Listen Ad-free

New View EDU

National Association of Independent Schools

In the past year, school leaders have faced a constant need to innovate and respond to rapidly changing conditions in their communities, our nation and our world. Now we’re all seeking ways to bring healing and strength to our schools in the year ahead. But what else can we learn from these challenging times, and what inspiration can we draw for the future of schools? Tim Fish, NAIS Chief Innovation Officer, is teaming up with Lisa Kay Solomon, author, educator and designer of strategic conversations for leaders, to host a new podcast that will probe the questions that matter most right now.


One thing is certain: The world will continue to be complex and ever-changing. This moment can inspire us to approach the future with resilience, curiosity and belief in new possibilities. NAIS New View EDU will support school leaders in finding those new possibilities and understanding that evolving challenges require compassionate and dynamic solutions. We’re engaging brilliant leaders from both inside and outside the education world to explore the larger questions about what schools can be, and how they can truly serve our students, leaders and communities. From neuroscience to improvisation, Afrofuturism to architecture, our guests bring unexpected new lenses to considering the challenges and opportunities facing schools. No prescriptions, no programs -- New View EDU is providing inspiration to ask new questions, dig into new ideas, and find new answers to the central question: “How can we use what we’ve learned to explore the future of what our schools are for?"


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

read less
EducationEducation

Episodes

What Schools Can Do About Achievement Culture
1w ago
What Schools Can Do About Achievement Culture
Episode 51: What Schools Can Do About Achievement CultureWe all want our students to excel. In many ways, schools are set up to foster achievement – to help students reach their potential, strive for great things, and move on to successful next steps after graduation. But as Jennifer Wallace shares in her book Never Enough, focusing on achievement can create a culture that quickly becomes toxic to kids. Where do we cross the line, and what can we do about it?Guests: Jennifer Wallace and Debra WilsonResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Unfortunately, in our modern society, we get a lot of false alarms. You know, we get the threat when our kid doesn't make the team or doesn't get the invite to the Friday night party that there is something, you know, an alarm going off in our head, but it's really just a bagel burning. The whole house isn't going down.” (9:54)“When I asked the young students how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement, ‘I feel like I matter for who I am at my core, not by what I achieve’ a surprising 25% of students either agreed a little or not at all, meaning that one in four students thought that it was their performance, not who they were as a person, that mattered most to their parents.” (19:56)“I was listening to a speaker at a conference a bit ago…he was actually talking about successful teams, basically, what makes an extraordinary team. And he was talking about competitiveness, but not competitive with each other, but for each other for a common purpose….When you start building in project-based learning, and particularly if you can harness and teach kids how to harness that power of being collectively competitive for a common cause, for a common purpose, and to start mapping that with what we want them to learn, I just think that's an incredibly powerful piece of the equation.” (40:23)Related Episodes: 48, 43, 40, 35, 29, 22, 13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learning from Sabbatical Journeys with Briel Schmitz
Nov 21 2023
Learning from Sabbatical Journeys with Briel Schmitz
Episode 50: Learning from Sabbatical JourneysIf you had the opportunity to step away from your day-to-day life for six weeks, what would you do with that time? Where would you go? And what lessons would you bring back with you, when the time came to return to your daily routine? School leader Briel Schmitz reflects on her sabbatical journey along the Camino de Santiago, and how taking that time away from work has influenced her whole school community.Guest: Briel SchmitzResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“I think you have to say what you need and want. And if you don't say what you need and want, then you're not going to get that back. So that's the first thing. And the next thing is that when a person like myself, who has a big personality in an organization, has been here for a long time, leaves, it allows everyone else the opportunity to grow into a space that they couldn't before.” (14:36)“I was thinking about what it felt like to be a beginner. What it felt like to be doing something that was difficult, what it felt like to maybe not be the best person at this, because I'm at a point in my career where I've had some success and I know what it feels like to be good at things, and I know the things I'm good at. And to really put myself in a position where I wasn't the best at this. What do I do in that moment? How do I respond to that?” (24:32)“I think it takes a lot of energy to say no. It's fun to say yes, in the sense of you're building something, you're creating something, it's something new, and saying yes is important, but I think our schools may benefit from some clarity that allows it to be more possible to say no. Like that's not actually a part of what we do, and that it gives you more time and space to do the things that you're saying yes to.” (35:01)Related Episodes: 42, 38, 25, 20, 13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The View From the Classroom with Howard Levin and Stacey Roshan
