Latest / The Authority Podcast — Expert Insights and Fresh Ideas for Education Leaders / My Name is an Address with Ekuwah Mends Moses
Transcript
- Ross Romano: [00:00:00] Welcome in, everybody. Thank you for joining us once again on the episode of the Authority Podcast on the Be Podcast Network. Really pleased to have you here with us for what should be a great conversation. My guest today is Ekuwah Mends Moses. She is an award winning educator, international keynote speaker, the author illustrator of two non fiction picture books. She is currently a specialist who teaches K 5 engineering. to approximately 750 students in Clark County, Nevada, and was named the 2023 Educator of the Year at D. L. Dickens Elementary School, as well as she received the 2023 City of North Las Vegas Mayor's Innovative Teaching Award. The book is [00:01:00] My Name is an Address. And that's what we're discussing today. It is her debut children's book. It was an Amazon number one new release when it came out. It is also featured in the school library journal. Akua, welcome to the authority. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Oh, thank you. Thank you for the warm introduction and thank you for having me. Absolutely. Ross Romano: as we were just talking about trying to figure out how to make sure I put up, so my name is an address or address you know, anybody listening we're referring to a physical location. So however you'd like to pronounce that, that's your call, but Can you describe the title to us, what it means and kind of the concept behind it? Ekuwah Mends Moses: So when I was growing up, my name was one of those names that people always ask me, Oh, wow what does that mean? Where is it from? And I always like to shorten it by saying my name is an address. Meaning, you can tell by looking at my first name and my last name exactly where generations of my family and my ancestors have lived in Cape Coast, Ghana. And, I thought [00:02:00] it would be important to put a story out in the world to kind of explain that to the other children in the world who also have a name that isn't addressed, which is a lot of people who don't even realize all that's in a name in terms of language and migration and family and history and all those things. Absolutely. Ross Romano: so in the book, you kind of go through the entire alphabet, A, B, C, D, and so on, and lay out a variety of terms and how they kind of all correspond to naming, culture and heritage and all of that. Can you give us an example by explaining your name and how it traces to these various locations and history and your family? Ekuwah Mends Moses: So with my name, my first name is Akua, which is given to girls born on Wednesday in Ghana, West Africa, specifically in the Fante tribe. where my family is from. And when you look at my name, you can tell that not only was I born on Wednesday because it is a name, it's a day [00:03:00] name. Each day of the week in Ghana has a name given to it and I'm Wednesday. Girl Born on Wednesday, and it also means fearless one. And because you know that my name is from Ghana, you can tell by the spelling that I'm in the Fante tribe. When you look at my last name, my maiden name is Menz. When you look at Menz and you know I'm from Cape Coast, then you can go to Cape Coast, you can ask around, and they'll tell you exactly where the Menz family has lived in this compound house. particularly, and you can go directly to there, and generations of my family have lived there. And the same with my married name as well, because my husband is also from Ghana, so if you go to Cape Coast, the Fonte area, and you ask where the men's or the Moses, you can find our family. Ross Romano: Excellent. Yeah, it really is interesting over time, you can trace that lineage and go back and find, oh, there's still a lot of people here with this name. I wonder [00:04:00] which of us are related and and see how it really travels over time. There's, so there are some of these words, as I mentioned, it's. The book goes through the entire alphabet and so there's a couple of terms I wanted to pull out as we go through and just ask what they mean to you and how they tie into this conversation. And the first of those is identity. Ekuwah Mends Moses: yes. I think it's important for I for identity and I did the alphabet. I just want to plug in there because I wanted to show how wide and deep names go. Many people think, Oh, it's just a name. Who cares if we erase it? Who cares if we change it? It's just your name. But names are really deep, especially in terms of identity, because there's a lot of people who don't know who they are, where they're from, where they're from. where their family is from and that sense of identity kind of gives you a purpose knowing that you know you were here for a reason you were here because of your family you were here for love you are here with a reason and you don't [00:05:00] just represent yourself you represent your family you represent the people who have walked this life before you and so Your name can give you that identity that many people are searching for. I don't know who I am. I don't know anything about myself. And so starting with your name gives you that sense of pride and knowing and that confidence that you need to walk into this life and know that I am here with a reason and my name was given to me for a purpose. (ad here) Ross Romano: How about legacy? Ekuwah Mends Moses: Legacy is a big thing in our family and in our community, because you are, again, here for a purpose. You're here for a reason, and you're here to love others. You're here to give back. You didn't get to where you are alone. And so it's important to leave a legacy of knowing who you are, what you bring to this world and how other people can lift and climb to where [00:06:00] you are as well by you helping them out. Leaving a good name is really important and knowing that again, what your ancestors have done for you and looking at how