InnovativeEd

A couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to take part in a collaboration between the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont Public Radio (VPR), celebrating the strange and wonderful ways this year's graduation differs from those in years past. The hourlong program featured students and educators from around the state, performing music, giving speeches and simply musing on the ways in which the class of 2020 made. It. Work. So as an excerpt, and leading us towards the end of the podcast's fourth season, here's the piece we produced for the show. We spoke with students, educators and families from two schools who approached graduation very differently: The Warren School, in Warren VT, and Poultney Elementary School, down in Poultney VT. This is a tale of two sixth grades.

"It feels really weird, because in some ways it's kind of cool to see how you can be homeschooled. But then in other ways you're like, "Ohhhhh, it’s kind of scary." Because we are staying home because of the virus that’s going around and for our safety and other people's safety and everything. So it’s mixed feelings I guess." Today on The 21st Century Classroom we're going to explore quarantine homeschooling in the age of COVID-19: What are we learning during it? And what are we learning *from* it? A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-6sm

In Vermont, fishing and hunting license sales have taken off since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Turkey hunting license sales increased by 26% for the recent start of the spring turkey season. Combination hunting & fishing  licenses are up 24%. It seems like since the Stay At Home order, where our work, school and social spheres got smaller, Vermonters have been heading outdoors to hunt. Not just adults but whole families. Which bring us to two questions: 1) What does it take for a young adult in Vermont to get a hunting license? And 2) what do young Vermonters find so engaging about hunting? Especially as it’s an activity they do with their families? A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-6GW

For this episode, we're in the Two Rivers Supervisory Union, in southern Vermont. Ace podcaster and #vted Reads host Jeanie Phillips visited the Mount Holly School, in Mount Holly, Vermont. We'll hear from Aubrey, Alyssa and M., three sixth graders entering their final semester at this K-6 school. Next year, all three move up to one of the nearby middle schools. So what have these three students learned from their time at Mount Holly? Let's find out. A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-6kg

On this episode of the 21st Century Classroom, we hear from three students from Champlain Valley Union High School, in Hinesburg Vermont -- a sophomore, a junior, and a high school senior. They tell us about what makes school meaningful, along with the way they see the roles of students and teachers changing as schools evolve. We also talk about equity in schools, as well as spending some serious time discussing what proficiency-based learning has looked like. Does it work? Is it an improvement over the traditional grading system, and how does it affect how these students apply to college? Full transcript at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-5Oe

This past fall, educator and parent Emily Hoyler, took part in the Youth Climate Strike, along with her three children. They visited various protests in Vermont, and Emily interviewed some of the students she met at the protests. She asked them why they were there, what they hoped to achieve, and how this day of action related to their in-school lives. "I'm here because every morning I wake up afraid. And so knowing that so many other people feel the same thing? It makes me hopeful, for the first time in a long time." A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-5Bc

Today we're going to listen in on a conversation between three students from Orleans Elementary School in Barton, Vermont. These students talk about about the importance of community, the empowerment of student voice and choice, and offer some brilliant insights about how and why schools can adapt to serve the needs of so-called “troublemaker” students. Transcript available here: https://wp.me/p4r2oE-5pc

Welcome back to The 21st Century Classroom! Educator Lindsey Halman muses over a decade spent on The Edge, an experimental academy at Essex Middle School. She interviews former students and their families to try to figure out what made The Edge work for learners. (Hint: it involves building strong relationships, empowering learners and involving your whole community). Transcript: https://wp.me/p4r2oE-5p4

Usually we ask students to talk about a specific project or experience that we are featuring. But what if we left it open ended? We wanted to find out what students would talk about in a free-flowing conversation about what is meaningful for them about school. We learned a lot, and we hope you do too. A full transcript of this episode is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-4yN

Legendary librarian Jeanie Phillips is back on the podcast talking about what else but books! Not just any books, but graphic novels. Joining her this time around is Peter Langella, Vermont librarian, educator and former minor league hockey player and coach! They’re discussing Ngozi Ukazu's Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey. Plus the larger genre of comics and how to use them in the classroom.

