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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 9781119700722 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781119700715 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119700708 (ePub)
Cover design: PAUL MCCARTHY
Cover art: © JACEK KITA | GETTY IMAGES
First Edition
Dedicated to my mother Joan Neal Taylor, an educator and my first teacher.
—Dr. Janet Taylor
Dedicated to my mother Lynn, the most courageous person I know.
—Jed Dearybury
About the Authors
Dr. Janet Taylor is a community psychiatrist in Sarasota, Florida, working with individuals who are criminal justice involved and have mental illness. She also has a private practice. The practice of community mental health is extremely rewarding to Dr. Janet, because “being on the frontline with individuals and their families battling the emotional and economic impact of Mental Illness is where I can make a difference.” She attended the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, for undergraduate and medical school. An internship in internal medicine at the Miriam Hospital-Brown University followed. Her psychiatric residency was completed at New York Medical College-Westchester Medical Center. She received a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion/Disease Prevention from Columbia University. Her medical experience is also international. While living in Vancouver, British Columbia, she practiced Community Psychiatry at Greater Vancouver Mental Health. During that time, Dr. Janet developed an interest in life coaching and became a certified professional coach through the Coaches Training Institute. She is a frequently invited speaker on the subjects of minority health, self-care, stress management, parenting, and work-life balance. She is a frequent contributor to CBS “This Morning,” and NBC “The Today Show” and ABC “Good Morning America” on issues of motherhood, parenting, and mental health. Dr. Janet is also regularly featured on CNN and MSNBC. Dr. Janet is a frequent speaker on the impact of Racial Trauma and Racism, Antiracism, and Conscious Allyship.
Jed Dearybury began his education career in 2001. During his 13-year early-childhood classroom tenure, Jed received numerous awards. He was featured in GQ Magazine as Male Leader of the Year, met President Obama as the South Carolina honoree of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and was named as a top five finalist for South Carolina Teacher of the Year because of his passion, love, and success in education. Since leaving the second-grade classroom in 2015, he has been leading professional development across the country, as well as training the next generation of educators through his work and teaching in higher education, teaching children's literature, creativity and play for early childhood, and fine arts in the elementary classroom. In August 2019, he started his own education consulting business, mrdearybury.com LLC, where he is the director of Creativity and Innovation. He published his first book, The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for All Ages, co-written with Dr. Julie P. Jones, in June of 2020, thus adding author and illustrator to his list of educational credits. Courageous Classroom is his second book. His mission: Equip, Encourage, Empower the teaching profession using creativity, laughter, and hands-on fun!
Foreword
When student and teacher meet with a shared respect, magic happens. Mythical things happen. Over the past 20 years I have worked with urban youth through the telling, discussion, and analysis of mythological stories. We provide a safe space, a temenos, where youth feel comfortable being and becoming who they are meant to become. The goal is to have them become the hero/heroine in their own stories. Our process helps make real the idea that they will need heroic character traits to get through life; traits such as perseverance, humility, resourcefulness, and willingness to make necessary sacrifices for something larger than themselves. And, they will need courage to continue despite the odds not being in their favor.
Janet Taylor has been a champion of our methods, and of all teachers who seek to educate in ways that meet the needs of the youth, instead of the needs of adults who insist on sterile measurements. She observed our sessions, and she reported to her audience on what she witnessed. She lifted up our method of telling myth to the beat of a djembe drum, stopping at critical points in the myth, and asking the youth what resonates with them – no right or wrong answers. A key to our process is that as educators, we share intimate parts of our history, about times when we found ourselves facing dilemmas similar to those that the myth depicts, and similar to those that the youth face. As adults, we have found the courage to shed tears in front of our youth, and they in turn have found the courage to shed tears in front of us.
In myth the hero often cries, and as we tell our youth, “It is okay to cry.” As a man, I model that it is okay for boys to cry. We create an environment of trust and mutual respect. It is beyond amazing what youth share in our circles. Part of the amazement is because we realize we have a symbiotic relationship. We know we are learning just as much from the students as they are from us. Another key aspect of our process is the importance of listening and keeping an open mind. It is this level of wonder that Janet and Jed are advocating with their book.
Dedicated teachers have a challenging and stressful job. Most are looking for methods that will bring success to student and teacher alike. I have personally held back tears watching some teachers and administrators take advantage of authority in the name of rigid policy that does not serve the students. When this happens, we lose another youth with vast potential. In myth, the hero/heroine never accomplishes their tasks alone. They always have some sort of assistance from a guide and mentor. They are given tools and advice to overcome obstacles before them. When education works best, teachers are allowed to serve this role in the lives of students. Students feel free to come to them with hopes, dreams, and fears. Teachers must uncover both the gifts and wounds of their students, often while having to revisit past fears of their own.
As adults, we often project our own fears and past experiences onto present situations. Adults who work with youth need tools that will allow us to look into the mirror of our own souls and heal our own wounds, prior to working with youth. It takes courage to be an educator. It takes patience. It takes a belief in oneself and a belief in the student. This book allows both the teacher and student to garner the courage to become the heroes/heroines in their own stories.
Kwame Scruggs, PhD
Founder and Director
Alchemy, Inc.
Introduction
There is no courage without fear.
What is fear? Fear is an emotional experience in reaction to a situation perceived as threatening, unsafe, or dangerous. Although it is often perceived as negative, fear is a response that has evolved to help us both survive and reproduce as a species. When we experience fear, we have three kinds of responses: behavioral, physiological, and emotional. The behavioral response might be to attack (fight), run away (flight),
