Beyond the Margins: The Podcast

What happens when one of the most difficult moments of your career becomes the beginning of your transformation? Dr. De’Shawn Washington's first year of teaching was so challenging that school leaders eventually took over his classroom. He was left watching from the sidelines. But that wasn't the end of his story. It became the beginning. Years later, Dr. Washington would become the 2024 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year and turn those early lessons into a philosophy centered on authenticity, student voice, purpose, community, achievement, and cultivating changemakers. On this episode of Beyond The Margins, we talk about what it takes to find your authentic voice as an educator, why students need to know their presence and gifts matter, and how classrooms change when we move from independence toward interdependence: "I am because we are." Then we take the conversation somewhere schools don't go nearly enough: MONEY. Dr. Washington makes the case that financial literacy is about far more than budgeting. It's about access. Agency. History. Opportunity. Wealth. And ultimately, freedom. From reading a paycheck and understanding credit to investing, budgeting, money identity, and generational wealth, this conversation challenges us to ask: Are we preparing students simply to graduate, or are we preparing them to build?

What does it mean to lead close to the margin? Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with veteran educational leader and The Middle School Master author Dr. Mark E. King for a powerful conversation about middle school education, student engagement, innovation, leadership, and creating conditions where students can thrive. Dr. King traces his journey back to age 12, when encountering Black male teachers and an all-Black male administrative team changed what he could imagine for his own future. That experience would eventually shape a career dedicated to creating opportunities for young people and developing the educators who serve them. Together, Dr. Butts and Dr. King explore what adults misunderstand about adolescent development, the difference between engagement and compliance, the power of arts integration, teacher voice and professional learning, Black male representation, vocational pathways, family relationships, and why context matters when interpreting student behavior and achievement. Dr. King also challenges educational leaders to move beyond rigid compliance and have the courage to innovate for the students in front of them. As he puts it: “If you want to do what nobody else has ever done, you have to be willing to do what nobody else has ever done.” This is a conversation about seeing possibility, questioning systems, developing people, and having the courage to get as close to the margin as possible for students. This is Beyond The Margins.

What does it really mean for a student to belong? In this episode of Beyond The Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with educator, author, speaker, and Leading Equity founder Dr. Sheldon Eakins for a powerful conversation about belonging, identity, equity, and the conditions that shape student engagement. Dr. Eakins challenges educators to look beyond compliance and reconsider how our expectations, biases, classroom practices, and definitions of the "ideal student" influence the experiences of young people, particularly Black boys and students who have historically been pushed to the margins. Together, they explore the difference between managing students and engaging them, why relevance and cultural context matter in instruction, how student voice creates ownership, and why relationships must be built intentionally rather than left to chance. The conversation also examines subtle exclusionary practices, the importance of understanding the story behind student behavior, balancing individual and collaborative approaches to learning, and what happens when educators are willing to learn from their students. Dr. Eakins introduces the idea of the "mood tax," challenging educators to consider whether the same student behavior receives a different adult response depending on the educator's own stress, fatigue, or emotional state. He also offers a powerful reminder about affirmation: Black boys too often receive correction after correction when what they also need are consistent, specific deposits reminding them that they are capable, valued, and seen. This conversation asks educators to move beyond simply asking, "How do I manage this behavior?" and toward a more important question: What might this student be communicating, and what conditions can I create that make belonging and engagement more likely? Because students should not have to become someone else to belong in our classrooms. They should experience learning environments intentionally designed to recognize who they already are. This is Beyond The Margins.

What happens when we stop seeing the charge and start seeing the student? In this episode of Beyond the Margins, Dr. Sohn A. Butts sits down with Byron Goodwin, President and CEO of Travis Hill NOLA, an organization providing education inside juvenile and adult correctional facilities in New Orleans. Their conversation goes beyond the walls of juvenile justice to examine what makes student engagement possible when young people are navigating incarceration, trauma, disrupted education, family instability, and experiences that have often taught them not to trust the adults or systems around them. Mr. Goodwin shares his deeply personal connection to this work, including how his family's legacy in education and his younger brother's wrongful incarceration shaped his commitment to reaching young people before they reach what he describes as the "last stop." Together, Dr. Butts and Mr. Goodwin explore the power of relationships, consistency, student voice, restorative education, hands-on learning, transition support, family engagement, identity, purpose, and the responsibility educators have to see potential even when systems see problems. One of the most powerful ideas in this conversation is simple: They're still kids. They're still students. They're still somebody's future. For educators, juvenile justice professionals, school leaders, and anyone committed to transforming outcomes for students pushed to the margins, this conversation offers both a challenge and a reminder: engagement doesn't always begin with compliance. Sometimes it begins with a student believing that you will show up. Sometimes it begins with consistency. Sometimes it begins with someone finally seeing the student before seeing the charge. Because a student's worst moment does not have to define their future.

Black boys grow up. And some Black men become educators. In Season 2 of Beyond the Margins, we are putting Black men in education at the center of the conversation. What happens when the Black boys who once navigated our schools become the men standing at the front of classrooms, leading schools, teaching in colleges, developing programs, mentoring students, and transforming educational systems? This season explores the experiences, expertise, perspectives, and purpose of Black men who have chosen education as their profession and their platform for impact. We will explore the journey from student to educator, the experiences that shaped their educational perspectives, the challenges they have encountered, the communities they serve, and the work they are doing to create more responsive, relevant, and transformative learning environments. These conversations are not simply about representation. They are about understanding what Black men bring to education, what education has asked of them, and what becomes possible when their voices, experiences, and expertise are centered in the conversation. This is Beyond the Margins. Where we engage. Educate. Empower. And Elevate. Join us for Season 2 as we move beyond assumptions and into the stories behind the work. Because Black boys grow up and become Black men. And some Black men become educators. Keep teaching. Keep learning. Keep leading. And keep pushing beyond the margins.