Better Learning Podcast

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Everyone remembers this class activity and you may even remember what your answer was throughout the years. But what's crazy, is that about 60% of teenagers are interested in someday starting their own business.

Sixty Percent.

If over half of our kids want to be entrepreneurs, why don't more of our schools help support them? Well, that's what a new school out in Aurora, Colorado has set out to do.

Laura Burke is a 23-year veteran of the K-12 system and has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, special education district administrator, and principal on special assignments working in leadership development. She is now the founding principal of the Clara Brown Entrepreneurial Academy, a new magnet school in Aurora, CO, and the first and only K-8 public school in the state focused on entrepreneurial education in Colorado.

Clara Brown is an inclusive community where everyone is empowered to be innovative risk-takers and creators of their own futures. Here, children learn how to develop and act on their ideas to become tomorrow's entrepreneurs and inventors.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

In years past, you could look at the mission statement of any school district in the country and break it down into two categories - trying to get kids into college or trying to get kids into a better college. That's it. And even though high schools across the country usually promote a four-year college degree as the main option, that path is not right for every student — and not everyone is prepared for it.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a national shift where some school districts are pushing away from this because of factors like COVID and the national student debt. But what if the workforce deemphasized the importance of college for skills you can teach yourself?

Anya Kamenetz is the author of several books: Generation Debt (Riverhead, 2006); DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (Chelsea Green, 2010); The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing, But You Don’t Have To Be (Public Affairs, 2016); The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life (Public Affairs, 2018); and finally her latest book The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children’s Lives, And Where We Go Now (Public Affairs, 2022).

In this episode, we dive into different conversations that overlap Kamenetz's several acclaimed books on learning and the future.

Kamenetz was named a 2010 Game Changer in Education by the Huffington Post, received 2009, 2010, and 2015 National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, won an Edward R. Murrow Award for innovation in 2017 along with the rest of the NPR Ed team, and the 2022 AERA Excellence in Media Reporting on Education Research Award. She’s been a New America fellow, a staff writer for Fast Company Magazine and a columnist for the Village Voice. She’s contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine and Slate, and been featured in documentaries shown on PBS, CNN, HBO and Vice. She frequently speaks on topics related to children, learning and technology, to audiences including at Google, Apple, and Sesame, SXSW and TEDx.

Kamenetz grew up in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, in a family of writers and mystics, and graduated from Yale University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters.

Teachers can't replace parents and schools can't solve all student ills. Yet in a lot of ways, our educational system still demands these efforts from our schools.

Erin Jones has been involved in and around schools for the past 26 years. She has taught in a variety of environments and some of the most diverse communities in the nation. In this episode, we dive into her passion for change and her initiatives to help make the change a reality.

Erin received an award as the Most Innovative Foreign Language Teacher in 2007, while teaching in Tacoma and was the Washington State Milken Educator of the Year in 2008, while teaching in Spokane. She received recognition at the White House in March of 2013 as a "Champion of Change” and was Washington State PTA’s “Outstanding Educator” in 2015.

After serving as a classroom teacher and instructional coach, Erin worked as an executive for two State Superintendents. Erin left the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2012 to work in college-access at the school district level. She left her job to run as a candidate for State Superintendent and was the first Black woman to run for any state office in Washington state, a race she lost by a mere 1%.

Erin has 3 adult children - a daughter who graduated from Central Washington University and works for the Equity in Education Coalition, a son who is a second-year graduate student at USC and one who attends college and coaches high school football and rugby with her husband of 27 years, James, who is a teacher and football coach in North Thurston School District.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

There is an urgency to support our students, teachers, and communities with learning environments that heal, nurture, and inspire. So how can our schools remake themselves to benefit health, learning, and feelings of belonging?

Our guest Claire Latané (la-ta-nay) is a writer, ecological designer, and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) and takes a deep dive into this question. She applies landscape architecture and neuroscience research connecting designed environments with mental health, safety, academic success, and physical and social outcomes to create healthier school and community environments.

Her book Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind, was released by Island Press last summer. In 2021 she founded the Collaborative for Healthy and Inclusive Learning Environments through Cal Poly Pomona’s Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

What was you experience as a kid with school?

Too many schools around the world still operate in a traditional manner, leaving future students to experience these same challenges that we faced years ago. If we are going to improve education, we need to continue to challenge the status quo and create change for education.