Nov 14 2023
The View From the Classroom with Howard Levin and Stacey Roshan
Episode 49: The View From the ClassroomIn an age of educator burnout and high turnover rates, what keeps veteran teachers motivated to stay in the classroom? This episode of New View EDU explores how rapidly changing technologies have provided a constant source of inspiration and innovation for two educators. Howard Levin and Stacey Roshan have both transformed their practice through exploration of the opportunities technology provides to both teachers and learners, and used that spark as fuel for careers defined by both longevity and creativity.Guests: Howard Levin and Stacey RoshanResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“But to me, the preparation is really about ensuring that they have skills and confidence to navigate life with resilience and empathy, that they're critical thinkers, that they're effective communicators and active contributors to their communities. And as a math teacher, I always say that teaching math is the easy part. My most important role is helping students learn how to learn, embrace a growth mindset, take ownership of their learning, and just encouraging a love for the process of learning, I think is so critical.” (11:04)“I really believe that these are very new categories in today's world. In the world that I grew up in, the focus was, and in many places still today, the focus is on really good teaching, really good absorption, all kinds of techniques and tricks to get information to stick with students. And we're living in a completely different world right now. We're at our fingertips with a quick breath of our own speech, that information is just everywhere. And so I think it's a huge challenge for independent schools to really embrace and really look at how different the world is for our students and the future students.” (14:53)Related Episodes: 45, 40, 35, 31, 28,18,13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What We Can Learn From Anxiety with Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
Nov 7 2023
What We Can Learn From Anxiety with Tracy Dennis-Tiwary
Episode 48: What We Can Learn From AnxietyWe’re accustomed to thinking of anxiety as something undesirable. But what if anxiety could actually be an effective tool, teaching us how to take appropriate risks, manage setbacks, and build resilience? That’s the premise of Dr. Tracy Dennis Tiwary’s book Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You Even Though it Feels Bad.Guest: Dr. Tracy Dennis-TiwaryResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Anxiety is apprehension about the uncertain future. So what that means is that when we're anxious, we're not actually in the moment. We're actually becoming mental time travelers into the future. And what anxiety both signals and helps us do really effectively, is picture that future. There is potential threat or peril. That is, you know, that's why it feels bad. We're kind of sitting up and paying attention. But at the same time, when we're anxious, there is also still positive possibility.” (6:22)“You don't go from zero to a hundred.You start with little 10 pound weights. And it's the same for this emotional endurance. We have to think of not psychological or mental health so much as mental fitness. I just think it sets us up, when it comes especially to anxiety and major anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, substance use disorders or these kinds of struggles. Let's think about fitness, because we can build these skills for people, we can help them. But you don't do it by going from zero to 100.” (17:57)“Part of, I think, the gift and the problem of the parenting space right now, if I may say, is that we have this sort of parenting advice industrial complex, right? Where I feel that, as wonderful as the advice out there is, it's created this culture in which we feel like we have to check off 100 out of 100 boxes on the good parenting checklist. And if we don't, we're a bad parent, we're letting down our kid.” (29:06)Related Episodes: 47, 35,  19, 18, 16, 11, 5, 3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Designing Schools for Future-Ready Minds with Shimi Kang
Oct 31 2023
Designing Schools for Future-Ready Minds with Shimi Kang
