Human Restoration Project

Today we're speaking with Emi Takemura. Emi is the co-founder and representative director of FutureEdu Tokyo, which seeks to reimagine education in Japan based on project based learning and experiential education inspired by High Tech High. She is also the representative director of Learn by Creation, which provides professional development, conferencing, and networking for inspiring hands-on learning in Japan.Emi is a veteran entrepreneur who co-founded Peatix, a mobile event platform, and engages in many events on social entrepreneurship and start-up funding. She's worked at a senior level in various financial firms, and has been an advocate for female leadership, ethical investing, and reimagining education in Japan. Our conversation dives into what it means to develop a hands-on learning curriculum, how Japan and the US relate and differ, and how all of this should or shouldn't relate to the job market.GUESTSEmi Takemura, co-founder and representative director of FutureEdu Tokyo, representative director of Learn by Creation, co-founder of Peatix, and veteran entrepreneurRESOURCES FutureEdu Tokyo (Japan)FURTHER LISTENING 15: What School Could Be w/ Ted Dintersmith

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.In today's conversation, we are joined by Alex Venet. Alex teaches undergraduate students at the Community College of Vermont, graduate classes at Castleton Center for Schools and Antioch University New England, creates PD, is a community facilitator for Edutopia, co-organizes Edcamp Vermont and Trauma Informed Educators Network Conference, and is soon releasing her new book Equity-Centered, Trauma-Informed Education, releasing May 25th, 2021. A link is in the show notes.We received an advanced copy, and I cannot emphasize enough how much this book is needed, and how much it resonated with my own practice. Alex not only perfectly outlines trauma-informed education, but places reflections, challenges, and paramount questions for us to rethink systems in education toward including and advocating for all students. In this conversation, Alex and I talk about shifting the system toward fostering critical wellness and systemic change for equity. Enjoy this listen!GUESTSAlex Venet, educator at Community College of Vermont, teaches graduate classes at Castleton Center for Schools and Antioch University New England, creates PD, is a community facilitator for Edutopia, co-organizes Edcamp Vermont and Trauma Informed Educators Network Conference, and author of Equity-Centered, Trauma-Informed EducationRESOURCES Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education (Releasing May 2021); Phoenix Books Unconditional Learning (Alex Venet's Website)FURTHER LISTENING Trauma Informed Educators Network Podcast: Episode 34: Alex Shevrin Venet

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.In today's conversation, we are joined by Dr. Ilana Horn. Dr. Horn is a professor of mathematics education at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, who focuses on serving disenfranchised youth through authentic mathematics. She leads the Teacher Learning Laboratory, which focuses on sense-making of schools, how teachers and students interact. Further, she is the author of Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics and Motivated: Designing Math Classrooms Where Students Want to Join In.In our conversation, Dr. Horn and I discuss how teachers can wrap up the 2020-2021 school year through reflection. How can we build a better system after seeing the inequities, problems, and challenges that this school year has highlighted? And, how do we build a classroom in spite of a system that often demotivates and disenfranchises educators?GUESTSDr. Ilana Horn, professor of mathematics education at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, director of Teacher Learning Laboratory, and author of Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics and Motivated: Designing Math Classrooms Where Students Want to Join In. RESOURCES Teacher Learning Laboratory Strength in Numbers: Collaborative Learning in Secondary Mathematics Motivated: Designing Math Classrooms Where Students Want to Join InFURTHER LISTENING TeachLab - Dr. Ilana Horn 82: Build a New Future: Teaching Action and Coalition Building w/ Dr. Kevin Gannon

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.In today's conversation, we're joined by Trevor Aleo, an English teacher in Wilton, Connecticut, Kayla Duncan, a professional instruction coach from Cumming, Georgia, and Julie Stern, author of Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding and many more, and workshop leader of Making Sense of Learning Transfer.Together, along with Krista Ferraro, a history teacher from Braintree, Massachusetts, have written Learning That Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World, releasing in April, 2021. This work connects interdisciplinary learning, centers students in instructional design, and offers educators with tools to plan effectively.In our conversation together, we talk about what it means to transfer learning, how this differs from traditional "brain science" curriculum planning, and how we can push for social justice through interdisciplinary, aligned learning.GUESTSTrevor Aleo, middle school English teacher from Wilton, Connecticut who focuses on making students become sense-makers.Kayla Duncan, personalized instruction coach from Cumming, Georgia, who focuses on authentic experiences and increased ownership.Julie Stern, best-selling author of Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding and many more, and thought leader of the Making Sense of Learning Transfer workshop series.RESOURCES Learning That Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World (release April 2021) Education to Save the WorldFURTHER LISTENING Conceptually Speaking (Julie Stern & Trevor Aleo's podcast)

