The What School Could Be Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

[During this episode reference is made to the work of mural artist, Dave Loewenstein. Here is his work.] At the Global Nomads Group website their vision, mission and about begins with this paragraph: “In 1998, four college friends had an idea to connect young people across the globe to foster dialogue and forge meaningful connections. They had heard about the emergence of video conferencing technology and thought maybe they could use it to link classrooms.” What happened over the next decades, listeners, is the subject of this episode. My guest today is Sandra Stein, Chief of Programs and Learning at the Global Nomads Group. Sandra is a passionate educator, writer, scholar, and justice advocate who leads staff and youth in the design, delivery, and assessment of Global Nomads Group’s unique programs. She is the author of two books on education policy and practice, and her writing has appeared in leading periodicals. She has a doctorate in Education from Stanford University and a long and deep teaching resume. The best way to introduce Sandra to you, listeners, is to use the words of individuals who have written about her. A program coordinator in Korea wrote, “One of her exceptional skills is her ability to tackle heavy topics such as bias and women's rights in such an effortless manner, sustaining everyone’s engagement and nurturing discussions. Her extensive knowledge and experience in curriculum development and instructional material design ignited a passion in me to dig deeper in this path. Dr. Sandra is one of those once in a lifetime individuals who come into your life and help you reach a reckoning by dissecting your life, your biases, and infusing you with energy to reach for your potential.” A former programs coordinator at Global Nomads had this to say about Sandra: “Beyond her technical and leadership skills, Sandra has a unique talent for fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment. She introduced me to the world of accessibility, teaching me how to ensure that all the content I create, the language I use, and the way I live are as accommodating and inclusive as possible. I learned about the impact of ableism and how it can affect the lives of those around me, and I carry this knowledge with me wherever I go.” And finally, a student who first met Sandra at Grinnell College said this: “What stands out most about Sandra is her unique approach to feedback. She has a way of making every conversation feel like a two-way dialogue, where both parties are learning and growing. Sandra is direct and honest, but her feedback never feels harsh or discouraging. Instead, she has a remarkable ability to frame constructive criticism as part of a broader, thoughtful discussion. She always takes the time to understand the effort and thought behind the work, valuing the person just as much as the final product. Her feedback isn’t just about what needs improvement—it’s about recognizing potential and encouraging growth, which made every interaction with her feel empowering and insightful." Our show's audio engineer is the talented Evan Kurohara. Our theme music comes from the vast catalog of master pianist, Michael Sloan.

Hey listeners. I have never done this before, so I hope you enjoy. This is a short, four-minute preview of upcoming episodes, the shows that will close out 2024. Fasten your seatbelts!

My guests for this episode are The River School’s Dr. Christane Connors and Dr. Sharlene Ottley. The River School is located on MacArthur Boulevard in Washington, DC. The pillars that The River School stands on, listed at their website, include the following: a commitment to progressive education, a play-based, child-centered thematic curriculum, a commitment to diverse and inclusive classrooms and active learning. So how does The River School stand out from similar independent, progressive elementary schools? One to three students in each class live with hearing loss, which means children learn there are different ways to think, to feel, to process information, and to express themselves. A classroom where difference is the norm advances social-emotional learning and promotes an ethos of caring, engagement, and support that extends beyond the classroom. Its unique co-teaching model is unique, and having a master’s level educator and a speech-language pathologist together in each classroom has greatly impacted and enhanced the language, literacy and social outcomes of its students. Dr. Christiane Connors is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at The River School. Previously, she was Director of Civic Engagement and Senior Projects at Edmund Burke School where she led a school-wide initiative to integrate social justice pedagogy across the school’s curriculum, instruction and administration. Christiane was an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Education & Human Development. She holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from George Washington University and a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University. Christiane has a daughter who is a cochlear implant user, thus, she is aware of the challenges parents face in navigating the hearing intervention landscape starting with diagnosis, through cochlear implant candidacy and rehabilitation. For over 10 years Dr. Sharlene Ottley has served as Director of Community Outreach and Research at The River School. She completed graduate studies in Speech-Language Pathology at Gallaudet University with an emphasis in Pediatric Aural Rehabilitation. Prior to The River School, Dr. Ottley worked in a variety of early intervention, school-based and outpatient settings providing services to children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including those with hearing loss and Spanish-English bilingual students. She completed her Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Howard University with a focus on children with cochlear implants from bilingual Spanish/English speaking homes. Dr. Ottley oversees the research, assessment, and DEIB efforts at The River School, develops community based partnerships and programs, and has a passion for improving services for children and families from marginalized and underserved communities. Listeners, this is the first time I have featured a school that specializes in supporting young learners who are HH, meaning hard of hearing. Today’s guests embody what we care deeply about at What School Could Be, which is caring and connected communities. The River School is a lifeline to countless families, which is what makes this episode so special. 

