The Bored of Ed

In this episode of the Bored of Ed, we take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of our Leaders' Greatest Hits! Jonathan and Doc share the Bored of Ed's origin story then touch upon some major points of pain, healing, and hope - which is very necessary if we're ever going to build the equitable society of our collective dreams.

In season two, we've been provoked to make schools more human for learners but on this episode, Randy Seriguchi Jr. challenges us to recalibrate our angle. As we work toward more humanizing spaces for our children, we have to prioritize changes for our teachers too.

On this episode of the Bored of Ed, we're introduced to the CEO of https://www.4pt0.org/ (4.0 Schools), a national venture with a focus on “community-centered innovation, rooted in equity without limits”. Hassan's role regularly brings him to rooms with philanthropists and funders who typically don't look like him. As a Sudanese American, he brings layers of diversity from his background and experiences to his education and dedication to funding BIPOC innovators.

With the Big Game around the corner, our Bored Members call for a replay of the NFL's most recent fumble with Coach Brian Flores. Jonathan and Doc are joined by Keith Brooks, Randy Seriguchi, and Dennis Maurice Dumpson for a candid conversation about the parallels between the ongoing issues of racism in the NFL and the field of education.

In Season 2 Episode 3, Jonathan introduces us to Mr. Angelo Garcia, Fouder and Head of School for Segue Institute of Learning in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Much more than a building where learning occurs, Segue offers services and programs, actively pursuing relationships with their scholars and families. The culture of Segue is built on civic engagement and civic duty, leading scholars by example to get engaged, do the hard work, and be citizens of change.

Kim Neal is the Founder and Executive Director of BELIEVE High School in Indianapolis, but all the titles in the world pale in comparison to the passion and commitment she has for her students. Continuing with Jal Mehta's reminder that our children are human too, Kim begs us to make schools more human.

Jonathan and Doc kick off another exciting season of The Bored of Ed by talking to Harvard Professor and researcher Jal Mehta, who authored a compelling op-ed in The New York Times called "Make Schools More Human". During this episode, Dr. Mehta helps us find a balance in education. After all, are we here to stuff students with facts or to help raise good, critically thinking people?

"It's been a long time/ we shouldn't have left you/ without a dope episode to listen to... (listen to, listen to, listen to)." We may not have Timbaland or the late, great Aaliyah in the studio, but Jonathan and Doc believe they have the next best thing for our loyal Bored members: a special live-to-tape episode with Karla Vigil, the co-founder and CEO of the Equity Institute! Teachers are working hard to create safe learning environments on the fly knowing that many of their schools were unsafe and under-resourced BEFORE the pandemic. How might we rethink our approaches to education, teacher preparation, and partnerships with community to create a healthy, safe, and inclusive future for our young people and teachers?

The mythology of scarcity often leads us into long, hard hours of lonely work believing that there is only so much power, influence, or success to go around. Over the course of this season our Bored members have consistently disrupted that mythology, establishing that the sum of us is greater than any one of us. In this vibrant and wide-ranging dialogue, Malika Ali (Director of Pedagogy, Highlander Institute), David Johns (Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition), Ron Rapatalo (Principal, Edgility Consulting), and Anashay "Teach Em" Wright (Chief Executive Disruptor, Disruptive Partners) return to inspire, embolden, and challenge each of us to claim our power, build unorthodox partnerships, and work unwaveringly in service of the babies!

Money can't buy you love, but it can certainly pay for those dinner dates. So, what is your number? Who is on your financial team? And do you have a financial spending plan? In this episode, Jonathan and Doc sit down with Keina Newell, a former classroom teacher and the Founder of Wealth Over Now, to learn strategies for making your money work for you and building a sustainable career in education. In addition to brass tacks financial wisdom, Keina also shares hot takes on how failure in the classroom can build stronger learners and which popular author's audiobooks are like sleep medicine. Don't miss this episode; your bank account will thank you!