hard people have worked. How hard have you worked? What, have you left this world a better place? How do you want to be remembered is huge. Ross Romano: yeah, and the legacy term really stands out to me, particularly with respect to the males, your family, your father, grandfather, great grandfather, it's sharing a name, right, that there's that connection point to To the previous generations, not only were they your family, right? And your ancestors, but we shared that name and I, it must also not only promote an interest in continuing to leave a positive legacy, but also to be more interested in going [00:07:00] back and learning about what came before when you have that very direct connection that that the name carries. Ekuwah Mends Moses: right. And then a communal culture, which the Fante tribe in Ghana is built on community, in the community culture, communal culture. When your name is traceable like that, and people know where generations of your family live and still live, you want to make sure your family has a good name. You don't want to be the reason that your family carries a name that is linked with. crime or with trouble or things like that. You want to make sure your family and for generations to come, you have a name that you can be proud of and people can find your family and know that your family represents something positive, something good in the community. You're known for what you've done well and so you work hard to keep that family name and to preserve that. Ross Romano: Yeah, that, it makes me think of [00:08:00] times growing up or particularly teenage years or things where you run into someone and you don't. You know, realize that they know your parent or your grandparent and say, Ekuwah Mends Moses: Yes. Ross Romano: so and so's grandson? Oh, really? Ekuwah Mends Moses: That's exactly right. Ross Romano: Totally. So of course when we talk about what our names are and what they mean, then. It traces back to how they are given to us. And so you write about the outdooring ceremony and well, if you could kind of describe what that's about and what it demonstrates and the observation that it's meant to create. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Yeah, the outdooring is right when the baby is born, the families introduce the child to the community and say this is our new baby. Our relatives are there. Our friends are there. Everyone is there to say this is our community and together we work to raise this child. The Akan proverb, it [00:09:00] takes a village to raise a child, is from Ghana, from the Fante tribe, particularly where my family is from. And so again, the outdooring is a way to say to that community. that we are going to raise this child together. And then you have an elder there, usually a grandfather or someone else significant in the community, who kind of, does this rite of passage with the baby and says let your yes Just be yes and your no be no as they talk to the baby and talking to the family because, again, we don't raise children alone, we do it together. And as a result, we want everyone to know who this child is and that we are all going to support and love this family to help this child not lose their direction as they're growing and make sure they go on that correct path. Yeah. Ross Romano: Yeah, totally. You know, as you write on your website, actually, but it certainly connects to this book, to [00:10:00] your other books, and you know, the motivation behind writing them, you wrote, I didn't see myself in the classroom or the stories I read as a child, and Obviously and, well, our listeners may not be familiar with all your other books, but just even the one we're talking about today, right? It's clear that it's not, I mean, it's as closely representative to you as could be, because it's about your story, but also you know, would represent a lot of readers out there and in a way that they wouldn't have scene, right, in other books and other children's books, other literature. What, how did you know, and when did you decide to kind of go into the profession that you're in as an educator, as a teacher, and then an author and especially coming from, right, not having seen yourself represented in that way growing up? When did it click for you that this is what you wanted to do? Ekuwah Mends Moses: Well, the apple doesn't fall [00:11:00] far from the tree. I have to say my father is an educator. My mother is an educator. They both taught college at the university level. And so I watched my parents teaching classes as I was growing up. I would go to the university and sit in the back of the class and I actually had thought I wanted to do higher education. Honestly, I wanted to do college level teaching. But I also grew up with a very large family around me, and when my little cousins came over, my sister and I were the ones who always planned the little games and activities for the cousins to do, and so I took the path of doing elementary education instead of higher education, because I really do like doing crafts and activities. When I was growing up, I only had one African American teacher and he was the art teacher, Mr. Collins, and he was absolutely amazing to me in terms of, I remember one of his lessons, he taught us about the Aqaba doll, which is [00:12:00] from Ghana. And it meant so much to see that in the classroom and to have him. And so I wanted to go back and be an example for students as well. Students who look like me, maybe from the African American community, those even from the Ghanian community as well and be a light for them as well and show them that we can do this too. And I wanted to write the books because, again, I didn't see myself on the shelves, and specifically, I'm being a bicultural family because my mother is African American and my father is from Ghana, and I never saw how the two worlds could come together in the way that my parents did with trying to keep us knowing where we were from with Ghana, but