Editing was provided by the talented Evan Kurohara. Our theme music comes from the catalog of master pianist, Michael Sloan. Please leave us a review and rating wherever you find your podcasts!

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Our Ocean Palau - Mia Kami

Why The River School?

In schools, as in life, the commodity in shortest supply is time. How we spend our time is how we enact our values (SEEQS.org). Buffy Cushman-Patz and I have known each other for a long time. Mere words cannot capture the enormous respect I have for her and the work she has done in our community. And, it was my high privilege to be on the team she assembled to write SEEQS charter. So what is SEEQS? It’s the School for Examining the Essential Questions of Sustainability, a secondary public charter school in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi founded in 2013. It currently serves approximately 180 students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades (though its charter calls for the eventual creation of a high school). SEEQS offers a community-focused, interdisciplinary project-based, tuition-free secondary school experience for Oahu families. This episode is different than any that come before. I decided to use Buffy’s resume and record of accomplishments to build questions that would help the two of us examine the genome, the DNA of her school. The result is not a deep dive into the weeds, but a marvelous hot air balloon trip to 30,000 feet above our object, with strands of SEEQS DNA floating around us like lovely clouds. More on Buffy: In 2010-2011 Buffy was honored with an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship. She served her fellowship year at the National Science Foundation’s Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. Buffy completed her Masters in School Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in May 2012. She has been a strong and clear voice for education redesign in Hawaii. She is a member of the Hawai’i Innovative Leadership Network and a mentor to other public, private and charter school leaders in this state. Ted Dintersmith once said, on live TV, that he could have filmed his acclaimed documentary, Most Likely to Succeed at SEEQS, which is the ultimate compliment. – As always in this 2nd season, our theme music and post production editing was provided by Daniel Gilad at DG Sound Creations. To learn more about Daniel, or to hire him for your next music gig, check out his Facebook page. I hope you enjoy this conversation! If you do, please give us a rating and review in your podcast store.

The post 46. The Genome of SEEQS, with Buffy Cushman-Patz appeared first on @MLTSinHawaii .

Dan Gaudiano is the Academy Science Department Head at Punahou School. He has a BA in geology from Colgate University. At the University of South Carolina Columbia he earned an MS in geology, and then a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT). Dan has written in scientific journals, authored scientific papers, been a coastal geologist and a scientific researcher. He was the lead coordinator for a water conservation project in Hawai’i and has been a curriculum resource teacher with an emphasis on technology integration. (Catch this article in the Punahou Bulletin to know more about ways Dan thinks “beyond the classroom.”) A number of my colleagues have mentioned Dan’s seminal presentation on student stress at the 2019 Schools of the Future Conference. Most of all, what you get from reviewing Dan’s body of work so far is that he cares deeply about kids and learning. There is no doubt that he has a growth mindset and is continually developing his teaching practice. In this interview Dan and I talked about inch deep and a mile wide, vs. posthole learning. We talked about student travel and his own trip to Samoa as part of the Malama Honua voyages. We went deep into capstone projects, design thinking, competency-based learning and what it takes to build communities of practice. It was a marvelous conversation. If you like it, please give us a rating and review at your podcast store! As always, this episode was edited by Daniel Gilad at DG Sound Creations. Find out more about Daniel at his Facebook page. This series is funded by Ted Dintersmith, the author of the bestselling book, What School Could Be.  

The post 45. Coastal Erosion and Other Subjects, With Dan Gaudiano appeared first on @MLTSinHawaii .