Is Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) another educational flavor of the month or is it something more? According to Malika Ali, Director of Pedagogy at the Highlander, CRT is a lot more and she makes her case using stories that illustrate how culturally responsive teachers are positively impacting young people even in the midst of the pandemic. This double episode is our love letter to teachers working hard to ensure that young people are learning in ways that are deeper and more profound than test scores.

Dr. Darryl Tonemah's (Kiowa/Comanche/Tuscarora) work blends traditional Indigenous knowledge with his background in counseling psychology. He travels to communities around the world teaching methods of behavior change, health & wellness, and understanding & addressing trauma. In this episode, Jonathan and Doc tap Dr. Tonemah to discuss why some kids are thriving at home, what we can do to support teachers struggling through stress & trauma, and why educators' inability to "talk the same language" as our communities is holding us back from creating spaces where all kids and families get what they need.

When some politicians and media members began referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus” in the spring of 2020, they shattered the Model Minority Myth. Seemingly overnight, Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities experienced a rise in racially-motivated violence and aggressive verbal confrontations from people who had taken the bait and were blaming AAPI folks for the spread of the virus. In this XL episode, Ron Rapatalo (Principal at Edgility Consulting) joins Jonathan and Doc in a wide-ranging conversation about the Model Minority Myth, what it takes to build power across lines of difference, and what it means to be a true equity warrior.

As we reach the midpoint of season one, Jonathan and Doc engage new Bored Members Malika Ali, Keina Newell, Ron Rapatalo, Dr. Darryl Tonemah, and Karla Vigil in the conversation that launched this podcast: "20 years from now, we could be looking back on the response to COVID-19 as the disruption that led to a vastly different and more equitable education system. How does that system operate and what did we do to create it?"

Inequity may be a feature of the public school system but, as the pandemic, police violence, and social unrest have shown us, our schools are not alone. Inequity, while not as tasty, is as American as apple pie. In this XL episode, David Johns, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition and the former Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans under President Barack Obama, lends his voice to the national conversation on how the increasingly common stories of the disregard for Black life are impacting our health and quality of life, especially for people with intersectional identities (BIPOC & LGBTQIA+). #TeachtheBabies

The modern American public school system has never encountered anything like COVID-19... or has it? Within the last 15 years, we have seen schools closed for extended periods due to hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding that forced communities and authorities to partner in finding ways to serve students and families. In this episode, Dr. David Hardy, VP of People & Culture at Education Elements and a former superintendent, wonders how looking closer at analogous situations might help schools and districts return stronger, and more equitably, than ever before.

While most schools and districts have made major shifts to accommodate virtual/distance learning, no where is the challenge more pronounced than in rural communities faced with limited broadband access. In this episode, we discuss how COVID has impacted rural communities, why internet and device access ought be a human right, and what we can all learn from Indigenous educational thought and philosophy with Dr. Diana Cournoyer (Oglala Lakota) of the National Indian Education Association.

Educators often discuss trauma and promote "trauma-sensitive" approaches, but what does that really mean? In this episode, Kyle Quadros, Co-Founder & Chairman of Tilo Learning, teaches us what trauma is, what it does to our brains (students and adults), and what we can do to be both proactive and responsive in healing our communities as we look to recover from COVID-19.

We have endured countless reforms to the public education system, but what do we have to show for it? Black, Indigenous, and other students of color continue to be left behind by a system that was not designed to serve them. In this episode, we welcome back Anashay "Teach Em" Wright, Founder & Chief Executive Disruptor of Disruptive Partners, to explore the role that parents and communities can play in disrupting systems of inequity.

Welcome to The Bored of Ed! In our first episode, Jonathan Santos Silva and Doc Miller introduce some of this season's "Bored Members" by asking Anashay Wright, Kyle Quadros, and Dr. Diana Cournoyer one question: "20 years from now, we could be looking back on the response to COVID-19 as the disruption that led to a vastly different and more equitable education system. How does that system operate and what did we do to create it?"