Teach Wonder

Julie and Sarah walk listeners through their favorite activities from the book, Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways . This book was published by the Stanford d.school and authored by Sarah Stein Greenberg.  Find us on social media:  Instagram: cmichcese Facebook: cmich_cese

In this episode, Julie and Sarah discuss part of the book, Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play by Mitchel Resnick. They dive into how having structures in the makerspace allow everyone to get the most out of their time here and create freely. Book: Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play by Mitche...

Technology use inside and outside of the classroom is changing. In this episode, Julie and Sarah take a look at how we use technology in the makerspace and dive into the work of Resnick and Papert. Join us as we talk about how technology can be a tool for creating.  Articles We Reference: Guiding Students to Creative Uses of Technology Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play: Seymour Papert's Visi...

In this episode, we're centering our discussion around a favorite resource of Julie's Ambitious Science Teaching .   Julie brings several resources to support this deep dive into eliciting student thinking, learning new ideas, and the state of learning.  Links: Ambitious Science Teaching  Thinking Routine Teaching Works NSTA Phenomena Evaluation  Intro music: David Biedenbender Find us o...

In this episode, were discussing Maker-Centered Learning, a favorite book of our staff. Julie selects several passages and we discuss how close-observation, problem-solving, and seeing yourself as a maker impact outcomes. We stretch the definition of maker is some unexpected ways and talk about how this all relates to our latest celebration: Make and Show.  Learn more about Make and Show Check out...

This week, we discuss an article by Heather Bailie Shock called: I Adapted a Hospital Practice for Teacher Prep. It Was Transformative . The article describes how a shes used huddles to make her teaching practices explicit, helping student teachers understand classroom strategies. We talk about how this relates to our work with classroom and pre-service teachers.  Intro Music: David Biedenbender F...

In this episode, we discuss how outdoor education in fosters critical thinking, resilience, and interpersonal skills. Julie shares how her personal interest in mountain biking took her on a deep dive into the world of outdoor education, highlighting the benefits of outdoor education in overcoming uncertainty and challenges. Julie's brought her citations and research study to this episode, you...

This week we discuss an Edutopia article on differentiating instruction without separating students. This article intersects several important aspects of teaching- good questioning strategies, making content accessible for students- and addresses the challenge of doing this when students are coming at a topic from a lot of different places.  Link to Article Intro Music: David Biedenbender Find us...

In this episode, Ashley shares her thoughts on the podcast episode, In Defense of Dabbling with Karen Walrond, which emphasizes the value of being an amateur and trying new things without a serious end goal. They bring up some specific examples from their childhoods, as well as talking about this decidedly non-education focused episode has so many important connections for educators and learners. ...

Welcome to our new series in Teach Wonder, Everything but the Book Study, where one of us has read the article we are about to discuss, and one of us hasn't. In this episode, Julie brings an article from The Guardian about a Finnish preschool experiment where natural forest elements were imported into schoolyards, enhancing children's health.  Article Link: How a radical experiment to br...

In this episode, we discuss updates to our Educator Institute, a professional learning community focused on equitable teaching practices in STEM. We talk about the challenges we faced when testing our self-reflection tool as one for observation and how we shifted things. If you work with future teachers, or are trying to better your own practice, this episode is a one that talks about the intentio...

Ashley and Julie discuss the Educator Institute, a project aimed at bridging the gap between classroom teachers and future educators. They emphasize the importance of shared language and practices among educators. They talk about their experiences using the tool to both self-reflection and observe others.  Intro Music: David Biedenbender Other Music: by Clavier Clavier from Pixabay Find us on soci...

In this episode Ashley O'Neil and Julie Cunningham discuss the book Troublemakers by Carla Shalaby as it relates to curiosity and agency. This book was part of the summer work in the Educator Institute, discussed in Episodes 1 and 2. In this episode they've each brought specific examples from the book and explore how these examples challenged or reframed their thinking. Throughout the po...

Ashley and Julie are hear talking about what Risky Play has to do with Curiosity in the classroom. They highlight the need for educators to shift from replication to genuine learning, valuing respectful relationships and deeper skills. Ashley reflects on her experience with a homeschool group, noting the challenge of balancing student agency with personal expectations. Link to Article on Risky Pla...

 Ashley O'Neil and Julie Cunningham, hosts of the Teach Wonder podcast, discuss the Educator Institute, a new project at Central Michigan University's Center for Excellence in STEM education. The Educator Institute began this summer when a group of educators and Center staff created a professional learning community who then developed an educator observation tool. This tool is intended t...

In this episode we sit down with Steve Frisbee, camp director at the Chippewa Nature Center. We discuss the importance of experiential learning and community in childhood development. Steve emphasizes the shift from content-driven to experience-focused education, highlighting the transformative impact of nature on children's lives. We hear how the center's programs foster risk-taking, so...

In today's episode, we discuss the elements that build community, drawing from our experiences in various settings. We highlight the importance of predictability, humanizing leadership, and intentional communication. Sharing examples from both our personal lives and the makerspace, we note how social interactions and choice foster community among students. Community emerges from intentional p...

In this episode of Teach Wonder, we explore the powerful intersection of agency, playful learning, and social interactions. Drawing from our experiences in Iceland and classroom observations, we dive into how stepping back as educators can create rich, organic learning communities. Discover how giving students choice and autonomy can lead to more meaningful peer interactions, deeper engagement, an...

This episode focuses on the subtle teaching moves that matter most. Our guest, Sveinlaug Sigurðardóttir-  an Icelandic teacher- discusses her role as an outdoor teacher at a joint primary and play school. She talks about the importance of outdoor education for children's development. She highlights the value of nature, autonomy, and social skills learned through adventure trips, which are des...

Today we are talking Agency with our friend Lara! We talk getting outside, the best ways we can show up for children, and how we teach students to learn about their own needs.  About Laura  Lara Lloyd The Forest School Lady and Owner of Park Hall Forest School After living in Finland, Lara was a traditional Primary School teacher in strict Private schools who was always trying to find an excuse to...

This is part two of our conversation. If you haven't yet listened to part one, you'll want to start there. In this episode, we discuss the concept of control in educational settings, drawing insights from our observations in Icelandic schools. We highlight how Icelandic schools foster autonomy and responsibility in children, allowing them to manage their own time and decisions, such as m...

On this episode of Teach Wonder, we focus on power and control through the context of our trip to Iceland. Listen to stories about the classrooms and patterns that we saw. Hear us talk about how we experienced control and agency in Iceland and how it has changed and challenged our thinking.  The majority of the music and sounds in our episode today are audio clips from our trip. The artist referen...

In the second portion of our interview, we're deepening our conversation with Dr. Corey Drake. We discuss the role we play as educators, how peers and students impact each other, and how the environment and content play a part. Intro Music: David Biedenbender Other Music:  by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay Find us on social media:  Instagram: cmichcese Facebook: cmich_cese

In this podcast episode, we discuss competence. We know that children are inherently capable, so we discuss our role in championing students as sense makers. We are joined by Dr. Corey Drake who has some powerful reminders about the importance of recognizing and valuing diverse ways children demonstrate understanding, rather than just focusing on what they can't do. Our conversation underscor...

So this semester we are focusing on agency. We’re interested in taking a deeper look at the foundational beliefs and ideas that shape our classrooms. One way that we are doing this offline in through a partnership with Dr. Tracy Donahue. You’ll more about her in a minute, as we reshare a conversation with had with her last fall. We’ve never repeated a podcast episode before, but this week felt lik...