Episode 47: Designing Schools for Future-Ready MindsWe all want to help prepare students for the future. In an unpredictable and fast-changing world, does designing school for future-ready minds mean embracing every technological innovation and new idea that comes our way? Or are there lessons from the past that may still be relevant in a technological revolution? Dr. Shimi Kang has the neuroscientific evidence to help us decide.Guest: Dr. Shimi KangResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“You know, people talk all about how do we motivate kids? Well, first of all, there's no such thing as an unmotivated kid. But if you're sleep deprived, stressed, over burnt out from over scheduling, you're not going to be motivated. If you're disconnected on social media, or not, or hyper competitive and don't have a sense of meaningful connection, you're not going to be motivated because the biggest motivation comes from a sense of contribution and being needed.” (12:00)“Neuroplasticity is a complex word, six syllables, but I believe it's the word for hope because what it means is we can always change, we can always learn, we can always grow, we can always do better. Humans are gifted with this idea, this concept of neuroplasticity, till the moment we die. And that's really important.” (33:32)“Where focus goes, neurons grow. Let's say you want to change your classroom to a more future ready classroom…There might be resistance, you know, from kids or parents or admin. And that's normal, because if I back up a bit, the psychology of change, in any given moment, there's only about 20, 30% of people in what's called action state of change. They are ready. The rest of the population is in pre-contemplation or contemplation. Because change, by definition, is a change, it's different!” (34:33)Related Episodes: 40, 35,  31,  28, 18, 16, 11, 3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Educating for a Globally Networked Society with Michael Nachbar
Oct 24 2023
Educating for a Globally Networked Society with Michael Nachbar
Episode 46: Educating for a Globally Networked SocietyWe have more opportunities to learn and grow as part of a global network than ever before. But in a sea of technological solutions, what stands out most as the core of building those networks? Humanity. That’s what Michael Nachbar leans into every day with his work at Global Online Academy.Guest: Michael NachbarResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Imagine that you are competing, but to support that person so that they can shine and do the best that they can and what that says about the other people in the room.” (8:08)“We've seen an explosion over the past few years in competency-based learning, right? Thinking about mindsets and skills for students. I think we're hearing and seeing schools doing that for faculty now…Thinking about what are the mindsets and skill sets that teachers need to be practicing, demonstrating and learning while they're employees at a particular school…Imagine the conversation that you're interviewing for a job at a school, and the school is saying, you know, teachers here practice these skills all the time, and we will help you develop those while you're employed here.” (12:09)“That drives so much for me of what I hope for kids, that like, getting kids to be passionate about something. And there's so many things that they feel like they have to do that it's part of a puzzle that they need to solve rather than, you know, taking classes and having access to courses and topics that, like, light them up and excite them and get them interested in learning and curious.” (22:57)Related Episodes: 42, 38, 36, 31, 25, 24, 20, 14 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Designing Schools for Blended Learning with Catlin Tucker
Oct 17 2023
Designing Schools for Blended Learning with Catlin Tucker
Episode 45: Designing Schools for Blended LearningWhen you think of the term “blended learning,” do you think of a hybrid or remote learning plan, perhaps in a format that became familiar during the COVID pandemic? That’s the impression many educators and school leaders have of blended learning, but as Catlin Tucker’s work demonstrates, blended learning is so much more than just splitting education into “onscreen” and “in person.” It may, in fact, be the solution we need to prepare our classrooms for the future.Guest: Dr. Catlin TuckerResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Reserve that teacher-led instructional time for small differentiated group experiences, where we can be much more targeted and thoughtful about the vocabulary we use, the text we choose, the problems and prompts we present, the scaffolds we supply…If teachers are still trapped at the front of the room, feeling like my job is to transfer information, there's no time and space to really position students at the center, give them more responsibility and let them engage in the messy work that is learning.” (13:32)“ I try to put myself now as an adult in the seat of some of these students, where they spend seven hours a day at school, and they don't get to make a single decision about how they learn, what they learn, what they create to demonstrate their learning. Like that is not a space that most kids wanna be in. And it shouldn't surprise anybody that a huge, I wanna say it's over 70% of students were, report like negative feelings with school. And it's things like anxiety, being tired and bored, like that's where we're keeping them all day. It's heartbreaking.” (30:50)“I want teachers to rediscover, if they're not feeling it right now, their joy in this work, and there's so many, it's a, it's a challenging profession. It is complex and multifaceted. And for me, I want teachers to realize that now that we have literally limitless access to information and resources in our classroom, that we are allowed to reimagine our role.” (41:55)Related Episodes: 40,  31,  28, 26, 23, 20, 3, Bonus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Bringing Creative Hustle into Schools with sam seidel & Olatunde Sobomehin
