Vrain Waves: Teaching Conversations with Minds Shaping Education

Episode 041: Making the Most of Your Summer A compilation episode highlighting advice on how to make the most of your summer, courtesy of the interviews from some of our amazing guests. Don’t let decision fatigue get you down! And share with us your summer plans at #makesomevrainwaves. Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Physical exercise (03:53) Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina Episode with Doris Kearns Goodwin Benjamin Hardy blog post in Medium: “Behavior drives motivation.” Robyn Jackson: “First you make your habits, then your habits make you.” (VW Episode with Robyn Jackson Dan Willingham: “Never rely on willpower when you can make a plan to avoid it.” (VW Episode with Dan Willingham Distraction (07:42) Episode with Cal Newport 30-day digital detox Dan Willingham: “Memory is the residue of thought.” Making Memories (10:06) Episode with Dan Heath: Power of Moments Love Reading the Most (11:00) Episode with Cornelius Minor The Road, by Cormac McCarthy The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker Stop Talking, Start Influencing, by Jared Cooney Horvath Spark! The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J Ratey (720) 900-1741 let us know how you are making the most of your summer! Or tweet us at #makesomevrainwaves

Episode 038: Doris Kearns Goodwin & Michael Goodwin, Learning from History Connect with Doris Kearns Goodwin Website: https://doriskearnsgoodwin.com/ | Twitter: @DorisKGoodwin Connect with Michael Goodwin Website: https://riversc9.wixsite.com/riversandrevolutions/michael-goodwin-rivers Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Constitutional Convention Story (01:32) Doris Kearns Goodwin (Website) Leadership in Turbulent Times Rivers and Revolutions (3:51) How Doris & Michael got started in education (04:01) The impact of Concord on their lives (05:46) Layers of history Richard Goodwin (08:22) NPR story on Richard after his death Doris’ many books (09:48) Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties (10:38) “It’s not a question of capacity, it’s a question of will.” Social mobility, rising to our potential Involvement in politics for our youth (13:17) Help students create change on a local level first Rivers & Revolutions (16:14) Interdisciplinary approaches to education - holistic way of looking at the world Concord Carlisle High School Rivers, Revolutions, Air, Fire, & Love A Plea for Captain John Brown by Henry David Thoreau The Power of Storytelling (22:12) Forbes article on Lincoln & Storytelling, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work Squaw Sachem Education is about building community Investigation of Love Empathy (27:07) Through public life you experience other people’s worlds Seeing people as ‘other’ is a threat to our future Diverse classrooms v. Tracking Open exploration of that diversity in that classroom Soliciting feedback live from students in the classroom - how can we support each other “If you think you have more to contribute than someone else, you don’t, and if you think you have less to contribute than someone else, you don’t.” Everyone has something to add. Team of Rivals (33:17) NPR story with Doris talking about Team of Rivals Lincoln put 3 of his biggest rivals on his cabinet Internal confidence that he could learn from those people around him who all thought they could do a better job than he could Vulnerability & confidence It’s not about giving up control, it’s about sharing it. This is not work we can or should do in isolation. Leadership in Turbulent Times (36:41) Story about LBJ and Doris Kearns Goodwin working for him White House Fellow program Lyndon B. Johnson’s Presidency Building Learning Communities through the Arts (39:42) Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Concord River Institute Resilience / Failure (44:18) Role of Public Education in our society (47:10) History can give us perspective and build empathy Making connections Takeaways (51:48)

Dr. Robyn Jackson, School Leadership Reimagined Connect with Dr. Jackson Website: mindstepsinc.com | schoolleadershipreimagined.com | Twitter: @robyn_mindsteps Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Dr. Jackson’s books on ASCD 4 Disciplines of Buildership Why leadership is insufficient (03:18) “A builder goes out ahead, then they invite people to that.” “Bosses say ‘Go’. Leaders say ‘Let’s go.’ Builders say ‘Come’”. The importance of culture (05:45) “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” - Peter Drucker “Whoever controls the narrative controls the culture.” How do you regain control over your narrative (and therefore your culture)? (07:27) Have compelling answers for these three questions: What are we building? (have a compelling vision) Why is it important? (have a compelling mission) What’s my role? (a set of core values) Mindsteps, Inc - core values: (11:02) 1 - Drama-free work environment 2 - Do the right thing, even when it hurts 3 - Figure it out Core values as decision filters Vision / Mission / Core Values (13:41) They don’t mean anything if they don’t govern the work. They have to be non-negotiables Only 3, no more than 4, they should be ranked Everybody has to sign off on them Hire based on those things - shape interview questions that tease out people’s core values Master schedule has to support your core values (BONUS: See this article from our very own Andrea Smith, Lyons Middle / Senior Principal, on how your master schedule reflects your climate and culture!) Has to hit 100% of your students Builders Lab Workshops Advice for teacher leaders (21:55) Culture = organizational habits & the stories we tell about them Robyn’s AP Class story (22:30) Jay Matthews’ book on Jaime Escalante “What you start in your classroom can be powerful enough to change the culture of your entire school.” “Be who you want to see.” (28:23) “If you really want to change your culture, you are in the most powerful position to change it. There is nothing more powerful than a teacher.” Pygmalion effect (29:49) Kids will rise to the expectations you have for yourself. (not the expectations you have for them) Blog post about it Master Teacher Project (31:12) 7 Principles of Effective Instruction (32:29) “Use Feedback to help you both get better” What kind of feedback is this assignment going to give me about how students are doing? How do I respond so I can give the student the type of feedback this assignment was designed for? Color-coded rubrics (36:22) Feedback has to give kids a pathway to improvement Rigorous Instruction (38:34) Free tutorial for rigorous instruction Requires students to construct meaning for themselves Requires students to impose structure on information Requires students to integrate skills into processes Requires students to apply what they’ve learned to more than one context and to unpredictable situations Unit planning template Dr. Jackson’s interview with Ashton Kutcher - Curious Not Furious (42:29) Kutcher’s work on human trafficking / Bodies are not Commodities A21 curriculum Funding Iowa Donors Choose projects “If you don’t take every opportunity to learn something, if you’re not looking at everybody as ‘they have something they can teach me’, then you’re significantly cutting yourself off from insights, some perspectives that could really broaden your own.” (47:32) Being passionate about something makes you quicker to judge sometimes (49:52) “Curiosity and judgment can’t fit in the same space.” (51:08) Summer PD opportunities with Dr. Jackson - 2 Builders Labs (June 24-26 in CA; July 15-17 in Arlington VA for Instructional Coaches) Takeaways (52:50) AP Progress in St Vrain 10 signs of a toxic culture (Episode 8 - How to Detoxify your school culture - School Leadership Reimagined podcast) “Safety is not about removing discomfort.” Are people safe enough to be uncomfortable with me?

Episode 038: Dr. Dan Willingham, Cognitive Scientist Connect with Dr. Willingham Website: http://www.danielwillingham.com/ | Twitter: @DTwillingham Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Loving reading the most (05:07) Make it an easy choice (07:12) Rewards & incentives for reading (07:26) “Take your kids seriously as a reader as soon as you can.” - Dan Willingham Making books the topic around the water cooler (10:15) Fluent decoding, comprehension, and motivation - the three-legged stool of raising kid who read “Before he can develop taste, he must experience hunger.” 30 min reading with the principal @ Indian Peaks Elementary - Kathi Jo Walder (11:36) Camp EmpowerED in SVVSD - May 28 & 29th, Register HERE Dr. Willingham’s books: The Reading Mind, Raising Kids Who Read, Why Don’t Students Like School Dan’s next book: Memory & Self-regulation of memory (12:46) Make It Stick, Mark McDaniel & Peter Brown, Henry Roediger (note: Read this book! It’s amazing!) Re-reading (14:07) Highlighting (17:22) Annotating is much better (19:43) Vocabulary instruction for understanding complex texts (20:31) Explicit vocabulary instruction works AND it’s very sensitive to context - need a number of examples to round out understanding Encouraging reading for leisure with rewards & incentives (24:41) Attributions (stickers, rewards, etc… what role do grades play in this??) Drop Everything & Read; Sustained Silent Reading (28:31) Research: Manning, M., & Lewis, M. (2010). Sustained silent reading: An update of the research. Digital vs. Analog reading (30:54) YouTube video APS Conference in San Francisco - psychological science in K12 education (34:09) What psych concepts do we, as teachers, need to get better at? (35:49) How kids behave & what they do Theories of memory & knowledge; Behaviorist / Cognitive / Constructivist Research on Homework (39:31) Homework as a reflection of school values Takeaways (41:47) Ask the Cognitive Scientist column Why Don’t Students Like School “Memory is the residue of thought. To teach well, you should pay careful attention to what an assignment will actually make students think about, not what you hope they’ll think about, because that is what they will remember.” - Dan Willingham

Episode 037: Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy It’s not a real cult. It’s a mindset, a family, a ton of free resources, a podcast, great blog posts, relevant topics, and, frankly, a security blanket for busy teachers. Many times it’s pushed our thinking, strengthened our practice, and given us solace. It’s the Cult of Pedagogy, and we had the privilege of speaking to the “Head Teacher Nerd”, Jennifer Gonzalez, about school culture and much much more. Connect with Jennifer Gonzalez Website: www.cultofpedagogy.com/ | Twitter: @cultofpedagogy Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Cult of Pedagogy (02:10) Blog, Podcast, YouTube (04:17) Jennifer’s favorite episode: Episode 4 (06:32) Recent Episode with Sal Khan TQE Method post SxSW Keynote - The Aerodynamics of Exceptional Schools (08:19) 9 Principles to make change happen: e.g. Validation (blog post on validation) Importance of a strong School Culture & Classroom Culture (11:49) Marigold analogy (14:18) Teachers supporting each other (17:38) Teacher self-care (20:13) Angela Watson Balancing relationships at work with relationships at home (23:30) Setting boundaries on social media (25:34) List feature | Twitter chats Promoting positive classroom culture (27:22) Student classroom discussions - blog post Icebreakers 360 Spreadsheets Equity Maps & Chat Stations (29:29) Equity Maps: iPad app to map classroom conversations Chat Stations Grading & Grading Practices (33:50) Blog post: How Accurate are Your Grades? Blog post: 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half Student Self-Assessment (36:17) Starr Sackstein Todd’s Brain Delaying the Grade post Jennifer’s Teachers’ Guide to Tech 2019 GeoGuessr game Becky & Ben’s favorite CoP blog posts (42:49) Pedro Noguera on Cult of Pedagogy 5 Second Solution for a Talkative Class YouTube video

** Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism** Join us to learn from best-selling author & Computer Science professor Cal Newport as we talk to him about exploring the world of digital abundance, using technology with intention, and walking through life with purpose. Learn more from Cal on his website, at calnewport.com, where he has archived about 10 years of blog posts on everything from study habits to career advice and more - and read one of the business books everyone will be reading this year to engage in this discussion further. Connect with Cal Newport Website: calnewport.com | Book: Digital Minimalism Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes From the book: “The urge to check Twitter or refresh Reddit becomes a nervous twitch that shatters uninterrupted time into shards too small to support the presence necessary for an intentional life.” Why digital minimalism? (03:27) Deep Work - technology in the workplace Professional v. Personal use of technology (04:42) Engineering technology for constant use (05:52) Re-engineer the social experience to be addictive - constant, intermittent, incoming stream of social approval indicators - autotagging, liking, etc. Steve Jobs on minimalism (08:02) Original iPhone - making listening to music & talking on the phone more magical (Cal’s NYTimes OpEd: Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us To Use Our Smartphone Like This) Screen use iOS Average modern user - 2 h social media per day - Tristan Harris (10:58) Psychology of detaching yourself from social media Maximalist mindset - natural loss aversion What is Digital Minimalism? (13:04) How to minimize: 30 day Digital Declutter (14:38) Digital Declutter experiment with 1,600 people Modeling good digital habits for the younger people in your lives (19:41) Public perception on these shifts (20:52) NBA commissioner on social media and stress in players 2016 oped for NYTimes - & the commissioned response Increased social media use & loneliness (23:18) “Social Snacking” (Psychology today article on this topic) Focus is the new IQ - from Deep Work (25:10) Start with the value and then identify the tools that help; questions we should ask for instruction (26:14) Start with learning goals & add the goal of developing deep, focused thinkers Audio vs. visual for reading (29:33) Value of in-person lecture (31:34) Professional Rock-Paper-Scissors (on YouTube!) & what that teaches us about social psychology (32:27) Value of solitude (35:04) - “freedom from input of other minds” Lead Yourself First Solitude deprivation Stress & anxiety in generations with ubiquitous technology during adolescence Making the declutter process stick (39:35) Attention capital theory & Cal’s next book (42:16) From his blog: Attention switching blog post Attention residue (48:14) Willpower is a finite resource (50:25) Rituals around deep work can reduce the barrier of entry “Follow your passion” is bad advice (54:38) Blog post So Good They Can’t Ignore You Ngram viewer To learn more from Cal: calnewport.com - 10 years of blog posts Work Life Podcast with Adam Grant

Connect with Alyssa Gallagher & Kami Thordarson Website: www.inprogress-consulting.com/ | Twitter: @am_gallagher; @kami_thor Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with the Dream Team Websites: learningpersonalized.com, habitsofmindinstitute.org, nuatc.org | Twitter: @allison_zmuda, @benakallick Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with ASCD Website: www.ascd.org | Twitter: @ASCD, @ASCDConf, #Empower19

Episode 035: Dwayne Reed, Welcome to the 4th Grade :) In the first of our mini-series highlighting the conversations at the ASCD Empower 2019 Conference (#Empower19 for more on social media as well…), we sit down with inspirational teacher Mr. Dwayne Reed from Chicago Public Schools. Please enjoy this quick discussion about getting to know our classroom by starting with ‘you’, then ‘them’, then ‘we’, a quick reprise of his keynote at the General Session of the conference. (Becky’s Chicago accent comes back a little harder in this episode, too, so brace yourselves for that…) Connect with Dwayne Reed Twitter: @TeachMrReed | Facebook: Mr. Dwayne Reed Connect with Vrain Waves Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with ASCD Website: www.ascd.org | Twitter: @ASCD, @ASCDConf, #Empower19 Links & Show Notes ASCD Empower Conference in Chicago, IL - upcoming ASCD conferences Welcome to the 4th Grade on YouTube (01:31) Ron Clark - bread / pizza analogy Overview of his speech - relationships matter (08:08) Who am I (08:42) Who are THEY (09:30) Who are WE (10:32) - and “Sharing the Shine” Working on this throughout the year - how do our strengths advance as us a group (11:52) On Love (14:21) Angie Thomas’ The Hate You Give (Amazon, Overdrive) Self-care & relationships (18:51) Closing (20:51) & My Teacher Loves Me, with Mr. Reed & student, Tre

Connect with Cornelius Minor Website: kassandcorn.com | Twitter: @MisterMinor | Book: We Got This Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Cornelius’ Introduction & Background (02:05) Working through and reflecting on failure; teacher imagination (03:45) We Got This, the book, and the Teacher-as-Hero Narrative (05:59) Jamal Eigel, illustrator Why is the Teacher-as-hero narrative problematic? (07:40) People as humans not heroes; allies, not saviors Heinemann Podcast w/ Mr. Minor - Building Better Heroes We all want better (09:52) Teaching in the contemporary political moment We are pro-kid - to help them create opportunities for themselves “Anything that abridges opportunity is my enemy.” Challenge: How do we actualize ‘better’ How do we navigate the contemporary political moment? (12:05) Everything is iterative Story about Cornelius & his soccer team Bringing it back to the classroom - what it means to be a member of a community - advocacy & activism (16:10) The world hands you a curriculum - if you’re observant & you listen, you can do really powerful things How can we all help surface and solve those stories? (17:55) Racism, ableism, classism - Who should be working to solve it? Empathy is a really powerful tool Decolonize school by trying to understand each other Get to know our students better by listening - “Where is the poetry in this person?” (21:04) Spend our time observing (22:35) Labels are necessary shorthand but we have to avoid getting trapped in those (23:08) Disability spread - the spread effect (23:57) Hip Hop Ed (24:31) #hiphoped Art vs. product (25:08) At the heart of hip hop is innovation / engineering / iterative design Fearless around the act of creation Hip hop came out of the Bronx Can’t teach without the crowd How can we be more fearless in our creation? (28:36) What is school? True creation is messy & noisy - where are we leaving space for that during the school day? Embrace approximation (instead of perfection) (30:12) How do we create space for learning from each other? (31:45) Be deliberate about it Ms. Disbrow as Cornelius’ mentor Watching specific teaching moves, going into each other’s classrooms at least once a week - specific, scheduled time to watch, then specific, scheduled time to practice the learning Practices in literacy instruction (35:49) Students and book selection - craft independence “We’re here to create book culture.” Independent reading time in class (37:51) Agency for students (39:05) Modeling in writing (39:52) Lucy Calkins / Reading & Writing Project Readers Workshop / Writers Workshop Writing essays - “Essay is a journey of thought.” (39:50) Is our own ability a ceiling on our kids’ progress? Letting go of power without letting go of control (44:27) Physics of human relationships Create multiple points of investment / sharing power “How can I raise a kid’s status in front of their peers?” How to teach with deep community engagement (48:18) Parents & teachers need to see each other as experts How can I labor to understand each student in order to give them the best possible experience? To learn more from Cornelius Minor: Kassandcorn.com Heinemann.com - We Got This Loads of Free Resources from the Book!! Graphic organizers for your own Action Research to support your reflection & iteration @MisterMinor on Twitter @CorneliusMinor on Instagram Wrap Ups & Take Aways (52:21)

Episode 032: Sylvia Acevedo, Girl Scouts & STEM In this episode, Girl Scout CEO Sylvia Acevedo shares so much wisdom and insight into how to reach learners at every level, especially girls. Her stories, both from her own life and from being the CEO of girl scouts and seeing the projects that students are working on, are sure to inspire! Stay tuned after the episode for more classroom tips and instructional resources. Connect with Sylvia Acevedo Website: www.sylviaacevedo.org; https://www.girlscouts.org/ | Twitter: @SylviaAcevedo | Book: Path to the Stars Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Sylvia on being an Author, Entrepreneur, Engineer, and Rocket Scientist (01:54) Head Start program / Girl Scouts of America Sylvia on telling her story: Path to the Stars (03:18) Importance of math & programming in Middle School Fashion Institute of Technology in NY Early experiences with Girl Scouts & how they shaped her interests (07:17) One of the first Hispanics, male or female, to get a Masters Degree in Engineering from Stanford Troop leader helped her explore her interest in science Estes Rocket Kit Cooking is just like Science Resilience, determination, & confidence Girl Scout Cookie Program (10:43) - Create your future, create your own opportunities Never walk away from a sale unless you’ve heard ‘No’ three times Persistence, Resilience, and getting to Yes (11:30) Girl Scouts impact (13:02) Half of all female elected officials were girl scouts; almost every female astronaut was a girl scout Girl Scouts Alumnae Impact Study Report Sylvia’s CEO Patch (13:38) Voyager 2 Barriers to success (16:46) Find out the barrier & address that - what is the reason behind that ‘No’? Bilingualism (20:11) Bilingual brain development & creativity Name changes (21:15) - “Sylvia Elia Acevedo Monge” → Sylvia Acevedo English is the de facto language of business - competitive advantage What Public Ed can learn from Girl Scouts (24:21) Learning organization (story behind the badges) Look at potential → Build skills → Take Action Caring adult / troop leader Include all 5 senses in the work Bronze, Silver, Gold Awards for service Every year a few girls change state laws with their community action Child Marriage Law in NH Smoking laws No Straw November Girl Scout Gold Awards Girl Scouts Mission: “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” Eco-gloo STEM + Civic Action (31:54) Focus on how to make the world a better place To girls, ranking is not as important as linking Learning skills in a girl-only space (36:35) De facto norm is the male experience (37:48) Decoding the Digital Girl report Girl Scouts research Cybersecurity Cancer Research on women (41:10) Drug studies based on 180 pound male Increasing partnerships with schools (43:36) Number of programs / ways to implement Ben & Becky’s takeaways (45:34) Out of our Heads and into the Classroom (47:55) Gold Award - adding in high, difficult goals for your classroom Badges (digital or real) IBM Badging program for its employees Community aspect - videos to students Civic Engagement in K12 classrooms: NCLCE Guidebook / Other resources from Jenny Pettit of SVVSD Put that you were / are a Girl Scout on your LinkedIn Profile!! Join the Girl Scout Network!