“All Good Things Are Wild and Free” (Henry David Thoreau). As it turns out this episode is four years in the making. At the very start of my work with Ted Dintersmith and his film, Most Likely to Succeed, Christina Hoe, a humanities teacher at Le Jardin Academy, reached out to me via an intermediary and asked to bring all 77 of her students to my 2nd MLTS screening in January, 2016. What followed was a wild and crazy ride that resulted in her students doing a deep dive into education. Four years later, Christina is my interview guest! How cool is that? Editing provided by DG Sound Creations. 

The post 44. All Good Things are Wild and Free, with Christina Hoe appeared first on @WSCBPodcast.

At the end of this episode Waikiki Elementary School educator, Lory Peroff read the following excerpt from a poem: The people I love the best, Jump into work head first, I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, Who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, Who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, Who do what has to be done, again and again. (Marge Percy “To Be of Use”) In so many ways, Percy’s stanza captures what Lory thinks, what she feels and how she approaches each day with her family, her faculty colleagues and her student learners. On several occasions Lory has described herself as “doing things I didn’t know I couldn’t do.” Amen, Lory! Lory’s journey, in this episode, starts with the Pease Corps in Uzbekistan, moves to Tonga, then to Boston and ultimately to Hawaiʻi. Along the way her focus is relentlessly on kids. She has taught 4th and 5th grade in Honolulu and in Taiwan. Her undergraduate degree, from the University of Colorado, is in the arts and psychology. She has a masters in elementary education from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she earned a 4.0 GPA. While at the University of Colorado she did an exchange program in Ghana, West Africa. Lory has lived and worked on multiple continents. Her worldview is expansive and she has great range. Lory is an advocate for teachers as writers, and has written extensively on life and learning for Honolulu Civil Beat, Medium, Education Week and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She is a distance swimmer and runner, and loves to travel. Most of all, Lory is hugely respected in public, private and charter school circles in Hawaii. Her voice is clear and strong. She is #publicschoolproud and a leading light for whole child instruction. (Post production and original theme music provided by Daniel Gilad at DG Creations. To learn more about Daniel’s work, or if you are interested in hiring him for your next music gig, email him at dgcreations808@gmail.com or navigate to his Facebook page.)

The post 43. The Epic Journey of Lory Peroff, So Far appeared first on @MLTSinHawaii .

Matthew Lynch and I recorded this interview back on March 24th, just as the Covid-19 “shelter-in-place” lockdown began in Hawaiʻi. What we planned to do in person suddenly had to be done via Zoom. The resulting audio is pretty sketch, but wow, Matthew and I covered some serious ground over a 90-minute conversation. Matthew is the Director of Sustainability Initiatives for all 10 campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system. Four years ago we met at a special Ted Dintersmith-hosted gathering at PBS Hawaiʻi. At the time I recall Matthew telling me, to my utter astonishment, that the UH systems had no sustainability degree. In Hawaiʻi? What? Matthew’s job at the time partially included helping students cobble together classes that might result in the perception of sustainability expertise. Since then, wow!, Matthew has come along way and accomplished so much. To know the details of his journey you will need to listen to the episode! Over 90 minutes Matthew and I covered a range of topics, including ways Covid-19 will profoundly change living, and learning at every level. Matthew also serves as the President of the Board of Directors at Kahumana Organic Farm, and as Sustainability Measures Co-Chair on the Board of Directors for Hawaii Green Growth, which is a public-private partnership. The Office of Sustainability at the University of Hawaiʻi functions as a backbone organization, working across UH campuses to complement, support and enhance the incredible sustainability work that has been emerging over the past decade. Matthew’s office provides coordination capacity for campuses to share information and resources with each other and accelerate action to strengthen the environmental, social, cultural and economic health of our islands’ communities. To learn more about Matthew’s work, click on the University’s website. Post production for the What School Could Be in Hawaiʻi podcast is provided by Daniel Gilad at DG Sound Creations. Daniel is also the musical director for our episodes. His original music creations are sprinkled throughout the episode timeline. To learn more about Daniel’s work, or to hire him for your next music gig, email him at DGcreations808@Gmail.com, or visit his Facebook page.  

The post 42. Matthew Lynch, Building Sustainability Initiatives appeared first on @MLTSinHawaii .