Hallway Conversations

A Beginning-of-the-Year Blessing

It's a busy time of preparation for the new academic year for all of us who serve in education, and because of this, we are taking a week off from recording a regular episode. But...we wanted to leave you, our dear listeners, with this word of encouragement and blessing as you begin again. This poetic prayer comes from Ted Loder's book, Guerrillas of Grace.

Grace and peace to you all, friends.

Episode 028: First Day of School

This week, Matt asks the question, “How do we go about setting good rhythms for the first day of school?” We think through some of our favorite activities for the first day--ways to get students actively involved, setting the culture of the classroom, and engaging in real learning from day 1. Along the way, we discover that Abby loves scavenger hunts, that Matt has passion for knowing kids by name as a key part of building relationships, and that Dave knows all the countries of the world. (It’s a weird, free-flowing conversation, friends!) We hope that you’ll be encouraged and maybe even get a few ideas for how you’ll approach your first day of the new school year.

Episode 027: Teaching for Service

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Nate is wondering about how schools emphasize “service” and how we expect students to develop the skills and attitudes to engage in acts of service. Specifically, he asks, “How can schools cultivate a heart of service in students?” We share some of our own experiences as students being expected and required to participate in service projects. We think through the challenges of creating a culture where service is the norm, but we also share some ideas for ways to make service become more a way of life for students--a shift from “have to” towards “get to.”

Episode 026: Book Talks, Part II

Our second “book talks” episode! Perhaps you’ll still have time to pick up a read for this summer? We each brought two books to recommend, and we are trying to refine our sharing protocol that we call “2 by 2 by 2”: 2 books, 2 things about each book, and 2 minutes to talk about the book. (We again totally failed at sticking to this protocol, so we will certainly need to keep refining it…) But where things get interesting is that though we brought diverse reads, we found connections between the books in what we think are interesting and meaningful ways. We hope you might find some valuable reading suggestions here! The books that we discussed are these:

• Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
  https://www.amazon.com/Dare-to-Lead-Brene-Brown-audiobook/dp/B07DJYFLX8/
• The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller
  https://www.amazon.com/Prodigal-God-Recovering-Heart-Christian/dp/0525950796/
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
  https://www.amazon.com/Ruthless-Elimination-Hurry-Emotionally-Spiritually/dp/0525653090/
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
  https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/
• Technopoly: The Surrender of Technology to Culture by Neil Postman
  https://www.amazon.com/Technopoly-Surrender-Technology-Neil-Postman/dp/0679745408/

Episode 025: The Staff Room

This week, Dave asks the question, “What happens in the staff room? What *should* happen in the staff room?” We discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of what can happen in the staff room. We share stories from our own experiences for good or ill that happened in the teachers’ lounges or faculty workrooms we’ve been part of. We also wonder about the benefits of explicitly deciding on norms for what staff members should be able to expect for what happens in the staff room--including perhaps napping?

Episode 024: Changing Our Minds

This week, Dave asks the question, “What is something you’ve changed your mind about?” We share a variety of stories from our own teaching practices, including the idea of learning styles, the importance of bringing in diverse perspectives, and even the way we think about what “rigor” means in education. We talk through reasons why we should change our minds about things, and whether there are things we should *not* change our minds about.

We mentioned a few resources in this episode that we wanted to include here in the show notes:

• The report on the myth of learning styles Dave mentioned: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x 
• The video on the myth of learning styles Dave mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgwIhB58PA
• The TED Talk on the Danger of a Single Story that Abby mentioned: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

Episode 023: Equity and Teachers' Time

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Hayley is wondering about the way some students need more time and checking in from the teacher than others, and she asks, “Is it equitable or fair to spend more time with some students than others?” We think through the differences between equality and fairness, and how “fairness” might be more in line with all of our students’ flourishing. We get specific about the importance of soliciting feedback from our students about how our teaching is going, and think through the role of differentiated instruction and universal design for learning as ways of making classrooms more equitable for students.

Episode 022: Book Talks

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from our norm, but it stemmed from one of our actual hallway conversations in which one of us started talking about a book we were reading. Pretty soon, another person said, “We should have an episode where we just share some of our favorite books!” And so, here it is, dear listeners: we each brought two books to recommend, and we invented a protocol for sharing that we call “2 by 2 by 2”: 2 books, 2 things about each book, and 2 minutes to talk about each book. (We absolutely failed at sticking to this protocol, so we need to refine it a bit.) We hope you might find some summer reading suggestions here! The books that we discussed are these:

• Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James Lang https://www.amazon.com/Small-Teaching-Everyday-Lessons-Learning/dp/1118944496/
• An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith by Barbara Brown Taylor https://www.amazon.com/Altar-World-Geography-Faith/dp/0061370479/
• On Christian Teaching: Practicing Faith in the Classroom by David Smith https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Teaching-Practicing-Faith-Classroom/dp/080287360X/
• Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing by Penny Kittle https://www.amazon.com/Write-Beside-Them-Clarity-Writing/dp/0325078173/
• Leading with a Limp: Take Full Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness by Dan Allender https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Limp-Advantage-Powerful-Weakness/dp/1578569524
• It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens by danah boyd https://www.amazon.com/Its-Complicated-Social-Lives-Networked/dp/0300199007/

Bonus Episode: Responding to Student Work

This bonus episode is made up of a couple of leftovers that didn’t make the cut from our last episode about redos, but we thought you might still find this part of the conversation interesting, and maybe even helpful.

Dave asks the question, “How do you describe what you are doing when you respond to student work? Grading? Correcting? Marking?” We think through what feedback means, and how we provide students with the information they need to confirm and deepen their learning. We hope you enjoy this bonus conversation!

Episode 021: Redos

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Anna asks about the challenges that come from giving students “redos” on their work. Specifically, she asks about the balance of some students needing multiple opportunities to succeed, while others take advantage of being able to do low-quality work on the first attempt, knowing they will have the opportunity to “fix it” later. We discuss the habits of mind needed to make redos work well, what it means to be people of both grace and truth, and our own experiences with making some learning activities lower stakes for our students by offering multiple attempts in learning. Along the way, Dave mentions and article by Rick Wormeli entitled “Redos and Retakes Done Right,” which you can access here:

• https://www.newenglandssc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Redos-and-Retakes-Done-Right-Rick-Wormeli-1.pdf