CASDA EdCasts

This episode features Kurt Hassenpflug, an ENL teacher at Shaker High School. He shares his background, experiences and insights into topics such as ELL Co-Teaching.

CASDA Faculty member Carly Mead is joined by Gina Fusco, Director of Instructional Technology at Lansingburgh Central Schools to discuss the evolution of educational technology, strategies to prepare for computer-based testing and women in STEM

Mike Schell, a Social Studies teacher at HFM BOCES Adirondack Academy joins CASDA's Gregg Weinlein to discuss the challenges and rewards of working in Alternative Education.  

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This podcast is the first in a series addressing race and equity issues and their impact on schools. In this episode, CASDA Executive Director Mike Piccirillo is joined by Kathleen McLean, CEO of the McLean Group. They discuss how their childhood experiences shaped their understanding of race and identity and reflect on events that led them to recognize the urgency of anti-racist work in schools.

Episode 16 features a dialog between Mike and Dr. Jason Lane, Interim Dean of the School of Education at UAlbany. They discuss how the School of Education has supported K-12 during Covid-19 through their remote education website that provides resources and practices for effective online instruction. They also contemplate shared equity challenges facing K-12 schools, colleges and universities and how collaboration across sectors such as healthcare, nonprofit and government can ensure greater support for students.

In a special episode of CASDA's EdCasts series, CASDA Executive Director Michael Piccirillo, Ed.D sat down with Professor Brett Levy of the UAlbany School of Education to discuss fostering authentic, engaged dialog in social studies classrooms. Drawing upon Dr. Levy's research, they discuss practices that allow students to move beyond superficial reactions and engage substantively with differing viewpoints to learn and grow to develop civic literacy.

In this timely episode, CASDA Executive Director Mike Piccirillo, Ed.D talks to Alicia Holt, Research and Design Consultant with Common Thread Consulting about the need to approach Social Emotional Learning through an antiracist lens, and the problems of standardization in a system constructed around whiteness. She also takes us through "Tools to Promote Antiracist Social Emotional Learning in the Era of Covid-19," a practice focused infographic that provides tools that educators can use individually and in community to better integrate antiracism in their classrooms.

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This CASDA EdCast features Dr. Delicia Greene, Assistant Professor in the Literacy and Learning Department at the UAlbany School of Education. She discusses research presented in her article “We Need More ‘US’ in Schools!!”: Centering Black Adolescent Girls’ Literacy and Language Practices in Online School Spaces.’ Dr. Greene discusses how thoughtfully designed digital learning environments and culturally responsive content outside of traditional schooling structures allow Black girls’ rich language practices and nuanced identity constructions to flourish. She encourages educators to embrace multimodal expressions of learning enabled by digital technology and highlights teachers’ discomfort with some platforms as an opportunity for student agency in the co-construction of knowledge. Dr. Greene ultimately emphasizes that if digital pedagogy is to be truly equitable, it must be grounded in authentic relationships that value the languages, literacies, cultures and histories of historically marginalized students.