From real and relevant to what to do in the event of a mountain bike accident, the last predators in Middlesex, and the all-important question of who is responsible for the pizza at your exhibition of learning. That's right: librarian Jeanie Phillips talks all about service learning with author and educator Katy Farber. A full transcript is available here: https://wp.me/p4r2oE-4eq Music is "Sunrise (Argofox Release)" by Meizong & Yeeflex, used with permission.

We had a chance to hear from student digital audio producers at Randolph Union High School, in Randolph VT. They, along with innovative educator Raymond Coles, shared what makes this project-based learning class such a hit. A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-3Ps Music in this episode is "Skipping Dragons" by The Galloping Circus (soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tgcruhs) and "Sunrise [Argofox Release]" by Meizong & Yeeflex (soundcloud: bit.ly/2Hzwz6H).

Legendary Librarian Jeanie Phillips is back on the podcast talking about what else but books! Not just any books, but how books can help educators unpack some of their privileges and connect with students. Joining her this time around is Jory Hearst, Vermont educator and six-time Green Mountain Book Awards committee member. They're discussing Renée Watson's Piecing Me Together, and what they learned from it about identity, racial microaggressions and teaching around deficit theory. A full transcript is available at https://wp.me/p4r2oE-4eo

We kick off our fourth season with legendary librarian Jeanie Phillips!  She'll be sitting down with a series of guests from around the #vted ecosphere and ...reviewing books. Not just any books, but books that can help educators as they make meaning from the wonderful, complicated and challenging jobs they have of saving the world. First up, Jeanie talks with Vermont educator and consultant Bill Rich. Bill is a longtime-classroom teacher who now works with schools, providing guidance on brain-based learning. Jeanie and Bill sat down to talk about Daniel Coyle's book, The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. A full transcript of this episode is available here: http://go.uvm.edu/a-92n Music for this episode is "Meizong & Yeeflex - Sunrise", by Argofox. youtu.be/-GurRvqxg3I

To launch a school-wide identity project, behavior interventionist Connor Umsted shared his own "identity poem" with fellow staff members at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School, in South Burlington VT. Full transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aAoZ99IEGYMQpj8bIYdwpJWHPFXz4L59xsckaVMWmcA/edit

Integrating food studies into schools leads to thinking about interconnectedness in other ares of study. But don't take my word for it: meet some amazing students from The Cornwall School, in Cornwall VT, who definitely won't be surviving on Pop Tarts, ramen or mac and cheese when they grow up. Our theme music is, as always, by dirtwire. Additional music in this episode appears courtesy Diana Gruber, Kabbalistic Village, and Nicolai Heidlas. Thank you, as always, for listening.

The three Essex Middle School students who delivered the keynote address at the 2nd annual Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability conference spoke from the heart. They also spoke from experience, having spent the previous year using the #GlobalGoals to address hunger in their communities. A full transcript of this episode is available at this link: https://wp.me/p4r2oE-3H3

Londonderry, VT-based non-profit The Collaborative is in its 14th year of "Refuse to Use", a substance abuse-prevention program that creates community conversations about alcohol, tobacco and drugs. They base their curriculum off hyper-regional data and depend on community members -- parents, educators and students -- telling them what to talk about next. Full transcript: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/refuse-to-use/ Photo by Famartin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62467207

At the Queer-Straight Alliance (QSA) at Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury, Vermont, young adolescents have carved out a space where they can be their authentic selves. While that's critical during middle school, it's especially crucial for LGBTQ students. As we kick off the third season of our podcast, let's hear more about Crossett Brook's QSA by listening to one of the students instrumental in its formation, as well as some of the educators who support them.

We meet six of the graduating class of 2017 educators, and hear about their hopes, their dreams, and what their middle school selves have to tell them about teaching. Full transcript available here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/pre-service-educators-podcast/#.WSQ3KjOZOHo

We talk with legendary awesome stats guy Mark Olofson -- *Dr.* Legendary Awesome Stats Guy Mark Olofson -- about his doctoral research into adverse childhood events and school performance. It's some pretty important stuff, about how the intersecting traumas that affect students have some long-reaching consequences. Full transcript: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/do-adverse-childhood-events-affect-student-performance/#

Remember those interactive sound sculptures we profiled in Episode 26? Meet the teacher who made it happen, and hear how art is an inextricable part of physics, how Brian Eno can help teach circuitry, and how to keep play alive in science. Full transcript: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/steam-pbl-unit/

How to design a student exhibition that empowers students and provides a compelling, informative experience for the community? Cabot High School, in rural Cabot VT, did it with TED talks, sound sculptures and a funk band.

