- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Giving all Newark students the opportunity to achieve.

Johnson & Johnson.

PSE&G, powering progress.

And by Valley Bank.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

Keeping communities informed and connected.

And by BestofNJ.com.

All New Jersey in one place.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Steve Adubato, Jacqui Tricarico in Atlantic City for the New Jersey Education Association Annual Convention here in AC.

Jacqui, we interview a whole range of people, historians, artists, actors, people who are educators, people who are passionate about education.

This is a program we're worth watching, why?

- It really is because every year we both get the privilege of coming down here and speaking to people who essentially are trying to make our world a better place, who are looking to make it more joyful, more peaceful and more united.

And we need that more now than ever before.

So we get the privilege to shine some light on those people, those unsung heroes who are educators, like you said, but a whole range of other different people as well.

So it's important that we keep shining a light on those people doing great things.

- And Jacqui's right.

But here's the thing.

At a time when the teaching profession is under attack by so many, you get to hear from educators as to why they still care, why they're still passionate, even with all these challenges to the profession.

So for Jacqui Tricarico, myself, this is the NJEA Convention.

These are educators who are making a difference.

- We are honored to have Mychal Threets, who is a librarian, a literary ambassador, one of the keynote speakers here at the NJEA, And you came up with this expression called Library Joy.

Explain it.

- I don't know if I came up with it, but I am obsessed with Library Joy.

- Well, hold on, where did it even come?

Do we even know where it came from?

- I don't know.

I just started saying, all of a sudden.

I was making videos on social media about library kids, library grownups, about all the visits from library people.

And I just said library joy.

I get so much joy from libraries.

The library is for every single person.

We all belong in libraries.

I mean, libraries are more than just books now.

We have musical instruments, we have board games, video games, programs, homework help.

There's something for everybody.

And well, the library is a place where you can be just as you are.

It's a place where you've always belonged.

And that to me is library joy.

If it's falling in love with a manga book, a graphic novel, audio books, no matter who you are, the library is there for you.

And I will always love that my entire life.

- Literacy is just so important to you.

Obviously it's so important for our kids.

You're here at the convention this year to spread that message.

Yes.

Talk about how you envision and where your organization is going to keep making sure books get in the hands of kids and how important literacy really is.

- And, you know, it's hard, and we talked to teachers all the time, especially after COVID and how hard it was to teach children to read during that time and the effects afterwards.

And you know, from the beginning, all of our programming has operated off of the fun factor.

And so even through my program with public health, we talk about intrinsically motivated behaviors.

So we can say to our children as much as we want, like, you need to read, you need to read, you need to read.

But if they don't feel inside that they want to read, it's not going to be something that they take with them for the rest of their lives.

You know, reading, I feel like reading can make you live longer.

It can help to curb things like Alzheimer's.

It relieves stress.

There's so many great things that come with reading, but we have to keep that fun element in it, when we're talking about children or adults.

- I always want teachers to know that they are loved, that they are cared for, and you know, I appreciate you and value you, and I thank you for all your service.

And it's my hope that we all wake up every day and just check in on our hearts, our wellbeing, our wellness, because we can't do the work for children.

We can't do genius, justice, and joy without that self work first.

And I just, I want them to take away this notion of possibility.

We don't have to have an either/or dilemma.

Either I have to teach a child to read or teach them joy.

Guess what?

We can have it all.

If they did it in 1828.

- Why can't we do it today?

- Think about the genius we have, the resources we have, the knowledge we have today, we can do it today.

- Do you have any idea what the real, current, and longer term impact of COVID has been on the teaching profession?

- Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things.

You know, thinking back now, it's almost like, oh wow, that happened, right?

We lived through that four plus years ago.

It almost seems like a, like a crazy dream that we had.

And I, one of the great things about my job as I get to go around to school districts in every nook and cranny of the state and just listen to my fellow educators talk, and we, I ask them, you know, how has it been since COVID?

And they really do say it's one of those kind of things where there's a period of time they can mark where students fell back in a lot of ways, not just academically, but emotionally, socially.

They see it in the younger grades.

Imagine starting kindergarten virtually.

I mean, it's one thing I taught high school, and that was a different thing.

But having kids and those five, six, seven year olds and trying to figure out how do you get to them emotionally and let them know they're safe when they're on a computer screen.

- Challenging on so many- - Challenging to say the least.

- Educator diversity is really an important factor.

You know, research has shown to us that when students have teachers of color in their life, they do better, all students.

There's some particular benefit when students of color have teachers of color.

And so all students benefit from having a diversity of perspective in the classroom and to experience teachers who come from a variety of backgrounds.

The way that we tackled that is by partnering with districts that have large populations of BILPOC students and then inviting them to collaborate with us in this pathway program.