Oct 10 2023
Bringing Creative Hustle into Schools with sam seidel & Olatunde Sobomehin
Episode 44: Bringing Creative Hustle into Schools“Hustle culture” has become synonymous with trying to cram more into a day, emphasizing productivity over humanity, and valuing achievement over wellbeing. But what if there was a kind of hustle that upended all of those values, and instead, focused on becoming the most centered and fulfilled version of yourself? A kind of hustle that prioritizes inner work, understanding who you are as a person and a community member, and asks how you can bring your greatest gifts to bear on the world? That, according to sam seidel and Olatunde Sobomehin, is Creative Hustle.Guests: sam seidel and Olatunde SobomehinResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“I think that one of the things that Tunde and I connected on very early in our, our friendship, colleagueship, was how much better we, we believe our own lives are, how much richer they are, and how much more we've been able to do in the world by being able to move between parts of our society that are often really segregated…And how can we open that up for more people? Because too often folks are, are, are just kept really separate by some of those boundaries and the walls. So how do we make those boundaries, those borders more permeable?” (6:15)“Capture the biggest way that you could think, right? What are my principles? What moves me? What grounds me? What am I gonna hold onto in the moments of transition, in the, in the difficult moments, the challenging moments, and the moments that are really tempting for me to kind of steer left or right, what's gonna really be my anchor?” (23:11)“We've just been sent from one period, to the next, to the next, year after year. And then all of a sudden we're supposed to have a framework for making these big decisions. And we're out in the world and we need to have a network. We need to know what principles are guiding our decisions. We need to have built these resilient practices. But that hasn't been asked of us up to that point really, or invited.” (30:54)Related Episodes: 40, 37, 23,19,15, 8, 2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Building School 2.0 with Chris Lehmann
Oct 3 2023
Building School 2.0 with Chris Lehmann
Episode 43: Building School 2.0Chris Lehmann worked in a school that matched his vision of education by about 75% – and that other 25%, he says, was what gave him “license to dream.” What would you dream of if you had the opportunity to design a school from scratch? The founder of Educon, the Science Leadership Academy, and Inquiry Schools talks with host Tim Fish about his quest to create a fully inquiry-driven, human-centered learning model where citizenship and science shape the direction of the school. Guest: Chris LehmannResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“I want their heads full of thought. I want them to have the wisdom to apply those thoughts in meaningful ways. I want them to have the passion to push through when the world tells 'em it cannot be done. And I want them to be kind because I think we need more of that in the world.” (15:49)“We don't give anyone else agency, right? We as human beings, you have agency because you are a human, because you are alive, as do I. Now lots of institutions in our society, school being primary among them, take away agency. But what actually we try to do is not give students agency, but help them unlock their own.” (23:10)“If a high school science education does not help students understand fundamentally that the way in which they live their lives, the products they buy, the kind of house they build or live in, you know, the way they use power, the car they drive, that all of these things have a profound impact on our world, right? Then you have failed children. Because the ability to apply a scientific lens to the choices we make every day as human beings is a fundamental part of being a citizen.” (26:51)Related Episodes: 35, 32, 31, 28, 16,17, 4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Seven Lessons for School Leadership with Jason Patera
Sep 26 2023
Seven Lessons for School Leadership with Jason Patera
