Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Dr. Eric Toshalis, author, educator, and consultant to the Restorative Works! Podcast. Dr. Toshalis is impassioned about creating stronger more inclusive schooling environments by working with educators to challenge a punitive, reductive education system that pushes students out of classrooms, causing more ripples of harm and disruption. He explains how joy, struggle, trust, proactive responses, connectedness, and belonging create thriving schools and therefore thriving communities who support their students and their futures.

 

He emphasizes the importance of seeing students as more than bodies in seats who must be filled up with only the information needed to pass standardized and national tests. That by creating space for them to have agency and voice fosters a sense of belonging. When students feel like they belong they are able to participate, flourish, and contribute to their communities with confidence.

 

Dr. Toshalis is the author of the award-winning book, Make Me! Understanding and Engaging Student Resistance in School (2015), and is co-author of the widely used text, Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators (2006), both by Harvard Education Press. In his over 30 years in education, Dr. Toshalis has served as a public middle and high school teacher, mentor teacher, teachers union president, teacher educator, community activist, curriculum director, researcher, professor, professional development provider, and consultant. He was recognized as Teacher of the Year by his school district in 1997 and was awarded the Certificate of Distinction in Teaching by Harvard College in 2002. Dr. Toshalis has served in leadership roles in education nonprofits where he directed the Student-Centered Learning Research Collaborative and the Students at the Center Distinguished Fellowship. He now provides justice-focused independent scholarship and education consulting for a range of clients at EngagingResistance.com.

 

Tune in to the Restorative Works! podcast to learn more about Dr. Toshalis’s work!