Resident stats guy and all-around smart person Mark Olofson talks with two researchers from Michigan State University. Their research focuses on the state-level twitter conversations among educators: who is doing it, and what they're getting out of it. And, spoiler alert, when they looked around the country, Vermont emerged as a pretty special place.

What would you tell your neighbors about your school? What do you think they'd say in return? The Washington West Supervisory Union in the Mad River Valley of Vermont aims to find out by hosting a series of community conversations. Life LeGeros, a longtime educator and WWSU community member, is taking part in those conversations, and sharing out what he learns.

This past August, the University of Vermont played host to an international conference focused on ways to amplify student voice and increase student partnership in the classroom. Vermont Secretary of Education Dr. Rebecca Holcombe, spoke powerfully on the need for intersectional equity in Vermont, in supporting students. Full transcript: http://wp.me/p4r2oE-2Ei

At The Compass School in Westminster, Vermont, students advance through grades by producing evidence of their accomplishments from the year, using the previous year's reflection to inform the current one. We had the chance to sit down with a student just finishing 11th grade at Compass, and hear not just about his Y.E.A.R. (year-end academic reflection) but how it's going to prepare him for the all-important graduating Roundtable.

Brattleboro, Vermont was incorporated back in 1753, a former military fort that embraced trading, commerce and the power of nearby Whetstone Falls to spur mill production. It’s been home to countless tiny, fascinating episodes of Vermont history -- episodes that current residents can now listen to each week on the radio, being described and re-enacted by students from Brattleboro Area Middle School. This is a story of how community organizations can partner with students to make history new again, and connect students more strongly to their hometown. Full transcript here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/making-history-on-the-radio-with-community-partners/

We visit the Vermont Middle Grades Institute and learn how attendees are working to better implement their state's 2013 "Flexible Learning Pathways" initiative. It's like summer camp. But for middle school teachers. Full transcript available here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/2016-middle-grades-institute-podcast/#.VwfH_T9lC7A

Tarrant Institute reporter Rachel Mark talks with educator Mandy Thomas and students at The Dorset School, where the move to student-led conferences started with screencasting.

Middle school students at Shelburne Community School have been collecting pencils to send to Ghana this fall. One of the school educators explains why. Music is "Golden Ocean" by Nicholas Heidlas, used with permission.

A conversation with entrants to the 2015 ChampBot Challenge at the Champlain Mini-Maker Faire. Produced by Tiffany Lee for the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education and WRUV FM Burlington, and aired on that station as episode #6 of the "VTED Talks" series. Original air date: 11/10/15, WRUV FM Burlington. The image at left is "Sharkmobile at Maker Faire 2009" by Dawn Endico. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

In order to find out more about Generation Z, we asked middle school students about theirs and their families' relationship with technology. And found no easy generalizations. The episode's music is by dirtwire (dirtwire.net) and the image is by Wes Fryer, CC 3.0. The sound clip explaining different generations is part of a public service announcement by the US Department of Transportation, licensed under educational fair use.

Sometimes school change begins with just one person, and just one podcast. Principal Mike Berry of the RESVT podcast, tells us how he's using podcasting to help students find their digital voices, prepare for the challenges of middle school and open his school to the community. Music, as always, is courtesy dirtwire, an Oakland CA-based electronic duo. Hear more of their music at dirtwire.net.

A 2014 report from the Foundation for Excellence in Education on the quality of digital learning, state by state, raises questions about how edtech should be assessed. You can find a copy of the report here: http://digitallearningnow.com/report-card/ The music for this episode is, as always, by dirtwire; go listen to more of their work at dirtwire.net.

"Bio," says one 9th grader. "We were in Bio. And there were some machines sitting there and one was a centrifuge. And I knew what it was because of Minecraft." We talk to middle school students and server admins about why Minecraft works for them. The music in this episode is by dirtwire; check them out on http://dirtwire.net

5th grade educator Hannah Lindsey on the difference between edmodo and Schoology, digital badging and how to teach great commenting on the internet. The music for this episode is "Searching for Jupiter", by Nicolai Heidlai, whose other work can be found here on Soundcloud.

