Area of Belonging: Culture.
WELCOME
Love-Day Educational Consulting, LLC is here to provide families and students of color, tools and avenues to assist them in navigating the educational system. We will provide ways to access the resources that will help them be successful in school and at home.
We also want schools and organizations to be a culturally relevant, encouraging and affirming place for those students. Training and Anti-Bias workshop series are also available for businesses and leadership groups to establish a workplace is an inclusive environment.
OUR STORY
Culture is something that everyone has. Institutions, families, and groups have culture. When a child’s culture is recognized and celebrated, they will thrive in their environment. Parents need to be the cheerleader for their child in helping them feel comfortable in the skin they are in. Children need to know they are safe, respected, and honored. If that is threatened at any moment, it could jeopardize learning.
A personal example: We live in the suburb of Salt Lake City. We made the decision to move from the diversity of North Salt Lake so that we could have a home that could accommodate our 5 children. I was a bit worried about the greater lack of diversity. As our younger two children began preschool and first grade in their new monochromatic culture, I worried as a black mom from Greater Cleveland. I questioned, what this would do to my children’s self esteem? As the school year began, I was glad to hear that the teacher wanted each child to share their culture and family in class over the course of the week. Since my daughter’s last name began with the letter D, she presented in August. She spoke about her dad’s Wyoming farming family, her mother’s sharecropping and runaway slave family history, family celebrations, such as Kwanzaa, and lastly her hair. I empowered her to talk about who SHE was. I was glad that teacher started the year off that way. An emphasis that everybody has culture.
As we went into her second grade year, I noticed that her one teacher was a little more impatient with her wiggles, blurting out, and her occasional lack luster performance in school work. I knew this 4th child of our family did wiggle, but she was not a misbehaving child and she was very bright. She had been speaking Spanish since she was a toddler, talked extremely early, hit milestones early, etc. When the teacher said “she was being difficult” a red flag went off for me. I had to get down to the bottom of it. As a black woman, she had an entire adult life to hear that phrase and I was not going to allow it to began at age 8. Long story short, I pointed out how my child was raised and identified a few things I felt needed to be addressed. My daughter was later tested and we discovered she was gifted. Those wiggles and non-complaint behaviors were one of a child who needed more of a challenge. I am glad that as a mother, I recognized the bias of the teacher and social worker, spoke up and defended her need for an appropriate education.
When educators recognize that no learning will occur without relationships, the journey to learn about who the students are begins. Love-Day Educational Consulting can help schools, business, and organizations chart their path to better understand how climate and culture eat curriculum for breakfast.
RISE Virtual Academy
RISE virtual Academy Began in August, 2020
A Utah based-virtual place for students to learn Black History, their role in their community, their worth, beauty, and #blackgirlmagic and #blackboyjoy. Classes will be held weekly.
BLOG
Discipline
Children thrive in environments where there is structure and routine. Most everyone feels comfortable when they know what to expect in the situations they are getting themselves into. Because children have very little control of their circumstances and surroundings, creating a structured environment can give them something to rely on.
Area of Love: Integrating Literacy
You can view and follow on Facebook and the website “Integrating Literacy.” Information is shared weekly (or as time allows). Under the education umbrella, reading is the fundamental process that will produce growth in a child. It is something that should be used daily.
The start of the journey
When I began my first Masters degree in 2001, I knew my passion was focused not only on literacy, but also the importance of parent involvement in a student’s education. My thesis title ” Parents’ perceptions on their involvement with teachers in the literacy development of children,” explored ways schools and parents could communicate.