Episode 031: Design Thinking for School Leaders Co-authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson stop by Vrain Waves to share the 5 elements of design-inspired leadership. Alyssa & Kami “believe that educators can solve the challenges that face our schools faster and more effectively than any policy, top down mandate, or expensive commercial solution.” Tune in as they explain how design, creativity, and observation can help us navigate and advocate for change. Connect with Alyssa Gallagher & Kami Thordarson Website: www.inprogress-consulting.com/ | Twitter: @am_gallagher; @kami_thor Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Visit Vrainwaves.com for full episodes, show notes, and more, and to give us feedback! Episode w / Dr. Robert Dillon - Designing Learning Spaces Episode w / The Tech Rabbi - Educated by Design Design Thinking for School Leaders (01:27) Episode w / Stephen Schedletsky Intro to Alyssa & Kami (02:37) Why should we think like designers? & Wicked Problems (03:32) Powerlessness & Agency (05:21) Everything around us has been designed, everything can be redesigned. (07:07) Building Creative Confidence (07:53) Remain curious Accidental design (09:31) Role of a school principal (10:20) Building Empathy (11:57) Shadow a Student (12:41) Shadow a Teacher Reading fiction to build empathy Observation to build empathy (14:10) Swiffer design story Design-inspired leadership (18:57) 5 Roles: Opportunity Seeker (problem-finding), Experience Architect, Rule Breaker, Producer (Bias toward Action), Storyteller Stitchfix story - delight your user (22:32) “What if” sessions (25:11) 2 bucket challenge warm up (27:10) Tina Seelig, Stanford professor Experience Architect (30:43) Colorado Education Initiative Menlo park Superintendent - Erik Burmeister; community tour Perspective matrix (34:53) The End of Average (37:11) Design toward the edges (37:21) OXO - extreme design Microsoft Inclusive Design Mistake stories (39:24) (HBR article about embarrassing story before brainstorming) For more: Leadlikeadesigner.com Takeaways (43:07) IDEO - Teachers Guild - Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit Teachers Guild newest collaboration: How might we strengthen communication and trust between families and teachers to better support students’ success?

Educated By Design with The Tech Rabbi In his new book, Educated by Design, The Tech Rabbi Michael Cohen shares his journey to education through design, while providing useful tools and resources for the reader to help expand students’ belief in their own creative ability. Today on Vrain Waves, he shares many of these insights with us! Connect with The Tech Rabbi Website: https://thetechrabbi.com/ | Twitter: @TheTechRabbi Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes 3 Episodes on Design Designing Learning Spaces with Dr. Robert Dillon This week = Design Thinking with Michael Cohen Next week = Leadership with Design What is Design Thinking (01:27) Stanford d.school model Divergent thinking Why for Design Thinking: To support self-efficacy so people realize their capacity to make an impact (03:04) “Everything around us has been designed so can be redesigned.” Collective Efficacy, effect size of 1.57 (03:36) Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (04:58) Educated By Design – Bad Idea Factory (05:45) Empathy – Define – Ideate – Prototype – Test Co Barry, CreatEdu – Airplane Wars Post it Note App (07:15) Design for fellow classmates (08:02) School Retool – Shadow a Student Challenge The Tech Rabbi (09:13) – Michael Cohen ISTE Keynote 2018 @TheTechRabbi on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Educated By Design book Everybody has intrinsic creative ability (14:05) Functional fixedness (15:10) Daniel Pink Episode of Vrain Waves – his book Drive The Candle Problem – Dunker’s Problem 30 Circle Challenge Connecting Education & Design (19:38) Design is about understanding the needs of others & then creating a solution 2 Types of Designers; Fiver.com for logo development vs. Boutique customized design Adobe’s MAX Conference Subskills of Design (23:08) Improving in Empathy (25:14) Empathy Maps (Dave Grey, St Louis) Think – Do – Say – Feel Kindness by the Dozen Dan Heath Episode (29:53) Entrepreneurship class – Survey / Xerox Divergent thinking & student choice at Elementary & Middle levels (33:47) Evaluate process vs. product / growth & reflection Humility & Service to Others (37:37) Wrap Ups & Reflections (42:18)

Episode 029, Dr. Robert Dillon: The Space We’ve covered what we teach, and how we teach, and why we teach… but we have never really talked about WHERE we teach. So today, enjoy the insights and inspirations of Dr. Robert Dillon. In this interview, we discuss the research behind where we learn, how we can put this research into practice by making small changes to our environment, and strategies for keeping this top of mind as we move throughout the school year. Connect with Dr. Robert Dillon Website: www.drrobertdillon.com/ | Twitter: @drrobertdillon Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes David Thornburg - 3 archetypal learning spaces (05:45) Campfire, Watering Hole, Cave Cooperative Learning Structures / Kagan strategies (07:09) Quiz, Quiz, Trade Intro to Dr. Robert Dillon (09:46) The Space, the book - co-authored by Dillon & Rebecca Louise Hare St Vrain’s Innovation Center Why Space Matters (11:32) Movement, choice, active engagement (12:30) John Medina’s quote: “If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom.” - from Brain Rules Designing Learning spaces (14:01) Optimize the perimeter Color, Clutter, Visual Noise = distraction “We always have control over less in our classrooms.” Strategies to declutter (14:50) Do I still need that anchor chart? Ask students every 2 weeks “Where our students learn matters. Are they guests? Or are they collaborators? (17:04) Steelcase (19:10) Steelcase research on Education spaces University of Melbourne research on ed spaces: LEaRN (Learning Environments Applied Research Network) Vanderbilt on Learning Spaces Interaction Geography (20:03) - how people move through the space Example The need for Quiet (21:05) The cost of interruptions (Washington Post, Forbes, Fast Company) Bob’s favorite learning spaces (24:08) What’s on the walls? (25:26) More images of students doing the work vs the ‘perfect’ finished products Process over product Accelerant for classroom management (28:02) Rocky Mountain Elementary Open Educational Resources (29:49) OER Commons Engage NY math curriculum What are the verbs for your space? (31:29) Hacks for improving space (33:01) Natural light; simulate nature Use visual displays to do so Balance ‘green time’ with ‘screen time’ Classroomscreen.com Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (34:50) 7 principles: Equitable Use, Flexibility in Use, Simple and Intuitive Use, Perceptible Information, Tolerance for Error, Low Physical Effort, Size and Space for Approach and Use #LearningSpaces on twitter / instagram & Flexspace.com How to keep up with these things (40:57) “Release trapped wisdom into the system.” To learn more: drrobertdillon.com; @drrobertdillon on twitter Reflections from Ben & Becky (43:31) Suzy Evans - teacher clip on assessment-capable learners & using space during assessment (45:21) LEAVE US A MESSAGE!!! 720-900-1741

Episode 028, Into the Classroom For our first show of 2019, we decided to outsource for more tangible tips and creative ideas for your classroom to kick off second semester. We asked Vrain Waves listeners to give us a 2-3 minute voice clip of them describing something in their classroom or their practice that they wanted to share with a broader audience - an extended version of our Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom segment. Here’s the result - we hope you enjoy, and would love it if you would contribute too! We’ll likely include more of these in different episodes, so please call us (720-900-1741) or email us with a short voice memo and we’ll share your ideas with our audience! Thank you so much, and Happy New Year! Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Email: [email protected], [email protected] Links & Show Notes (02:13) Megan Soderlund (Teacher, HS Social Studies - @megss_8) → Unit planning with creative essential questions. Ex: Was farming a mistake? Was Alexander the Great overrated? (03:49) Catrina Estrada (Assistant Principal - @CatrinaEstrada) → Get rid of red notification bubbles with a separate email for junk mail / subscriptions (04:54) Adam Wellington (Teacher, APUSH & Gov - @awellington83) → “Make a Meme” class openers - https://imgflip.com/ (07:02) Ann Feldman (Tech Integration Specialist - @annfeldman1) → Leverage Class Kick & its audio feature for descriptive feedback (09:52) Thom Gibson (Teacher, Middle School math / video / robotics - @gibsonedu; The Thom Gibson Podcast; https://thomgibson.com/) → Consider starting a classroom economy (11:14) Casey Luker (Learning Technology Coach - @missluker) → BreakoutEDU boxes and the reflections for different participants that come along with the experience (13:56) Keith Kennison (Teacher, Middle school Math & Science - @kennison_keith) → Join students in exploring the Why, modeling inquiry and learning through challenge (16:00) Shelly Stevens (Instructor, Teacher Prep Program - @smbpinky) → Interactive Daily Agendas via google slides - Catlin Tucker on interactive daily agendas (20:24) Heather Brubaker (Teacher, elementary art) → Cross-Disciplinary Challenge; PE / Science / Art; unlikely partner challenge - “Understanding is an Art” (22:15) Diane Lauer (Assistant Superintendent of Priority Programs and Academic Support - @MrsLauer) → Professional development through video coaching / video for self-growth - Harvard’s MQI Project (Mathematical Quality of Instruction) - Harvard CEPR Visibly Better website / #visiblybetter hashtag on twitter (26:19) Matt Hawkins (Teacher, Design & Innovation - @mrhawkinsgl) → Landmarks design challenge & building with Minecraft; Minecraft Education Edition (28:39) Kim Wiggins (Assessment Coordinator - @KWigginsSVVSD) → student empowerment through creating assessment-capable learners; assessment as done with students vs. to students; Learning goals vs. performance goals (30:48) Sarah Pomranka (Teacher, IB - @sarahpom) → Talking individually with each student for feedback, both before & after assignments; + learning technology to demonstrate understanding (32:16) Nate Wilcox (Teacher - @natewilcox) → Shortcuts app (formerly Workflows) (33:17) Anna Mills (Teacher, Innovation / Neuroscience - @millsanna1) → Integrating neuroscience understanding into K-8 curriculum (36:06) Felecity Treptow (ADE - @felecitytreptow) → Voice Memos app for the classroom (37:22) Carly Adams (Teacher - @missadams08) → Apple Classroom to organize learning technology (38:18) Michelle Shory & Irina McGrath (ESL Instructional Coaches - @michelleshory, @irina_mcgrath) → Use closed captioning in Google Slides during presentations - use Screencastify to record; YouTube Clips - settings: adjust speeds, add closed captioning; Google Translate - conversation mode - Things We Wish We Knew 6 Months Ago on Wakelet.com

