Thinking About Communities: An Interview with Dr. McCray

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hello my name is Dr Shalaunda Reeves and

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I am a learning experience designer here

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at the Center of Academic Innovation

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Today I am joined by Dr Erica McCray to

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discuss her work in the importance of

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culture and community Hi Dr McCray Hello

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Dr Reeves How are you doing today I'm

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doing well I'm looking forward to this

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conversation Yeah me too So before we

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begin Dr McCray would you mind just

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telling us a little bit about yourself

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and the work that you do Sure Um as you

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said I'm Erica McCray and I'm a

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faculty member in special education at

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the University of Florida I've also

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recently taken on additional

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responsibilities as a department level

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administrator Um but I'm always a

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teacher at heart Uh I started out as a

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special education teacher in elementary

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and middle schools Um primarily in

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schools identified as high poverty Um

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and they were just they were just great

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learning opportunities for me um as a

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teacher as a mom um and as a community

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member

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And so your work um how has it related

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to community and culture as you see it

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Well it goes back to my early days in

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the classroom Um my first teaching

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opportunity was as a long-term

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substitute teacher And if you've ever

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had a substitute teacher you know those

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those are not easy experiences because

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students test them at every opportunity

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that they get They want to see how long

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they'll stay how much they actually know

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about teaching how much they actually

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know about managing the classroom and

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keeping order Um and so I had to learn

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pretty quickly about community at a

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number of levels Um I had to think about

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creating community in the classroom Um

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so that students were working together

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and and they saw me as a co-conspirator

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along with them Um I had to learn about

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the community that the schools were in

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As I mentioned um I worked in schools

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that were identified as high poverty And

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so there were a number of factors that I

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needed to be uh understanding of and

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clear about in terms of the communities

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and neighborhoods that my students came

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from Um and then even for me as a

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beginning teacher once I moved into a

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more permanent position creating

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community with my colleagues was

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absolutely essential Um as a special

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education teacher we're interfacing with

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general education teachers other

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specialists like speech language

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pathologists and school psychologists

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and administrators And it was just

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critical to create norms and and ways of

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interacting so that we could all do a

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good job for the kids That was what it

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was always about for me What does it

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take to make sure my kids get what they

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need Yeah I can definitely understand

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that Um I was a former teacher as well

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And so when you think about that time

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and then even now as a researcher how

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are you um creating community on a more

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larger scale or larger community to say

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the least

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so I think community now for me is again

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it's it's thinking about it on multiple

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levels So I think about the community

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that I've developed in the college Um I

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think about the community in my

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discipline and special education and

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more recently I've been thinking even uh

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in a more interdisciplinary way and in

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some non-traditional ways like I have a

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community on Twitter that I've never met

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in person um but they share resources

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and they push my thinking and it's a

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it's a great opportunity for me to be a

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part of a community that comes from

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every corner of the earth um with very

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different experiences and perspectives

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And sometimes it hurts a little bit but

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they push my thinking and make me

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suspend judgment in some instances and I

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feel like I'm a better teacher I'm a

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better researcher because of that Um

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some of the theoretical and conceptual

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frameworks that I've used recently I

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learned more about them by engaging with

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people on Twitter who were in other

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disciplines And so thinking about our

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human experience um requires different

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perspectives uh different areas of

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expertise different lived experiences

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and all of those layers of community I

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feel like make me better at my job

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Yeah I definitely understand how social

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media has really changed how people view

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communities And so if you think about

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um how people engage on Twitter and

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Facebook why do why do you think

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community is so important now

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Well in our current context it's it's

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almost amplified because we are so far

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apart and we are trying to stay healthy

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and are staying in closer

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quarters than we typically would Um so

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the communities are enriching Um there's

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some dissonance that I'm noticing that

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causes people to retreat um into

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enclaves which is helpful It's helpful

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and healthy in some ways but in other

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ways I think um we miss the opportunity

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to hear from others Um sometimes the

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others perspectives that we learn about

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will uh make us more confident in our

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own beliefs But in other instances it

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gives us a sense of empathy and

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understanding of how people are

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experiencing the world differently Um

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and our cultures that we interact within

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So you know one person culture is

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dynamic It's it's it's it's ever

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evolving Um it's fluid No one person

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belongs to only one culture or one

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cultural group And so um creating a

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metaculture almost of understanding how

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to agree uh and disagree peacefully and

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respectfully Um I feel like social media

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helps can help with that Um and I also

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think social media is helping close the

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gap um on some experiences that we might

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not be able to have otherwise especially

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in real time Um I tend to you know

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people like one platform uh over another

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for different reasons And some of that I

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think is cultural Um I think about my

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family and they're more uh in tune on

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Facebook Uh my professional colleagues

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they're more in tune on Twitter um and

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folks that I have other sort of more

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artistic u connections to uh in terms of

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activities like I teach barre um so I have

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a barre community that meets on Instagram

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and a yoga community that I meet with on

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Instagram and so I think the different

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um cultures that are created among and

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across are enriching and we have access

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to them in ways that we wouldn't have

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had 10 years ago even How would you

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encourage someone to create a more

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diverse community what would be like

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first two or three things they should be

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able to do to help them kind of um

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diversify to say the least their

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community

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I think about it like double dutch If

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you've ever jumped double dutch I cannot

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I I'll just put that out there I cannot

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jump double dutch Um but I it's I'm

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always fascinated when I see um people

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do it and do it really well um with

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double dutch if you've never experienced

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it it's two turners of two ropes right

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Um turning in opposite directions And so

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they're creating this rhythm And the

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person who's going to jump double dutch

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has to be in tune to the rhythm that the

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other two have created They have to get

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their balance They have to focus and

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they have to be willing to join in

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something that's already happening And

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so I see that as a way to uh diversify

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your community Um you want to listen you

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know look for the rhythm You want to pay

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attention to the interaction styles the

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patterns um so that you can stay safe

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because that's the other part of it If

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you don't jump in double dutch at the

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right point on the right beat and stay

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in tune to that you will get hurt Those

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ropes hurt I do know that and because I

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know that I cannot jump double dutch

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That's why Um but I think there's

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there's some humility that has to go

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into that I think we have to recognize

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that just because I have these

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experiences and these vantage points and

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and these strongly held beliefs someone

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else might have the same beliefs They

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might have um very different beliefs

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They might be polar opposite But if we

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are going to grow and join into

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community and and enrich our experiences

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collectively we have to take that care

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in entering those spaces or welcoming

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other people in I think there's also

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value in knowing how to invite others

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into spaces so that they feel that

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they're valued and they're welcomed and

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that they are going to be respected

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regardless of what they believe as long

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as they're respect respectful in that

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same way Yeah that makes a lot of sense

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And as an avid double dutcher when I was

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a kid I definitely know those ropes do

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hurt I'm jealous You might have to teach

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me Yeah So it took me a very long time

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to learn and many rope slashes to figure

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it Well I think I think that continues

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the metaphor right There's there's got

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you've got to be persistent Um it's not

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going to necessarily just be handed over

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to you you aren't going to necessarily

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be welcomed in Um but if you're

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persistent and committed to learning and

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growing and developing skills um and

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enriching your experience it's worth it

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You got to be intentional

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Exactly Yeah So thank you so much Dr

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McCrae Uh this conversation has

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definitely been enlightening and I would

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um just want to thank you for taking the

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time to speak to us about how to develop

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community and how to be intentional

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about diversifying our communities as

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well Well thank you for the opportunity