TeachLab Presents The Homework Machine

This week on TeachLab, Justin is joined by Paul Reville, founding director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Redesign Lab, and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They discuss the future of education during and post-pandemic, the shift of involvement for parents in their child's education, and the need for communities to shift in order to support it.“...it goes beyond just having higher expectations for families, and extended families. It goes to having higher expectations for our communities as a whole.”Education Redesign LabPost-pandemic education The risk of categorizing and ostracizing students with less resources at homeBuilding relationships with students and families and getting feedbackSupporting parents at the centerBreaking community boundaries and connecting with other districts Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksCheck out “Broader, Bolder, Betterr: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty” by Elaine Weiss and Paul RevilleLearn more about The Education Redesign LabCheck out “In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School” by Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/paul-reville/transcript Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett BeazleyRecorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week on TeachLab, we’re republishing our first episode with the brilliant Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, to bring her lessons of equity and race back into light during these challenging times of the COVID pandemic. Now with a new segment called “Dear Teacher”, a message from Dr. Tatum directly to teachers around the world.Next week, we’ll be back with a new episode in our COVID-19 series, talking with Paul Reville, founding director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Redesign Lab, and former Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.Episode 1 Summary: Our host Justin Reich has a powerful conversation with renowned author, psychologist and educator Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. Dr. Tatum shares some of the stories that inspired her bestselling book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations about Race and offers tips for addressing the ongoing challenges of racial issues in classrooms and schools.Dr. Tatum encourages teachers to take the first step in tackling racism by talking about it, because “if we can’t talk about it, we can’t fix it”.Dr. Tatum says that all of us can take a leadership role in making institutions more sensitive towards inclusivity by using her ABCs of leadershipAffirming IdentityBuilding CommunityCultivating LeadershipDr. Tatum tells us that there is value in sitting together with those of a shared identity, and it’s not necessarily a problem “So I often say, let's worry less about who's sitting where during the break times, and think about what's happening inside the classroom. Are there opportunities inside the classroom to help kids navigate those differences?”She shares stories of how ignoring identity and engaging in color blindness is not helpful. “One father said it really bothered him when teachers said they treated all the kids the same. His response to that was always, 'The same as what?'" Note to the audienceThe Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Additional ResourcesWhy Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race – Read Dr. Tatum’s book updated and reissued in 2017.ROPES – This blog post describes a protocol for collaboratively creating shared rules and expectations for the classroom. It could also be used to kick off challenging conversations with educators.“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism” – Dr. Tatum recommended teachers read Dr. Robin DiAngelo; this article provides pointers based on her book.Is My Skin Brown Because I Drank Chocolate Milk? – Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s presentation at TEDxStanford about how people talk (or don’t) about race and how to approach the conversation with young children. Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/dr-tatum-reboot/transcript Produced by Jesse Dukes and Garrett BeazleyEdited by Aimee CorriganRecorded and Mixed by Garrett BeazleyFilmed by Denez McAdoo Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week, TeachLab is republishing the latest episode of MIT OpenCourseWare’s Chalk Radio “Teaching Remotely During Covid-19 with Prof. Justin Reich”, hosted by Sarah Hansen. Below is the episode summary from Chalk Radio.“Join us as we talk with Justin Reich, assistant professor in comparative media studies at MIT. Professor Reich runs the Teaching Systems Lab, which was founded with the mission of designing, implementing, and researching the future of teacher learning. With the emergence of the current coronavirus pandemic, Prof. Reich has been turning his attention to helping teachers and education policy makers figure out how to transition rapidly to remote learning. In this special episode of Chalk Radio, Prof. Reich discusses the need for teachers to use a balance between asynchronous materials and synchronous check-ins, the challenge of making home learning equitable for students, and the value of existing open educational resources (like the materials on OCW!) for teachers who are suddenly forced to teach their classes remotely. “It’s totally normal to struggle during a pandemic,” Reich says, but he reassures teachers and parents that effective education at home may look different from effective in-school education—we simply need to recognize and cultivate the kinds of learning that can happen best under these extraordinary circumstances."  Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksChalk Radio Podcast websiteMIT OpenCourseWareThe OCW Educator PortalThe Teaching Systems LabProfessor Reich’s faculty pageInterview with Prof. Reich on WBUR’s “On Point”Resources, tools, and support for teaching remotely at MITSupport remote learning by donating to OCWSupport OCW by sharing your story Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/chalk-radio/transcript Join our course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Recorded and produced by MIT OCWTeachLab version produced and mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin is joined by Jessica Minahan, a behavior analyst, special educator, author, and school consultant. They discuss how COVID-19 is affecting students with anxiety, how it manifests through behavior, and some simple strategies that teachers can use during remote learning to help students feel a bit more in control during these challenging times.“...there are a couple of things to keep in mind as you're planning curriculum and planning different things is we're going to see a spike up in fears around sickness and death, particularly those two themes. So for example, if you're going to read a book where the mom dies, we want to be extra thoughtful about that right now. We want to make sure that we think that through and that's something administrators and teachers can be doing together.”How students have been responding to recent changesBehaviors of showing anxietyEstablishing adequate check-ins for students to communicate their feelingsHandling behavior and stress in remote learningCheat sheet of responses for handling student panic in the absence of support staffHelping students develop a sense of control over their own livesYouth cultural change around germs and disease post-quarantineBeing thoughtful about discussing the pandemic Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksRead Jessica’s Educational Leadership: Special Report “Maintaining Connections, Reducing Anxiety While School Is Closed”Learn more about Jessica Minahan’s workFind Jessica’s book “The Behavioral Code” on AmazonLearn more about emWave biofeedbackLearn more about the mote voice commenting for Google DocsCheck out Do Something! Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/jessica-minahan/transcript Join our course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced and edited Garrett Beazley Mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin Reich joins Blake Middle School of Medfield, MA for their Monday morning check-in to discuss the many challenges of distance learning, and the specific challenges of middle schools, who have uniquely diverse age-groups to address. Principal Nat Vaughn guides the discussion and provides questions for Justin to shed light on with his experience and research.“when I was a brand new teacher, my department head used to say.... every time you assign an essay, you're assigning 75 different essays. The experience that your students have writing this is just going to be so different for each student. And that was in normal non-crisis pandemic times, I feel like that advice is magnified a thousand times now.”Teaching Systems Lab’s COVID-19 State Guidance ReportRecognizing a diversity in individual experiencesHow virtual schools functionThe challenges of the middle school age groupThe need to remain flexible and understanding of each otherRemaining critical and parting from state guidanceCelebrating the learning that does happenReach out to those most vulnerable or struggling Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksLearn more about the TSL “Remote Learning Guidance from State Education Agencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A First Look” Report Read the LA Times article “Inside teachers’ never-ending crisis shifts: ‘You just keep going all day and all night’”Learn more about author Tressie McMillan Cottom Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/middle-schools/transcript Join our course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced and edited by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley Mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin Reich is joined by Daniel Wendel, Research Manager and Software Developer of the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program / Education Arcade. They discuss the importance and caveats of modeling, their use in the classrooms, and Daniel’s most recent collaboration project “Modeling the Spread of a Virus”, an interactive model designed to be used by teachers and parents for a conceptual understanding of how a virus spreads in a community, and how the individual can affect the collective. Learn more at www.virusmodel.org“...one of the things with emergent models is that if you don’t understand the rules behind it, you might just think we just put those emergent things into the model. Being able to see in the back of the house, you can see those rules were never programmed into this model, it just kind of happened as a result of the other rules we did program into the model.”How computational models differ from other modelsRelation between Starlogo and LogoUsing complex system models in classroomsBack-end of Starlogo / Block-based programmingModeling the Spread of a Virus projectHow the virus model can be used in educationHow the model is different from realityLearning how to use Starlogo Nova Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksVisit Modeling the Spread of a VirusLearn more about the STEP/Ed ArcadeLearn more about Starlogo NovaLearn more about Teachers with GUTS Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/virus-model/transcript Join our course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced, edited and mixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