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.Today's conversation is all about 100 Days of Conversations About School! 100 Days is a project by Human Restoration Project, REENVISIONED, Choice Filled Lives Network, and Cortico's Local Voices Network. Simply stated, 100 Days is catalyzing conversations about school in communities across the country. Featuring young people and adults, these conversations about the good life, the school experience, and equity in education are being compiled, shared, analyzed, and presented. We're taking the findings and presenting them to the new Secretary of Education and policymakers across the country.The process is designed to center the voices of young people and educators - both in the conversations themselves and in the policy and practice recommendations that emerge from the process. We're seeking educators, young people, and education non-profits who are interested in hosting a conversation in their community.The entire process takes about 2 hours, including the conversation itself. We supply all the materials, the recording space, and walk you through the conversation. Simply go to 100DaysofConversations.org, sign up, gather 2-8 folks, 2 of whom are below the age of 24, choose a time, and host the conversation. We'll take everything from there!Afterwards, you'll not only get to participate in an important process but also receive a transcript and categorical analysis of what happened - which is so important in figuring out how to reimagine our educational system. It's one thing for us to belabor on the importance of changing ed - yet we must include young people as the most important voices in the conversation.GUESTSDr. Erin Raab, chief strategy and impact officer for Choice Filled Lives Network and co-founder of REENVISIONED who focused her PhD on transforming schooling from competitions and tests to human flourishing and collective liberationThe 100 Days Social Media Team (Olivia Chiang, Summer Freed, Léa Henaux, which also includes Nontobeko Mdlalose) RESOURCES 100 Days of Conversations Website and Sign Up 100 Days Facilitation Guide 100 Days Analysis OverviewFURTHER LISTENING 79: Reimagine the System w/ REENVISIONED (Dr. Erin Raab)

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.In today's conversation we're joined by Tesha Fritzgerald,. Tesha is an urban education expert who currently serves as a district level leader in an urban school district in Ohio. She is a Martha Holding Jennings Foundation Scholar who has a passion for UDL and culturally responsive teaching, which has led her to publishing her recent book, Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to Success.I invited Tesha on to talk about pairing UDL and antiracist teaching, with a specific focus on: Demanding excellence in progressive, human-centered classrooms. Clarifying what UDL actually is. Clarifying how UDL and antiracism can coexist, when UDL has been critiqued for upholding a traditionalist lens. And actions we can take to build anti-racist, UDL-driven classrooms.GUESTSTesha Fritzgerald, an urban education expert who focuses on UDL, culturally responsive teaching, anti-racist teaching, and author of Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to SuccessRESOURCES Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to Success by Tesha Fritzgerald Building Blocks of Brilliance (Tesha Fritzgerald's website) Follow Tesha on Twitter! Article: Making Room for Asset Pedagogies by Benjamin DoxtdatorFURTHER LISTENING Planning Period Podcast - Episode 147: Tesha Fritzgerald 73: School and the Carceral Network w/ Dr. Connie Wun

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.Today we're joined by Dr. Tanu Biswas and Dr. John Wall. Dr. Biswas is a doctorate of pedagogy who focuses her research on children's civil disobedience for climate justice, and showcasing the richness that children and childhood have to offer adults. Dr. Wall is a theoretical ethicist who focuses on the idea of a moral life centered on language, power, culture, and childhood. His upcoming book, Give Children the Vote: How to Democratize Democracy argues for voting rights regardless of age.Our conversation centers on combatting adultism, or the power adults have over children and the discrimination of young people, which is more than present in society but in my opinion, amplified in the classroom. We talk about what adultism and childism mean, how to promote democracy, and the importance of civil disobedience.GUESTSDr. Tanu Biswas, doctorate of pedagogy and researcher focused on civil disobedience, children, and the intersection of climate justiceDr. John Wall, theoretical ethicist centered on language, power, culture, and childhoodRESOURCES The Childism Institute (Rutgers) Children's Voting Colloquium Upcoming Event!: Exploring Children Across Disciplines by  (Jan 22, 2021 @ 8AM ET) Children’s Civil Disobedience in the Minority World & its Potential for Re-imagining the Educational by Tanu Biswas Why Children Should Have the Right to Vote: An Argument for Proxy-Claim Suffrage by John WallFURTHER LISTENING 34: Restoring Humanity to Education (Critical Pedagogy)

