYC conference. A lot of teachers being like, I’m really bought in to anti bias education and social justice education, but what do I do about pushback from families?

How do I get families bought in? and the best response I heard at the conference was from Rekia’s presentation. She’s like, oh, families aren’t the enemy, of the work. Families are at the center. When we really listen to most families, Moms for Liberties kind of co opted it. And they act like they’re the voice for all parents.

But like, actually, it’s a small minority of parents who holds those extreme and bigoted views. The vast majority of families, one, are diverse. They are queer, they are black, they are brown, they are Spanish speaking, they are indigenous,

they, and they want what’s best for their kids, and not only their kids, for all kids.

They see what’s happening in the world, And they want to do something about it in partnership, in community. I guess my vision also includes families at the center, and Not as experts, but as partners, in this project of building a world that our kids deserve.

And it includes activism, not just talking about these issues in the classroom, but getting out in the world and doing something about it, showing up at school board meetings, attending protests and rallies, writing letters to our senators and demanding a free Palestine and an arms embargo now.

Like, these are things that are a part of my vision. But also it’s just me, like I, I love that you’re asking everybody this question. Cause I think the best answers come from when we ask it together.

[00:30:54] Brittney: Yes, it’s one of my favorite questions, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop asking this question

[00:30:58] Dr. Megan: Good.

[00:30:59] Brittney: because of the depth of everyone’s answers Sometimes we get, super short answers that are super succinct and I’m like dang, didn’t think about that and sometimes we get answers that are so Detailed and involved and you’re like wow didn’t think about that either and it just I love it I love the variety of answers to that question and I feel like I can just reflect on each and every one and just really think, okay, this is the future of education that I want to see. I want to see a future of education that is connected. I love your connection to nature, and I love incorporating that into our early childhood education practices, because if you’ve ever been around young children, they are curious about nature. They will see things. That we don’t even pay attention to.

They see an interesting rock, they have to stop. They have to bend down. They have to touch it. And it’s something that you and I just would walk past like, that’s a rock, it’s whatever. But to them like, no, this is the rock. You don’t

understand.

This rock’s got qualities

that those other rocks.

[00:31:57] Dr. Megan: reminding me of, So there’s a lot of families in Brooklyn who are organizing for a free Palestine. and I don’t live in Brooklyn, but I’d like to show up when I can in solidarity with those families. And so we were at this march, we showed up at the steps of the Brooklyn Museum and we were marching over to our senator’s office, to demand a ceasefire now.

And I reconnected with a mom of a young child that I’ve known and been in community with for a while. And she shared this story with me of her, I think her kids almost two now. they were on a hike earlier that day and the kid, this two year old finds a tree and goes over and just gives it the biggest hug.

And she was like, Oh, we’re late. Come on, let’s go. And the kid was like, no, this is important. You know, like, give me a second.

And so the kid had this moment with the big tree and pressed his little ear up against the tree and was like really listening for something. And so, she slowed down, and when the kid was done, she said, Well, what did the tree say?

And the kid said, The kid, the tree said, The tree said, free, free Palestine. I just, and like, that story, I just, like, you’re exactly right. The kids know.

And they’re listening to our earth. in a way that sometimes we as adults have forgotten how to listen to our earth. Like, war is not good for the planet.

It is not good for children. and we as educators and parents sometimes need a reminder to slow down and listen to children and listen to the earth because they are clear. They are

crystal clear.

[00:33:37] Brittney: When we listen to kids, they are very clear about the world that they want to see. They’re very clear about the things they want to be a part of. Thank you so much for ending on that beautiful story. I feel like that is the perfect way to wrap everything up. where can my audience find you if they’re curious to know more about what you’re doing and what you’re up to?

[00:33:56] Dr. Megan: Instagram is probably the easiest way. I try to update it pretty regularly on what I’m up to. my personal account is at Megan Madison. and we also have an Instagram account for First Conversations, which is at first underscore conversations. You can also find me in community. so become a NAEYC member, vote for me, come to conferences.

another community I’m a part of that’s open, is a community of practice led by my mentor, Ijumaa Jordan, called Police Free in ECE, meets about monthly, and it’s welcome to everybody. So I’d love to see you there and we can connect more deeply and strategize about how we’re gonna build this world without police and prisons.

[00:34:37] Brittney: Snaps to that, absolutely. And I will link all of that in the show notes, so if you’re curious on connecting with Dr. Megan, you can absolutely do that. I want to thank you so much for spending time with me today and sharing your stories, and I hope that you’ll come back on another day and share more stories with us.

[00:34:57] Dr. Megan: It’s an honor to be invited and I really enjoyed this conversation.

[00:35:02] Brittney: Me too. Thank you.

Thank you so much for listening to conscious pathways. I know as I’m reflecting on this episode with Dr. Megan, I am really taking it to heart. This idea that one teaching is political, right? But there’s this kind of politics with a capital P and the politics with the lowercase P.

When I think about that concept, I’m thinking about all the different ways in which I’m interacting with others and especially interacting with young children.

And how am I ensuring that they are empowered

And especially thinking about.Moving forward and the uncertainty in our politics and the uncertainty with the department of education and where that leaves students and where that leaves. Uh, teachers and. I know that I have been particularly feeling this heaviness in my, my, in my soul. in my heart and just, I feel it in my physical body, I feel it in my emotional body and I feel it. Just in my mental body,Just how disheartened I feel. Knowing what we’re walking into.

I remembering. the post 2017. election results and the years that followed that and just the stress and the anxiety. And I’m thinking about that all over again. And. My heart is heavy, and I know a lot of you out there that your heart is heavy, too. And it’s hard to go through. It’s a conversations like these fill me, they fill up my cup, they fill me with so much energy and I feel energized and I feel ready.

I think I needed to take some time to just reflect on what. My work meant to me and what my work means to all of you out there who are listening. And knowing that I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to continue doing this work. And if anything, I’m going to be fighting even harder. but it did make me take a pause and think about where I am in my work and what I in where, where do I need to be?

Where is my space? Um, and so if that’s where, where you are and that’s where you have been, just know that I’m thinking of you and that we’re in this together, we got this. And the next coming next, coming years, as we fight for education to continue to be equitable. We fight for access and we fight for education to be the space where all children can learn and grow and thrive and be successful. That’s where I know my work is standing. And. I know that the idea of, of getting political, It can be a little anxiety inducing.

And I know that, I feel that I understand that, but just know that. Teaching is political. There’s nothing about this, that doesn’t intersect with politics and our students deserve this and these teachers deserve this and we deserve this. So. Keep thinking about this concept and. I want to know what your thoughts are. Feel free to connect with me.

I’m on almost all of the social media platforms. I feel like a new one keeps popping up every day, but I’m on all the, all of the major ones. So reach out. DM me on Instagram or Tik TOK. comment on this YouTube video. I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’d love to hear how are you feeling? I love to know.

What are your thoughts moving forward? What do you need moving forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts on Dr. Megan and this interview. Just anything that you learned, anything that was impactful, anything that you’re taking into your. Your work moving forward. I would love to know all of those things. So feel free to reach out.

Don’t forget to comment, like subscribe to wherever you get this podcast. and share it with those who you love, share it with those who might benefit from this, share this with your colleagues, your friends, your coworkers, your parents, your siblings. Share this with everyone. it really does help the podcast to continue to grow and meet more listeners just like new. And until next time, don’t forget to navigate your conscious journey with courage and kindness.

And I will see you there for more transformative conversations. Bye!

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