Overthrowing Education

This episode's topic couldn't be timelier. I have a really enlightening conversation with my guest, Carter Weinstein, who as a high school senior wrote a book to help teens dealing with anxiety, and also to help parents and teachers understand what it's like for teens to experience anxiety. I thought this would be a a helpful way to honor Mental Health month. We talk about his book and also what f...

Since every episode starts with a fauxmercial - a commercial parody about fake educational products we wish were real - So New Lens Ed. and The Arete Institute are honoring these made-up commercials with a real awards show- The Fauxsies. Vote for all your favorites in different categories and enter the raffle to win some great prizes! You can find the ballot here: https://tinyurl.com/FauxsieAwardB...

My special guest is an educational tech expert, IT superstar and STEAM teacher, Yossie Frankel (and he's also my husband!). I finally get to record a conversation about one of the most important changes we should make in education: Cross-curricular subject blending. Yossie and I chat about why it's so important and how to do it seamlessly (including PBL).  And find out about what Yossie calls, "Th...

In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, I invited longtime educator and author, Deborah Farmer Kris as my guest to offer organic and meaningful ways to integrate SEL through cultivating awe, generating play-based learning and other seamless paths. This is also a great episode for parents, so please pass it on! And you won't want to miss Deborah's victorious The 5-Minute Game Show. My...

In this episode, the tables are turned.  I was a guest on Shane Lawrence's The Ed Podcast and we talked about so many important ways that we can begin to really overthrow education for the better including inquiry and game-based learning, authentic creative assessments and why I compare traditional education to a rotary phone and what it's going to take to upgrade to a smart phone (metaphorically...

Jacob Johnson, aka Grade Slayer shares his continuing journey on going gradeless and gives help for any teacher who wants to start. This is my fourth episode that deals specifically with going gradeless or ungrading and each episode adds a different dimension which brings more to the conversation- one of the most important conversations in education right now. And of course, at the end of our disc...

On this episode I welcome back amazing educator and author, Matt Miller . After this episode, check out his appearance way back on episode 10. He is truly one of the best resources for teachers out there, and he again shares some of his wisdom, techniques, and tech tools to take your teaching to the next level no matter where you are in your career or what you're teaching. Check the links below fo...

Shane Lawrence, veteran educator, and the long-time host of The Ed Podcast shares some wisdom he has learned and gained from all of the educators on his podcast over hundreds of episodes as well as his students. It covers both bigger picture and  lot of practical ideas. Because Shane teaches, among other things, film studies and film production we talk about ways to incorporate filmmaking into any...

For this series, on each mini-episode, I share one quick idea that can be applied to any subject. Some of them you may have already mastered, or maybe just tried once, or hadn't even thought about yet.   Today's DISCOVER assessment idea is a riff on a really fun improv game called Sports Announcers. Need help getting started? Wanna share something cool your students have done? Any questions? DM me...

On this episode I have an incredibly insightful and super practical conversation with veteran educator and author Katie White. Perhaps if every educator put student-self assessment in the easy to implement way Katie describes, we would raise the level of learning %100, as well as raising the level of joy in learning for students. I want to welcome back my new associate producer, Eve Hirschman to t...

My guest, Barbara Heller , and I discuss how to integrate mindful meditation into your class routine to help your students feel centered, more focused and open up their channels to creativity, which can benefit all subjects.  Barbara is not only a thoughtful and passionate educator but also a published author, voice over artist, award winning film writer, director, playwright, and songwriter who a...

My guest is educational leader Matthew Woods, host of the podcast Leading Out of the Woods . Our discussion covers a lot of different important and timely issues – including how to address and ease teacher and educational leader burn-out, and how to cultivate and also be strong leaders. We also play a very wacky, and very different kind of The 5-Minute Game Show. And Matthew definitely earns his O...

