May 7, 2025 • 9 mins
What drives teachers to become advocates? In this revealing conversation from the North Carolina Mid-Level Educators Conference, host Devin Pintozzi speaks with Elizabeth Nelson and Pablo Dela Canal about their transformative journeys from dedicated classroom educators to passionate advocates with the American Federation of Teachers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I am Devin Pintosi, your host.
We are here at the NorthCarolina Mid-Level Educators
Conference, the NCMLE, inCharlotte, North Carolina.
We are joined here by ElizabethNelson with the AFT, as well as
Pablo de la Canal of the AFT.
(00:28):
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah, wonderful.
So, elizabeth, tell us a bitabout your journey that brought
you here to this point.
Here you are as arepresentative of the North
Carolina AFT, and what bringsyou here to NCMLE.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So originally I was an elementary educator.
I taught for 13 years in theclassroom, taught fifth grade
for eight and then second gradefor five years, and I noticed
that there were a lot ofstruggles in our schools for
funding, for better pay forteachers, and so I decided to
start working for NCAFT to fightfor those things for our
(01:09):
educators in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Wonderful.
And, pablo, what brought you toNCMLE?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, very similarly, I actually am a teacher right
now here in Charlotte, northCarolina, and I teach middle
school, cte.
And, similar to Elizabeth,actually, I came in through the
lateral entry program and I usedto work in business, in a bank,
and I was just shocked to seesome of the things that teachers
(01:36):
were going through and I waslooking for a way to make a
change, a positive change forteachers, and I was able to hook
up with AFT and we're justtrying to basically start a
chapter here in North Carolina.
They're big national and thisis something that I'm just very
passionate because we need to dobetter for our teachers, for
(01:57):
our schools, for our children.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Wonderful, that's great.
It's great to be a part ofpositive change for the
education community so that'swonderful.
So tell us a little bit,elizabeth, about your journey
previous as an educator.
What are some of the momentsthat you're like, wow, this was
so great, this is why I got intoteaching.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That's a great question because there's so many
moments that I could that cometo mind immediately, but the
biggest moments, I think, relateto student relationships.
So all of those memories that Ihave with my students in the
classroom not necessarily duringthe learning process, but in
those times where we built thoserelationships to really make
meaningful relationships in theclassroom and help inspire them
(02:39):
to be their best selves and alsoinspire me to be my best self
as well.
So I think some of my favoritememories are just doing things
that students love to helpinspire their learning, but then
also keeping those connectionsfor years later.
I have kids that are nowgraduated from college that I
taught that still keep up withme.
(02:59):
I went to high schoolgraduations, college graduations
, so it's just nice to be ableto maintain those relationships
through the years.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is wonderful.
And how about for you, Pablo?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean same.
I think the relationships arekey.
I actually, before I became ateacher, as I said, I worked in
banking, but my end is soccer.
I've been coaching soccer formany, many years and people
would tell me like you would bea great teacher, and so finally
I got the, the opportunity, andso that's how I started doing.
(03:30):
But to me is the relationshipsand just seeing when you are
able to help a student and Ihave several cases where
students have come to meafterwards and just kind of said
it's like you know, now I getit what you were trying to do
for me and it's just kind ofchanging lives basically to me.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's wonderful.
That's great.
The passion of being a teacherreflected here.
That's wonderful.
Elizabeth, can you tell us alittle bit about your journey
from being an educator todeciding to go into advocacy
here with the AFT North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I really started this journeyvoluntarily 10 years ago.
I've been volunteering to workfor different organizations
doing education advocacy on alocal level, and then that moved
to a state level and theneventually I got connected with
Dr Jen Mangrum.
She ran for statesuperintendent of public
(04:23):
education in 2020.
She did not win that race, buthad a huge following of teachers
that were like we need you andwe're asking her for help.
So Jen and I became friends andcontinued the advocacy work on
the side voluntarily.
And then AFT National noticedthe work we were doing and they
(04:44):
said we love what you're doing,we'd love to support it.
And they have supported us.
And so we're very new to NorthCarolina.
Officially, we are grassroots,we are making this what we want
it to be, but the big push is tosupport funding for your
classrooms, better pay for youall and more respect for our
profession.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Wonderful Elizabeth and Pablo.
What brought you into the AFTNorth Carolina?
And Pablo, what brought youinto the AFT North Carolina?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
At American Book Company in Woodstock, georgia,
we are committed to yourstudents' success.
As you can see behind me, wehave our workbooks and we have
online testing and e-books thatgo on fancy iPads over here, for
instance.
They're all designed to helpyour students succeed and have
higher test scores on theirhigh-stakes assessments.
Give us a call 888-264-5877, orfind us on the web, abck12.com,
(05:35):
and you can receive a freetrial or a free preview book of
your choice.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
But again.
So I was looking for a way tohelp out teachers and to
basically advocate for them,because I saw the necessity and,
just like Elizabeth, I startedreading about what Jen Mancrum
was doing and just kind oflooked her up and kind of sent
her an email and I said, hey, Ilove what I hear from you.
(06:02):
It's like how can I help?
And they immediately invited meto be part of the working group
.
