Rethinking Learning Podcast

Trevor MacKenzie is a high school teacher, Instructional Coach, speaker, and author of two books, Dive into Inquiry and Inquiry Mindset.  He teaches at Oak Bay High School in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

         

I was excited to receive a preview copy and write a review of Trevor’s new book, Inquiry Mindset. It is amazing and I highly recommend it. We had this conversation right when the book was coming out but it is still timely because of all the information Trevor shared about his journey in education and diving deep into inquiry. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast:

 

About you and your family

Yes, I’m a Canadian born and raised in British Columbia, Canada and moved to Victoria almost 20 years to the university here. That’s where I met my lovely wife, Sarah. We did some traveling and taught in different countries for a bit but we always knew Victoria was going to be our home. We have 2 sons, Ewan who is 9 going into 4th grade and Gregor, a six-year-old going into first grade now since we did the podcast.

As you know with kids, they are naturally curious and discovery-based learners. They helped me shape my understanding for the teacher I wanted to be for my kids but also my children in my 9-12 English classes at Oak Bay High School. I do a lot of traveling, a lot of consulting, visiting really neat spaces, and dealing with innovative practices where inquiry-based learning is happening.

 

What it was like for you as a learner

In school, I had a pretty up-and-down experience. I think a lot of authors and consultants have similar situations as I did; a story that they don’t want to pass on to their students or to their own children. I had a lot of mediocre learning experiences, nothing that really stood out for me as a teenager. But there were a few amazing educators and coaches that really went out of their way to create some memorable experiences for me, whether it was on a bus to a basketball tournament or a poetry unit that enlivened my passion for writing. They are a big reason why I became a teacher because they passed on their passion for teaching to me. They left an impact on me for lifelong learning and paying it forward. I try to go back and let those teachers know that they made a difference in my life. So often we don’t hear from our students the impact of our hard work, determination, and passion as teachers because they leave and it doesn’t resonate with them until much later. For anyone listening to this podcast, let those teachers know what you are doing with your life.  It is so important to say thank you to the teachers who left their mark on your life. It can be such a powerful moment.

This is the reason why inquiry is such an important part of them so they are immensely curious and connected at the moment....

Angela Maiers is a world-renowned author, entrepreneur, international keynote speaker, and educator, whose transformative message of the importance of mattering has the power to unleash the genius in us all.

         

I’ve known Angela for many years, followed her on social media, and always look forward to spending time with her in person at conferences. I am so glad we had a chance to have a conversation. I’ve added a few excerpts from our podcast.

 

About you and your family

I am the mom of two of the most perfect children in the world. My son is 22 pursuing his passion and my daughter is a student at the University of Hawaii. They are both getting to travel and see the world and trying to find out who their best selves are. I live south of Denver in a little town called Lone Tree and love it. Everything is perfect; the weather, the people, the mountains, and more. I feel grateful every day.

Your background in education

I got into education to change lives and change the world. I was in medicine before I came to my senses. I focused on neuroscience with a background in linguistics. I was always fascinated with how language influences both the brain and learning. My heart wasn’t in medicine; it was in education. So over 30 years ago, I joined this amazing field and see everyone as a learner. I’m a teacher in front of students and learners with them and in front of teachers. Anyone we get to be with, we are all teachers and learners at the same time.

 

Why you developed Choose2Matter

Choose2Matter developed itself. Always, from the moment I chose education, I’ve been deeply aware of my purpose. I know that I am here to be a catalyst of impact and for positive change. Education is supporting anyone at any level who wants to take the responsibility for their own lives and to make the world a better place. Really that’s the foundation of Choose2Matter. Helping people figure out what their unique contribution to the world is going to be.

It wasn’t until I did a TedTalk years ago when I was thinking about all the topics I could say in 17 minutes how you could change the world. We change the world by showing up and presenting the best version of ourselves. Doing this is not easy. Mattering is not an event, a theme, or a message about feeling good about ourselves. It is a discipline and a fierce commitment to figuring out on your own how to offer everything you are to the world. It is also about developing that sense of confidence, calmness, and courage in other people to do the same.

