Podcasts about albany school

Our guests discuss their book, Teaching with Arts-Infused Writing Pedagogies, which features the work of a multigenerational collective of K–12 educators, students, and teaching artists seeking educational justice.About Our GuestsKelly Wissman is the director of the Capital District Writing Project and an associate professor in the Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning within the University at Albany School of Education.Christina Pepe is a Language Arts teacher at Shenandoah High School in Clifton Park, New York. She is the co-director of the Capital District Writing Project, and for 18 years has served as a public high school, career and technical, and community college educator in New York State. She is currently pursuing a CAS in TESOL.Matthew Pinchinat is the inaugural Deputy Managing Director of DEI for the New York State Teachers Retirement System. He also served as a co-facilitator of the Freedom Dreaming for Educational Justice Project. At the start of the project, he was a tenured member of the social studies department of Guilderland High School, shortly transitioning into a role as Guilderland's inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He passionately believes in the power of dreams and to his core envisions a world where all are seen, valued, and treated with the dignity they deserve.Amy Salamone was a high-school English teacher for over 35 years and a proud co-director of the Capital District Writing Project.Leah Werther is the K-12 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Teacher on Special Assignment for the Guilderland Central School District in Guilderland, New York. Prior to this role, she taught English Language Arts for 16 years. Leah serves as a co-director of the Capitalist District Writing Project and is the cochair of the National Council of Teachers of English's Asian/Asian American caucus.

Here at Kelsunn Communications (www.kelsunn.org), we are extremely proud to upload this celebratory re-launch of this podcast interview. We are acknowledging that Nationally-Known Educator and Child & Family Welfare Expert, Dr. Katharine Briar-Lawson, MSW, Dean Emeritus & Professor at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare received her 1st Place Award on August 30, 2023. She was a prominent guest on our podcast and her insights and wisdom was the catalyst for the segment to earn a 1st Place award in the “Video – Solutions Journalism” category.  In this celebratory relaunch I share the compelling story of how I first learned about Dr. Briar-Lawson, how we initially met, and how our paths crossed again 7 years after that.  That phenomenal story precedes the actually podcast interview which was originally uploaded and released in 2022. This is an absolutely amazing story! Listen and watch as I detail what a powerful connection that encounter turned out to be.  We invite you all to view and listen to this podcast in its entirety. This winning selection was chosen from out-of-state- judges from #SocietyofProfessionalJournalist - (#spj) chapters in San Diego, CA & Louisville, KY. So, the judging is totally objective. According to Press Club of Long Island (#PCLI) President, Mr. Brendan O'Reilly, one of the out-of-state judge's had this to say:   “This social work podcast is meaningful & the conversations are important. Keep up the good work”!

In the year 2021-2022 the Capital Region welcomed 650 newly resettled refugees and immigrants. Daniel Butterworth, executive director of Refugee & Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE), notes that this number is 50% higher than the largest annual count in the last 20 years. He explains how RISSE has expanded staff, increased services, and even added two satellite locations in response to the demand. Hear how RISSE collaborates with the U.S. Committee on Refugees & Immigrants (USCRI), Hudson Valley Community College, HVCC's Educational Opportunity Center, Albany School's International Center, and numerous volunteers. Produced by Brea Barthel for Hudson Mohawk Magazine.

Dr. Rosenberg is an infectious disease epidemiologist and the Deputy Director for Science in the Office of Public Health, at the New York State Department of Health. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University at Albany School of Public Health, State University of New York, and has been a guest scientist with the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. He is author of over 170 peer-reviewed publications, including studies in the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA.

Learn about the Vegetable Project, a nonprofit that involves students at Albany's Myers Middle School and high school in growing and eating new types of food. Hudson Mohawk Magazine producer Brea Barthel talked with board members and volunteers at an open house on May 5th to hear about the importance of the program. . . and to taste the yummy food. Interviewees are Kee Kee Soto, AJ Soto, Bill Stoneman, Amy Jesaitis, and Timitra Rose. For more details, visit vegetableproject.org.

In this episode, Dr Flores shares the opportunities for AI and federated learning . She discusses examples in healthcare including, Gatortron, the largest clinical language model.About Dr Flores.Mona G. Flores, M.D. - Global Head of Medical AI at NVIDIADr. Mona G. Flores is the global head of medical AI at NVIDIA, where she oversees AI initiativesin medicine and healthcare to bridge the chasm between those industries and technology.Dr. Flores first joined NVIDIA in 2018 with a focus on healthcare ecosystem development.Before joining NVIDIA, she served as the chief medical officer of digital health company Human-Resolution Technologies, following over 25 years working in medicine and cardiothoracicsurgery.Dr. Flores received her medical degree from Oregon Health and Science University. Shecompleted a general surgery residency at the University of California, San Diego, a postdoctoralfellowship at Stanford, and a cardiothoracic surgery residency and fellowship at ColumbiaUniversity.Dr. Flores also has a master's degree in biology from San Jose State University, and holds anMBA from the University at Albany School of Business. She initially worked in investmentbanking for a few years before pursuing her passion for medicine and technology.Where to follow us: Maribel Lopez on Twitter at @MaribelLopez and LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/maribellopez/You can find Mona on Twitter @Monagflores and @NVIDIAYou can find here  on LinkedIN at  https://www.linkedin.com/in/monagflores/You can find more information on GatorTron here. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/on-demand/session/gtcspring21-s32030/

Dr. Mona Flores M.D., is the Global Head of Medical AI, at NVIDIA (https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/author/monaflores/), the American multinational technology company, where she oversees the company's AI initiatives in medicine and healthcare to bridge the chasm between technology and medicine. Dr. Flores first joined NVIDIA in 2018 with a focus on developing their healthcare ecosystem. Before joining NVIDIA, she served as the chief medical officer of digital health company Human- Resolution Technologies after a 25+ year career in medicine and cardiothoracic surgery. Dr. Flores received her medical degree from Oregon Health and Science University, followed by a general surgery residency at the University of California at San Diego, a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford, and a cardiothoracic surgery residency and fellowship at Columbia University in New York. Dr. Flores also has a Masters of Biology from San Jose State and an MBA from the University at Albany School of Business. She initially worked in investment banking for a few years before pursuing her passion for medicine and technology.