So it's very structural in that sense.

It's also led to the, the large number of diverse students participating in the program because the structure of the program is really focused on an intentional approach to service districts that have high populations of students from underrepresented backgrounds, and then to take action and invite them to think of themselves as future teachers.

- Your students have learned so much from you over all those years of teaching all the time that you have dedicated to bettering young people.

What is the most important thing you've learned from your students?

- Well, I'm glad you mentioned that because they may have learned something from me, but I was really the beneficiary, because I had 30 teachers and they had one technically.

And you know, when you learn as an adult to have them become your peers, your co-creators, your co-teachers, because they've got individual and unique wisdom you don't have, we respect that is, respect them as individuals.

Then suddenly you've got a learning environment.

Everybody's teaching something all the time.

And once they realize they're empowered by you that way to be themselves, the learning just takes off like a rocket.

You don't have to do anything really as a teacher because they're in charge and they want to be in charge of their academic destiny, which they rarely ever get to do.

- The reason you're optimistic about the teaching profession is?

- Because I believe in the power of the people, and despite what seems to be in front of us, I know that our collective power will be able to keep New Jersey strong.

I think we took a little bit of a hit and there was a little bit, you know, there's a little time of mourning, but I call it good morning, M-O-U-R-N, because that's the mourning that teaches us to organize, that teaches us that collective action will keep us safe.

And so that's why I'm positive because I serve a labor association that's existed for over a hundred years.

And in those a hundred years, we've had bumps in the road, but we have always been able to come through.

And you look around at the convention floor, despite everything that's going on, I promise you what you're gonna see are smiles.

You're gonna see people that are hopeful for the future.

You're gonna see people that are ready, ready to love, ready to learn.

- There are so many teachers in New Jersey who are committed to teaching the truth, who are committed to creating inclusive classrooms.

And every session that we've been able to be in dialogue with them, we're really just dreaming about possibilities for the future because we never wanna lose that, right?

I think that we can oftentimes lean into despair, and I certainly feel that myself and I'm creating space for myself and for others to be able to recognize that that is the feeling that is coming up for us, but also thinking about what can we build and how do we get there?

- How are you seeing this convention help educators with some of the biggest obstacles they're facing right now as educators, not just here in New Jersey, but in the nation?

- So I think there is a key focus this year on mental health and wellness.

And as you walk the floor, you would see enormous emphasis on our wellness and to take care of ourselves as human will only provide for better classroom experiences and better education experiences for our kids.

- Yoga ties into mindfulness, to self-awareness, to having a good mindset to be taking care of oneself so you can take care of others in so many ways.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

- How have you seen the educators respond to what you're teaching in terms of mindfulness and how do you see it more important now than ever when we hear so much about teacher burnout?

- Well, you know what, when I started in my career at 36 years ago, no one was really concerned about how I was thinking and feeling.

- Right.

- And quite honestly, they really weren't thinking about how kids were feeling either.

And, you know, so we've evolved.

You know, I have to say, I think the problems have always been there in terms of, you know, kids experiencing, you know, growing up is hard.

You know, teaching is challenging.

And so the levels of stress, you know, have always been there.

I think certainly over time that those kinds of things have changed, but they still exist.

And so, but the difference is now is that it's become a really integral part of the program that we do.

So we work on not just how can we bring these practices to the kids, but how do we bring them to the teachers?

How do we train teachers?

How do we teach teachers, first of all, to be aware and in touch with what they need for themselves in order to be their best selves in the classroom?

- I'm so proud to say that we are just launching a new youth mental health app developed in a partnership with the Department of Children and Families.

And this app is going to be a game changer in the way that we're being able to provide services to young people.

And again, meeting them where they are right on their phones.

We're really excited about that.

- A quick tap you can message somebody.

That's what everybody does today where it's all about texting.

How quickly can I get a message out?

Can they reach out about anything at all?

- Anything at all.

So, that is really our platform is that we are not a suicide line, we are not a crisis line, we are an anything line.

Our mission is to let kids know, don't think about it, just reach out to us.

Reach out to us in the way that is comfortable for you.

We offer, still, we're offering phone calls where we are always talking to a live counselor.

Text messaging where you are always connecting with a live counselor, mental health professional.

And now in the app we're able to provide chat services.

So, we're really excited to be able to say that this is a New Jersey-based for New Jersey youth, and really don't think about it, just reach out to us.

- There's a lot of burnout with teachers.

How do we connect to our place of inspiration and joy and wire an educator and bring that forward?

So how to make a song of that could be a short song, it could be just a chorus.

How do you take that and bring it with you every day?

And people have been coming by and writing with us, dancing with us, recording.

