Hallway Conversations

In today’s episode, Abby mentions a tweet that she read recently that prompted wondering about what free reading could (should?) look like in middle school and high school classrooms. We jumped into talking through the joys and challenges of creating a culture of reading–and how it might be more of an expectation at the elementary grades, but could have huge benefits for older students as well. We question the role of accountability programs like Accelerated Reader, and discuss the ways AR actually doesn’t promote a healthy, positive culture of reading within a school. Abby shares from her expertise as a literacy instructor about ways to scaffold reading instruction as part of fostering choice-based reading. Lots of dreaming in this episode, but we hope you’ll be encouraged to think about the culture of reading in your school, and possibly imagine ways to strengthen that culture.

Dave’s Facebook memories recently reminded him of his former role as a Technology Director in K-12, when part of his job involved printing report cards, which got him thinking about the purpose of report cards, and whether they do what we think they do. Dave shares his frustration about the reductionism in trying to compress a whole term’s learning into just one symbol–a letter grade. We candidly share our own school experiences with getting grades and how they were reported on report cards. We wonder together about alternative ways we could think about communicating learning in ways that would be helpful for students, families, and teachers. Grades, comments, narratives, gradeless reports, standards-based approaches…we talk a little about it all! We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in response; please drop us a line at [email protected].

Consider this a peek behind the scenes...we really are friends, and we really do just hang out together and talk about things. When we get set to record, we usually start with a sound check, and then jump in. But sometimes we go off on a tangent right from the get-go...and that's what happened here. K-pop, fiction we're reading right now, Dave's recent vacation...it all shows up in a 10-minute window. We hope you enjoy this bonus episode!

Our check-in today is about the different rhythms of summer; Matt starts us off with the myth of “summers off” for teachers, but we recognize that we do have different opportunities with the coming of the summer months. Late bedtimes, smoothies for lunch, and changing exercise routines–we have lots to enjoy with the coming of summer!

• Parker Palmer’s book, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of the Teacher’s Life is one every educator should read. You can order a copy here: Amazon link

Many thanks to you, our dedicated listeners! We are in that hectic season of wrapping up our semester with all of the final grading and reporting and final details, so we did not have margin to get into the studio (a.k.a., Dave's office with a cheap microphone) to record a new episode. But you are in luck! We are pulling a classic episode out of the archive. In this episode, we discuss the problems and potential of the staff room. What happens in the staff room? What should happen in the staff room? We hope you'll be challenged and encouraged by listening, and we'll be back with new episodes soon!

We educators are such busy people, aren’t we? In today’s episode, we consider a selection from Jenny Odell’s book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Maybe this sounds like we are encouraging slothfulness? Not that, exactly…but we discuss the idea of being intentional in planning ways to be fully present in Creation, with family and friends, and perhaps choosing to do different things. We consider the magnetic pull of social media, and the way it pushes us to feel FOMO (fear of missing out.) Odell suggests that we instead embrace NOMO (the necessity of missing out), and we discuss this idea, and what it might look like to live this way. We hope that this episode is a word of encouragement for educators as we wrap up our teaching for this academic year and set some different rhythms for rest and play–and maybe put our phones down?

• The book that prompted our discussion for today is available via Amazon

Oh boy, friends…are you ready to talk about dangerous ideas?? In this episode we discuss an essay from the New York Times by Matt Gross entitled “Your Kids Can Handle Dangerous Ideas.” (With thanks to our former professor, Jim Schaap, for recommending it to us!) The key quote from the article: “Parents–or at least the parents who seem to win media attention–are freaking out over everything their kids see, read, and do.” We think through some of the reasons why parents and teachers might be so worried about the kids, and consider some of the cultural forces that seem to be in effect. We also wonder about why (many) Christian schools seem to be afraid to approach potentially “dangerous” ideas–despite perhaps being the ideal place for having faith-informed, honest discussions about potentially-controversial topics. We welcome you to listen in, and as always, your feedback is most welcome!

• You can read the piece from the NYT here: Your Kids Can Handle Dangerous Ideas

For today’s check-in question, Matt asks us what random things we have on our desks or shelves that tell something about us. You might be surprised by what we share…or maybe not! As we are looking towards the end of another academic year, the main topic today is around summative assessment. Dave recently shared a professional development workshop for a local school about the topic, and we spend some time thinking about the purposes and practices of summative assessment. Dave shares his definition for summative assessment, and then we argue a bit about the different ways summative assessment is used (and abused) in schools today…and how our thinking about summative assessment has shifted over time. The difference between “assessment” and “judgment,” just how high-stakes assessment should be, and ideas for alternatives to traditional cumulative exams…lots of ideas we bat around in this conversation!

Are you flourishing? Are your students? Your school community? What do we mean by “flourishing” anyway? This week we wrap up our five-week series discussing Lynn Swaner and Andy Wolfe’s new book Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators, and Schools. The book is divided into five sections, and in this episode, we discuss part five of the book, which is all about “well-being.” As we begin, we talk about work-life rhythm, and why it’s often so difficult for teachers to find this rhythm. We discuss the challenges of resting well, and other facets of well-being for teachers, administrators, and schools. As we conclude this series, we are grateful for the work Lynn and Andy put into this book, and if you have been listening along and haven’t yet read the book yourself, please take this encouragement to find a colleague or two, read the book, and discuss it together this summer. We hope our conversations spark some discourse of your own!

• We would love to hear your reactions to this book as well! Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, comments, and wonderings with us at [email protected]. 

Are you flourishing? Are your students? Your school community? What do we mean by “flourishing” anyway? This is week 4 of our five-week series in which we are reading and discussing Lynn Swaner and Andy Wolfe’s new book Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators, and Schools. The book is divided into five sections, and in this episode, we discuss part four of the book, which is all about “resources.” We begin by thinking about teacher resources we remember from our own school experience–and how technologies and tools have shifted over time. Matt shares a quote about scarcity and abundance from Walter Bruggeman, which led us to think about why so many schools think about what they don’t have rather than what they do have. We grapple with the question, “How much is ‘enough?’” and think through how we student our human resources as well as material resources really well. Lots in this section to unpack and consider!

• We would love to hear your reactions to this book as well! Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, comments, and wonderings with us at [email protected].