Episode 42: Seven Lessons for School LeadershipHuman relationships first. Academic study and arts training are co-curricular. Environment matters. Relentlessly make space for the things that matter most. Compliance is not the same thing as magic. Process matters and so does product. These are just a few of the ideas Jason Patera is obsessed with, which he brings daily to his work as the head of the Chicago Academy for the Arts.Guest: Jason PateraResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Pretty much all you need to do at any time to change someone's life is decide to do it. That's it, right? It's not the facilities that changes someone's life. It's not the mission statement that changes someone's life. It's not the curriculum, it's the people. Right. And most of the time, all we have to do, especially with young people, you meet them where they're at, and, and you have this power to, to help transform their entire life.” (7:02)“What I promise to them is that I'm never going to be some random jerk in a suit who you've only met the day you've done something bad. And you're a teenager, so you're going to do something dumb. When that happens and we have to have a conversation about it, I endeavor for that to be our 40th conversation. So as we have to navigate this thing, we're doing it based on a human relationship and not one of the title that I have or the role that you play in the school.” (19:54)“Most of what we think are our limits are, are illusions, for ourselves personally, and for our communities. And a habit we can get into as school leaders is to fall into the trap that school is somehow already defined, and learning is somehow already defined, and procedures are somehow already defined. And we need to figure those out and do them, when in fact we have tremendous power to just decide what it's going to be.” (41:26)Related Episodes: 40, 36, 34, 32, 27,15, 6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Welcoming New Leadership to NAIS with Debra Wilson
Sep 19 2023
Welcoming New Leadership to NAIS with Debra Wilson
Episode 41: Welcoming New Leadership to NAISDuring the summer of 2023, longtime NAIS President Donna Orem retired, and new President Debra Wilson stepped into the role. In this first school year of Debra’s tenure, she sits down with Tim Fish to introduce herself to the NAIS community and share her personal journey with independent schools.Guest: Debra WilsonResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“Context really matters. There is that…do people feel known and seen? And when I, when I say that, it's not just the kids, but it's the individual staff members, it's the parents. Like, what message are they receiving all of the time? And that really leads to greater connectivity. And it tends to lead to happier encounters.” (20:18)“One of the things I talk about with education, we adults can mess around with us all we want. Every kid's only got one shot at it. So, you know, if they have a bad teacher placement three years in a row, they're 50% behind their peers. Like that's, I mean, that's, that's just research. Like that's, there's just numbers. And so we don't really have time to play around with this, so like, how do we hold those things really sacred?” (25:34)“You want good, smart, thoughtful, solid people doing good, smart, solid, thoughtful work. Bright shiny objects, like, they can, they can jump you right off the tracks...that kind of traditional, basic, not so sexy, like, we just, we're gonna do really good work day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, is what you're going for most of the time.” (36:23)Related Episodes: 39, 31, 25, 14, 13 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Student Voice and Agency in Education with One Stone Students
May 16 2023
Student Voice and Agency in Education with One Stone Students
Episode 40: Student Voice and Agency in EducationIn four seasons of New View EDU, we’ve talked a lot about what students need to thrive. In this episode, we’re going straight to the source. Host Tim Fish sits down with Ella Cornett and Mackenzie Link, high school students from One Stone School in Boise, Idaho, to get their real world perspectives on everything from classes and schedules to life lessons on failure, accountability, passion, purpose, and more.Guests: Ella Cornett and Mackenzie LinkResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“To go back to the question of what should school be, I feel like learners and students should come out of school with that sense of purpose. And that's, that really resonates with me because I feel like that's what I want out of school. I wanna leave school and kind of know what I wanna do and who I wanna be in the world.” (21:39)“I would describe my stress...less so stress. I would call it ambition. Like, I think the weight of ambition sits heavy on my shoulders because I strive for the, like, the next best thing I wanna keep doing. I wanna keep going, I wanna keep pushing. And One Stone really allows me to do that and empowers me to do that.” (26:24)“It's that pushing students, the healthy balance of pushing students. And this is where great coaching comes in. And great mentorship is, you do have to find the thing that students care about and relate it, everything that you're doing, to that. And then we're in the home stretch.” (29:57)“It's easy if you let it be easy, in the sense that if you don't want to grow, if you don't try to grow, you won't. Just like a student in public school that doesn't try, they won't get a good GPA. But that's not the motivation here. The motivation here for us is to grow. So if a student doesn't want to grow, how can they?” (39:44)Related Episodes: 36, 34, 27, 23, 18 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lessons Learned While Leading NAIS with Donna Orem
