This is our second “spotlight series” episode where we’re 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 things they’d change; but there’s so much to learn from these schools as we reimagine education in our communities. We are joined by students and faculty from Sora Schools, a 7-12 online-only school currently enrolling students in the United States. They're in their third year of operation. Sora prides itself on its project-based curriculum that centers fun, intriguing activities for students, anywhere. The school is entirely online with a unique schedule that highlights possibilities of virtual spaces. What made Sora Schools stand out to me were the pedagogical shifts they were making as a result of being online. As we highlight in our Virtual Learning Handbook: teaching a remote class can actually bring about community and intriguing pedagogical shifts — it doesn’t have to simply be isolation and replication of what people had to do in-person! Sora is using this virtual space for some really innovative work. To learn more, we’re talking today with Keegan, an 8th grader at Sora; Angela Anskis, a humanities expert at Sora; and Garrett Smiley, the CEO and co-founder. *About halfway through this episode I had a new audio setup...so apologies for the random quality difference! The content is stellar still. :) <h2>SCHOOL</h2>Sora Schools, a virtual, project-based school for students in the United States <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://soraschools.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sora Schools Website</a></li></ul>

114: Showcase: Sora Schools (Online PBL)

In this bonus episode of Human Restoration Project's podcast, we talk about all of the fantastic opportunities available at our upcoming Conference to Restore Humanity! 2022: System Reboot, which is entirely online from July 25th-July 28th, 2022. We detail:<ul><li>The goals and reasoning for establishing the conference, including pedagogy, sustainability, accessibility, and representation</li><li>The keynotes, learning tracks, and additional events</li><li>The purposeful design for ensuring everyone can participate and be informed through the conference (and why traditional conferences don't work for everyone)</li><li>...and other reasons why a virtual-first conference model is not only needed, but necessary</li></ul> If you're interested in attending, early bird pricing ends really soon from this recording - June 30th! You can sign up at any point at <a href="humanrestorationproject.org/conference" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">humanrestorationproject.org/conference</a>

Bonus: Conference to Restore Humanity! Overview

Today’s guest is T. Elijah Hawkes. Elijah served as a public school principal for over a decade, including as the principal at Randolph Union in Vermont, and was the founding principal of the James Baldwin School in New York City. Currently, he is a director at the Upper Valley Educators Institute and an advisor at the Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab at American University. In addition, he is the author of various articles on democracy, public schools, and adolescence including appearing in The New Teacher Book and Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Identity. Further, Elijah is the author of School for the Age of Upheaval: Classrooms That Get Personal, Get Political, and Get to Work, which we’ll be talking about in this podcast. Further, his second book, Woke is Not Enough: School Reform for Leaders with Justice in Mind will release soon. In this podcast, Elijah and I (Chris) will talk about an education that gets personal, gets political, and gets to work. It's all about how we can channel the anger of adolescents toward fulfilling, actionable livelihoods toward changing structures and systems that challenge and oppress them. Further, we'll discuss the growth of extremism, how dialogue has broken down and the difficulties in performing this work. <h2>GUESTS</h2>T. Elijah Hawkes, Director of Leadership Programs at the Upper Valley Educators Institute and Education Advisor at the Polarization &amp; Extremism Research &amp; Innovation Lab at American University, as well as a former principal. <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.telijahhawkes.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">T. Elijah Hawkes' Website</a></li><li><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475851830/School-for-the-Age-of-Upheaval-Classrooms-That-Get-Personal-Get-Political-and-Get-to-Work" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">School for the Age of Upheaval: Classrooms That Get Personal, Get Political, and Get to Work</a></li><li><a href="https://uvei.edu/2022/03/strong-schools-polarized-times/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Strong Schools, Polarized Times from the Upper Valley Educators Institute</a></li><li><a href="https://www.american.edu/centers/university-excellence/peril.cfm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Polarization and Extremism Research Innovation Lab </a></li><li><a href="https://www.westernstatescenter.org/caregivers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Confronting Conspiracy Theories and Organized Bigotry at Home from the Western States Center</a></li><li><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Southern Poverty Law Center</a></li><li><a href="https://rachelkleinfeld.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld's Articles and Books</a></li></ul>

