Conceptually Speaking
Trevor Aleo
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This podcast is all about helping educators and students become better sensemakers and innovators. Each week, we interview experts to uncover the concepts and patterns that help us organize our world. We hope this podcast will inspire our listeners to design creative solutions to complex problems and accelerate innovation in today’s schools.
Available episodes
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23 hours ago
Dr. Sarah Jerasa Talks Reading, BookTok, & Digital Literacies
What if I told you there’s a magical place where young people spend hours upon hours discussing, sharing, creating, and theorizing about their favorite books? What if I told you that place was TikTok? Or, more specifically, a corner of TikTok known as BookTok. Well, that’s what this week’s episode is all about. My guest this week is Dr. Sarah Jerasa, Assistant Professor of Literacy at Clemson University in the Department of Education and Human Development. In addition to being a friend of the show and fellow member of the Writing and Literacies Special Interest Group, Sarah is currently researching the impact of BookTok on reading, writing, and creating content about literature. Far from being a random trending topic or flash-in-the-pan hashtag, the discourse on BookTok has already proven to have a major impact on the publishing industry and features millions of book lovers connecting over their most loved and loathed books. Considering the popularity and influence digital spaces have on literacy practices, Sarah believes (and I agree) it’s high time English teachers begin to consider how we can expand “what counts” as literacy in academic spaces. Even if you have no idea what a "For You Page" is or is generally anti-social media, this episode still has some worthwhile food for thought about the relationship between academic literacies, youth literacies, and the future of English Language Arts.
https://www.sarahjerasa.com/
https://twitter.com/saraheconroy
BookTok 101: TikTok, Digital Literacies, and Out-of-School Reading PracticesSupport the show
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Aug 24, 2023
Rebekah O'Dell and Matthew Johnson Talk Camp Rewrite & Re-envisioning Professional Learning
This week I’m lucky enough to be in dialogue with two educators and authors whose work I’ve admired for quite some time. Rebekah O’Dell is a classroom teacher and author of Writing with Mentors and Beyond Literary Analysis and Matthew Johnson a high school English teacher and author of Flash Feedback. In addition to being dynamic teachers and insightful authors, they also design powerful professional learning experiences for fellow educators. In fact, this summer they, alongside friend of the show Angela Stockman, launched a new venture called Camp Rewrite: A digital campfire where English teachers across the country can gather to view PD videos from Rebekah, Matt, Angela, and a slew of other fantastic voices in the ELA world. It’s a fantastic example of how professional learning can be more authentic, non-hierarchical, and participatory. However, our conversation will go beyond this one event! More broadly, this is a dialogue asking big questions about the future of post-COVID pedagogy, professional learning, and even the discipline of English. Enjoy!
*Links:**
*camprewrite.substack.com*
*Rebekah's Twitter
Rebekah's Site
Matthew's Website
Matthew's Twitter
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Jul 27, 2023
Nawal Qarooni Talks Caregiver Collaborations and Social Literacies
There’s no shortage of authors, consultants, and coaches discussing the importance of culture when it comes to learning, especially literacy learning. However, I can’t think of any that brings the same level of depth, nuance, and accessibility to that work as this week's guest. Nawal Qarooni is a literacy coach, writer, specialist in family literacy, and author of the forthcoming book Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Exalting Home Experiences and Classroom Practices for Collective Care. Nawal’s work invites readers to think expansively about how we define students, families, and literacies. As you’ll soon hear, she doesn’t talk about culture like it’s a buzzword or checklist, but rather like a journalist or ethnographic researcher.
As our schools continue to service increasingly diverse peoples with a range of identities, languages, and literacy practices Nawal’s work becomes all the more vital. Moreover, it’s arriving at a time where many of the ideas and approaches related to Equity work in education are either being politicized out of existence or turned into anodyne products and programs to be purchased and consumed instead of embodied and enacted. Rest assured, Nawal’s work is the real deal. Enjoy!
https://twitter.com/NQCLiteracy
NQC Literacy
Nourishing Caregiver Collaborations: Exalting Home Experiences and Classroom Practices
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Jul 4, 2023
Garreth Heidt Talks Meaningful Education and The Good Life of Teaching
This week on Conceptually Speaking, I had the pleasure of chatting with fellow teacher and friend of the show, Garreth Heidt. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of crossing paths with Garret on Twitter, he teaches sophomore English as well as an innovation and social entrepreneurship class called NOVA lab at Perkiomen Valley High School. I met him in the days of teacher Twitter yore before COVID, culture wars, and Elon Musk took the shine off the place. As you’ll be able to tell by our dialogue, Garreth is the sort of veteran teacher who has been blazing trails folks are only now discovering. Our wide-ranging dialogue, which bounces from post-modernism to ChatGPT to The Good Life perfectly encapsulates the depth and breadth of his knowledge as well as his heartfelt commitment to more meaningful education. This episode feels like the exact sort of existential, reflective conversation teachers need to have (or listen to!) after the last few years of mayhem. I hope you enjoy.
Garreth's Personal Blog
The NOVA Lab BlogSupport the show
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May 18, 2023
Dr. Mark Bracher Talks Global Justice, Social Wisdom, and Systems Thinking through Literary Study
Lately, it feels like the world is both literally and figuratively on fire. As a mere English teacher researcher and content creator, there are times when feel kind of powerless in the throes of political upheaval, culture wars, and social unrest. I’ve always believed English class is a place where students can cultivate the wisdom and discernment needed to create a more just, liberatory future, but I always wish I could do more. Luckily, last summer I stumbled upon the work of Dr. Mark Bracher, an English professor at Kent State University and the author of Literature, Social Wisdom, and Global Justice: Developing Systems Thinking Through Literary Study. Dr. Bracher’s research leverages the latest scholarship from cognitive and neuroscience to develop a systems thinking approach to literary studies that fosters four key cognitive functions: causal analysis, prospection, social cognition, and metacognition. Through the cultivation of these practices, Bracher believes (and I agree) students can cultivate skills and habits of mind that allow them to not only recognize the social injustices within our social, political, and ecological systems but intervene with wisdom, discernment, and empathy. Many of you who know me personally, know I read a lot of books about education. I’m nerdy like that. So trust me when I say, this is one of the most compelling books on English teaching I’ve encountered in a very long time.