May 9 2023
Lessons Learned While Leading NAIS with Donna Orem
Episode 39: Lessons Learned While Leading NAISAfter a long and distinguished tenure as the President of NAIS, Donna Orem is retiring in the Spring of 2023. Throughout her career, she’s seen the independent school landscape, and education in general, change dramatically. As Donna prepares to depart NAIS, what lessons has she learned? How has her career in education changed her? What wisdom can she pass along to her successor and to everyone working in schools right now?Guest: Donna OremResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“I think another thing that I've learned from this is that there is a role that we each have to play in a learning community, and that is assuming good intent. Because it's very easy, particularly when you get into these conversations around highly charged issues, to assume that there are two sides or three sides to the issues. And people get pitted against one another. And I have learned to step back and to say, you know what? Chances are we wanna get to the same place, but we have a different way to get there.” (7:03)“But I remember at some point a family writing a letter to the head of school saying, you know, we've had two children at this school and they have thrived, but we've come to the point where we can no longer afford the tuition…That was the most painful letter. And it was just so symptomatic, I think, of what families were feeling. So I hope we can get beyond that one day so that, you know, when a family has that experience, they are not forced to make that impossibly hard decision.” (19:57)“I think balancing all those relationships has become our biggest challenge as an organization. And, you know, how do you ensure that you see that diversity, you recognize that diversity, and you develop programs and services to meet leaders where they are? Because you know, that one size fits all just does not work anymore. I don't know that it ever did.” (35:53)Related Episodes: 25, 20, 14, 10, 1   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Strategic Accountability in Schools with Jim Honan
May 2 2023
Strategic Accountability in Schools with Jim Honan
Episode 38: Strategic Accountability in EducationPlanning for the future of our schools isn’t easy. In recent years, we’ve seen firsthand how even the best-laid plans can go badly awry, and schools have been left grappling with issues that no one could have predicted. So how can we continue to embrace strategy and future thinking in a way that allows us to not only make plans, but execute on them, in the midst of an ever-changing landscape?Guest: Dr. Jim HonanResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“As we move forward, it's that sense of connection among team members, among various people in various roles, be it teachers or staff members, et cetera. And then creating that sense of connectivity and belonging to show people there's some common purpose in the work. So sure. Call it what you will, playing well with others or understanding what the people in your organization need to do their best work and you being attuned to that. That's a team sport.” (7:27)“I'm not a big fan of chasing bright shiny objects. I think the caveat in the innovation space is we're not, I told my teams this, we're not just gonna do this cuz it looks cool. That, wouldn't it be neat if we did this? It probably would be, and that would be awesome. We haven't done it before. It would be cool and neat, but on the other hand, it's not driven by some educational purpose.” (11:10)“Occasionally someone will say, you know, have you ever seen a mission like this? Isn't this unique? And with deep respect, the answer is, there's like ten other places who say they're doing that. So that can't be the uniqueness. I think there's this added expectation and burden, if you will, in independent schools, on the point you made, to really be crisp and clear about that. This is what's distinctive about us, and this is how we're gonna execute on it. And we have data to show that we execute on that unique, call it what you will, mission or value proposition.” (24:51)Related Episodes: 36, 29, 25, 14, 9 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Dignity Lens in Education with Beth-Sarah Wright
Apr 25 2023
The Dignity Lens in Education with Beth-Sarah Wright
Episode 37: The Dignity Lens in EducationSchools are first and foremost communities of people. When we plan for the future of those communities, how can we do so in a way that takes into account the dignity of every human being? How does strategy intersect with who we are and who we aspire to be? Dr. Beth-Sarah Wright’s Dignity Lens challenges schools to look at themselves with clear eyes and identify the gap between who we say we are, and who we truly want to become.Guest: Dr. Beth-Sarah WrightResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“People make up these communities, people do. And people have emotions. People have these gut feelings, especially around some sort of challenge they might be having as a community. You know, we have these things. That's the explosive part. It's a very sensitive part. So the adaptive challenges are, they reside in that