High Tech High Unboxed

Episode Notes Alec Patton talks to Derek Mitchell, CEO of Partners in School Innovation, about his daily reading rituals. Mentioned in the episode: Arnold R. Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto Martin Gilbert, Churchill and the Jews Jeanie Daniel Duck, The Change Monster Sheldon Eakins, Leading Equity Brian McClellan, The Powder Mage Trilogy (strictly speaking, Derek mentioned Blood of Empire, which is part of the trilogy that follows the Powder Mage Trilogy) Derek's recommendations to get started: Morning reading: Barack Obama, Dreams from my Father Lunch reading: Rudy Crew, Only Connect Evening reading: Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

Episode Notes In this episode, Alec Patton talks to Maria Curtis, director of the Early Childhood Center at La Jolla Country Day School, in California, and Junior Kindergarten teacher Kristin Owen, about how they turned the discovery of a mud nest being built outside a classroom into a year-long project. You can see photos from the project, including photos of the book, here (as soon as the link is live). This episode is part of an occasional series on Regenerative Education. Here are the other episodes in the series (so far): Derek Mitchell and Scott Sampson on Regenerative Education Green School: Regenerative Education in the Balinese Jungle Green School Student Louis Lacour A Story of Butterflies, Regeneration, and Hope Solar for All Schools [guest episode from the Climify podcast] Learn more about the High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Episode Notes Sofía Tannenhaus talks to Jarrod Bolte, CEO of both Improving Education and Bedtime in a Box, a nonprofit that provides families with boxes containing everything you need for a positive bedtime routine. Each Box contains four age-appropriate books; bath wash, a towel, and bath toys; a toothbrush and toothpaste; pajamas; a stuffed animal; an alarm clock; a Teach My Learning Kit; and a kid-friendly routine log. Bedtime in a Box has delivered more than 50,000 Boxes so far, with 80% going to families experiencing poverty. Resources mentioned in the episode: Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto Bedtime in a Box website Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom, What Do You Do with an Idea?

Episode Notes This episode comes from the Climify podcast, which is hosted by Eric Benson, and produced by the Climate Designers Network. Benson interviews Tish Tablan, senior program director at Generation 180, about how going solar can benefit schools' budgets and provide opportunities for PBL, as well as helping us all thrive as we face an unprecedented climate crisis. Links: Check out This Episode on Climify Check out all the great episodes on the Climify website Climify Design Class Resources Learn more about Cradle to Cradle Design, and check out the book that started it all! Other episodes in the High Tech High Unboxed Regenerative Education Series: Derek Mitchell and Scott Sampson on Regenerative Education Green School: Regenerative Education in the Balinese Jungle Green School Student Louis Lacour A Story of Butterflies, Regeneration, and Hope

Episode Notes Alec Patton talks to Juliette Price, the senior Improvement Science coach at the National Association of Higher Education Systems, about how their Network Improvement Community has achieved its remarkable results on transfer enrollments from two-year to four-year colleges.  You know you want to try it: David Williams's Mr. Potato Head Game Check out Juliette's Substack Newsletter, This Is Your Brain On Improvement Read more about NASH

Episode Notes Ben Krueger talks to cellist, composer, and teacher Okorie Johnson, who performs as OkCello, about music, teaching, and community. And, appropriately, they talk about how all three of those are, themselves, a form of conversation. OkCello Website Learn more about the PBL Leadership Academy

Episode Notes Alec talks to Nika Dubrovsky about Anthropology for Kids, a project she started with her husband, anthropologist David Graeber. Referenced in this Episode: Anthopology for Kids Cities Made Differently by David Graeber and Nika Dubrovsky The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow David Graeber on the Charlie Rose Show Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber David Graeber and Nika Dubrovsky, “Another Art World, Part 1: Art Communism and Artificial Scarcity” David Graeber and Nika Dubrovsky, “Another Art World Part 2: Utopia of Freedom as a Market Value”

Episode Notes Alec talks to Linzi Golding, Erin Asselin, and Melanie Gonzalez about keeping things simple, celebrating small changes, smart ways to share data with schools, and how to recognize and celebrate effort, even when it doesn't lead to the outcomes we were hoping for. To see an example of a driver diagram (and get a transcript for this episode) click here Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, Improvement Science: A Primer RISE Grade 9 Symposium Learn more about the RISE Data hub

