Speaking of Education Podcast

This episode features Keeley Baronak, PhD, Chair of Carlow University's Department of Education and Executive Director of the University's Campus School. During our conversation, Dr. Baronak recounted a moment when an eighth-grade student admitted he couldn't read and the scribbles on the printed page had absolutely no meaning for him. This encounter set Dr. Baronak on a path of discovery, not just for the best practices for reading instruction, but also for an understanding of the science of learning. She infuses her passion for knowledge and caring for students in her work with undergraduate, graduate, and practicing teachers. "These are difficult times for the profession," she says, "and we must think outside the narrow boxes we have constructed for our work with students." In the face of teacher shortages, many states are experimenting with alternatives to the traditional preparation and certification of teachers. "It's crucial," she says, "that those of us in university teacher education programs reach out and work cooperatively with school districts to assure the availability of qualified and competent educators."

This episode features Gerry Florida, an accomplished jewelry artist, whose belief in human imagination and resilience fuels her work with at-risk youth, including those incarcerated in a juvenile detention center. Florida has served as the director of several community art programs, as a board member of several community and educational organizations, and a founding member of Studio Blue. As she explains, "I thrive on minimal direction, spontaneity, and mistakes. Free-form wirework in jewelry-making demands impromptu solutions in order to harmonize each next move with the last. My work is a 'live happening' of endless bloopers, masterfully redirected with each movement of untamed wire that is never backtracked, never undone and never given a second chance to correct itself. My continual artistic challenge is to integrate failures and make them beautiful in the finished piece." Bringing this artistic sensibility to her relationships with juvenile offenders, she does not dwell on their past mistakes, but encourages them to integrate what they have learned into new and better possibilities for their futures.

Additional information about Gerry Florida's work as an artist and advocate for at-risk youth can be found on her website, https://floridarecycled.com

In this episode Richard Williams, a retired public school educator, shares his pedagogical approach for bringing history to life through "learning by doing." As a classroom teacher, a department chair, and a cooperating teacher, Mr. Williams has worked to connect students with the rich history of their own home towns and the surrounding area. Since his retirement, Mr. Williams continues to pursue his passion by doing research, giving presentations, and serving on the board of historical associations.

In this episode, we talk with Ralph Proctor, Jr., PhD, a Professor of Ethnic & Diversity Studies at the Community College of Allegheny County. During our conversation we explore the historical challenges of incorporating information about the role of African-Americans since the founding of America to the present. In particular, focuses on how such information can be taught in ways that build bridges among those with different social and cultural backgrounds.

Among the courses that Dr. Proctor teaches are Understanding Violence in American, African-American History, Achieving Cultural Competence, and African Art/Artifacts in the Cycle of Life. Over the years he has served in professional and administrative capacities in academia, social service agencies, and business organizations. He pioneered the use of oral history at the University of Pittsburgh with his study, Racial Discrimination against Black Teachers and Black Professionals in the Pittsburgh Public School System: 1934-1973 (now published by Learning Moments Press). In addition, Learning Moments Press has published Voices from the Firing Line: A Personal Accountof the Pittsburgh Civil Rights Movement and Song of The Hill: Life, Love, Legacy about Pittsburgh's iconic Black community. In his personal and professional life Dr. Proctor has been and continues to be a tireless warrior in the battle for civil rights.

In this episode, we talk with Michelle Cravens who offers her perspective as an educator with many years of experience within different contexts and age levels. At the beginning of the podcast, Cravens shares how an early job at an Animal Shelter had a profound impact on her. At the shelter she cared for animals who had been abandoned and abused. She learned to nurture them and at times hold them tight as they left the pain of this world behind. She worked beside Class-D felons who had overwhelming compassion for the animals and an incomparable work ethic. This experience greatly influenced her as she continued to pursue a career in education. She has served as a middle school English/Language Arts teacher, an elementary school counselor, and a Bridge Program teacher in an alternative high school program. Michelle currently is a Middle School Counselor where she works as part of the Instructional Leadership Team in a CSI labeled school with one of the most diverse populations of middle school students in the state of Kentucky. In her school, 40% of the students are Multiple Language Learners, 56% are considered minority populations, and about 20% qualify for special education. Close to 80% of the student population fall into a lower socioeconomic status. Michelle is currently completing a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership at Northern Kentucky University.

Dr. Perry is the Executive Director of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, a consortium of universities committed to the promotion of practice-based scholarly research. During this conversation Dr. Perry recounts the events surrounding the formation of CPED, its mission, its accomplishments, and examples of various practice-based studies.

Additional information about the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate is available at https://www.cpedinitiative.org.

Dr. Perry's publications include the books: The Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice; The EdD and the Scholarly Practitioner, and In Their Own Words: A Journey to the Stewardship of the Practice in Education.

In this episode we continue our conversation with Dr. Wendy Milne with a focus on her work with two community arts organizations—Attack Theater and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA).

We explore how this collaboration began and its power for generating excitement and understanding of the arts among students, school personnel, parents, and the general community. As Dr. Milne points out, the lessons they learned about virtual artist residencies and teaching offer new avenues for connecting students with the world of art beyond the school walls.

Additional information about Attack Theatre is available at https://www.attacktheatre.com. Additional information about SAMA is available at https://www.sama-art.org.

In this episode we talk with Dr. Wendy Milne, an elementary art educator and the 2004 recipient of the outstanding Elementary Art Educator Award from the Pennsylvania Art Education Association. The focus of our conversation is Dr. Milne's use of reflective artmaking as a mode of professional learning and her school district's use of differentiated projects to fulfill Pennsylvania's mandate for teacher evaluation. In recent years, the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate has been advocating for the preparation of scholarly practitioners. The ways in which Dr. Milne has built upon and extending the work of her dissertation is an excellent example of the power of practitioner inquiry.

Dr. Milne's award winning dissertation serves as the basis for her book, Professional Learning through Reflective Artmaking: A Pedagogical Portfolio, available on Amazon. Professional Learning Through Reflective Artmaking: A Pedagogical Portfolio

In this episode, Susan Roth shares her concerns about the lack of understanding and recognition given to the field of early childhood education. With a Master's degree and over 12 years of experience in a variety of pre-K settings, Roth is a thoughtful and impassioned advocate for credentialed professionals who work with children during critical stages of early development. As Roth reflects on her years of teaching, she articulates the challenges of setting boundaries as a form of care for her students and herself.

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Dr. Megan Reister, Dr. Jane Ammon, and Dr. Stef Gardiner-Walsh. As these professors share the focus of their doctoral research, they illuminate the concepts of "other mothering" and "MotherScholars." Each is committed to preparing future teachers to work effectively with students who have some form of hearing loss.

Kemmery (Reister), Megan A. Are You Deaf or Hard of Hearing? Which Do You Go By: Perceptions of Students with Hearing Loss. Ph.D. Dissertation (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2014).

Ammon, Jane. Decentering Whiteness in Teacher Education Through A Creative Self Study of Womanist Caring Pedagogy. Doctoral Dissertation (Kutztown University, 2022).

https://research.library.kutztown.edu/edddissertations/23

Gardiner-Walsh, Stef. Factors Characterizing the Academic Experiences of Children with Mild Bilateral or Unilateral Hearing Loss. Doctoral Dissertation (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 2015).

Reister, Megan. MotherScholars' Perceptions , Experiences, and the Impact on Work-Family Balance (Lexington Books, 2022). https://rowman.com/Lexington