Hallway Conversations

In this episode, Dave kicked things off with a weird check-in question about fantasy beasts and riding into battle. (We’ll see if we let him ask the check-in question in the future…this got a little strange!) Today we have a question from a listener! Joseph asked us a question about what to do when school leaders begin to realize that students are misusing school-issued devices. Drawing on our various experiences in school leadership, teaching, and educational technology, we think through some different ways schools and parents can partner together to help students learn about the ways digital devices are shaping their behavior for good or ill.

• In this episode, Dave recommends the book Digital Life Together: The Challenge of Technology for Christian Schools by David Smith, Kara Sevensma, Marjorie Terpstra, and Steven McMullen. It is not prescriptive, but raises helpful questions that Christian educators can and should grapple with related to technology. - Amazon link

Our check-in question today brought us back to our high school experiences, and we wind up talking about cruising the loop, mullets, and how we know every single word of some songs. (And, of course, we would LOVE to hear your stories related to this check-in question; please drop us a line at [email protected].) We then turn to more substantial topics of discussion, prompted by a quote Abby brings us from Dan Pink’s book A Whole New Mind related to the design of toilet brushes (of all things!) and how this illustrates the importance of good design. This has us thinking about the role of design in education, and the role of beauty in teaching, and how we can foster creativity in design in our work as educators.

• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink - Amazon link

This week we start off by discussing who left that nasty dish in the fridge over Christmas break (we’ll let you figure out who…) From there, we find our way into talking about what teachers need to flourish in their work–and it’s a bit of a convoluted road! Matt shares some questions he used to help his students articulate what they need to flourish, and then we start thinking about what we ourselves need to flourish. We hope you’ll be encouraged by listening…and we’d love to hear from our listeners what they find helps them flourish in their work. Drop us a line at [email protected]!

In this week’s conversation, we focus in on the idea of habits, and how small changes to our habits can have big impact overall in our work as educators. Matt brings in a quote from James Clear’s book Atomic Habits to kick off the conversation. We share a variety of micro-habits we use in our own teaching practices that we have found make a big difference for supporting students’ learning. We’d love to hear your ideas as well! Please feel free to share your ideas at [email protected]. We’d love to hear your stories and questions too!

• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear - Amazon link

This week’s conversation starts with Matt’s check-in question of, “What brought you joy this week?” (Are you using check-in questions with your students? We’d love to hear from you about this. You can always contact us at [email protected]) The main discussion this week stems from a quote Dave brought from the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie: “Orville Wright did not have a pilot’s license.” We think through the conditions teachers need to feel empowered to take risks, and how collaboration is a key aspect of thriving together–not getting tangled up in the “giant hairball” of an organization, while also not flying off on our own, but rather finding a way to settle into an orbit of innovation and creativity. 

• Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace, by Gordon Mackenzie - Amazon link

Happy New Year! The Hallway Conversations crew is excited to be back with you for a new season and more conversations about teaching and our ongoing learning. After some silliness and laughter checking in with our New Year’s resolutions, we get down to the question of the week. Dave raises the question, “How do we cope with new things?” This is the time of the year where educators are in the thick of things, and yet we often have the opportunity to engage with new things as well as we turn the calendar over. We talk through some new courses we will be teaching, new students we’ll be meeting, and new roles we are stepping into. But we also share strategies we use to manage the changes that are sure to come with new things. We hope, as always, that you’ll enjoy the discussion. 

• Dave’s guacamole recipe:

• 2 large avocados

Welcome to the final week of 2021! This week, Matt brings us a quote from Steven Garber’s excellent book, Visions of Vocation, which is a thoughtful exploration of what “vocation” is about in light of a biblical worldview. After sharing a quote that draws on imagery from Jeremiah 29 (“seeking the prosperity of the city” where God has placed us) Matt raises the question, “Do schools have a responsibility to help students seek the well-being of the ‘city’ they are part of?” We discuss ideas around teaching students about service, and giving students the opportunity to bring their learning outside the walls of the school, and the overlapping spheres of families, churches, and schools when it comes to forming students. As we discuss these topics, we realize that we don’t all see these things the same way, but have a lively and enriching conversation–we hope you’ll enjoy the discourse and find it helpful food for thought.

• Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good, by Steven Garber - Amazon link

Like last week...we are taking a short break from recording new content in light of the busyness of the end of our semester. This week's bonus episode: the first episode where Matt and Dave invited Abby to join us in front of the microphone. Obviously, the quality of the discourse improved as soon as Abby was here, so we quickly encouraged her to join the team--and the podcast is better because she did! This episode includes some storytelling around the lessons we all learned from a year of emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19.  We hope you'll enjoy this one again, and look forward to new episodes coming your way again soon.

Many thanks to our dedicated listeners! You encourage us so much. We are at that crazy-busy time at the end of the semester, and we haven't had the time to get together to record new content. So this week...a little Hallway Conversations history: the first ever episode of the podcast re-released for your listening pleasure. (Or, you know...to see how far we've come.) This episode was all about goals, and maybe this is an appropriate time to start thinking again about the goals you are setting for your students in their learning? We hope you'll enjoy this one again, and look forward to new episodes coming your way again soon.

We have a lot of silliness in the intro to this episode, with Dave complaining about having a cold, an argument about whether real or fake Christmas trees are superior, and a surprise visit from our good friend and colleague, Ed. When we finally pull things together, Abby brings us a quote from a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie entitled “The Danger of a Single Story,” and prompts us to continue the discussion from our last episode about stories and the role of storytelling in both our pedagogy and curricula. Through the ensuing discussion, we think through what voices teachers elevate (or silence) through the stories we bring into our classrooms, and the messages we might inadvertently be conveying or reinforcing to our students. No easy answers here for us, but we have lots of questions, as usual.

• Here is the TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that Abby references in this episode: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story