Number 5: Episode 5 with Dave Burgess: “Mediocrity doesn’t motivate.” Episode 11 with Dan Meyer: “Never assume anyone even cares.” / “Teach math as if it were an elective.” Episode 9 with Daniel Pink: “Time plays a much bigger role than we realize… we are temporal creatures.” “Pay careful attention to endings.” Number 4: Episode 14 with Dr. Brent Duckor & Dr. Carrie Holmberg: “Kids need to build on prior knowledge & associations.” Episode 10 with Jennie Magiera: “Treat students like they are human beings.” Number 3: Episode 23 with Dan Heath: “Beware of the soul sucking force of reasonableness.” Episode 21 with Catlin Tucker: “Our classroom spaces should be places where everybody is experimenting, everybody is taking risks, and everybody is learning. That can’t just be the students.” Number 2: Episode 04 with Kim Scott: “Radical candor is about how to collaborate effectively with a group of people.” Episode 02 with Dr. Tony Wagner: “Our profession is afflicted with the curse of isolation.” “Isolation is the enemy of improvement, it is the enemy of innovation and it is the enemy of science.” PD Credits for listening to Vrain Waves: www.tinyurl.com/vrainwavesPD Number 1: Episode 18 with John Hattie: “Know thy impact.” “I couldn’t care less how teachers teach.” Goals - Episode 26 with Stephen Shedletsky THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with Start with Why Website: https://startwithwhy.com/ | Twitter: @steveshed, @simonsinek | Stephen's recent Discovery Ed Webinar Links & Show Notes Simon Sinek’s TED Talk summary (02:15) “People don’t buy what they do, they buy why you do it.” Why start with WHY? (04:12) What happens when you start with why? (05:07) Proctor & Gamble Image of Golden Circle here How you find your why… describing love (08:25) Look to the anthropology - map peaks and valleys in your life & why will emerge (08:56) Why lives in limbic brain, has no language Don’t put ‘I’m a teacher’ in your WHY (10:02) Take your ‘whats’ out of your ‘why’ Richard Branson (11:30) - Infusing fun so that we positively impact people’s lives - put a splash of red in a mundane world of grey Collective efficacy Context vs. content (14:28) “Vision without execution is hallucination.” - Edison Clarity of Why, Discipline of How, Consistency of What Discipline of How (16:18) Stephen’s WHY: To connect with people in meaningful ways so that we connect with depth and live in a more fulfilled world Helping students find their why (19:40) Life experience & brain development are crucial Does your why change? (22:04) If you live in line with what you believe, the result is passion, if you live out of line with what you believe, the result is stress. Organizational ‘why’ vs. individual ‘why’ (23:08) “For what reason are you proud to be a part of this institution?” 2 ways to change a population: Evolution or Revolution (24:45) Nested Whys Simon Sinek’s Why: To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that each of us can change the world for the better “We can each choose to be the leader we wish we had.” Consistency of What (26:08) Authenticity - we say & do what we actually believe What about when we’re not consistent with our why? (28:30) Ask for accountability Keep goal in our heads = 7-15% will accomplish Write goals down = 45% will accomplish Share goals with someone we care about = >80% will accomplish (Note: I couldn’t find where Stephen found these numbers, so don’t have a link, but tried to look around online and found that the jury is kind of out on whether or not and when it’s a good idea to share your goals, with whom, what kind of feedback to receive, etc. There are a lot of factors here that make goal-sharing for accountability a grey area.) Continue - Start - Stop Leaders Eat Last (31:08) “A whisper is a shout.” Inspiration & Clarity, then Trust Safety, Value, Belonging General George Flynn (34:18) Definition of leadership - ask someone how they’re doing and care about the answer Fulfillment > Happiness (36:14) Work-Life Balance & Flow state (36:48) Martin Seligman Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Flow Flow = when you’re both challenged and skilled Books that have shaped Stephen’s worldview (38:40) Man’s Search For Meaning, Viktor Frankl Start with Why, Simon Sinek Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek Give and Take, Adam Grant The Infinite Game: Game Theory & Simon’s new book (40:02) Takeaways (43:07) Ben’s skills video (44:25) “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who can come alive.” - Howard Thurman Michelle Obama Cal Newport - So Good They Can’t Ignore You tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

Episode 025, John Couch: Rewiring Education In this episode, we speak with a former executive of one of the most influential companies on the planet! In addition to being a personal friend of Steve Jobs, John Couch was the Vice President of Education at Apple Inc. for 16 years. This giant in education enthralls us with stories from his book, Rewiring Education, explains the merits of challenge-based learning, and shares why creativity is worth 100 IQ points! Couch and jobs pic Connect with John Couch Website: http://rewiringeducation.com/about/ Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Purpose of Education (06:22) 1912 Essay - Rockefeller, Board of Education Todd Rose, End of Average Lifelong learning & Challenge Based Learning (10:20) Some resources for CBL: Digital Promise | Apple | EdSurge Relevant, Creative, Collaborative, & Challenging Ex: Throw a dinner party (13:42) Rewiring Education (14:44) Change is the only constant Education Rewired (coming soon) - case studies Beyond School non profit (17:53) eSpark (18:43) SAMR (19:31) Space (20:10) Dr. John Medina - Brain Rules Campfire, watering hole, cave, mountaintop Marco Torres “Creativity is worth 100 IQ points.” How do you push a 20,000 pound marshmallow? (26:04) Microschools “The way we design our classrooms today will ultimately define our societies tomorrow.” Slides on website (28:43) Chuck Yeager / sound barrier Computer as a Mental bicycle Benefits of Failure (33:39) Technology is an environment (37:04) “We hire people that can solve a problem.” Graph of student engagement, Gallup Lisa Mercier | I Wanna Iguana design challenge (39:38) Everyone Can Create / #everyonecancreate #makesomevrainwaves tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

Episode 024: Dr. Megan Sumeracki & Dr. Yana Weinstein - The Learning Scientists The Learning Scientists are cognitive psychologists who spend their time sharing research-backed study methods via their podcast, their blog, and their new book, Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Today, they talk to us about their research and how it translates into the classroom. Enjoy! Connect with The Learning Scientists Website: www.learningscientists.org/ Twitter: Dr. Weinstein: @doctorwhy; Dr. Sumeracki: @DrSumeracki; Learning Scientists: @AceThatTest Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes IES Report: Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning, 2007 (05:06) Learning Scientists (LS) 6 strategies: Spaced Practice, Retrieval Practice, Elaboration, Interleaving, Concrete Examples, Dual Coding Retrieval Practice (07:48) The Testing Effect Concept maps from memory Blog post Podcast episode on retrieval Cognition and Learning Lab at Purdue (12:47) Deconstruct concepts into pieces for retrieval (15:15) Retrieval practice helps with flexible application of learned facts / concepts in new situations (17:08) Cognitive Processes & Creativity (18:26) Learning Scientists’ Weekly Digests - subscribe today! Recent digest on creativity Spacing (19:11) Podcast episode on Spaced Practice Blog post about spacing Inefficiency of cramming for long-term benefit (21:08) (Blog post) Weekly Digest: Teachers’ Implementation of Spaced Practice Interleaving (25:08) Weekly Digest on Interleaving Podcast episode on Interleaving Blog posts on Interleaving Studies on interleaving - performance starts worse but is better in long term; “The Effects of Interleaved Practice” - Taylor & Rohrer, 2010 (30:47) Felicia Smith (story) Learning styles (36:04) Weekly Digest on learning styles Sharing the strategies with students (43:04) Strategies Posters on the learning scientists website Out of our heads & into the classroom (46:37) Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide Time logs (47:43) @AWellington83 Find Becky’s sketchnotes from previous episodes at vrainwaves.com Learningscientists.org The Effortful Educator RetrievalPractice.org / Make it Stick “Every time a memory is brought to mind, it is reconstructed and reinforced. When students take a quiz, they’re not just checking their memory, they’re enhancing it.” ATTN ST VRAIN TEACHERS: Please feel free to reach out to Kim Wiggins, one of the SVVSD Assessment Coordinators, who has more resources and a huge passion for these topics! [email protected], or find her on twitter @KWigginsSVVSD. Episode 024: Dr. Megan Sumeracki & Dr. Yana Weinstein - The Learning Scientists The Learning Scientists are cognitive psychologists who spend their time sharing research-backed study methods via their podcast, their blog, and their new book, Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Today, they talk to us about their research and how it translates into the classroom. Enjoy!

Connect with Dan Heath Website: heathbrothers.com **Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Dan’s intro to Power of Moments (3:01) UPC scanner Bush surprise (4:15) Power of Moments in the classroom (5:58) Sign up for Heath Brothers Email Newsletter Ed examples from Power of Moments (06:49) What are peak moments (07:24) Community College showcase (08:10) What’s it like to be a 7th grader (09:03) The call for more peak moments in the classroom (10:48) Research on deeper learning (11:25) - not just for fun; reinforce and motivate the learning (Learning Policy Institute, AIR, more from AIR) Example of Peak moment: Hillsdale High, San Mateo CA (12:21) Susan Bedford (English) / Greg Jouriles (History) Trial of Human Nature (Video of Dan telling the story) “Beware the soul-sucking force of reasonableness.” (16:43) Peak moments are rarely reasonable Build peaks, don’t fix potholes (20:14) Magic Castle hotel in LA (YouTube Video of this story) Instinct in our lives that we can improve things by fixing the problems with them (23:04) Cool quote about this: “The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.” - Oren Harari In our schools, where do we prioritize efficiency over moments? Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection Flamboyan Foundation example at Stanton Elementary in DC; principal Carlie John Fisherow - Family engagement Four questions during home visits: Tell me about your child’s experiences in school, and about yours. Tell me about your hopes and dreams for your child’s future. What do you want your child to be someday? What do I need to do to help your child learn more effectively? A moment that triggered a change; relationships don’t progress in steady increments; some hours are more important than others Curse of Knowledge (33:18) Made to Stick is about communication; Power of Moments is about experience HBR article from Heath brothers on Curse of Knowledge Loudon academy of Science outside of DC - Functions example (37:02) First chapter of both books we’ve discussed are free online at heathbrothers.com Takeaways (41:33) GREAT free resources at heathbrothers.com when you sign up for the newsletter

Connect with Allison Zmuda Twitter: @allison_zmuda | Website: allisonzmuda.com, learningpersonalized.com Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes To skip ahead to the interview, go to the 8 minute mark Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom: (01:20) Students keeping track of mistakes & analyzing errors: Student Assessment Reflection Template (uncommon schools); from Driven by Data (Santoyo) Another example A slightly different approach Mardi Gras Napkins (3:31) Annotating pictures with Markup (5:09) Vrain Waves Episode with George Couros Allison intro (08:20) Allison’s books (08:44) Allison on student engagement (learning is a voluntary endeavor) (09:00) What is engagement (10:30) Chart created with Robyn Jackson (Engaged or Compliant Learner) Real Engagement book Episode with Elizabeth Green (14:18) Constraints of Time (15:28) It’s not the topic, it’s the goals; what are you trying to go after? Classroom management / student behavior (18:15) Habits of Mind (19:16) Restorative Justice (20:40) Bena Kallick - Personalized Learning & Habits of Mind (21:17) Art Costa -ing verbs - we are all becoming Measuring engagement (23:27) Results-Only Learning Environment (26:49) 4 Cs of Real Engagement (28:14) Clarity, Context, Challenge, Culture Clarity = goal clarity; what are you aiming for? “The teacher is not the customer that the students are trying to make happy.” Understanding by Design (29:20) Challenge (30:07) Teacher modeling learning Allison’s challenge with her stroke (34:15) Professional Collaboration (41:05) Allison’s favorite examples of engagement (44:43) Learningpersonalized.com (47:40) “It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry...” Habits of Mind: Listening with Understanding and Empathy / Thinking Interdependently (51:20) Bad advice (52:30) - micromanaging content & skills Tools from Allison Zmuda: 7 Elements of Personalized Learning Using the sliders to personalize design