Malikah Shaheed returned to the show, this time to discuss her new role as the NASW-NYS Division Director. She shares how her experience in the social work field led her to this new position and what she hopes to accomplish during her term. Bio: Graduating over 15 years ago from University at Albany School of Social Welfare, Malikah sought to explore, experience, and practice all aspects of the social work field. Experiences include In and Outpatient Clinical Practice, Chemical Dependency, School Social Work, Medical Social Work, Child Welfare with Home Studies, and Contracted Short-term Social Work Case Management… all which have made Malikah a well-rounded clinician. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care. With total commitment to the practice and advancement of the field of Social Work, Malikah plans to keep challenging herself and her colleagues to higher levels to the benefit of social work clients.

David Carpenter, M. D., professor and former Dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, discusses wireless radiation and its impact on public health, particularly children. This is an edited version of a longer presentation made in April, 2019 in Shrewsbury, MA. Learn more at ehtrust.org and sign up for our newsletter: https://ehtrust.org/publications/newsletters/ Read the research on EMFs and health here: https://ehtrust.org/science/top-experimental-epidemiological-studies/ Get the facts about 5G here: https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell-phoneswireless/5g-internet-everything/20-quick-facts-what-you-need-to-know-about-5g-wireless-and-small-cells/

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias impact more than 6 million families, with 15 million projected to be affected by 2050. Although we're learning that it is possible to reduce the risk of dementia and slow the rate of cognitive decline, we do not yet have a national effort focused on prevention. Kelly O'Brien from UsAgainstAlzheimer's and Dr. David Hoffman of Maria College and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors talk about why we need a national dementia prevention goal, and how public-private partnerships can advance the fight against Alzheimer's and related dementias.Hosted by: Leanne Clark-Shirley, PhD, Vice President, Programs & Thought Leadership at the American Society on Aging with Peter Kaldes, President & CEO of the American Society on AgingGuests:Kelly O'Brien, Executive Director, Brain Health Partnership, UsAgainstAlzheimer'sDavid Hoffman, DPS, CCE, Associate Dean for Academic Initiatives and Government Affairs, Maria College, additional faculty appointments with Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College and University at Albany School of Public Health and Associate at Large Director, National Association of Chronic Disease DirectorsResources:A Shared National Goal to Reduce Dementia Prevalence Call for a National Dementia Prevention GoalDementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the Lancet Commission Public members of the advisory council on Alzheimer's research, care and services: 2020 recommendations

In the Albany School Board Elections this Tuesday, two incumbents are unchallenged for re-election. On the eve of the election and the vote for a new school budget, Moses Nagel spoke to Vickie Smith, the vice president, and Dr. Sridar Chuttar about why they ran for the board in the first place and what their goals are for a new term.

Paul Smart brings us a report on the Albany School Budget. Photo by Andy Simonds, creative commons

On Thursday, April 22, the Albany School District Board of Trustees is looking to pass a proposed budget for the coming school year, which will then go up for a public vote in May, along with all other school district budgets in the state. While dry, the specifics of such budget processes is a vital function of democracy, and the only place where voters can approve or disapprove spending plans directly. Paul Smart reports.

Hillary (Closs) Dolinsky, MSW is a two-time alumna of the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. She was involved with The Social Workers Radio Talk Show when it first began at the SSW in 2011. She earned her undergraduate degree in social welfare in 2011, and then went on to earn her Master's in Social Work (MSW) the following year. Since college, Hillary has worked in higher education, government, and non-profits. In these roles, she was the only social worker within the company. Hillary currently works at the Georgetown University Medical Center as a Communications & Research Administrator and is back in graduate school for a second time to earn her Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Laura Agnew speaks about her presentation on the health impacts of breastfeeding with HMM's Spencer Keable. Laura discusses government recommendations, health benefits and potential risks, and the Maternal and Child Health Certificate – available to anyone – offered at the University at Albany School of Public Health – where she is pursuing her Master of Public Health degree.

Cecelia Guthrie goes over her presentation on early onset, or precocious, puberty. Cecelia is a Master of Public Health student at the University at Albany School of Public Health, as is HMM correspondent Spencer Keable.

Nicole Fera spoke with Spencer Keable about the impact of urban green space on our interconnected mental, physical, and environmental health. Nicole is a Master of Public Health student concentrating in epidemiology at the University at Albany School of Public Health.

Sianie Flannery spoke with HMM correspondent Spencer Keable about her presentation on harm reduction strategies to combat the opioid epidemic in the US. Sianie is a Master of Public Health student at the University of Albany School of Public Health and her background is in social work.

Albany Central School District Superintendent Kaweeda Adams spoke at her board of trustees' October 1 meeting about how current cuts forced by major drops in state aid have affected the start of the 2020-21 school year, and whether there's been any word of a change in direction, as the state comptroller's office and others in the executive branch have suggested.