And last year it was only a fewof us that kind of got together
and decided to create this.
It was a digital protest, butwe got a lot of people involved.
We had Mo Green, who is now oursuperintendent of public
(06:22):
education, and we were justadvocating.
And then since then it's justlike all the different things
that we can do and it's justlike the future has a lot of
potential, but we need teachersto join us.
That's kind of what we'relooking for.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh, okay, so let's talk about that a bit.
So how can people get involvedwith what the AFT is doing in
North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
So the number one way to get involved is to join.
When you join as a member, it'sless than $6 a month to be a
part of this and you get thatunion protection at your back.
You also get liabilityinsurance for on-the-job legal
services if you ever need themfor any reason.
Over 50 free professionaldevelopments for educators that
(07:05):
are nationally accredited, andit goes from things like not
just math and science, but wehave ESL professional
developments, ec focus, we havecommunity driven focus ones, and
then we offer things likestudent loan forgiveness
programs and then a ton of funthings like Disney World
discounts and car rentaldiscounts and things like that.
(07:25):
So the number one way to getinvolved is to join, and then
we're doing a lot of amazingthings.
I'll let Pablo tell you alittle bit about what he started
for AFT, but we're doing a lotof local support and organizing
in areas like Durham, the mediaspecialists there are cuts
coming their way and we'resupporting the work that they're
doing to fight against thosecuts.
There are cuts coming their wayand we're supporting the work
(07:47):
that they're doing to fightagainst those cuts.
In New Hanover, we're workingtowards freedom of expression in
the classroom with the localschool board.
So all over the state we'reworking, but Pablo can tell you
about that.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, one of the things that we are really
excited about we had ourgovernor basically come up with
their state-of-the-state addressand he definitely proposed some
very bold initiatives foreducation and we wanted to
basically support him.
So we decided to create thisletter writing campaign.
So right now we have it running.
We've only started a coupledays ago.
(08:19):
We already have over 100signatures and we're asking
people to come in and sign.
Super easy If you go to ourwebsite, there's a link right
there.
It takes you to the letter thatwe drafted.
You can change it if you needto.
If you want to add your specialthing that you are looking for,
you can put it there and thenice thing is that you don't
have to even think about it.
You put in your address, itautomatically gets sent to your
(08:40):
representative at the general,at the general assembly.
Easy and it's a great way toadvocate for teachers and also
to just learn more about whatwe're trying to do for you guys.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And you can find that at our website it's
ncaftweeblycom.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Well, thank you so much,elizabeth Nelson and Pablo de la
Canal.
It's been a pleasure speakingwith both of you.
I wish you much success and Ihope you have a great conference
.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity to reach you now.
Thank you, thank you.
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book
Company.
I am Devin Pintosi, your host.
We are here at the NorthCarolina Mid-Level Educators
Conference, the NCMLE, inCharlotte, North Carolina.
We are joined here by ElizabethNelson with the AFT, as well as
Pablo de la Canal of the AFT.
(00:28):
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah, wonderful.
So, elizabeth, tell us a bitabout your journey that brought
you here to this point.
Here you are as arepresentative of the North
Carolina AFT, and what bringsyou here to NCMLE.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So originally I was an elementary educator.
I taught for 13 years in theclassroom, taught fifth grade
for eight and then second gradefor five years, and I noticed
that there were a lot ofstruggles in our schools for
funding, for better pay forteachers, and so I decided to
start working for NCAFT to fightfor those things for our
(01:09):
educators in North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Wonderful.
And, pablo, what brought you toNCMLE?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Well, very similarly, I actually am a teacher right
now here in Charlotte, northCarolina, and I teach middle
school, cte.
And, similar to Elizabeth,actually, I came in through the
lateral entry program and I usedto work in business, in a bank,
and I was just shocked to seesome of the things that teachers
(01:36):
were going through and I waslooking for a way to make a
change, a positive change forteachers, and I was able to hook
up with AFT and we're justtrying to basically start a
chapter here in North Carolina.
They're big national and thisis something that I'm just very
passionate because we need to dobetter for our teachers, for
(01:57):
our schools, for our children.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Wonderful, that's great.
It's great to be a part ofpositive change for the
education community so that'swonderful.
So tell us a little bit,elizabeth, about your journey
previous as an educator.
What are some of the momentsthat you're like, wow, this was
so great, this is why I got intoteaching.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That's a great question because there's so many
moments that I could that cometo mind immediately, but the
biggest moments, I think, relateto student relationships.
So all of those memories that Ihave with my students in the
classroom not necessarily duringthe learning process, but in
those times where we built thoserelationships to really make
meaningful relationships in theclassroom and help inspire them
(02:39):
to be their best selves and alsoinspire me to be my best self
as well.
So I think some of my favoritememories are just doing things
that students love to helpinspire their learning, but then
also keeping those connectionsfor years later.
I have kids that are nowgraduated from college that I
taught that still keep up withme.
(02:59):
I went to high schoolgraduations, college graduations
, so it's just nice to be ableto maintain those relationships
through the years.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
That is wonderful.
And how about for you, Pablo?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean same.
I think the relationships arekey.
