Hallway Conversations

Episode 017: Awards

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Kevin asks, “What role do end-of-the-year awards ceremonies play in schools, and what role should they play?” Abby and Matt share their (very different!) experiences with high school awards ceremonies, and we think about what kinds of messages are conveyed through the particular gifts and talents we might award (or not.) Dave shares about an approach a school he used to teach at used for celebrating gifts of all of the students. We talk through various aspects of recognition, and the importance of “seeing” our students and “naming” their strengths as part of their formal education. We have lots of wondering, and perhaps you’ll even find a few new ideas about the role that awards can play in a healthy school community.

Episode 016: Professional Development

In today’s episode, Abby asks the question, “What does intentional professional growth look like for practicing teachers?” We wonder together about the pace of change, and whether some teachers get cynical about the constant flow of new ideas coming at them through professional development sessions with a sort of “this too shall pass” attitude. Matt gives insights on the importance of intentionality in professional development as a former school administrator, and  Dave shares his heuristic of “rest, reading, and reflection” as a means of structuring summer professional growth. We wonder quite a bit about the way schools can leverage the expertise of people in their own buildings as part of creating a culture of continuous professional learning, and wrap up with a few ideas about strategies for Christian educators to continue their personal, ongoing professional learning.

Episode 015: Positivity

In today’s episode, Dave asks the question, “Is there ever a point when positivity becomes toxic, or even just problematic?” We begin by talking about potentially-problematic positivity in our personal lives before turning our attention to our work as educators. We talk about how teachers can model for students and demonstrate appropriate ways to communicate emotions. We briefly touch on what to do with negativity in the staff room, and spend a little time thinking through how educators might be able to embrace healthy positivity even when things are hard. 

Episode 014: Failure

In today’s episode, Matt asks the question, “What’s up with all this talk of failure and what do we mean when we talk about ‘failure?’ Is failure actually essential to learning? And how do we reconcile failure when we live in a culture that can hyper-promote excellence and success?” We try to define what we actually mean by “failure,” and we discuss why some schools seem to hold up failure as a key component to learning. We grapple with some students’ tendency towards perfectionism, and explore the grace that might be present in embracing risk-taking and missteps--and the importance of feedback--as part of the learning process. 

What's next for Hallway Conversations?

Just a mini-episode this week to update you all on some things that are happening behind the scenes at Hallway Conversations. Consider the episodes we've released so far as "season 1" of this podcast, and as we are looking ahead to starting "season 2," there are a few changes ahead!

We're so grateful that you take the time to listen in, and we hope you'll be blessed by these conversations. We're always interested in hearing from our listeners--you can always reach out with your questions, comments, and feedback at hallwayconvospod@gmail.com. We hope that these conversations will spark hallway conversations of your own!

Episode 013: Ending the School Year Well

In this episode we are happy to again have our friend and colleague, Abby De Groot, joining in today’s conversation! Today, Matt raises the question, “With the end of the school year in sight, what might it mean to ‘end well?’” The three of us share some of the things we grapple with at the end of the academic year, and all of the feelings that come with it--joy, grieving, relief, and all the rest. We wonder about ways to mark endings well, no matter the grade level of our students. We also discuss the rhythm of the school year, and what it looks like to learn and work in community, with perhaps different expectations among faculty and students as we work towards wrapping up. We wrap up this episode by sharing some of the strategies we use to bless our students as they are concluding their work for a term.

In this episode, Abby mentions the TQE Method. More information about this approach for deepening class discussions can be found here: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/tqe-method/

Episode 012: Excellence

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “Are we in danger of, or have we made excellence an idol in Christian education?” We we discuss how school mission statements are structured—and how often excellence is named as part of the mission. We think through the meaning of rigor in academics, and the purpose of school as an institution. We wonder about excellence as a learning target for Christian schools; is this what we are aiming for? We get specific about things like assignments, feedback to students, and the way we use grades as a way of trying to measure excellence. As usual, we have lots of questions, and perhaps fewer answers, but through the conversation we clarify our own thinking about the role of excellence in Christian education. 

Episode 011: Emotional Labor

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about the emotional labor of teaching, what do we mean, and what does it look like?” Dave explains his understanding of this term: the way we manage our own emotional state to help bring about a particular emotional state in others--which is something educators must do often. We grapple with the implications of this for educators: do we have to deny some aspect of our whole selves to do the work we are called to do? We discuss how our teaching identities play out as we do the emotional labor of teaching, and the dual nature of burden and privilege we have in doing this work.

Episode 010: Teaching for Delight

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “How do we teach for ‘delight?’” We talk about this in the context of both delighting in our students as well as teaching them to delight in their learning. We discuss what planning looks like in teaching for delight, and the tension of balancing structure and serendipity. As we think through developing learning spaces that are safe for students even when they can be uncomfortable, we think through David Smith’s conception of “gardens of delight”--and how we can invite students into these kinds of learning opportunities to take joy in their learning, and show them that we delight in them.

Episode 009: Management

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about classroom management, who or what are we actually managing?” We discuss how our thinking about management has evolved throughout our careers, including Matt’s disastrous first day of teaching Kindergarten PE. Dave shares his conception of “office consciousness” as part of creating a space where learning happens. Along the way we also discuss norms for behavior, the importance of practicing procedures, the connection between discipline and discipleship, and ideas we’ve gleaned that can help shape the classroom environment in such a way that we might not have to “manage” our students.