Ian, a high school senior, talks about his journey from being a STEM learner to teaching the arduino track of his high school's STEM Academy. "In middle school I was not sure AT ALL what I was gonna be when I was older. So that's the interesting thing, with the transition to high school that changed so much." Full transcript here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/from-stem-learner-to-teacher/

In this episode, we talk with math educator Lea Ann Smith about Essex High School’s STEM Academy a personalized STEM learning program that lets students work toward digital portfolios, project-based learning and community internships. The music you hear in the background of the episode is a song called "Bed Spring", by the Oakland-based band Dirtwire, used with permission. You can find more music by Dirtwire at dirtwire.net.

Three 8th graders at Essex Middle School sat down and shared with us the progress they're making on their project-based research into making and releasing music and doing algebra online. And as you'll see, for these three, it's all part of the same thing.

Tony, Anika and Isabel are all 8th graders who agreed to talk with us about where they are with their year-long projects. Tony, the novelist, covers the story arc behind his ongoing scifi fantasy series, Anika talks about the many administrative overhead involved in staging a play and Isabel explains why, in her film, you really can't ask teachers what they do after school. (Especially Mrs. Gumbleberry.) Check out how these three students have interpreted project-based learning and creative writing in three very different ways.

We talk with a trio of 7th graders in Essex Junction, Vermont, about their year-long research project to build an eco-machine like the one on the University of Vermont campus. Just.... smaller.

In this episode of the podcast, I talk with local digital artist and educator Rachel Hooper about how she got started learning and teaching how to make stuff with arduinos. Hooper discussed her background in teaching both students and adults how to construct projects using the tiny microcontrollers, her journey from arduino-learner to educator, then schooled me on gender essentialism* in tech-based learning. And did I mention we were locked in a bathroom at the Generator? (Never let your travel microphones out of your sight, people. Never. Do it.)

When your students sign up for that cool new edtech tool, where does their data go? Who's looking at it and what are they doing with it? The Tarrant Institute's Susan Hennessey and Mark Olofson debate how educators can navigate the pitfalls of corporate data-mining in the classroom. Episode image by Kencf0618, licensed under Creative Commons 3.0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_visualization#mediaviewer/File:Kencf0618FacebookNetwork.jpg

2nd half of the extended PLP session at VermontFest 2014, featuring Elizabeth McCarthy, Maggie Eaton, Lauren Parren, Matt Allen and Tim Alderman. Check out Lauren Parren's sample 7th grade PLP here: https://sites.google.com/a/anesu.org/middle-school-sample/

Audio from the first half of the extended PLP session at Vermont Fest 2014, featuring Maggie Eaton, Elizabeth McCarthy, Lauren Parren, Matt Allen and Tom Alderman. Google doc of the presentation can be found at http://goog.gl/jlpzvU

Dan French presented on "Transforming Schooling: A Systems Approach to Personalized Learning" at VTFest 2014. Check out Dan's presentation slides at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rq5Y3y2mHBZCRzaXjOzAf2QQWaO6W7K0lOm8q7XYqRg/edit#slide=id.p With Dan's permission, I experimented with capturing an audio file of his presentation online with SoundCloud.

Tarrant Institute graduate research fellow Mark Olofson and I take a look at one of the premises of this article on the ill-fated city-wide rollout of iPads in Los Angeles classrooms, “Los Angeles schools need to think outside the iPad”. The article’s author, Nathan Schneider raises an interesting point about how who makes the tech students use on a daily basis can shape their world-view.

In this episode of our podcast, we're going to be hearing from math educator Jared Bailey, who spent his summer vacation building a web app for his students, so they could have their homework assignments, practice drills, schedule and his contact info all in one place. As could their parents. Bailey's ethos was simple: he wanted it to be as simple as possible for students and their families to install the app on their mobile devices, and he didn't want to deal with licensing issues or necessarily learn a ton of code. He just wanted his app to be convenient for students.

NPR recently highlighted a study claiming that students today don't read nearly as much as they used to, so we had Graduate Research Fellow and big-time data/methodology guy Mark Olofson take a closer look at the study in question. The results? Students these days probably read more than you'd think.