Sometimes mattering is a minute-by-minute, breath-by-breath choice to be brave, to be fully yourself, to be fiercely committed to your own truth and authentic you. When there are so many ways we can hide in the world,

Jan Zanetis is the Managing Director at the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration and is currently serving on the ISTE Board of Directors as the Board Secretary. In 2015, Jan was awarded the coveted “Making IT Happen” award from ISTE.

         

I have known Jan for over 20 years and always look forward to catching up with her at conferences. I met Jan when she was working with TANDBERG when I first learned about video conferencing. At ISTE last year, I mentioned to Jan that I wanted to learn more about her work so invited her to have a conversation with me. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast:

 

Your background

I’ve had multiple careers starting in the classroom. My passions have always been around opening the walls of the world to kids and classrooms. I live in Louisville, Kentucky by way of Nashville, Tennessee. I have three grown sons and one granddaughter 18 months old in New York City.

I figured out when I was 13 years old working at Head Start that I wanted to be a teacher. I went to Peabody College in Nashville that is now Vanderbilt University and majored in special education and elementary ed. I ended up being a Title I Reading Teacher and worked with Special Ed and Gifted kids then a middle school teacher teaching science and loved Mrs. Frizzle, teaching hands-on, and personalized learning. I was teaching my kids to code in 1999. Nothing is really new. Everything is coming around again. I was producing videos with my students in the late 90s.

Videoconferencing

I fell in love with interactive video back in 2000. I was asked to take a position at Vanderbilt running a virtual school. Ours were all live interactive distance learning experiences for kids for the city of Nashville for the science community then grew nationally and now is international. In those five years, that was the most fun time building a distance learning community. During that period, I met Kecia Ray and Camille Cole at ISTE and we decided to write a book about Videoconferencing in the K12 Classrooms published by ISTE.

 

Little History of Videoconferencing

Video conferencing was different in the 1990s and it was very complicated. You had to have special phone lines to connect to other people which caused huge phone bills. You needed 8-12 phone lines to support the bandwidth of 384K. You needed an IT person because everything was done manually with remote controls.

Then it switched over to IP based video in 2005 that made it easier because you didn’t need the expensive phone lines. In 2010,

Dr. Rena Hawkins is the principal of Maple Elementary School in the Smithville School District in Missouri. She was recently honored by being selected as a 2018 Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals Exemplary New Principal. Rena co-hosts the ShareMo Edu Podcast with Dr. Eric Carlin. 

         

I was lucky to meet Rena on a panel with Adam Welcome and loved her passion for teaching and learning. So I just had to have a conversation with her. I was also able to enjoy time with her at the ISTE Conference so she took a selfie. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast along with some great pictures and resources from Rena:

 

About you and your family

I met my husband in the summer 25 years ago and we’ve been married for 23 years. My husband is Jason Hawkins and is a Psychotherapist at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City. We have 3 children. Our oldest, Serena, 19, just finished her freshman year at Northwestern and wants to be a music teacher. Harley is 16 and is a true outdoorsman. He loves football, hunt, and fish. Elaine, 15, will be a freshman next year in high school and loves to sing and loves drama.

Journey as a Teacher to Principal

I always wanted to be a teacher and was a teacher for eleven years. I taught first, second, and fifth grades. I moved back and forth between Missouri and Florida three times in my life, twice as a child and once as an adult. My teaching experience spanned from areas in Missouri to Florida and back. After teaching, I moved into an instructional coach role for six years and one year as the K-12 ELA curriculum coordinator. Following that, I went into administration and was the assistant principal in Smithville for 2 years before taking over the Maple Elementary (K-2) as lead principal 2 years ago where there were 500 K-2 students.

 

Transitioning to Maple Elementary PreK-6

The Primary School just finished its last year as a K-2 school and is now a PreK-6 school. For years, K-2 children in Smithville were bussed to Maple Elementary. The district is in the process of building a new elementary school and all three elementary schools will open as PreK to 6th-grade schools in the fall. So my building is going through major renovations this summer.

One of our major changes opening as a PreK to 6th-grade school is we are starting multi-age co-teaching classrooms. We are breaking down walls between six classrooms and will have sliding glass doors between them. There will be multi-age co-teaching with first and second grades so the first graders will get to loop with those teachers for two years. We have done looping in the past, but the way we are doing looping with co-teaching models is new to us.

