Community Room Podcast

This episode marks the end of the Community Room Podcast! From Bal, Gayle and Corbin, thank you to all our guests, listeners and supporters throughout this incredible journey. We hope you all have enjoyed these enriching conversations as much as we have.

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The California Community Schools Partnership Program supports schools efforts to partner with community agencies and local government to align community resources to improve student outcomes. California’s state government invested a historic $3 billion dollars into the California Community Schools Partnership Program with the aim of transforming schools into community hubs that deliver a whole child education.

The approach is more than just a monetary investment. UCLA is involved and have created the UCLA Center for Community Schooling. The director, Karen Hunter-Quartz led an effort to start the UCLA community school - a school that features bilingual programs in both Spanish and Korean, mirroring the languages most students speak at home in Koreatown - where the school is located. There is an on campus immigration law clinic which represents students and parents seeking visas, or asylum. Hunter-Quartz described the concept of community schools in a question “how can we design schools differently to promote these small, nurturing communities?” Her vision of the community schools that were to come were schools that embodied the four pillars of community schools:

But UCLA has also developed Center X, which serves as the intersection of research and educational practice - a place where its roots are in the activist community. Initially conceived in 1992 in response to the Rodney King verdict and subsequent uprisings, Center X strives to challenge the status quo that perpetuates inequity, poor educational practice, and racism. Center X, 30 years later, is continuing to fight for racial justice. Patrisse Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter, is an alumni of Center X. Center X does not claim that these gaps or inequities will be solved by schools alone, but it is committed to public schooling as one of the best democratic spaces for working to become a better, more just society.



RESOURCES:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/ccspp.asp

QUOTE:

"To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination."
- Bell Hooks

BIO:

Annamarie Francois has over 35 years experience in education, in the areas of teaching, program development, teacher preparation and leadership. She was the director of UCLA’s Centre X’s community and equity-based teacher preparation programs for several years- and was recently appointed associate dean of public engagement of the UCLA school of education and information studies, and she represents them in local, state and national convenings. She has a long history of leading innovative educational initiatives focused on developing anti-racist, student-centered practices in education and is an advisor and representative on numerous boards. Dr. Francois’ linked-in description says she is “igniting collaborative good trouble to transform the future of K-16 education

Dr. Karen Hunter Quartz currently serves as the Research Director for UCLA Community Schools. Quartz is also adjunct professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Throughout her career, Quartz has co-authored several articles for publications like Teachers College Record and Equity and Excellence in Education.
Quartz’s research, teaching, and writing focus on new school development; the struggle to recruit, prepare, and retain good urban teachers; the measurement of effective teaching; and the use of data and...

In our guest’s beautifully written and laid-out book, she conveys the universal importance of belonging and its impact, in the introduction. She says that it is not just her personal experience that has led her to believe that belonging is the thing that matters most. She says in her book:

“Kids who feel they belong learn better in school. Elders with a sense of belonging stay healthy and aware . Immigrants who belong thrive in their new communities. Having a sense of belonging leads to flourishing in every environment and group, big and small, from your home to the culture at large.” (p.xiii)

We believe belonging matters. If we truly belong, that means that we are welcome, in our full selves, to be involved and included. We feel seen and we feel we matter.

Today we are going to talk to our guest about belonging – what it is, what it feels like, where to watch for it and how we can try to create the conditions for it – in our classrooms, our schools and in our communities.
Our Guest is Dr. Susie Wise.

RESOURCES:

https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324006183 (Geoffrey L. Cohen - Belonging)

https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-to-Transgress-Education-as-the-Practice-of-Freedom/hooks/p/book/9780415908085#

https://www.designforbelonging.com/

QUOTE:

“As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another's voices, in recognizing one another's presence.”

- Bell Hooks, from her 1994 book, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (New York: Routledge)

BIO:

Dr. Susie Wise is a designer and educator with experience in education, tech and the social sector. She designs learning experiences and coaches leaders in innovation practices and equity design. She teaches at the d.school at Stanford where she founded and led the K12 Lab. She is also a co-creator of Liberatory Design. Susie lives with family and their wild dog Hijiki in Oakland, California.

Today we are going to hear about one lower-mainland school district community schools’ approach and model, and we will focus on one aspect, especially, that is quite unique. Our guests today are actually colleagues of mine and Bal’s, so we know them well and know that you will find this really interesting and inspiring, as you hear about one of the roles this district has created, to add to the strength of their school district’s approach. I will introduce our guests in just a moment.