I actually, before I became ateacher, as I said, I worked in
banking, but my end is soccer.
I've been coaching soccer formany, many years and people
would tell me like you would bea great teacher, and so finally
I got the, the opportunity, andso that's how I started doing.
(03:30):
But to me is the relationshipsand just seeing when you are
able to help a student and Ihave several cases where
students have come to meafterwards and just kind of said
it's like you know, now I getit what you were trying to do
for me and it's just kind ofchanging lives basically to me.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
That's wonderful.
That's great.
The passion of being a teacherreflected here.
That's wonderful.
Elizabeth, can you tell us alittle bit about your journey
from being an educator todeciding to go into advocacy
here with the AFT North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I really started this journeyvoluntarily 10 years ago.
I've been volunteering to workfor different organizations
doing education advocacy on alocal level, and then that moved
to a state level and theneventually I got connected with
Dr Jen Mangrum.
She ran for statesuperintendent of public
(04:23):
education in 2020.
She did not win that race, buthad a huge following of teachers
that were like we need you andwe're asking her for help.
So Jen and I became friends andcontinued the advocacy work on
the side voluntarily.
And then AFT National noticedthe work we were doing and they
(04:44):
said we love what you're doing,we'd love to support it.
And they have supported us.
And so we're very new to NorthCarolina.
Officially, we are grassroots,we are making this what we want
it to be, but the big push is tosupport funding for your
classrooms, better pay for youall and more respect for our
profession.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Wonderful Elizabeth and Pablo.
What brought you into the AFTNorth Carolina?
And Pablo, what brought youinto the AFT North Carolina?
Speaker 4 (05:09):
At American Book Company in Woodstock, georgia,
we are committed to yourstudents' success.
As you can see behind me, wehave our workbooks and we have
online testing and e-books thatgo on fancy iPads over here, for
instance.
They're all designed to helpyour students succeed and have
higher test scores on theirhigh-stakes assessments.
Give us a call 888-264-5877, orfind us on the web, abck12.com,
(05:35):
and you can receive a freetrial or a free preview book of
your choice.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Bye-bye.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
But again.
So I was looking for a way tohelp out teachers and to
basically advocate for them,because I saw the necessity and,
just like Elizabeth, I startedreading about what Jen Mancrum
was doing and just kind oflooked her up and kind of sent
her an email and I said, hey, Ilove what I hear from you.
(06:02):
It's like how can I help?
And they immediately invited meto be part of the working group
.
And last year it was only a fewof us that kind of got together
and decided to create this.
It was a digital protest, butwe got a lot of people involved.
We had Mo Green, who is now oursuperintendent of public
(06:22):
education, and we were justadvocating.
And then since then it's justlike all the different things
that we can do and it's justlike the future has a lot of
potential, but we need teachersto join us.
That's kind of what we'relooking for.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh, okay, so let's talk about that a bit.
So how can people get involvedwith what the AFT is doing in
North Carolina?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
So the number one way to get involved is to join.
When you join as a member, it'sless than $6 a month to be a
part of this and you get thatunion protection at your back.
You also get liabilityinsurance for on-the-job legal
services if you ever need themfor any reason.
Over 50 free professionaldevelopments for educators that
(07:05):
are nationally accredited, andit goes from things like not
just math and science, but wehave ESL professional
developments, ec focus, we havecommunity driven focus ones, and
then we offer things likestudent loan forgiveness
programs and then a ton of funthings like Disney World
discounts and car rentaldiscounts and things like that.
(07:25):
So the number one way to getinvolved is to join, and then
we're doing a lot of amazingthings.
I'll let Pablo tell you alittle bit about what he started
for AFT, but we're doing a lotof local support and organizing
in areas like Durham, the mediaspecialists there are cuts
coming their way and we'resupporting the work that they're
doing to fight against thosecuts.
There are cuts coming their wayand we're supporting the work
(07:47):
that they're doing to fightagainst those cuts.
In New Hanover, we're workingtowards freedom of expression in
the classroom with the localschool board.
So all over the state we'reworking, but Pablo can tell you
about that.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, one of the things that we are really
excited about we had ourgovernor basically come up with
their state-of-the-state addressand he definitely proposed some
very bold initiatives foreducation and we wanted to
basically support him.
So we decided to create thisletter writing campaign.
So right now we have it running.
We've only started a coupledays ago.
(08:19):
We already have over 100signatures and we're asking
people to come in and sign.
Super easy If you go to ourwebsite, there's a link right
there.
It takes you to the letter thatwe drafted.
You can change it if you needto.
If you want to add your specialthing that you are looking for,
you can put it there and thenice thing is that you don't
have to even think about it.
You put in your address, itautomatically gets sent to your
(08:40):
representative at the general,at the general assembly.
Easy and it's a great way toadvocate for teachers and also
to just learn more about whatwe're trying to do for you guys.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And you can find that at our website it's
ncaftweeblycom.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Oh, that's wonderful.
Well, thank you so much,elizabeth Nelson and Pablo de la
Canal.
It's been a pleasure speakingwith both of you.
I wish you much success and Ihope you have a great conference
.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity to reach you now.
Thank you, thank you.
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