SHAPE Shorts Podcast

We as teachers, but primarily as students, recognize that learning is considerably more gratifying when educators explore how subjects weave together rather than compartmentalizing them. We developed six strategies, together titled The Inspirational Six, for educators to adopt and adapt to their own classrooms in the hopes of enriching the learning experience for both teacher and student.

Strategy #5: Deus Ex Machina

To introduce diverse, non-obvious ideas from the arts and sciences as solutions to complex problems.

Strategy #6: Tell the Story

Much of what we teach has a fascinating story behind its discovery. Share it. This humanizes the lesson, making it relatable or easier to follow.

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

Today, Tony's talking a little bit about a concept that we're very familiar with, we've all heard of it, we've all used it, and we've all talked about it in our vocabulary over and over again. It's the concept of the atom. We may not know totally what it is, but we do have an idea of the tiny particle that we call the atom and that everything in our universe is composed of these atoms. We've never seen them, but we've seen their effects. How do they do what they do? Why do we hold to the idea that these structures constitute words like soft, hard, wet, and so on? The emergence of new ideas didn't come from looking at the structure of the atom, it came after the fact. The atom is fascinating! What might the atom mean for you?

We as teachers, but primarily as students, recognize that learning is considerably more gratifying when educators explore how subjects weave together rather than compartmentalizing them. We developed six strategies, together titled The Inspirational Six, for educators to adopt and adapt to their own classrooms in the hopes of enriching the learning experience for both teacher and student.

Strategy #3: Rejuvenate

To breathe new life into tired ideas; To reinvigorate the connection between sciences and humanities; To reclaim enthusiasm for knowledge.

Strategy #4: Stimulate

To inspire innate curiosity, shifting from passive listener to engaged participant; to stimulate the senses and the mind.

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

"Can you pass the salt?" You've probably never thought about the different levels of that question. The literal meaning is does you arm have the physical ability to pick up a salt shaker and hand it to someone. The pragmatic meaning is to physically complete the action of handing the salt to someone. Then throw in inflection and social situations and that simple question could be taken several different ways. Dr. Alexis Wellwood is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Southern California. She is a linguist, philosopher, and cognitive scientist, who recently published her first book, The Meaning of *More*, with Oxford University Press. Today on the Shape Shorts podcast, she is sharing with us her work in USC's Meaning Lab and her connections between children's and adults' understanding of the meaning of words and thoughts and the literal and pragmatic meaning of phrases.

Find Alexis on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/awellwood

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

We as teachers, but primarily as students, recognize that learning is considerably more gratifying when educators explore how subjects weave together rather than compartmentalizing them. We developed six strategies, together titled The Inspirational Six, for educators to adopt and adapt to their own classrooms in the hopes of enriching the learning experience for both teacher and student.

Strategy #1: Animate

To make the subject lively and entertaining; To energize the topic through historical, contemporary, relevant, and unorthodox examples.

Strategy #2: Originate

To reveal original sources of emergent thinking from different disciplines; To encourage original thought.

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

Today on the SHAPE Shorts Podcast, we are hearing from someone with over fifteen years of experience in developing and implementing creative, diverse, and positive programs in educational and community settings. Through research-based practices, Mrs. Shanina Draughn has partnered with several schools to decrease suspension and referral rates by 40% throughout the school year. She believes every teacher and every school leader can become a Bold Educator. Listen in for her support on your journey to develop bold, confident students in your classrooms.

Follow Shanina on IG @build.reach.teach, on LinkedIn, or online at buildreachteach.com

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

Without the idea of processing, civilizations would not exist. You wouldn't be here reading this podcast description right now!

Civilization has always required the farmer to grow more food than the farmer eats. As the civilization becomes more sophisticated, the farmer has to grow more and more food. Fruits and vegetables are nice, but they rot. Meats go bad. Grains stay. Our connection with the grain is what makes us who we are today.

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

On this episode, we have Stephen Greenblatt, an author with high accolades!

Stephen is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He is the author of fourteen books, including Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics; The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve; and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. He is General Editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and of The Norton Shakespeare. His honors include the 2016 Holberg Prize from the Norwegian Parliament, the 2012 Pulitzer Prize and the 2011 National Book Award for The Swerve. He was recently inducted into the British Academy. We talk about the inspiration he had in writing the book, The Swerve.

Tony, Stew, and Stephen discuss about the variations in Lucretius’ poem and the impact transcription could have on this poem. You’ll also learn about how Lucretius was ahead of his time but also alone in his thoughts, as the concepts he wrote about were the exact opposite of the thinkings of the people of that time. This episode is full of information and taught in a way that anyone can learn from!

Find Stephen on IG @harvardenglish!

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters

We all believe it could never happen to us, but is that really true? How far would each one of us be willing to go in order to enhance the greater good? How many of us would be willing to follow whatever leader who happened to correspond politically, religiously, or anything else, to what we believe to be a greater good? How much evil would we be willing to do in the name of a greater good? Every one of us should look at this. We should see who and what we are.

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

On this episode of the SHAPE Shorts podcast, we have an online teaching PRO! Sarah Franz has been teaching online for 3 years and didn't miss a beat as the rest of the world struggled to transition from in-person to online teaching amidst COVID-19. She joins us today to share her secrets for success and this episode is jam-packed with the inspiration you need to take your online education up a notch.

Sarah also has a very successful Instagram presence, @sarahsteachingcorner. Head to her page and follow her to keep up to date on all of the online teaching tips you need to make your classroom a hit for your students!

Find us on IG @s.h.a.p.e.shifters or online at shapeshiftedu.com

Find Sarah on IG @sarahsteachingcorner