Host Justin Reich is joined by Kevin Dua, 2017 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year, a two-time Massachusetts Teachers Association Human & Civil Rights awardee, and a current member of the Ideation UpLift Legacy Cohort for K-12 Black Male Educators. Kevin is a History and Psychology Teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Justin and Kevin discuss anti-racism, unlearning, and strategies to increase equity in education in the age of Covid. Kevin also shares his experience as an advisor to the award winning Black Student Union in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Oftentimes educators talk about wanting to integrate current events. Right now, the current events, if it's not COVID-19, it's systemic racism. It's white supremacy. If those words, if those key terms aren't being said aloud, regardless of if it's a social studies classroom or a math classroom, that should be a red flag.” - Kevin Dua

In this episode we’ll talk about:

• The Black Lives Matter Movement and its impact on teaching
• Disrupting Systems / Unlearning
• Current state of educators in COVID
• COVID exposing inequities
• Cambridge Rindge and Latin’s Black Student Union
• Advice to teachers

Resources and Links

Follow Kevin Dua on Twitter

Check out Kevin’s resources on Anti-Racism.

Read an interview with Kevin Dua in the Daily Times Chronicle 

Check out Justin Reich’s new book!

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/kevin-dua/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley

Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow TeachLab:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, host Justin Reich is joined in a live webinar by colleagues Jal Mehta from the Harvard Graduate School Of Education, and Neema Avashia, a Civics teacher in the Boston Public Schools to discuss the Imagining September report; a joint research project to identify values and priorities for reopening schools.

“We have to get smarter about how we structure ourselves in ways that actually are in service of kids learning.” - Neema Avashia

• Managing uncertainty 
• What worked this spring and what did not work 
• Ideas brought by students 
• Imagining September 
  • What do you value most from school? 
  • How could you start to imagine some of the things you value most from school appearing in a new hybrid remote format. 
  • What can you leave behind? 
•  Getting smarter about school structure 
• Connecting with all kids 
• Being a teacher and a citizen in today’s climate 
• Being safe AND feeling safe in schools 
• Audience Questions

Resources and Links

Check out Imagining September: Principles and Design Elements for Ambitious Schools During COVID-19

Check out Imagining September: Online Design Charrettes for Fall 2020 Planning with Students and Stakeholders

Check out Jal Mehta’s Book In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School

Full webinar link coming soon!

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/imagining-september/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan 

Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Rich Milner, Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University joins Justin Reich to talk about his personal teaching history, and share stories of education research in schools. He presents his five mindsets of becoming a more equitable educator, and discusses the common reluctance to bring race into the classroom. 

“ if you're going to do work that is emancipatory, if you're going to engage work that is transformative, if you're going to engage work that meets the needs of every young person with whom you work. Then you've got to consider race. “

• Rich’s Teaching History
• Deficit Mindset
• Colorblindness
• Myth of Meritocracy
• Context Neutral Mindsets
• Understanding Cultural Conflicts

About Our Guest: Dr. Rich Milner

Rich Milner is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Education and Professor of Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Professor Milner began his career at Vanderbilt University where he was appointed Lois Autrey Betts Associate Professor of Education and Associate Professor of Education in the Departments of Teaching and Learning and, by courtesy, Associate Professor of Leadership, Policy and Organizations as well as founding director of the graduate program, Learning, Diversity and Urban Studies at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. At Vanderbilt, in 2008, he became the first Black person to earn promotion and tenure in the entire College of Education’s history. His research, teaching and policy interests concern urban education, teacher education, African American literature, and the social context of education. In particular, Professor Milner’s research examines practices and policies that support teacher effectiveness in urban schools.

Additional Resources for Teachers and other Listeners:

Read Rich Milner’s new book: “Start Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There: Understanding Diversity, Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today’s Classrooms (Second Edition).

Check out our course: Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices on MIT’s Open Learning Library

Explore our  Reading and Resources for Equity Teaching Practices

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/rich-milner-reboot/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley

Edited by Kate Ellis

Recorded by Garrett Beazley

Mixed by Corey Schreppel

Filmed by Denez McAdoo

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin is joined by Lillian Hsu, the founding principal of Latitude High School in Oakland, California, and Angela Daniel, instructional coach and design thinking project strategist at PSI High in Seminole County, Florida. They reflect on their transition to distance learning in the age of COVID, what values they brought with them, and how this experience will inform the upcoming fall semester.