Dr. Bracher's website
Dr. Bracher's published works
American Dream(ing) Project Overview (10th-grade unit I co-designed based on Bracher's work)Support the show
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Mar 23, 2023
Brett Vogelsinger Talks Poetry, Prose, & Pedagogy
How often do you find yourself wanting to hit pause in your curriculum? To slow down and notice more deeply? Read more closely? Maybe even engage in some playful fun? Like most teachers, there are times when I find myself sprinting through the next novel or text set, slipping back into the grips of covering material instead of exploring it. Luckily, my guest today is Brett Vogelsinger, a 9th-grade English Teacher in Doylestown PA author of Poetry Pauses: Teaching With Poems To Elevate Student Writing in All Genres, and a contributing author to Moving Writers. As his book title would suggest, poetry pauses are his specialty, and there are few other teachers I know who are as good at integrating poetry into his curriculum in meaningful, intentional, and powerful ways. Our conversation is a deep dive into the pedagogy of teaching poetry Brett has plenty to share about the powerful ways poetic forms can lead to playful and powerful learning. After hanging out with Brett at NCTE this year, I knew he’d be a great podcast guest. As you’ll soon learn, he didn’t disappoint. Enjoy!
https://brettvogelsinger.com/
https://30gopoems.blogspot.com/Support the show
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Jan 27, 2023
Dr. Troy Hicks & Dr. Kristen Turner Talk Digital Literacies and Technology Integration
As melodramatic as it may seem, I’ll never forget the first time I encountered The New London Group’s A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures. After an evening of mindless scrolling in the summer of 2016, I clicked on a fortuitous Facebook post from a fellow English teacher. As I read I became increasingly enraptured. It felt inspiring. It felt fresh. It felt innovative. I assumed it was cutting-edge research. Then I saw the publication date. 1996. Reading that publication date made it abundantly clear educational practice had fallen well behind educational scholarship. It’s a disconnect I notice more and more as I move through my own dissertation. It’s also a lament shared by my esteemed guests. This week I was joined by Dr. Troy Hicks professor of English and Education at Central Michigan University and the Director of the Chippewa River Writing Project and his co-author, Dr. Kristen Hawley Turner: Professor of education at Drew University and director of the Drew Writing Project. Our discussion is coming hot on the heels of their recent publication *Digital Literacy (Still) Can’t Wait: Four Questions to Reframe the Conversation around Technology in the English Classroom**, *a follow-up to their 2013 publication *No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can't Wait**. *Though I’m sure they wish such clarion calls weren’t still necessary, I’m thankful for scholars like them who continue to fight the good fight to bring powerful ideas to practitioners and pose poignant questions about how we use technology in our classrooms. Whether you’re a techno-skeptic or ed-tech enthusiast, Kristen and Troy’s four questions are an invitation for us to use technology in more transformative ways. Enjoy!
*Resources:
*An Interconnected Framework for Assessment of Digital Multimodal Composition
Dr. Troy Hicks' Twitter
Dr. Kristen Turner's TwitterSupport the show
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Nov 17, 2022
Matt Slocombe Talks Analogical Reasoning, Conceptual Change, and Transfer
According to cognitive linguist and philosopher George Lakoff, “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” And that is what today’s episode is all about. On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Matthew Slocombe, a secondary school teacher specializing in educational design and technology and a doctoral student and researcher at the Center for Educational Neuroscience. Matt’s research interests relate to the development of children’s reasoning and the role of conceptual change and transfer in analogical reasoning. Matt and I connected during the early days of COVID while I was working on Learning that Transfers with Julie, Krista, and Kayla and he put us on to some fantastic research into the role of analogical reasoning in conceptual change and learning transfer. And, much to my joy, he helped us realize analogies are so much more than fanciful things used by poets: they are the essence of how we make meaning. So, get ready to accommodate and assimilate some new knowledge into your pre-existing schema and let’s begin.
Center for Educational Neuroscience
Analogical Minds YouTube ChannelSupport the show
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Oct 20, 2022
Human Restoration Project Talks Professional Learning & Progressive Pedagogy
When you reflect back on your most recent professional learning in-service days, what springs to mind? Rich educational experiences filled with meaningful learning? Or cringey icebreakers, one-size-fits-all lectures, and flavor-of-the-month fluff? Based on the research shared in this episode, the vast majority of teachers lean towards the latter. This is a problem that Chris McNutt and Nick Covington, former teachers and current directors of the educational non-profit Human Restoration Project know too well. That’s why are developing ways to do professional learning WITH educators and not to them.
In this episode, we’ll hear more about HRP’s mission to inform, guide, and grow more humanizing educational systems. More specifically, we’ll be deep-diving into ways they design and provide purpose-driven professional growth opportunities inside and outside of school.
https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/Support the show
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Sep 22, 2022
Dr. Karis Jones Talks Literacies, Equity, & Acafandoms
Picture this: A group of passionate fans is huddled around their devices. Their favorite outlet has just dropped the latest response to a hotly contested article that has divided their community. As the group reads through, they debate, discuss, inquire, and post in their chosen social network. They make reference to other similar works, cite compelling evidence, and have different perspectives on the future direction of their community. Now, what kind of community did you have in mind during this scene? Were you imagining a group of teens debating the latest controversy from The Real Housewives or Keeping Up With the Kardashians? Or what about a group of literary scholars discussing a new interpretation that challenges the consensus on a canonical texts? What if it was referring to both? That might surprise you, but it’s an overlap that’s incredibly familiar to our guest this week—Assistant Professor of ELA Education and SUNY Empire State College, Dr. Karis Jones. Dr. Jones is a self-styled acafan activist studying the interpretive and discursive practices that happen in fandom spaces. Like me, she believes this broadening of how we conceptualize literacy can have transformative implications for how we frame and teach the discipline. So, whether you’re a literary scholar, Marvel Movie fan, or K-Pop enthusiast, this episode has much to offer. Enjoy!
Follow Karis on Twitter
Check out her website hereSupport the show
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Aug 17, 2022
F.D Signifier Talks Pop-Culture Sociology and the Pedagogy of YouTube
What comes to mind when you hear the word YouTube? Depending on your age and level of “online-ness” it might be anything from cat videos, to videogame steams, to TedTalks. But what about sociology? Philosophy? Cultural studies and critical theory? What if I told you were are enthusiasts, graduate students, and tenured professors producing accessible and insightful video essays with all the intellectual heft of a published journal article? And that they’re getting hundreds of thousands of views? That’s what today’s episode is all about–finding the intersection between scholarly pursuits, multimodal composition, and the wild west of web 2.0. Joining me on this conversational adventure is one of my personal favorite YouTubers, the man, the myth–F.D Signifier. A teacher and ABD sociology student turned YouTuber, F.D has north of 350 thousand subscribers and 12 MILLION views. For those of you who aren’t hip to YouTube–that is A LOT. Enough that producing video essays and digital content is now his full-time gig. Luckily for us, he was generous enough to stop by and share how he leverages his training as a social scientist to create accessible, nuanced, and seriously entertainment videos exploring topics ranging from Black Masculinity to Bridgerton. Whether you’re a zealous believer in critical media literacy or a reticent skeptic, this conversation has so much to offer. F.D’s has an inspirational level of commitment to his craft, but also doesn’t shy away from sharing the potential pitfalls of micro-celebrity and cultural analysis as edutainment. Get ready to like/comment/subscribe… and enjoy this episode.
F.D's YouTube Channel
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Aug 4, 2022
Rob Ashton Talks Communication, Cognitive Bias, and the Written Word
Have you ever shot off an angry email or text message and immediately regret it? Or have you ever wondered why it’s better to hash out disagreements in person instead of by email? Despite its ubiquitous nature, written communication is the lifeblood of complex modern institutions. Seriously. How we communicate in print can make or break an organization’s culture and productivity. So, in an effort to better understand the power of the written word, this week, Julia and I dig deep into the cognitive and social neuroscience behind written communication. Guiding us on this conversational journey is author, entrepreneur, and former scientist, Rob Ashton. His course, Silent Influence, pretty much blew both our minds, so we were eager to dive into this conversation. Continuing the Conceptually Speaking tradition–Rob’s message peels back the layers of misconception and pseudoscience and captures the true complexity of communication. Hold onto your socially situated brains, friends, bec…
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Jul 21, 2022
Dr. T.J. Vari and Dr. Joe Jones Discuss Educational Leadership & School Culture
Joseph Jones and TJ Vari are authors, speakers, and district administrators who have written four books together. Their most recent publication, Retention for a Change: Motivate, Inspire, and Energize Your School Culture, details targeted strategies for motivating, inspiring, and energizing educators in a variety of settings.
