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In the episode, the amazing Angela Watson and I talk about how teachers can thrive alongside students, how we do best as a community of specialists, and what it looks like to be working in a flow state. If teacher retention and staff well-being is important to you, this is a must listen!
Angela Watson is a productivity and mindset specialist, author, and motivational speaker for educators. She has supported countless teachers in making teaching more effective, efficient, and enjoyable, including on her amazing podcast, Truth for Teachers, which I truly enjoy. In this episode, Angela talks to us about her vision for empowering teachers and students and creating classrooms centered on authenticity and flow. The Big Dream Angela envisions a place where educators and students can co-thrive together, with their needs not being pitted against each other. By focusing on the strengths of students and working collectively as a community, we can create an educational environment where everyone feels accepted and supported in being their authentic selves. Alignment to the 4 Stages: Mindset, Pedagogy, Assessment, and Content In order to achieve this dream, teachers can shift their mindset, adopt new pedagogical approaches, embrace innovative assessments, and ensure that content is relevant and engaging for students. Angela emphasizes the importance of empowering teachers and students to create change in their classrooms and tap into student motivation and engagement. Mindset Shifts Required Teachers do not need to be all things to all students. Instead, let’s work collectively as a community. A strengths-based approach helps staff and students! Angela says: “It's not possible to be good at everything and teaching. You cannot be a subject area expert, a developmental appropriateness, pedagogical kind of expert, explain things well, good at curriculum planning, good at parent communication, good at data entry, good at explaining yourself in IEP meetings…there's so many different things. You're going to be better at some than others, and I would love to see schools be a place where we work as a community to have all the needs met. So, instead of every individual having to be good at every single thing or, let's be real, to be excelling…What if we thought about it as a community effort? So maybe I'm really good at preparing activities and you're really good at the relationship piece with students and they feel like they can trust you and come to you…Partner together instead of trying to be all things to all students, which is just a recipe for burnout.” How do we make this happen? Work with Others Angela says, “It's much harder to dehumanize or demonize…people who don't share your values if you have accomplished something with them. If you've worked to get an extra recess break with people who have different viewpoints than you, it's much harder then, when we're talking about book banning, to be like ‘You're a monster who hates kids.’ Clearly you're not, because you just worked with me to get more recess time. So are there ways that we can work towards things that we do have in common, to create a positive change? And then, can we just find this small cadre of like minded folks to to push the envelope a little bit towards the things that are maybe not what anyone agrees on?” Pedagogically… Amplify student voice and belonging Follow students' lead and interests, allowing them to be more engaged in the learning process. Create a space for students to feel vulnerable, fostering a sense of belonging and connection. Build a toolbox of strategies to support a flow state Instead of “on task”, aim for a flow state. The state of flow (Csikszenthmihalyi) is where you're so absorbed in a task that you lose track of all time. Angela says, “It's one of the peak human experiences, and the optimal way to experience a flow state is when you're being challenged.” We can support student flow by emphasizing that we're learning alongside our students and there's no judgment around not being able to concentrate. “It's not a bad thing. It is a morally neutral thing And we don't need to load it down with all this baggage and guilt and shame….We all experience things and we're just not motivated. Challenges? It can be hard to find the time for reflection and personal growth as educators and overcome feelings of inadequacy in teaching these skills if we haven’t mastered them ourselves yet. (But we can learn alongside students!) One Step to Get Started Start by noticing and affirming the strengths and interests of your students. This simple act can have a profound impact on their engagement and motivation, ultimately contributing to a more fulfilling educational experience for both students and teachers. Stay Connected You can find Angela on her website. Also, check out her 40 Hour Teacher Workweek program and Finding Flow Solutions curriculum. To help you find the time and energy to implement some of the ideas we discussed today, Angela is sharing her and her students’ wisdom with you during The 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit! (This was free for live attendees July 10-11, but you can still access the recording for $19.) And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 133 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I coach teachers on addressing unplanned issues in class:
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9/11/2023 132. A Framework for Teaching Structural Racism in US History with Ayo Magwood M.ScRead Now
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In this podcast episode, Ayo shares her innovative approach to teaching structural racism and fostering civic consciousness in the classroom. Discover how using data inquiries, historical context, and value tensions can empower students to think critically, engage in national conversations, and shape a better future.
