Briana Morales Just Wants to Change the World

Briana Morales is our 2023 Illinois State Teacher of the Year. She’s a high school English teacher at Gordon Bush Alternative Center – the alternative school for East St. Louis School District 189. To learn more about our Teacher of the Year program, visit our website. To nominate someone for 2024 Teacher of the year, go to this page. To request Briana for a speaking engagement, express interest here. To be inspired to connect with students, click play.

Our theme music is by José Rivera.

Transcript

Transcript: Briana Morales Just Wants to Change the World

RHODES  0:02  

Hello, we are the Illinois State Board of Education and we love Illinois schools. I'm Dusty Rhodes, part of the Public Relations team at ISBE. And I'm excited to introduce you to our 2023 Illinois Teacher of the Year, Briana Morales. In this conversation, you'll get to hear why she has chosen to teach at an alternative school, what she's learned from her students, why she always has a fresh manicure, and a whole lot more. 

The first thing I want you to talk about is your students, your school, you teach an alternative education on purpose. What do you like about it? What gets students into your school?

MORALES  0:46  

Gordon Bush Alternative Center is the referral site for East St. Louis District 189 for students who have been traditionally removed from their homeschool for various reasons related to behavior, attendance or academics. We have a very small population with a ratio of about 10 or less students to one teacher, which is amazing. So, we are able to offer them wraparound programming to help them be more successful when they are with us. And that is also one of the reasons why many of our students, once they transfer to our school, they will finish out their education with us. So, I think that that's a really beautiful testament to the environment that we've created for them, to help them feel like they do belong somewhere, finally.

RHODES  1:32  

So on paper, these kids look like, what? 

MORALES  1:39  

On paper, they look like this is their last chance to get it right. But once we finally get to see them, we see that there have been many missed opportunities to speak to the kinds of brilliance and resilience that they bring into schools. And we're able to capitalize on that with the smaller class sizes, the innovative learning models that we have at our school and also the services that we offer to them to help support them through the significant trauma and trust that is often times a barrier to unlocking our full academic potential.

RHODES  2:12  

So I feel like you, you see them through a different lens. So what gives you that set of glasses, where you can see beyond what they look like on paper.

MORALES  2:24  

Yeah, so I think my connection to alternative ed as a career educator in alternative ed, like why I moved into this space and, also, what keeps me in this space, is the connection to students who feel like throughout their life, they have either been cast aside or that they're looked at as the underdog, because I think that speaks to that part of all of us, and wanting to make sure that they know and that they feel that they have access to the same opportunities as other students in traditional public schools, despite the choices or barriers to their success that have popped up in many ways that have led them to being in our care. 

So I talk a lot about, in my travels right now, what my own educational experience looked like and how the trajectory of that throughout my life has also blended with and kind of overlapped with a lot of the kids that I teach, in their stories. Which gives me a better insight of not just who they are, but also the kinds of supports that they need to feel like they belong. 

And so when I was in the seventh grade, I was really struggling. We know developmentally for middle schoolers, the transition from elementary school into middle school is overwhelming to say the least. But I had a very traumatic childhood. And so the amalgamation of all of those things at one time, led to it just being too much for me. And so when I was a seventh grader, I attempted suicide. And I had a seventh grade English teacher who at the same time was battling breast cancer, and none of us knew it. And so she was coming to school every day, quite literally fighting for her life, but also equipping me with the skills to battle the things that were going on internally for me. And so when I think of why I became a teacher and the impact that I want to make for my students, I hope that I can be half of what she was to me because she was someone who showed up for me in the darkest moments of her life, and I wouldn't be able to give to students who feel like they're in that dark period of their life if it wasn't for her. 

So my own experience as a seventh grader are feeling cast out, feeling like many people in my life didn't understand who I was or how to get me or provide me with the resources to get to where I wanted to be, kind of was broken up by having a caring adult who stepped in and loved me through that time. And that's kind of what I've been able to use as the catalyst to fight for better experiences for them, because I know what it's like.

RHODES  4:55  

I asked my follow up question very quietly. Is your seventh grade teacher… is she still with us?

MORALES  5:02  

Yes! She looked me up at the Regional Teacher of the Year banquet. I actually emailed her when I became Teacher of the Year. And I told her thank you so much for everything that you've done for me, I wouldn't even be a teacher if it wasn't for you. And she emailed me back when I was in the middle of my sixth hour class with my juniors and I screamed, like so loud and my students' were like, what's going on? And I pulled up the email, and I read it to them. And at the end, it just says, thanks so much for giving me credit for a small part of your accomplishments, I do indeed, remember you. 

