Episode 15: The Hidden Curriculum: Refugee High

In his 1968 classic, Life in Schools, Philip Jackson coined the phrase “the hidden curriculum”, the implicit rules, values, norms, and behaviors in any school that students must learn in addition to the stated classroom curriculum. Learning this hidden curriculum becomes even more challenging when students’ backgrounds differ from the “dominant cultural context” of their school. In this episode we speak with Elly Fishman, author of the recent Refugee High: Coming of Age in America, a book that chronicles a year in the life of Sullivan High School, a Chicago Public School where over three dozen languages are spoken and where half of the student body consists of recent immigrants and political refugees.

Episode 14: Inauguration Poetry

Amanda Gorman electrified the audience at President Biden’s inauguration in January with her poem “The Hill We Climb.” Many have commented on the impact her poem has had — especially with young people in her audience. That was the same spirit behind a nationwide contest inviting young people to write their own inauguration poems, started by English teacher Seth MacLowry and the Academy of American Poets. The judge of that contest, Richard Blanco, was himself an Inauguration Poet, for President Obama in 2013. In this episode we talk about the value of poetry in school and in society with MacLowry and Blanco and with this year’s student contest winner, Hallie Knight.

Episode 13: Minding the Media: Digital and Media Literacy

More of our lives are spent on screens each year. At the same time we are living in an era of divisive partisanship with unprecedented assaults on truth. So what role can schools play in helping students navigate the competing media sources they are bombarded with every day? We’ll hear from Renee Hobbs, author of the recent Mind Over Media; media scholar, Dr. Jayne Cubbage; and a public school media teacher from Maryland, Alex David.

Episode 12: Getting a Read on Dyslexia

In this episode we hear three stories of people with dyslexia who overcame their struggles through explicit reading instruction, their own hard work, and the powerful advocacy of parents and allies at school. Host John O’Connor interviews Dr. Shawn Robinson, who graduated high school with a 3rd grade reading level and is now on the faculty at Madison College, and Josh Stoller is an electrical engineer in Massachusetts. We also hear a personal essay from English teacher Sarah Gompers, who is also the mother of a 12 year old son with dyslexia.

Episode 11: Distance "Learning" in the Time of COVID-19

In this episode we’ll focus on schools in the time of the Covid-19 Pandemic. We’ll discuss the effects of social distancing, the adjustment of curricular goals during this time of so-called “remote learning” and we’ll consider the inequities and challenges that digital learning has troublingly brought to light. To tackle these difficult questions we’ve assembled a terrific panel including Bay Area classroom teachers Ruby Goodall and Sara Mohktari-Fox; Rick Ayers, a professor of teacher education at San Francisco State University; Kyle Beckham, an adjunct professor of education at Stanford and SFSU; and Joel Westheimer, an education scholar at the University of Ottawa.

Facing History and Ourselves

Episode 10: In this episode we consider the ways in which history influences our present lives — both our national history but also our own personal histories. We hear from Wayde Grinstead, senior program associate for Facing History and Ourselves, an organization dedicated to to helping students relate historical acts of racism and intolerance to their own lives in order to promote a greater understanding of the roles and responsibilities of democratic citizenship. We’ll also hear from writer and veteran teacher Tamara Jaffe Notier who shares a story of a conflict in her own classroom that forces her to consider her students’ and her own complicated histories.

Freshman Year: The Make or Break Year

Episode 9: Freshman, rookie, newbie. How can schools help students make the difficult transition to 9th grade, often leaving behind the smaller, more protected environments of middle school to navigate the larger high schools with different teachers and different classmates. In this episode, we hear from Emily Krone Phillips, author of The Make or Break Year: Solving the Dropout Crisis One 9th Grader at a Time. Phillips worked as the Communications Director for the Chicago Coalition on School Research. She currently works as the Communications Director for the Spencer Foundation. We’ll also hear from local 8th and 9th grade students who share their hopes, fears, and advice for handling this difficult transition.

Ghosts in the Schoolyard

Episode 8: In this episode we’ll consider the vital link between schools and their surrounding communities, and the “institutional mourning” that occurs when schools close. We’ll hear an interview with Eve Ewing, author of Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side (University of Chicago Press) and a poem from Pat Frazier, the first ever National Youth Poet Laureate, whose debut collection is called Graphite. Click on the images below to see some of the extraordinary photographs of school closings by photographer Tom Lau. All three of these artists (Ewing, Frazier, and Lau) are proud products of the Chicago Public Schools.

Why Teach?

Episode 7: In this episode we’ll consider the reasons why people teach and why teachers stay in the profession. Charles Logan interviews teachers April Peet Vos and Ryan Reese. He also speaks with Dr. Sonia Nieto, professor emerita at The University of Massachusetts - Amherst. All three discuss the importance of relationships — with colleagues and, most of all, with students.

Neurodiversity

Episode 6: In this episode we'll consider neurodiversity, a term signifying the amazing range of human brains, minds, and abilities -- abilities that are not always accommodated in schools. For today’s guests, this is not merely a pedagogical concern, but also a human rights issue. We'll hear from Peter Smagorinsky, a distinguished education professor at the University of Georgia, and Nick Walker, an educator, activist, and speaker. Smagorinsky and Walker are autistic men who share stories about their own experiences in schools and suggest ways that schools might better accommodate the talents and challenges of the neruodivergent. 

Fail Better

Episode 5: Are our current abilities a reflection of our native talent or just what we have learned so far? In this episode we consider growth mindset, a term coined by Carol Dweck, a Stanford professor, that refers to a "self-belief" that our most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work since our brains and talent are just the starting point. Cultivating a growth mindset can hugely impact our confidence and our behavior -- specifically, our willingness to persevere and our openness to new strategies. We'll talk to classroom teacher Charles Logan, PhD candidate Chris Seals, and University of Pennsylvania professor Kyla Haimovitz to explore these issues in theory -- and practice. 

Where Have All the Teachers Gone?

Episode 4: In this episode we consider the national teacher shortage. According to the Learning Policy Institute, "annual teacher shortages could increase to over 100,000 by next year and remain close to that level thereafter." We'll hear from Michigan State professor Alyssa Dunn who has studied the teacher exodus and the curious phenomenon of teacher resignation letters going viral. We'll also hear from Harper's magazine writer Garret Keizer, author of Getting Schooled: The Re-education of an American teacher. 

The Secret Lives of Teachers

Episode 3: According to Frank McCourt (Teacher Man), teachers are always wearing a "mask," a professional persona in the classroom. And sure, teaching is always, to some extent, a performance, but when can -- or should  -- teachers be "themselves" in the classroom? How do teachers' lives outside of school affect their roles with students and with fellow teachers? In this episode, we'll consider the tension between the public and the private lives of teachers. We'll hear from Jim Cullen, the author of The Secret Lives of Teachers (University of Chicago Press) and comedian Cate Freedman, whose TV show Teachers finds comedy in the intersection between the personal and professional lives of teachers.  

Politics in the Classroom

Episode 2: Should politics be present in the classroom? "Everything in the classroom is already political," according to our first guest, Bill Ayers, a longtime education professor and activist. We'll also hear from Jashen Edwards, a music educator currently working in Chicago-area schools. Edwards tried to teach the hymn and civil rights anthem, Amazing Grace, with a classroom of young students only to be told it was "too political." 

A Lesson on Kindness

Episode 1: Classroom teacher and writer Tamara Jaffe-Notier tells a story about her experience teaching the poem Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye. In the process, Tamara shares a story with her students that she had never told anyone else. Then we hear from the poet Naomi Shihab Nye who responds to that story and explains how she came to write that poem.