16:1 - Education, Teaching, & Learning

This week, we’re looking through our history to ground ourselves in a turbulent present. Tune in for our discussion of Septima Poinsette Clark, the Charleston-born educator and activist Martin Luther King Jr. once called “the mother of the movement.” Her story bridges the segregated classrooms of the early 20th century and the civil rights movement’s front lines. Through the establishment of hundreds of citizenship schools across the U.S., she helped thousands of Black Americans gain the literacy skills necessary to vote, transforming communities. We also consider her complex legacy as a woman who challenged not only racism but also sexism within social movements that she helped to shape.02:24 Septima Poinsette Clark: Family History & Educational Empowerment06:00 Teaching in segregated South Carolina and the fight for equal pay09:00 Adult Literacy & Citizenship12:20 Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, and the Politics of Reconstruction14:00 Workshops at the Highlander Folk School16:00 Citizenship Schools and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference21:40 Septima Poinsette’s Civil Rights Activism: Legacy and LessonsFor a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Two English teachers and a technologist dive into the intricacies of Orwell's 1984, exploring themes of propaganda, surveillance, and individuality. They analyze Winston Smith's contradictory character and the misogyny present in his perspective. The discussion touches on the significance of Newspeak in controlling thought and expression. Engaging with modern relevance, they question the nature of war in Oceania and the potential for the proles to inspire change. Classroom strategies are shared, emphasizing the importance of student engagement with the text.

Dive into the explosive 1974 Kanawha County textbook wars that ignited boycotts and violence over educational materials in West Virginia. Explore the state's division rooted in Civil War history and how the Scopes Trial influenced public perception of fundamentalism. Witness local protests escalate as extremist groups, including the KKK, amplify tensions. Uncover the complex factors behind curriculum changes and the emotional fallout for students as educators grapple with the clash between fundamentalism and pluralism in schools.

The Stories Our Students CarryCulturally Responsive PedagogyCulturally responsive teaching begins with the recognition that learning doesn't happen in a vacuum. Teachers must carefully navigate curricular needs while building a foundation of trust and respect with students, each of whom carries unique stories and experiences into the classroom. In this episode, we explore the work of scholars who study those intersections: between school and family, the individual and their culture, classroom lessons and the many other concerns crowding a young learner’s mind.00:00 Intro + Announcements03:30 The US Education System: A Pressure Cooker05:00 Revisiting Social Learning Theory; Lev Vygotsky, Albert Bandura06:30 Dr Luis C Moll & Funds of Knowledge08:30 Research Contributions from Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Dr. Geneva Gay; culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy11:20 Culturally responsive pedagogy and practical applications in rural classrooms18:20 Culturally responsive teaching with varied student populations21:30 Discussion Questions31:10 What we learnedFor a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

Artificial Intelligence and the Classroom: Embracing, Regulating, or Rejecting?This week, our co-hosts (one a teacher, one a technologist) revisit ongoing discussions about the role of artificial intelligence in schools and classrooms with a focus on how institutions of higher education are addressing AI tools at a policy level.  From Ohio State University's push for AI fluency to staunch opposition from other institutions over academic integrity concerns, we examine the varied approaches schools are adopting. The hosts also explore the personal impacts of these technologies within classrooms and the ethical considerations raised (think privacy, mental health, and the development of critical thinking skills in young learners) as AI expands its reach into academia and the workplace.00:00 - Intro & Announcements03:00 - 2025 AI Use Trends and Examples, Higher Education; Some Schools Enthusiastically Embrace AI Tools09:00 - Skeptical Embrace: AI in College Admissions, Student Services, and Campus Safety15:00 - Chat Tools and Mental Health Concerns17:00 - Some Schools Reject AI Over Academic Integrity Concerns20:00 Teacher Perspectives on AI: From Higher Ed Policy to Classroom Practice30:00 Classroom Activities Using AI; The Educator's Role in AI Use Policy Discussions Discussions37:20 What We LearnedFor a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

We’re back after the summer break with new episodes of 16:1! New episodes will now be released on a seasonal schedule. Thanks for subscribing and supporting the show as we evolve! In the first episode of this season, we’re exploring Appalachian regional history and a story of community resilience in some of the country's remotest regions. You’ll hear how the pack horse librarians, women who traveled by horseback or mule over rough territory, traversed dozens of miles each day to deliver books to Kentucky families with few connections to neighbors and very limited access to public libraries. In the wake of Wall Street’s crash in 1929, pack horse librarians delivered books, mail, and other goods to fuel curiosities and help people gain critical new skills that put them back to work.Thanks for listening, and welcome back to 16:1!For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.

