Conceptually Speaking

When you reflect back on your most recent professional learning in-service days, what springs to mind? Rich educational experiences filled with meaningful learning? Or cringey icebreakers, one-size-fits-all lectures, and flavor-of-the-month fluff? Based on the research shared in this episode, the vast majority of teachers lean towards the latter. This is a problem that Chris McNutt and Nick Covington, former teachers and current directors of the educational non-profit Human Restoration Project know too well. That’s why are developing ways to do professional learning WITH educators and not to them.

In this episode, we’ll hear more about HRP’s mission to inform, guide, and grow more humanizing educational systems. More specifically, we’ll be deep-diving into ways they design and provide purpose-driven professional growth opportunities inside and outside of school.

https://www.humanrestorationproject.org/

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 Picture this: A group of passionate fans is huddled around their devices. Their favorite outlet has just dropped the latest response to a hotly contested article that has divided their community. As the group reads through, they debate, discuss, inquire, and post in their chosen social network. They make reference to other similar works, cite compelling evidence, and have different perspectives on the future direction of their community. Now, what kind of community did you have in mind during this scene? Were you imagining a group of teens debating the latest controversy from The Real Housewives or Keeping Up With the Kardashians? Or what about a group of literary scholars discussing a new interpretation that challenges the consensus on a canonical texts? What if it was referring to both? That might surprise you, but it’s an overlap that’s incredibly familiar to our guest this week—Assistant Professor of ELA Education and SUNY Empire State College, Dr. Karis Jones. Dr. Jones is a self-styled acafan activist studying the interpretive and discursive practices that happen in fandom spaces. Like me, she believes this broadening of how we conceptualize literacy can have transformative implications for how we frame and teach the discipline. So, whether you’re a literary scholar, Marvel Movie fan, or K-Pop enthusiast, this episode has much to offer. Enjoy!

Follow Karis on Twitter
Check out her website here

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What comes to mind when you hear the word YouTube? Depending on your age and level of “online-ness” it might be anything from cat videos, to videogame steams, to TedTalks. But what about sociology? Philosophy? Cultural studies and critical theory? What if I told you were are enthusiasts, graduate students, and tenured professors producing accessible and insightful video essays with all the intellectual heft of a published journal article? And that they’re getting hundreds of thousands of views? That’s what today’s episode is all about–finding the intersection between scholarly pursuits, multimodal composition, and the wild west of web 2.0. Joining me on this conversational adventure is one of my personal favorite YouTubers, the man, the myth–F.D Signifier. A teacher and ABD sociology student turned YouTuber, F.D has north of 350 thousand subscribers and 12 MILLION views. For those of you who aren’t hip to YouTube–that is A LOT. Enough that producing video essays and digital content is now his full-time gig. Luckily for us, he was generous enough to stop by and share how he leverages his training as a social scientist to create accessible, nuanced, and seriously entertainment videos exploring topics ranging from Black Masculinity to Bridgerton. Whether you’re a zealous believer in critical media literacy or a reticent skeptic, this conversation has so much to offer. F.D’s has an inspirational level of commitment to his craft, but also doesn’t shy away from sharing the potential pitfalls of micro-celebrity and cultural analysis as edutainment. Get ready to like/comment/subscribe… and enjoy this episode.

F.D's YouTube Channel

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Have you ever shot off an angry email or text message and immediately regret it? Or have you ever wondered why it’s better to hash out disagreements in person instead of by email? Despite its ubiquitous nature, written communication is the lifeblood of complex modern institutions. Seriously. How we communicate in print can make or break an organization’s culture and productivity. So, in an effort to better understand the power of the written word,  this week, Julia and I dig deep into the cognitive and social neuroscience behind written communication. Guiding us on this conversational journey is author, entrepreneur, and former scientist, Rob Ashton. His course, Silent Influence, pretty much blew both our minds, so we were eager to dive into this conversation. Continuing the Conceptually Speaking tradition–Rob’s message peels back the layers of misconception and pseudoscience and captures the true complexity of communication. Hold onto your socially situated brains, friends, because this was a fantastic episode.

Rob's website
Silent Influence Course

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Joseph Jones and TJ Vari are authors, speakers, and district administrators who have written four books together. Their most recent publication, Retention for a Change: Motivate, Inspire, and Energize Your School Culture,  details targeted strategies for motivating, inspiring, and energizing educators in a variety of settings.

Virtual Masterclass on Compassionate Feedback

Technical Tip: Praise Practice--A Model for Specific Praise 

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Graham Fletcher has served in education as a classroom teacher, math instructional lead, and currently as a math specialist.  His work with the math progressions and problem-based lessons has led him to present throughout North America and beyond.

Graham is continually advocating for best practice in elementary mathematics by seeking new and innovative ways to support students and teachers in their development of conceptual understanding. He is the author of Building Fact Fluency: A Toolkit for Addition and Subtraction.

Twitter: @gfletchy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gfletchy/

“All of us are smarter than one of us.” – Graham Fletcher

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Zoe Weil (pronounced “Zoh While”) is the co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education (IHE), and is considered a pioneer in the comprehensive humane education movement. Zoe created IHE’s M.Ed., M.A. and graduate certificate programs, as well as IHE’s acclaimed humane education and MOGO (most good) workshops. Zoe is the author of seven books including Amazon #1 Best Seller in Philosophy and Social Aspects of Education, The World Becomes What We Teach: Educating a Generation of Solutionaries (2021/2016) She has also written numerous articles on humane education and humane living and has appeared frequently on radio as well as television.

Zoe writes for Psychology Today where you can read her blog Becoming a Solutionary.

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Welcome to a special combined episode of Conceptually Speaking. This week Kayla and I linked up with Charles Williams, host of the Counter Narrative Podcast and a K-8 principal in the Greater Chicago Episode. Our dialogue is a free-flowing conversation exploring everything from seeking our educational purpose in turbulent times to the importance of asset-based instruction to the hit show Abbot Elementary. It was a beautiful reminder that shared dialogue with other educators with common goals and values can be sustaining and motivating. We hope you walk away from this episode with a similar feeling.

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What a school year this has been. Educators across the country (and the world) have navigated yet another year of teaching under COVID. Worse still, many American teachers, administrators, and district staff have found themselves in the crosshairs of culture warriors and political opportunists. There have, and continue to be baseless book bans, draconian policy proposals, and astroturfed conspiracies about nefarious and ideologically charged curricula. Amidst the chaos, it’s not exactly a secret many teachers are not well and are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers. Though there have been well-intentioned gestures at promoting well-being in many districts—solving our current raft of problems will take more than breathwork and yoga mats. It will require systemic change, of course, and we’ve spoken a lot about that on Conceptually Speaking but our guest this week, Dr. Adam Saenz is here to discuss the messy individual journey of self-actualization.

Adam earned his Ph.D. in School Psychology from Texas A&M University with clinical training at Harvard Medical School. He completed his post-doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He also earned a Doctorate of Ministry in Pastoral Counseling from the Graduate Theological Foundation with residency at Christ Church College of Oxford University. He is currently the CEO of Applied EQ Group.

AppliedEQ Group
Twitter

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Join Julie Stern and Mihai Catrinar on this week's episode as they chat with mental health specialist, consent workshop facilitator, and international school counselor, Cheryl-Ann Weekes. Her organization, Weekes Enterprise, LLC, was created as a way to provide workshops for counselors and educators to equip them with the tools to have mental health, consent, and boundary conversations with their students. They also conduct workshops for students in schools, community programs, churches, and non-profit organizations.

Connect with Cheryl-Ann

• Website
• Twitter
• Linkedin
• Instagram

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