Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Kareem Weaver, an educational powerhouse who has spent over 30 years working toward the end of illiteracy. Kareem levels with Ana about the hard truths of education reform. Together, they get vulnerable about the personal costs they’ve paid in being committed to their work and the belief they share that no teacher should have to make those sacrifices. Kareem also discusses his time working in juvenile detention facilities, how a frightening diagnosis changed the way he approaches education, and how administrators can best help create sustainable careers. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Ana and Beyond My Years Classroom Insider Eric Cross talk about preparing more than just lesson plans, developing focused skill improvement, and making the connections between academic success and behavior reform.

Show notes:

• FULCRUM website: https://www.fulcrumliteracy.org/kareem-weaver
• Research for Better Teaching: https://www.rbteach.com/
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years: https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram: @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“Where do we want our young people to go? What opportunities, what paths do we want them to have access to? Reading is a gateway for life.” —Kareem Weaver

“If you can't grow people, what are you doing in a seat? If you're an administrator and you can't grow teachers' practice, then you're a manager, not an administrator.”—Kareem Weaver

“Hope is wonderful, but that's not a strategy. You have to be very specific about what you're going to fix, what you're going to address, and what you're going to master.” —Kareem Weaver

“There are no broken children; there's broken systems.” —Kareem Weaver