“So much of the ninth grade program at our school is around visiting different community partners and getting to visit lots of different work places to investigate the anthropology of different careers, so how we can still translate that to the online space is something that really matters to us.” - Lillian Hsu

• Priorities and values going into emergency remote learning
• What worked and for who?
• Changes in staff models and student support
• Lessons that will be brought into the Fall
• How the community can support learning

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.
 

Resources and Links

Watch “Voices from the Field: Centering Context” featuring Lillian Hsu

Watch “Voices from the Field: Asset Framing in Practice” featuring Angela Daniel

Check out the full course “Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices  now on the MIT Open Learning Library

Check out the full course “Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices on edX

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/lillianhsu-angeladaniel/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley

Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin is joined by Paul Reville, founding director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Redesign Lab, and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They discuss the future of education during and post-pandemic, the shift of involvement for parents in their child's education, and the need for communities to shift in order to support it.

“...it goes beyond just having higher expectations for families, and extended families. It goes to having higher expectations for our communities as a whole.”

• Education Redesign Lab
• Post-pandemic education 
• The risk of categorizing and ostracizing students with less resources at home
• Building relationships with students and families and getting feedback
• Supporting parents at the center
• Breaking community boundaries and connecting with other districts

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Resources and Links

Check out “Broader, Bolder, Betterr: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty” by Elaine Weiss and Paul Reville

Learn more about The Education Redesign Lab

Check out “In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School” by Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/paul-reville/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley

Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, we’re republishing our first episode with the brilliant Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, to bring her lessons of equity and race back into light during these challenging times of the COVID pandemic. Now with a new segment called “Dear Teacher”, a message from Dr. Tatum directly to teachers around the world.

Next week, we’ll be back with a new episode in our COVID-19 series, talking with Paul Reville, founding director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Redesign Lab, and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Episode 1 Summary: Our host Justin Reich has a powerful conversation with renowned author, psychologist and educator Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. Dr. Tatum shares some of the stories that inspired her bestselling book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race and offers tips for addressing the ongoing challenges of racial issues in classrooms and schools.

• Dr. Tatum encourages teachers to take the first step in tackling racism by talking about it, because “if we can’t talk about it, we can’t fix it”.
• Dr. Tatum says that all of us can take a leadership role in making institutions more sensitive towards inclusivity by using her ABCs of leadership
  • Affirming Identity
  • Building Community
  • Cultivating Leadership
• Dr. Tatum tells us that there is value in sitting together with those of a shared identity, and it’s not necessarily a problem “So I often say, let's worry less about who's sitting where during the break times, and think about what's happening inside the classroom. Are there opportunities inside the classroom to help kids navigate those differences?”
• She shares stories of how ignoring identity and engaging in color blindness is not helpful. “One father said it really bothered him when teachers said they treated all the kids the same. His response to that was always, 'The same as what?'"

Note to the audience

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Additional Resources

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race – Read Dr. Tatum’s book updated and reissued in 2017.

ROPES – This blog post describes a protocol for collaboratively creating shared rules and expectations for the classroom. It could also be used to kick off challenging conversations with educators.

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” – Dr. Tatum recommended teachers read Dr. Robin DiAngelo; this article provides pointers based on her book.

Is My Skin Brown Because I Drank Chocolate Milk? – Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s presentation at TEDxStanford about how people talk (or don’t) about race and how to approach the conversation with young children.

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/dr-tatum-reboot/transcript

Produced by Jesse Dukes and Garrett Beazley

Edited by Aimee Corrigan

Recorded and Mixed by Garrett Beazley

Filmed by Denez McAdoo

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week, TeachLab is republishing the latest episode of MIT OpenCourseWare’s Chalk Radio “Teaching Remotely During Covid-19 with Prof. Justin Reich”, hosted by Sarah Hansen. Below is the episode summary from Chalk Radio.

“Join us as we talk with Justin Reich, assistant professor in comparative media studies at MIT. Professor Reich runs the Teaching Systems Lab, which was founded with the mission of designing, implementing, and researching the future of teacher learning. With the emergence of the current coronavirus pandemic, Prof. Reich has been turning his attention to helping teachers and education policy makers figure out how to transition rapidly to remote learning. In this special episode of Chalk Radio, Prof. Reich discusses the need for teachers to use a balance between asynchronous materials and synchronous check-ins, the challenge of making home learning equitable for students, and the value of existing open educational resources (like the materials on OCW!) for teachers who are suddenly forced to teach their classes remotely. “It’s totally normal to struggle during a pandemic,” Reich says, but he reassures teachers and parents that effective education at home may look different from effective in-school education—we simply need to recognize and cultivate the kinds of learning that can happen best under these extraordinary circumstances." 

