UnboundEd Podcast

How often is our classroom teachers' potential power as researchers neglected? Before them is a wealth of information about teaching and learning. Yet they often aren't encouraged or permitted to fully digest the information, and as a result, miss opportunities to transform the mindsets and skillsets of everyone in their classroom. Fortunately, I got to talk with Angela Stockman about her book, Th...

It has long been said in the world of literacy education that reading and writing float on a sea of talk. What should we do when navigating students through those seas isn’t always easy? At times, it can be challenging to ensure that the academic discussions you have with students about a text avoid confusion and coddling. Fortunately, I got to talk with Tricia Zucker about her book, Strive for Fi...

To what degree can students manage their own assessment process? The culture of our classrooms can reflect a fear of finding nuanced answers to this question. Fortunately, I got to talk with Starr Sackstein about her book, Student-Led Assessment: Promoting Agency and Achievement Through Portfolios and Conferences. Join us as we discuss what it means for students to truly own their development and...

How does one define, refine, and redefine themselves in a crazy profession like classroom teaching? The intellectual and emotional health of teachers and students alike greatly depend on this process, and often times our schooing systems make this process harder that it should be. Fortunately, I got a chance to talk with Jennifer Felton to discuss her book, Teaching in the Now: Classroom Momentum...

Making Professional Development an Issue of Equity With Jill Harrison Berg | EP 24 by UnboundEd

How do we keep math class a reflection of human realities and desires? So often, it can be hard to visualize math instruction that is evenly grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful, and it is costing our students interests and potential. Fortunately, I got a chance to talk with Kristopher Childs and John Staley to discuss their book, Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice: A Guide for Mo...

How do we keep students' voices in the center of our instruction? Even when educators know how to, they often operate in environments that discourage this practice. I got a chance to talk with Ann Marie Baines to discuss her book, Amplify Student Voices: Equitable Practices to Build Confidence in the Classroom. Join us as we discuss what it means to deliver engaging instruction while affirming ide...

How do we navigate the challenges of turning the science of reading into the reality of daily instruction? Educators across the country are committed to research-backed literacy nstruction, but sometimes the process can lead to more questions, or misconceptions. I got a chance to talk with Melissa Loftus and Lori Sappington to discuss their book, The Literacy 50–A Q&A Handbook for Teachers: Real-W...

How do we create a process were humanizing education leaders works in harmony with humanizing the students they serve? It's hard for an educator to tend to the intellectual and emotional development of students if they don't see how it's inevitably connected to their own intellectual and emotional development. Join the discussion with Carlos Moreno, author of Finding Your Leadership Soul: What Our...

Too often, the bridges of grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction are limited and the barriers of misconceptions arise. These misconceptions about English Language Learners often hold educators back from properly serving these students. I got a chance to talk with educator Barbara Gottschalk to discuss her book, Dispelling Misconceptions About English Language Learners: Resear...

In the education profession, equity work can get deeply deffered, or get really messy, really fast. This is because it can reveal so much about professional and personal beliefs that are consequential to our students receiving grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction. And these problematic perceptions can be emboldened by policies. I got a chance to talk with Sheldon Eakins to...

If a table won't stand without well-distributed legs, a bridge won't hold weight without well-distributed force, and a car can't run without a well-distributed frame, what makes us think that we can accomplish goals in our school buildings without well-distributed leadership? Even in most dysfunctional school systems, distributive leadership can produce better collaboration and insight that can le...

Our food choices can impact our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. So, while it can be challenging, it is important to be strategic about the food we ingest. Much like food, the ideas and practices we consume in education also shape our well-being and the well-being of those we serve. In this episode, Dr. Sonya Murray-Darden and I discuss her book Serving Educational Equi...

A truth that remains in the United States is that teaching is one of the most underappreciated professions in the country, financially and intellectually, as teachers are often cut out of decisions about what to teach and how to teach on a larger scale. As we advocate to reclaim the power taken, it’s important to analyze the power given, which can still seriously impact the quality of instruction...

Teachers in the Movement with Derrick P. Alridge | The LP: EP 13 by UnboundEd

At UnboundEd, we pride ourselves on working to find justice in the details of teaching and learning. Instructional choices made in classrooms are included in those details, and it's important to see how policy choices impact those choices in instruction. Policy choices take place at our local level, our state level, and our national level. Depending on the equity value of these choices, this multi...

We live in a country where calls to address racism in education have been responded to with book bans, parent shaming, and instructional witch-hunts, and also where these calls have prompted institutions to invest in DEI, which stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Despite intentions, this isn’t always effective because it isn’t backed by another form of DEI: Deliberate, Earnest, and Inconv...

Everyday choices and systems, both obvious and covert, hold truths about how we educate our children. Recognizing these truths allows us to course-correct and expand opportunities for students to receive grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction. Author, speaker, and leader Lacey Robinson is a walking, talking testimony of this process. Her experience as a student, teacher, prin...

The Power of Dignity in Education with Charles Payne | The LP: EP 9 by UnboundEd

The term "teachers of color" refers to educators who do not identify as white, encompassing diverse racial and ethnic groups. Despite their unique backgrounds, teachers of color share the experience of underrepresentation. With only 20% of teachers being teachers of color, they face challenges like invisibility and pressure to conform to racist education norms. Join us as we explore Professor Rita...

One of Frederick Douglass’ famous sayings is, “Once you learn to read, you’ll be forever free.”As someone who was explicitly forbidden from reading, there was inherent freedom in learning to read and the access it provided during chattel slavery in America. But what about those who are completely literate but are still psychologically jailed? When it comes to becoming literate in written English,...

Inequities in public schools today didn’t start during the pandemic. Until we understand the complex legacy of people, perspectives, policies, and practices that inform today's people, perspectives, policies, and practices, it will be challenging to understand inequities in our systems and expand opportunities for educational justice. Dr. Camika Royal’s book Not Paved For Us: Black Educators and P...

We are in an era where excitement, fear, promise, and paranoia about the capabilities of artificial intelligence are now a part of everyday conversation in our society as we are steadily integrating AI into essential elements of our lives. What does this mean for how we teach, learn, and do school? Will the inequities that exist in analog instruction continue to improve or worsen as digital techno...

To many, the numbers, procedures, and concepts covered in the average mathematics course are completely neutral and require no cultural considerations. But if you ask somebody like Dr. Pamela Seda, she would say that that conclusion just doesn't add up. Dr. Seda takes some time to discuss her book Choosing to See: A Framework For Equity in the Math Classroom, and we cover the best practice, worst...

The beliefs, practices, and policies common in the United States school system are cultivating inequities in classrooms across the country. Activist, professor, and author Zachary Wright has thoughts about how to recognize, repudiate, and reverse these inequities. He shares these insights as we discuss his book Dismantling a Broken System: Actions to Bridge the Opportunity, Equity, and Justice Gap...