113: Guiding Toward Healthy Rebellion w/ T. Elijah Hawkes

Today’s guest is Deborah Meier, who really needs no introduction for advocates of progressive education. Meier is the founder of the modern small schools movement, that aims to reorganize larger schools into smaller, democratic ones. She was founder and director of Central Park East, a Dewey-inspired progressive school in East Harlem, New York City. She also opened Central Park East II, River East, and the Central Park East Secondary School the same neighborhood. This led her to establish a network of similarly minded schools in New York City, and eventually founding Mission Hill School in Boston. Meier is an advocate of democratic, progressive, public schools who has served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, National Academy of Education, The Nation, Dissent, and more. She is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, as well as the author of multiple books including the recently co-authored These Schools Belong to You and Me: Why We Can’t Afford to Abandon our Public Schools. Meier is a huge inspiration to us at Human Restoration Project and we frequently draw on her work in our materials and advocacy. In this podcast, Meier and I talk about building a coalition of schools, educators, families, and community members to build and protect a progressive public education, discussing the importance of building a public education system that strengthens and models a democracy. <h2>GUESTS</h2>Deborah Meier, founding director of Central Park East and Mission Hill School, as well as various progressive democratic public schools, and author of various works including co-authoring These Schools Belong to You and Me: Why We Can’t Afford to Abandon our Public Schools <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://deborahmeier.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Deborah Meier's website</a></li><li><a href="http://www.beacon.org/These-Schools-Belong-to-You-and-Me-P1294.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">These Schools Belong to You and Me: Why We Can’t Afford to Abandon our Public Schools</a></li><li><a href="http://www.beacon.org/The-Power-of-Their-Ideas-P278.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem</a></li></ul> <h2>SUPPORT THE MOVEMENT TO END GUN VIOLENCE</h2><ul><li><a href="https://marchforourlives.com/march22/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">March for Our Lives 2022 National Rally (June 11th, 2022)</a></li><li><a href="https://secure.everyaction.com/45zW1UMUqUycXs7bfGH8gA2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: March for Our Lives</a></li><li><a href="https://www.everytown.org/donation-information/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: Everytown</a></li><li><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/match-may22?source=mdno_action_page&amp;refcode=mdno_action_page&amp;utm_source=mdno_action_page&amp;utm_medium=o&amp;utm_campaign=action_page" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: Moms Demand Action</a></li><li><a href="https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/take-action/ways-to-give/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: Sandy Hook Promise</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/donate-to-texas-elementary-school-shooting-relief" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: GoFundMe - Uvalde, Texas</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/buffalo-mass-shooting-fundraisers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donate: GoFundMe - Buffalo, New York</a></li></ul>

112: Keep Hope Alive w/ Deborah Meier

On today’s podcast we are joined by David Buck. David is an English professor at Howard Community College in Maryland who is actively involved in the ungrading movement, as well as focusing on open access resources, open pedagogy, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. To foster and grow the practice of ungrading, David is actively involved in utilizing social and other online media for discussion, including but not limited to his “Let’s Talk Ungrading” Twitter Spaces, which is also an edited podcast, the Ungrading Twitter Community, the Ungrading Book Club, the Ungrading Discord Community, and “Crowdsourcing Ungrading” an open-access book on Pressbooks. We talk about:<ul><li>The desire and need for more spaces to gather and reflect on progressive education.</li><li>What it means to build these spaces in "new media", such as Discord or Twitter Spaces.</li><li>How we can get more young people involved in joining, curating, and creating these spaces (such as on Twitch).</li><li>How we can inspire more educators to lead and grow these spaces, co-created with students.</li></ul> <h2>GUESTS</h2>David Buck, English professor at Howard Community College and mass-curator and co-leader of various ungrading spaces <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/christinamoorework/ungrading-a-digital-ethnography" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#Ungrading: A Digital Ethnography (Dissertation by Christina Moore)</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/dbuckedu" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Buck's Twitter (and location for Twitter Spaces)</a></li><li><a href="https://pressbooks.howardcc.edu/ungrading/front-matter/introduction/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Crowdsourced Ungrading Pressbook</a></li><li><a href="https://www.sutori.com/en/david-buck-2bd1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David Buck's Sutori Student Blogs</a></li><li><a href="https://discord.gg/DtEUQg6GmY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ungrading HUB (Discord)</a></li><li><a href="https://discord.gg/fVhMeWh" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Human Restoration Project (Discord)</a></li></ul>

111: Building the Modern Progressive Education Movement w/ David Buck

In this episode, Akil &amp; I discuss the history &amp; 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 &amp; equity in the admissions process in the absence of the Advanced Placement signifier. <h2>GUESTS</h2>Akil Bello, Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement at Fairtest, founding partner and former CEO of Bell Curves, and contributor on test equitability, learning loss, and much more <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://akilbello.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Akil Bello's website</a></li><li><a href="https://writing.humanrestorationproject.org/drop-the-college-board/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Drop the College Board by Chris McNutt</a></li></ul>

