Conceptually Speaking

This week on Conceptually Speaking we chatted with concept-based certified consultant, PYP teacher, and author of Pop Up Studio, Misty Patterson. What I loved about this episode is Misty’s ability to cross boundaries and integrate different practices. Though loose parts may appear to be fun and frivolous to the uninitiated, this episode makes it clear just how complex, nuanced, and rewarding they can be when used with intention and discernment. They are springboards for inquiry, tools for meaning-making, and primers for analogical thinking. It’s a practice that becomes even more powerful when paired with curriculum anchored by concepts, which in their own way, are the loose parts of our world—elements to be observed, combined, and related to one another in ways that create the patterns that help us make sense of complexity. Our conversation with Misty was filled with practical tips, exemplars, and strategies that you can start using in your classroom tomorrow. I definitely recommend checking out her Instagram, as it provides a great visual portal through which you can see how her work comes alive in classrooms and PD. 

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Our guest this week is the current principal of Washington DC’s Perry Street Prep, Rachel Crouch. As the school year looms large for teachers, it’s a time of uncertainty for students, their families, educators, and administrators alike. There’s a lot of discussion around concepts like culture and connection, but actually fostering them in school is much more challenging than defining them or placing them on a PowerPoint. In our conversation this week, Rachel shares how she was able to transform Perry Street Prep by using restorative practices, building a sense of community, and creating a culture where teachers feel supported and encouraged to hold one another accountable for their own, and each others growth. Rachel’s belief in honoring the humanity of her students and staff was an anchor in this episode and, it seems, her practice as well. Julie and I loved Rachel’s willingness to be candid about her journey to get to this point. Building a school culture is hard work and the openness and vulnerability is a lesson for all leaders. We hope you enjoy it!

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Our guest this week is distinguished education professor Dr. Yong Zhao. Technically, Dr. Zhao’s work focuses on the implications of globalization and technology for education, but as you’ll soon hear in our podcast, his real focus is on kids relationship with education: how it should evolve, what it could be, and how they should take a larger role in determining what it looks like. For that reason, Dr. Zhao’s focus and vision are firmly fixed on the future of education. Though each generation has differing values, beliefs, and norms its difficult to overstate the current gap between most teachers and students in the digital age. The advent of the internet, social media, and ubiquity of personal devices have drastically altered how we communicate, connect, and share information as a society. There have been titanic changes throughout history of course, but the current rate of change is dizzying like never before, and Dr. Zhao believes education has struggled to keep up. One of the best parts of this conversation is the fact that Dr. Zhao remains undaunted. Despite the issues facing education currently, he strongly believes that we all have the capacity to evolve education, even as individual practitioners. He advocates, like some of our previous guests, the first place we should start is with ourselves: Why did we become an educator? What do we want for students? How can we look back on our careers and feel good about the difference we made in kids' lives? These are just a few of the insightful ideas he offers in today’s episode. We hope you enjoy!

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Our guest this week is entrepreneur and chief curiosity curator at What If? Curiosity, Matt Murrie. As you can tell by his title, he loves to get curious—about education, about people, about things, events, processes, and well, basically everything. It’s what makes him and his method for curiosity-based learning so compelling. Matt regards curiosity as a natural resource—fuel that can provide the power necessary to tackle complex, important problems. As you’ll be able to tell from our conversation, he has a full tank and his energy and enthusiasm are as contagious as his trademark question: What If? If there’s a better question to define our current moment, I can’t think of one. Education is in a state of flux. Everything educators, administrators, and parents have known has been thrown out of the window. It’s going to take a ton of “What-If” style creativity and curiosity to create the new normal, and this episode will provide plenty of inspiration. Over the course of the episode, Matt will explain his “What-to-Wow” method to show how students can take ownership of their learning and get curious. I met Matt a few years ago at the Business Innovation Factory conference, and its been awesome to hear his work grow and evolve to the current model. He is one of the most passionate and enthusiastic people I know, so you’re in for a captivating conversation. Enjoy!

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 Our guest this week is Daryn Cambridge, a facilitator and experiential educator of non-violent practice. With everything happening in our world today, its a timely discussion. Of course, the issue of structural racism and discrimination isn’t new, but the recent murder of George Floyd has shown a spotlight on the injustices these systems perpetuate. As someone who's devoted their life and career to studying the ways non-violence can be a powerful form of action and activism, Daryn is an incredible resource on its history and methodology. What spoke to me most during our conversation was Daryn’s commitment to the idea that non-violence, and activism more broadly, should be anchored in love. Love is an important part of relationship-building inside and outside the classroom is a notion that has become a bit of a theme on the podcast. Daryn continues that trend by detailing how non-violence is a vital tool in helping create what Dr. King called “The beloved community” With many young people’s rising interest in community and antiracist activism, this episode will provide a ton of tools and insight on how people can organize and advocate for change in meaningful, impactful ways. As we mention in the episode, there is a big difference between merely adopting the aesthetics of activism and racial justice and working to make it a reality. 