Changing Everything

Don Wettrick is known for his award-winning work as a middle school and high school teacher; educational and innovation consultant; and educational speaker. Don is the CEO and founder of StartEdUp, author of “Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level” and Innovation Specialist at Noblesville High School, central Indianapolis.

         

I’ve followed Don on social media and on his podcast for years and enjoy learning from him online. Now it’s my turn to interview him. I was excited to learn about FutureReadyU for kids and share it with my audience. Below are excerpts from our conversation.

 

About you, your family, and where you live

I’ve been in the Indianapolis area all my life and love it. I live in Indianapolis, IN with my wife, Alicia, and my three children: Ava, Anna, and Grant. It is literally the crossroads of America.

Everyone in my family was from education. My dad was a teacher, my mom was a stay-at-home mom which made her a teacher, and my sister is a teacher in deaf education. When I was young, we traveled all my life usually by pop-up camper always on a budget. I think one of the things that were instilled in me is that the best money you can spend is on (a) your loved ones and (b) on memories. Every summer was a road trip somewhere.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t be a teacher, but I wanted to be like my dad. I wanted to be the dad that my dad was. Part of it was to spend time with my children. The current position I had didn’t look like it was going to be as family friendly. My dad always had an optimistic view of education. He was very upbeat about things and wanted to keep what he taught fresh. So after 3 years out of college not being a teacher, I decided to go back and get my teaching degree. My favorite quote from my dad is what was at the heart of innovation:

“Don, I don’t care if you go on teaching for the next 20 years, but please don’t teach one year 20 times.” Chuck Wettrick

Curiosity has always been a part of my genetic code. I have a little more of my mom’s confrontational side where we used to get in these great arguments and enjoyed a good debate. My dad is more the agreeable type so I’m hoping I am a good combination of the two. I remember my first few years teaching in middle school, the kids would rush in and tell you all these things that happened over the break. Then when I started high school, the first thing the kids did was not talk. That whole middle school excitement and the social aspect of it was great. I taught ten wonderful years at middle school.

 

Teaching Innovation and Open Source Learning

Daniel Pink mentioned in his Ted Talk that most adults are not driven by money but by mastery, autonomy, and purpose.

Rose Colby is the author of Competency-Based Education: A New Architecture for K-12 Schooling and co-author of Off the Clock. She is a Competency-Based Learning and Assessment specialist and serves as a national advisor and contributor to CompetencyWorks.org. Rose is a Fellow at 2Revolutions where she coaches schools and districts nationally in developing prototypes for the future of learning in competency education.

         

I’m fortunate to have known Rose for many years and have been following her work with competency-based education. I’m also lucky to have presented with Rose at iNACOL last October and will be presenting again at the next iNACOL Symposium in Nashville, TN. Below are a few excerpts from her podcast.

 

About your family

The Colby family has been in transition. We have two daughters who live in New York City. We also have three grandchildren. I have lived in New Hampshire all my life, but we wanted to be closer to our kids so last year we made a move to Connecticut on the New York border so we get to see our family on a regular basis.

 

Your background

I didn’t come through the regular pathway for teacher preparation. I was a high school biology and chemistry teacher and came from industry. When I was teaching, I was not aware I was doing some innovative things in my classroom. I was just teaching in the way I thought science should be taught at the high school level. I had more of a project-based learning orientation to my teaching. I went from teaching at the high school level to the science department head to assistant principal at our high school. Then I became the associate principal at the middle school where I became principal at Mountain View Middle School for seventeen years. I am proud to say that we were a school of excellence twice while I was principal.

 

 

Competency Education Consultant

In 2002, I became involved with a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project where I was able to work with superintendents and principals across the state working on student-centered learning projects. I became a Competency-Based Learning and Assessment specialist and a national advisor and contributor to CompetencyWorks.org. In the briefs from CompetencyWorks, the move is now going to personalized learning and competency-based education. 

CompetencyWorks. iNACOL. “Meeting All Students Where They Are  Report. 2018

Maybe your introduction to competency-based education is to personalize standards-based teaching. Competency-based is a higher evolution of performance. When students have agency, they will be able to show you they what they lear...

