0:00:01.039,0:00:02.797
Right now

0:00:02.797,0:00:05.539
there is an aspiring teacher

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who is working on a 60-page paper

0:00:09.190,0:00:12.700
based on some age-old education theory

0:00:12.700,0:00:16.893
developed by some dead education professor

0:00:16.893,0:00:19.611
wondering to herself what this task

0:00:19.611,0:00:21.251
that she's engaging in

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has to do with what she wants to do with her life,

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which is be an educator,

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change lives, and spark magic.

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Right now there is an aspiring teacher

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in a graduate school of education

0:00:36.959,0:00:39.967
who is watching a professor babble on and on

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about engagement

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in the most disengaging way possible.

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Right now

0:00:48.915,0:00:51.114
there's a first-year teacher at home

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who is pouring through lesson plans

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trying to make sense of standards,

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who is trying to make sense of how[br]to grade students appropriately,

0:00:59.186,0:01:00.825
while at the same time saying to herself

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over and over again,

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"Don't smile till November,"

0:01:04.997,0:01:07.080
because that's what she was taught

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in her teacher education program.

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Right now there's a student

0:01:12.958,0:01:14.642
who is coming up with a way

0:01:14.642,0:01:17.130
to convince his mom or dad

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that he's very, very sick

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and can't make it to school tomorrow.

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On the other hand, right now

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there are amazing educators

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that are sharing information,

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information that is shared in such a beautiful way

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that the students are sitting[br]at the edge of their seats

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just waiting for a bead of sweat

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to drop off the face of this person

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so they can soak up all that knowledge.

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Right now there is also a person

0:01:46.030,0:01:49.391
who has an entire audience rapt with attention,

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a person that is weaving a powerful narrative

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about a world

0:01:53.959,0:01:55.514
that the people who are listening

0:01:55.514,0:01:57.880
have never imagined or seen before,

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but if they close their eyes tightly enough,

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they can envision that world

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because the storytelling is so compelling.

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Right now there's a person who can tell an audience

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to put their hands up in the air

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and they will stay there till he says,

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"Put them down."

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Right now.

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So people will then say,

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"Well, Chris, you describe the guy

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who is going through some awful training

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but you're also describing these powerful educators.

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If you're thinking about the world of education

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or urban education in particular,

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these guys will probably cancel each other out,

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and then we'll be okay."

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The reality is, the folks I described

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as the master teachers,

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the master narrative builders,

0:02:38.939,0:02:40.890
the master storytellers

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are far removed from classrooms.

0:02:44.488,0:02:46.870
The folks who know the skills about how to teach

0:02:46.870,0:02:48.192
and engage an audience

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don't even know what teacher certification means.

0:02:51.112,0:02:53.174
They may not even have the degrees

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to be able to have anything

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to call an education.

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And that to me is sad.

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It's sad because the people who I described,

0:03:03.470,0:03:06.237
they were very disinterested in the learning process,

0:03:06.237,0:03:08.095
want to be effective teachers,

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but they have no models.

0:03:09.447,0:03:11.192
I'm going to paraphrase Mark Twain.

0:03:11.192,0:03:13.722
Mark Twain says that proper preparation,

0:03:13.722,0:03:15.122
or teaching,

0:03:15.122,0:03:18.738
is so powerful that it can turn bad morals to good,

0:03:18.738,0:03:21.410
it can turn awful practices into powerful ones,

0:03:21.410,0:03:23.994
it can change men and transform them

0:03:23.994,0:03:26.595
into angels.

0:03:26.595,0:03:28.898
The folks who I described earlier

0:03:28.898,0:03:30.888
got proper preparation in teaching,

0:03:30.888,0:03:32.972
not in any college or university,

0:03:32.972,0:03:36.967
but by virtue of just being in the[br]same spaces of those who engage.

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Guess where those places are?

0:03:39.210,0:03:41.276
Barber shops,

0:03:41.276,0:03:44.464
rap concerts, and most importantly,

0:03:44.464,0:03:46.112
in the black church.

0:03:46.112,0:03:49.031
And I've been framing this idea[br]called Pentecostal pedagogy.

0:03:49.031,0:03:51.341
Who here has been to a black church?

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We got a couple of hands.

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You go to a black church,

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their preacher starts off

0:03:56.624,0:03:59.510
and he realizes that he has to engage the audience,

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so he starts off with this sort of wordplay

0:04:01.356,0:04:03.040
in the beginning oftentimes,

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and then he takes a pause,

0:04:04.858,0:04:07.039
and he says, "Oh my gosh, they're[br]not quite paying attention."

0:04:07.039,0:04:08.640
So he says, "Can I get an amen?"

0:04:08.640,0:04:09.626
Audience: Amen.

0:04:09.626,0:04:11.925
Chris Emdin: So I can I get an amen?[br]Audience: Amen.

0:04:11.925,0:04:15.257
CE: And all of a sudden, everybody's reawoken.

0:04:15.257,0:04:17.318
That preacher bangs on the pulpit for attention.

0:04:17.318,0:04:19.978
He drops his voice at a very, very low volume

0:04:19.978,0:04:21.852
when he wants people to key into him,

0:04:21.852,0:04:24.108
and those things are the skills that we need

0:04:24.108,0:04:26.183
for the most engaging teachers.

0:04:26.183,0:04:27.621
So why does teacher education

0:04:27.621,0:04:29.694
only give you theory and theory

0:04:29.694,0:04:31.930
and tell you about standards and tell you about

0:04:31.930,0:04:33.874
all of these things that have nothing to do

0:04:33.874,0:04:37.190
with the basic skills, that magic that you need

0:04:37.190,0:04:40.159
to engage an audience, to engage a student?

0:04:40.159,0:04:43.177
So I make the argument that[br]we reframe teacher education,

0:04:43.177,0:04:45.962
that we could focus on content, and that's fine,

0:04:45.962,0:04:48.268
and we could focus on theories, and that's fine,

0:04:48.268,0:04:49.839
but content and theories

0:04:49.839,0:04:52.443
with the absence of the magic

0:04:52.443,0:04:55.354
of teaching and learning means nothing.

0:04:55.354,0:04:58.109
Now people oftentimes say,[br]"Well, magic is just magic."

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There are teachers who,

0:04:59.490,0:05:01.954
despite all their challenges, who have those skills,

0:05:01.954,0:05:04.675
get into those schools and are [br]able to engage an audience,

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and the administrator walks by and says,

0:05:05.969,0:05:08.897
"Wow, he's so good, I wish all[br]my teachers could be that good."

0:05:08.897,0:05:10.940
And when they try to describe what that is,

0:05:10.940,0:05:13.170
they just say, "He has that magic."

0:05:13.170,0:05:14.432
But I'm here to tell you

0:05:14.432,0:05:16.890
that magic can be taught.

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Magic can be taught.

0:05:19.237,0:05:22.049
Magic can be taught.

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Now, how do you teach it?

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You teach it by allowing people

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to go into those spaces

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where the magic is happening.

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If you want to be an aspiring[br]teacher in urban education,

0:05:30.990,0:05:33.272
you've got to leave the confines of that university

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and go into the hood.

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You've got to go in there and[br]hang out at the barbershop,

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you've got to attend that black church,

0:05:38.522,0:05:39.977
and you've got to view those folks

0:05:39.977,0:05:41.780
that have the power to engage

0:05:41.780,0:05:43.560
and just take notes on what they do.

0:05:43.560,0:05:46.560
At our teacher education classes at my university,

0:05:46.560,0:05:48.954
I've started a project where every single student

0:05:48.954,0:05:53.546
that comes in there sits and watches rap concerts.

0:05:53.546,0:05:55.769
They watch the way that the rappers move

0:05:55.769,0:05:57.302
and talk with their hands.

0:05:57.302,0:06:00.282
They study the way that he[br]walks proudly across that stage.

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They listen to his metaphors and analogies,

0:06:02.488,0:06:04.100
and they start learning these little things

0:06:04.100,0:06:05.900
that if they practice enough

0:06:05.900,0:06:07.589
becomes the key to magic.

0:06:07.589,0:06:09.850
They learn that if you just stare at a student

0:06:09.850,0:06:12.353
and raise your eyebrow about a quarter of an inch,

0:06:12.353,0:06:13.820
you don't have to say a word

0:06:13.820,0:06:17.393
because they know that that[br]means that you want more.

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And if we could transform teacher education

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to focus on teaching teachers

0:06:22.110,0:06:24.063
how to create that magic

0:06:24.063,0:06:27.860
then poof! we could make dead classes come alive,

0:06:27.860,0:06:29.574
we could reignite imaginations,

0:06:29.574,0:06:31.290
and we can change education.

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Thank you.

0:06:34.384,0:06:37.223
(Applause)