110: "College Ready" AP w/ Akil Bello

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 the summer of 2018, he taught instrumental music in Iowa for eight years. I’ve also known Burton for 20 years now, as we were high school classmates and played trombone in the same high school band together, and both of us came back years later to teach in the same district we graduated from. In so many ways, Burton and I share a similar journey in arriving at progressive education, and I am grateful to call him a friend and a learning partner for these many years. As the title mentions, this episode focuses on the niche pedagogy of “constructionism” largely attributed to one man, Seymour Papert, who published his first book, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, back in 1980. It’s both fascinating and frustrating that despite 4 decades of research supporting the powerful impact on cognition and the opportunity for collaboration inherent in these ideas, the philosophy and framework of constructionism and similarly modeled “makerspaces” are still only deployed in limited pockets on the fringes of the standard model of school. This conversation gets at the same central premise as so many others on this podcast, that is our limited imagination about “what works” in schools as they are currently structured, and “what works to do what” within music education in particular. What does it mean to be musically literate? To be a musician? Burton Hable imagines the role of makerspaces supported by constructionist pedagogy in music ed as a way to expand and enrich the standard model for students, with the goal of creating a broader collaborative experience for students to engage with all aspects - creating, performing, responding, and connecting - of what it means to be musical. Connect with Burton @ <a href="burtonhable.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">burtonhable.com</a> or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/BurtonHable" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@burtonhable</a> <h2>GUESTS</h2>Burton Hable, music educator &amp; Operations and Building Manager for the Charlottesville Band <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://mindstorms.media.mit.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas</a> by Seymour Papert (open access)</li><li><a href="https://writing.humanrestorationproject.org/january-the-case-for-constructivist-classrooms/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Review: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms</a> by Nick Covington</li></ul>

109: On Constructionism, Makerspaces, & Music Ed w/ Burton Hable

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, remaining active in the XQ Community of Practice. He currently teaches courses on Community Improvement and Academic Research. In this podcast, Dustin and I talk about the state of libraries today: <ul><li>the purpose of a library</li><li>how libraries interact with students</li><li>political forces attacking books and librarianship</li><li>transitions from libraries to Makerspaces and Fablabs</li><li>and how libraries provide a pedagogy that transforms learning.</li></ul> <h2>GUESTS</h2>Dustin Hensley, library media specialist, project lead, and grant-writer for Elizabethton High School, part-time professor, co-founder of the Bartleby Program, and active member of the XQ Community of Practice <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.gettingsmart.com/2019/05/26/a-library-transformed/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Library Transformed by Dustin Hensley (Getting Smart)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.freadom.us/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#FReadom</a> movement in Texas</li><li><a href="https://scenicregional.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop</a></li><li><a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/readicide-how-schools-are-killing-reading-and-what-you-can-do-about-it_kelly-gallagher/265682/#edition=5734911&amp;idiq=5002091" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher and Richard L. Allington</a></li></ul>

108: The State of Libraries w/ Dustin Hensley

*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 who is calling attention to the issues that many face in the system, connecting the concept to faith — which is often juxtaposed with the practice of homeschooling. His work in Child Liberation Theology, which you’ll hear about shortly, centers the idea of young people being leaders in their faith-based decisions. This is an interesting topic, because it blends ideas that aren’t commonplace in progressive education. Although I am personally not religious, there are fascinating connections between a faith-based education, self-directed learning, critical pedagogy, and more that we’ll explore in this podcast. As a side note, this podcast also features Thomas White. Thomas is our prior development director who accepted a new position after this podcast aired. Essentially, Thomas did his job so well with us that he accepted a full-time position doing development work, leading to a conflict of interest with his current part-time role. We’re sorry to see him go! Thomas is writing a book on Classical Christian Education, which has a lot of overlap with the upcoming conversation. We introduce R.L. Stollar as a Dr....but in fact he has not earned a doctorate (yet!) <h2>GUESTS</h2>R.L. Stollar, Child Liberation Theologian and child and survivor advocate and author of the upcoming book Kingdom of Children Thomas White, former HRP development director and author of upcoming book on Classical Christian Education <h2>RESOURCES</h2><ul><li><a href="https://rlstollar.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">R.L. Stollar's Website</a></li><li><a href="https://rlstollar.com/child-liberation-theology/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Overview of Child Liberation Theology</a></li></ul>

107: Child Liberation Theology w/ R.L. Stollar

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