We hope you see that on the podcast, our central aim is that we are trying to look at how schools put care and connection at the centre of what they do – and why that is so crucial. We believe that the deepest learning occurs when there is a strong relationship between the student and the teacher and when the learner feels safe to take risks, has choice and feels agency, feels connected to the school and community, and can be seen for who they really are and for the strengths and possibilities they bring.


RESOURCES:

- https://earlylearning.ubc.ca/monitoring-system/mdi/mdi-overview/ (Middle Years Development Index)

- https://chartlab.ca/about-ydi/ (Youth Development Index)

- https://www.gov.nl.ca/education/earlychildhood/edi/ (Early Development Index)

- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791?scroll=top&needAccess=true (Linda Darling-Hammond Article: "Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development"


QUOTE:

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BIO:

Sheri Brattston is currently the Managing Director of Community Education with the Burnaby School District. Her work involves supporting and developing informal and formal programs in the K-12 system, as well as the community. The purpose of these programs is to promote learning, enhance well-being, build capacity, reduce equity gaps and improve the quality of life of individuals and groups of all ages. She began her teaching career as an Early Childhood Educator in 1991 and later, she joined the Burnaby School District where she taught as an elementary teacher, continuing education teacher, and Community School Coordinator. After completing her Master’s in Education, Sheri joined a Provincial organization as the Director of Early Learning and Family Literacy. Across the Province she had the pleasure of working alongside early learning and community-based literacy organizations to help strengthen partner relationships and work together to build program capacity. The best part of her career so far has been the deep and joyful relationships she has made with diverse educators, children, families, and communities.

Kevin Herd has been working with children & youth for 20+ years in every capacity from coach to recreation program development to the classroom. His passion for fostering connections finds him in his current role as Community Connect Worker in an Elementary school setting for the past 11 years. Kevin knows firsthand that the key to healthy physical and social development is having positive role models to learn from and strives to be one to all his students as well as his two young sons. In his role he is responsible for building long term connections with kids and parents from which the groundwork of mutual respect, trust, openness & accountability can grow.

This episode is going to be one in which we delve into what it is that youth need to thrive.We know that research shows that several significant elements help our students grow and develop at their best, and we have a guest today who is an expert in this area. We know, of course, it is not just good grades and academic success that enable kids to thrive in school and in life, but that there are far more pieces to the puzzle than that. There are conditions, too, that create the opportunities for growth and development of students, and creating these conditions also takes intention and time and skill. Once again, we are so fortunate to have this guest, here at the virtual kitchen table with us, so we can pick his brain and get into this topic, as this – helping our students to thrive and be their best selves – is what it is all about.

RESOURCES:

acebc.ca

QUOTE:

“Every human being strives for significance, but people will always make mistakes if they do not recognize that their own significance lies in their contribution to the lives of others.” (Social Interest, Gemeinschaftsgefühl)
-Alfred Adler


BIO:

Nick Christofides has been working with families in the Lower Mainland for the last 23 years. He is a former teacher, coach, counsellor, department head, site based administrator and currently works with the district leadership team as the Safe and Caring Schools lead. Much of Nick’s work has been focussed in the areas of fostering connections, helping vulnerable students, promoting health and wellness and supporting the education of staff and students in the area of mental health literacy.

This week we have a very special guest who has done so much work in her classroom, district and internationally. There were so many topics we could have covered with her including anti-racism, community school frameworks, administration, international work, academia as she is studying her PhD, classroom teaching, mindfulness and so many other things. Meena Mangat joins us to talk about her anti-racism work, what healing work means and giving kids dignity; plus so much more.

QUOTE:

"“Research shows that healthy adult-child relationships, like those between school staff and students, safe and supportive school environments, and targeted resources and interventions all help build those protective factors. This effect is strongest when we elevate student voice, co-construct experiences grounded in a healthy sense of identity and belonging, celebrate our students’ cultures, and promote relationships anchored in dignity. We know that to support our students, we must promote the healing needed to build protective barriers and buffer against trauma.”
- The Healing-Centered Framework for Chicago Public Schools

BIO:

Meena Mangat has been a teacher for 15 years in a lower mainland school district. She has taught English Language Learning, English, and she helped create an inquiry based mini school at one of her schools. She has led anti-racist dialogue groups for educators, has worked with administrators around the world, and is currently completing her PhD after finishing a Masters in Contemplative Studies. Meena is a writer who has published articles academically, one of which we will put in the show notes. She will soon be a vice-principal in her district and has been a leader in every school she has taught in since she began teaching

