Busted Pencils

Class, welcome our newest Pencil Busters, our friends at 100 Gardens! Co-founder and Executive Director, Sam Fleming, and Education Director, Kelli Howe, join us to share the incredible education and community work of 100 Gardens. Founded in 2011 as a humanitarian aquaponics nutrition program in Haiti, 100 Gardens began growing into the education world naturally. Because children, in their infinite capacity for curiosity, observed the natural and scientific phenomena at work and wanted to learn and participate. 100 Gardens has been growing ever since, installing aquaponics systems in schools and correctional facilities across the United States. With each tank and floating garden installed, 100 Gardens also works with educators to implement curricula to engage learners of all ages. It’s about more than growing food, this is about growing communities and a healthier world. Forget about elephants in the room, let’s talk about the tilapia in the tank!

For more information on aquaponics and100 Gardens as well as a really inspiring 15 minutes, watch Sam’s TED talk!

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Jimmie Kaska, Civic Media sports editor and recurring Pencil Buster, joins us to talk change. Change abounds for Wisconsin’s essential curricular sports for high school. From adjustments to gender requirements for sports teams by the WIAA to playoff changes for next year’s football, Jimmie’s got the details. Plus, it’s playoff time for the winter sports! This is one of Dr. Johnny’s absolute favorite times in the year, as hockey (especially), wrestling, and basketball build to season finales and grand champions. Looking ahead, next year’s football playoffs will play out more equitably for 8-player and 11-player teams alike. And equity’s always a change we support!

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

With an average public school student in the United States facing down at least 100 standardized tests in their k-12 years, it’s no surprise some families have said “Enough, no more.” For all those who’ve seen their children’s love of learning drained away by high-stakes test after high-stakes test, this one’s for you. There is a way out. Today, we shine light on the Opt-Out movement. This group formed in the early 20-aughts in response to a surge of standardized testing. Rather than improve education, these tests focus on punishing schools and teachers, say Opt-Out advocates. In fact, one of our educated educators, Dr. Tim Slekar is one of them. And today, his daughter Lacey joins the hallowed ranks of Pencil Busters to share her experience as an Opt-Out student. From elementary through high school, Lacey opted out of standardized testing and opted in to high quality education. She became so passionate for the movement that she chose to speak before her local school board while in middle school. Right on, Lacey!

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Welcome to a new week of Pencil Busting, Class! We begin where we left off last week, with the “Nation’s Report Card”, NAEP. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is a standardized test for students across the country in 4th and 8th grade. So why are we talking about yet another standardized test? Because it’s part of the National Institute of Education Sciences that President Trump gutted last week. Don’t worry, the test will continue. But the people who interpret the data and make it accessible to the public will be replaced with loyalists. What could *possibly* go wrong?

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Returning Pencil Buster Dr. Paul Thomas joins us to help us break down the “science of reading.” This is a topic we’ve covered frequently, most recently with Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige this week. But Dr. Paul brings a uniquely nuanced and deep knowledge of the marketing scheme/regressive conservative political tool masquerading as a curriculum set to the show. Because Dr. Paul’s dug deep, and with his 40+ year career as a literacy educator, writer, and speaker he is one educated educator on the topic. Don’t be fooled by their talk of “science”, Dr. Paul urges us. It is a method for censorship and limiting of educators. We can do so much better. And our students deserve so much better. Yet conservative lawamakers have written laws literally banning the teaching of anything except the so-called “science of reading.” Come on, let’s not remove tools from our educators’ literacy teaching kits. That’s just foolish.

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, educated educator to the extreme, Pencil Buster extraordinarie, and also Matt Damon’s mom, joins us. We begin by checking in with Dr. Nancy. Since we last spoke, President Trump began his second term in office with a barrage of anti-education executive actions. Hold strong, educated educators. Then, we turn to a favorite discussion on BustED Pencils: literacy pedagogy. Nancy, with Julie Hackett, published this piece last week on “the fallacy of settled science in literacy.” As in all aspects of education, literacy presents complex needs for a diverse learning population. While one teaching style works for many, no style works for all. And teachers must have a robust tool box to adapt to each learner’s needs. Nancy argues that the so-called Science of Reading is actually a pedagogical fad, promoting a simple solution to a complex problem. And that’s no solution at all. To start learning more, check out Robert Tierney and P David Pearson’s open-access book Fact-Checking the Science of Reading.

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Dr. Tim and Producer Jess look at trending news concerning the federal Department of Education. President Trump ran on a platform that included dismantling this department. He’s tapped a wrestling media megabillionaire to lead it in order to end it. And we wait with bated breath for an executive order declaring it’s death. On Friday morning, Democratic lawmakers in Washington DC attempted to enter the Department of Education main building and were denied access. News sources differed widely in how they covered the event. NBC put it much as we did, ‘House Democrats denied access…’ while sharing a video of their confrontation. On the other side of the media aisle, Fox raised the level of aggression significantly, with the headline ‘Democrats ambush Education Dept in attempt to force meeting”. We urge you to take extra time in these coming days, weeks, months, and years to read beyond the headlines. And read beyond your first choice media source, not only to broaden your perspective but to gain additional clarity. Finally, we plead with you all- keep those critical thinking muscles sharp and flexible, we need them!!!

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Class, on Wednesday we talked with Randi Weingarten, president of AFT. With Randi, we discussed the very real threat of schools becoming ‘wargrounds’ for I.C.E. raids. Now, as Dr. Johnny quickly points out, we don’t mean ice like frozen water. In this episode, our educated educators dive into the Immigration and Custody Enforcement (I.C.E.) and the history of schools being part of a designation as ‘sensitive locations’. That designation barred I.C.E. activities except under extreme cases. No more, due to President Trump’s revocation of the policy. This creates great conflict in schools especially. Teachers serve as temporary guardians for their students, acting in loco parentis during their time together.

Schools simply aren’t safe for students. They ought to be, but they’re just not. And teachers, acting in loco parentis seek to minimize the harm their students face. There is no way for I.C.E. enforcement activity to be non-harmful in a school. Children will be traumatized. So what CAN teachers do? And what do our laws currently say students are entitled to?

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Chad Holmes, host of the WXCO morning show and sports broadcaster for that station, joins us to bust some pencils! He brings updates on the winter sports season as we near the playoffs. With many teams battling illness and injury, games are being postponed and rescheduled. However, plan to catch Chad broadcast the Storm game this Saturday at 2pm on WXCO. You can catch that on your Civic Media app, online, or in central Wisconsin at FM 98.9 or AM 1230 terrestrial dials. Chad and our educated educators also discuss some upcoming changes from the WIAA that will impact the next football seasons, as covered by our pal Jimmie Kaska here.

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!

Randi Weingarten, President of AFT and a recurring Pencil Buster, joins us for this very special class in session. In the first days of his second term, President Trump’s administration stripped schools of designation as ‘sensitive locations’. That means Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are no longer prohibited from arresting individuals suspected of lacking proper migration documentation in schools. This will further turn schools away from being places of learning and community and into places of fear. As President of the second largest teacher’s union in the nation, Randi put it into a simple urging: “don’t make schools a warground”. In this country of laws and rights, EVERY child has the right to go to school, decided by SCOTUS in Plyler v. Doe. Let those schools be places of growth and engagement, not fear and trauma.

BustED Pencils: Fully Leaded Education Talk is part of Civic Media. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! To learn more about the show and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows. Join the conversation by calling or texting us at 608-557-8577 to leave a message!