Empowerment Starts Here

In this episode, the informant takes a look at what it means to know. Mary Diez looks at the actual nature of knowing and the conscious role of the learner as the knower. She explores schooling as a warehouse for children, where we focus more on managing students based on grade levels and she talks about the readiness (or not) of teachers to truly differentiate instruction; truly be able to individualize and personalize learning; and truly be able to make learning meaningful to the learner and the societies in which they live.

In this episode (Ep10), Empowerment Starts Here with Dr. Paul Thomas in the Case of Critical Literacy.

As you listen, you will hear Dr. Thomas interrogate the difference between intention and impact as relating to messages we speak. You will also hear him question the joys that come from traditional rhetoric and the pain that we experience when that rhetoric is unpacked. Finally you will hear him challenge the racial bias he's associated with phrases like grit and growth mindset and make us think about education and reform in a new light.

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Peter Anderson. In it, Peter talks about why he went gradeless; what he learned about the schooling industry once grades were removed from his practice; and how his gradelessness revealed his whiteness and his protected place of power in an inequitable world.

At the close of this episode, I talk about some concerns I have with the movement to remove grades from the learning process. The best way this can be summarized has actually already been framed by Marian Dingle (as referenced in The Gradeless Garden) when she said, "Grading less seems to me to be empty not because of the 'less' but because of the elephant that persists in remaining nameless."

In three segments, the host (flying solo) talks about authentic leadership. First, she explains the inspiration to authentic leadership as a concept. Next, she provides a concrete construct for authentic leadership as well as speaks passionately about what it is not (taking a jab at false revolutionary workers). And finally, she offers a tool to personally identify nine competencies for leading authentically.

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Kathleen Devine where she reveals individual strengths as a power source to be fully whole. In this conversation, Kathleen also connects being whole (by way of strengths) as being connected to a higher being and makes us think about the notion that man and woman were made in God's image. In this conversation, we questions the power barriers that prevent humans from both knowing and walking in their gifts and spend time revealing the intrinsic motivation and the achievement that are possible when we turn our attention away from deficit based thinking to strengths based thinking.

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Nikhil Goyal. Nikhil talks about the impetus to school reform. It all started as a high school student and knowing that his needs as a learner were not being addressed. Nikhil started researching alternative models for teaching and learning and learned about the progressive movement (such as constructivism) that centers students in the learning process and allows learners to make meaning of their worlds. Power in this episode is connected to individual learners and the discussion questions the role of power in the learning process.

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Roger Harris (Artist/Performer) and Joshua Howard (Musician/Producer). Not only are Roger and Joshua both pursuing their artistry, they are both former students of Angela Dye (the host). They attended her school when they were in 6th grade (Joshua) and 7th grade (Roger) and are currently in their early to mid-20s. These young men talk about their current life pursuits, the context of their passions and the power structures that make their passion and pursuits possible and difficult.

Note: Although this is episode 5, this is our very first attempt at recording. Please bear with us on the sound. The content is worth sticking around for.

In the episode, Empowerment Starts Here with the Host (she's flying solo). In it, she speaks about the practice of critical self-reflecting. She talks through foundational conditions required for self-reflecting: hunting for the location of power within the self; communicating with others to gain a deeper understanding of self and power; and being active and passive (reflective) in the work of social change so as to get closer to the espoused self (the idealized self). Not only does she provide the foundation for critical self-reflection, she provides examples from when she was an organizational leader responsible for promoting a collective practice for critical self-reflection.

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Angela Walker. In it, she talks about the vocation to be human (as defined by Paulo Freire in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed [1970]). In the conversation, Angela Walker (the Informant) and Angela Dye (the Host) talk about agency, about giftedness, about the body as all experiences of being. The greatest value of this conversation is a consideration of what it means to be dehumanized (by way of various forms of oppression) as well as the rights and responsibilities to be fully human.

In the episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Chris Thinnes. In it, he speaks transparently about his shift in allyship... going from working with people (specifically students) of color to talking within his own family and other whites within his personal and professional networks. Chris also talks about experiencing rage that is designated to those who are considered race traitors and finally, he talks about democracy as a performance when outcomes and decisions are determined before taking a seat at the decision making table.