And so I'm 28 years old, I was obviously 12 in the seventh grade, so that was 16 years ago. And so that just proves to us of the lasting impact of teachers spans further than we ever know. And it's so important to let them know that they've paved the way for us to be here.

RHODES  5:48  

So you weren't in touch with her all that time? 

No. And I just randomly emailed her. And so she is actually, she's about to retire. So it's been a really beautiful thing that I've been able to reconnect in a full-circle moment, because at the Regional Teacher of the Year banquet in February, one of my students who is now becoming a teacher, as well, she got to meet my teacher, and she's becoming a teacher because of me. So it was a perfect full-circle connection. And everyone was super emotional about that.

RHODES: 

That's very cool. Did I read that she had manicures?

MORALES  6:21  

Yes, that's me. Yes. I paint my nails because of her. Yeah. 

RHODES  6:27  

So like, what were her nails like?

MORALES  6:29  

 She was just such a cool person. It was never designs or anything. They were just always very slick, very put together. But it was always bright colors. Like when you looked at her. That's what kind of what caught your eye. So I think of like her when I get my nails done.

RHODES  6:44  

So you've done it always. Because of her.

MORALES  6:47  

Yeah. So when I think of the ways to like, emulate her in my career, and just like, her presence, those are things that remind me of who she was.

RHODES  6:56  

I'm really glad to know that you do something fun. Yeah. I mean, that was fun, sitting there getting your nails done, right? Yeah. Because like you on paper, you're so deep. I mean, your juvenile justice school board, that's alternative school for real for real. And you've done that, how long?

MORALES  7:23  

So I was appointed in September of last year. So it's been a full year now being on the board. And it has been a really interesting experience, I think getting to see the school board governance realm and how those choices impact the equitable experiences our students do or don't have access to. And it's so important to me to elevate the voices of justice impacted youth that I've had, and that I've known because I come from a family where many people that I know are just as impacted. And in East St. Louis, many of our students who I teach and work with and learn from each day are also justice impacted. 

And so I was actually presenting at one of the youth centers in Harrisburg when I became Teacher of the Year, and I saw one of my students there, who I had not seen in several months. And so I was giving a presentation. And he had the thought to ask me, well, what school do you teach out because he saw the slide that had me with the kids from our school, and I turned around, I was like, oh my gosh, and so I'm glad to know that he's okay. 

But I'm even more grateful to know that there are so many talented individuals within IDJJ that are taking great care of youth who are in their care, and trying their best to provide dynamic programming and opportunities to them so that they are prepared to re-enter and are fully supported and what that transition looks like. So it's been a really great experience for me to just see both sides of that coin.

RHODES  8:48  

You connect with your students through spoken word, slam poetry, that kind of stuff. What is it about that that makes it good for teaching?

MORALES  9:00  

Yeah, so I think that the power of telling our story is something that all English teachers are amazing at, and that there was a story that we had heard in our lives that helped us understand why we need to share our story with the world. And so that's something that we try to impart on our students and in the work that I've done as an English teacher, part of that started when I was in the seventh grade, my English teacher helped me to write poetry to process the things that I was going through with the depression and anxiety after I returned to school from being hospitalized. And so I wrote my first poetry book in her class, and I never looked back after that. And so when I think about what Critical Care pedagogy can look like when we infuse it with helping students step into their power by stage sharing our story, that's where poetry comes in, because it's a perfect way for us to utilize storytelling methods in a way that is educational and entertaining for people to listen to, to get to know each other to learn from and celebrate the joys, the highs and lows that we've been through in life. And for many students who share similar lived experiences, it's important for them to hear other people's story that might be different from their so that they can understand other parts of worlds that they may not live in, or lives that they may not walk through. But why it's important to hear all of it so that all of our world view becomes more complete.

RHODES  10:29  

What was the story that you read that made you know, it was important to tell your story?

MORALES  10:34  

Yeah, so I actually listen to a poem by Ebony Stewart called Happy Father's Day, and it was about a young girl who grew up without her father present in her life. And so that is something that I felt really deeply as a child and through young adulthood, and that I'm still grappling with now, as we return to what family means to me, my dad actually passed away over the summer. Almost three months to the day of me being named Teacher of the Year, he passed away by natural causes. And so when I think of kind of how those stories stay with us, but they also change, and how the impact of being able to connect with literature that makes us not feel alone has a purpose for everyone in life. That's something that has been a source of comfort to me, as I continue to process what that loss will look like, for me in my life.

