Have a Life Teaching

In this episode, we have the opportunity to chat with Chad Dumas - former school principal, CEO of Next Learning Solutions, and Solution Tree PLC@Work consultant - about how schools should be using data strategically in both PLCs and school leadership teams to improve student growth and achievement.

Dumas discuss the four lenses through which we should collect/review data, systemically, as we set school improvement goals and develop our 3-5 year school strategic plans - achievement, perception, demographic, and program data. How does program and perception data affect achievement, and vice versa, etc.?

We also discuss examples of each type of data, processes that school leadership teams might use while reviewing data, and the priority that we should be placing on collecting formative assessment data (exit tickets) in our classrooms - teacher data - and then reviewing this data across classrooms at the school level/supporting teacher teams doing this work.

Chad Dumas LinkedIn Page

Next Learning Solutions Webpage

Let's Put the C in PLC Book

Music by Aylex

In an earlier episode with Darlene Prott, we discussed how to help students to engage in the act of reading itself.

In this episode, we speak with Lorraine Radice - K-12 director of literacy in a public school district in New York and author of the book Leading a Culture of Reading -about how to create a welcoming school community culture centered around reading.

This culture can take many forms, some of which we unpack here - adult book study, parent academies centered around how to help parents read with one's child, class/teacher book swaps, activities where students are the stakeholders driving literacy discussions, and many more!

Radice also describes her work as a "reading role model" in previewing and presenting new childrens and young adult fiction/non-fiction texts to her colleagues - who then serve as adult reading role models to their students - as well as the genres of text that different learner age groups tend to enjoy.

Dr. Lorraine M. Radice Web Page

Leading a Culture of Reading Book

Lorraine M. Radice X Account

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These are challenging times in the world and, as we see on university/K12 school campuses, global events are having a direct impact on the teaching and learning environment.

How do we teach students about both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia?

How do we engage with those who do not share our perspectives on the Israel-Hamas conflict?

I hope you will listen to this podcast conversation with Dr. Debbie Almontaser - cultural diversity specialist and founder/CEO of the Bridging Cultures Group - as we discuss how to have a thoughtful conversation with our students about this sensitive topic.

We also discuss ways through which we can help our students work through rascist tropes that are promogated on social media and elsewhere about both Arab and Jewish Americans.

Dr. Debbie Almontaser LinkedIn Page

Bridging Cultures Group

New York Times Article - Critics Cost Muslim Educator Her Dream School

Music - Aylex

As Darlene Prott - Founder and CEO of NJ Teacher 2 Teacher says, we may think students should be able to read once they pass third grade but we may want to think again especially if we are supporting multi-lingual learners.

Students may be able to decode words by 3rd grade but do they truly understand and can they make meaning of and draw connections from what they are reading?

In this episode, Prott and I discuss how teachers - particularly cross content teachers grades 4 and up - can help students deconstruct what they are reading while also improving student vocabulary development in ways that are visible to the teacher. In particular, we discuss the importance of using annotation codes with students as they read as well as whole group read alouds across K12.

Darlene Prott LinkedIn Page

NJ Teacher to Teacher Webpage

The Gift

Music - Aylex

Today, principals are coming to the job younger and with less experience. While they come with curiosity and enthusiasm for the job, many still struggle in the role because they do not have a grounding in the basic pillars of leadership in school settings.

In this episide, my guest David Franklin - CEO and founder of The Principal's Desk - and I discuss the five pillars of leadership as discussed in his new book - Advice from The Principal's Desk.

We highlight the importance of improving student attendance, being creative in reaching out to families, and learning to listen before acting as school leader.

David Franklin LinkedIn Page

The Principal's Desk Blog

Advice from the Principal's Desk Book

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In this episode, Jose Bowen - DEI education consultant and former President of Goucher College - and I discuss his new book Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning.

Indeed, in his book and in our chat, Professor Bowen asserts that AI will not replace jobs but rather require students today to use AI to develop both their metacognition and creativity if they are to be marketable for the jobs that AI will actually create.

We also discuss practical ways through which teachers can integrate AI into their classroom instruction. As Professor Bowen argues, AI is poised to revolutionize how we receive and process information much like the advent of the Internet some thirty years ago.

Jose Antonio Bowen LinkedIn

Jose Bowen Webpage

Teaching with AI Book

The New 3Rs of Education TED Talk

Music - Aylex

April 7th will be the thirtieth anniversary of the start of the Rwandan Genocide in which 800,000 men, women, and children - mostly from the Tutsi minority group - were deliberately and systematically murdered because of who they were - not because of anything they did.

In this episode, my guest Jacqueline Murekatete - human rights lawyer and founder of the Genocide Survivors Foundation - and I not only discuss her work in supporting survivors of global genocide but also her experiences as a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda.

We discuss ways through which educators can make students not only aware of the typical hate speech and demonisation of victims that often occurs, prior to the crime of genocide, but also help students to become upstanders against it. We also discuss how Rwanda today teaches its own students about its troubled past.

Warning: This episode describes situations of physical violence and emotional abuse.

Jacqueline Murekatete LinkedIn

Genocide Survivors Foundation

BBC - How the Rwandan Genocide Happened

Music - Aylex

Educators can't do well by their students if they are not whole themselves.

Sometimes, the best course of action is to know when enough is enough and change course to new jobs in the education field or outside of it.

In this episode, Casey Jakubowski - co-author of Crush It From the Start: 50 Tips for New Teachers and school principal - and I discuss the signs to look for to determine if moving on is the right decision. In his book, see Tip #50 - Knowing When to Retreat.

We also discuss ways to limit burnout in one's current position by saying no to asks from those above in a professional manner.

It's not about refusing but by asking what else from one's plate can be removed to accomodate this new request.

Casey Jakubowski LinkedIn

Crush It From the Start: 50 Tips for New Teachers

Music - Aylex

In this episode, Megan Conklin - founder of Conklin Educational Perspectives and Trainer at the Washington Education Association - discusses her work in designing and facilitating substitute teacher team training programs and how her model could and should be replicated across the country.

Data suggests that K12 students in the USA can spend up to a year in classes managed by substitutes who are often unsupported and unprepared to meet student needs. Yet, programs like Megan's are providing substitute teachers with the skills needed to excel and also a community of like individuals.

With over 30% of Megan's participants wanting to become certified full time teachers, substitute training is an investment in time that not only helps districts to have qualified substitutes on hand now but also is an investment in the future of education.

Megan Conklin LinkedIn

Washington Education Association

Good Morning America

Substantial Classrooms

Music - Aylex

In this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast, Jo Boaler, Stanford Math education professor and author of ther new book "Math- ish", and I discuss how to make Math instruction more accessible to students in K12 schools.

Math learning can cause unnecessary anxiety if it is taught only abstractly rather than in a way that connects it to the world in which we live and helps to explain it. We chat about the value that comes from K12 students discussing what they think Math represented pictorally may mean - even if imprecise. We also discuss the importance of students reflecting upon the Math thinking of peers.

We also touch upon new Math learning pathways - transitioning from an Algebra/Calculus track in high school to one that more so incorporates courses on Statistics and Data Analysis.

Jo Boaler LinkedIn

Math-ish Book

YouCubed.Org

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