Henry “Cody” Miller is the NYSEC Board’s featured author for the third installment of the “Back to School” Series for the Voices of NYSEC Blog. In this post, he shares what inspires him and keeps him motivated throughout the academic year.
What’s something that you do to keep yourself motivated?
Seemingly every year since 2020, I keep coming back to the word “hope.” In writing about moving towards a world where we don’t see prisons and punishment as a solution, Mariame Kaba writes that “hope is discipline.” Decades earlier, activist, politician (and former teacher) Harvey Milk said queer adults have to “give ‘em [queer youth] hope.” Practicing hope and seeing hope in action keeps me motivated. It’s not a shock to say that K-12 teachers are managing crisis after crisis right now: the lingering impact of COVID, AI run amok, legislative attacks from politicians who know nothing about education, the list goes on and on. Yet, so many teachers wake up every day and try their best to push the needle a bit closer to a fairer, more just world through their classrooms and work in schools.
These teachers and their work give me hope and keep me motivated. Just this past year I’ve seen aspiring and new teachers engage in transformative work in their schools: building new English electives that center Black and queer writers, updating poetry curriculum to highlight Palestinian authors, revising policies to make grading kinder and gentler, just to name a few. Similarly, I’ve seen more experienced teachers organize to fight book bans, rethink approaches to family outreach, and show up to community events for their students. To say teachers are the heartbeat of democracy could be cliché, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Hope also comes with responsibility. It’s my responsibility as a teacher educator and citizen to do everything in my power to make teachers’ work conditions better. This responsibility prompts me to show up and speak up when necessary; it prompts me to listen and support when needed. And when we experience wins — in classrooms, on school boards, and everywhere in between —and inch us a bit closer to the world I’d like to see? There’s nothing more motivating!
Henry “Cody” Miller is an associate professor of English education at SUNY Brockport. He joined Brockport and moved to Rochester in fall 2019. He taught public high school English for seven years in Florida prior to moving to New York. Cody began attending and presenting at NYSEC in October 2022. His work has been published in English Record and the NYSEC blog. He previously served as NCTE’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee. He is the current editor of the English Leadership Quarterly, the journal of the Conference on English Leadership. His teaching and research focus on young adult literature, graphic novels, supporting LGBTQ students, and activism against book bans.