Dr, Samantha Fletcher was selected as the Executive Director of the NY State Chapter of NASW in September of 2019. She has been instrumental in taking the chapter to new heights, especially since the on-set of the Corona Virus Pandemic. Dr. Fletcher details in this segment how she, the Chapter Board of Directors and her Staff supported the NASW Member and non-member Social Workers during the early stages of the Corona Virus Pandemic outbreak. Listen as she talks about how Dr. Fletcher recognized right away that in order to best support the general public during this crisis the State's Social Workers need to be strongly supported and advocated for. Samantha is a member of the Cherokee Nation and strongly embraces native culture. She earned her Master's degree in Social Work (2014) and a Ph.D. (2018) from the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. Prior to her tenure at the University at Albany, she worked for over 15 years in human services including a family law firm, a crisis pregnancy center, an Islamic school, as well as a personal training business. After earning her Ph.D., Samantha served as the Assistant Dean of Academic Programs and the Director of Admissions in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany. She partnered with the Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to implement a social justice group for students, faculty, and staff called “The Gathering;” this endeavor increased awareness of social injustice for all members of the community and instantiated an on-going method for critically examining inequality at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of analysis. She worked with a diverse team of administrators and faculty to implement quality educational programming for social work students at all levels (BA, MSW, and Ph.D.). In addition to enacting New York State and the Council on Social Work Education mandates for the School, a special emphasis of her work was to deepen and expand the School's focus on social justice. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/kelsunn-on-the-air/support

Hudson Mohawk Magazine for July 3, 2020 featuring a rebroadcast of the virtual Norlite Town Hall Meeting produced by The Sanctuary for Independent Media on June 22, 2020. The Norlite incinerator in Cohoes has been burning toxic waste for decades. What is the health impact of their operations on the surrounding communities throughout the NY Capital Region, southwestern Vermont, northwestern Massachusetts, and beyond? Cohoes Mayor William T. Keeler, longtime Saratoga Sites apartment resident Joe Ritchie, Dr. David Carpenter of the Albany School of Public Health, Dr. David Bond from Bennington College, and former EPA Region 2 administrator Judith Enck came together online for a discussion of this important issue. TThe moderator is Hudson Mohawk Magazine correspondent Corinne Carey. This event was co-sponsored by Lights Out Norlite and the Hudson Mohawk Environmental Action Network. www.LightsOutNorlite.org

UAlbany School of Social Welfare faculty members, Dr. Mary McCarthy and Dr. Catherine Lawrence, discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the child welfare workforce and the child welfare system itself, with a particular focus on tribal communities. Both Mary and Kate are involved with the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, a collaborative organization that promotes organizational interventions focused on developing and retaining a diverse and effective workforce. Bios:Mary L. McCarthy, Ph.D., LMSW is a faculty member at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. She is the Co-PI for the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, Funded by the Children's Bureau and Director of the Social Work Education Consortium, a partnership between the NYS Association of Deans of Schools of Social Work, NYS Office of Children and Family Services, and Commissioners of local Departments of Social Services in NYS. Dr. McCarthy worked in the child welfare field for 11 years both before and after receiving her MSW from the University at Albany in 1982. She was invited to work at Padjadjaran University in Bandung Indonesia in the fall of 2019 through the Fulbright Specialist Program.   Catherine K. Lawrence is an Associate Professor at the University of Albany School of Social Welfare.  Her scholarship focuses on public human services, particularly in the areas of child welfare and income support.  Her most recent research targets two key issues in child welfare organizations that prevent effective, just, services for children and families: workforce capacity and racial disparity. Dr. Lawrence is working with the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute to advance this research agenda.  She also teaches introductory and advanced policy courses at the School of Social Welfare.

Sarah Mountz is an Assistant Professor at UAlbany's School of Social Welfare and a faculty advisor of Fostering Leaders of Our World, a UAlbany student group composed of students with foster care backgrounds and their allies. She is joined by Selena Snow, the student Vice President of F.L.O.W., and they speak about the barriers to foster youth in higher education, how COVID-19 has impacted college students in foster care, what is being done at state levels to assist foster care youth during this time, and how social workers can support foster care youth. Bios:Selena Snow is finishing her sophomore year at UAlbany, where she is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Social Welfare. Selena has been in foster care since the age of three and is the vice president of the student organization, Fostering Leaders of Our World (F.L.O.W). F.L.O.W.'s mission is to advocate for improved educational access for foster youth and to raise awareness on campus about the experiences of UAlbany students with foster care backgrounds and to provide peer support. Sarah Mountz is an Assistant Professor at University at Albany School of Social Welfare, where she teaches courses in Participatory Action Research, Human Behavior and the Social Environment, and Trauma Informed Child Welfare Practice. Dr. Mountz' research focuses on the experiences of systems involved LGBTQ youth and the educational experiences of foster care alumni. She is especially interested in youth organizing and activism.

Mary L. McCarthy, Ph.D., LMSW is a faculty member at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. She is the Co-PI for the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, Funded by the Children's Bureau and Director of the Social Work Education Consortium, a partnership between the NYS Association of Deans of Schools of Social Work, NYS Office of Children and Family Services, and Commissioners of local Departments of Social Services in NYS. Dr. McCarthy worked in the child welfare field for 11 years both before and after receiving her MSW from the University at Albany in 1982. She was invited to work at Padjadjaran University in Bandung Indonesia in the fall of 2019 through the Fulbright Specialist Program.   

How companies and staff deal with death at work. Manuela Saragosa hears from Carina, an employee at a global marketing company who saw the mistakes her employer made when a colleague died. Kirsty Minford, a psychotherapist, describes how organisations can do better at dealing with death. And how do you approach your job if there's a real everyday risk of death? Lisa Baranik, assistant professor of management at the University at Albany School of Business, tells us what we can learn from firefighters. This programme was first broadcast on July 29, 2019. Producer: Frey Lindsay. (Photo: Death at work, Credit: Getty Images)

Professional cyclist for 13 years from 2002 to 2014 Tyler graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Economics and Finance, and completed post-graduate work at the University at Albany School of Business. Tyler, in his own words "Cycling has taken me to spectacular locations around the country and the world that I otherwise never would have seen. With Wrenegade Sports, I am working to share that same sense of discovery from the seat of a bicycle by creating exciting events in beautiful, secluded areas."