Connect with Catlin Tucker Twitter: @catlin_tucker | Website: catlintucker.com Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom: Timesaving hack: Ctrl + Cmd + Shift + 4 = copy screenshot to clipboard instead of desktop The Box of Awesome Metaphorical Fashion - another great one from Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom - Design us a t-shirt!! Catlin Tucker - Power Up Blended Learning (06:52) Christensen Institute on Blended Learning (07:31) Catlin’s definition of Blended learning: active, engaged learning in the classroom + active, engaged learning online; + more control over time, place, pace, and path of their learning experience; shift of control from teacher to student Catlin’s journey to blended learning (08:40) Fear of amount of time taken to move into blended learning (10:26) “Everybody is experimenting, taking risks, and learning [in a classroom].” (10:44) Students handling the extra work (13:17) More challenging to be a student in a student-centered classroom, but the decision-making / agency trade off pays off Assessment for learning (15:38) Grades as a carrot & carrots don’t work (+ our interview with Daniel Pink) Any assessment score can be reassessed in Catlin’s class Ongoing self-assessment station (18:04) & more info here Her latest book: Power Up Blended Learning 10 learning targets per unit (21:34) Station Rotations (22:49) Working with students during the day (26:18) instead of giving feedback at home at night Examples of stations (28:20) Hosting Online discussions (31:04) Bringing the momentum from online discussions back into the classroom (36:12) Schoology online discussions Backchannelchat as a replacement for Today’s Meet Four Corner Conversations routine (37:25) Shifting role of the teacher in the classroom (39:52) Students bring the meaning to the activities that she designs / then she is the coach Planning horizontally = turn your vertical agenda horizontal and break it into station rotations (41:43) (presentation, video) Vocabulary.com / noredink.com Tucker Time (46:33) = teacher-led station Power Up Blended Learning (47:35) Sustainable Infrastructure for Professional Learning Coaching / modeling / co-teaching / small Professional Learning Communities in buildings Catlin’s requests to leaders (55:40) Wrap Up (56:32)

Episode 020: George Couros, https://georgecouros.ca/blog/ When it comes to innovation in the classroom, George Couros is simultaneously the man, the myth and the legend! He stops by Vrain Waves to discuss mindsets, guinea pigs, and what parents really want for their students...tune in to find out more! Connect with George Couros Twitter: @gcouros | Website: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/ Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Episode 019 with Denise Pope (01:00) Episode 018 with John Hattie (01:30) Out of our heads and into the classroom (02:10) Last week: Classroomscreen.com Gamestorming.com / Atomize (03:10) Checklist co-creation (04:54) Atul Gawande: Checklist Manifesto book; articles (06:27) - concise, clear, collaborative #makesomevrainwaves George Couros Intro (07:05) What is an Innovator’s Mindset (07:44) Carol Dweck’s work on Growth Mindset Innovator’s Mindset definition: ‘the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talent are developed so that they lead to the creation of new and better ideas.’ George on being innovative (11:16) Blog: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/ Based on the Alberta Principal Quality Standards On balancing values / principles with fresh perspective (14:42) Writing to learn 360 view of ideas (15:42) Clive Thompson: “It’s easy to win an argument inside your head. But when you face a real audience, you have to be truly convincing.” Smarter Than You Think Uber driver story (18:20) Purpose of education (21:21) Strengths-based vs. deficit-based vs. data-driven vs. learner-driven (25:05) Strengths inside your own district, in your own colleagues RTI - Response to Intervention (27:57) Develop people instead of fix people Evidence-informed vs. data-driven (29:56) Compliance → Engagement → Empowerment (31:30) “Change never fails because it happens too early.” (35:51) Blog posts and trends in education (40:43) Stephen Covey - Speed of Trust Post on cursive / time for content Twitter: @gcouros | georgecouros.ca | Innovator’s Mindset Book Katie Martin | Vrain Waves Episode with Katie Martin George & Katie’s Podcast

Episode 019: Denise Pope, ChallengeSuccess.org Dr. Pope joins us on Vrain Waves to talk about the role that stress plays in our students lives, how we can work to decrease that cognitive takeover, and some digestible research we can both learn from and share with our parents. Enjoy!! Connect with Dr. Denise Pope Twitter: @chalsuccess | Website: http://www.challengesuccess.org/, https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/dpope Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Out of our heads and into the classroom (01:26) Classroomscreen.com (01:45) Google copy vs. edit url instructions (03:05) Critical Creativity (04:29) - Resume Rationale 4 Quadrant activity from Mandy Fernandes (06:38) #MakeSomeVrainWaves Denise Pope intro (07:51) - Challenge Success network | Overloaded and Underprepared Denise on purpose of education and the way we do school (08:37) Embracing change (11:15) Curriculum Construction at Stanford (12:03) Overloaded and Underprepared (14:23) Challengesuccess.org (14:45) Student academic stress, root cause (15:26) SPACE framework (17:58) Getting students involved (21:07) Stress & academic pressure PBL (23:32) Alternative & Authentic assessment (26:08) Choice, Voice, Revision, and Redemption, Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (28:33) Climate of Care (33:20); Advisory (35:39) Stress in adults (37:25) Block scheduling (40:02) The Jared Project | The Dot Project | Relationship Mapping (41:01) Educate Parents (42:39) Resources on challengesuccess.org | Grade-level Research Videos (44:41) White Papers (45:39) - homework and elementary education white paper Publications Overloaded and Underprepared Examples / Case Studies (47:45) Northern California, Wellness Curriculum in PE classrooms / mindfulness, meditation, stress, sleep Ann & Nate Levine Academy, Texas: “Show what you know” boxes on quizzes and tests Revision / retakes (49:51) (external article, opinion on Voice, Choice, Revision, Redemption) Elementary research - Play time, down time, family time (“PDF”) (50:23) Finland - 15 min recess every hour Homework in elementary school Denise Pope ppt on protecting PDF Wrap Up (53:23) Research for teachers (54:08)

Episode 018: John Hattie, Visible Learning We are so excited to share with you the conversation we were lucky enough to have with Dr. John Hattie - educational researcher, professor, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, and overall brilliant person. Please enjoy, and send your questions, comments, discussions to us @VrainWaves to keep this conversation going! Connect with Dr. John Hattie Twitter: @john_hattie, @VisibleLearning | Website: https://visible-learning.org/ Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Out of our heads and into the classroom (01:18) Graphic Jam / dual coding (02:15) Everyone Can Create, Apple (03:45) Show me your values (04:17) Intro to John Hattie (07:11) | Hattie’s Meta-Analyses Start of interview (07:49) Hardware / software / inside - How we think (08:52) What is visible learning & what problem does visible learning answer? (10:38) 95-97% of what we do increases achievement to some degree Above average effect = >0.4 effect size / List of influences Know thy impact (13:59) Professional development (15:25) Moving from ‘how we teach’ to ‘how we interpret our impact’ Hattie’s visible learning team workflow: (17:30) Teachers are to “D.I.E.” for Diagnosis = Needs Analysis (16 to 20 factors) - ask staff, teachers, students Intervention & Implementation Make sure the intervention addresses the diagnosis Implement effectively Evaluation Use a portfolio of evidence to change how we think Evaluation vs. Research (20:03) Evaluative mindset for educators Graham Nuthall’s research | book: Hidden Lives of Learners | Feedback discussion (23:28) Feedback given v. feedback received What type of feedback is received? (25:30) Importance of where to go next Amount of feedback the teacher receives about where to go next (26:40) June 2018 EdWeek article w / Dr. Hattie on Feedback (2018) 2011 article on feedback Directions for Assessment in New Zealand | NZ Assessment for Learning Visible Learning Feedback book, 2018 Assessment-Capable Learners (28:33) Book: Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners Teaching students to be interpretive about their test scores Book: 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning Assessment as helping the teacher Nuthall: students know 40-60% of what is being taught ASCD Article - Fisher, Frey, Hattie: Assessment-Capable Learners Class Size Discussion (34:24) 0.2 effect size Same instruction in smaller v. larger classes (35:45) Hattie’s 2015 Reports: What Doesn’t Work in Education: The Politics of Distraction | What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise Gene Glass research Andreas Schleicher: TED Talk - Use Data to Build Better Schools Classroom relationships (39:32) Henry Levin (40:52) - The Economics of Student Time | Mapping the Economics of Education How do we make schools more inviting for students (40:03) Science of Learning Center in Melbourne (42:23) Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (43:20) Strengths-based Education (45:56)

** How to Rock the First Week of School** And we’re back!! Thanks for tuning in for Season 2 of Vrain Waves! In this episode Ben and Becky discuss and share activities to make this first week in your classroom the best one ever! Please share your ideas using the #makesomevrainwaves so that we can learn from each other! Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes The Power of Moments (02:20) Episode 5 Season 1 (03:06) - Dave Burgess Premortems with Daniel Pink (06:23) Show students what they’ll be able to do at the end of the year (08:28) - story from Allison Zmuda Episode 6 Season 1 (09:50) - Dan Ryder - recipes from Intention the Book Name tent paper dialogue example (10:30) Rewiring Education (12:41) - John Couch - What is the purpose of school? 5 numbers that tell your life story (13:42) - Here’s the tweet I saw this in - idea attributed to @Jeff_Zoul Co-create norms (14:38) - Episode with Dr. Carrie Holmberg & Dr. Brent Duckor

End-of-Season Call to Action This time around, instead of standing on the shoulders of more giants, Ben & Becky reflect on the season with their simple next steps for action and invite you to do the same. #MakeSomeVrainWaves with us this summer and share your plans @VrainWaves on twitter or Facebook, or on our website at www.vrainwaves.com. Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Links & Show Notes Knowing-Doing Gap (01:00) Devorah Heitner episode (01:40) “The gap between knowing and doing is more important than the one between doing and knowing.” The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action (02:18) Challenge for our listeners (06:00) Easy-to-implement action steps & share with #MakeSomeVrainWaves Ben & Becky’s action steps (07:08) Peak-Trough-Recovery calendar color coding - Daniel Pink (07:30) Giving clear feedback - Kim Scott - reminder with Momentum: “It’s not mean, it’s clear.” (08:09) “Talk Less, Listen More” on the syllabus - Jennie Magiera - ask participants / students to hold you accountable (08:50) Say no to projects you can’t handle - Jennie Magiera / Tony Wagner (09:30) Journaling & reflecting, capturing ideas - Tony Wagner / Dan Meyer (10:30) Preheating the grill - teaser clips for new episodes - Dave Burgess (11:04) Control your state - Dave Burgess - 5 minute journal app (11:42) Share your ideas! #MakeSomeVrainWaves - tweet out your action steps from any professional learning so we can learn from each other. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!

