(upbeat music) - Hi, I am Jacqui Tricarico on location at the NJEA Convention here in Atlantic City, and so pleased to be joined now by Erin Putman, who is the Design Team Ambassador with the NJEA Consortium, as well as a special education teacher.

Thank you for joining us.

- Of course.

- So, the NJEA Consortium, it's always has a big corner here at the convention.

There's so much going on here, but it has a very prominent place.

Tell us what the consortium is.

What are you doing over there?

- Absolutely.

We are at the end of a three-year grant.

Unfortunately, we're at the end, but we've done a lot from the NEA, and we are focused on creating resources, performance tasks, scholar talks, anything to help teachers feel more comfortable teaching the curricular mandates about diversity, so Amistad, Holocaust, LGBTQ, diversity and inclusion, all of those different mandates.

We're trying to make teachers feel more comfortable teaching subject areas that sometimes they're a little scared to teach, they're not quite sure what resources to use, so we're trying to take all of that out of their hands and here you go, and offer it to them.

- Give us an example of that, of how that's really been helpful for some of the educators in our state.

- Well, it's been wonderful 'cause I feel like a lot of teachers aren't even aware that the mandates are required.

It kinda depends on the administration in different school districts if they're pushing it or not, but it is law, and so it is required by law for them to be teaching it, and so, you know, a lot of people who have walked up to the table even today have said, "I didn't even know about these."

Or, "I didn't know how to teach it."

Or, "I didn't know I could do that."

Especially at the elementary level, a lot of teachers are just really gun shy about teaching some of these topics, and so we have a lot of great DTAs that are creating materials that are just great.

They're accessible for K all the way up through 12.

- You said DTA, Design Team Ambassador?

- Yes, yes.

- That is what you do.

- Yes.

- What does that role look like?

- So, we meet and we discuss.

So, first of all, they created a macro curriculum before I even came on 'cause it's been three years, so there's been DTAs from the beginning, and then I kinda came on a little bit later.

We take the macro curriculum and then we create performance tasks out of it, so we will create a lesson plan, we'll make sure that the students are really engaged, and then we map it all out and we add all the resources so the teachers don't have to do any of that legwork.

We put in all the links, the videos, you know, anything that they need, any visuals, anything like that so that they're gonna be able to just kind of go on, and there it is for them.

- Making it a lot more accessible.

- Yes, yes.

- And you're doing all that on top of being a special education teacher.

Talk about your fourth grade class.

- Oh, I've got a great class.

(Jacqui chuckles) I'm a co-teacher, so I teach in an inclusive classroom with a general education teacher.

And I have, I think, eight students this year with IEPs, but we're basically, you know, equals in the classroom.

All the students belong to both of us, and we feel really strongly about that.

And, you know, our class sort of mirrors what I'm doing with the consortium, just all different kinds of cultures, races, disability types, and so I'm kinda able to take what I'm learning and what we're talking about into my classroom.

- How are you advocating for those students?

Because like you said, it's a variety of different things that they're dealing with, challenges that they're dealing with.

How are you advocating for them?

- Well, one thing that is just very important to me is that they are seen as being a general education student first, because legally they are.

And a lot of times, that kinda gets sort of misconstrued by teachers, by administrators, by you know, so I try really hard to make sure that all the teachers, that they have, specialists, you know, if they go out for a math class, you know, they belong to every classroom that they're in.

They're not visitors, they belong there.

And that's just one of the most important things that I try to really get across.

- 25 years you've been doing this.

We often hear about burnout, especially with teachers.

(Erin laughs) I mean, it's real, I know some educators.

What keeps you motivated?

What keeps you going?

- To be honest, doing things like the consortium, like this little side job that I'm doing, you know, I kinda thought, "Gosh, it's gonna be extra work."

But it sort of reinvigorated me.

I mean, being here, hearing people, like, just responding and getting excited about what they're gonna do in their classroom.

Because I think a couple of years ago, I started to realize I do like teaching, but I kind of wanna take some of the things that I've learned and I really wanna share them with other people.

You know, it's great when I do it with my 20 kids, but they're just my 20 kids, you know.

I wanna get this out there to other teachers, to other students, and so this is a way to do that, and so that definitely helps.

- And you're a mom too.

- Yes.

Yes, yes.

(Jacqui laughs) - Staying really busy.

How do you stay just overall motivated?

How do you stay positive to keep doing this?

- I think that I really try to listen to, you know, the things that the students are responding back to and that sort of makes me realize, "Oh, okay, I am doing the right thing, you know."

After I'll finish a lesson, and the next day, I'll have a student say, "You know, I was watching this movie and I saw this kid with a disability, and I was like, 'Oh, wait a second, you know, I learned about that in class.'"

Or, you know, I'll hear my daughter say that she stood up for somebody at school, and she'll say, "Mom, you know, you were talking to me about this, and it made me think, you know, I should say something."

And it just keeps me going 'cause I realize it's not just sort of in my head, it's actually (laughs) making a difference.

- Yeah, and what's advice that you give other educators, people, you know, your peers, to make sure that they're doing just that, too, in their schools, making sure that there is that inclusivity, especially for those with disabilities?

- I think that I want them to realize, like I said before, that all of the students, like if they look at every student in their class as somebody who belongs there first and foremost, then everything else just sort of falls into place.

And so, I always say there's gonna be teachers that aren't comfortable with what you're saying, but give them a chance because, you know, we were all there at some point.

I mean, I've learned over the years.

You have to give that grace.

You know, you don't know until you know, and then you just have to make those changes.

- You're doing wonderful work.

I don't know how you have time for all the things that you're doing and being a mom (laughs) to your young ones.

One's almost a teenager- - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And the other one a teenager.

So, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today.

- Of course.

Thank you, thank you.

- We appreciate it.

We'll be right back after this.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by NJ Best.

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And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

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And by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

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