Year 11 North Albany Senior High School student and climate activist Kaelin Abrahams joined Sara Morrison and Alex Whisson to discuss the local plans for the 20th September school strike for climate action.

How companies and staff deal with death at work. Manuela Saragosa hears from Carina, an employee at a global marketing company who saw the mistakes her employer made when a colleague died. Kirsty Minford, a psychotherapist, describes how organisations can do better at dealing with death. And how do you approach your job if there's a real everyday risk of death? Lisa Baranik, assistant professor of management at the University at Albany School of Business, tells us what we can learn from firefighters. (Photo: Death at work, Credit: Getty Images)

Rossana Coto-Batres is the Education and Training Coordinator at the Northeast New York Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (NENYCOSH). She has a background in social work and has worked to train refugees and immigrants around nutrition, health and safety topics. As an immigrant and children of immigrants, she has first-hand experience understanding the struggles many Latino and immigrant workers face in the U.S. Upon graduating from the University at Albany School of Social Welfare Master's Program in 2016, she completed the Occupational Health Internship Program, where she assisted in the coordination of a Trainers Exchange for 40 Spanish-speaking OSHA 10 trainers in the field of construction in New York City. This experience exposed her to the field of occupational safety and health, which combines her passion for immigration advocacy, public health, community organizing, climate justice, and environmental justice. She has experience training workers following natural disasters, and traveled with a team of occupational safety and health trainers to Houston to facilitate a Disaster Relief Train-the-Trainer program. Using her background in social work and as a yoga instructor, Rossana integrates elements of self-care and resiliency into trainings and conferences. Rossana serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, the Board of Directors of the New York Bicycling Coalition, NASW Program Review Committee and the Office of Mental Health Statewide Multicultural Advisory Committee.

Award-winning filmmaker Edgar Barens sat down with the Social Workers Radio Talk Show to discuss his documentary film titled 'Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hill'. A screening of this documentary was held at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare on September 30th, 2015.

Amanda Aykanian is a doctoral candidate at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare. She is also a Research Associate at Advocates for Human Potential in Albany, NY and serves as the Research and Project Lead for the National Center for Excellence in Homeless Services. She has more than 10 years of experience in community-based process and outcome evaluations, with expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Broadly, her research interests include program and policy implementation, service system dynamics, the criminalization of homelessness, and the mobility of people experiencing homelessness. Her most recent work focuses on exploring the relationship between service use and the geographic mobility of people experiencing homelessness.

In this edition of Occupation Station, Dr. Jacqueline Grimaldi '12, Sr. Manager, CMC Program Management at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., talks about how research she began working on as part of her second year at Albany School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences helped shape her career path. Dr. Grimaldi talks about what tools she developed while a student at ACPHS and how she is putting them to work now at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Niche Radio — Prof.David O. Carpenter is a public health physician who serves as director of the Institute for Health and the Environment, a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization, as well as a professor of environmental health sciences at UAlbany's School of Public Health. He previously served as Director of the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health, and as Dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health. Carpenter, who received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, has more than 435 peer-reviewed publications, 6 books and 50 reviews and book chapters to his credit. His expertise include human health effects of environmental contaminants, including metals and organic compounds. He has appeared in many documentaries, a thesis examiner for multidisciplinary research and served as a co-researcher and review in studies relating to exposure to high voltage power lines. The link below is a recommended watch following this interview if you are interested in more of the scientific details around his work where he goes into more detail www.youtube.com