Virtual Masterclass on Compassionate Feedback
Technical Tip: Praise Practice--A Model for Specific Praise Support the show
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Jul 7, 2022
Graham Fletcher Talks Fluency, Progression, Coherence, & Accessibility in Mathematics
Graham Fletcher has served in education as a classroom teacher, math instructional lead, and currently as a math specialist. His work with the math progressions and problem-based lessons has led him to present throughout North America and beyond.
Graham is continually advocating for best practice in elementary mathematics by seeking new and innovative ways to support students and teachers in their development of conceptual understanding. He is the author of Building Fact Fluency: A Toolkit for Addition and Subtraction.
Twitter: @gfletchy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gfletchy/
“All of us are smarter than one of us.” – Graham FletcherSupport the show
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Jun 23, 2022
Zoe Weil Talks Being A Solutionary and The Purpose of Education
Zoe Weil (pronounced “Zoh While”) is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement. Zoe created IHE’s M.Ed., M.A. and graduate certificate programs, as well as IHE’s acclaimed humane education and MOGO (most good) workshops. Zoe is the author of seven books including Amazon #1 Best Seller in Philosophy and Social Aspects of Education, The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries (2021/2016) She has also written numerous articles on humane education and humane living and has appeared frequently on radio as well as television.
Zoe writes for Psychology Today where you can read her blog Becoming a Solutionary.Support the show
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May 27, 2022
Conceptualizing Counter Narratives with Charles Williams **BONUS EPISODE**
Welcome to a special combined episode of Conceptually Speaking. This week Kayla and I linked up with Charles Williams, host of the Counter Narrative Podcast and a K-8 principal in the Greater Chicago Episode. Our dialogue is a free-flowing conversation exploring everything from seeking our educational purpose in turbulent times to the importance of asset-based instruction to the hit show Abbot Elementary. It was a beautiful reminder that shared dialogue with other educators with common goals and values can be sustaining and motivating. We hope you walk away from this episode with a similar feeling.Support the show
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May 19, 2022
Dr. Adam Sáenz Talks Emotional Intelligence, Wellbeing, and Self-Actualization
What a school year this has been. Educators across the country (and the world) have navigated yet another year of teaching under COVID. Worse still, many American teachers, administrators, and district staff have found themselves in the crosshairs of culture warriors and political opportunists. There have, and continue to be baseless book bans, draconian policy proposals, and astroturfed conspiracies about nefarious and ideologically charged curricula. Amidst the chaos, it’s not exactly a secret many teachers are not well and are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers. Though there have been well-intentioned gestures at promoting well-being in many districts—solving our current raft of problems will take more than breathwork and yoga mats. It will require systemic change, of course, and we’ve spoken a lot about that on Conceptually Speaking but our guest this week, Dr. Adam Saenz is here to discuss the messy individual journey of self-actualization.
Adam earned his Ph.D…
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May 6, 2022
Cheryl-Ann Weekes Talks Mental Health, Resilience, and Self-Compassion
Join Julie Stern and Mihai Catrinar on this week's episode as they chat with mental health specialist, consent workshop facilitator, and international school counselor, Cheryl-Ann Weekes. Her organization, Weekes Enterprise, LLC, was created as a way to provide workshops for counselors and educators to equip them with the tools to have mental health, consent, and boundary conversations with their students. They also conduct workshops for students in schools, community programs, churches, and non-profit organizations.
Connect with Cheryl-Ann
* Website
* Twitter
* Linkedin
* Instagram
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Apr 14, 2022
Karine Veldoen Talks Thriving, Leadership, Culture, and Potential
Karine Veldhoen, M.Ed., is the founder of Learn Forward™ and a creative force in education. As Chief Learning Officer at Willowstone Academy she created the first model Learn Forward™ school while simultaneously Founding and serving as Executive Director of Niteo Africa. She’s taught Teacher Candidates at both UBC-O and UNBC and served as an education consultant for Fresh Grade. In all of her roles, she considers herself a modern-day pilgrim who stands for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. In this episode, she chats with Julie and Kayla about
LeanForward
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Mar 24, 2022
Mitch Weathers Talks Executive Functioning and Student Agency
This week on Conceptually Speaking science lead Julia Briggs and I are joined by the CEO and Founder of Organize Binder, Mitch Weathers. Mitch’s experience as an educator, department chair, and coach has provided ample opportunities for him to see the difference between students who have a clarity of purpose and sense of agency and those who feel lost in the swirling chaos of bells, lectures, and homework assignments. Through a combination of firsthand experience and diligent research, Mitch founded Organized Binder in 2005 as a way to create systems and routines to help students hone academic skills and executive functions like personal goal setting and time management. They are the types of skills many teachers are struggling to foster in their classrooms as students return to school, and more importantly, they’re the skills students need to reclaim or claim for the first time, a sense of agency in their learning. Though there are myriad systemic and structural problems facing ed…
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Mar 10, 2022
Nichelle Pinkney & Joe Schmidt Talk Belonging, Empathy, & Civil Discourse
This week on Conceptually Speaking I’m joined by Joe Schmidt and our very own Nichelle Pinkney—coauthors of the upcoming book Civil Discourse: Classroom Conversations for Stronger Communities from Corwin Press. With the current state of our dumpster fire national discourse, this book could not be coming at a better time. For posterity, at the time of recording this podcast, there are dozens of bills being drafted in state legislatures around the country attempting to censor any dialogue of so-called divisive concepts, historical injustices, and the fraught, complex nature of America’s past. Now, more than ever, educators require reliable, research-based scaffolds and frameworks to foster the types of dialogue, discussion, and debate required to continue our shared democratic project. To that end, Joe and Nichelle’s book details how to go about co-constructing classroom communities using the CUBED method to make that make civil discourse possible. It's no surprise that two human…
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Feb 15, 2022
Zoe Bee Talks Culture, Ideas, Media, and the Writing Process
On this week's episode of Conceptually Speaking Elementary Lead Jess Mattei and I sit down with college professor turned content creator, Zoe Bee. While Zoe’s eponymous YouTube channel is a cornucopia of videos on composition, culture, and education she recently released a video that was near and dear to my nerdy English Heart—Are the Classics Dead? A Professor Explains. Throughout the video Zoe dives headfirst into the fraught framing around literary canon; what is it? Why does it exist? What are the systemic and structural forces that shape it? I won’t spoil the results, but it’s the type of binary-busting nuance that we love. Our conversation goes beyond the content of one video though, as we explore the writing process, the shifting tides of English Studies, and the intersections between her work in academia and as a Youtuber. At the heart of Zoe’s work and this episode though, is her deep passion for inquiry and ideas. As you’ll likely be able to tell, Jess and I were…
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Jan 14, 2022
Danny Bauer Talks Authenticity, Belonging, and Challenge in Educational Leadership
Hello listeners. Conceptually Speaking is returning from its Holiday hiatus with an episode we’ve been itching to release. This week, Kayla joined Julie to have a conversation with Danny Bauer, author, podcast host, and the brain behind Mastermind—a coaching group and leadership development community. His recent book, Mastermind Unlocking Talent within Every School Leader is a fantastic book for anyone looking to upskill their capacity to serve and lead others. Danny’s passion for supporting and sustaining the growth of educators—specifically leaders—that shines through the entire dialogue. It’s clear he has devoted time and effort to cultivate his unique vision for effective leadership, quoting everyone from Seth Godin to Walt Whitman in under an hour ALL while sharing how he brought the Mastermind model to education. Danny's innovative approach and philosophy on leadership make for some compelling stories and actionable advice for anyone in educational leadership. We hope…
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Dec 7, 2021
Dr. Miah Daugherty Talks Texts, Student Agency, and Disciplinary Literacy
Joining me on this week’s episode is our new Elementary Specialist, Jessica Mattei. Jess and I were lucky enough to chat with Dr. Miah Daughtery, Director of Literacy for NWEA and a powerful advocate for students' right to read and write. Over the course of our dialogue, Miah takes us through the rich tapestry of her career, sharing insight into her experiences leading initiatives focusing on everything from state-level curriculum projects to middle school yearbook programs. The obvious connective tissue between Dr. Daughtery’s variety of educational entry points, though, is a clear devotion to student agency and empowerment. In addition to having some in-depth discussion around literacy practices and research, a special bonus of this episode is the wealth of practical advice shared about the right (and wrong!) ways to approach disciplinary literacy instruction in schools. Whether you’re a teacher or superintendent, there’s plenty here for you to enjoy!
