Hallway Conversations

In today’s episode, Matt asks the question, “What’s up with all this talk of failure and what do we mean when we talk about ‘failure?’ Is failure actually essential to learning? And how do we reconcile failure when we live in a culture that can hyper-promote excellence and success?” We try to define what we actually mean by “failure,” and we discuss why some schools seem to hold up failure as a key component to learning. We grapple with some students’ tendency towards perfectionism, and explore the grace that might be present in embracing risk-taking and missteps--and the importance of feedback--as part of the learning process. 

Just a mini-episode this week to update you all on some things that are happening behind the scenes at Hallway Conversations. Consider the episodes we've released so far as "season 1" of this podcast, and as we are looking ahead to starting "season 2," there are a few changes ahead!

We're so grateful that you take the time to listen in, and we hope you'll be blessed by these conversations. We're always interested in hearing from our listeners--you can always reach out with your questions, comments, and feedback at [email protected]. We hope that these conversations will spark hallway conversations of your own!

In this episode we are happy to again have our friend and colleague, Abby De Groot, joining in today’s conversation! Today, Matt raises the question, “With the end of the school year in sight, what might it mean to ‘end well?’” The three of us share some of the things we grapple with at the end of the academic year, and all of the feelings that come with it--joy, grieving, relief, and all the rest. We wonder about ways to mark endings well, no matter the grade level of our students. We also discuss the rhythm of the school year, and what it looks like to learn and work in community, with perhaps different expectations among faculty and students as we work towards wrapping up. We wrap up this episode by sharing some of the strategies we use to bless our students as they are concluding their work for a term.

In this episode, Abby mentions the TQE Method. More information about this approach for deepening class discussions can be found here: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/tqe-method/

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “Are we in danger of, or have we made excellence an idol in Christian education?” We we discuss how school mission statements are structured—and how often excellence is named as part of the mission. We think through the meaning of rigor in academics, and the purpose of school as an institution. We wonder about excellence as a learning target for Christian schools; is this what we are aiming for? We get specific about things like assignments, feedback to students, and the way we use grades as a way of trying to measure excellence. As usual, we have lots of questions, and perhaps fewer answers, but through the conversation we clarify our own thinking about the role of excellence in Christian education. 

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about the emotional labor of teaching, what do we mean, and what does it look like?” Dave explains his understanding of this term: the way we manage our own emotional state to help bring about a particular emotional state in others--which is something educators must do often. We grapple with the implications of this for educators: do we have to deny some aspect of our whole selves to do the work we are called to do? We discuss how our teaching identities play out as we do the emotional labor of teaching, and the dual nature of burden and privilege we have in doing this work.

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “How do we teach for ‘delight?’” We talk about this in the context of both delighting in our students as well as teaching them to delight in their learning. We discuss what planning looks like in teaching for delight, and the tension of balancing structure and serendipity. As we think through developing learning spaces that are safe for students even when they can be uncomfortable, we think through David Smith’s conception of “gardens of delight”--and how we can invite students into these kinds of learning opportunities to take joy in their learning, and show them that we delight in them.

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about classroom management, who or what are we actually managing?” We discuss how our thinking about management has evolved throughout our careers, including Matt’s disastrous first day of teaching Kindergarten PE. Dave shares his conception of “office consciousness” as part of creating a space where learning happens. Along the way we also discuss norms for behavior, the importance of practicing procedures, the connection between discipline and discipleship, and ideas we’ve gleaned that can help shape the classroom environment in such a way that we might not have to “manage” our students.

In this episode, we welcome our first guest to the podcast, our good friend and colleague, Abby De Groot. To kick off the conversation, Matt raises a two-fold question: “What are your initial reflections as we look back at this past year? And, what shouldn’t (or should) return to ‘normal’ as we move forward?” The three of us reflect together on things that we experienced over the past 12 months, and how it has shaped our work as educators. We share ideas we’ve noticed about how the challenges of teaching in a COVID world have pushed teachers, students, and whole schools to innovate, and we wonder about which of these changes could stick for the future, and which ones we should definitely leave behind as things get back to “normal.” Challenging as this past year has been for us--and so many other educators--we still are able to name things that we are continuing to learn, and find plenty of things to laugh about.

In this episode, Dave asks the question, “How do we foster an environment where learning can flourish?” Matt shares how James Smith’s book Desiring the Kingdom was formative for him in thinking about what flourishing means, and how it got him considering some of the practices that Christian educators can (and perhaps should) be incorporating to bring about flourishing. We describe some of the formative practices we use to help foster a culture of learning in our classrooms, and the places that we are still growing in our teaching practices.

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “What is the best (or worst) advice you ever received as a teacher?” Dave shares a story of some unfortunate advice he received as a novice teacher that colored the beginning of his teaching practice. We talk about classroom management, wanting our students to like us, having high expectations, and how we have grown as teachers. We also explore the relationship between accountability and joy in both the classroom and in our faith lives. We also wind up talking about teachers we had who formed us as teachers—how the conversations unfold!