Kenny Bruce talks about his decision to run for Albany School Board

Host Lisa Kiefer interviews public school teacher, mother, and author Brook Pessin-Whedbee about her new book Who Are You? The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity. Brooke is an active member of the Gender Spectrum community that celebrates gender diversity and whose mission is to create a gender-inclusive world for all children and youth. She artfully introduces children to gender in her book and shows how people can bend and break the gender binary and stereotypes.TRANSCRIPTSpeaker 1:Method to the madness is next. Speaker 2:You were listening to method to the madness and weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators. I'm your host, Lisa Kiefer, and today I'm interviewing Brook Pason wed [00:00:30] Westby. She's the author of who are you the kid's guide to gender identity. We'll be talking about her book and the gender identity spectrum. Speaker 1:Okay, Speaker 3:welcome to the program. Thanks. I'm really glad to be able to talk to you. [00:01:00] Yes, I really enjoyed your book for children called who are you, the kid's guide to gender identity. What age group are you targeting? So I'm an elementary school teacher. I work in Berkeley public schools and I wrote this book mainly for elementary school kids, although there are lots of preschool teachers who are now using it with their students. So I would say from three on up. Okay. And I understand you've had a lot of success. How many printings are you at now? Well, we're on our second printing now. The first print [00:01:30] run actually ran out faster than the publishers anticipated. So we just had a second print run of 5,000 and those are just coming into bookstores now, which is really great. And congratulations. You've chosen a topic, gender identity, which is a lot more common in people's vocabulary now than it used to be. Speaker 3:What was your personal reason for writing a book like this? Sure. So I, I have been an elementary school teacher for, for many years and in Oakland and in Berkeley and as a teacher [00:02:00] and as a parent, I've known many, many kids who don't fit into the gender boxes and, and none of us really fit totally into the gender boxes. But, um, what was happening a couple of years ago, I had a second grade class where here the kids here in Berkeley, right at Rosa Parks Elementary. And my students were asking me a lot of questions and um, there was one day I'll remember, I'll never forget this day when we were walking across the playground. And I, I was just walking my line back to class, but I was hearing these [00:02:30] kids behind me. For my class, kind of in this great debate over the soccer game that was happening. And one kid was saying, oh my goodness, look at that shot. Speaker 3:He's such a good, he's such a good soccer player. And another kid said, no, she's a girl. Look, she has long hair and she's wearing a dress. And they kind of went back and forth like arguing over this soccer player. And when we got back to the classroom and they looked at me and they said, well, teacher brook, what's, which is it? Is, is that a boy or a girl? And that brought up a whole lot more questions, right? Like how, how do you know if is a boy [00:03:00] or a girl and you know, can you assume things just by looking at people and what does that mean? If someone says they're not a boy or a girl? And so that was the day where I sort of decided, well, I need to really sit down and address this, you know, in a deeper way with my class. Speaker 3:Well, what I found by reading your book is that I wish that it was forced on adults to read. Actually it is, I mean it's a kids book. It's a beautifully illustrated picture book that's really meant to. And is your cat writer Naomi barred off? Yeah, she did a wonderful job when we, [00:03:30] when we were planning the book, we wanted to make sure that the illustrations made it so that any kid could pick up the book and see themselves reflected in it. So, and I think she did a really lovely job of that. Um, so she had beautiful illustrations and, and really we wanted to target the youngest audience because, you know, I've been a kindergarten teacher for most of my teaching life that particular year I was teaching second grade. But you know, everything I do in my work is around translating big ideas into kid friendly terms. Speaker 3:And so the target audience really was younger, you know, the [00:04:00] younger crowd. But like you said, it's, it's for adults too. I mean, I've had so many adults come to me and say, Gosh, I just, I'm not really sure how to talk about this with my kids. I, you know, I might understand it as, as an adult, there'll be able to talk to other adults about it. But what's the language like how do I answer my kid's questions? How do I, how do I, you know, talk about what do you remember Mike Children actually educated me about sexuality and gender. My generation, we really didn't get any of that in school or in your teacher training, [00:04:30] were you taught how to address the spectrum of gender? When did that start? So I actually was here at cow about 12 years ago. And I don't remember, I mean, it's terrible to say, but I don't remember if this came up at all at that time. Speaker 3:I mean, I certainly didn't go into the classroom after that feeling like, oh, I know how to talk about gender diversity with kids. I mean, it was many years. I had, you know, one year I had the younger sibling of a transgender girl and you know, we kind of just started [00:05:00] thinking about what books were out there and wasn't a lot available. And then, you know, with my second grade class that day we were, we ended up at the door with them saying is, is that kid a boy or a girl? And I wanted to really get into that with them. I went home that night and I looked for books to help me kind of lead that discussion. And there w there were a lot of books. I mean I ordered 30 books that night off of Amazon and they were, many of them were very good, but none of them were just what I wanted because what I, what I was interested in [00:05:30] was a book that would help me with the language to talk about stories. Speaker 3:And you know, stories are wonderful for kids and kids get to share their own stories through this book, but just giving the, the very simple language or they get so hooked into these stereotypes. You know, just back to your question about the teacher training. I don't remember going into the classroom feeling very well equipped and even as sort of an experienced teacher, I was scrambling for resources, which is why I then ended up, you know, I just said, now I'm going to have to write this book. Now I actually am a supervisor for [00:06:00] pre service teachers in the, in the developmental teacher at education program here. Is it just him fornia or is this something that's happening everywhere? Well, you know, I know that right now teach in teacher ed programs. I mean they are talking about it in the health classes. I mean I don't know nationwide, but I know the conversation, like you said, is much more sort of out in, it's in the media. Speaker 3:It's, you know, kids are asking what does transgender mean and what, there's more than two or so many new words in our vocabulary about sexuality and gender and we should [00:06:30] just define some of these things for our audience. For those people who maybe don't understand what is the difference? Sexual orientation is who you go to bed with and gender identity is who you go to bed as. All right. That makes sense to me. So I've heard that a lot. A lot of people like to talk about that. And you know, one thing that comes up is, oh my goodness, we can't talk about sexual orientation with young kids. And we've for years in Berkeley have been talking about, you know, different family structures and that sort of how we address that [00:07:00] in, you know, for very young kids. But I think when you start talking about