Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Periodically on Getting Unstuck, we welcome a change maker to tell their story of personal transformation: how a specific event or catalyst propelled them into a different role or way of thinking from where they once were. Today, we hear from Suzanne DeMaillie who went from being the parent of three children to someone who led a four- year crusade to bring about a specific educational change. And...

Some students from low-income communities – often kids of color – may lack aspirations for a post high-school future because they feel it's simply unrealistic to think of life outside of their current situation. But many students from low-income communities do have aspirations, yet they are sidelines because of real or perceived societal barriers blocking their way. The organization OneGoal helps...

As today's guest observed, "Many kids fall through the cracks somewhere." Maybe they've experienced trauma outside of school, and as a result, they don't fit in inside of school. But Jeff Rivero , veteran history teacher at Yosemite High School in Merced California, knows how to reach them and help them uncover their passion. How? He treats them like the natural resources they are.

Over the years, we've heard a lot of ideas from teachers, administrators and thought leaders on how to reform high school so that the institution would better serve tomorrow's graduates and the complex world they face. But we'd never heard students' ideas on how to improve their high school experience. In this interview, we get the details on the student-generated and award winning plan from Sheri...

This week I talked with Janani Pathy, Principal of the Bill Hogarth Secondary School in Markham, Ontario Canada. Janani is one of those "unstuck" leaders that we profiled recently in our "unstuck" series. "Unstuck" leaders tend to demonstrate a few key behaviors, one being, they're highly adaptable and innovative. As a result, they don't tend to get stuck very often. That observation led to a disc...

Over the summer, we've been running a series called "Unstuck" where we've profiled school leaders who are not just getting unstuck, they're already unstuck. A number of behaviors define them. They're adaptable, flexible and innovative community-minded, focused on life skill development and the whole child; and finally, they believe there is an imperative to develop student leaders. Today's guest,...

This week I talked with Peter McWain , the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Sante Fe Public Schools. We reviewed a number of positive instructional outcomes that emerged from living under COVID. Unintended consequences occur all the time from change. While planners usually target desired outcomes, they often don't consider the negative outcomes that could accrue. To avoid that, chang...

We recorded our first interview with Peter McWain, Santa Fe Public Schools Director of Curriculum and Instruction during the summer of 2018. As schools emerge from COVID — and as educators try to prepare today's students for an ever volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, we wanted to revisit some questions from our initial conversation: What is the purpose of U.S. education? What do we...

We recorded our first interview with Peter McWain , Santa Fe Public Schools Director of Curriculum and Instruction during the summer of 2018. As schools emerge from COVID — and as educators try to prepare today's students for an ever volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, we wanted to revisit some questions from our initial conversation: What is the purpose of U.S. education? What do w...

This week I talked with Dr. Lindsay Lyons , an educational coach who helps teachers integrate student voice in classroom learning so as to develop shared classroom leadership. There's a lot of interest in student agency, but there's also concern from many teachers and students. Teachers are leery of giving up control and not being able to cover everything they need to cover. Students are simply us...

If you asked people to identify the qualities they want to see in high school graduates, most people would respond with points such as Independent thinking, Collaborative, Problem solving, Emotionally intelligence and Adaptability. These are also all qualities that we would want to see in leaders, rights? But what kind of opportunities do we routinely give kids to develop these leadership qualitie...

This week I talked with Erin Mote , co-founder of the Brooklyn Lab Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. Erin is passionate about helping the school's "scholars" discover their interests, their passions, and in the process, help shape their individual identity. This idea that we can be shaped by multiple interests and passions led us to investigate the book RANGE and the TEDx Talk "The Hidden Powe...

Erin Mote is the cofounder of the Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School, a community-based school organization that serves more than 1000 students. She is also the Executive Director and Co-Founder of InnovateEDU. In this episode, we'll go from the design of the charter school that Erin and her then soon-to-be-husband scratched out on the back of a cocktail napkin to a flourishing school of "scholars...