We have a recording booth, and then we are taking those songs and we're doing an experiment, which last night we got together and we took pieces of all of those songs and we are creating an anthem of the convention of everyone's voices who came with us.

So it's all of those purposes.

- It's a big collective.

- Together in one song that we're gonna perform.

- It's just enormously exciting to think about the many ways we are going to be able to use music to teach students.

Right, I think you get a lot of students, and sometimes I'll teach a required history class, right?

And students might come in and they think, oh, this is gonna be boring.

And I'm like, are you kidding me?

Music is, history rather is full of the craziest stories you couldn't even make up, right?

But it's all about the way it's presented to the students.

If they think that history is just about memorizing names and dates, well sure, I might think that was boring too.

But when we can grab their attention with music and artifacts and stories, that's when they wanna learn.

And we need students to do well on history, not just for test scores, right.

We need them to be well-informed global citizens who can be, you know, active participants in our great democracy.

- Is the Hall of Fame education, is it learning?

- It is.

- So it's history?

You say.

- It's history, it's STEM, it's every walk of life.

We're really- - STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math.

- Yes.

- How is it that?

- We have Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, we have a full exhibit that's dedicated to innovation and how these scientists started with a small seed idea and grew it to eventually help us on the moon landing.

So we have this whole transitional innovation experience where you can learn how these small ideas started the light bulb, why would the light bulb help us get to space, but you can see the innovation through time and how the light bulb eventually obviously became a major player in getting us to space.

- Art, as I said, saves lives in the sense that art gives us permission to take risk, whether it's visually, whether it's musically.

And artists have a very special role in this society to tell the truth.

And so oftentimes people will paint something or child, if you think about psychology, when a child is going through something difficult, depending on the age, the psychologist will ask them, "Well, can you draw me a picture about how you're feeling?"

Because what they may not be able to say, they're able to show in their art.

And so this is why it's important for us to ask questions.

When budgets are cut, why is art and music, those very, very important topics and content areas that actually connect to the human soul, why are they cut first?

So we really need to think about advocating for arts, but more importantly, figuring out every teacher, whether you're teaching math or science, how do I infuse arts into what I'm doing?

Because arts is a portal that opens up the opportunity for children to express themselves in powerful ways.

- Filmmaking, what does it do for kids in high school, because maybe it's not rated as high as math or sciences or whatever else, but it is part of the arts.

And what have you seen first handedly help your students in other things that they're doing in and outta school?

- Yeah, I guess I agree.

You know, filmmaking, when I was in high school, we did not have it, you know, and for me it started very late in life.

So, and I grew to appreciate it.

And I think that's similar to the students.

They don't know that it could be a career.

And so as a teacher, I kind of show them the tools that, you know, filmmaking is every, pretty much every medium.

- Americans who tell the truth.

It's a portrait series of your work.

- Right?

- Who were these Americans and what truth are they telling?

- Originally they were sort of 19th century icons, you know, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Jane Adams, Mother Jones, Susan B. Anthony.

- Disproportionately other than Susan B. Anthony, disproportionately African Americans?

- No, but, but, but there's an interesting thing there is because I mean, the way that we have reconnected with our values is usually by the people who've been marginalized, who've been left out, you know, who have to fight for it.

So often you see that, you know, the alienated groups are the ones who are represented in the people who've actually worked the hardest to make us live more in more direct honesty with our own values about equality, justice, freedom, you know, for everybody.

- When we're talking about inclusion in our classrooms, why do you believe it is so important to make sure it's inclusion of all including Asian Americans?

- Yeah, we really feel like schools are the place that kids learn empathy.

They learn about different communities and including Asian Americans so that not only Asian American kids, but all kids can see that our country was built by more than just one group of people, and one perspective.

- When we're talking about the education of the Lenape people, what are some of the most important things we should know and that we should be respectful of?

- The most important thing above all else is that people understand that we are still here.

And it's, it's painful to have to say that, but the general perception is that the, all of the lenape in their homeland were either killed or forced out of their homeland, and we absolutely have incredible nations of our diaspora who were forced out and have lived those terrible journeys in places like Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Canada.

And they need every bit of recognition they can get.

But people also need to know that many of us never left.

And we've been maintaining our community and our culture here since time immemorial, and we're still here and we are more than happy to work with the public and especially educators on helping people realize that.

- The most common misconceptions about the indigenous community or indigenous communities across this country.

- There's so many stereotypes, but I think media has done that for a long time.

But what's exciting is that within publishing, within TV and Film, if there are anybody who's watched maybe "Killers of the Flower Moon" or "Reservation Dogs", there's the actual voices of indigenous people are being represented authentically through them.

It's not white people telling an indigenous story, it's indigenous people getting a chance.

- Why is it so important?