RHODES  11:34  

One of the things that you talked about was flexible scheduling, that that's something you would advocate for.

MORALES  11:43  

Yeah, so I think that now more than ever, as we are emerging post pandemic, we're starting to finally figure out what all of these things that we were wondering about pre-pandemic, what they might look like in implementation, with the flexibility that COVID had given us in schools. And so capitalizing on that, the main thing that I can think of is flexible scheduling, or flexible learning environments for students, not just for students who are marginalized in various ways, but students of all backgrounds and identities deserve that flexibility, so that we can work with them and in partnership with their families and communities to make school work for what their life might look like in the next few years. 

And so, in my own setting, when we were on virtual learning, I remember our principal gave us the opportunity to design our own class schedule times. And so instead of having class during the hours of eight to one, which is like what our five-hour cap time was, I was scheduling my junior and senior English classes at seven and eight o'clock in the evening, because many of my students took on the role of head of household during COVID. They were providing for their younger siblings, many of them lived in multi-generational families where they had children depending on them to provide. And so that took precedence over being on Zoom during the daytime hours. And so when I opened that up for my students, I had the highest attendance rate for our grade level. 

And I think specifically about many of our students who I've come to know and love and get to know their families, who are young parents, they have their own children home with them during the days. And when they come home from work, they have responsibilities as parents that they need to take care of, or as family members that are taking care of other loved ones. And so that gave the opportunity for some of my students who were young parents to put their children to bed and to be able to fully focus on their priority for schooling at the time. 

And so the other thing that I think about flexible scheduling in schools during the school day, what that could look like also is specific time to allow opportunities for students to do service learning in the community. And if students were able to choose what their mastery projects or their daily service time was spent toward, they can kind of create those schedules for themselves of what is of most importance and what they feel that they have the most needs for in the moment and build a schedule that meets those needs.

RHODES  14:17  

And, you know, I kind of want to hear what it's like being a Brown teacher at a Black school.

MORALES  14:25  

Yeah, so I have really had to unpack a lot of my own biases and lived experiences as a Latina teacher teaching black students because we also know that many roots of anti-Blackness can be found specifically in Mexican communities. So I'm a Mexican teacher, and I grew up in a Mexican family, and within East St. Louis -- because many of my students have grown up in the same community their entire life, they don't have a lot of exposure to people of different cultures. And so the same can be said with segregated communities everywhere that helps our worldview to become more complete when we embrace diversity and the lessons that that can teach us. 

So I think that a lot of the conversations that have been had in the lessons done in the classroom, sharing about Black and Brown people's relationships over history and the context in which we can use that to then build power for the future as partners, has been really impactful for my students. And then of course, sharing with them about cultural traditions as they can share with me about theirs has been a beautiful, reciprocal teaching moment throughout my career, which I'm really grateful for, because I think we both needed that.

RHODES  15:41  

You strike me as someone who is very in tune with the concept of learning from the students. Yeah. And in fact, one of the things you said about Da’Miya was that she taught you had to be a good mother. I always felt like I learned from my kids. But a lot of grownups feel like that is not a dynamic that you should acknowledge. So what kind of stuff have you learned from students?

MORALES  16:10  

Yeah, I think it's important for us to keep our minds open and willing to accept the lessons that our students are able to provide for us by just their presence in our lives, because for knowing young people were so much better just for being around them. But when we fully embrace the opportunity that we have to learn from them, I think that that is a beautiful thing. 

So in East St. Louis, I think that I have been able to forge relationships with many students who have taught me a lot of things, like I shared in my Teacher of the Year speech about my student DomDa’Miya, who had passed away, she was a young mother, and she had two little boys Damir and Damari before she graduated high school. And I watched her for all the years that I was her teacher, to still put her academics first and to be such a resilient person in the face of so much adversity. And I think that one of the things that many people remark about her life and the fight that she had to bring beauty and depth to her children's life was that she never complained. 

And so showing up every single day when things were extremely difficult, but using the resources that she had, and still fighting, the good fight anyway, is something that I've transitioned into not just my professional life as a teacher, but also my personal life, and how I deal with adversity myself, because I'm working with students who show up to school every single day when they're facing significant stress and trauma. And they use that and are able to navigate those experiences while still looking towards the future with such a sense of hope, and gratitude. That is really inspirational to me and is able to keep me going when my life gets really hard too.