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.Today we are joined by Dr. Jennifer Berkshire and Dr. Jack Schneider. Dr. Berkshire is a journalist and educator who focuses on podcasting and labor organizing at Boston College and Umass Amherst respectively, and Dr. Schneider is an education historian focused on reform and school accountability. Jennifer and Jack co-host the wonderful Have You Heard Podcast, which is focused on hot button issues in educational policy and current events, and both Chris and I highly recommend checking it out if you aren’t listening already. Our discussion today is going to cover a lot of ground but center on education reform, innovation, labor rights, unions, and change. There’s an odd dichotomy between progressive education and the assault on public education: a cognitive dissonance between the necessity for systemic reform while ensuring a free and accessible public education for the future and recognizing the need for organized labor as a path to a strong working class, that teacher unions are among the largest and most powerful in the country. Yet, there is a narrative - real or not - that unions are resistant to the change that many progressive educators want, and more recently, the notion that they have become the major roadblock to school reopenings in 2020.GUESTSDr. Jennifer Berkshire, journalist and educator focused on podcasting and labor organizing at Boston College & UMass AmherstDr. Jack Schneider, education historian centered on reform and school accountabilityRESOURCES A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Dr. Berkshire & Dr. Schneider Review: A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Nick Covington Have You Heard Blog/PodcastFURTHER LISTENING 80: Pandemic Pods, School Choice, and Combating Inequity w/ Dr. Jon Hale This Podcast Will Kill You: COVID-19 Chapter 10: Schools This is Hell!: 1263: The end of public school / Jack Schneider + Jennifer Berkshire

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.Today we are joined by Dr. Susan Blum, Dr. Blum is a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of many works and articles, including her recently released: Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead), which features fifteen different educators, such as Arthur Chiaravalli, Jesse Stommel, Aflie Kohn, and Laura Gibbs, speaking on their ideas and implementation of the practice. And as an interesting side note, more than half of the educators in the book have appeared on our podcast! In this conversation we'll be talking about ungrading, framed on the ideas found in the book - the “how” of the practice, and particularly how ungrading fits within COVID-19 and promoting equity as a whole.GUESTSDr. Susan Blum, professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and active author, with a recent focus on ungrading.RESOURCES Ungrading Book Club (assembled by David Buck) West Virginia University Press: Ungrading, edited by Dr. Susan Blum Human Restoration Project Ungrading Handbook Human Restoration Project Ungrading CourseFURTHER LISTENING 78: A Way to Ungrade, Floop w/ Christine Witcher 74: The Research on Assessment w/ Dr. Astrid Poorthuis 54: Making the Switch to Ungrading feat. Abigail French, Dr. Susan Blum, and Dr. Laura Gibbs 47: Redefining Assessment by Implementing Gradeless Learning feat. Jeffery Frieden, Aaron Blackwelder, & Nick Covington

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org.Our conversation today will center on teaching organization and collective activism. Essentially, we find ourselves at an important crossroads, as the administration shifts to new policies - teachers will be at the whim of new federal (and likely, state) policies that will have massive ramifications on classrooms, especially during COVID-19. And I hope out of this conversation, we’ll be able to address - what should I be concerned about? What problems may exist? And then, okay...what can I do to actually mitigate these problems and demand an equitable education system?GUESTSDr. Kevin Gannon, the Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a Professor of History at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, and author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto. Further, Gannon actively writes and teaches on the science of learning, racism and race in education, and building inclusivity online and offline. You can learn more on his website, TheTattooedProf.com and on Twitter @TheTattooedProf.RESOURCES The Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door by Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire Pedagogy of Hope by Paulo Freire Radical Hope by Kevin Gannon HRP Book Review: Radical HopeFURTHER LISTENING ThinkUDL with Kevin Gannon: Radical Hope for Online Teaching