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Resources and Links

Chalk Radio Podcast website

MIT OpenCourseWare

The OCW Educator Portal

The Teaching Systems Lab

Professor Reich’s faculty page

Interview with Prof. Reich on WBUR’s “On Point”

Resources, tools, and support for teaching remotely at MIT

Support remote learning by donating to OCW

Support OCW by sharing your story

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/chalk-radio/transcript

Join our course on edX!

Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices

Recorded and produced by MIT OCW

TeachLab version produced and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin is joined by Jessica Minahan, a behavior analyst, special educator, author, and school consultant. They discuss how COVID-19 is affecting students with anxiety, how it manifests through behavior, and some simple strategies that teachers can use during remote learning to help students feel a bit more in control during these challenging times.

“...there are a couple of things to keep in mind as you're planning curriculum and planning different things is we're going to see a spike up in fears around sickness and death, particularly those two themes. So for example, if you're going to read a book where the mom dies, we want to be extra thoughtful about that right now. We want to make sure that we think that through and that's something administrators and teachers can be doing together.”

• How students have been responding to recent changes
• Behaviors of showing anxiety
• Establishing adequate check-ins for students to communicate their feelings
• Handling behavior and stress in remote learning
• Cheat sheet of responses for handling student panic in the absence of support staff
• Helping students develop a sense of control over their own lives
• Youth cultural change around germs and disease post-quarantine
• Being thoughtful about discussing the pandemic

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Resources and Links

Read Jessica’s Educational Leadership: Special Report “Maintaining Connections, Reducing Anxiety While School Is Closed”

Learn more about Jessica Minahan’s work

Find Jessica’s book “The Behavioral Code” on Amazon

Learn more about emWave biofeedback

Learn more about the mote voice commenting for Google Docs

Check out Do Something!

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/jessica-minahan/transcript

Join our course on edX!

Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices

Produced and edited Garrett Beazley 

Mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin Reich joins Blake Middle School of Medfield, MA for their Monday morning check-in to discuss the many challenges of distance learning, and the specific challenges of middle schools, who have uniquely diverse age-groups to address. Principal Nat Vaughn guides the discussion and provides questions for Justin to shed light on with his experience and research.

“when I was a brand new teacher, my department head used to say.... every time you assign an essay, you're assigning 75 different essays. The experience that your students have writing this is just going to be so different for each student. And that was in normal non-crisis pandemic times, I feel like that advice is magnified a thousand times now.”

• Teaching Systems Lab’s COVID-19 State Guidance Report
• Recognizing a diversity in individual experiences
• How virtual schools function
• The challenges of the middle school age group
• The need to remain flexible and understanding of each other
• Remaining critical and parting from state guidance
• Celebrating the learning that does happen
• Reach out to those most vulnerable or struggling

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Resources and Links

Learn more about the TSL “Remote Learning Guidance from State Education Agencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A First Look” Report 

Read the LA Times article “Inside teachers’ never-ending crisis shifts: ‘You just keep going all day and all night’”

Learn more about author Tressie McMillan Cottom

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/middle-schools/transcript

Join our course on edX!

Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices

Produced and edited by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley 

Mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin Reich is joined by Daniel Wendel, Research Manager and Software Developer of the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program / Education Arcade. They discuss the importance and caveats of modeling, their use in the classrooms, and Daniel’s most recent collaboration project “Modeling the Spread of a Virus”, an interactive model designed to be used by teachers and parents for a conceptual understanding of how a virus spreads in a community, and how the individual can affect the collective. Learn more at www.virusmodel.org

“...one of the things with emergent models is that if you don’t understand the rules behind it, you might just think we just put those emergent things into the model. Being able to see in the back of the house, you can see those rules were never programmed into this model, it just kind of happened as a result of the other rules we did program into the model.”

• How computational models differ from other models
• Relation between Starlogo and Logo
• Using complex system models in classrooms
• Back-end of Starlogo / Block-based programming
• Modeling the Spread of a Virus project
• How the virus model can be used in education
• How the model is different from reality
• Learning how to use Starlogo Nova

Note to the audience:

The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience.

Resources and Links

Visit Modeling the Spread of a Virus

Learn more about the STEP/Ed Arcade

Learn more about Starlogo Nova

Learn more about Teachers with GUTS

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/virus-model/transcript

Join our course on edX!

Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices

Produced, edited and mixed by Garrett Beazley

Follow Us On:

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube