Host, Dr. Jennifer Chatmon, chats it up with Dr. James Pedersen.  Dr. Pedersen is the Superintendent of the Essex County Schools of Technology district, in northern New Jersey.  The two discuss his journey from the world of Special Education to the proverbial top of the food chain in a school district, and how each step has informed his leadership "preparing the next generation of essential workers."

Enjoy and be well. 

How do you reconcile liking students and the interaction in the classroom, but you don't like the way your school "schools"? 

Better yet, how do you manage these feelings in the midst of a global pandemic? 

Host, Dr. Jennifer Chatmon chats with a 13 year-teaching-veteran about these feelings, ideal school environments, good ole frustration with the system, but still managing to offer grace to us all. 

Let us know what you think by connecting on @ThisThingCalled School on Instagram and Facebook.

Thanks for checking us out, and be well.

This week, our host, Dr. Jennifer Chatmon, had the pleasure of talking social unrest, social justice, and social studies with a current high school social studies teachers, and two actual students - one, a senior at a large, comprehensive public high school on the east coast, and the other, finishing her junior year at a small, independent school on the west coast. This week's conversation touches on how we are all managing in the current times, and how each of us, in our different roles in education, are preparing for an unknown restart in the fall.