also with the African American way of life as well. So that's why I decided to go ahead and do my own personal story, because the best stories come from the heart, as Eileen Spinelli said in her book. And so I wanted to [00:13:00] use our own pieces. And part of the reason I used our own pieces as well is because my mother was an amazing artist. She died in 2017. And when she died, she left such a tremendous artistic legacy. So much art around us. And as I'm looking back, I just wanted to share because I know that. Maybe someone out there could relate of losing a loved one in a way to honor their work. Again, her legacy as well. So people could see all that she tried to do, even though her life ended way too early. But there's so much that we can learn from her life and her example and how she raised myself and my. sister in terms of teaching us about our name and our culture and our identity through art. So I put those together in the book form. Ross Romano: yeah, that's and you know, it seems appropriate in this conversation as well [00:14:00] to, as you mentioned your mother and how she helped you learn about your name, Walter, to comment on, I guess, what there still is to learn with your mother being African American and how much of her history was lost and that, you It's still out there, hopefully, to discover but. You know, it's challenging to do so. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Exactly. It absolutely is challenging to trace my mother's lineage very far. In my second book, I did mention how my mother met her father very late in life for the first time, and we're not able to go very far back in her history, but. Fortunately, my mother embraced my father's side and so she wanted to make sure that we learned more about Ghana and knowing where exactly in Ghana we're from and the language, the culture, and the history and things like that. So we tended to lean towards my father's [00:15:00] side a bit Ross Romano: So when we talk about all all of these conversations, discussions exploration of identity and culture and history and heritage, what difference can that make? make in the classroom for our, obviously our educators who are listening and maybe considering, okay what, how can I use this? And I'm thinking particularly starting with what difference it makes in the reading and literacy areas when content Ekuwah Mends Moses: more. Absolutely. Ross Romano: representative. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Yeah, definitely. I think it makes a world of difference because the heart of education is relationships. And relationships start on the very first day of school or the very first day you meet a student, how you honor that person's name, how you honor their family, how curious you are about who they are as a [00:16:00] person really shows how much you care and how much you want to connect with them, even from that first hello. And as you're mentioning literacy, The other, one of the hardest pieces as a former literacy specialist here one of the hardest things to do is connect readers with books. A lot of students say I don't like to read, I don't want to read, but the moment you take a moment to get to know who that child is and what's important to them you can find and connect them with things that they've never heard about or never seen. Like the book that I've written. Would have connected with me as a child because, again, I didn't see myself. A lot of non fiction when I was growing up was... You know, the total land area of Ghana, those numbers and facts and you know, the things that it, the number one product is gold and things like that, but never about stories, never about families, not about where you could see your everyday things that you go with people mispronouncing your [00:17:00] name or even people who have a day name like yours or And even for people who are immigrant families coming to your school for the first time, and they're trying to find their stories on the shelf, their language on the shelf. Maybe they're learning a new language, or maybe they're questioning how to raise their child in another country. That has to be the hardest thing in the world, because you don't know how things go, let alone finding reading material that you can access. And so this book has English, it has Fonti in it as well, so people who read the Fonti language can relate with that, or people who want to see and have a window into it. And I think that's the other thing I like, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop's work about how books are windows and mirrors for people to see themselves and to see others and to jump into that family for a moment. So that's what I'm hoping educators can take away from that. (ad here) Ross Romano: And [00:18:00] for everyone, from all different kinds of backgrounds of all types. I mean, it's the importance of the availability of stories and content of fiction and nonfiction that that demonstrates a variety of Or diversity. Right. Ekuwah Mends Moses: absolutely. And from their own voice as well cause you, it's great to have own voice stories where people from the culture, from the experience can speak firsthand to you. I think that's one of the best things that there is if you can find and celebrate the voice of other people. And I really wrote this with the intention of it being. a sample or a mentor text for other families to dive in and to be able to look at their name and how wide and deep it goes. So students can start writing their own story and explain their name from A to Z and how big it is and [00:19:00] beautiful it is and all the things that make up who they are and their identity. And for the things from my book that they don't know, they can go and ask their family and look into those things if possible. Ross Romano: right. And there's certainly that criticality of the stories that have the mirror, as you said, right. That showcase us and that show us in a variety of lights, right. In a family. Workplace and all those various things and show kids that there's not any, there's not any one way to be them and who they will be. Right. And that they, and also for everyone else to have the opportunity to learn about different you know, different cultures, different people that again, like before those, stories were available May not have even [00:20:00] occurred to that, that they were lacking there, right? Or that they should, or that they should seek it out, or you. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Yeah. Ross Romano: teased by classmates who to them, I'm sure it was just a completely foreign concept for somebody to have a name like yours, but if they had read books like this, or even not exactly like this, but just more variety growing up and learned more about why different people are different and why names are different and things like that. It would have given a different perspective that there was a reason for that and that it that there's meaning behind it, that it's not just strange. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Right. And because of that strange piece, the child, myself, others feel strange and when you're growing up, all you want to do is fit in and you're like, well, maybe I should change my name. Maybe I should make my name easier. [00:21:00] Maybe I should do some other things. So other kids don't tease me. They don't understand my name. So. And again, like I said, for immigrant families coming here who are deciding what to do I change my name to fit in? Because it is strange. I think books like this are so important for those immigrant families, but also for students who aren't immigrant families, for them to understand the wide variety of different cultures that are out there, and the names that they choose to give their children, and how special and unique they are. Because we are all special and unique in our own ways. And celebrating our differences is what makes the world beautiful. Ross Romano: Yeah, and yeah, then there's there's all those little things that that can really stand out, I guess, sometimes when you just even don't realize how rarely they're acted upon. I remember not that long ago being, yeah, I was a guest on another podcast, [00:22:00] but I had reached out to the host and sent a note and explained why I would like, and when we spoke, she said of all the messages I get, you're the only one who addressed me by name. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Oh, Ross Romano: Everybody just sends, Hey, here's what I, here's what I want. And nobody opens with a greeting and calls me by name. I said, well, that's so, I wouldn't have even thought of that. Cause to me, it was a normal thing to do. Right. But you know, things like that, that just are personal. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Yes. Ross Romano: Demonstrate that you're thinking about who the other person is that you're speaking to and Ekuwah Mends Moses: Right. Yes. Ross Romano: considering all of that and another thing I didn't even quite realize until until it happened to me was of course when I hosted, I mean, frankly, no matter how obvious some of these names seem, I [00:23:00] always, make sure to get the pronunciation right before we start. And I didn't even think that much of it until I was on another show and my name was pronounced wrong. And I said, Oh, no, but it was one of those things where, I mean, to me I thought it should be obvious, but I guess not. But it's it's that extra step and it's, I guess, There's ways to do it or not do it, in particular, we're thinking about right in the classroom. He wrote about teachers who would almost throw their hands up and say, well, there's no way I can say this name, so give me a nickname or something, right? Is there something else I can call you? Because I'm not even going, I'm not going to get this before even attempting or trying or and that happens a lot. And it's not, I mean, It's not always easy to pronounce things that are different and utilize maybe different sounds[00:24:00] then, but There's a difference between being curious and trying to learn and understanding why it's important to want to get it right and, You know, even turning the act of asking the question into an insinuation that, well you don't really expect me to know this, right? Ekuwah Mends Moses: Right. It's that, from the very first reaction that the person has to seeing on your name on the piece of paper tells you a lot and by the people who are absolutely just dismissive, like you said, throwing their hands in the air, that really hurts. And it's embarrassing and it causes people to not want to go through that. So they'll change their name just so they don't have to go through that. But I do want to acknowledge that there are names that are difficult to pronounce because they have sounds that are not in the English language. And when they don't have sounds in the English language, we don't. We [00:25:00] haven't practiced that enough or heard those sounds for it to come easily to us. It's not that it can't be done, it's just that we have to take the want to learn how to pronounce those through practicing maybe several times. And I'll tell you, I have 700 students right now. And so I don't want to be a hypocrite of my own work, so I'm very intentional about asking the students how to pronounce their name, and I only see them every six days. So I do, when they come back, I'm like, can you please correct me every single time? I want to be intentional about getting your name right. I don't get to see you very often, but I want to make sure that I do learn it. Please correct me. Your name is beautiful. And I want to know you, and I want to know more about you, and every single time, please let me know. Ross Romano: Right. Yeah, and there certainly is a vulnerability, right, in trying hard and trying to get it and not quite [00:26:00] getting it right and putting yourself out there, but it's important