Follow Miah here! She i…
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Nov 23, 2021
Dr. Traci Scheepstra Talks Emotion, Embodiment, and Education
Our guest this week is Dr. Traci Scheepstra , CEO and co-founder of Embodied Learnings. Joining Julie this week is our effervescent elementary lead and resident chair yoga expert, Nathalie Lauriault. It’s her first episode of Conceptually Speaking and we could think of no one better to join Tracy in a dialogue exploring the relationship between affect, embodiment, and education. Following a trend of some of our recent episodes, Dr. Scheepstra's message is one that invites and encourages us to take a step outside our current brain-bound conceptions of learning and consider all that is lost when we treat learners as though they’re merely a brain in a vat. It’s a conversation filled with practical tips and thought-provoking ideas, but the main through-line is how we can help students feel their learning, not just think about it. So, in the spirit of the episode, find a calm, quiet place to listen, close your eyes, and prepare to feel the conversational wisdom being weaved for the ne…
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Oct 12, 2021
Kwame Sarfo-Mensah Talks Authenticity, Belonging, and Identity
In this week's episode of Conceptually Speaking, Julie and Kayla are joined by Kwame Sarfo-Mensa—mathematics teacher as well as Founder & CEO at Identity Talk Consulting. Throughout this powerful conversation, Kwame details his perspective on Belonging, Identity, and Authenticity—each of which is a foundational concept in the culturally sustaining pedagogy that anchors his teaching practice. As you’ll soon discover, at the heart of Kwame’s teaching practice lies a commitment to honoring and uplifting all students' identities in ways that allow them to bring their authentic selves to the classroom. Stay tuned for the rest of the episode to hear more about how you can leverage an asset-based approach to create an environment that liberates and educators students.Support the show
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Sep 9, 2021
Annie Murphy Paul Talks Bodies, Surroundings, Relationships & the Extended Mind
On this episode of Conceptually Speaking, Julie and I are joined by, the ineffable Annie Murphy Paul a writer covering science and cognition and the author of The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. To say that Julie and I were excited about this episode would be a mild understatement. Both of us had ravenously consumed The Extended Mind prior to recording and were blown away at both its ambition and clarity. Over the course of her book, and this conversation, Annie details the power of what she calls extending our mind through practices like externalizing information, making abstractions tangible, spatializing information, and even using our bodies to make meaning. This ability to extend our mind challenges many of the deeply held myths about the separation of mind and body that have come to dominate the ways we conceive thinking, learning, and reductive notions of intelligence in Western Society. In fact, Annie’s work even transformed her own beliefs about pract…
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Aug 3, 2021
Dr. Mike Johnston Talks Complexity, Sustainability, Systems, and Authentic Assessment
Dr. Mike Johnston from Frankfurt International School joins Julie and LTT's Science Lead Julia Briggs to discuss complexity, sustainability, systems, and authentic assessments.Support the show
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Jul 20, 2021
Dr. Jennifer Fletcher Talks Rhetorical Writing, Reading, and Thinking
Today’s episode will be an exploration of reading, writing, and thinking rhetorically with author and professor Jennifer Fletcher. Jennifer’s work as a high school English teacher, college professor, and chair of California State University’s Expository Writing Curriculum steering committee speaks to her broad experience with and deep understanding of the discipline. Both her research and books focus on the power of rhetorical thinking to encourage students to transfer their understanding to new texts and situations. Joining Trevor this week is Language Acquisition lead, Erin Leininger. If you’re looking for an episode that’s all about fostering autonomy and agency in your composition classroom—you’ve come to the right place. Enjoy!Support the show
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Jun 29, 2021
Betsy Potash Talks Creativity, Communication, and 21st Century Composition
This week on Conceptually Speaking, Kayla and I chatted with podcaster, blogger, and creative aficionado, Betsy Potash. One of the many things I love about Betsy’s work is its accessibility. Introducing new, more creative and dynamic frames for curriculum and instruction can be a challenge for many educators, but Betsy does an incredible job creating and curating resources that are approachable and scaffolded for educators AND students alike. One of my favorite parts about this episode was the amount of time we spent discussing modern forms of composition—of positioning things like podcasting, blogging, and video essays as viable and authentic modes of communication. Considering her massive email list and following on social media, Betsy knows full well the power of digital media. Betsy is a delightful guest with much to say about creativity and communication in the modern classroom. We hope you enjoy!Support the show
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Jun 8, 2021
(Re)Conceptually Speaking: Julie & Trevor Reflect
In this special reflection episode, Julie and Trevor share some of their favorite moments from Conceptually Speaking and discuss some exciting changes on the horizon. If you're new to the podcast, go back and check out some of the fantastic episodes we discussed.
https://conceptuallyspeaking.buzzsprout.com/Support the show
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May 4, 2021
Darnell Fine and Jessica Jones Talk Black Joy, Rage, and Imagination
This week on the show we are trying something new, Trevor and I are rotating co-hosting duties with our core team members from the Learning That Transfers team. This week features co-host Nichelle Pinkney, who is our social studies specialist and currently works as an instructional coach and curriculum specialist for a large school district in Texas.
So this conversation was pretty special. We had two guests on to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it was really to me about the Black experience, and I personally learned so much. I’m still thinking about the concept of “validation” of different people’s experiences, different people’s views of what is professionalism, what is success, even what is possible. What was your big takeaway from our chat?