RHODES  18:06  

Yeah, and I think the cool thing about kids teaching is that they don't, that's not their agenda, but they do. Can I ask you about being a foster mom, I know that that's that there's privacy issues, but you're a foster mom, too?

MORALES  18:23  

Yes. Yeah, I became a foster parent, actually, because many students that I have taught have been in foster care. And so understanding that dynamic, I became a Court Appointed Special Advocate for a very long time. And so we know that as a CASA, you cannot be a foster parent, because it's a conflict of interest. And so I think that I was able to really figure out whether or not fostering was what I truly wanted to do after I was a CASA for a while, and I was able to see the other side of what many of my students were currently wrapped up in. And I wanted to make a difference, however possible. 

I currently foster teen boys. And so a lot of the strong relationships that I've been able to forge with students at school, they have transitioned into like the age group that I feel most comfortable fostering, and so that's teenagers, which are some of the highest needs, youth who are in foster care and the amount of youth who often times transition into adulthood without a care plan. And so I think that it's really impactful work, the age group that I get to work with. And my son actually graduated high school a year early, and he just started technical school this year. So it's been really great to be able to be home on sabbatical and to see him transition into his journey towards becoming an electrician. So we've been teaching ourselves code on YouTube every night and doing his math homework, but I think that's been really beautiful and it's also helped me to learn better how to support my students who may be in overlapping circumstances and the ways that I can show up best for them as a teacher.

RHODES  20:10  

So in your sabbatical year, I feel like you are going to miss the kids. Are you not missing the kids?

MORALES  20:17  

I am missing them. But I'm able to see them. I have been working closely with the teacher who is taking over for me for the next year, as I'm on sabbatical. And so I'm able to go up there when I'm mentoring her one-on-one every Monday, and so I'm able to get a little glimpse of them. And so it's always good. When they see me at any point of the hall, they come running and screaming and saying, when are you going back? I say, just give me a little time, I'll be back. 

So during the sabbatical, I think that it's seriously the opportunity of a lifetime, because I think that there's so much collective power in educators supporting one another because we are each other's greatest asset. And there are very dope innovative practices and people happening and doing things across the state that we would never have the opportunity to meet or time without the sabbatical. And so I've been able to be in schools and learning from teachers and their students across the state. So far, back-to-school season has been very busy. So lots of time spent with people that I would have never gotten to meet had this opportunity not been given to me. And so I'm really looking forward to the upcoming events that I have scheduled with pre service teachers colleges across the state. 

I'm an adjunct professor at National Louis in their pre-ervice teacher preparation program. And so I work with teachers who are getting their certification. And there's one thing about the joy that comes from working with them virtually. But when I get to see them in person and share about the joy of the teaching profession, and how we can keep them motivated to running towards joining us, I am very excited about what those things look like. Because the joy from people wanting to become teachers helps to sustain us in the work that we get to do as well.

RHODES  22:06  

So you are not on sabbatical from teaching adjunct.

MORALES  22:11  

Yes, I choose to still adjunct because I love it so much. I can't really let go of it. So once or twice a week, I'm on Zoom with students from National Louis, but from my day job, I'm gone.

RHODES  22:23  

All right. I didn't ask you this, at the time you brought it up… when you said that your seventh grade teacher saved her life, what do you mean? She didn't give you CPR? What did she do?

MORALES  22:38  

She gave me hope that there was the rest of my life that was still worth looking forward to, outside of the overwhelming darkness that I felt in the moment. I think that there are so many moments that are so challenging and heavy and dark for our young people that when we make every effort to walk alongside them, hold space for them and help them process and cope with eventually heal from some of these very stressful and traumatic things that all people are privy to, because that's just the nature of life. We're all better because of it. So she really gave me hope to keep going. And so when I think about my own life as a student, all those years ago, I was literally just a kid who didn't want to live. And when my life felt like it was a gift that I wanted to return, she helped me to change my mind.

RHODES  23:35  

Have you ever counted up your personal ACEs?

MORALES  23:39  

It's probably really high? Probably definitely above nine. So yeah, I think we're uniquely positioned with our life experiences to connect with youth who are going through things just like us. But I also have talked about that a lot with many teachers across the state, that we can still connect with students whose lived experiences may be different than ours. Because that's the beauty of sharing our story is that we learn from them. And they also learn from us and about the foundation of relationships in education that helps us to forge that connection, whether our backgrounds are the same or not.

