Hallway Conversations

This week, Matt asks the question, “How do we go about setting good rhythms for the first day of school?” We think through some of our favorite activities for the first day--ways to get students actively involved, setting the culture of the classroom, and engaging in real learning from day 1. Along the way, we discover that Abby loves scavenger hunts, that Matt has passion for knowing kids by name...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Nate is wondering about how schools emphasize “service” and how we expect students to develop the skills and attitudes to engage in acts of service. Specifically, he asks, “How can schools cultivate a heart of service in students?” We share some of our own experiences as students being expected and required to participate in service projects....

Our second “book talks” episode! Perhaps you’ll still have time to pick up a read for this summer? We each brought two books to recommend, and we are trying to refine our sharing protocol that we call “2 by 2 by 2”: 2 books, 2 things about each book, and 2 minutes to talk about the book. (We again totally failed at sticking to this protocol, so we will certainly need to keep refining it…) But wher...

This week, Dave asks the question, “What happens in the staff room? What *should* happen in the staff room?” We discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of what can happen in the staff room. We share stories from our own experiences for good or ill that happened in the teachers’ lounges or faculty workrooms we’ve been part of. We also wonder about the benefits of explicitly deciding on no...

This week, Dave asks the question, “What is something you’ve changed your mind about?” We share a variety of stories from our own teaching practices, including the idea of learning styles, the importance of bringing in diverse perspectives, and even the way we think about what “rigor” means in education. We talk through reasons why we should change our minds about things, and whether there are thi...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Hayley is wondering about the way some students need more time and checking in from the teacher than others, and she asks, “Is it equitable or fair to spend more time with some students than others?” We think through the differences between equality and fairness, and how “fairness” might be more in line with all of our students’ flourishing....

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from our norm, but it stemmed from one of our actual hallway conversations in which one of us started talking about a book we were reading. Pretty soon, another person said, “We should have an episode where we just share some of our favorite books!” And so, here it is, dear listeners: we each brought two books to recommend, and we invented a protocol for sha...

This bonus episode is made up of a couple of leftovers that didn’t make the cut from our last episode about redos, but we thought you might still find this part of the conversation interesting, and maybe even helpful. Dave asks the question, “How do you describe what you are doing when you respond to student work? Grading? Correcting? Marking?” We think through what feedback means, and how we prov...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Anna asks about the challenges that come from giving students “redos” on their work. Specifically, she asks about the balance of some students needing multiple opportunities to succeed, while others take advantage of being able to do low-quality work on the first attempt, knowing they will have the opportunity to “fix it” later. We discuss th...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Tom asks, “What do teachers need from administrators? What do administrators need from teachers?” We speak into this question from our previous positions in K-12 education, reflecting on the different roles administrators and teachers play. In the conversation, we focus on the idea that teachers and administrators are all on the same team, bu...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! John asks, “How much should teachers worry about our reputations? Should we lean into a good reputation and take more risks? If we have a bad reputation, how should we go about correcting this?” In the conversation, we talk about some of the problems of how parents and students--and teachers--talk about reputations of teachers, and how they a...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Loretta asks, “How can teachers support social and emotional development in the classroom?” We discuss what it means that students are whole persons who are developing simultaneously in many different ways--physically, cognitively, socially, emotionally, spiritually, etc.--and the importance of teachers recognizing how these different develop...

In today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Kevin asks, “What role do end-of-the-year awards ceremonies play in schools, and what role should they play?” Abby and Matt share their (very different!) experiences with high school awards ceremonies, and we think about what kinds of messages are conveyed through the particular gifts and talents we might award (or not.) Dave shares about an...

In today’s episode, Abby asks the question, “What does intentional professional growth look like for practicing teachers?” We wonder together about the pace of change, and whether some teachers get cynical about the constant flow of new ideas coming at them through professional development sessions with a sort of “this too shall pass” attitude. Matt gives insights on the importance of intentionali...

In today’s episode, Dave asks the question, “Is there ever a point when positivity becomes toxic, or even just problematic?” We begin by talking about potentially-problematic positivity in our personal lives before turning our attention to our work as educators. We talk about how teachers can model for students and demonstrate appropriate ways to communicate emotions. We briefly touch on what to d...

In today’s episode, Matt asks the question, “What’s up with all this talk of failure and what do we mean when we talk about ‘failure?’ Is failure actually essential to learning? And how do we reconcile failure when we live in a culture that can hyper-promote excellence and success?” We try to define what we actually mean by “failure,” and we discuss why some schools seem to hold up failure as a ke...

Just a mini-episode this week to update you all on some things that are happening behind the scenes at Hallway Conversations. Consider the episodes we've released so far as "season 1" of this podcast, and as we are looking ahead to starting "season 2," there are a few changes ahead! We're so grateful that you take the time to listen in, and we hope you'll be blessed by these conversations. We're a...

In this episode we are happy to again have our friend and colleague, Abby De Groot, joining in today’s conversation! Today, Matt raises the question, “With the end of the school year in sight, what might it mean to ‘end well?’” The three of us share some of the things we grapple with at the end of the academic year, and all of the feelings that come with it--joy, grieving, relief, and all the rest...

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “Are we in danger of, or have we made excellence an idol in Christian education?” We we discuss how school mission statements are structured—and how often excellence is named as part of the mission. We think through the meaning of rigor in academics, and the purpose of school as an institution. We wonder about excellence as a learning target for Christian s...

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about the emotional labor of teaching, what do we mean, and what does it look like?” Dave explains his understanding of this term: the way we manage our own emotional state to help bring about a particular emotional state in others--which is something educators must do often. We grapple with the implications of this for educators: do we have t...

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “How do we teach for ‘delight?’” We talk about this in the context of both delighting in our students as well as teaching them to delight in their learning. We discuss what planning looks like in teaching for delight, and the tension of balancing structure and serendipity. As we think through developing learning spaces that are safe for students even when t...

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about classroom management, who or what are we actually managing?” We discuss how our thinking about management has evolved throughout our careers, including Matt’s disastrous first day of teaching Kindergarten PE. Dave shares his conception of “office consciousness” as part of creating a space where learning happens. Along the way we also dis...

In this episode, we welcome our first guest to the podcast, our good friend and colleague, Abby De Groot. To kick off the conversation, Matt raises a two-fold question: “What are your initial reflections as we look back at this past year? And, what shouldn’t (or should) return to ‘normal’ as we move forward?” The three of us reflect together on things that we experienced over the past 12 months, a...

In this episode, Dave asks the question, “How do we foster an environment where learning can flourish?” Matt shares how James Smith’s book Desiring the Kingdom was formative for him in thinking about what flourishing means, and how it got him considering some of the practices that Christian educators can (and perhaps should) be incorporating to bring about flourishing. We describe some of the form...

In this episode, Matt asks the question, “What is the best (or worst) advice you ever received as a teacher?” Dave shares a story of some unfortunate advice he received as a novice teacher that colored the beginning of his teaching practice. We talk about classroom management, wanting our students to like us, having high expectations, and how we have grown as teachers. We also explore the relation...