The conditions for learning. So much has been said about what it takes to cultivate the fertile ground for deep learning. With all of the research and scholarship on how we learn, it is hard to deny the fundamental role relationships and emotions play in learning. Today we are going to speak with two highly-respected and beloved teachers who embed their practice with structures and routines that send the message to their students that, yes, they are cared for, and are safe and are important. Their pedagogy reflects this so that the students are ready and excited to learn, yes, … and also so that their students know that all people deserve to be cared for and accepted and respected, and that to be a caring and concerned person in community with others, is important for now in school, but for onward, in life. Yes, they create a fertile ground for learning, and they also cultivate a fertile ground for building caring, community-minded, socially and emotionally students.

Today we want to welcome to Community Room’s kitchen table, two classroom teachers from a community school in the lower mainland of BC: Megan Aprim and Marie Stevens.

RESOURCES:

- https://www.socialthinking.com/zones-of-regulation/free-stuff (Zones of Regulation)
- https://poets.org/poem/work-4 (Poem by Kahlil Gibran)
- https://www.portageandmainpress.com/Books/S/Stand-Like-a-Cedar (Stand Like a Cedar)
- https://www.amazon.ca/Rabbit-Listened-Cori-Doerrfeld/dp/073522935X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+rabbit+listened&qid=1665107776&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjk0IiwicXNhIjoiMC43MyIsInFzcCI6IjAuNzUifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-1 (The Rabbit Listened)
- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653582/the-man-who-could-move-clouds-by-ingrid-rojas-contreras/
- https://www.moniquegraysmith.com/

QUOTE:

“Empathy is an emotional state essential to forming healthy relationships and communities. When community members have high levels of empathy for one another, there is less hurt, people regulate their own behaviour, and there is more forgiveness, acceptance and kindness. Perhaps it would be hard to measure with standard assessments, but imagine what might be possible if we spent a year prioritizing, strategizing, and striving to build empathy in our schools – empathy among teachers and students, among students and peers, among teachers and administrators, and among staff, parents, guardians and the community at large. I suspect we’d meet all kinds of goals, because the lack of empathy in our schools and society might be one of the root causes of a great deal of dysfunction. “

- Elena Aguilar: "The Power of Empathy"


BIO:

Megan Aprim has been teaching for 21 years, mostly as a primary teacher. Creating a safe, comfortable space where her students feel like they belong has always been a primary focus in her teaching. She loves to help her students discover a love of reading and currently has thousands of books in her classroom library. For the past 9 years, Megan has worked at an urban community school, and she enjoys taking her class to the nearby forest, where she and Marie love to plan and co-teach outdoor ed lessons. Megan has two teenage kids and seeing the education system from K-12 through their eyes has helped shape her beliefs around engagement and connection between teachers and students.

Marie Stevens has been teaching for 17...

Our guest says in her book, “Love Builds Brains”, that in order for communities to prosper, we must look at what is required to support the development of our youngest children and their families. She says: “What happens in the early years, literally builds brains and establishes the pathways that allow the young to develop more and more skills. The interaction that parents have with their children, the connections that teachers make at school – all these links create the architecture of the brain.” Our guest talks about the brain and its development in adolescents, too, and we are so excited to have her here today to speak with us.

RESOURCES:

https://www.tallpinepress.ca/products/love-builds-brains
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCvcnJ-MRqE ("Ghosts in our Genes")
https://drdansiegel.com/book/brainstorm/

QUOTE:

“... we humans cannot divorce ourselves from our biology, nor can we ignore the high-level sociocultural and cognitive forces that make us special within the animal kingdom. When we educators fail to appreciate the importance of students ’ emotions, we fail to appreciate a critical force in students ’ learning. One could argue, in fact, that we fail to appreciate the very reason that students learn at all.”

- Mary Helen Immordino-Yang: "We feel, therefore we learn: The relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education".

BIO:

Dr. Jean Clinton is a Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster, division of Child Psychiatry. She is on staff at McMaster Children’s Hospital with cross appointments in Pediatrics and Family Medicine, and an Associate in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Sick Children’s Hospital. She is a member on the MindUP Scientific Advisory Board as well as a MindUP for Families Advisor.
She was a Fellow of the Child Trauma Academy, and is a Zero to Three Academy Fellow since 2013. She has been a consultant to children and youth mental health programs, child welfare, and primary care for over 30 years.