very messy, emotional, that part of us where we are gonna experience some loss.” (6:35)“What is in our founding DNA? Who are we? And that is just information… We can look back on our history and we can surface all sorts of things about who we are, when we were founded, why we were founded, or what we've come to be or all of that. But all of that is important. It's nothing to be, to throw away. It's nothing to discard. It's something. All of it is important and we need to be able to parse through that.” (11:27)“Caught up in all of that is some sort of fear. And really at the root of that is dignity. One might feel, you know, violated. A dignity violation. But hold on. But my voice is not being heard here. Or I, I just don't understand. I don't get it. I, whatever it may be, I don't, you know. I think at the root of that is loss. And we can look at that even at a national scale. We can look at that all over. We can see it in our communities. That's part of progress, making progress.” (19:33)“We have lots of stories that can be told, and that's very important too. We have this level of experiences, people sharing their experiences…and then there is the sort of raw data that we can actually gather from our community. And sometimes just depending on what community we're talking with, some people might be very intimidated by getting data. Data can be overwhelming and, and scary, and sometimes what I try to say to people is, well, you know that stories are the currency for dignity.” (27:36)Related Episodes: 32, 30, 15, 7 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Reinventing Education beyond 2020 with Michael Horn
Apr 18 2023
Reinventing Education beyond 2020 with Michael Horn
Episode 36: Reinventing Education Beyond 2020No one can deny that the events of 2020 changed education in America, and arguably, worldwide. But three years after COVID closed schools, what is the actual state of our educational system? What lessons did we really learn, and what mistakes have we made? What opportunity lies ahead for transformation? Michael Horn returns to New View EDU to share the findings from his new book about education after the pandemic, From Reopen to Reinvent.Guest: Michael HornResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“And I did not want this to be a book that just says, oh yeah, we poorly serve low income kids, but you know Michael's mom in Montgomery County, you're okay, right? I want Michael's mom in Montgomery County to be like, oh. You mean what I thought is rigorous is not in fact rigorous? You mean what I thought is unleashing his potential is actually hurting his sense of growth mindset and not preparing him for the executive function skills that he's gonna need in the world of work, and is just causing him to sit there trying to compete on a very narrow metric of success and not figure out his purpose in life? Oh, I don't want that. And I hope everyone walks away from it and says, Wow. This is not like a ‘some’ problem. This is everyone. We can be doing better.” (14:46)“And then the part that I would require then comes back to where you started, which is to me the habits of success. Curiosity, executive function, agency, growth mindset, grit, perseverance, a sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem. A sense of attachment. Like those things I would say are the baseline. And I wouldn't call them social emotional learning, although that's a common phrase for them…I think some of the fights that we have in communities right now are, they're like, you know, there's truly some like weird stuff being pedaled under each of those monikers, but I don't know any parent that doesn't want their kids to be curious about the world.” (25:09)“We framed schools for kids as this zero sum experience. I win. I get the seat in the precious college, you lose. You don't. Or I, you know, you get the A, I got the C. We're doling out scarcity. And I want us to shift to a positive sum system where the goal is not for you to beat me on some narrow yardstick, but instead for you to be the best version of Tim Fish that there is, to be the most unique version of you that has a place to contribute in the world.” (39:58)Related Episodes: 29, 27, 14, 10, 8, 1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Relationship Between Emotions and Learning with Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Apr 11 2023
The Relationship Between Emotions and Learning with Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Episode 35: The Relationship Between Emotions and LearningSocial-emotional learning and student wellbeing are increasingly showing up as priorities for schools. But what if research could prove that looking out for the emotional components of teaching and learning aren’t just important for mental health, but actually essential for academic growth? That’s the central premise of Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang’s research, and she’s ready to make the case that emotions are vitally linked to our ability to learn.Guest: Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-YangResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“The whole rest of the brain, the deeper thinking, the emotion regulation, the engaging with other