identity, people are even less comfortable, you know, knowing how to navigate all the different words that are out there. Speaker 3:Right? And so what I mean, what I like to say is it's like learning a new language and once you practice and you get comfortable with the language, it, it becomes a little more fluent and, and it gets easier to talk about. So I think one thing I like about the book is that it offers people really simple language. Like if a kid's asking what does transgender mean? What I would say to a really young kid [00:07:30] is, well, when babies were born that they couldn't talk and said their grownups made a guess about their gender by looking at their body and sometimes the grownups guests, right. And you know, and this is practically directly from the book, sometimes grownups, guests, guest write about a baby's gender and that matches the way you know, their body matches the way they identify. And that would be cisgender. Speaker 3:Um, and sometimes the grownups mega to guests and they weren't right. They get grownups guessed wrong and, and who [00:08:00] you know, who a kid knows they are inside their identity is different than, than what their body, you know, and today our science is so much better and we're able to know what's going on inside physically. And unfortunately maybe not when a baby is born, but I can envision some time where they're not going to hold up the baby and say it's a boy, it's a girl. They're just going to hold up the baby and say it's a lie baby. Right, right, right. Well then I think that also speaks to how our idea of gender is widening, right? They're [00:08:30] more than just two choices. And you know, this kind of gets into what does non-binary mean, which is, you know, Gender Queer, trans, you know, some of those words. Speaker 3:And, and I don't like to identify, I don't like to, to define words necessarily because I think it's a really individual thing. And you'll talk to four different people that identify as non-binary and they'll have, they will all have a different way of describing themselves. So, you know, it gets a little tricky when you're about defining terms. But what I can say is that for words like non-binary, [00:09:00] I think we're all starting to understand that in many people have known this for for many, many years, but cultures across cultures across time, non-binary Trans folks have existed and have, have definitely known who they are. But I think in terms of our larger culture, and particularly for me as a teacher in a school, it's coming up a lot more. And I think the language that's helpful to use with young kids is just, there's more than two choices. There's more than two boxes, you [00:09:30] know, some people think that there are only two genders, but they're actually really many genders. And here are just some of the words that people are using in their so many more words that are being created faster than we can keep up. Speaker 1:[inaudible] Speaker 2:if you're just tuning in, you're listening to method to the madness and weekly public affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay [00:10:00] area innovators. Today I'm interviewing Crook Pesan, Web B teacher and author of who are you the kids guide to gender identity. What is the approach you take? Can you walk us through? Speaker 3:Yeah, so the book, so the book is really, it's a nonfiction illustrated picture book. And so the idea is that there's no one character that has a story in it. Any kid that picks up the book, any person that reads the book can bring their own story to it. And so it's, [00:10:30] it's kind of divided into the different parts of gender. So your body, your expression, and your identity and it goes sort of chronologically through a person's life. When you're a baby, your body's sort of the leading factor that makes people get, make a guess about your gender. And so the whole First Section is about your body and how there's a difference between sex and gender and that some people get those confused. I like what you said about pink and blue that a hundred years ago boys wore pink and girls weren't right. So then the next [00:11:00] part is all about how we express ourselves. Speaker 3:Right? And colors and toys and clothes and hair, all, you know, the way we act or mannerisms. All of those are things that that help us express ourselves. But those are also the things that, you know, society kind of puts us in boxes and says, you know, girls are supposed to wear pink and boys are supposed to wear blue. But you know, the example that you're talking about really brings up a lot around how that can change too. Right? You know, over time society has said, you know, only girls wear earrings and now we, [00:11:30] you know, many of us probably know a lot of men who wear earrings or a lot of yes. And anybody who loves him about um, this uh, movement in Japan kind of came out of anime where they're trying to basically say that gender doesn't matter. And so rock band, the boys are wearing female traditionally female outfit and makeup and yet they say they're boys. Speaker 3:So yeah, I mean I think it's like saying at some point this isn't going to be important. Right. And I think in, you know, in the school setting, what we do a lot [00:12:00] of is we just talk about how clothes are just clothes. You know, some people say their boy clothes and girl clothes and it's, we walk into a store and we see a sign that says boys section and girls section, but really clothes don't have a gender, clothes are just clothes and people should get to wear what they feel comfortable wearing and express themselves however they want. And so, you know, kind of getting away from the idea that choice have a journey up, some of them French monarchs and the kind of female clothing, additional fee book. I mean there's a lot of ways that our gender boxes are getting broken, you know, historically and now just there's [00:12:30] a lot of ways that nobody really fits into the boxes that society is giving us for gender. Speaker 3:And I think for kids who are feeling like, gosh, I don't really fit into this box, that can be really freeing to see that you don't have to fit into the box. You do get to be who whoever you are and express yourself instead of scorned. It's appreciated. Right. And I think classmates, exactly. And I think that is a huge, one of the huge goals of this book because a lot of the books that are out there right now have, you know, they're, they're wonderful books in there. Definitely [00:13:00] they help with the discussion around different people's experiences. But there's a lot of negativity and you know, the kids who are teasing other kids or the parents who are unsupportive. And I wanted this book to be all positive, all celebration because I, you know, if you don't fit into the gender boxes, that is not just, okay, it's, it's wonderful. Speaker 3:It's something to be celebrated and it, you know, I think we can learn a lot from kids who are also involving parents in this discussion when you do it. Oh absolutely. I mean I've been doing parent education nights with [00:13:30] Albany School district. There's family literacy night challenges of that or have you had any yeah, I mean I think truthfully I haven't had a lot of challenge yet. I mean, I know it's out there, you know, we're in a wonderful, the bay area is a wonderful place to be and there are still, there's, you know, I think parents feel concerned, you know, kids are too young to talk about this. I would argue that kids that are talking about gender from the time that they can talk, I mean they're, they have messages around genders, you know, from a very young age. So [00:14:00] they're already talking about it as, as adults, as parents and teachers, we just get to decide if we want to be part of that conversation or not because they're having the conversation. Speaker 3:So that's one of the big sort of concerns that I hear frequently is we can't talk about this with kids. I