Education Conversations

If you are involved in public education in Nashville, you are probably familiar with TC Weber's blog, Dad Gone Wild. TC publishes new posts every Monday and Friday (and sometimes in between) that explore the ins and outs of what's happening in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Love him or hate him, TC fearlessly informs our community about things that are happening that we might not otherwise know about. In this conversation, we talk about the moral implications of overworking and underpaying teachers. We also talk about his blogging journey and what sustains his work.

Finally, TC discusses his decision to run for the District 2 MNPS School Board seat. He shares his priorities: teacher recruitment and retention, capital needs, making sure we're spending money wisely, and having honest conversations about restorative practices and discipline.

In this episode you will hear Alison McArthur and Hank Clay discuss the community schools model and how their organizations are transforming schools here in Nashville. Alison is the Coordinator for Community Achieves and Hank is the CEO of Communities in Schools of Tennessee.

Here is a list of ways that you can get involved:

• Contact a site manager at a Community Achieves school to become a mentor, tutor, lunch buddy, club leader, etc. You can also donate needed items. Click here for a list of schools and contact information.
• Contribute a monetary or in-kind donation to Communities in Schools of Tennessee.
• Attend a Communities in Schools of Tennessee site visit. Upcoming site visits are on Feburary 20 at DuPont Tyler Middle Prep and on March 28 at Bellevue Middle Prep.
• Sign up for the Communities in Schools of Tennessee mailing list.

I prepared this episode before the horrific mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. I hope you'll consider joining me at March For Our Lives Nashville on March 24. I believe that we owe it to our children and our teachers to show that we won't stand idly by and do nothing. In the words of survivor Emma Gonzales, "The thing that caused me grief, the thing that had no right to cause me grief, the thing that had no right to happen in the first place, I have to do something actively to prevent it from happening to somebody else."

Music has be altered and repurposed for and by L. Dunnavant of the Education Conversation Podcast.

© 2018 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

Leticia Skae-Jackson is a Literacy Teacher Development Specialist at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School here in Nashville. I reached out to Letitia after reading her Edweek blog post, 4 Steps to Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher. Leticia's enthusiasm for teaching and learning is contagious and she shares many gems of wisdom in this episode.

We begin by talking about Leticia's childhood experience of immigrating to Nashville from Malawi, Africa. Next, Leticia describes her journey towards becoming a more culturally responsive educator as well as insights and suggestions for educators who wish to become more culturally responsive. We also talk about how brain research should support teaching and learning, and finally Leticia gives advice to teachers on how to maintain their sanity when new initiatives are continuously being introduced.

Here are some resources if you'd like to read more about culturally responsive teaching.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-misconceptions/

https://www.amazon.com/Culturally-Responsive-Teaching-Multicultural-Education/dp/0807750786

https://www.amazon.com/Culturally-Responsive-Teaching-Brain-Linguistically/dp/1483308014/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JG4B6MQRFSS8Y9EX0REP

Music has be altered and repurposed for and by L. Dunnavant of the Education Conversation Podcast.

© 2018 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

I had a nice chat with Chris Weber, the Director of Student Assignment Services for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Chris has been with the district for a long time so he was able to provide some interesting insights into the past, present, and future of different initiatives. He was also very forthcoming and it is apparent that he truly wants to help families navigate this sometimes confusing process.

I think you will enjoy listening if you are a parent navigating the school choice application process or if you are a community member who just wants to know more about how it all works.

Here are some of the topics we explore in the episode:

• The historical context of magnet schools
• The past, present, and future goals the district has for magnet schools
• The updated admission requirements for academic magnets
• Transportation options for students not attending their zoned school
• Why all parents should visit their zoned schools before making assumptions
• Zoned option schools and schools with geographic priority zones, such as Glendale Spanish Immersion and Lockeland Design Center
• Changes in the works for next year, such as the creation of new federally funded magnet schools and the revamped application process for transferring juniors and seniors

Still have questions about the process? Chris graciously offered to follow up with anyone who needs help/clarification. Leave a comment or send me an email and I will pass it on to him!

© 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

In this episode you will hear parts of my conversation with Vesia Wilson-Hawkins, a local education blogger who used to work for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Vesia's blog is titled, "Volume and Light," and tagline is, "speaking out for better Nashville Schools". It is obvious that Vesia cares deeply about supporting families navigating the education system and that she believes that all kids should be entitled to attend a great school.

While she and I may disagree on certain things, I feel like Vesia and I have a lot in common and we had a very interesting and thought provoking conversation. School choice has been a huge topic of debate in Nashville and across the country during the past several years. I am typically of the belief that we should put our money and resources towards improving our existing public schools, and Vesia is clearly supportive of families having increased access to schools of their choice. The reason I wanted to interview Vesia is because one day I was reading her blog, ands she wrote something that stopped me in my tracks. She said, "Our children deserve better than what we've given them. They deserve adults who fight poverty, underperforming schools, racism, and classism. Not adults who fight each other." And with those words, I could not agree more.

In the first segment, you will hear Vesia and I discuss school choice, school segregation, and why white parents should stop speaking for parents of color. Disclaimer: You will hear me cheering and agreeing that white parents should stop talking about those parents. I have been guilty of that many times and worse, I have stood by and listened as other people spoke out of turn.

To finish up, Vesia wanted to say a few words about Project LIT and the work that Jarred Amato is doing. If you did not listen to our last episode series, I encourage you to go back and listen to Jarred Amato tell his story. I hope you enjoy hearing about Vesia's personal connection Project LIT.

© 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

In part 2 of my interview with Jarred Amato, we discuss supporting teachers, the real struggles facing students, teaching the "classics", and how we can all connect and get involved to support our schools. © 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

This episode is part 1 in a series of two episodes with Jarred Amato, a high school English teacher and recently named Penguin/Random House Teacher of the Year. We discuss the power of giving students time to read diverse books during the school day, as well as Project LIT, Jarred's groundbreaking, student-led movement connecting students and the community through literature. Follow Jarred on Twitter @jarredamato and follow Project LIT @ProjectLITComm.

© 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

The story of education in Nashville is long and complicated. Once ideas and stereotypes are perpetuated for a certain amount of time we begin to mistake them for facts. What is a good school? Who decides? Who benefits from this label? Who is hurt by it? What are our shared understandings and underlying assumptions?

Mentioned in this episode:

Jack Schneider, author of Beyond Test Scores: A Better Way to Measure School Quality

Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative journalist, New York Times articles

Ansley Erickson, author of Making the Unequal Metropolis: School Segregation and Its Limits