As educators and parents, we need to listen more to what students are voicing about education. While I hope to have more students share their thoughts, I'm starting with my guest on this episode, 17-year-old student, Kayhan Ali , who shares important ideas about what's missing in education today and how a company he's starting with friends, Dream It Youth, plans to fill in those gaps.  He also let...

Tara Raju , of the Mountain Region of the Anti-Defamation League , tells me all about an incredible resource for schools to create empathetic, tolerant learning environments for all students that work toward eliminating prejudice, implicit bias and bullying called No Place for Hate. We also discuss ways that individuals – whether teachers or students -can try to combat these issues even when they...

This is the first in a series of mini-episodes that share ideas about the creative and authentic assessments I call DISCOVER assessments. In each short episode, I'll share an idea that will help students express not only what they know, can do and understand, but also synthesize the content, and express it using multiple intelligences. And enjoy it.  Tests and quizzes can't do that! Need help gett...

In this episode, I address a major problem all educators can attest to: Cheating. It's always been a serious issue, but the solutions are right in front of us. I talk about 3 key things we can do that will eliminate cheating, and also promote real learning. I also share my very favorite, true and hilarious plagiarism stories. If you are looking for laughs, here they are. Also, I realized that if I...

On this episode, Rachel Creeger , a passionate parent and stand-up comic who has been advocating for better education in the UK, joins me to talk about what makes great learning. We discuss the importance of, cross -curricular and experiential education, integration of art, relationship building, getting rid of standardized test and much more. Rachel also shares insights about the similarities bet...

Matt Barnes, podcast host and founder of started the Global Education Movement, so that educators and parents can team up to create and implement a whole new vision of learning that will benefit every student. Our conversation has many great take-aways for both parents and educators. Please share this episode with every parent you know! Matt hit it out of the park for The 5-Minute Game Show. And I...

On this episode, Zaynab Baalbaki joins me. She is a passionate educator who is truly working on and supporting others in overthrowing education and creating amazing and equitable learning spaces joins. She talks about an incredible public school, Escuela Verde, where she worked in and I also talk about Qualia: The School for Deeper Learning, another example of education at its best. And we also di...

In this episode amazing educator and Ed Tech sage Jake Miller , host of the podcast Educational Duct Tape , and I discuss some great tech tools and how to make sure they enhance, not distract from, your lessons. We also laugh. A lot. In our chat, Jake talks about his new book, Educational Duct Tape: An EdTech Integration Mindset. And you won't want to miss him play The 5-Minute Game Show, because...

I have a pretty radical guest today, Nadav Zeimer, an educator with a strong background in education and digital media, who is definitely doing his part in trying to overthrow education. He talks about how to completely overhaul our flawed transcript system that particularly effects high school students, and he has a plan for eradicating standardized testing that pretty much effects all students....

In this really informative and fairly goofy episode, I chat with my Edu podcaster friends, William Mealey and Christopher Tudisco about how important collegial relationships are for educators and how to make them happen. It's a perfect topic for this very collegial team behind one of my favorite education podcasts out there, Unprofessional Development . Below is a link to when I was on their show...

In this episode, veteran educator and podcast host Charles Williams and I have a great conversation about the work we need to do to create true equity in education and the importance of challenging our current narratives. We also talk about problematic intrinsic biases that we all have and how to change them.  Even though the topics we discuss are serious and important, along with all the practica...

This episode celebrates Overthrowing Education's 2nd anniversary with Universal Design for Learning expert educator and author Loui Lord Nelson . Our conversation explores what UDL is and how to incorporate this important framework into lesson designs. Play The 5-Minute Game Show along with Loui and see if you can do as well as she did, cause she slayed it! My special thanks to Loui and to my faux...

My guest on this episode is Clement Townsend who helps schools and teachers integrate media arts into their programs and lessons. In this time of media saturation, using media arts as a means for learning is even more important. Clement and I discuss how we can integrate media arts into all subjects. We also talk about how to help students tell stories, including their own, to inform, inspire and...