Ayo Magwood, M.Sc., (Uprooting Inequity, LLC) specializes in evidence-based, apolitical, and solutionary training on understanding and remediating structural racism. She is passionate about fostering cross-difference cooperation towards realizing equal opportunity for all. Her superpower is her ability to synthesize a wide range of research, data, primary sources, and abstract concepts and weave them into engaging narratives and diagrams. Ayo was recently recognized as a leading expert on social justice education. She has a B.A. from Brown University and a M.Sc. in applied economics from Cornell University. The Big Dream To provide students with the historical context and understanding needed to engage in national conversations about structural racism and policy issues. Ayo’s Election Unit Ayo created an election unit that focused on historical context and understanding rather than candidates. Designed to equip students with the knowledge they need to engage in national conversations and shape a better future, Ayo focused on teaching historical through-lines that explain racial inequality, racial tension, racism, structural racism, income inequality, and political polarization. She encouraged students to think critically, ask questions, and discover the truth for themselves. Ayo’s Framework Ayo uses data inquiries for students to uncover the existence of structural racism on their own. By distinguishing between empirical issues and opinion/policy issues, she ensures that the classroom stays focused on the evidence while promoting civic consciousness that “benefits the common good.” This approach allows for respectful conversations in the classroom and helps students understand and take informed positions on policy issues, working together across ideological differences. Focus on structural racism over bias. Ayo says, “I feel that it's more important as a US history teacher to teach that historical context and about structural racism. They have 100 chances to learn about interpersonal race outside that classroom, but they will have very few chances to learn that history and about structural racism outside the classroom. And…that historical structural racism will set them up to learn about bias.” Framing structural racism as an empirical issue, she minimizes disruptions and parent concerns while creating a learning space where students can think critically and make evidence-based decisions. Challenges, Or Where Things Could Go Wrong Two ways classroom conversations about race are disrupted by students or parents include:
Action Steps Introduce Value Tensions Invite students to identify what’s going on underneath a political disagreement and encourage students to move away from extremes, instead asking students to position themselves on a continuum. Examples: individual rights vs. common good; civil liberties vs. national security. Data Inquiries Give students space to investigate and draw their own conclusions from empirical data. Implicit Practices Model that we all make mistakes and learn from them. Foster an “equity-conscious identity” or a “we” identity. Get Started! Read! You can start with Ayo’s Psychology Today article. Survey your students and ask for feedback on your lessons. Get Ayo’s free lesson on perspectives consciousness and start introducing values tensions in your class. Stay Connected You can find this week’s guest on her website, Uprooting Inequity. To help you introduce value tensions and perspectives consciousness in your classroom, Ayo is sharing a free lesson with you! And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 132 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I show you how to create an intellectual ancestors tree:
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Wow, we’re entering the 4th season of this podcast! Each year, it has evolved to better your listening experience. I’m so excited to tell you what’s coming in the new season!
More Unit Dreaming What started as a series has generated a lot of enthusiasm from listeners and unit dreaming guests alike. Additionally, the department teams I work with for my Curriculum Boot Camp events always crave more examples of unit outlines. So, unit dreaming episodes will be a regular feature of the show. I plan to start with one per month, and we can always expand from there. For more “What does this look like in action?” support around unit planning and building, my YouTube channel has a “Unit Planning in Action” playlist dedicated to designing sample units. If 5-minute walkthrough videos of examples is your thing, check it out! If you like a good challenge, follow or connect with me on LinkedIn, where I share a #UnitDreaming spark at the start of each week. Add a comment to tell me how you would build the spark into a unit or coach a teacher to build a unit around the spark. Or use it as a private journal prompt and develop what Dr. Gholnecsar Muhammad calls “curriculum fluency.” (Here’s our episode with Dr. Muhammad.) Don’t worry about missing previously posted #UnitDreaming sparks, you can check out all of the past sparks here. More Guests Now that I have a walkthrough/mini tutorial-style YouTube channel, I would love to make more space for the brilliance of guests on the show. Many guests record 4-6 months (or more) in advance of the episode air date because there’s so many awesome people to interview. Furthermore, I have declined to interview prospective guests because of my narrow focus on curriculum design during season 3. While I will continue to focus on things that will really move the needle for you within the topics I specialize in, I also want to bring back a focus on student voice and co-creation in the realms of unit design, yes, but also on “voice” in classroom discussions as an instructional practice as well as “voice” in co-creating school policies and participating in school governance alongside adults (which is my research background). More Flexibility I also want to be less rigid in my scheduling. I used to alternate solo shows and guest episodes in an every other week cadence. This season, I want to create solo shows as I have something important to share, and not feel like I need to record a solo show just to fit the schedule I made. This may mean some months have 3 solo shows and others have none. We’ll see how it goes! I want to hear from you! What do you think of this plan? Nothing is set in stone. (See “More Flexibility.”) And ultimately, I want this podcast to be as helpful as possible to you! I know there are podcasts I listen to that I think “I want more solo shows from the host!” and others where I want more guests. So, tell me what your ideal ratio of solo:guest shows are, share the topics or questions you want to be addressed. Feel free to reply in the comments or send me an email at hello@lindsaybethlyons.com. Just so you never miss an episode…make sure you click or tap “Follow” on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks for continuing on this beautiful ride with me. Here’s to Season 4! If you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 131 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
See how you can unit plan using math and justice connections in this video:
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Dr. Park and Liz co-authored a book on teaching Sijo, which sparked this unit dreaming conversation. In this episode, we apply a step-by-step unit planning protocol to dream up a new unit on Sijo!