Dean Shareski is the Community Manager for Discovery Education Canada since 2012. From 2002-2012, he worked as a Digital Learning Consultant with the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. Previous to that Dean taught grades K-8 for 14 years and specializes in the use of technology in the classroom.

             

Dean wrote “Embracing a Culture of Joy” and a new book with Scott McLeod, “Different Schools for a Different World.” I’ve been lucky to attend several of his keynotes and am honored to have a conversation about culture, joy, and so much more. Dean mentions no selfies but I’ve had a few with him so I had to include one. We didn’t talk about why he loves to take pictures of people jumping but I had to add a picture of Dean jumping. Below are a few excerpts from the podcast, some of his presentations, and about his books.

 

About you and your family

I always share my family in my presentations. It is controversial about how much to share about your personal life. I’ve always focused on the idea that you learn from people you like and there has to be some kind of connection so you can relate to them. So I hope that sharing my story helps connect to some of their own experiences. We live in the middle of Canada. My wife is an educator also and we have four wonderful children, three of whom are married. My youngest is in her first year of post-secondary school. Most exciting of all is that we are grandparents for the first time last October. Everything I talk about now is about my granddaughter who is just a real joy and delight.

 

Your background as a teacher using technology in the classroom

When I first started teaching in 1989, there wasn’t a lot of technology around. We were just starting to get a computer or two in the school. The idea of a computer lab kind of emerged somewhere in the mid-90s. I didn’t have any specific fascination with technology more than probably most teachers did then. I kind of remember a distinct turning point for me around the use of technology. One was access to a video camera and a digital camera which I took home and used first as a way of documenting my family. Then I started thinking how these could be used with students. I remember giving a session on an in-service day sharing what I learned about the digital camera with other teachers. That began my journey using technology and moved pretty quickly to the late 90s to where I believed that it had great potential. As the Internet began to emerge and software became more user-friendly, there was more of an opportunity to explore and use those resources. When I think of technology, the whole media production aspect is what I captured my interest.

Ilene Winokur Alzaid, Ed.D is a passionate educator and supportive mentor who has lived in Kuwait since 1984. She was an Elementary School Principal, English Foundation Program University Director and Accreditation Steering Committee, Chairperson. 

             

I met Ilene at ISTE last year in San Antonio. It was like we had known each other for years. We decided to be silly and took a fun selfie. She is now the President-elect of the Global Collaboration Network at ISTE and we’ll be connecting at ISTE again in June.  I added a few excerpts from the podcast below:

 

About you, your family, and your move to Kuwait

My background is a little up and down. I graduated in 1977 from the University of Buffalo in History. I ended up going back for my MBA where I met my husband, Abdulmohsen Al Zaid. I had several jobs working in different parts of the US but our phone bills were getting high.  I ended up following my husband to Kuwait in 1984.I had to learn the language because I only knew a few words of Arabic when I moved there.

For the first five and a half years, we lived with my mother-in-law who didn’t speak any English. It was really important for me to absorb the culture and learn the language. Because I was home and raising our kids, I was able to spend a lot of time with her. The culture was so different that I had to integrate into it slowly. At this time of the podcast, I have three children, 32, 30, and 27. My oldest son, Barrak, moved to Thailand and is an artist involved in juried projects in the region. My other son, Meshari, was working HSBC in Kuwait but got accepted to grad school in the states. My daughter, Haya, is a design thinker working in Boston. I have a 93-year-old mom in Buffalo so I have a few reasons why I go back to the States.

from left to right my children: Meshari, Haya, Barrak Al Zaid

 

Becoming an educator

I raised my children in Kuwait and didn’t go back to work until 1995. In 1995-96, there was a new small school opening with only 85 students. I became their third grade teacher without any background in education, so I knew I had to go back and get the certification. I went back through a program at the College of New Jersey who brought professors to Kuwait and got my ESL certification.

Attendees from TESOL Kuwait at TESOL International Conference 2017 in Seattle.

All schools in Kuwait are multi-cultural, and all children learn English starting in first grade. Kuwait recognizes bilingualism with English is an unofficial second language. I am a member of TESOL. A big part of my learning is that I became a member of ASCD. I started reading about differentiated instruction and personalized learning.  Learning about all kinds of new things that I didn’t know before and ne...