What I loved is how they were so unapologetically black in a time when many fail to be. The idea that despite the historical oppression of blacks we have the opportunity to imagine new possibilities and unearth so many…
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Apr 20, 2021
Michael Weingarth talks Learning, Adaptation, and Neuropsychology
Today’s episode of Conceptually Speaking features Michael Weingarth, founder of Pillars of Learning neuropsychological tutoring. In addition to his work creating personalized tutoring and test preparation programs for students, Michael has what I can only describe as an encyclopedic knowledge of all things science of learning related. In the few conversations we had leading up to the podcast, and during the podcast itself, I constantly found myself scribbling notes, book titles, and names of researchers I had to dig into. Our conversation today attempts to peel back the layers on a lot of the reductive and problematic assumptions that often accompany notions of learning and intelligence. It’s a great example of just how complex learning truly is and how much damage we can do when we attempt to flatten and quantify that complexity with faulty tools and instruments. In fact, the heart of Michael's work is focused on synthesizing and coordinating siloed perspectives, approaches, and d…
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Mar 30, 2021
Brad Kershner Talks Systems, Complexity, and Hope
This week’s episode of Conceptually Speaking features educational researcher and school leader Brad Kershner. This was a special episode for me, as a few weeks prior to recording, I’d purchased his book Understanding Educational Complexity, and was absolutely blown away by its depth and clarity. I was thrilled when he agreed to join us. There are few people in the field who can parallel Brad’s ability to tend to both the micro and macro of education with his level of discernment and nuance. His book, and our dialogue, range from cultivating individual meditative practices to analyzing the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of school communities, to conceptualizing the ways modernity’s values and frames shape how we view the process of education. It is a sobering reminder that everyone, not just students, will need to embrace a journey of lifelong learning if we’re to develop the cognitive and cultural tools for our complex times. Despite the complexity involved and the ways we…
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Mar 16, 2021
Dr. Tiffany Mitchell Patterson Talks Bias, Social Justice, and Activism
This week on Conceptually Speaking, Julie and I chatted with Dr. Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, an assistant professor of secondary social studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction/Literacy Studies at West Virginia University. Before entering into higher education Dr. Mitchell Patterson spent a decade teaching students in DC and Virginia about history, social justice, and activism. Her passion and expertise for these concepts is evident throughout our conversation and our dialogue is filled with insight about how to handle difficult, but vital classroom conversations about identity, power, and justice. One of the many things that Julie and I admire about Dr. T-Mitch-P’s work is her commitment to encouraging students and educators alike to engage in meaningful, committed activism—regardless of the topic or context. For anyone looking for ways to instill passion in their students for social justice, this is episode is for you. We hope you enjoy the dialogue and learn as mu…
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Mar 2, 2021
Dr. Paul Bloomberg Talks Honor, Impact, and Feedback
Our guest this week is Dr. Paul Bloomberg, Co-founder of the Core Collaborative and author of Peer Power: Unite Learn, Prosper: Activate an Assessment Revolution. In this personal and impactful episode, Paul shares some of the struggles of managing an educational organization in the age of upheaval caused by COVID-19. Though the particularities of his journey over the last year are unique, we will all be able to relate to the impact this last year has had on our practice and perspective. Throughout the episode, Dr. Bloomberg exemplifies the humility, empathy, and willingness to adapt that is necessary for us to continue to make it through these strange times. Another interesting throughline in this episode is the tricky, even paradoxical process of tending to individuals, collectives, and systems when attempting to support professional learning. Though there is no easy answer, Paul provides some great insight into his knowledge gained thus far. Finding ways to support the individual ne…
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Feb 16, 2021
Julie Stern, Krista Ferraro, Kayla Duncan, and Trevor Aleo Talk Learning that Transfers
This week’s episode of Conceptually Speaking is a special one. It’s the kick-off of our Learning That Transfers Book Tour! To mark the occasion, Julie and I were joined by our two co-authors, Kayla Duncan and Krista Ferraro. The goal of this podcast is to share a little bit about the journey we started on together roughly a year ago to bring this book to life. It all seemed routine at the time, but considering this book was written by a group of people who had never all been in the same room, and in the middle of a global pandemic no less, we thought it’d be fun to revisit the process and share it with our audience. The episode is less of a commercial for the book and more of a “Behind the Scenes” look at what inspired its authorship and its ideas over the last year. Seeing as this book was created during the giant experiment that is COVID distance teaching, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a big part of our conversation focuses on the importance of creating curriculum and i…
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Feb 2, 2021
Peter DeWitt Talks Leadership, Engagement, and Wellbeing
This week’s episode of conceptually speaking features author, consultant, and EdWeek blogger and moderator, Peter DeWitt. Despite these honorifics, it won’t take long to realize they don’t matter much to him. In fact, Julie and I had to press him on how he’d like to be introduced. Funnily enough, I’d venture a guess that same humility and groundedness are what makes him such a phenomenal leader. Discussions about leadership often focus on externalities—routines, structures, meetings, professional development, the list goes on. What I loved about this episode though, was Peter’s focus on the interior life of a leader. Even in the best of times, being a principal is a challenge, but now more so than ever. It’s with that frame, Peter asks some compelling questions about the wellbeing of our leaders. The conversation Julie and I shared with Peter is equally personal and powerful. Regardless of your job description, it’s filled with great advice about how to maintain your…
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Jan 19, 2021
Vince Bustamante Talks Implementation and Student Centered Assessment
Our guest this week is Vince Bustamante, a social studies consultant and co-author of Great Teaching By Design and the Distance Learning Assessment Playbook. Vince is a member of our extended team and has been doing some great work with conceptual understanding and transfer in his hometown of Alberta, Canada. He’s also been busy writing two stellar books meant to help teachers implement Dr. John Hattie’s research in in-person and distance environments and he shares some great tips on important shifts we can make to adjust to our new COVID reality Vince’s experience as both a classroom teacher and consultant helped him realize that there’s a big gap between the afterglow of a great PD session and successful implementation of what teachers learn. It’s a gap he hopes to close by helping teachers focusing explicitly on students and their learning. Vince’s passion for assessment and implementation made him an equally informative and engaging guest. If ever there was a time for u…
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Jan 5, 2021
Dr. Jennifer Chang Wathall Talks eLearning and Transforming Pedagogy
Today’s episode of Conceptually Speaking features author, consultant, and eLearning innovator, Dr. Jennifer Chang Wathall. Dr. Wathall, or Jenny, as she requests we call her, brings a refreshing balance of disciplinary expertise and an eye for innovation. We cover a wide range of topics in our dialogue, from assessment to higher education to online teaching, but the connective tissue between each one is her desire to transform learning and pedagogy. Dr. Walthall advocates for designing authentic learning experiences that blend disciplinary expertise with interdisciplinary collaboration and finding ways to position students as producers and publishers of knowledge, instead of simply consumers. Shifts that are beautifully captured by the way she describes what’s missing in a lot of math instruction. Jenny’s work as a K12 consultant and professor at Hong-Kong University grants her a unique perspective on the wider trends shaping education at all age levels. This episode is full of p…
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Dec 22, 2020
Hannah Testa Talks Education, Collaboration, and Youth Activism
Today’s episode of Conceptually Speaking is a special one—Our first episode with an actual student! Though Hannah Testa *is* a student in Forsyth County, Georgia, that’s just one of many hats she wears. She is also a Founder of the non-profit Hannah4Change, an author, presenter, TEDx speaker, politico, and more besides. She is one of a growing number of Generation Z activists whose compelling, earnest message demands attention. Her passion is raising awareness and mobilizing people and policy to protect wildlife and the environment and it’ll be immediately apparent that she has the knowledge and skills to do both. Over the course of our conversation, she’ll share her current projects and initiatives as well as offer her thoughts on the best ways for students to engage with different stakeholder groups to affect meaningful change. Environmental policy might be her main focus, but she is just as passionate about engaging fellow teens to rise up and advocate for themselves and t…
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Dec 8, 2020
Caitlin Krause Talks Mindfulness, Wonder, and Wellbeing
This week on Conceptually Speaking Julie and I spoke with designer of wonder, Caitlin Krause. As you can tell Caitlin doesn’t like labels or nouns to characterize her praxis. They are too static—too inert to capture the intentional fluidity of her work. Though her current specialty is virtual reality, her focus isn’t on hardware, it’s on humanity. There are few people who so consciously and warmly center the experience, wonder, and connective potential of technology quite like Caitlin can. The focus of our dialogue today wasn’t technology itself, but rather the relationships it fosters—with ourselves, with others, and with our environment. In truth, it’s her ability to live in those “in-between-spaces” that makes Caitlin such a compelling designer of learning and leadership. Whether you’re keen on mindfulness practices or a technology junkie, this is the episode for you Not many people discuss cognitive science, Joseph Campbell, and VR headsets in the same breath, b…
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Nov 24, 2020
Dan Ryder Talks Acceptance, Communication, and Trust
Today’s episode of Conceptually Speaking features educator, author, consultant, maker, and all around lover of learning, Dan Ryder. As you can tell by his bio, Dan is a bit of a polymath. He writes and presents about creativity, design thinking, maker spaces, comic books, and—as is the focus tonight—improv. It’s those generalist tendencies are what make him such a compelling guest and intuitive educator. Despite his far-flung interests, his concepts of focus for the episode—acceptance, communication, and trust, lie at the heart of all he does. That’s because, like us, Dan understands the value of anchoring learning with powerful concepts and frames. What I love about this episode, and speaking with Dan in general, is the energy and insight he brings to the table. Chats with him have the same exploratory and extemporaneous energy as an improv set. High tempo though it may be, there’s always a pleasant timbre that makes conversation feel easy. Dan has a way of talking to yo…
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Nov 10, 2020
Kayla Duncan & Nichelle Pinkney Talk Community, Sensemaking, and Accessibility
Today’s guests are none other than our very own Nichelle Pinkney and Kayla Duncan. Since the mad dash to distance learning environments last summer, Julie and the team have been hard at work looking to design a suite of courses that would help us spread the word and build a community of practice around learning that transfers. We had a blast designing the Learning Transfer Endorsed Educator Course, and have received a lot of positive feedback during our first two cohorts. As our third cohort kicks off this week, we thought it’d be fun to look back and discuss the creation of the LTEE course and preview some of our upcoming offerings. During the episode, Kayla and Nichelle share their perspective on some of the courses anchoring concepts: community, sensemaking, and accessibility. Kayla has gotten rave reviews on the overall course design—especially the unit storyboard that is completed throughout the course. And as a veteran online instruction facilitator, Nichelle shares her ins…
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Oct 20, 2020
Dr. Michael Crawford Talks Professional Learning, Teacher Training, and Choice
Today’s guest is Dr. Michael Crawford--co-founder of Edspace, a social learning network for educators. As someone with expertise and insight into the evolving nature of education, professional development, and educational technology, he was the perfect guest for our current moment. Our conversation touches on a wide variety of topics, from wellness, to new models of professional learning, to the power of autonomy for teachers and students. What makes Michael such a great thinker and voice in education is his ability to recognize the connective tissue between various emerging research and trends within education. It’s at that point of convergence, the idea of Edspace emerged. There are a ton of great ideas and things to ponder about the future of professional learning, teacher training, and education in general during this episode. We hope you enjoy. Support the show
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Oct 6, 2020
Jaoquin Tomayo Talks Systems and Science of Learning
In this week’s episode of Conceptually Speaking, Julie and I chatted With Joaquin Tomayo, a senior policy advisor at the Education Council, who looks to leverage the science of learning to create more equitable systems for students through research and policy. What I loved about this conversation was Jaoquin’s ability to take some of education's oldest truisms—like the importance of relationships, why our learning environment matters, and how education as a system is broken—and provide keen insight into the “why.” If we hope to create systems and policies that truly serve the best interest of their students, understanding these deeper causal mechanisms is a vital piece of repairing the education puzzle. Luckily, we have folks like Jaoquin who are working to synthesize systems thinking and scientific knowledge to advocate for policy that helps all students feel the sense of belonging they deserve. To show just how good this episode was, it clocked in at a whopping hour and t…
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Sep 22, 2020
Rafael Angel Talks Language and Communication
This week on Conceptually Speaking we welcomed Rafel Angel, a language educator and founder of the Ampersand Consulting Group. To say that Rafael is passionate about world languages is a bit of an understatement. When we first shared the learning transfer mental model with him, he sent back a PDF exploring anchoring concepts in no less than eight different languages. Impressive as that is, what really made Rafael a compelling guest was the beauty and artistry with which he speaks about communication. For him, learning other languages is about much more than memorizing terms and conjugating verbs—it’s about finding the heart of other cultures, regions, and countries. It’s about sharing and connecting through stories, values, and communion. Rafael’s ability to capture the essence of communication and language is inspiring. Whether you’re a polyglot or a monolingual like myself, this episode is rich with wisdom about the power of language, meaning, and identity. We hope you enjo…
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Sep 9, 2020
Ayo Magwood talks Inequity, Antiracism, and History
* *Our guest this week is Ayo Magwood, founder of Uprooting Inequity—her platform dedicated to sharing resources, curriculum & instructional strategies for teaching about systemic racism & social justice through historical and civics education frameworks. From the moment this podcast begins, Ayo’s deep knowledge of racism, history, and pedagogy is spellbinding. In our overly specialized and atomized academic world, her ability to find an intersection between these three domains set her apart from a lot of other folks working in this field. Understanding problems as complex as systemic racism require nuance, thorough research, and the ability to synthesize countless threads of information. Teaching others about it requires patience, vulnerability, and an commitment. In our short time together, it’s clear Ayo possesses all these traits, as well as a being a great conversationalist, in droves. It’s a skillset and disposition our country needs right now, as more and more people are…
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Aug 25, 2020
Misty Paterson Talks Artistry, Purposeful Play, and Materials
This week on Conceptually Speaking we chatted with concept-based certified consultant, PYP teacher, and author of Pop Up Studio, Misty Patterson. What I loved about this episode is Misty’s ability to cross boundaries and integrate different practices. Though loose parts may appear to be fun and frivolous to the uninitiated, this episode makes it clear just how complex, nuanced, and rewarding they can be when used with intention and discernment. They are springboards for inquiry, tools for meaning-making, and primers for analogical thinking. It’s a practice that becomes even more powerful when paired with curriculum anchored by concepts, which in their own way, are the loose parts of our world—elements to be observed, combined, and related to one another in ways that create the patterns that help us make sense of complexity. Our conversation with Misty was filled with practical tips, exemplars, and strategies that you can start using in your classroom tomorrow. I definitely recomm…
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Aug 11, 2020