Episode Notes Alec talks to Cary Sabados (national director of teacher leadership development at Teach Plus) and Morgan Hython (fourth grade math and science teacher at Piccolo School of Excellence, a public preK-to-8 school in Chicago) about their work in the Teach Plus Network for School Improvement. Learn more about Teach Plus Learn more about the National Coalition for Improvement in Education

Episode Notes Stacey Caillier talks to Michelle Pledger and David Montes de Oca about the ways that school districts are using Michelle's book, "Liberate: Pocket-Sized Paradigms for Liberatory Learning" You can find Michelle's book, and Montes's study guide, here You can find Michelle's podcast, Unapologetic and Uninterrupted, here

Episode Notes If you want to try a body scan, try this 11-minute guided body scan by meditation teacher Tara Brach. You can find journal prompts and affirmations on the Teachers of Color Matter website, here. Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference.

Episode Notes Learn more about Molodi Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference

Episode Notes In this special live episode from the 2025 Deeper Learning Conference, educator Ron Berger talks to two Japanese educators and their two brilliant children, who have experienced education across cultures in Japan, the United States, and Europe.

Episode Notes The RISE Network Website The RISE Data Hub Nichelle's other appearance on the High Tech High Unboxed podcast is here Nichelle and Eileen's favorite data protocols: KidStat Data Protocol Attendance 3Rs Data Dive Protocol Student-Centered Data

Episode Notes Read Jeff Govoni's article for Unboxed, about this (and other) projects, "Deconstructing Construction Projects" For more ideas about assessing projects, check out our episode with physics teacher Ted Cuevas, "How to Assess Students like Scouts" Read Ron Berger's thoughts on Models of Excellence

Episode Notes Check out the Institute For Learning's Vision of Collaborative Work!  Here's what Sara DeMartino says about it: “While the driver diagram was helpful in thinking through the theory of change, we found teachers and leaders, more than anything, wanted to know the role that they played in that theory and the role other members of the system were playing as well. We reviewed this document at the beginning of each year to make sure it still held, but also as a way to remind all of us that we had a stake in making change and were responsible for supporting the vision of teaching and learning that we collectively set.”

Episode Notes Check out this video about the sIlvery blue/Xerces blue surrogacy project! The Silvery Blue/Xerces surrogacy project began with the ideas of Robert Michael Pyle, and have since included many partners. These include Robert Michael Pyle's Xerces Society, Creekside Science, and Revive and Restore. Durrell Kapan wanted to take the opportunity of these notes to say a bit more about his biology teacher Neal Maine (who threw the book out the window). Here's a note from Durrell: "It's relevant to note that Neal's impact has been far-reaching—not only on the students he taught but also on the conservation programs he helped begin. These include the Haystack Rock Awareness program, which started with a “failed” non-game grant application I made under his tutelage that led to the city starting the program (I worked on it for two years, first as an interpreter and later as the coordinator), and the North Coast Land Conservancy, which has conserved thousands of acres of the Oregon Coast, started by Neal Maine after he retired."

Episode Notes Community Design Partners' library of Student-Powered Improvement resources Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, “What Improvers Can Learn from Civil Rights Organizers”

Episode Notes Check out a photo gallery of Scarlett's murals here Scarlett Baily's website Kumeyaay Community College Website

Episode Notes Alec talks to Amiee Winchester and Zack Jaffe about their continuous improvement work on improving literacy at Baltimore City Public Schools.

Episode Notes Our other episode with Simon Breakspear, “If It Doesn't Work for Teachers, It Doesn't Work” You can find great free tools (and order The Pruning Principle) at pruningprinciple.com Simon mentions Cal Newport. You can find out more about his “20% over capacity” principle in this blog post: What Would Happen If We Slowed Down? Come join us at Deeper Learning 2025!

