Human Restoration Project

In this episode, Akil & I discuss the history & context of the CollegeBoard and how the AP program in particular fits into CollegeBoard’s vision for “college ready” admissions, how that very vision is undermined by the emphasis on a 3.5 hour exam in May, and what we could be doing instead to crash the gates and actually improve accessibility & equity in the admissions process in the ab...

I am joined today by Burton Hable. Burton Hable is a music educator, currently living in Central Virginia. He is a doctoral student in Boston University’s Music Education program, and his research interests lie in how people construct music knowledge in the context of a makerspace. He also serves as the Operations and Building Manager for the Charlottesville Band. Prior to moving to Virginia in th...

Today we are joined by Dustin Hensley. Dustin is the library media specialist at Elizabethton High School in Tennessee. He is an advocate for creating spaces that cultivate a student’s love of learning. He was one of the co-founders of the Bartleby Program, which centers community improvement and entrepreneurship with students, and is one of the winners of the XQ Super School competition, remainin...

*This podcast contains content regarding suicide and child abuse. In this podcast we are joined by R.L. Stollar, a Child Liberation Theologian and child and survivor advocate. Stollar is the author of the upcoming book, The Kingdom of Children , which reports on the issues and concerns of the evangelical homeschooling movement. Stollar, who was himself homeschooled, is an advocate of homeschooling...

This podcast is our first of what we’re calling the “spotlight” series. Every so often, we’ll reaching out to schools who are doing intriguing progressive practices that could inspire and influence others to do the same. Each has a twist on how their school is operated, and we’re bringing in students and teachers to talk about it. They’re not all perfect, and they’d all acknowledge there are thing...

Today we are joined by Dr. Joanne Golann. Dr. Golann is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University, and focuses on how culture shapes educational policy and practice. Her recently released book, Scripting the Moves: Culture & Control in a "No-Excuses" Charter School , follows Joanne over 18 months as she observes a “hi...

Our guest today is Keenan Crow. Keenan Crow is the Director of Policy and Advocacy for One Iowa, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance, empower, and improve the lives of LGBTQ Iowans through education, advocacy, and collaboration. Keenan has been active in Iowa politics since 2010 when they interned with Chris Hall’s campaign for Iowa State Representative. Since then, they have been...

Joshua Seigal is a highly acclaimed, award-winning professional poet, performer and educator. Joshua uses poetry to develop literacy skills and inspire confidence and ​creativity in communication. He has worked in hundreds of schools, libraries, theatres and festivals around the world, had books published by Bloomsbury and other major publishers, and has written and performed for BBC television. J...

A conversation around student loan debt has been happening at the margins of American political life for nearly a generation. By 2012, total student loan debt in the United States surpassed one trillion dollars, with the only relief coming from a pause on interest and federal debt collection that began with the pandemic in March 2020. Today, a majority of Americans, nearly 60% of polled voters, su...

Today we are joined by Dr. Nick Stock. Dr. Stock, a former English teacher, now serves as a researcher for the University of Birmingham. He has published various essays which focus on critiquing education by using philosophy typically seen outside of traditional pedagogy, such as Evangelion, Schools and Futures ; Education after the end of the world. How can education be considered a hyperobject?...

Long time listeners may recognize the title to this podcast: Re:Teaching. Last year, Nick released a series of short podcasts on a separate channel, focused on current events and short-form highlights of writing. We soon realized that by splitting our podcast into two segments, most folks didn't hear any of this series! Enjoy, and there will be even more new Re:Teaching episodes on the way. This e...

It's our 100th podcast episode! In celebration, Nick and Chris discuss the ongoing pursuits of Human Restoration Project. And we discuss: Our accomplishments over the years. Our favorite events, writings, and podcasts. Our major upcoming initiatives, which you'll want to stick around for! Questions from our listeners. And finally....host a trivia session on science fiction.