Unit Planning Step 1: Context/Spark Dr. Park and Liz started working together when Liz’s students kept winning the Sejong Cultural Society’s Sijo competitions. Sijo as a poetry form requires a condensation of ideas. It’s a 3-line poem with 15 syllables in each line. It requires an economy of words. Since poems can be about anything, it’s great for relevance and the ability to share with an authentic audience of peers, community members, and to the wider nation/world through the annual competitions. Unit Planning Step 2: Pursuits (from Dr. Muhammad’s HILL Model) Identity: How will our unit help students to learn something about themselves and/or about others? Students are able to write about anything they want. It’s also a great opportunity to explore Korean culture both historically and in the present through the form. Criticality: How will our unit engage students’ thinking about power and equity and the disruption of oppression? The theme of condensation relevant to the form can lead to conversations about what histories, stories, or even forms of poetry are included or excluded in the curricular condensing process. Joy*: How will my unit enable, amplify, and spread joy? *Joy is: beauty, aesthetics, truth, ease, wonder, wellness, solutions to the problems of the world, personal fulfillment, art, music Students have experienced joy in writing Sijo because its short length seems more accessible to writers who may struggle with essays. We want students to fall in love with writing as expression or writing as connection. Unit Planning Step 3: Project Question What are the most important 3 lines you could share with the world about identity, criticality or joy in this moment? Supporting questions or other ideas to build a PQ around include:
Unit Planning Step 4: Summative Project (Publishing Opportunity and Possible Formats) There many options, including: Students submit to a Sijo competition. (There are several, and many are linked below.) Publish poems in a class publication or school literary magazine. This could be a multimedia publication with recordings of students performing their poems and illustrations to accompany them. Hold a performance or video recording of singing Sijo. (Dr. Park shared there are examples of Sijo set to classical music and hip hop, which you can see on their YouTube channel.) Music teachers can publish students’ Sijo poems in a concert program. Art teachers can have students write poems and draw a picture to go with it. Unit Planning Step 5: Unit Arc Hook: What’s the thing they can't stop thinking about? What’s weighing on students’ hearts? Talk about how poems capture and transfer emotion to the reader. Ask students: How would you do that? What emotions do you want to work with? Build the Base: Teach the form (e.g., 3 lines, syllable groupings). Use existing samples on the Sejong Cultural Society’s website to explore samples. Case Studies: Invite students to explore the Sejong Cultural Society’s website and develop a collection that have commonalities (e.g., in theme or structure). Create gallery walks of these “case” groupings. Work Time/Peer Feedback: Once students have several Sijo poems drafted, invite students to put up on the board all of their poems and invite class feedback as to which one they should submit to the competition. This is a great point to invite students to make revisions afterwards. All the Links! There were so many excellent resources shared during this episode. Here’s a list: Competitions: Sejong Cultural Society
Online sijo course for teachers The electronic book of sijo referenced: Elementary and High School Students Unite through Sijo More articles on teaching sijo:
To help you implement a unit like this, Liz and Dr. Park are sharing free copies of their book, Sijo: Korea's Poetry Form! You can submit a request here. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 130 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I connect science and justice in this deep dive:
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I was listening to "The Philosopher & the Neuroscientist - A Conversation with Zak Stein and Mary Helen Immordino-Yang" on the Future Learning Design Podcast, and Dr. Stein was talking about assessment and measurement. He said, “The goal of the assessments are to not obfuscate what’s going on. To precisely say, like, you understand these things, and there’s a set of things you can come to learn that are slightly more abstract that integrate these lower level things…the introduction of…what we call learning sequences as opposed to levels or stages…” (starting at minute 43:12).