to think about, okay, as uncomfortable as that feels, how uncomfortable does it feel when nobody is making an effort to get your own name right. So it's it's. It's a relationship. It's and it's something that it might seem it might seem insignificant in some ways and yet and yet it's not. Are there now that you're teaching engineering and STEM fields are there ways in which these conversations, discussions about culture also integrate in with other subject area outside of the literacy and civics Ekuwah Mends Moses: absolutely. I purposely try to do challenges in my classroom that are open ended and allow them to express their interest in their own culture and express that through Whatever building challenge that we happen to be doing that they can bring in [00:27:00] their family, their culture, their identity into the project because it's more about the process than the product. And so when you do open ended design, students are able to express that through whatever they're building. So if I am building let's say, for example, last year, we did building a 3D model of a vehicle. And we were happening to do a truck. It was like a food service truck, and I had everything from taco trucks to ice cream trucks to flour trucks to a dog washing truck whatever the kid is interested in, the child is interested in, whether it be culture or family or hobbies or whatever. Open ended tasks are the best than saying you have to do this or you have to do that. giving them a chance to express themselves. Ross Romano: Do you believe that any educator can do this?[00:28:00] Ekuwah Mends Moses: Oh, absolutely. I want to believe that we got into education to help children and anyone who wants to help children to reach their best and authentic self. I believe we can start by honoring the person's name, honoring their family, honoring who they are and what they bring to the classroom. I believe in an asset based approach to education and really. Taking a look at what is this child interested in? What are they good in? What can I take and leverage to help them reach the standards or reach the goals that we have in our grade level? And how can I take what they already know and build on that? And names are one of the first things kids know. The first thing they learn, even with our kindergartners the first week, we start building the letters of their name because their name means the most to them. So when I can bring in that. and family and hobbies and things that make them who they are all to my advantage as an educator. So I can work smarter, not [00:29:00] harder, and I can be the facilitator and just set the conditions for them to blossom. Ross Romano: So, Akua, it's been great speaking with you and I want to also give you an opportunity to share with our listeners where they can learn more. I know you have Your own website you know, in addition to, of course, the book, but you have your other books. What what should people check out? Where can they learn more about your other work? What else are you working on? Ekuwah Mends Moses: thanks. I do have a website. Thank you for mentioning that. On the website, you can find both of my books. I also have a learning guide available that you can download. I want this book to be a springboard to all kinds of things. So in the learning guide I consulted with Chris Woods who's also an educator in the STEM world and I went from A to Z and just put down a load of different things that people can do to springboard with this. People who want to learn more about Ghana, I linked several videos for you to be able to see firsthand. [00:30:00] Ghanian storytellers from Ghana explaining about some of the concepts that you see in the book. You can find also on the website links to other books like you were mentioning, because I don't want you to just read my book. I want you to read other books about names and identity and culture, as you said. To give students a wide variety of understanding that this is the Fonte culture, but there's also lots of others. So I have links to other book lists that you can find on the website, too. I am also on social media. If you have Facebook, Twitter, or X, or Instagram, I'm on those quite frankly sharing what I'm doing in terms of my books, but also I like to share a lot from the classroom. I believe in helping others sharing what I've learned along the way and maybe it will be useful to someone else. So I do share quite frequently on social media. You can reach me that way too. I do have an email if people refer that [00:31:00] too that you can email me directly and I'm pretty much so a, an open book. I believe. We can all learn from each other. I think the value of the Professional learning network is so valuable. I definitely learn from others and I try to give back as much as I can through social media or my website. So everything that I do is usually free. 'cause I believe in. Helping as much as I can as many people as I can and educators we spend enough money as it is. So, yeah, Ross Romano: One thing I've, and I've totally found in my years of working in education, particularly with the internet, it's a small world, right? You can always connect and help one another. You realize all these mutual points of contact that we have So listeners, the website is www. acua. com. I will put the link to that below. So you can check that out. Also, my name is an address is published by Edumac Publishing. You can find them in Amazon and edumac. org. We'll put the [00:32:00] link. to that below as well. So check out all of those resources and also Akua's social media links. That's all there. So check out all of that. Please do also subscribe to The Authority if you are not already for more in depth author interviews like this one or visit bepodcast.network to learn about all of our shows. Akua Menzmosis, thanks so much for coming on The Authority. Ekuwah Mends Moses: Oh, thank you so much for your time. And thank you for the invitation. I've appreciated this.