This week I talked with Daniel Bauer , podcast host, author, mastermind facilitator, and coach. He has defined the art of growing leadership talent that seeks to change education to better serve 21st century students. He grows "Ruckus Makers." As successful as he is, he's as susceptible to self-doubt and the voice of his inner critic – his imposter syndrome – as the rest of us. The imposter syndro...

We've been running a series called "Unstuck," which focuses on school leaders who are not just getting unstuck, they're already "unstuck." And by "Unstuck," we mean they are leading or embracing a major shift in student learning, instruction, ongoing teacher professional development, community relations, or personal leadership. Whiles he's not technically a leader inside a school anymore, Daniel B...

This week I talked with Dr. Daisy Morales , the new Superintendent of the Live Oak School District in Santa Cruz, CA. Daisy's big concern coming into the district on Day 1 wasn't rectifying the "lost learning" associated with managing classrooms in a virtual or hybrid environment. Her primary concern coming out of a year of COVID was with the wellness of her faculty and staff. So, we stay with wel...

Dr. Daisy Morales is the new Superintendent of the Live Oak School District in Santa Cruz, CA. Like other smart, experienced leaders, Dr. Morales didn't come into the district with her guns of change blazing. Instead, she began a series of one-on-one and group listening meetings to determine the priority for the year. Not priorities, but priority. And what she discovered is that the worlds of inst...

This week I talked with Connie Liu and Jordan Mareno of "Project Invent," an organization that brings innovation, design thinking, and community problem solving into the classroom. "Project Invent" is all about helping students maintain their curiosity and sense of discovery — what a ZEN master would call their "beginner's mind." This approach isn't just a nice to have. Today's organizations opera...

Teaching kids 21st century skills is not new news. Fortunately, most school systems have instruction in place that addresses the 4Cs or variations of them along with life & career skills and media skills. How schools develop the skills, however, does vary. Do you teach these skills in discrete lessons? Or do you weave them seamlessly into project-based experiences? In this episode, Connie Liu and...

This week we talked with Sunny Summers , the Founding School Leader of New Harmony High School in New Orleans. Our conversation centered on how one goes about designing a new school, especially one that is place-based around the local ecosystem. That approach is unique, but what really defines New Harmony is its people – its faculty and students. And people is where we go with this week's mini-fea...

This interview is part of our "Unstuck" series. By "Unstuck," we mean our guest is leading or embracing a major shift in student learning, instruction, ongoing teacher professional development, community relations, or personal leadership. This week talked with Sunny Summers , Executive Director of New Harmony High in New Orleans. New Harmony High rewrote the book on place-based learning because ev...

This week we spoke with K12 social studies educator, Casey Jakubowski, Ph. D. . Our conversation dove into the debate about the purpose of teaching U.S. History. Is it about instilling patriotism, examining the promise of America versus its practices, or teaching critical life skills? A mixture? Teaching skills is where we go with this week's "Worth a Listen, Look or Read." We make the case that h...

The teaching of U.S. history and civics is in the news a lot these days. We're seeing controversy and divisiveness around the approach we should take with our students. Stress what's good about the U.S. and where we're making progress toward meeting our goals? Focus on where the promise is not yet being met? The discussions are leaving many teachers in pedagogical limbo. And students may be denied...

This week we spoke with Principal Michelle Pinchot who was asked to turn around a low-performing school. Rather than jump in immediately with a bunch of 'solutions," Michelle started asking a lot of questions and listening. And listening is where we go with this week's "Worth a Listen, Look or Read." We'll watch a TED Talk to learn about 5 strategies we can use to improve our listening. And then w...

This interview is part of our "Unstuck" series. By "Unstuck," we mean our guest is leading or embracing a major shift in student learning, instruction, ongoing teacher professional development, community relations, or personal leadership. This week we talked with Michelle Pinchot , Principal of the Heritage Computer Academy in Garden Grove, CA. Her challenge? How do you improve a low-performing sc...