While the organization he’s talking about has their own system, I wanted to run with the idea of sequenced skills, specifically, how they could be used when designing a standards-based rubric. Standards-Based Assessment: Mastery-Based Grading and Single-Point Rubrics I’ve read favorable research on mastery-based grading. Haystead and Marzano (2009) found teachers who measured skill growth over time on mastery rubrics noted a 34% gain in student achievement. In mastery-based classes, students showed increased student learning, classroom environments were less stressful with better teacher-student relationships, and decreased grade achievement gaps when compared to classes that used traditional grading practices (Crescendo Ed Group). When I taught, I used a 4-point mastery scale for each standard. Single-point rubrics are still standards-based, yet streamlined. Easier to read for students and adults. Teachers can write in the left and right columns to narratively describe approaching or exceeding standards. I like having priority standards students and teachers can focus on. I like having a rubric you can share with (and ideally co-construct with) students that can be used to assess all summative projects. When coaching departments on selecting priority standards, I say the non-priority standards don’t go away, they become supporting standards. Then, the supporting standards can be used in the definition of lower mastery levels. This seems aligned to the concept of a learning sequence, so let’s consider what it might look like to keep the standards-based, department-wide rubric and design it for sequenced skills versus levels of the priority skill. How to Design a Learning Sequence Rubric I’m just starting to play with this concept and am open to ideas. Here’s what I’m thinking about now: Step 1: Determine your priority standards. Aim for a max of 5-7 skill-based standards. Select the most challenging or complex skills. Step 2: For each priority standard, map out the supporting standards students need to have before getting to the priority standard. For example: Decode → Comprehend → Summarize → Analyze Step 3: Describe each skill in separate columns on the rubric. (You can use the same column headers if they are visuals like the stages of riding a bike. See my rubric templates below.) Final Tip After completing your new rubric, I would look at your instructional activities and scaffolds and align them (and the accompanying language you use) to the learning sequences. To help you design your own learning sequence rubric, I’m sharing my Skill-Based Rubric Templates with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 129 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I go over a unit planning deep dive:
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Jerad Koepp, Wukchumni, is the Native Student Program Specialist for North Thurston Public Schools, the 2022 Washington State teacher of the year, and the first Native American educator to earn the distinction in the state. He is a leader in Native education, policy, and government to government relationships. As an educator, trainer, presenter, consultant, and advocate, Jerad also created and supports his district’s dual-credited high school Native Studies program.
We met at a conference where there was lots of “unchecked settler privilege…non-Native educators presenting content and viewpoints of Native people while not working with any of them. It was one of those great opportunities to show the shortcomings of how even in progressive or educational spaces, Native erasure or omission is still compatible with the way modern public education works.” The Big Dream Make space for Native knowledge to thrive and contribute to educating all children. Let “Native people do things the way we always have done and creat[e] spaces for that in order to learn together, collaborate together (rather than taking different theories of knowledge and ways of being and trying to fit them into settler structures).” Mindset Shifts Required Native people are racialized and politicized. Tlingit activist Elizabeth Peratrovich said, “Asking you for my civil rights, implies they are yours to give.” The connection to land is the source of all knowledge. Nature is the original classroom. Action Steps When designing curriculum, the content and the curricula are actually towards the end of the list in terms of steps. Step 1: Understand Settler History Educators need to first understand the settler history of public education and its role in assimilating Native students, which is still in place today. Step 2: Do Identity Work Educators should ask: What is my settler identity? How have I benefited from, been complicit in, and continued to be part of settler society, of settler education? How is what I’m teaching contributing to the colonial unknowing of Native people throughout history? Step 3: Give Space to Make Sure it’s Grounded it in Community At the heart of it, is community-based education. Social justice education is grounded in community. Public education doesn’t give us the space to do that. Step 4: Crosswalk Indigenous Academia with K-12 And develop courses. They started with an 11th grade course: U.S. History Through Native Perspectives. Then added Literatures through Native Perspectives (11th grade), and then added a Native Civics (12th grade). Step 5: Guest Speakers Ideas include: fellow students, people from the White House, tribal leaders, tribal council members, tribal historians, plant and medicine teachers, authors, Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons advocates, native roboticists. It’s more than guest speakers. It’s healing—reclaiming knowledge, contemporizing Native people, and diversifying Native representation. (If using Native singers or dancers, we have to explore the impact, the meaning of the songs, the regalia, the importance of language, story of people.) Step 6: Make The Courses Count as College Credit Students shouldn’t have to choose between AP or Native studies. The weight should be equal or greater than a typically offered course. Partnering with universities protects the work and sustains it. It also helps better prepare future teachers. Jerad’s high school students guest taught undergraduate and graduate students! Step 7: Honor the Genealogy of Knowledge A key difference from traditional teaching/teacher training is the importance in Native studies of a genealogy of knowledge: Teachers are facilitators. “I learned how to weave this from these people of this tribe in this place.” This establishes a commitment to relationship—”I am responsible to these people for the way that I share this information.” Be Mindful Of… “We can’t just absorb information because Western society has extracted from Native people for five centuries with devastation. And so, we need to be able to acknowledge that, heal it, and then make sure we don’t do it again…a big part of the work we do needs to be generative to contribute to a brighter indigenous future, a brighter future for the knowledges that we have the privilege to share in our class.” Steps to Get Started Go check out public events. Support Native-owned businesses and artists. Learn directly from Native Education groups, including the National Indian Education Association. Be intentional about who you are talking about and ask: “Who’s not there? and What does it mean?” Go to the index of your social justice books. Are Native people there? Consider language: “Black and Brown” does not include lighter shades of Native people. This only addresses the racialization side and not the political side. Books Jerad Recommends:
Stay Connected You can find Jerad on his website: http://www.jeradkoepp.com. To help you start to identify places where you might “jam a screwdriver into the cog,” I’m sharing my Diagnosing Adaptive Challenges workbook with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 126 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I explain how to replace the cannon:
8/7/2023 127. RESOURCE DIVE: A Research-Based Model for Addressing Unplanned Controversial Issues in ClassRead Now
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I listened to Charlot Cassar talk about the model in his co-authored, open access journal article, “Why teachers address unplanned controversial issues in the classroom” on the Visions of Education podcast. Then, I immediately read the paper. Now, I’m sharing the highlights with you!
Why? Locally and globally, there are always things happening that impact our students. Often, in highly emotional ways. This plus our school and larger cultural contexts can make it challenging to determine when to address an unplanned issue that arises in class. Teachers in Cassar, Oosterheert, & Meijer’s (2023) study described three types of “controversies”:
These situations happen all of the time. Some teachers (like the teachers invited to participate in this study) are more likely to choose to address these issues in class. Others are not. Importantly, the study noted that how teachers addressed a situation impacted their self-esteem and self-efficacy as a teacher. For leaders who are wary about telling teachers exactly what to address, this study’s model presents an opportunity to invite teachers to reflect on their reasons for choosing to address a specific issue or not. What’s in the model to understand teachers’ justifications for addressing unplanned controversial issues in the classroom?
Note: You can see the visual model (Figure 1) on p. 13 of the journal article. How can educators use this model in practice? After an event that impacts students in your school or district, invite teachers to use this model to think through each of the elements to explain why they chose to address it in the moment or not. (You could do this as a whole staff following a large event that impacted the whole community or use this in an individual coaching conversation with one teacher for an event that only impacted that class.) Here are some questions that teachers may want to consider in relation to the model:
Once teachers have reflected individually, you may want to pick a specific question to discuss as a whole staff or in teams. For example: Do we (as a staff) believe teachers should go beyond the syllabus or stick to it? I recommend using a discussion protocol for this. Moving forward, encourage teachers to consider this model as a reflective tool after an incident in class or in the moment as a decision-making tool. For the latter, I would recommend selecting ONE element or question from the list above that a teacher wants to ask themselves in the moment. Considering multiple elements in the moment would take too long. To help you create the space for these kinds of conversations with staff, I’m sharing my sequence of Staff Meeting Agendas with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 127 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I backwards design a staff PD unit plan:
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Dr. Chris Jones is the Principal of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School in Massachusetts. He is the author of SEEingtoLead and host of the podcast SEEingtoLead. His overarching goal is to positively model continuous improvement in all facets of life by being purposeful, acting with integrity, and building character. In this episode, we go totally off-script to dig into what it looks like to talk about and take action towards a racial justice.