- Well, because- - As to who tells a story, in this case, you're telling the story.

- That's right, who tells a story is incredibly important because you don't fall into stereotypes and assumptions.

You're actually telling your own truth and story.

And I think as viewers, readers, you can feel that in a story, when something is authentic, we're smart enough with social media and everything we know instantly if it's a perspective that comes from real lived experience or just stereotype and assumption.

- Tell us about this documentary, "Ben in Bloom," it's being shown here to educators.

- Yeah.

- Describe for us what the film is.

- Absolutely, so this film is at its core, a story about my life as a activist in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

So a very contentious place that is home of a lot of political warfare, I'd say, because it's a microcosm of sort of the country as a whole.

Growing up in that environment, in that landscape, it was really important for me to make change and be the voice of change and the voice of reason, even as young as, you know, 13 years old.

So I got into activism when I was 13 and I was working with great groups as I went through high school, like the Rainbow Room in Doylestown, youth for Unity, all of these fantastic groups.

And the film just follows my story there about growing up in Bucks County, some of the more specific events and work that I did and looking forward into the future towards sort of what I am hoping the landscape of this country and the world can look like.

- What's your ultimate goal in this position now with the Department of Ed?

- We have a lot of data that tell us unpleasant things about outcomes for LGBTQIA kids, a lot of that is captured in outcomes about their health and wellbeing.

Certainly, I think a lot of us are familiar with rates of suicidality, ideation, self-harm, the kinds of stuff that drive us to wanna make a change, and I think if we get to a point where we no longer need to say our purpose for doing something is because of the high percentage of kids for whom negative things are happening, we are beginning to attain those goals, when we get to that place where everybody's in the space already and able to represent themselves without being invited in.

I think we're getting to that, that objective.

- First of all, tell us what inspired you to become an activist at such a young age, and talk about the impact that your childhood and your dads have had on your activism.

- Yeah, so I don't think I was inspired to become an activist.

It was actually out of necessity.

I am a dark black girl.

I have, I'm adopted by two queer dads, so I think activism kind of came with my life and who I am, so.

- What changes do you believe are necessary in the classroom to continue to do and to better do the work, in terms of making sure we have inclusion and especially when it comes to disabilities?

- So a lot of adults, they like to talk, they like to talk about kids, but not talk with us or have us talking with them, and be, you know, like the one that people listen to.

And so I think a lot of the time youth are kind of sometimes not represented as well.

And so I believe that has to change.

And my work with the NEA is about storytelling my school experience to the nation's teachers and I raise awareness about how I've been accommodated and what works and how stuff that I've had can also change other students' lives.

- No Limits Cafe is a lunch cafe that employs and trains adults with intellectual developmental disabilities.

We want to raise awareness of their potential, increase employment opportunities and make a big difference in the world.

- Katie, what does it mean to you every day, getting up and going to work at No Limits.

- I'm a relaxing person.

Do you bring that into the cafe every day?

Your relaxing energy?

- Yeah, a relaxing energy.

I bring pure joyness to the cafe, so I'm like outgoing with that.

- How are you keeping up with the demands of the educators that want to have the delicious food that you offer?

- Oh my God, they actually love our food.

- What has this meant to you as a dad to be able to do this with your daughter, with your wife, with your family?

I know you have two sons as well.

What has this meant for you personally?

- Personally, I retired from my prior job three years ago and I was very fortunate in that job.

I had some good success.

The big difference is for this job, this is fulfillment.

And I've learned the difference for myself personally.

I've learned the difference between success and fulfillment and seeing the women and men come in and work so hard and achieve so much is a sense of fulfillment that's really indescribable.

- Yeah, I have friends from high school and all that kind of stuff, and elementary school I get to work with them.

- This is also your final convention as President in NJEA?

- Yes.

Yes it is.

- Talk about that.

- Oh, It's still, it's, it's exciting as ever.

I'm really, really proud.

I'm really, really proud of where we are.

I'm really, really proud of who I've gotten to work with in this role over the years.

I'm really, really proud about being able to really lean, to lean into and kind of own this space as a justice centered union standing up for our communities and what we need as a society.

And it's been very rewarding.

You know, each and every day, you know you're making a difference for our kids, for our members, for the great work they do, it's been something that I know I'll be proud of forever.

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

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Johnson & Johnson.

PSE&G, And by Valley Bank.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- [Announcer] What is your child's dream for the future?

Doctor?

Teacher?

Architect?

Whatever they aspire to be, a college education may realize those dreams and NJ Best can help.

It's the college savings plan specifically designed for New Jersey families.

Start saving today with as little as $25, because now is the time to invest in their future.

To learn about NJ Best 529 college savings plan, its investment objectives, risks and cost, Read the investor handbook available at njbest.com.