Thinking in the Midst

Surprise! Cara and Derek interrupt the regularly-scheduled flow of episodes to talk with one another about the themes or through-lines that are emerging across the conversations that have been hosted on the podcast so far, think through some of the questions we got from our friends and colleagues at the PES conference, and reflect on the field of philosophy of education as a whole.

Also, Derek says some potentially mean things about educational research sometimes being conducted "thoughtlessly."  As luck would have it, this NBER working paper on the cumulative effects of teacher evaluation policies 2010-2023 just dropped. What was the impact of these massive reforms on the outcomes of interest? "No effect." Why not? Among other reasons, the authors say, reformers forgot to enlist the support of key stakeholders -- I.e. researchers' models left out a really crucial piece of the puzzle as their findings predicted big gains. If that's not thoughtless, it's certainly not thoughtful, is all I'm saying.

For the transcript of this episode, click here.

Elizabeth Dutro and Jeff Frank join us to talk about the schools in their -- in schools' -- complicated relations to trauma (as both cause and ameliorator) and to loss, particularly in the conditions of an ongoing pandemic.  "Learning loss" is, after all, not the only kind of loss that matters.

For more of Elizabeth's work, see her book.

For more of Jeff's work, see his book, as well.

For the episode transcript, click here.

Kathleen Knight Abowitz and Amy Shuffelton join us in this episode to talk about the sharing of authority in education, the recourse to rights language and discourses of expertise in the context of our political moment, and the gendered division of labor with respect to schooling.

For more of Kathleen's work, see this piece.  And also her book.

For more of Amy's work, see these three pieces.

For the transcript of this episode, click here.

What interferes with people's full participation in various institutional structures, how are those interferences to be mitigated, and how might mitigation strategies unintentionally reproduce elements of the original interference?  In other words, how do concepts like diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging promise certain kinds of benevolent attention to heretofore overlooked matters, and how are those nevertheless involved in misdirecting or deflecting proper attention to those same matters?

Lana Parker and Ashley Taylor join us to talk about these formidable issues. 

For more of Lana's work, see these three pieces.

For more of Ashley's work, see these two pieces.

To read the episode transcript, click here.

Ariana Gonzalez Stokas and Dave Stovall join Cara and Derek to talk about the affordances of critical race theory for contesting destructive simplifications (as Gonzalez Stokas sees in "diversity" discourses in the university) and, as Stovall says, offering reparative alternatives by "telling a layered story."

For more of Dave's work, see his book.

And for more of Ariana's work, preorder her forthcoming book!

For the episode transcript, click here.

Stephanie Burdick-Shepherd and Joy Dangora Erickson join Cara and Derek to talk about reading and how to teach it, and about why taking sides in a pitched methodological battle is unlikely to produce the kind of results that kids and parents and teachers would want to see.

For more of Joy's work, and especially her new book, Reading Motivation, check out her website.

And for more of Stephanie's work, see her thinking on reading and childhood.

Music credit: "Sparks of Genius," by PantheonMusic

Here is the episode transcript.

We are joined by Campbell F. Scribner and Winston C. Thompson, who talk through the many overlapping and sensitive issues involved in imposing punishments in an educational context. 

For more from both of them, please see:

1.) Winston Thompson's and John Tillson's Pedagogies of Punishment: The Ethics of Discipline in Education.

2.) Campbell Scribner's and Bryan Warnick's Spare the Rod: Punishment and Moral Community of Schools

Music credit: "Sparks of Genius," by PantheonMusic

Here is the transcript of the episode

Cara and Derek introduce themselves and the podcast in general. 

Here is the transcript.