Anchored in Education

Several years ago the father of an autistic student approached an area art teacher with a plan. His son, a talented artist, found a way to express himself through art. Now the family wanted to offer the same opportunity to teens and adults with special needs in a special evening arts program.

They call the program Our Voice Through Art. The six-week classes are held three different times throughout the year for an hour in the evenings.

The art teacher is my sister, Jodi England. Jodi has joined us on Anchored in Education before to talk about the importance of art in schools and classrooms. Today she joins us to talk to us about accommodating for students with special needs in the classrooms. She also shares more about the one-of-a-kind organization Our Voice Through Art.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Jodi.

Have you ever heard someone talk about your school and you think, "That's not even close!" I'm guessing you have. But the crucial question is: did you set them straight? My guess is that doesn't often happen. Here is the deal though, it's up to us to change the narrative.

From custodians, to teachers, to admin, to the board of education, we are all a part of a larger picture with a singular focus: educating kids. To do this we need to make sure that everyone, and I mean everyone knows what we are setting out to do each and every day. And I've got the perfect guest to talk more about this.

I'm not quite sure anyone can bring as much energy to everything they do as Joe Sanfelippo. To say Joe is kind of passionate about education is like saying Popeye kind of liked spinach. Joe is PASSIONATE about education, and he wants you to be too. I can't really explain it any better than that. You're just going to have to listen.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Joe.

In the last regular episode of Anchored in Education, Dr. Tony Frontier joined us to discuss his book Five Levers to Improve Learning. Tony's book gives thought-provoking insights into how we often make try to find solutions to problems using the wrong lever of change.

I had the opportunity to talk more to Tony about how the five levers came to be. We also discussed different kinds of change and why some change is so difficult. Give a listen to this BONUS feature of Anchored in Education.

How many times have you heard the word change in education? Okay, too many to count. Let's just go with how many times you've heard change so far this year. Probably still a lot. It is no secret that change is a constant in education. But are we changing the right components to achieve the results we're actually looking for?

That is the question co-author Dr. Tony Frontier poses in his book The Five Levers to Improve Learning. In a tongue-in-cheek type example, we say that you don't improve student achievement by changing the bus routes. Of course we know this, but often times we try to improve learning by pulling levers completely unrelated to the problem.

Tony will take us through the five levers and how they should be properly pulled to bring about change. He also talks about leverage errors, which is the result when we pull one lever expecting change to happen in a different area.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Tony.

The Titanic is still one of the most recognized maritime disasters. Historians often point out that the loss of so many lives could have been avoided had the White Star Line put the proper amount of life boats on the ship. Something that would not have kept the doomed ship afloat would have been rearranging the furniture into a different configuration.

Now let's think about our schools and classrooms. How often are we met with a problem where our solution is simply the problem in a rearranged fashion? I'm guessing more often than we care to admit.

In this episode, I am going to talk more about the differences between rearranging and restructuring. One simply moves pieces without addressing the problem while the other actually looks at change. Take a listen and decide for yourself what you'd rather see happen.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes.

One of the most crucial aspects of education is involvement from families. Research even shows how valuable it is on students. Increased family engagement leads to higher grades, better attendance, and more likely that a student will have a successful post-secondary career.

I honestly believe schools all over are getting a better grasp on this as they look at ways to positively engage families. Good News Call of the Day is one popular way. Many schools lean on social media to connect with their families. The key is knowing where, how, and when to connect so you reach as many as you can.

For today's Anchored in Education, I've invited Charley Cass back to talk more on family engagement. Charley has some creative ways to connect with families at his school. Plus, he shares other ideas that are inexpensive and invaluable at the same time. You might remember the last Charley was on we talked about the stress awards can have on students. Click here to listen to that episode.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Charley.

The United States has been at war on poverty since 1964. However, with the Economic Opportunity Act was signed, it was primarily addressing the lack of financial means. Fast forward to today—we are still talking about how we can best address poverty.

Only poverty today goes well beyond the lack of money. Poverty can be the lack of resources which does include financial, but also includes language, emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support systems, relationships, and the knowledge of hidden rules.

So to help us out, our guest today is Sherry Slankard. Sherry is a school counselor, currently working in a rural elementary school. Prior to this she was in a middle school setting for 15 years. More importantly, as we hear from Sherry, she grew up in rural, generational poverty. She uses her incredible personal story and her formal training to help educators all over better understand where their students may be coming from and how best to reach them.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Sherry.

Education has evolved in many ways over the last several decades. Almost everything from curriculum, to technology, to how we approach teaching has improved. We often say, education sure doesn't look like it did when I was in school. Which is great because I don't want my children taught the same way I was thirty years ago.

But we might notice one thing that hasn't changed—the majority of administrators are still men. Though countless studies have shown us that women are equally capable and sometimes even more so to lead than men, we still find a disproportionate amount of men in the top roles. And while we've seen great increases in numbers in the principal role, we are still facing 75 percent of the superintendent population being comprised by men.

Women in Leadership is such an important topic. Which is why I've invited Dr. Courtney Orzel on Anchored in Education today to talk more on why it is important to support, encourage, and grow women in leadership roles. Courtney is a nationally recognized superintendent for many of her efforts including using social media to promote your district and encouraging women in leadership.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes and to read more about Courtney.

Think back to the last big decision you made. It could be a decision about anything from big to small. It could be a career change, new vehicle, new shoes, or even what you're having for supper. Now try to remember if you hesitated before making the decision. Did you have the slightest bit of apprehension? Did you question if it was a good decision?

The larger the decision, the more likely we are to put extra time into checking and double checking that this is truly what we want. I cannot tell you the number of times I have had supper only to say afterwards, "It was alright, but I just wasn't in the mood for it." Thankfully, it was just dinner and not something that would be a major part of my life and the lives of others.

Deciding to become an educator is one of the decisions where we want to take time to make sure. This job is 110% worth it, but it is at times difficult, frustrating, and emotionally demanding. Some of us know it is the job for us with no hesitation. But if you are hesitating, I want to ask you a few questions to make this is really what you want. Because if you get into a classroom and you're miserable, then your performance will lack and students will suffer.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes.

A major part of education is staying current in this profession as it constantly evolves. Old challenges are met with new ones with each passing year. There are workshops, webinars, books, and more that teachers can engage with to further develop professionally. And one organization has committed themselves to the cause of creating top-quality professional learning experiences.

That organization is ASCD. ASCD has been around over 75 years, supporting educators in their quest to become even better than they already are. Whether it is through books (they publish over 50 per year) or the monthly Educational Leadership magazine, or any of their other publications, workshops, or conferences, there is something available for everyone.

Joining us on Anchored in Education this week is interim CEO and Executive Director Ronn Nozoe. Aside from a quite extensive career that has been anchored in education, Ronn is clearly passionate for everything ASCD is about. This fun conversation gives educators at all levels an idea of what ASCD can do for them.

After listening to this week's Anchored in Education episode, head over to www.escottengland.com to find the show notes. There you can read more about Ronn as well as find a link to ASCD resources.