Episode Notes Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself All the Way: My Life in Four Quarters

Episode Notes Leaders of Their Own Learning by Ron Berger, Leah Woodfin, and Leah Rugen Other podcast episodes featuring Ron Berger: Ron Berger on Presentations of Learning Ron Berger on Student-Led Conferences Ron Berger on Whole-Class Close Reading Ron Berger on Beautiful Lessons and “No Lesson at All”

Episode Notes Learn more about the “Light on Literacy” project Check out the platform that Ted uses for student portfolios, Inkwire We have another scouting-connected podcast episode! Eduard Vallory: What School Can Learn From Catalonian Scouting

Episode Notes Learn more about Dr. Brandi Hinnant-Crawford's work here Brandi's other episodes on this podcast: Dr. Brandi Hinnant Crawford, Improvement as a Tool for Our Collective Liberation (High Tech High Unboxed podcast) Dr. Brandi Hinnant-Crawford & Dr. Luke Wood at Gates CoP NSI (High Tech High Unboxed podcast) Articles, books, and people referenced in this episode: “ImproveCrit: Using Critical Race Theory to Guide Continuous Improvement,” by Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, Ericka Lytle Lett, and Shamella Cromartie, appears in Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement Septima Clark, “Literacy and Liberation” Robin D. G. Kelley, Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination Bettina Love, Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal Adrienne Marie-Brown, Octavia's Brood Decoteau J. Irby, Stuck Improving The Interrelationship Digraph (Stacey's favorite protocol) Amanda Meyer has two articles on Unboxed, both very much worth reading! Improvement as a Journey and Swimming Against the Current: Resisting White Dominant Culture in Improvement Work Khalifa, M. A., Jennings, M. E., Briscoe, F., Oleszweski, A. M., & Abdi, N. (2014). Racism? Administrative and community perspectives in data-driven decision making: Systemic perspectives versus technical-rational perspectives. Urban Education, 49(2), 147-181. To learn more about QuantCrit, look out for this piece (once it is published): Castillo, W., & Gillborn, D. (2022). How to “QuantCrit:” Practices and questions for education data researchers and users. Manuscript under review. Louis Gomez is a professor at UCLA

Episode Notes John Santos's other episodes on the podcast: Rigor shouldn't mean Some Kids Fail (a better grading strategy—easy to implement too!) How to Design a Great Project Launch The AI project-planning tool that John talks about is the AI Kaleidoscope by Inkwire and the High Tech High GSE

Episode Notes We start the episode by talking about the book Upstream by Dan Heath. It's really good—you should read it. You can find more find more podcast episodes, articles, and videos about Continuous Improvement here! You can find a transcript of this episode here.

Episode Notes You should also listen to Kelly's interview with Benjamin Freud, head of Green School's Upper School You can see the 2023 Greenstone presentations here Green School website

Episode Notes Cofounder John Hardy's Ted Talk about the Green School Green School website Coconut Thinking

Episode Notes The Nature article about the dinosaur Masiakasaurus Knopfleri Smithsonian article about Majungasaurus To find out about Derek's history with cockroaches listen to this episode  The UK's National Education Nature Park project Dacher Keltner, the researcher studying awe, on the On Being podcast Reimagining San Francisco Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Episode Notes Kofi B's opening performance at Deeper Learning 2024 Kofi B's Closing Keynote at Deeper Learning 2024 Where to find Kofi B's music: Instagram TikTok Youtube Facebook Website Made in Akron documentary Do you want to come to a conference whose opening act is this good? Of course you do! Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference!

Episode Notes Learn more about Nowell Academy Here Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference here Find all the podcast episodes from Deeper Learning 2024 here

Episode Notes More episodes with Rob Kaleb & Rob's Fireside Chats: Where They're Coming From—In this conversation between Rob and Kaleb Rashad you can hear about Rob's education journey—from Morocco, to Alabama, to Boston, to San Diego! Kaleb & Rob's Fireside Chats: Adult Learning At High Tech High—In this conversation between Rob and Kaleb, they talk about how High Tech High's pedagogical philosophy informs professional development.

Episode Notes Aysha Upchurch's organization, HipHopEX The best place to see Enrique "Chikle" Lugo's art is his instagram account The custom Padres shoes that. Enrique was wearing at the Den Talk Did you like listening to this but wish you could have been there and seen those shoes (and the rest of it) in person? Come hang out with us at the Deeper Learning Conference next year!