people, the social meaning making, the sense of self. All of these kinds of very basic systems that are fundamental to being a good human are not predicted by, or even associated with, IQ. They are predicted by this, this what we're calling transcendent thinking… So how do we get kids to think that way?” (9:50)“It's literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about information for which you have no emotional reason or context to engage.” (12:09)“We're not installing information into a person like a squirrel, like, stashing away its nuts, right? What we're doing is inviting a person to engage actively with an orchestrated set of materials and content in a way that will help facilitate them naturally coming to realize what matters there, and the power of those tools for understanding something important about ideas and the world.”  (21:12)Related Episodes: 32, 18, 16, 5, 3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Supercharging Project-Based Learning Design with Saeed Arida
Apr 4 2023
Supercharging Project-Based Learning Design with Saeed Arida
Episode 34: Supercharging Project-Based Learning DesignWhat if offering to work on a few projects with a homeschooled student sparked the idea to partner with a school? And what if then, groups of students started asking to make that project-based learning model their entire high school experience? That’s what happened when Saeed Arida, a PhD student in the Architecture department at MIT, tried running a design studio with a handful of kids. The result was NuVu, a unique studio education model that’s catching on worldwide.Guest: Saeed AridaResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“I have not figured out exactly why this happens, but their expectation is that when they are working on this idea, is that you give them only the technical feedback. They don't want you to talk about the conceptual framing of the idea. My explanation for this is that, you know, in our kind of traditional schooling system, the only thing that we give the students is content. We never really talk about ideas and their ideas, and it feels very personal and vulnerable.” (8:47)“To assume that they're gonna, like, you know, by the end of the four years that they're gonna learn everything that is, that's being kind of taught in these textbooks, it's not gonna happen..there are a lot of studies about these subjects and like after six months, basically a lot of the kids fail on them anyway. A lot of that info is not sticking anyway. You know, so it's like, why are we committing to this idea that we need to learn all of that stuff in four years? If at the end of the day none of the, like, not, or a big part of it is not sticking.” (31:27)“For me, it still does not really address the central question whether this tool is ultimately helping the students or not, which is for me why we are doing-- like there, there is no reason to do any tracking or an assessment unless it becomes a really empowering tool that would help the students kind of grow.” (41:28)Related Episodes: 31, 29, 27, 26, 21, 6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Innovating For the Youngest Learners with Orly Friedman
Mar 28 2023
Innovating For the Youngest Learners with Orly Friedman
Episode 33: Innovating for the Youngest LearnersOrly Friedman was in the fifth grade when she read the book that changed her life. The story, about a child who floundered in traditional school environments but thrived in an unconventional setting, inspired Orly to dream of opening her own non-traditional school one day. In this episode, she shares her successful journey as the founder of Red Bridge School, an innovative educational setting for young learners that centers around student agency and autonomy.Guest: Orly FriedmanResources, Transcript, and Expanded Show NotesIn This Episode:“If you think about traditional grade levels, they are very passive for the student. So you sit in a seat for 180 days and you move on to the next grade level when you show up in September and there's basically nothing you have to do to make that happen. … And so if you want to flip that and turn it into a system that supports agency, then you need to put the promotion process in the hands of the students.” (11:49)“We are really teaching students how to know themselves well enough and develop the habits of self-advocacy to be successful in any environment. … And so I don't worry who their teacher will be in the future or what happens if they go to another school, because they know themselves well enough and they have enough experience going through that learning cycle and setting goals for themselves and making a plan and working through it that they're gonna be successful anywhere. And really I think that is the result of what we're doing, that we're creating more flexible learners.” (28:28)“I think the thing that is a bit scary also about this kind of a model is, if you are going to give students agency over their success and ownership over their success, you also have to be willing to do that for their failures. And so sometimes you have to give students enough space for them not to be successful.” (36:24)Related Episodes: 23, 21,15,13, 3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.