The Big Dream We are taking action on a daily basis born from a broader, greater, deeper understanding of everybody’s journey and how they got to where they are now. We need to act in a way that honors the history each individual has gone through including intergenerational trauma. Alignment to the 4 Stages: Mindset, Pedagogy, Assessment, and Content Following building closures for COVID, the district has become more racially and linguistically diverse. This prompted a realization that change is needed. Most students were in homogeneous communities in their homes during lockdown. Coming back to school and being in a racially diverse school has caused discomfort. Mindset Shifts Required As leaders, we have to stop being defensive. Leaders need to help students and caretakers be in an emotional state where they feel safe and be part of a community. From Dr. Ibram Kendi: Racism is a continuum and action-based. Action Steps Several things Dr. Jones has tried include: Support Teachers and Students to Create Belonging for All Students This involves curriculum and practice being culturally responsive and sustaining. Create a Parent Advisory Group to the Principal BIPOC parents and caretakers were invited to be in this group. Ensure Opportunities for Students to Join Clubs and Affinity Groups No Place for Hate. Get training on how to start affinity groups. Invite Black, Brown, Indigenous, Arab and Asian Students into Conversations about Policies Ask “Why is this important to you?” Leaders, do your own research. Don’t be afraid to change the policy next week. Thank Students Who Share Critical Feedback It’s as simple as, “Thank you for bringing this up to me.” Talk to White Students Who are Engaging in Cultural Appropriation After doing this, Dr. Jones saw white students stop wearing durags. Sometimes, students will just not do something around you because they know you’ll do something about it, but other times, they will reflect, engage in conversation, and stop doing it. One Step to Get Started Think about others’ experiences as a set of transparencies. Start with the first layer of what you believe in (your values) and the fact that we’re all human beings. Then, consider others’ experiences are not the same as yours and recognize you don’t understand their lived experiences. Seek to learn. Then, look at institutions and policies you can impact and recognize the effects of those policies on others. Stay Connected You can find Dr. Jones on @DrCSJones on almost all social media sites and on his website. You can email him at drchrissj@gmail.com. To help you in your leadership journey, Dr. Jones is sharing resources each week in his newsletter. You can sign up to get it here for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 126 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Resource: In this episode, Lindsay mentioned the book, On Apology by Aaron Lazare, M.D. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I create a unit plan using cooking and justice:
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To wrap up the Unit Dreaming series, I want to reflect on the wisdom of the guests we’ve heard from in the past six episodes. Their reflections on how they felt during and after the unit planning process we used has helped me think about what to keep, what to emphasize, what to build in more support for, and what to change as I continue to refine my unit planning protocol that I use to coach teachers and teacher teams.
Unit Planning Tip #1: Spend time clarifying the Driving Question and let it focus you. In episode 119, Debbie Tannenbaum said planning with the DQ was new for her, and it was helpful to have as a guide. In episode 121, Tre' Gammage talked about the value of framing adult Professional Development (PD) as a curriculum as a way of committing to a sustained focus throughout the year. Whether you use the DQ for students or for educators, this is what focuses all of the work. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in this series is the importance of spending enough time on it that it resonates with the teacher. Then, everything else seemingly falls into place. Unit Planning Tip #2: Invest in a reusable unit arc. By the end of episode 122, Phil Januszewski said he felt like he had a solid “skeleton” to be able to reuse in different units as a way to incorporate the justice-based and human elements he wanted in his curriculum. Debbie liked the simplicity of the unit arc outline we used. In the template, the three columns for each lesson are listed as: Focus, Protocol, Resource. I’ve been using the acronym “GPS” (Green Light, Protocol, Source) for the Investigating History curriculum through DESE, leveraging their term “green light” to indicate the focus content (and when students will have enough to move onto the next thing) and the term “Source” as a nod to its emphasis on source analysis. Unit Planning Tip #3: Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s HILL Model unlocks deep learning. In episode 124, Jason Reagin built upon a Design project he’s done in the past with students. He credited Dr. Muhammad’s framework as the reason he took the project to a deeper level. (He even used 3 of the pursuits as a core component of the unit’s summative project!) I cannot overstate how much I love Dr. Muhammad’s framework, based on the genius of historical Black Literary Societies, which includes the 5 pursuits of Identity, Criticality, Joy, Skills, and Intellect. I focus on the first three as I listed them here because I see these as underutilized. If you haven’t read them already, check out her books, Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. Unit Planning Tip #4: Learn about societal problems. Phil Januszewski (episode 