mean also it's like, well how do we talk about this with kids? You know, there are parents who might want to be talking about what does transgender mean, but they don't necessarily know how. So I think really just kind of supporting people to learn the new language is, you know, is Kinda [00:14:30] one of the ways to help parents who are feeling maybe a little bit nervous and it gives them a lot of time before puberty sets in to plan. I mean, or to think about how they will approach it. I mean, I think one other thing that comes up a lot is that I can really see the difference between folks who know someone who is transgender or non-binary and people who don't. Speaker 3:Because I think once you have a personal connection with someone, you know someone's story, you can relate on a human level and then it's not [00:15:00] so sort of sensationalized or, or for. Exactly. And so I think one thing that is nice about this book is it really encourages people to tell their own story. And on the website of the book, the book has a website, kid's guide to gender.com and there's a part where you can tell your story. And I really have been encouraging people to share their stories because I think as soon as you start to hear people's personal stories, it, it becomes a little more understandable. Oh yeah. Kids, I mean, I've been getting teens from Minnesota [00:15:30] have written in, we've got, you know, parents who have said, gosh, I took this to my child's preschool thinking that it would be great for the kids to learn from. Speaker 3:But then it turns out one of the teachers said, Oh Gosh, I'm, I'm transgender and I have never really known how to talk about this with my students and this is my access point. So yeah, lots of really wonderful stories from let's get back to the book. Yeah. You get to a color wheel. Yes. So it starts off with the part about your body and then it goes into the part about expression and all the different ways there are to express yourself and then [00:16:00] it gets into the part about identity and how some people's identity matches with, you know, what their grownups thought when they were born. And sometimes it doesn't. So it kind of the difference between what it means to be cisgender or to be non-binary or transgender or trans. And it goes through all the different words around, um, all the different gender expansive words, all the, the gender diverse terms that are out there. Speaker 3:And then at the end, you know, the last page of the books is there's lots of ways to be a boy. There's lots of ways to be a girl, there's lots of ways to be a kid. And that's sort of the, [00:16:30] the message that be who you are. The wheel at the end of the book was actually the reason that I wrote the book because I wanted to have a really concrete tool for kids, so that message at the end, there's lots of ways to be a kid can sometimes be x abstract for kids and so the gender wheel makes it really concrete. There's three different wheels that you can turn and you can mix and this is a real physical, like a color wheel. It's raining, it's a rainbow. It's like a color wheel. In this, the center wheel says I have [00:17:00] and it's about your body. Speaker 3:So I have a body that made the grownups guess, boy, I have a body that made the grownups guess girl. I have a body that made the grownups say we're not sure. And then the the next wheel is the identity wheel. I am and it says, I am a boy, I am a girl. I am both. I am neither. There's it's a can, whatever. Right? There's, there's so many different terms there. At one, one of the lines says, I am not sure there's a blank line. You can fill in the blank. If the like that you've left a lot [00:17:30] of blanks in there as well. Well there's no way I could possibly have captured every word and there are new words out there that I don't even know about. So I wanted to make sure that with a blank line you get to fill in however you do, identify whatever words you use to describe yourself. Speaker 3:There's a place for that. And then the last real is your expression. So it says, I like so the, the order is I have, I am, I like, and it really just keeps it simple. My body, my expression, my identity and my body, my identity, my expression and a lot of kids, [00:18:00] the way we've been using the, the gender wheel in the classroom is that we'll take other books. So we'll take, I am jazz for example, and kids will get to put jazz on the wheel and say, Oh, jazz has a body that made the grownups guess, boy or girl. I know Ferdinand is wonderful to him. Virginia is a great, you know, and that's one of the older, that's one of the oldest books on my, on my recommended book list there. I mean I think that was sort of the original story where it was saying you don't have to be who other people want you to be. You get to be yourself [00:18:30] and, and I think that's one of the central messages of the book too is you are who you say you are. Other people don't tell you who you are. You're the one that knows you best. Yeah. Those are lines directly from the book. Speaker 2:If you're just tuning in, you're listening to the method to the madness. Weekly Public Affairs show on k a l x Berkeley Celebrating Bay area innovators. Today I'm interviewing Brook Pesan Web beat [00:19:00] teacher and author of who are you the kids guide to gender identity. Speaker 3:I thought about approaching this from a puberty level. Another book because let's face it, at puberty your body starts to change and the changes may not agree with what you think you are gender wise. You know, like in Holland they are doing studies of putting off puberty with hormones which have been really successful, which allows a kid [00:19:30] to to figure it out. Yeah. And have you thought about doing something a little farther down? Oh, they're kids. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great question. I actually have thought about sort of the next book that I want to be writing and more so than thinking about kids who are older. I'm more thinking about kind of sticking with the younger crew and, and thinking about the non-binary characters cause those kids, those characters are really underrepresented in children's literature right now. And so, um, I mean that's kind [00:20:00] of where I've been going in terms of thinking about what's missing in the, the book world. Speaker 3:I mean I'm a classroom teacher and I love using books as resources. So, so your natural would be more of a fictional account of a non, yeah, with, with a non-binary character because there are books with transgender characters in their books with gender expansive kids who, you know, might identify as a boy and like to wear dresses. There's a lot of really wonderful books out there, but there are, I haven't yet found a great book with a character who isn't a boy or a girl, a character [00:20:30] who doesn't use he or she pronouns. Um, and you know, I know kids who, who use they pronouns and you know, their first grade classmates don't really know what to make of that. And I know kids who are non-binary who don't use any pronouns at all and that be linguistically challenging. But I think if we see our seeing those characters in books, it makes it a lot more accessible. Speaker 3:Any kind of media actually you've been going around and reading this book at bookstores and sounds like [00:21:00] you've gotten a great response. Oh yeah. We've, I mean I've been reading in the South Bay in Berkeley. And have you been going anywhere else? I haven't yet gone anywhere else this summer I'll go to the east coast and we'll actually do a workshop at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference in September, but on Saturday I'm going to be at Laurel books in Oakland at 3:00 PM so I'll be really excited to do a reading. And a presentation for the 3:00 PM at Laura Bookstore. And that, oh, you know, one thing I really liked about your book, at the end of your [00:21:30] book, you give so much information