Rachel Crouch Talks Culture, Accountability, and Restorative Practices
Our guest this week is the current principal of Washington DC’s Perry Street Prep, Rachel Crouch. As the school year looms large for teachers, it’s a time of uncertainty for students, their families, educators, and administrators alike. There’s a lot of discussion around concepts like culture and connection, but actually fostering them in school is much more challenging than defining them or placing them on a PowerPoint. In our conversation this week, Rachel shares how she was able to transform Perry Street Prep by using restorative practices, building a sense of community, and creating a culture where teachers feel supported and encouraged to hold one another accountable for their own, and each others growth. Rachel’s belief in honoring the humanity of her students and staff was an anchor in this episode and, it seems, her practice as well. Julie and I loved Rachel’s willingness to be candid about her journey to get to this point. Building a school culture is hard work and t…
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Aug 4, 2020
Dr. Yong Zhao Talks Student Autonomy and the Future of Education
Our guest this week is distinguished education professor Dr. Yong Zhao. Technically, Dr. Zhao’s work focuses on the implications of globalization and technology for education, but as you’ll soon hear in our podcast, his real focus is on kids relationship with education: how it should evolve, what it could be, and how they should take a larger role in determining what it looks like. For that reason, Dr. Zhao’s focus and vision are firmly fixed on the future of education. Though each generation has differing values, beliefs, and norms its difficult to overstate the current gap between most teachers and students in the digital age. The advent of the internet, social media, and ubiquity of personal devices have drastically altered how we communicate, connect, and share information as a society. There have been titanic changes throughout history of course, but the current rate of change is dizzying like never before, and Dr. Zhao believes education has struggled to keep up. One of the…
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Jul 28, 2020
Matthew Murrie Talks Curiosity and Connection
Our guest this week is entrepreneur and chief curiosity curator at What If? Curiosity, Matt Murrie. As you can tell by his title, he loves to get curious—about education, about people, about things, events, processes, and well, basically everything. It’s what makes him and his method for curiosity-based learning so compelling. Matt regards curiosity as a natural resource—fuel that can provide the power necessary to tackle complex, important problems. As you’ll be able to tell from our conversation, he has a full tank and his energy and enthusiasm are as contagious as his trademark question: What If? If there’s a better question to define our current moment, I can’t think of one. Education is in a state of flux. Everything educators, administrators, and parents have known has been thrown out of the window. It’s going to take a ton of “What-If” style creativity and curiosity to create the new normal, and this episode will provide plenty of inspiration. Over the course o…
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Jul 21, 2020
Daryn Cambridge Talks Love, Non-Violence, and Social Justice
Our guest this week is Daryn Cambridge, a facilitator and experiential educator of non-violent practice. With everything happening in our world today, its a timely discussion. Of course, the issue of structural racism and discrimination isn’t new, but the recent murder of George Floyd has shown a spotlight on the injustices these systems perpetuate. As someone who's devoted their life and career to studying the ways non-violence can be a powerful form of action and activism, Daryn is an incredible resource on its history and methodology. What spoke to me most during our conversation was Daryn’s commitment to the idea that non-violence, and activism more broadly, should be anchored in love. Love is an important part of relationship-building inside and outside the classroom is a notion that has become a bit of a theme on the podcast. Daryn continues that trend by detailing how non-violence is a vital tool in helping create what Dr. King called “The beloved community” With many yo…
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Jul 14, 2020
Maimuna Ahmad Talks Healing, Awareness, and Collective Leadership
Our guest this week is Maimuna Ahmad, founder of the Non-Profit Teach for Bangladesh. Maimuna believes that education is a tool that can help students succeed the world over, but whose particularly interested in creating more equitable system in Bangladesh. Our conversation today will explore her work towards cocreating schools to achieve those ends and some of the lessons shes learned along the way. One thing that was clear during our conversation was that, in addition to being well versed in the systemic and structural hurdles that must be overcome to repair education, Maimuna is also keenly aware of how those issues look on a personal, human level in the classroom. Whether it’s becoming more aware of the intergenerational baggage our students may be carrying, considering how we greet our students, or questioning if tradition is the only thing shaping our choices, this episode is filled with important food for thought as well as Maimuna’s international experience working to foste…
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Jul 7, 2020
David Lee Talks Authentic Learning, and Edupermaculture
Our guest this week is DesignThinker, Tech & Innovation Specialist, David Lee. David teaches at the Singapore American School, and is doing some incredible work there. On today’s episode, we’ll explore his idea of edupermaculture, which he defines as an approach to education that centers around simulating experiences and directly utilizing the behaviors, strategies, practices, and systems found in successful, real world learning environments and integrating them into school learning experiences and ecosystems. Over the course of our dialogue you’ll hear some awesome, concrete examples of how David anchors his teaching and student’s learning in authentic contexts. More powerful still, he’ll share how authentic learning impacted his life too We usually wait until the end to plug our guests work, but If you don’t already you need to check out David’s YouTube channel and website. His video content is some of the best quality edtech content out there, both in terms of its desi…
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Jun 30, 2020
Chloé Valdary Talks Self-Knowledge, Criticism, and Love
Our guest this week is writer and entrepreneur Chloé Valdery. Chloe has written for outlets like the New York Times, USA Today, and Psychology Today. Although those are labels that describe what she does and has achieved, Chloe is the type of guest who doesn’t easily fit in to boxes or categories. In fact, one of her creative strengths is to grapple with the paradox and cognitive dissonance that is such an integral part of modern life. Her Social Emotional Program and start up venture, The Theory of Enchantment, is an incredible mashup of pop-culture, psychology, and philosophy that treats the complexities of the human condition with the nuance it deserves. I haven’t seen many programs that balance accessibility, entertainment, and a deeply moving message as well as hers does. In this episode, we’ll discuss the relationship between self-knowledge, criticism, and love. Though each one of these is a vital part of Chloe’s Theory of enchantment, we spend a lot of time discussing t…
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Jun 23, 2020
Adam Hansen Talks Innovation and Metacognition
Our guest this week is friend of the podcast, Adam Hansen. Adam’s company, IdeasToGo is an Innovation Consulting firm that helps Fortune 200 companies think outside the box and come up with unique, relevant solutions to their problems. What makes Adam such a fascinating guest is his uniquely human approach to innovation. Whereas much of the eduDiscourse around innovation involves the latest apps and gadgets, Adam is much more interested in the innovative tools that make us human—metaphors, metacognition, and a deep desire to make sense of our world. To his mind, innovation is all about human potential. Although his day job has him focusing on innovative projects and products, Adam is also deeply passionate about behavioral innovation—finding ways we can leverage the skills and methods for innovation and applying them to our own lives so we can overcome barriers we face in our personal life. With that in mind, this episode contains tools, both personal and professional, that we ho…
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Jun 16, 2020
Tony Weaver Talks Community, Power, & Heroism
Our guest today is founder and CEO of weird enough productions, Tony Weaver. His comic series, The Uncommons is Tony’s creative outlet to design engrossing stories as well as promote digital literacy and social emotional wellbeing. As you’ll soon be able to tell, Tony has a passion for pop-culture. This passion for comics, anime, and videogames is what makes the content he produces at Weird Enough so compelling and familiar for kids. We have never had a guest who so clearly understands the plight and perspective of Gen Z students—their hobbies, their trends, their digital lives. And, although these might be unique, Tony’s believes the tool teens to navigate our complex times is one of mankind’s oldest—strorytelling. If you have teens of your own, I recommend you listen to this episode with them. We talk Tik-Tok, anime, Marvel comics, and Supreme Fanny Packs. We also talk about the relationship between identity, social media, and digital citizenship. It’s an enjoyable epis…
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Jun 9, 2020
Angela Stockman Talks Equity, Voice, & Metaphorical Thinking
Our guest this week is Angela Stockman, author of Hacking the Writing Workshop, Make Writing, and the upcoming Creating Inclusive Writing Environments in the K-12 Classroom. If you can’t tell by her titles, Angela’s passion is writing—sort of. At the heart of Angela’s work with writing is a deep commitment to broaden the ways students are able to make meaning, leveraging a wider variety of tools than just the written word. The education system’s relationship and centering of print is one with a surprising history with some pretty serious consequences—ones that Angela is trying to rectify with her Make Writing approach. Over the course of today’s episode we’ll be exploring how Maker Writing and Multimodal Composition are approaches to writing that promote equity, voice, and metaphorical thinking. Angela’s ability to distill and synthesize research and turn it in to classroom practice is second to none, and her knowledge and passion are evident throughout our dialogue.…
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Jun 3, 2020
Kathleen St. Villier Hill Talks Identity, Relationships, and Action
In today’s episode, Julie and I chat with Kathleen St. Villier Hill. Kathleen is currently the director Elijah Cummings Youth Program and an advocate for youth leadership and community building in Baltimore Maryland. Our conversation today will explore the relationship between identity, relationships, and action. With everything happening right now in the America right now, we felt this was a topical conversation that would challenge educators to grapple with how our own identity impacts the way we relate to and engage with our students and each other. The importance of this reflection is a major theme in this episode, and one that Kathleen takes personally and seriously. As protests around the country continue, many people are wondering what else they can do to be an ally for marginalized people in their community. Posting on social media might be a good first step, but following that with some serious reflection about our identity, relationship to others, and action are even more i…
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May 26, 2020
Oliver Caviglioli Talks Metaphors, Design, and Visual-Spatial Thinking
Our guest this week is Oliver Caviglioi, an author, illustrator, and previous head of special school from across the pond in the UK. What makes him such an impressive thinker (and great guest) is his ability to explore educational theory from an artistic and scientific perspective. Better still, he weaves and integrates them to the point, where you’ll soon realize that there’s way more overlap than you might have expected. The true beauty of this episode though lies in Oliver’s ability to leverage the very metaphors he recommends teachers use in his own explanations.
Our conversation today will be anchored by the concepts of organization, design, and explanation, which undergird all of the fascinating educational and explanatory principles Oliver will be sharing with us today. Today’s episode is filled with tons of practical tips that you’ll be able to use in your classroom or online. By the time it wraps, we hope you’ll come to agree visual-spatial thinking and metaphors…
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May 19, 2020
Dr. Jenni Donohoo Talks Collective Efficacy
Our guest today is best selling author, consultant, and facilitator Jenni Donohoo. Jenni’s work focuses on the idea of collective efficacy—a belief system that asserts, through teacher’s shared beliefs and actions, schools can positively affect student outcomes. Something that, at first glance might seem straightforward, but as you’ll realize over the course of this episode, is infinitely complex. We used the concepts of beliefs, expectations, results, efforts, and collaboration to frame today’s conversation, and I know that personally, my head is still spinning at the game changing potential collective efficacy can have in education. Jenni’s vision for a more collaborative school is one that I’m sure you’ll find compelling. Over the course of today’s episode, we’ll dive in to a range of examples from psychology, history, and even our own lives to uncover the power of collective efficacy.Support the show
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May 12, 2020
Justine Harris Talks Gardening & Sustainability
Our guest today is none other than Julie’s mom, Justine Harris! In our first ever recording, Justine was kind enough to loan us her time and expertise talking about gardening. With many people looking for more sustainable ways to grow food, or even just time to pick up an ecologically friendly hobby, we felt a discussion about gardening would be pretty topical. Justine is a knowledgeable guest who provides some great, practical ideas about how to get started working on your own garden. Even if you don’t have a green thumb, our conversation today will touch on topics like sustainability, ecological ethics, and the importance of paying attention to what we put in to the earth. Support the show
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May 12, 2020
Dr. Sheron Brown Talks Equity & Wellness
Our guest today is Dr. Sheron Brown, director of Tampa Bay Healthcare collaborative and a certified yoga and meditation instructor. Over the course of the conversation we’ll unpack the relationship between equity and wellness—and believe me there’s a lot to work through! What I appreciated about our dialogue was that Dr. Brown approaches the idea of wellness holistically, evaluating it from both a personal and structural perspective. She’ll explain systemic issues like redlining and food deserts, as well as personal tips like breathing techniques and how to embrace uncertainty. What this conversation really made clear though, was that the suffering of racially and economically marginalized groups we’re seeing as a result of COVID 19 isn’t new, but has shone a light on the inequity inherent in a lot of our systems and it’ll take a lot of self-evaluation and complex coordination to rebuild them. Dr. Brown’s dedication to systems thinking and equity work will frame Dr. Bro…
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May 12, 2020
Dr. Jody Carrington Talks Relationships & Connection
Our guest today is Dr. Jody Carrington, author, consultant, keynote speaker, and all-around relationship expert. Over the course of this conversation we’ll be looking at how concepts like authenticity, connection, and physical presence impact human relationships. As you’ll immediately notice, Jody is a charismatic guest who is deeply passionate about what she does. What impressed us the most this episode, was how well she balances her deep specialized knowledge and accessible presenting style. Her message about forming meaningful bonds with those we’re entrusted to care for, whether that be between administrators and teachers or teachers and their students, is more important now than ever. As you’ll soon hear, Jody’s commitment to her message is as infectious as it is admirable. Support the show
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May 12, 2020
Kristi Beckman Talks Leadership & Accountability
My guest today is Kristi Beckman. Kristi has been a teacher, adjunct professor, soccer coach and served as a culture and wellness coordinator for D. C. United Youth Academy. But she's more than the sum of her accomplishments and job titles. Wherever she goes, Kristi is a leader and a mentor. Whether it's the classroom or on the pitch, I've seen her transform the lives of young people in amazing ways. That's because, put simply, Kristi just gets people, and at the core of her various roles and responsibilities lies a deep desire to help others grow. Our conversation today will explore how the concepts of culture, connection, feedback and accountability impact leadership. Support the show
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May 12, 2020
Ken Gordon Talks Writing & Authenticity
Our guest this week is writer, humanist, and self-described enthusiast, Ken Gordon. I met Ken a few years ago at a Business Innovation Factory conference, and was immediately drawn to his quick wit and authenticity. In fact, authenticity will be a big part of today’s conversation. When I asked Ken for a topic, he naturally chose writing--he’s been published by outlets like The Atlantic and New York Times, and is a true believer in the power of writing. What you’ll soon realize though, is nobody puts Ken in a corner, as no job title can easily nail down what he brings to the Boston-based innovation and design consultancy, EPAM Continuum, where he works. What Ken really cares about, and what we unpack in this conversation, is how writing can serve as a tool for exploration and a portal for self-discovery. We hope you’ll enjoy as much as we did.Support the show
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May 8, 2020
Introduction
Welcome to our new podcast, Conceptually Speaking! Check out our teaser. First episode will drop Tuesday, May 12th.Support the show
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