122) reflected on how helpful it would be to learn more about the problems in the world that are connected to the content areas we teach. From there, we can teach content knowledge and skills so that students can put it to use in addressing those problems. Having an ongoing stream of problems, injustices, and current events will help with this. I find it helpful to identify one source (teachers can consider their preferred medium—I enjoy podcasts—and their content area or focus) and engage with it once a week or so. It might be a great activity to include in each team meeting: Share one event or situation in the world that connects to your content and you might be able to build a unit around. Unit Planning Tip #5: Weave in other models and structures. On episode 120, Dr. Bakshi McLean talked about using the Science-based 5 Es approach to a unit arc. She also shared her SHS steps (Standard, Hook, Society) which help teachers think about the same kinds of things I want to get teachers talking about! If there’s a strategy or framework out there that can complement the approach I coach with, I want teachers and leaders to use it! Unit Planning Tip #6: Talk it through with someone. Gwen and Nancy Jorgensen talked about this in episode 123, and several guests also mentioned it. Simply being able to talk through ideas with another person was energizing, clarifying, and all-around helpful. It would be great if everyone had a coach for this work, but it could be your team, a colleague, another teacher in a different district—it’s helpful to have someone to brainstorm with. Final Tip Whatever process you share with your team, ask teachers to reflect as they use it. This reflection piece has helped me listen to the people engaging with the unit planning protocol I use to coach people to create curriculum. They are the experts in what’s helpful about it and what isn’t. Leaders, remember to make space for these reflections just as we encourage teachers to do with students at the end of a unit! To help you implement some unit dreaming with your staff, I’m sharing a 5-minute tutorial video I made on YouTube! (There’s also a link to a free resource in the YouTube description if you want it.) And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 125 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here.
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I explain how to run a staff meeting on unit dreaming:
Listen to the episode by clicking the link to your preferred podcast platform below:
Jason Reagin is the Middle Years Program Coordinator at the Western Academy of Beijing. His teaching background is in 'Design' education. In this episode, we apply a step-by-step unit planning protocol to dream up a new Design unit!
Unit Planning Step 1: Context/Spark The school and Jason wants to do more with curricula that connects with environmental and organizational sustainability and advances Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice. Unit Planning Step 2: Pursuits (from Dr. Muhammad’s HILL Model) Identity: How will our unit help students to learn something about themselves and/or about others? Jason wants students to explore different innovation approaches beyond the innovators who are typically studied (i.e., White guys from western contexts from the Industrial Revolution to today). One way he’s historically done this in class is to trace where a candy bar came from. Students learn 90% of the contributions to get the candy bar in their hands were not from western nations. Criticality: How will our unit engage students’ thinking about power and equity and the disruption of oppression? Jason wants students to explore multiple entry points in design conversations. He shared an example of the colors red and green used on a Chinese website being used as having opposite meanings from what Americans typically associate with those colors. Joy*: How will my unit enable, amplify, and spread joy? *Joy is: beauty, aesthetics, truth, ease, wonder, wellness, solutions to the problems of the world, personal fulfillment, art, music Students should experience fulfillment in everything we do. It can be hands-on learning, doing something that’s currently relevant to students. Unit Planning Step 3: Driving Question How can I design this package so it meets our triple bottom line rubric? (Students can co-create the name of their triple bottom line that encompasses identity, criticality, and joy!) Unit Planning Step 4: Summative Project (Publishing Opportunity and Possible Formats) Students co-create a “triple bottom line” rubric and name it. Then, design packaging for a product. Ask the target audience to evaluate the design. Format Options:
Unit Planning Step 5: Unit Arc Hook: Disassemble and explore packaging of different products. Invite students to bring in a package of their own. Build the Base: Traditional triple bottom line concept, then design their own class rubric Case Studies:
Project Work Time/Feedback:
Stay Connected You can find Jason on Twitter. (Also, listen to his podcast, Design Cast!) To help you create your own justice-centered unit, I’m sharing my Curriculum Planner with you for free. And, if you’re looking for more details on the ideas in this blog post, listen to episode 124 of the Time for Teachership podcast. If you’re unable to listen or you prefer to read the full episode, you can find the transcript here. Quotes:
If you enjoyed this episode, check out my YouTube channel where I create my own unit plan with music:
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Time for Teachership is now a proud member of the...AuthorLindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. Archives
January 2024
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