RHODES  24:24  

You think it helps you connect with your particular kids?

MORALES  24:27  

Yeah, I think that my students, learning about my life and who I was when I was their age, is really important to our relationship and speaks to the strength of our relationship if we've been able to carry on that bond for years. I think that it's important for their feelings and their lived experiences to be validated by someone who has walked that same path. And so it kind of legitimizes and also humanizes both of us because we so often feel like we are alone or that life is so unfair. Because XYZ has happened to me and no one knows what that's like. So when someone opens our heart to share what they've been through too, kids feel seen and understood, and that also helps them to feel more connected to you, to feel more connected to each other, but then also feel comfortable to take risks in the classroom, which can be personal risks, sharing their story, but and also academic risk, trying something that they may previously have failed at, because they have the confidence now because someone understands them.

RHODES  25:29  

What do you wish people knew about the kids in alternative school?

MORALES  25:35  

That each of us is more than the worst thing that we've ever done. And so Bryan Stevenson said that, and when we think about our students as deserving of every opportunity in life, no matter what they've done, that also unlocks the possibilities of what we can make school for them through community partnerships, through innovative programming, to change the things that are not working for them into spaces where we are cultivating their criticality, their sense of self, and their hope for the change that they want to make in the future of their own life and the lives of their loved ones and in their communities. 

I think that a lot of people write kids off in alternative schools. And if we just gave them a chance, we'd learned so much more about how more just joyful the world could be.

RHODES  26:29  

When you started your speech, you said, I'm Briana Morales, and I just want to change the world. You say that a lot?

MORALES  26:37  

Yeah, because I mean, it, I'm speaking it into existence! Same way with trying to finish my doctorate on sabbatical too. I'm hoping that by the end of this, you guys can call me, Dr. Morales. But yeah, I say that also, because I think when we speak those things, it becomes part of our truth that we can share with other people. And so also sharing that power with students about being agents of change in their communities in the way that they can exercise that to make it a reality and speaking that truth every single day until you believe it is really important to having the confidence to do something that actually makes a difference in the world.

RHODES  27:12  

And so what does your change world look like? First three things you would change.

MORALES  27:17  

Yeah, I am very much hoping to utilize all the experiences that I've had in alternative schools and also working with Justice Impacted Youth when my doctorate is finished, next fall to think about a dynamic new groundwork for a school. So I'm really interested in thinking about the ways in which we can provide a residential setting for at risk youth to tend to all of their needs in the ways that we are just physically unable to in an eight hour school day where students go home at the end of the day. And so wrapping our arms around students, entire families, including students who may be parents or students who are facing adverse life experiences, the programming supports that we could offer in full day residential school that also has flexibility for students to possibly go to school in the evening work in a day time. Those are things that I'm interested in looking at.

RHODES  28:19  

What are you proudest of that you've done in education?

MORALES  28:24  

Wow. I think more than anything, what I am proudest of is the lasting relationships that continue to thrive after my students have left our class. I have taught in alternative education, all year but one in my career, and so many people regard these students as the hardest to reach and the furthest from justice, and so there's a million reasons why people think that we have NOT to pour into them. And so doing so has showed me why it's so necessary for those relationships because it unlocks doors and potential for them to be who they want to be in life. And after all of the amazing moments and achievements that we've gotten to share together, I think that as Teacher of the Year that was so special to me to see my students -- many of who I have not taught in years -- they took a bus from East St. Louis all the way to Bloomington for the Those Who Excel banquet.

And it didn't matter what they look like, it didn't matter where they were coming from or what they had to do, they were able to put that on pause to be there with me in that moment because it is just as much their award as it is mine. But I think for them what they've communicated to me is that it was so significant to see someone that they love so much recognized for who they know me to be and not what other people might try to make our work in East St. Louis seem to be. And so after all the years pouring so much like love and care and dignity into a community, I can look back and still feel all of that returned to me from students. And I'm very proud of that.

RHODES  30:08  

You have been listening to Briana Morales, Illinois Teacher of the Year. If you would like to connect with Briana, or maybe even nominate the next Teacher of the Year, go online to isbe.net/teacheroftheyear. Again, that's isbe.net/ all one word, teacher of the year. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe on Apple or Spotify, and share it with your friends. Thanks for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai