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Right now

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there is an aspiring teacher

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who is working on a 60-page paper

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based on some age-old education theory

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developed by some dead education professor

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wondering to herself what this task

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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

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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

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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
to grade students appropriately,

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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,"

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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

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who is coming up with a way

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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
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

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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

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that the people who are listening

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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,

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the master storytellers

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are far removed from classrooms.

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The folks who know the skills about how to teach

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and engage an audience

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don't even know what teacher certification means.

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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,

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they were very disinterested in the learning process,

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want to be effective teachers,

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but they have no models.

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I'm going to paraphrase Mark Twain.

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Mark Twain says that proper preparation,

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or teaching,

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is so powerful that it can turn bad morals to good,

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it can turn awful practices into powerful ones,

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it can change men and transform them

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into angels.

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The folks who I described earlier

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got proper preparation in teaching,

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not in any college or university,

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but by virtue of just being in the
same spaces of those who engage.

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Guess where those places are?

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Barber shops,

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rap concerts, and most importantly,

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in the black church.

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And I've been framing this idea
called Pentecostal pedagogy.

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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

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and he realizes that he has to engage the audience,

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so he starts off with this sort of wordplay

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in the beginning oftentimes,

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and then he takes a pause,

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and he says, "Oh my gosh, they're
not quite paying attention."

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So he says, "Can I get an amen?"

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Audience: Amen.

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Chris Emdin: So I can I get an amen?
Audience: Amen.

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CE: And all of a sudden, everybody's reawoken.

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That preacher bangs on the pulpit for attention.

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He drops his voice at a very, very low volume

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when he wants people to key into him,

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and those things are the skills that we need

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for the most engaging teachers.

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So why does teacher education

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only give you theory and theory

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and tell you about standards and tell you about

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all of these things that have nothing to do

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with the basic skills, that magic that you need

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to engage an audience, to engage a student?

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So I make the argument that
we reframe teacher education,

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that we could focus on content, and that's fine,

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and we could focus on theories, and that's fine,

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but content and theories

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with the absence of the magic

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of teaching and learning means nothing.

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Now people oftentimes say,
"Well, magic is just magic."

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There are teachers who,

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despite all their challenges, who have those skills,

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get into those schools and are 
able to engage an audience,

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and the administrator walks by and says,

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"Wow, he's so good, I wish all
my teachers could be that good."

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And when they try to describe what that is,

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they just say, "He has that magic."

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But I'm here to tell you

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that magic can be taught.

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Magic can be taught.

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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
teacher in urban education,

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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
hang out at the barbershop,

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you've got to attend that black church,

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and you've got to view those folks

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that have the power to engage

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and just take notes on what they do.

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At our teacher education classes at my university,

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I've started a project where every single student

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that comes in there sits and watches rap concerts.

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They watch the way that the rappers move

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and talk with their hands.

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They study the way that he
walks proudly across that stage.

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They listen to his metaphors and analogies,

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and they start learning these little things

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that if they practice enough

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becomes the key to magic.

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They learn that if you just stare at a student

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and raise your eyebrow about a quarter of an inch,

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you don't have to say a word

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because they know that that
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

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how to create that magic

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then poof! we could make dead classes come alive,

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we could reignite imaginations,

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and we can change education.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)