In our final episode of the 2024-25 season, we reflect upon our year of learning and how our philosophies of education continue to evolve. We return to perennial questions: What's the purpose of education? Who gets to learn, and how? How do we best learn? What’s worth unlearning? And, where are we headed? From redefining student success to shifting attitudes on academic freedoms and institutional values, we’ve covered a lot of ground over the past year. We’ll revisit insights from guests on school leadership, student travel, pedagogy, rural education, and student-led local journalism. We’ll also grapple with what’s next for American schools and universities amidst so much uncertainty and turbulence. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back in September of 2025!For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website at https://sixteentoone.com/archives

Something about the newsroom of The Reporting Project at Denison University in Granville, Ohio feels different. It’s energetic— humming, even when the lights are dimmed and the computer screens are turned off at the end of a long day of writing, collaborating, and crafting stories from the raw materials of community and change in rural Ohio. From Intel’s $20 billion arrival in the region to local election night coverage to the antics and attire of the Buckeye Lake Pirate Festival, The Reporting Project weaves human connection together with a liberal arts approach to narrative journalism.In “the most egoless newsroom” around, a growing cohort of student journalists works alongside veterans of the craft—seasoned educators like Jack Shuler (founder of The Reporting Project and Director of Journalism at Denison) and Alan Miller (former Executive Editor and 37-year veteran of The Columbus Dispatch)— to shine a light on stories of deep significance to surrounding communities. In this episode, we are also joined by Julia Lerner (managing editor of The Reporting Project) and Caroline Zollinger (recent Denison graduate, editor, and reporter) to discuss how the revitalization of community news is fostering trust, awakening civic life, and driving a new generation of students toward curiosity and community engagement.To learn more about The Reporting Project, visit thereportingproject.org. Please support your local news organizations!Additional Notes & Resources:The Reporting ProjectThe Observers CollaborativeCenter for Community News | The University of VermontWCLT Radio

This week we’re taking a break from the evolving civic situation in the U.S. to shine light on global stories in education that you may have missed.Nepal’s National Teachers’ Strike Lifted: Teachers and Students in Nepal are resuming classes more than a month after teachers began demonstrating across the country in protests that included clashes with police over issues of teacher pay, sick leave, grading systems, and other issues. Negotiators had faced setbacks after several rounds of contentious negotiations with the country’s teacher unions. Educators have been turning up the pressure on the Nepalese government to enact legislation directed by the country’s 2015 Constitution that transfers control of the nation’s schools to regional and local authorities.“AI tools are going to do to students’ critical thinking skills what social media has done to their attentive skills.”AI in Global Classrooms: National Experiments in China and Estonia: Prompted by emerging policy statements on AI use in U.S. classrooms, we take a look at how other countries are faring as the pressure to adopt AI tools and lessons increases with the ubiquity of AI products. In China, AI in schools is almost old news; we’ll take a look at their aggressive stance on implementing the technology and compare it to that of Estonia, which has recently announced a partnership with OpenAI for the use of a custom version of ChatGPT for education within its public secondary schools.Ashlie Crosson Named National Teacher of the Year: The Council of Chief State School Officers has announced the 2025 recipient of the National Teacher of the Year award. This year’s winner is Ashlie Crosson, an English teacher and media & journalism advisor at Mifflin County High School in Pennsylvania. Congrats, Ashlie!Discussion QuestionsHigh stakes make schools a precarious place to “move fast and break things,” but there are sometimes costs to falling behind. What is the appropriate pace of educational change?When we worry about being “left behind” in the race to adopt artificial intelligence tools in our schools, have we considered the net impact of AI, or are we focused on individual benefits and risks? As we adopt more AI tools, do we risk learning becoming “artificial”?What does it mean to “personalize” the educational experience?For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website and click on Archives.

Our conversation this week is with Vivian Van Gelder, Director of Policy & Research at the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition, a nonprofit that unites more than 50 community organizations, schools, parents, and caregivers behind advocacy for equitable education policy. Vivian is the lead author of a report called Left to Chance: Student Outcomes in Seattle Public Schools, A forensic history. It’s a sweeping and detailed analysis of one public school district’s leadership and policy choices over more than three decades and how those choices have shaped the educational experience of tens of thousands of students attending more than 100 schools.In her report, Vivian uncovers the story of how Seattle Public Schools embraced an experiment in local control, allowing parents and students to “vote with their feet” for support of their local schools. In theory, competition drives innovation; in practice, the story was more complicated, and it produced a fractured district with a hundred mini-systems that were unevenly funded, under-supported, and almost invisible to central leadership.We think there’s a lot to be learned from this report and from researchers like Vivian who are doing the hard work of holding intractable social problems up to the light in a way that can spark progress and ignite momentum behind reform. We spend significant time discussing Seattle Public Schools in this episode, but Katie and I were struck by just how familiar some of these tensions are to what we’ve heard from educators in Appalachian Ohio, or to friends in suburban Maryland and rural Alaska and the Deep South. Vivian’s work addresses universal questions of values and organizational leadership in public schools, and we encourage you to read it (we will link to it in our show notes).Thanks for listening to 16:1, and don’t forget to sign up for our email newsletter for the latest news, resources, workshop offerings, and episode announcements from Moonbeam Multimedia. For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website at sixteentoone.com/archives.