In 2015 Travis was recognized for his work with integrating technology into classrooms by being named TIE Technology Leader of the Year. Travis believes that by empowering learners to drive their learning we can start to create a new system that honors all learners and their cultures.

When Travis is not at work you can find him spending time together with his wife Lynn and their two boys DJ (4) and Tyler (1).

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

Community involvment is crucial when districts go through new construction or renovation.

Chris Potts, who is the Chief Operating Officer for the Upper Arlington City School District located in Columbus, Ohio, takes a deep dive into how the district went about getting community support during their major renovation projects just a couple of years ago.

Chris leads the day-to-day operations of the Upper Arlington City School District. His department of talented directors oversees nutritional services, transportation, capital improvements, maintenance, grounds, and custodial operations, as well as human resources for the classified staff.

He is a student-centered leader who believes in the importance of meaningful relationships with faculty, staff, and students in order to achieve comprehensive excellence across the departments, which he leads.

Before joining Upper Arlington City School District, Chris graduated from Avon Lake High School in Avon Lake, Ohio. He received his BA in psychology from Denison University in 1998, where he also earned 4 varsity letters as a member of the basketball team and served as team captain his senior year.   In 2001, Chris earned a Master’s Degree in Sport Management as well as a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from The Ohio State University.

On a personal note, Crhis and his wife Megan, a 1994 Upper Arlington graduate, reside in Upper Arlington and have three children, Natalie (17), Charlotte (15) and Ryan (13).

Season 6, Episode 19

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

Welcome to Season 6 of the Better Learning Podcast! Our eighteenth episode in the Season features Erica Waayenberg, an interior designer, strategy-minded problem solver, and head of research & content for ThinkLab.

Erica embraces design thinking with a career that has encompassed interior design, sales, strategic program development, marketing management, and consulting within the design world. Erica’s enthusiasm for design and how we connect to our surroundings was fostered in her education in interior design from Michigan State University.

She is passionate about the creative process, authentic marketing, the built environment, and connecting people with inspired and thoughtful design. To her role at ThinkLab, Erica brings a well-rounded industry perspective paired with an eagerness to inform and inspire industry members of all types through research-based insights.

Outside of her office, Erica loves to travel, be outdoors, dive into messy creative play with her boys, and savor great conversation with friends and family over coffee or a French 75.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

Welcome to Season 6 of the Better Learning Podcast! Our seventeenth episode in the Season features Sandra Duncan, an international consultant, author of six books focused on the environmental design of early childhood places, designer of two furniture collections called Sense of Place and Sense of Place for Wee Ones, and adjunct faculty at Nova Southeastern University.

Sandra works to assure the miracle and magic of childhood through indoor and outdoor play spaces that are intentionally designed to connect young children to their early learning environments, communities, and neighborhoods.

Sandra has designed and taught university courses on built learning environments and has collaborated with architects, interior designers, and educators to create extraordinary places and possibilities for children and students of all ages.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

Welcome to Season 6 of the Better Learning Podcast! Our sixteenth episode in the Season features Tom Vander Ark, an advocate for innovations in learning.

As the CEO of Getting Smart, Tom advises schools, districts, networks, foundations and learning organizations on the path forward. He is the author of Getting Smart, Smart Cities That Work for Everyone, Smart Parents, Better Together, The Power of Place and Difference Making at the Heart of Learning.

Previously, he served as the first Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Tom has also served as a public school Superintendent in Washington State and has extensive private sector experience.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

Welcome to Season 6 of the Better Learning Podcast! Our fifteenth episode in the Season features Kyle Schwartz, a teacher at Doull Elementary in Denver, Colorado.

Kyle Schwartz just finished her tenth year of teaching at Doull Elementary in Denver, Colorado. In her first year of teaching, Kyle asked her students a simple yet powerful question-- What do you wish your teacher knew? Her students' candid responses inspired the #IWishMyTeacherKnew movement and sparked a conversation about the realities students face and how schools can become more supportive, safe, and welcoming.

Her first book, I Wish My Teacher Knew: How One Question Can Change Everything for Our Kids focuses on realities that students face and how educators can respond to their students’ needs by building relationships. Her second book, I Wish For Change: Unleashing the Power of Kids to Make a Dif erence is a guide for educators, families, and mentors to help young people find a personal sense of power and use it to better their communities.

In addition to teaching, Kyle is a dedicated advocate for students. She has spoken internationally about supporting all students, differentiating instruction for students learning English, building strong classroom communities, and helping young people create change.

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.