The long road to the finish line of testing is finally behind us! Most of us. Why did institutions decide to adopt high stakes or standardized tests and should teachers be teaching students how to take the tests? Today we take a quick look at high stakes testing. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/12/gaokao-china-toughest-school-exam-in-world 

In light of recent events happening in the world, we discuss if and how teachers  and schools can help students process current events, connect them to the curriculum, and as a community, make progress.

Articles discussed: 

• Social Studies and the Birth of NCSS:
  1783-1921 by Ben A. Smith, J. Jesse Palmer and Stephen T. Correia
• Talking to Children about War

In this episode, a long time coming, we discuss the history and potential benefits of extracurricular activities in schools. Do we put too much emphasis on some at the expense of academics? Are there real benefits if done right? Let's explore! 

Side note, the audio is not our best. Sorry about that! In an effort to get the ball back up and moving on the podcast, we've decided to publish this anyway. 

Summer is here! The time of year all students and teachers look forward to. In today's episode, we discuss the history behind the break, the reactions to it, and the benefits of a summer break for both teachers and kids. 

What do Jacob Collier, the musician's musician, and Bo Jackson, the legendary pro athlete, have to do with teaching? Join us as we descend down this rabbit hole and explore what would happen if all teachers defined themselves not by the content, course, or age-level they teach, but by the profession as a whole; teacher. 

Curious about the whole video of Jacob Collier explaining harmony at all levels that we mentioned in the show? Follow the link https://youtu.be/eRkgK4jfi6M 

In this episode, we begin to wrestle with the question; what is the purpose of schools? With many schools having experienced a shutdown, the idea of school as a physical space has changed. What have we learned about the purpose of schools from this shared experience? To ground the discussion, we use the idea that formal education's goals can be broken into three different areas; qualification, socialization, and subjectification. Using these three criteria as our framework, what qualifies as school moving forward?