Being 'Pro-Kid' in 2026: What Teachers REALLY Need to Know

You're about to hear one of the most downloaded episodes from the last five years of this podcast.

The audio may be rougher than what you hear now, but I'm not going back to clean it up.

You're hearing exactly where I started, and I trust that the growth shows on its own the same way I hope my work as an educator does.

This episode with Cornelius Minor matters because it names why so many traditional classroom management strategies fall short.

They are built to control behavior, not to actually see and understand kids.

Miner's radically pro-kid framework offers a different starting point, one grounded in equity and access rather than compliance.

Three main things you'll walk away with after listening.

First, why traditional behavior management often fails because it treats symptoms rather than listening to what a student is actually communicating.

You'll learn what radical listening looks like in practice and how it shifts the teacher-student dynamic.

And third, how being pro-kid means designing classrooms around equity and access rather than around rules built for the average student.

Skolutions is the podcast for educators and caregivers who are ready to grow alongside their children.

Each episode delivers research-backed strategies rooted in the five practices of expert teachers, so every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive.

I am Olivia Wall, and I am humbled to welcome my guest today, one of the most dynamic changemakers I've crossed paths with, Cornelius Minor.

I was first inspired by Cornelius's wisdom when I read his book, We Got This, Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be, hot off the press in 2018.

Fast forward to the National Council of Teachers of English Conference in November of 2019.

The night before the conference launched, I sat at the hotel desk in Baltimore, Maryland, and pored over the NCTE session manual with a highlighter in hand.

I intended to soak in as many sessions as I could, facilitated by Mr.

Minor.

Luckily, there are many, but listeners, you have to picture and understand the gravity of what it takes to get a seat in one of his sessions.

Cornelius's sessions are filled to capacity within minutes, often standing room only at best.

This is a testament to his compassion and magnetism.

His practices serve as a charge to ensure that our children's education access and opportunities are not limited by their social conditions.

Over the course of those three days, Cornelius's sessions illuminated for me how to use inquiry as a tool to activism and empowerment, how to use games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox to foster imagination, inquiry, and practice risk-taking, how to unearth intersectionality in school systems, finding and fostering connections that take place between systems and individuals to create inclusive, brave spaces within the institution of school, and how to listen radically, taking an inquiry stance in the reading and writing workshop.

I have hoped to have Cornelius as a guest since launching the Solutions Podcast.

We can all benefit from his tools and strategies to help better hone our own listening superpowers.

Now let me share a bit with you about Cornelius' story.

Cornelius Minor is a Brooklyn-based educator.

He works with teachers, school leaders, and leaders of community-based organizations to support equitable literacy reform in cities, and sometimes villages, across the globe.

His latest book, We Got This, explores how the work of creating more equitable school spaces is embedded in our everyday choices, specifically in the choice to really listen to kids.

He has been featured in Education Week, Brooklyn Magazine, and Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

He has partnered with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, the New York City Department of Education, the International Literacy Association, and Lesley University Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative.

Out of Print, a documentary featuring Cornelius, made its way around the film festival circuit, and he has been a featured speaker at conferences all over the world.

Along with his partner and wife, Cass Minor, he has established the Minor Collective, a community-based movement designed to foster sustainable change in schools.

Whether working with educators and kids in Los Angeles, Seattle, or New York City, Cornelius uses his love for technology, hip-hop, and social media to bring communities together.

As a teacher, Cornelius draws not only on his years of teaching middle school in the Bronx and Brooklyn, but also on time spent skateboarding, shooting hoops, and working with young people.

You can connect with him at his website, Cass and Corn, or on Twitter at Mr.

Minor.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, Cornelius.

You're about to hear one of the most downloaded episodes from the last five years of this podcast.

The audio may be rougher than what you hear now, but I'm not going back to clean it up.

You're hearing exactly where I started, and I trust that the growth shows on its own the same way I hope my work as an educator does.

This episode with Cornelius Minor matters because it names why so many traditional classroom management strategies fall short.

They are built to control behavior, not to actually see and understand kids.

Miner's radically pro-kid framework offers a different starting point, one grounded in equity and access rather than compliance.

Three main things you'll walk away with after listening.

First, why traditional behavior management often fails because it treats symptoms rather than listening to what a student is actually communicating.

You'll learn what radical listening looks like in practice and how it shifts the teacher-student dynamic.

And third, how being pro-kid means designing classrooms around equity and access rather than around rules built for the average student.

Skolutions is the podcast for educators and caregivers who are ready to grow alongside their children.

Each episode delivers research-backed strategies rooted in the five practices of expert teachers, so every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive.

I am Olivia Wall, and I am humbled to welcome my guest today, one of the most dynamic changemakers I've crossed paths with, Cornelius Minor.

I was first inspired by Cornelius's wisdom when I read his book, We Got This, Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be, hot off the press in 2018.

Fast forward to the National Council of Teachers of English Conference in November of 2019.

The night before the conference launched, I sat at the hotel desk in Baltimore, Maryland, and pored over the NCTE session manual with a highlighter in hand.

I intended to soak in as many sessions as I could, facilitated by Mr.

Minor.

Luckily, there are many, but listeners, you have to picture and understand the gravity of what it takes to get a seat in one of his sessions.

Cornelius's sessions are filled to capacity within minutes, often standing room only at best.

This is a testament to his compassion and magnetism.

His practices serve as a charge to ensure that our children's education access and opportunities are not limited by their social conditions.

Over the course of those three days, Cornelius's sessions illuminated for me how to use inquiry as a tool to activism and empowerment, how to use games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox to foster imagination, inquiry, and practice risk-taking, how to unearth intersectionality in school systems, finding and fostering connections that take place between systems and individuals to create inclusive, brave spaces within the institution of school, and how to listen radically, taking an inquiry stance in the reading and writing workshop.

I have hoped to have Cornelius as a guest since launching the Solutions Podcast.

We can all benefit from his tools and strategies to help better hone our own listening superpowers.

Now let me share a bit with you about Cornelius' story.

Cornelius Minor is a Brooklyn-based educator.

He works with teachers, school leaders, and leaders of community-based organizations to support equitable literacy reform in cities, and sometimes villages, across the globe.

His latest book, We Got This, explores how the work of creating more equitable school spaces is embedded in our everyday choices, specifically in the choice to really listen to kids.

He has been featured in Education Week, Brooklyn Magazine, and Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

He has partnered with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, the New York City Department of Education, the International Literacy Association, and Lesley University Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative.

Out of Print, a documentary featuring Cornelius, made its way around the film festival circuit, and he has been a featured speaker at conferences all over the world.

Along with his partner and wife, Cass Minor, he has established the Minor Collective, a community-based movement designed to foster sustainable change in schools.

Whether working with educators and kids in Los Angeles, Seattle, or New York City, Cornelius uses his love for technology, hip-hop, and social media to bring communities together.

As a teacher, Cornelius draws not only on his years of teaching middle school in the Bronx and Brooklyn, but also on time spent skateboarding, shooting hoops, and working with young people.

You can connect with him at his website, Cass and Corn, or on Twitter at Mr.

Minor.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, Cornelius.