about resources both for students, for parents, organizations, and you founded an organization and, and what is that? Yeah, so I founded the gender inclusive schools alliance and that was a few years ago when I, as a parent in the Berkeley school system. Speaker 3:I was thinking about, you know, wanting to reach out to other parents and I just, and, and I think what happens a lot is that parents feel sort of isolated in their [00:22:00] individual schools, especially in a district as small as Berkeley. And so the gender inclusive schools alliance is a group of families of transgender, non-binary gender expansive kids. And you know, on the one hand it's, it's a nice support group to kind of share experiences across the different schools. But also it's an advocacy organization because in Berkeley Unified School district, there is a very progressive policy. I think the district was one of the first to adopt, um, a policy around transgender rights. And, um, I think it's called [00:22:30] the gender identity and access policy. And so they have rooms and yeah, bathrooms, locker rooms, just the, the information system. So how you're, you know, on the forms and the technology, the way it's you're entered into the system, curriculum, professional development, all of that is addressed in this board policy and the administrative regulations. Speaker 3:And so the gender inclusive schools alliance is really there as the families in the district to say, hey, we want to support all of the efforts with the district is making, we appreciate that so much. And, [00:23:00] and we all know that operationalizing policies can be challenging because there's just lots of steps to be taken. So we've been really working with the district to do that and wonderful things that have come out of that group are that now there are non-binary gender marker options in the Berkeley school grades systems. Well, absolutely. So you can, you know, you can have your gender marker be known binary there. There's an all student bathroom at every elementary school now. And we're working with the district to think about how to get [00:23:30] even more access for kids who need all student bathrooms for him. So yeah, some wonderful things have come from that family group. Speaker 3:And then also just you mentioned the, the resources on the website. Oh, W l she had books. Films, yeah, they're adults and children. She's really great. And the idea behind that was really that as a teacher, I don't expect folks to be able to pick up this book and teach it right away in their class. I mean, there's a lot of groundwork that needs to get laid in order for it to be successful in the classroom. And you need to have a gender inclusive space where [00:24:00] you know, you've got a school culture where talking about this as you know, as part of the norm and you're talking about diversity and individuality and all of that. So I wanted to give teachers those resources before you read this book here. You know, if you go onto the website, kids guide to gender.com to the resources section, you'll be able to find all the different books and lessons that you can do before you read. Speaker 3:Who are you and then after that to being able to access different people's stories. I mean in my school we've watched [00:24:30] videos of kids who are sharing their stories and it's a nice access point for kids to be able to connect the book. Who are you? Just to real life and real people. So there's a ton of resources for educators and then also for families. Um, there's a lot on the website around how can you make your school more gender inclusive? Cause I think that's one of the main concerns I hear from parents of gender expansive kids is I want to support my school to be more inclusive. But I'm not sure how statistics are horrible. Once [00:25:00] you reach adolescence and you are transgender, the suicide rate is very high. I think it's over 40% that attempted to high in it. And that's why the other thing, I feel like this book is so important. Speaker 3:It's going to nip that in the bud and create an environment that's going to be so much more freeing for these young students. And you're also, you're also creating allies because you know, this book and the curriculum is not just about the gender expansive kids, the non-binary kids, the transgender kids, [00:25:30] it's about all kids. And actually it's almost more important for the other, you know, all of the kids in the class in, in a school to, to understand gender diversity because you know, it really benefits all kids. And really, even in the younger, at the younger ages, kids are really just curious, right? Like they, they'll see a kid and say, you know, Huh, is that a boy or a girl? But for that student, if they're being asked over and over again, are you a boy or a girl? You know, it's not necessarily intended in any kind [00:26:00] of mean way, but it can feel like, you know, and feel ostracized. Speaker 3:It really can. And I think that as a teacher at a school, I feel like it is our responsibility as educators to create the space where we, the adults are the ones educating our community in our class. So it doesn't have to fall on the shoulders of a five-year-old to explain gender diversity to 500 students at a school. I'm very excited about a world where none of this matters. Yeah. You know, I have always [00:26:30] thought about my job as a teacher and I, you know, I've said this before, I've always thought about my job as a teacher and as a parent, as you know, I'm here to kind of help kids grow up and do good things and be good people and go out into the world. Like I'm preparing my kids for the world. Um, but in writing this book and doing this work, I've realized that my job is really so much more than just that. Speaker 3:It's really, we're preparing the world for our kids. Things are changing. And the thing is, you know, national geographic calls it the gender revolution [00:27:00] that that issue just came out in January. A fantastic national geographic issue that came out with a documentary with Katie curric and you know, I think it is a gender revolution and I think it's, it's a reflection of the transformation that's happening in our society in many different ways, not just culturally, but scientifically. Absolutely. We now know how sexuality, how the spectrum occurs and where you, you, if you want to know exactly where you are on the spectrum, it's pretty easy to figure that out, right? Yeah. I mean there's a lot. It's, it [00:27:30] is really interesting, the science behind it and the, and the relationship between science and society and transformative period. And I think what I like to say is that transformation starts with a conversation. Speaker 3:And who are you as a book that helps you start that conversation? Well, congratulations on your book. I thought it was just lovely. Thank you. And again, you'll be doing a reading tomorrow. I'll be doing a reading tomorrow at Laurel books at 3:00 PM and encourage folks to go to the website, kids' guide to gender.com there's all sorts [00:28:00] of other resources that people can ask. All one word kid's guide to gender guide to gender.com and I'm go buy the book for your local library, for your local public school, for your grandparents. I mean people are really making sure that it's getting out there into the world cause it's not just for kids. It's for everybody. I agree. Thank you so much. Thank you. That was Brooke Pesan Webby, the author of who are you, the kids guide to gender Speaker 2:identity. You can find out more [00:28:30] about gender identity in her book at kids' guide to gender.com you've been listening to method to the madness of week three Publican bear show on k a l expertly celebrating bay area innovators. You can find all of our podcasts on iTunes university. We'll be back next Friday. Speaker 4:[00:29:00] Okay. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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