We interview Lev Moscow who, for the last 14 years, has taught history and economics at The Beacon School in New York City. Lev reflects that advisory, done well, can serve as a venue for students to explore questions of ethics, purpose and happiness. He talks about balancing the history curriculum to include non-European perspectives. Getting students to read more than a few sentences is perhaps today’s teachers’ greatest challenge and Lev explains his approach.

*References, overview and transcript below. 

Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:41:00

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References

Lev refers to John Dewey, Tony Judt, and these resources:

• Book “Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials” by Malcolm Harris;
• Book “The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School” by Neil Postman.

Lev also hosts a podcast that aims to make economics accessible. It is called A Correction Podcast and you can listen to it on acorrectionpodcast.com

Overview

00:00-00:57 Intros

00:58-07:24 Advice to new teachers; advisory; Consortium schools (NYC)

07:25-10:47 Electronic technology in the classroom

10:48-12:00 Advisory and relationships

12:01:17:33 Print/reading and digital tech cultures

17:34-19:15 HS versus college cultures

19:16-21:31 Homework

21:32-27:58 Homework (continued): writing, historiography, SQR, short and long-term assignments

27:59-37:37 Language of ethics; ethics and morality; “truth” and skepticism; Dewey; existentialism

37:38-40:14 De-centering Europe in teaching modern Global History

40:15-41:00 Outro

Transcription

Click here to see the full transcription of the episode. 

Amy interviews Leo Ackley, who emigrated to Finland in the 1972. He taught art, history of architecture, design, and engineering in Finnish schools for 37 years. We discuss the Finnish system. Teachers have autonomy to develop their own curricula. Finnish administrators are answerable to teachers rather than the other way around. Homework is rare and standardized testing limited to a single exam towards the end of senior year. Finland is consistently in the top five in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) rankings.  

Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:25:00

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Photo by Baptiste Valthier

Amy interviews Leo Ackley, who emigrated to Finland in the 1972. He taught art, history of architecture, design, and engineering in Finnish schools for 37 years. We discuss the Finnish system. Teachers have autonomy to develop their own curricula. Finnish administrators are answerable to teachers rather than the other way around. Homework is rare and...

The post Leo Ackley on teaching in Finland’s consistently superior schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We interview Kym Vanderbilt, Lecturer and Professional Development Liaison in the Early Childhood/Childhood Department at CUNY/Lehman College. Kym describes her students’ concerns about meeting the needs of teacher assistants and parents as well as children. She talks about the test-heavy teacher certification process, which is both intimidating and expensive for aspiring teachers of limited means, and how she tries to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for her students, staying in touch with them long after they become teachers themselves. To give us context, Kym gives us a fascinating overview of the complicated history of early childhood education.

Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:38:00

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Photo by Christina Morillo

References

During our conversation, Kym mentions the episode with David Kirkland about the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework. Click here to listen to it!

Overview

00:00-00:59 Intros

01:00-06:06 “What do you mean by ‘ethics’ and why is it important?”

06:07-09:42 Age of “We’re not sure we want you in the classroom”

09:43-11:59 Attrition rates among early childhood teachers

12:00-15:12 edTPA

15:13-18:03 Pearson Education

18:04-18:51 Cultural assets

18:52-19:26 Culturally responsive-sustaining education

19:27- 25:38 History of early childhood education and how it has changed

25:39-29:51 Universal preK (UPK)—possibilities and cautions

29:52-32:52 Current state of SEL and culturally responsive education, critical care in early childhood education; Chancellor Carranza’s impact

32:53-34:51 Transition from preK to elementary school

34:52-37:10 “Early childhood educators should be high school principals”; early childhood educators as leaders

37:11-38:00 Outro

Transcription

Click here to see the full transcription of the episode. 

We interview Kym Vanderbilt, Lecturer and Professional Development Liaison in the Early Childhood/Childhood Department at CUNY/Lehman College. Kym describes her students’ concerns about meeting the needs of teacher assistants and parents as well as children. She talks about the test-heavy teacher certification process, which is both intimidating and expensive for aspiring teachers of limited means, and how she tries to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for her students, staying in touch with them long after they become teachers themselves. To give us context, Kym gives us a fascinating overview of the complicated history of early childhood education.

We speak with Anna Allanbrook, longtime principal of Brooklyn New School (BNS). Learning at BNS is inquiry-based and cross-disciplinary. As well, BNS is known as the “opt-out school” because 95% of families opt out of standardized testing. The school offers no test preparation.

References

Find more about the Brooklyn New School on bns146.org

Overview

00:05-01:11 Intros

01:12- 01:58 Key principles of Brooklyn New School

01:59-04:05 Relationships

04:06-06:05 Who seeks the school out and why

06:06-07:30 Why the special needs population is relatively high (30%)

07:31-09:15 English Language Learners

09:16-11:29 Making parents comfortable who are used to a more traditional teaching style

11:30-13:28 Differentiating reading instruction

13:29-21:12 Standardized testing and opt-out

21:13-22:38 Performance-based assessment

22:39-25:18 Social emotional learning (SEL)

25:19-27:04 Relationship between SEL and opt-out

27:05-28:52 “Trust is at the heart of everything”

28:53-30:30 Outro

Transcription

Click here to see the transcription of the episode. 

We speak with Anna Allanbrook, longtime principal of Brooklyn New School (BNS). Learning at BNS is inquiry-based and cross-disciplinary. As well, BNS is known as the “opt-out school” because 95% of families opt out of standardized testing. The school offers no test preparation.

The post Anna Allanbrook on Brooklyn New School: Centering children, marginalizing tests first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Anna Allanbrook, longtime principal of Brooklyn New School (BNS). Learning at BNS is inquiry-based and cross-disciplinary. As well, BNS is known as the “opt-out school” because 95% of families opt out of standardized testing. The school offers no test preparation.