Episode 014: Dr. Brent Duckor & Dr. Carrie Holmberg, Mastering Formative Assessment Moves In the foreword for this book, Dr. John Hattie describes the work of Dr. Duckor and Dr. Holmberg as “[bringing to life] how to think of one’s self on a trajectory of powerful practices that unite instruction and assessment.” In many conversations, we tend to separate the two and don’t think deeply enough about the intersection of instruction and assessment. A highly recommended read from the 2 authors with publisher ASCD. Our conversation with them should give you a good idea of what their perspective before or after you read. Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with Dr. Duckor & Dr. Holmberg Twitter: @BrentDuckor, @CarrieHolmberg | Website: http://validitypartners.com/ | Book: Mastering Formative Assessment Moves (Amazon | ASCD) Links & Show Notes Skip to Minute 7:55 to get to the Interview with Drs. Duckor & Holmberg Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (03:51) Two Truths & A Lie (04:07) Create a meme (4:44) Analogies (05:26) Introductions to guests (06:47) 7 moves: Priming, Posing, Pausing, Probing, Bouncing, Tagging, Binning Priming: Preparing the groundwork; establishing & maintaining norms; acting to acculturate students to learning publicly Posing: Asking questions that size up the learner’s needs in the lesson and across the unit Pausing: Giving students adequate time to think and respond as individuals or in groups Probing: Asking follow up questions that use information from actual student responses Bouncing: Sampling a variety of responses intentionally & systematically to better map the terrain of student thinking Tagging: Publicly representing variation in student thinking by creating a snapshot or a running record of class responses Role of Formative Assessment (08:52) National Research Council, 1999 book: How People Learn: Mind, Brain, Experience, and School (free pdf download) “Kids are better served when we build the bridges from where their own understanding is to the content than when we ignore it and pretend that they’re a blank slate.” Why do Formative Assessment (10:57) Identifies the gap between what we think we’re teaching and what the students are understanding Teacher decision making and the formative assessment moves (13:32) Sound principles in educational assessment (14:23) - 2001 National Research Council: Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment Observation and interpretation Priming & visibility of thinking (15:36) (From the Book: “...priming can help make not only learning visible, priming can go a long way toward making students visible”) Practical uses of priming (16:43) “We all have the right to be wrong.” “We all can risk an explanation.” “Our voices should be heard.” Habits of Heart / Habits of Mind (18:15) Dr. Holmberg on being a better listener, having language for the moves to get better at them (19:27) Pausing (20:50) Essential to processing time Mary Budd Rowe on Wait Time; another Kenneth Tobin Pauses of 3 to 5 seconds are where the magic happens Inside the Black Box, Black & Wiliam (impact of FA on student achievement) Balance between efficiency and authenticity with follow up questioning Tagging (26:38) Visual representations of student responses High tech or low tech Releasing control & embracing anxiety (29:49) “Teachers, like artists, are often dealing with the complexity of the moment.” Tagging around the room or virtually, what do we do with tagging after the process (32:57) Bouncing as a precursor to tagging (34:05) Assessment triangle - p 44 (Cognition, Observation, Interpretation), how students develop competence (34:18) from Knowing What Students Know, NAP Synchronizing the 7 moves & using common language (36:08) Targeted bouncing on student writing (37:24) Binning to make instructional decisions (38:20) How do we get better at the 7 moves? (39:40) STEM & misconceptions (41:10) Predict → Observe → Explain routine from Stanford (41:30) - use for your teaching Dr. John Hattie Dr. Lorrie Shepard, University of Colorado Jim Popham Robert Linquanti, WestEd Assessment-Capable Learners; student role in formative assessment (43:52) Transparency with students with FA (45:35) To learn more from Brent & Carrie: validitypartners.com (free resources & email links) Takeaways with Ben & Becky (47:55) Tweet us @VrainWaves with your Formative Assessment Moves!!

Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with AJ Juliani Twitter: @ajjuliani | Website: http://ajjuliani.com/ | Books: AJ Juliani on Amazon Links & Show Notes Skip to Minute 9 to get to the Interview with AJ Juliani What is Genius Hour? (01:33) Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (02:07) Structure (02:30) Getting Started with Genius Hour Genius Hour Blueprint Numbers app template Inspiration (03:45) | Kid President on Empowerment | Jack Andraka TED Talk | Caine’s Arcade | Genius Hour Examples Authentic Audience (05:17) Three N’s (06:46) - What did you learn that’s new, what do you need from me, what are you going to do next? #20time / #geniushour AJ Juliani Intro (9:07) - Director of Technology and Innovation at Centennial School District Genius Hour, what it is, how AJ started with it (10:40) Read Daniel Pink’s book Drive - Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose The 20% Project blog post | #20Time Joy Kirr, Gallit Zvi, Hugh McDonald, Denise Krebs The Genius Hour Manifesto Examples of Genius Hour projects (15:28) How Genius Hour works (17:42) Planning → Topic Selection → Pitch → Research → Making → Presentations → Reflection Topic Selection: March Madness Bracket for ideas Shark Tank Pitch - 1 minute What they’re going to learn / make Why they’re going to learn / make it How they’re going to learn / make it What will success look like Mapping to Standards (21:12) Managing Time (22:53) Getting started with Inquiry-based learning (25:35) Get kids comfortable talking without the teacher asking a bunch of questions: Discussion games, sentence stems, fishbowls, symposiums, etc Genius Hour / Passion Projects for teachers (28:34) Teacher Innovation Pitch in Centennial SD Student Innovation Lab / Centennial X Design Thinking (31:50) Launch book | co-authored with John Spencer Chris Lehmann quote: “If you assign a project and get back 30 of the exact same thing, that’s not a project, that’s a recipe. HBR Article on Design Thinking Stanford d.school IDEO Failures to watch out for with Design Thinking & Genius Hour (36:08) Managing expectations & building early Project Global Inform Prototype early Trust & Relationships - be self-reflective Compliance - Engagement - Empowerment Continuum (42:34) Empower book Developing choice & decision skills (44:47) 14,000 hours with students - how much of that time do we give them practice making choices and decisions? Other podcasts / interviews with AJ Cult of Pedagogy | AJ’s podcast, Inside Innovation | TLTalk Radio Homework for teachers (47:46) What were the last 5 things you learned and why were you excited about learning them? Then, think about how you learn best, and then think about your classroom Ajjuliani.com - @ajjuliani on all social media Post interview takeaways with Becky & Ben (49:34)

Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with Dr. Heitner Twitter: @DevorahHeitner | Website: https://www.raisingdigitalnatives.com/ | Book: ScreenWise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in their Digital World Links & Show Notes Virtual assistants (1:45) - Google conference virtual assistant preview video Smarter Than You Think (from here on out known as “STYT”) by Clive Thompson (4:19) The Audience Effect (4:40) - pattern study with little kids; also written up in STYT How much more we’re writing with technology (05:50) Introduction to Dr. Devorah Heitner (08:15) Response to people panicking about technology (09:04) Definition of digital natives (10:38) - still need mentorship What they love: Access to content & diversity of content; sharing & creating content (11:35) Dr. Heitner’s TEDx Talk: Empathy is the App Mentoring > monitoring (15:10) (Blog post on this / Mentorship Manifesto) Teaching Digital Citizenship (17:26) Focus on the positive, share in smaller circles, show positive models on social media Modeling good digital behavior (19:52) Toby - google chrome extension to save your tabs Tech savvy vs. Experiential wisdom (22:43) What students have to say about tech in the classroom (24:40) SAMR model “App-enabled, not app-dependent.”(http://blog.yalebooks.com/2013/11/18/app-enabled-or-app-dependent/) Thoughts on fears around screen time (27:10) Consumption v. creation Parent-Teacher digital communication (28:37) Including parents virtually in class as mystery readers, guest speakers, etc (29:40) Temper our expectations (30:17) Connectivity Stress (33:58) Setting up technology boundaries / Intentional Tech Habits (34:40) Humane Tech / @TristanHarris / @adamleealter Tips: Turn off wifi during deep work; Double / triple screening; give start and end times for distractions Devorah on her successes and being flexible (37:48) Rapid Fire (40:40) Wrap up (45:05) - Cal Newport Book: Deep Work

Episode 011: Dan Meyer, Desmos Dan Meyer has been revolutionizing math instruction for years, and in this episode he shares with us the importance of mentors in his life, a few of his favorite teaching mantras, mathematics as storytelling, and how to notice and develop perplexity. Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with Dan Meyer Twitter: @ddmeyer | Website: blog.mrmeyer.com | Desmos Links & Show Notes Math is a (usually poorly told) story (02:22) Put students in a place to experience new learning through a need Dan’s math journey & mentors (4:20) “Be Less Helpful” (6:58) Let students do the interesting, important work of the thinking about the problem Thanksgiving dinner task example - by giving all the information necessary you’re making the problem less interesting, losing the opportunity for deeper thinking, and blocking some students out Discovery learning in the math classroom (9:52) You can always add, you can’t subtract (11:08) Once you add information, you change the nature of the challenge 3-act math (Dan Meyer’s spreadsheet; Dan Meyer’s ‘How-to’ / Graham Fletcher’s EL resources (12:39) Bucky the Badger task / Blog write up One 5th grade student: “While we were figuring it out, our ideas changed and it changed the question we were asking.” Subtract stuff from the problems in your curriculum (18:38) Popcorn container task Benjamin Baxter (20:23) “Never assume anyone even cares.” Teach math as though it were an elective Perplexity / Curiosity: Teaching as a science - reproducible (24:23) “Developing curiosity in ourselves and capturing those curious moments and presenting them in curious ways for other people, that has to be an ongoing discipline.” Benefits of being a connected educator (27:31) Quick growth; posing open questions and semi-formed ideas Memorization in math (30:26) Driving analogy Having as much as you can in your long-term memory makes more interesting work possible Practice with purpose, mix frequently with purposeful activities (not memorization drills) Offer them pictures of where their memorization will be used Math assessment (35:07) Break learning objectives down into smaller grains of learning and assess on each Standards-based Grading Talk to him more about this @ddmeyer Desmos (38:04) Free calculators Polygraph game If [vocabulary] is the aspirin, what is the headache? Students solve problems created by each other Teacher.desmos.com for more free resources Dan’s TED Talk tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback Lots of other videos of Dan’s keynotes, ideas, etc… Sign up for Dan’s newsletter on his blog