In this podcast, Nick and I are continuing our foray into random topics of progressive education! Today's episode centers cognitive science, research movements, and "studies of the brain." Within, we'll be talking about what's currently going on at HRP, articles and books that Nick and I have been reading recently, what's going on in our classrooms, Q&A from listeners via Twitter, and then a p...

In this podcast we've decided to experiment a bit with our programming. To be honest, right now there's a ton of burnout in the education world, from the pandemic to ongoing struggles of teacher power and support, and the culture war once again resurfacing in the classroom. As educators by day and nonprofit workers by night, we totally get that struggle. Therefore, we're putting a slight pause on...

Today, Nick and I are continuing our dissection of learning loss via our Learning Loss Handbook. In part 1, we spoke about the myth surrounding "learning loss" and the dire implications it has on our practice in schools. If you haven't listened in yet, I highly recommend checking out that episode. In this episode we discuss: What was lost during pandemic schooling? What actions can we take in orde...

Today, Nick and I are going to break down Human Restoration Project's recently released "Learning Loss" Handbook, providing an overview of the ideas we present in the book, the faux narrative being created surrounding "learning loss", and offering an alternative for educators to push for and pursue. You can find the free download at humanrestorationproject.org/materials . Included in this conversa...

Long time listeners may recognize the title to this podcast: Re:Teaching. Last year, Nick released a series of short podcasts on a separate channel, focused on current events and short-form highlights of writing. We soon realized that by splitting our podcast into two segments, most folks didn't hear any of this series! Therefore, after much delay - and many reminders by Nick - we'll be releasing...

Long time listeners may recognize the title to this podcast: Re:Teaching. Last year, Nick released a series of short podcasts on a separate channel, focused on current events and short-form highlights of writing. We soon realized that by splitting our podcast into two segments, most folks didn't hear any of this series! Therefore, after much delay - and many reminders by Nick - we'll be releasing...

Today, we are joined by Akil Bello. Akil is a supplemental education and test preparation expert. He's launched two companies, developed test preparation programs, and trained hundreds of instructors. He was the founding partner and CEO of Bell Curves, a test prep company based on community partnerships, worked for The Princeton Review, and now is the Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement at...

Today we are joined by Carla Marschall and Elizabeth Crawford to cover their upcoming book, Worldwise Learning: A Teacher's Guide to Shaping a Just, Sustainable Future. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy, and Worldwise Learning is all about inquiry and experiential education: shaping global citizens by tackling real world issues in projects. The book walks teachers through the "inquiry cyc...

On today's podcast we are joined by Zoe Bee. Zoe is an English professor, poet, and content creator who produces content for YouTube and streams on Twitch. Some of her work includes "A Professor Explains", where Zoe dives into why Grammarly is a poor product or what makes a poem a "good" poem; or full overview of the themes of H.P. Lovecraft. Zoe is a successful content creator despite being activ...

Today we're speaking with Emi Takemura. Emi is the co-founder and representative director of FutureEdu Tokyo, which seeks to reimagine education in Japan based on project based learning and experiential education inspired by High Tech High. She is also the representative director of Learn by Creation, which provides professional development, conferencing, and networking for inspiring hands-on lear...

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org. In today's conversation, we are joined by Alex Venet. Alex teaches undergraduate students at the Community College of Vermont, graduate classes at Castleton Center for Schools and Antioch University New England, creates PD, is a community facilitator for Edutopia, co-organizes Edcamp Vermont and Trauma Informed Educators Networ...

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org. In today's conversation, we are joined by Dr. Ilana Horn. Dr. Horn is a professor of mathematics education at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College, who focuses on serving disenfranchised youth through authentic mathematics. She leads the Teacher Learning Laboratory, which focuses on sense-making of schools, how teachers and...

Transcripts can be found via our website, humanrestorationproject.org. In today's conversation, we're joined by Trevor Aleo, an English teacher in Wilton, Connecticut, Kayla Duncan, a professional instruction coach from Cumming, Georgia, and Julie Stern, author of Tools for Teaching Conceptual Understanding and many more, and workshop leader of Making Sense of Learning Transfer. Together, along wi...