Dr. Clinton was appointed as an education advisor to the Premier of Ontario and the Minister of Education 2014 - 2018. Dr. Clinton is renowned nationally and internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play. Jean champions the development of a national, comprehensive child well-being strategy including a system of early learning and care for all young children and their families. She is equally committed to ensuring that children’s and youths’ needs and voices are heard and respected. Dr. Clinton has also authored her first book, Love Builds Brains which will be one of the things we speak to her about today.

Her book can be ordered online through Tall Pines Press, on Amazon and in book stores everywhere.

Welcome back everyone! Are you ready for this second half of this Master Class on creating connected, caring communities in which the conditions for growth and learning are thriving? We think you will love it.

Along with the episodes coming up with some incredible guests this Fall, we think that these curated episodes are one of the ways we can do what we set out to do when we created this podcast.

So, buckle up and sit back, or get your earbuds in and walk, or rest or find a way to be comfortable and reflective, because today’s episode is featuring our local, national and international guests, as they ponder the some of the most important topics in thriving schoolsIf you did not get a chance to listen to part one, please have a look back at episode 38, as we heard our guests speak about nurturing relationships, strengthening the group, giving voice and building capacity.
Today these leaders reflect on more of the ingredients needed in schools that thrive: engaging families and community, designing for sustainable change, serving our kids, nurturing well-being and… embracing the mess.
Intrigued? We hope so.

Welcome back everyone! We hope you got a chance to listen to the first part of our curated episode on “Following the Leaders”, which we released last week. So much wisdom in there! And today, we are beyond excited to introduce you to our first guest of this season.

We first read about our guest on the ASCD website several months ago, as she was listed as a speaker there. What we were most fascinated by was that she went into Fenger, charged with “turning the school around” with her team, and embarked on a journey, that led to, what some would say, were unorthodox practices, in an urban high school. There were important realizations about what was happening there for these students and families, and what could really make a difference. And she and her team made a huge difference, to say the least. . And … what she has done since she left Fenger, is extraordinary, and is making so much impact in Chicago . I don’t want to spoil the story, as we will ask about this when we talk to her in just a second, but we know that you, too, will find her story and journey so instructive and inspiring!

RESOURCES:

https://chicagobeyond.org/

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/04/887239218/former-chicago-principal-discusses-schools-reliance-on-police-officers

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-dozier/

https://twitter.com/lizdozier

QUOTE:

“We are a community of possibilities, not a community of problems. Community exists for the sake of belonging and takes its identity from the gifts, generosity, and accountability of its citizens. It is not defined by its fears, its isolation, or its penchant for retribution. • We currently have all the capacity, expertise, programs, leaders, regulations, and wealth required to end unnecessary suffering and create an alternative future.”
― Peter Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging

BIO:

From education to activism, Liz Dozier has spent her career working tirelessly to disrupt the culture of inequity that is often pervasive in urban neighborhoods. In 2016, Dozier launched Chicago Beyond, an impact investor that invests in ideas, individuals, and organizations working to ensure all young people have the opportunity to live a free and full life. Since its inception, Chicago Beyond has invested more than $40 million in ideas, individuals, and organizations that fight for all youth to achieve their fullest human potential.

Dozier’s ambition is born from her experiences as an educator in Chicago Public Schools. During her tenure as principal at Fenger High School, which at the time was known as one of the most violent and underperforming schools in Chicago, Fenger experienced a decrease in its dropout rate from 19% to less than 2%, a 40% increase in Freshman On-Track to graduate, and double-digit increases in attendance and the school’s state graduation rate.

Dozier's work has been featured in the New York Times Best Seller How Children Succeed by Paul Tough, CNN’s docu-series Chicagoland, Aspen Ideas Festival, the Kennedy Center Forum on Mental Health, The Obama Foundation Summit, and SXSW (South by Southwest).

You can find her on Twitter: @LizDozier

Welcome back everyone! As we begin this next school year, we wanted to create an episode in which you could steep yourself in inspiring ideas. We have had so many rich conversations with great minds that we wanted to pull out moments of wisdom and group them together to give us all ways to reflect upon some of the most important aspects in learning and leading for student and staff success. I am not even going to say leading in Education, specifically, because anyone who has studied leadership knows that these key components are what leaders in all sectors try to focus on.

Now, we have pulled together these pieces and curated a two-part episode which will let you hear from local, national and International leaders in various roles, talk about what they believe in and do, to make schools these rich, connected communities that are places of joyful and deep learning for the students AND the staff.

Part two, which will come out in the next few weeks, has reflections on family engagement, planning for sustainable change, serving our kids, well-being and what we are calling: the necessary mess.