This week on TeachLab, Justin Reich presents findings from a report on remote learning guidance from state education agencies (see tsl.mit.edu/covid19). He discussed relevant background research, points of consensus among state guidance, and the most important question for schools right now: what is the purpose of schooling during a pandemic? Harvard University professor Marty West, a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, joins as discussant to provide a state policy perspective. The conversation was recorded during a live webinar, the video and slide deck can be found below. Note to the audience:The Teaching Systems Lab and the TeachLab team would like to thank all of our audience for their patronage as we attempt to shift our production and content in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We think it is of the utmost importance to continue distributing as much content as we can, and as widely as we can, to assist those who are in need of information in these difficult times. We are working to improve the quality of our content with these new constraints and get back to a more regular scheduling. Thank you for your patience. Resources and LinksCheck out additional COVID -19 information from Teaching Systems LabWatch the Full Webinar on YouTubeDownload the slide deckCheck out our earlier episode with NYC teacher Michael Pershan Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/covid-report/transcript Join our course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced and edited by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett BeazleyRecorded by Justin ReichMixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

Justin Reich hosts a virtual session with MIT’s Jameel World Education Lab’s (JWEL) to offer practical guidance and strategies for online learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The live audience includes educators from all around the world, and Justin answers their questions and offers his advice on listening to students and faculty, designing learning for challenging times, and prioritizing the needs of marginalized students. “...really think about how you can partner with students and faculty. Coronavirus feels like something that's being done to us. It would be great if our response to the Coronavirus feels something that we do together.”Partner with Students and FacultyIdentify and Support Disadvantaged StudentsConsider Emphasizing Asynchronous over Synchronous LearningStrategically Reduce Learning GoalsHelp Students Form Study GroupsPrioritize Time for Individual ConnectionsPlan for RemediationSpecial thanks to Julia Reynolds-Cuélla, Susan Young and the whole team at the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education for the invitation, and for recording the conversation. Resources and LinksCheck out the full live event and powerpoint Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/age-of-covid/transcript Join our next course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced by Aimee CorriganMixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube

Justin Reich joins NPR’s On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti to discuss the challenges higher education is facing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and some strategies for navigating them. They discuss the need to engage the student who are most struggling, respond to pre-recorded testimonials, and provide advice for faculty for enduring these difficult times.Meghna and Justin are accompanied by Christina Morales, a senior at the University of Florida, who describes her experience transitioning to online course work, and Amardeep Kahlon, dean of distance learning and computer science professor at Austin Community College in Texas, to discuss the administrative perspective of the rapid change.Special thanks to Meghna, Grace Totter and the whole team at NPR’s OnPoint for producing this episode and letting us share the conversation with you. Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/pivot-online/transcript Join our next course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Recorded and produced by the incredible team at NPR’s OnPointTeachLab segments produced by Aimee CorriganMixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube 

At TeachLab we continue our efforts to support teachers during the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, Justin Reich joins Laura Tavares from Facing History and Ourselves, a professional development organization empowering teachers & students to think critically about history & to understand the impact of their choices. We discussed building community, supporting students, and caring for each other in the transition to distance learning. During the webinar, Justin and Laura discuss:Sustaining values and equitable practices in challenging circumstancesResearch about the risks for struggling and vulnerable learners in a transition to online learningActively reaching out to support learners in low tech ways through phone, messaging, and emailResearch on typical virtual school practices, including their emphasis on self-paced, asynchronous learning and how much they depend upon parental supportSupporting student motivation through partnership, choice, autonomy, and agencyUsing school resources in a crisis not just to address immediate needs, but to plan for supporting students in catching back up in summer, fall, and beyond Resources and LinksWatch the full conversation with Justin and Laura at Facing HistoryLearn more about PadletRead Invitation to Brave Space by Micky ScottBey JonesLearn more about FlipGridLearn more about Project ZeroCheck out FHAO’s Resource Library Transcripthttps://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/facing-history/transcript Join our next course on edX!Becoming a More Equitable Educator: Mindsets and Practices Produced by Aimee Corrigan Recorded by Justin Reich and FHAOEdited by Aimee CorriganMixed by Garrett Beazley Follow Us On:FacebookTwitterYouTube