Episode Notes This video about the Everybody Needs a Rock project played at the end-of-project exhibition Learn more about the High Tech High Graduate School of Education's Professional Learning Team here Learn more about the New School Creation Fellowship and the Center for Love and Justice here Learn more about the San Diego Teacher Residency here

Episode Notes Get Carlos Moreno's book, Finding Your Leadership Soul Learn more about the Deeper Learning Conference

Episode Notes Listen to the first episode in this series, Iowa WTF: The High School Students Fighting for Free Speech in in Schools Iowa WTF on Instagram David's pre-walkout video message for organizers Article about the walkout in the Des Moines Register

Episode Notes Iowa WTF's Instagram Account The instagram post announcing Iowa WTF's first walkout An article about the Johnston Community School District

Episode Notes The book that Stacey and Derek talk about is Change Agents, by Justin Cohen Listen to a conversation between the author, Justin Cohen, and Derek Mitchell here! Check out our full library of podcast episodes, articles, and videos about Continuous Improvement here!

Episode Notes Find out more about college access here: CARPE Collective Listen to our other episodes about college access here

Episode Notes Beyond the Surface of Restorative Practices   Watch Marisol's keynote from the PBL Leadership Academy

Episode Notes Jillian's Recommended Reading/Listening: Street Data by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan Street Data Pod hosted by Shane Safir and Alcine Mumby

Episode Notes This is the shorter version of this episode. To find out about how XP does student portfolios and uses them for student-led conferences and "passage presentations," listen to the "director's cut" version of the episode here. Examples of XP Trust Expeditions and Student Work The XP Trust Statement of Values and Ethos XP Schools Assessment Handbook Click here to see photos of Toby's Dust Jacket for the book "What Makes a Successful Community?", and XP's "anatomy of a learning expedition" photo

Episode Notes This is the "director's cut" version of this episode. It includes a section on how XP does student portfolios and uses them for student-led conferences and "passage presentations." You can find a shorter version of the episode here. Examples of XP Trust Expeditions and Student Work The XP Trust Statement of Values and Ethos XP Schools Assessment Handbook Click here to see a photo of Toby's Dust Jacket for the book "What Makes a Successful Community?", photos of the student portfolios at XP School, and XP's "anatomy of a learning expedition" photo

Episode Notes Make sure you also listen to the companion episode to this one, For Assistant Superintendent Peter Deswood, Connection to Navajo Students is Personal Bernita references Rochelle Gutierrez's keynote address from the 2023 Deeper Learning conference. You can listen to it on your preferred podcast platform here, and find the transcript here.

Episode Notes Make sure you also listen to the companion episode to this one, For Navajo Teacher Bernita Bedah, Language is Foundational to Building Identity Check out Peter's podcast, 21st Century Native Leaders!

Episode Notes Kristian Basaraba's podcast, the Rad Dads Podcast Joe Buffalo on Instagram The New Yorker Documentary about Joe Buffalo Oasis Skateboard Factory Colonialism Skateboards Read more about Michel Blades Bird's work here John “JCat” Cardinal on Instagram You can see photos from the project (including Layla's deck) here.

Episode Notes Video: Rob Riordan Introduces High Tech High's Design Principles

Episode Notes Learn More About Connecticut Rise  How RISE Partners are Collaborating to Keep Students On-Track  Referenced in the episode:  On-Track Coaches On-Track Data Teams Conditions for Grade 9 Success,  RISE Data Hub Margaret J. Wheatley, “Willing to Be Disturbed” Want more awesome stuff about Continuous Improvement? Click here!

Episode Note This is a special bonus episode. The jury's out on whether it's "educational" but this is not a story you want to miss. Liberate! Pocket-sized Paradigms for Liberatory Learning by Dr. Michelle Sadrena Pledger The San Marcos Writing Project The Deeper Learning Conference

Episode Notes If you have questions you'd like me to ask Rob and Kaleb in their next episode, send them to unboxed [at] hthgse [dot] edu.