Sara Armstrong, Ph. D. is an educational consultant, keynote speaker, presenter, and writer working to provide resources and tools for change in education. With over 44 years as an educator, Sara has developed and implemented workshops on many topics, including information literacy, storytelling, technology integration, global resources for education, project-based learning, and integrating true social-emotional learning for living.

             

I’ve known and worked with Sara since the 1990s. In fact, my first educational technology class at Berkeley was from Sara and Flora Russ. Sara and I have been friends and worked together for a long time, and I really wanted to have a conversation with her to share all that she does including her storytelling. Just listen and enjoy. Below are many of the excerpts from the podcast.

 

Storytelling

Sara starts the podcast with a story that has a moral. I have been fortunate to work with Sara over the years and always looked forward to her stories. Her voice is so calming and the stories have deeper meanings that encouraged me to really think and reflect. Most of the stories do. Sara also is actively involved with the Bay Area Storytelling Festival.

https://www.facebook.com/bayareastorytellingfestival/

 

A little about you

My dog, Beatrice, a cattle dog mix is very smart and busy. She’s still very active at 8 and very cute. That’s the important thing. She and my husband, Robert, live in Berkeley, CA. I have been in my house in Berkeley, CA a long time and seen lots of changes here. I’m sort of mostly retired now so that means I get to only work on things that I care about. That means working on transforming education and making the systems and processes more meaningful to everybody who is involved. Less stress, more relaxation, and engagement in what people are doing by increasing the possibilities for happiness and flow to take place. So the way we do that is with project-based learning and giving students voice and choice.

 

Starting with Montessori

I’ve always been fascinated early on by Maria Montessori’s methods and philosophy of education, mainly because little kids were engaged for a long period of time. I took the training and became a Montessori teacher and had my own Montessori elementary school. That was my first, for a long time, my work in education. So that’s what I thought it was always like and should be like. The idea that kids can choose what they want to work on for their own learning. In the preschool, it is really wide open so kids move around here and there in different parts of the classroom focusing on different aspects of education. In elementary school, it is a little more directed,

Ted Fujimoto is President of Landmark Consulting Group, Inc., a management and investment consultancy for scaling innovations in learning. Ted helped to design and create the replication systems and strategy for several of the highest performing public school designs in the country that created over 350 schools, including New Tech Network and Big Picture Learning.

             

I’ve been following Ted on Twitter for many years and am constantly learning from him. When I reached out to Ted, he welcomed me with open arms. I really enjoyed our conversation and added excerpts with links, resources, and pictures to complement his podcast.

 

About you and your family

I was originally from the Napa Valley in California. During my developmental years, I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I lived overseas as a teenager in Japan. I have two kids. One is finishing up her third year of medical school and the other is finishing college who just got married this summer. My wife, Leigh Rachel Faith @unleighshed, is an actor, writer, and producer in the entertainment business. We live in Los Angeles.

 

What school was like when you were growing up

I was in a traditional school in a single room country schoolhouse. Oversees, we had correspondence school where we had to mail in our assignments and then got them back literally a month later. I was one of those kids who felt that school was boring and in the way. What got me through it was kind of cracking the code. For example, when I was in the correspondence school, I knew I could get the school work done by 10 am and then jump on the subway to tour Tokyo until 6 pm every day. So I got done by speeding through.

Even in college, I got through in three years. There was a bunch of classes where I just went to the midterms and finals. That’s what I needed to do to get the grades and that’s all I did. Even as a professional some 20 odd years later and started dozens of education organizations, I looked back to figure out what part of my education contributed to what I know today. I would say maybe 5% – there were a few classes that gave me a perspective and helped me to do what I do today. But, actually, about 80% was not useful at all.

 

New Tech Network

 

 

 

 

When I moved my company from Silicon Valley to Napa Valley where I was originally from, we were one of the first tech companies there. Then Napa was a farm town then and we couldn’t find employees to help us grow. My first foray in transforming education was literally out of survival. We needed employees even entry level and that resulted in starting that Napa New Technology High School in 1996.

About New Tech High School: