Ethical Schools

We welcome back Dr. Kym Vanderbilt of Lehman College, this time joined by her former students, Kelsey Nova and Cyndhia Silvero. We discuss how Dr. Vanderbilt’s graduate students create case studies based on ethical challenges they themselves have faced. Ms. Nova and Ms. Silvero share their own case studies. We also discuss the ongoing struggle for fair compensation for early childhood educators, especially assistant teachers and education directors.

Overview

00:15-00:40 Intros

00:40-02:26 Objectives in assigning scenarios of ethically complex situations

02:26-05:06 Kelsey’s ethical dilemma scenario

05:06-06:14 Potential solutions

06:14-08:13 Cyndhia’s ethical dilemma scenario

08:13-09:14 Improving children’s experiences at more elite schools

09:14-10:37 Making schools more sensitive to cultural diversity

10:37-14:51 Does the State encourage teacher ed classes that discuss ethical issues

14:51-15:25 Penalty Kick video promo

15:25-17:00 Codes of ethics

17:00-23:28 Issues to resolve for high quality early childhood programs

23:28-26:55 Special ed issues

26:55-28:58 Why do these issues exist?

28:58-32:52 Denials/evaluations

32:52-39:50 Issues for early childhood staff as employees:

             Autonomy vs compliance, staff pay and disparities

39:50-42:38 “Making this a career that people can stay in.”

42:38-43:50 Outro

Transcript

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Soundtrack by Poddington Bear

Jon talks with Dr. Beverly Falk of the High Quality Learning Project, Lauren Monaco, New York City pre-K teacher, and experienced educators Gil Schmerler and Renee Dinnerstein. They discuss the centrality of play to children’s development as confirmed by recent research on how the brain works. A “play-in” in Manhattan calls for greater emphasis on play in early childhood classes.

Overview

00:15-01:17 Intros01:17-02:53 Play’s defining features02:53-03:22 Defining early childhood03:22-08:46 How children learn and develop08:46-11:46 How central has play been historically to early childhood education11:46-24:15 Conflict between free play and academics in the early childhood education field24:15-28:36 Current status of play in early childhood education in NYS and NYC28:36-29:10 Penalty Kick video promo29:10-31:36 Patterns in community-based centers and schools31:36-36:06 What should NYS and NYC do to reinstitute proper levels of play?36:06-39:41 NYCplays.org: Organizing: How listeners can get involved, 9/26 Play-in39:41-41:08 Importance of public/education officials speaking up41:08-42:07 Play and explicit literacy instruction should be paired42:07-44:37 Parents getting mixed messages44:37-45:47 You can’t rush neurological development45:47- Outro

Transcript

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References

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear

We share brief presentations from the fifth “Global Saturday Salons” that Ethical Schools is sponsoring with three international partners. Nando Rodriguez is the Senior Manager for Environmental Programming at the Brotherhood/Sister Sol (BroSis) in Harlem, NYC. Camila Salcedo, 16, is a sophomore at Thurgood Marshall Academy, and Elias DeLeon, 17, is a junior at KIPP Charter School. Both have been members of the BroSis community for several years. Together, they explore what happens when young people are trusted with real responsibility, meaningful relationships, and hands-on experiences in nature.

This salon series, Learning to Citizen: Tales of Youth Voice, Agency, and Care, honors learners and educators who are already practicing care, enacting citizenship, and learning how to regenerate their communities and their world. Discover more at edfortheworldwewant.net.

Transcription

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References

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear. 

Jon speaks with Dr. David Penberg, who ran the Liberty  Partnership Program at Bank Street College in the 1990s, and two of the participants, Madelyn Baez, and Tara Crichlow. Three decades later, Madelyn, Tara, and David explain how the program changed the trajectory of their lives. The Liberty Partnership was created as a college prep intervention for underserved and marginalized middle school students.   For the participants, it was a safe place of "uncomfortable empowerment" where their opinions were taken seriously in a simultaneously supportive and challenging environment.

Overview

00:00-00:45 Intro

00:45-01:56 Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) origin and description

01:56-03:36 What LPP felt like to Madelyn and Tara

03:36-07:03 LPP structure and goals

07:03-09:40 How Madelyn and Tara joined

09:40-14:42 How experiences in the program were different from school

14:42-19:10 Environmental conversations

19:10-19:24 Trip to China

19:24-20:49 Asset-based program; not about “fixing” the young people

20:49-23:03 Opportunities and relationships

23:03-26:04 “Uncomfortable empowerment”

26:04-26:50 Options, opportunities, exposure, experience

26:50-30:37 Bank Street as a place of safety and empowerment during time of demonization 

of young people of color after Central Park jogger case

30:37-35:03 Impact on students’ relationships with families and friends

35:03-37:02 Impact on David’s life

37:02-37:52 Remembering youths who died

37:52-40:51 The larger Bank Street environment

40:51-42:15 The “pure love” of the LPP community

42:15- Outro

Transcript

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Soundtrack by Poddington Bear

We share brief presentations from the fourth "Global Saturday Salons” that Ethical Schools is sponsoring with three international partners. Dr. Benjamin Freud is the Strategic Lead for Regenerative Education at the Green School Bali, Manon Tiange is a Grade 12 student mapping labor invisibility and systemic inequality in Bali, and Scarlett Gonella is a Grade 12 student investigating plastic pollution and advocating for clean water access in Indonesia. They talked about an educational culture rooted in contribution to community. Learners are trusted to ask difficult questions, collaborate across generations, and imagine reform at the highest levels.

This salon series is called Learning to Citizen: Tales of Youth Voices, Agency, and Care. Our goal is to honor learners and teachers who are already doing the work practicing care, enacting citizenship, and learning how to regenerate their worlds. Discover more and join us on May 30th to learn with members of The Brotherhood Sister Sol: edfortheworldwewant.net

Dr. Chantal Francois and Dr. Jen McLaughlin Cahill, co-authors of Identity-Affirming Literacies in Schools, discuss their time at the school they call Pearl Street Collaborative, a progressive secondary school on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that prioritizes teacher inquiry and collaboration. Schedules include time for teachers to meet frequently with grade and content colleagues. Drawing on the work of Freire and Lilia Bartolomé, Drs. Francois and McLaughlin Cahill used literature to support students' identities, including by integrating an LGBTQ+ focus into English classes.

Overview

00:00-00:52 Intros

00:52-03:36 Humanizing pedagogy

03:36-04:44 Relationships and humanizing pedagogy

04:44-07:35 Scheduling facilitating creation and maintenance of faculty relationships

07:35-10:04 Collaboration as modeling for students

10:04-10:21 Pearl Street Collaborative

10:21-13:24 Literacy as more than reading

13:24-18:53 Reading and teaching as political

18:53-23:17 Mission statement as a meaningful document

23:17-31:23 Structuring literacy instruction around independent reading and reading whole books

31:23-36:44 LGBTQ+ identify-affirming literacies

36:44-40:34 Impact on students of LGBTQ+ focus

40:34- Outro

References

Transcript

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Soundtrack by Podington Bear

We welcome back Dr. Anthony Johnston to speak about his new book, "Introduction to Secondary Teaching: Blending Wisdom, Research, and Social Justice.” Dr. Johnston explores teacher wisdom of practice, social justice pedagogy, evidence-based practices, and adolescent brain research. He identifies the foundation of all classroom teaching as teacher identity, teacher presence, teacher passion, and teacher stance.

We share brief presentations from the third of the “Saturday Salons” that Ethical Schools is sponsoring with three international partners. Kerry Kirk Pflugh is the executive director of the New Jersey School of Conservation. She also comes with extensive background experience at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Tom Roderick is the author most recently of Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education. He was also the Founding Executive Director of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. Deb L. Morrison is a Learning Designer and Advisor at the University of Washington and a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report 7. They talk about how educators can respond to the urgent environmental crises we face.

We welcome back Dr. Ujju Aggarwal, assistant professor at The New School, to speak about her book, Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education. In Unsettling Choice, Dr. Aggarwal focuses on the intersection of public education and gentrification. The book is based on her work with mothers at a Head Start center in NYC. We discuss the race and class discrimination the parents faced and whether exclusion is inherent in school choice programs.

Overview

00:00-00:56 Intros

00:56-07:13 Working with Head Start mothers in Manhattan’s Community School District 3

07:13-09:15 Connection between school choice and austerity

09:15-19:17 Issues mothers faced in choosing schools for their children and their experiences

19:17-24:06 The “post-Brown realignment” following the Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decisions

24:06-25:30 Parents as “consumers” rather than as “citizens”

25:30-28:01 Can school choice exist without exclusion

28:01-29:03 NYC Schools Chancellor Samuels and citywide integration

29:03-32:21 Radical municipalism

32:21- Outro

Transcript

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References

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear

We share brief presentations from the second of the “Saturday Salons” that Ethical Schools is sponsoring with three international partners. Sherry Johnson, Tribal Education Director of the Sisseton-Wahpeton-Oyate (South Dakota), Deepak Ramola, Founder of Project FUEL (India), and Charlotte Hankin of Coconut Thinking and the Green School (Bali) talk about the importance of stories in reshaping how we think about our relationship to the natural world.

Learn more and register for the third salon on February 21 at globalconversations.net

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear

Transcript

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