Connect with Vrain Waves Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb Connect with Jennie Magiera Twitter: @MsMagiera | Website: teachinglikeits2999.com | Book: Courageous Edventures Links & Show Notes Reflecting on Learning technology in classrooms (1:46) Jesse Buetow - This 5th Grade Life Podcast Jennie Magiera intro - book: Courageous Edventures (6:30) Chief Program Officer at Ed Tech Team ISTE 2018 in Chicago How do I differentiate with technology? But not lose my personal life in the meantime (9:20) I could transcend space and time by ‘cloning myself’ with videos What are innovative ways we can approach the problems teachers face every day? → Courageous EdVentures book is a problem based approach to this Innovation in the math classroom (12:07) Jennie’s history with math Learned that math is really creative & beautiful & inspiring Explain Everything - ToonTastic - tell the narrative of the mathematical story Other Math Heroes (16:40) Dan Meyer - blog.mrmeyer.com - 3 act math - twitter Mathalicious #mathchat NCTM conference How to know your students really well (19:40) Lunch in the cafeteria with students Be careful to see your students as whole people, not people we need to save - changes the types of questions you ask them One human being talking to another “Instead of asking students ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ ask, ‘who do you want to be today?’ In this way, we are no longer asking students to wait to matter.” Student agency (24:01) - empowering students so they are able to do things that will affect their own lives. Make time in your day to exercise those skills (25:10) National Teachers Academy 5 to 13 yo at this school speaking at public hearings and city hall, etc… given students an education in social justice, equity, and voice - being involved in their own community #giveNTAachance | @WeAreNTA | wearenta.com Everyone in the building believes in the power of student voice Preparing students for discussions in classrooms (29:49) - Be aware of what voices are in the room first - never try to colonize our student voices - Dr Chris Emdin @ Columbia Use your voice as a tool - different voices for different tools - mock debates - Today’s Meet (tutorial) - mock Twitter chats Jennie Magiera’s TED (& other) Talks Genius Hour (32:07) Flopped the first time because teacher always knows the answer, creativity is not fostered, asked for a rubric, didn’t know how to get an ‘A’ Ken Robinson - Schools Kill Creativity Teacher Innovation Exploration Plan (TIEP) Problem-Based Innovation for working through using learning technology in the classroom Select one challenge and then work systematically through to your solution Favorite time saving hacks (38:05) Use your inbox as a task list Four D’s of productivity - do, delegate, delete, delay Boomerang / Inbox by Gmail Automating assessment scoring - gForms, Flubaroo, gClassroom NPR Article - OK Go - Here it Goes Again (43:15) bit.ly/studentsrule Teachinglikeits2999.com Billboard: Talk Less, Listen More (46:15) How Jennie learned to say ‘No’ more (47:05) - notecard - say no to three things a month Takeaways (48:40) tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

Connect with Daniel Pink Twitter: @danielpink | Website: www.danpink.com | Book: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Links & Show Notes Daniel Pink Intro (00:46) ..* Drive (01:19) - Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose Prime your brain (2:50) ..* “Timing isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.” - Miles Davis (3:50) Biological clocks in every cell of our body Time of day & standardized testing - Denmark study (5:21) School start time for high schoolers (6:21) ..* Chronobiology / Chronotypes ..* American Academy of Pediatrics Report (don’t start school before 8:30) ..* Teen depression, teen obesity, lower test scores, more car accidents ..* Adults saying ‘don’t be lazy’ - remember how detrimental that can be from our discussion with Glenn Whitman! ..* We don’t take timing seriously (8:43) Phases of the day based on chronotype (9:53) ..* 15% are larks ..* 20% are owls ..* The rest of us are ‘third birds’ ..* Pattern of the day (Twitter, Daniel Kahneman) ..* Peak → Trough → Recovery “Our cognitive abilities don’t stay the same throughout the day.” (11:20) ..* Peak: Analytic work - most vigilant at this time ..* Trough: increase in medical errors, decrease in handwashing in hospitals, more car accidents: Administrative work - not a lot of brainpower ..* Recovery: High mood but less vigilant - time for Creative Work Scheduling (14:45) - Not just a logistical issue, it’s a pedagogical issue and a strategic issue ..* Only criterion we use is availability (rooms & people) when we schedule anything - we should give more weight to the ‘when’ ..* Time of day alone represents about 20% of variance in how someone performs on the job (15:50) ..* We’re intentional about the ‘what’ - the curriculum, the ‘who’ - who’s in the room, the ‘how’ - the pedagogy, but the ‘when’ takes a back seat, which is a big mistake. ..* Study of 2 million students in LAUSD - student performance in math in the morning vs. math in the afternoon ..* Corporate earnings calls - NYU study (19:07) - even led to temporary stock mispricing ..* Communicate important messages earlier in the day Taking breaks (22:02) ..* Breaks are undervalued ..* Something is better than nothing - even if 1 to 2 minutes, better than nothing; breaks should be social, even for introverts; moving is better than stationary; outside is better than inside; fully detached is better than semi-detached ..* We look at recess as a concession - recess is part of what we need to learn! ..* Denmark - 20 to 30 min break before those standardized tests, scores went back up Temporal Landmarks (24:48) - trigger an interesting form of mental accounting ..* Try using fresh start dates or temporal landmarks for when you want students to try something new Suggestions for School: (27:20) ..* More breaks for teachers and students alike, analytical classes (literacy & numeracy) in the morning, move art / music to later in the day, pay more attention to how well things are working and adjust accordingly - test and reiterate ..* Increase our chances of being successful; not guarantees Premortems - Gary Klein (30:53) ..* Make mistakes in your head and come up with solutions before you make those mistakes, e.g. ask students: AP test is in 6 months, you get a 1, what went wrong? Group Synchronization (34:46) Oxford research on prosocial effects of synchronous play with children (boosts our mood, increased collaboration, more open to playing with kids who don’t look like them, open minded, generous, etc.) Motivation (37:57) ..* Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose - Genius Hour & self-directed projects, student-led conferences, solve problems in their local community Homework from Daniel Pink (40:56) ..* Be a better observer of your own behavior - how are you doing at different times of day? Observe and act accordingly ..* Beginnings, middles & ends - importance of the end of the year Danpink.com / danielpink.com / email newsletter Takeaways (43:52) ..* Quiz on Daniel’s website to learn your own chronotype ..* Make the end of year powerful!

Episode 008: Glenn Whitman, NeuroTeach Today we talk with one of the authors of NeuroTeach: Brain Science and the Future of Education, Mr. Glenn Whitman. His dedication to understanding neuroscience and learning in order to effect change at the school building level permeates policy at the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. Glenn speaks to us about the ways in which learning about the brain can enhance our instruction. Connect with Glenn Whitman Twitter: @gwhitmancttl | Website: thecttl.org | Book: NeuroTeach: Brain Science and the Future of Education Links & Show Notes Out of our heads and into the classroom Memory Palace / Memory Journey (1:35) ..* Kevin Horsley, International Grandmaster of Memory ..* Priming (2:55) ..* Spacing (3:25) ..* Hidden Brain (3:49) ..* Thinking Fast & Slow / You are Not So Smart (4:11) ..* “The more you know, the easier it is to know more.” ..* Science of Success episode with Kevin Horsley ..* Storytelling (5:00) ..* Dreams as a story to create narrative from chaos ..* Broca’s Area (5:37) ..* Brain lighting up when hearing stories same as if action was happening to you (fMRI) ..* Stillmotion: touch the heart to move the mind Intro to Glenn Whitman (6:50) ..* NeuroTeach ..* CTTL ..* Think Differently & Deeply One educational truth: Every day every kid will bring his or her brain to class (7:54) How do kids actually learn, never trained (8:37) In 2007 - asked ourselves ‘What makes an Expert Teacher?’ (9:02) ..* Do we know enough about the organ of learning, the brain? Only 20% of teachers have been exposed to that sort of training, per Glenn’s experience Mind Brain Education - train St Andrews Teachers in the Learning Brain + ongoing PD in Educational Neuroscience (10:17) ..* Denise Pope at Stanford ..* Dan Willingham at UVA ..* Rob Coe at University of Durham in UK Mission-driven (12:55) Teacher enthusiasm for working with research (13:41) “Can you change the culture of a school through research?” (14:22) ..* We don’t intentionally use research enough in the learning space to improve instruction. ..* Teacher as researcher ..* Ready-made research (15:25) ..* E.g. Memory (16:00) ..* Spacing effect, active retrieval, dual coding, flashcards being misused ..* Action Research (17:01) ..* Original Research studies (17:25) Unconscionable List (18:12) - “detrimental pedagogy” ..* Labeling students (19:15) ..* Surprise quizzes that count for substantial points (19:51) ..* Wasting the beginning and the end of class (20:34) ..* Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting (21:55) ..* Exclusive Content: add 2 more to the list ..* No high school should start before 830 am (22:42) ..* No more than 4 subjects a day (23:20) ..* Other unconscionable list items: ..* Balance between project-based learning and the content knowledge necessary to be successful in those projects (23:38) ..* The Myth of Learning styles (24:34) ..* Howard Gardner Start and end of class (25:31) 3 questions every Monday from one teacher - one thing you remember from last week, 1 thing you remember from last month, 1 thing you remember from September (28:19) ..* Primacy recency effect Labeling (29:09) ..* What labels do to our mindset (29:57) ..* Create a fixed mindset & a self-fulfilling prophecy ..* Neuroplasticity (31:09) The Mindset Scholars Network (31:40) ..* Belonging Mindset ..* Purpose & Relevance Mindset Study - Reminded participants of race before a math assessment (33:34) ..* Hardiman out of Johns Hopkins ..* Downshifting (33:55) 12 Things Teachers should do for every student every day (35:16) ..* Choice Final Exams (35:38) ..* Low stakes Formative Assessment (37:08) ..* Connection between emotion and learning (37:37) ..* Rick Wormeli “Fair is not always equal.” ..* Spacing / active retrieval / dual coding ..* Exclusive Content ..* Teaching students the neuroanatomy behind learning (39:37) Making the podcast better (40:03) ..* Think Differently & Deeply - authors podcast (40:25) ..* Acknowledging prior knowledge Teaching is a learning profession for the adult (42:03) ..* You should be better in June than you were in September ..* Project Zero’s Thinking Routines ..* Ron Ritchhart ..* CTTL - Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning Mind, Brain, Education (44:10) ..* Twitter is a great lifeline - the Learning Scientists - subscribe! ..* @gwhitmancttl ..* “NeuroTeach Global” being released in January 2019 (45:01) Multitasking (46:41) - think about the pace and the amount of activities we’re giving our students Self-testing is the million dollar strategy (49:00) - how much do you know without referencing anything, then build upon the gaps We want doctors that have studied the organs of the body; we want teachers that have studied the organ of learning (50:47) ..* Studying the learning brain should be the foundation in our professional learning for improving at other pedagogical techniques Takeaways (53:21)

Connect with Katie Martin Twitter: @katiemartinedu | Website: katielmartin.com | Book: Learner-Centered Innovation Links & Show Notes Marigolds & Walnut Trees / companion planting - an analogy from The Cult of Pedagogy (02:05) ..* Check out our show notes for each episode at vrainwaves.com Katie Martin Intro (5:57) ..* Buck Institute of Education ..* Learner-Centered Innovation Why Katie went into teaching (7:03) Learner-Centered Innovation, the book (8:33) ..* Started with blogging Why be social on Twitter / blog, etc. (9:50) Buck Institute for Education (BIE); Examples of PBL (11:17) ..* Kim Cawkwell (@mskimcawkwell) - 4th grade ..* Most engaging lessons happen when people get to solve their own problems (12:46) ..* Gold Standard Essential Design Elements, BIE (13:28) ..* Dr. Martin’s 10 Characteristics of Learner-Centered experiences (15:11) Teachers create what we experience (17:15) ..* 25 hour learning challenge (18:19) What does your ideal classroom look like? And the ‘knowing-doing gap’ (20:03) Adaptability and evolution of practice (22:28) What should we be calling those skills? (24:55) ..* World Economic Forum - Future of Jobs Report (Top 10 2020 Skills) Katie Martin’s top 3 skills (26:20) Inspired by Research / Informed by Practice (27:38) ..* Book Recommendations: ..* Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull) ..* The Power of Moments (Chip & Dan Heath) ..* Originals (Adam Grant) Jeff Bezos - stay focused on the customer (30:10) Coaching on strategic abandonment and letting go of things that don’t work (33:56) Developing a culture of innovation (38:41) What is the purpose of public education? (40:02) Katie’s TED Talk (42:14) ..* “I hope they’re just as in love with learning when they graduate high school as they were when they started kindergarten.” Cajon Valley School District (42:57) ..* David Miyashiro, Superintendent ..* Ed Hidalgo, Innovation & Engagement Officer ..* World of Work for K-8 students Rapid fire (44:53) To learn more: katielmartin.com Takeaways (47:35) ..* Give us feedback!

Connect with Dan Ryder Twitter: @wickeddecent or @intentionbook / #dtk12chat | Website: danryder207.com | Book: Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom ** Links & Show Notes** Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (02:30) Phrankenword: vocab mashup Give us a phrankenword for Vrain Waves!! Tweet it to us or send it on Facebook. 6-word story: Hemingway origin story (04:21) Dan Ryder Intro (06:25) Mt. Blue High School, Farmington ME Education Director for new Success & Innovation Center at Mt. Blue #dtk12chat on Twitter (09:22) Dan’s Favorite Design Challenge (10:40) How might we design a tiny house for the 4 main characters in Of Mice & Men? Empathy Maps (12:36) Intention the Book (14:35) Amy Burvall, co-author - @AmyBurvall Academic Knowledge + Critical Thinking + Creativity = Edusymbiosis Dan’s Top 3 favorite ‘recipes’ from the book (17:40) Intention Oreo - #IntentionOreo Potent quotables - #IntentionQuotes One Word to Rule them All - #IntentionOneWord Color Palette Activity #IntentionColor (19:27) Colourlovers.com Unpacking standards (24:50) How do you get better at being creative? (28:51) Podcasts Dan listens to: Uncivil; Code Switch; Reply All; Design Matters; All Songs Considered; WTF with Mark Maron; Across the Hall; Radio Zamunda By being curious! & having access to information. & by having co-conspirators Book that changed Dan’s practice: A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink (32:24) Be the thinking classroom: teach students how to think, not what to think (34:35) Failing at providing timely feedback (35:57) Audio feedback on gDrive Don’t grade everything (41:30) Only assess what students deem their best work (42:55) Intentionthebook.online | @WickedDecent (Twitter, Instagram, Medium) Takeaways (46:00)

Get ready to sail the seven seas with this week’s guest, Mr. Dave Burgess. Using magic, humor, and a trademark level of enthusiasm to augment his already stellar content, Dave is a sought after speaker, well-known author, and high-quality publisher followed by educators around the world. In this episode we discuss how good teaching relates with good coaching, some of Dave's favorite hooks, and why a costume can't cover up for boring learning! Connect with Dave Burgess Twitter: @burgessdave | Website: daveburgess.com | Book: Teach Like a Pirate Links & Show Notes Out of our heads and into the classroom: “Hook” hacks with Ben & Becky (1:34) Snowball Fight (1:34) Dance Party (2:26) Cue YouTube videos to certain spot 3 Act Math (3:56) Dan Meyer - Secondary 3 Act Math (Explanation / Background) Graham Fletcher - Elementary 3 Act Math (Not familiar with Dan Meyer? Watch his video, ‘Math Class Needs a Makeover’) Alphabet aerobics (5:21) Dave Burgess Introduction (6:31) Dave Burgess Publishing & Consulting Other pirates mentioned: George Couros, Alice Keeler, John Spencer, AJ Juiliani, Jimmy Casas How Dave got into teaching (7:30) Teaching / Coaching overlap (8:45) / John Wooden PIRATE acronym and how it applies to teaching (10:00) Passion / Immersion / Rapport / Ask & Analyze / Transformation / Enthusiasm Digging deeper into passion (12:30) 3 circles of teaching (14:20) Content / Techniques & Methods / Presentation Getting better at Presentation (16:40) Questions are the key to creativity (17:41) Dave’s recommendations for authors to learn from (18:45) Seth Godin (Linchpin) Anthony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within / Unlimited Power) “Questions are the laser of human consciousness.” Ed Tech integration (22:20) R. Buckminster Fuller - “Don’t fight forces. Use them.” Student-centered classroom & TLAP complementary texts (24:56) Learn Like a Pirate, Paul Solarz Explore Like a Pirate (Gamification), Michael Matera Play Like a Pirate, Quinn Rollins “You teach what you know; you teach who you are.” (27:35) Maya Angelou & storytelling (28:50) It’s about the power of your presence. The most important thing in the world is courage. Teaser hook (30:47) Always preheat the grill; creating anticipation / curiosity / buzz before the lesson Ted Talk - Teach Like a Pirate (33:10) Dave on Failure (33:33) Progress happens outside of your comfort zone; if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not growing Failure as feedback (36:54) Pirates turn their sails to the wind (41:08) Enthusiasm (42:03) Control your state - 1) what you focus on; 2) your physiology If they didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room? (45:00) @burgessdave / #tlap / daveburgess.com /daveburgessconsulting.com Get connected!! Ben & Becky Take-Aways (47:21) Joe Biden quote Medici Effect

Links & Show Notes (please note, some language bleeped using a horse sound) Out of our heads and into the classroom: Feedback hacks from Ben & Becky (2:01) Errors & Misconception videos (3:15) Adaptive assessments with google forms (5:20) (Written Steps | Video) Real-time feedback during performances (6:50) Free up your time for face-to-face student conferences (8:55) Video yourself (9:50) Kim on the book, Radical Candor - how to be a good human being, parent, manager, leader (11:44) What is Radical Candor? (13:18) Mostly about collaboration Care Personally & Challenge Directly Ruinous Empathy (15:05) - ‘Bob’ Story (15:45) Manipulative Insincerity (17:35) - “the desire to be liked is the path to hell for a leader.” Radical Candor in student-teacher relationships (19:53) “It’s not mean, it’s clear” story (21:45) Order of Operations in Radical Candor Be willing to solicit feedback first (23:50) Focus on the good stuff. Give praise first - focus on success (25:00) Offer criticism (28:20) Feedback is a gift - Be Humble (you may not be right) (29:23) That’s why it’s called ‘candor’ and not ‘truth’. You may be wrong. Be helpful (31:00) Do it immediately (32:53) Do it in person (33:10) 80% of communication is nonverbal Respond to their reaction What does this look like when it’s done successfully? (35:15) Situation - Behavior - Impact (not about personality traits) How do we get better at receiving and learning from the feedback we receive First practice asking for feedback. “What could I do or stop doing that would make it easier to work with me?” - What’s your go-to question? (40:00) Embrace the discomfort. Don’t get defensive. “Listen with the intent to understand, not to respond.” (41:49) Reward the candor. Publically. (45:25) Coaching in Kim Scott’s life (47:15) Rapid Fire (48:50) Billboard: Radical Candor framework in congress New belief, behavior, or habit: Getting good sleep Kim thanks teachers (51:15) Kim’s novel, The Measurement Problem To learn more: Kim’s Podcast Radicalcandor.com @kimballscott | @candor Takeaways: (52:48) Don’t take it personally - Kim Scott video demonstrating this with her sister “It’s not mean, it’s clear” Science of Success podcast, episode with Adam Grant Rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) Give us feedback!

Join us as we learn from Chalkbeat founder, journalist, and teacher advocate, Elizabeth Green. She talks with us about developing educational infrastructure and supporting teachers across the country.

In this episode, we talk hack learning and Results-Only Learning Environments with the original ed hacker - Mark Barnes. Mark challenges us to rethink some of our most fundamental systems - grading, feedback, peer observation - and empowers teachers to make revolutionary changes in their classroom.

Don’t miss this incredible interview with Dr. Tony Wagner - widely respected author, educator, and speaker, helping us all reframe our thinking in order to transform education.

Becky Bio (1:04) Ben Bio (1:58) Purpose & goals of the podcast (2:55) How to contact us (7:25) Twitter: @VrainWaves Blog: www.vrainwaves.com Email: [email protected]; [email protected]