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Our guest this week is Maimuna Ahmad, founder of the Non-Profit Teach for Bangladesh. Maimuna believes that education is a tool that can help students succeed the world over, but whose particularly interested in creating more equitable system in Bangladesh. Our conversation today will explore her work towards cocreating schools to achieve those ends and some of the lessons shes learned along the way. One thing that was clear during our conversation was that, in addition to being well versed in the systemic and structural hurdles that must be overcome to repair education, Maimuna is also keenly aware of how those issues look on a personal, human level in the classroom. Whether it’s becoming more aware of the intergenerational baggage our students may be carrying, considering how we greet our students, or questioning if tradition is the only thing shaping our choices, this episode is filled with important food for thought as well as Maimuna’s international experience working to foster happier, healthier, and more successful students in Bangladesh.

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Our guest this week is DesignThinker, Tech & Innovation Specialist, David Lee. David teaches at the Singapore American School, and is doing some incredible work there. On today’s episode, we’ll explore his idea of edupermaculture, which he defines as an approach to education that centers around simulating experiences and directly utilizing the behaviors, strategies, practices, and systems found in successful, real world learning environments and integrating them into school learning experiences and ecosystems. Over the course of our dialogue you’ll hear some awesome, concrete examples of how David anchors his teaching and student’s learning in authentic contexts. More powerful still, he’ll share how authentic learning impacted his life too We usually wait until the end to plug our guests work, but If you don’t already you need to check out David’s YouTube channel and website. His video content is some of the best quality edtech content out there, both in terms of its design and message. Its clear that David practices what he preaches to students! We hope you enjoy today’s episode. 

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Our guest this week is writer and entrepreneur Chloé Valdery. Chloe has written for outlets like the New York Times, USA Today, and Psychology Today. Although those are labels that describe what she does and has achieved, Chloe is the type of guest who doesn’t easily fit in to boxes or categories. In fact, one of her creative strengths is to grapple with the paradox and cognitive dissonance that is such an integral part of modern life. Her Social Emotional Program and start up venture, The Theory of Enchantment, is an incredible mashup of pop-culture, psychology, and philosophy that treats the complexities of the human condition with the nuance it deserves. I haven’t seen many programs that balance accessibility, entertainment, and a deeply moving message as well as hers does. In this episode, we’ll discuss the relationship between self-knowledge, criticism, and love. Though each one of these is a vital part of Chloe’s Theory of enchantment, we spend a lot of time discussing the concept of love. Chloe specifically taps in to the legacies of Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, and James Baldwin to challenge and complicate our understanding of a powerful idea that is too often dismissed as trite or cliché. As you can likely already tell, this is going to be a powerful episode. Chloe is wise beyond her years and Julie and I are still talking about the perspective and insight she provided in this conversation. We hope you enjoy as much as we did! 

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Our guest this week is friend of the podcast, Adam Hansen. Adam’s company, IdeasToGo is an Innovation Consulting firm that helps Fortune 200 companies think outside the box and come up with unique, relevant solutions to their problems. What makes Adam such a fascinating guest is his uniquely human approach to innovation. Whereas much of the eduDiscourse around innovation involves the latest apps and gadgets, Adam is much more interested in the innovative tools that make us human—metaphors, metacognition, and a deep desire to make sense of our world. To his mind, innovation is all about human potential. Although his day job has him focusing on innovative projects and products, Adam is also deeply passionate about behavioral innovation—finding ways we can leverage the skills and methods for innovation and applying them to our own lives so we can overcome barriers we face in our personal life. With that in mind, this episode contains tools, both personal and professional, that we hope will help you become better sensemakers and innovators at home, school, or the office. Enjoy!

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Our guest today is founder and CEO of weird enough productions, Tony Weaver. His comic series, The Uncommons is Tony’s creative outlet to design engrossing stories as well as promote digital literacy and social emotional wellbeing. As you’ll soon be able to tell, Tony has a passion for pop-culture. This passion for comics, anime, and videogames is what makes the content he produces at Weird Enough so compelling and familiar for kids. We have never had a guest who so clearly understands the plight and perspective of Gen Z students—their hobbies, their trends, their digital lives. And, although these might be unique, Tony’s believes the tool teens to navigate our complex times is one of mankind’s oldest—strorytelling. If you have teens of your own, I recommend you listen to this episode with them. We talk Tik-Tok, anime, Marvel comics, and Supreme Fanny Packs. We also talk about the relationship between identity, social media, and digital citizenship. It’s an enjoyable episode for all ages and I think it will really spark some dialogue. Enjoy!

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