#vted Reads: Community Schools Blueprint with Kathleen Kesson

In this episode, we welcome author, educator, and Vermont transplant Kathleen Kesson who talks about Community Schools Blueprint: Transforming Our School Community Partnership. Kathleen and I talk about the possibilities we see for widening the cracks in traditional schooling by building opportunities for students and communities to support one another in authentic, real-world ways.

A Vermont-centric look at personalized learning for social justice

The recent issue of the research journal Middle Grades Review was extraordinary for two reasons. First, it focused on the intersection of personalized learning and social justice education. And second, Vermont educators authored all but one of the articles. I encourage folks to peruse the entire issue, but this may not be realistic in the …

Lessons learned from a community conversation on race

How do we effectively engage people in our community who aren’t already predisposed to discuss race and the impacts of racism? How do we pull people into a community conversation on race? Especially people who aren’t already striving to be more antiracist? I’m not entirely sure, but I do know that the more community conversations …

Advisory for educators?

Physical, social, and emotional health are the top priorities in our learning communities. Period. End of story. Educators have been preparing for the opening of schools with this in mind. Thinking through endless what-if scenarios. Arranging and rearranging classrooms to observe best observe social distancing guidelines. Reading constantly updated and addended protocols. In addition, hand …

Getting personal about systemic equity

Sometimes pursuing systemic equity in education can feel a little like the carrot vs. the stick. Since No Child Left Behind, federal education policy has talked about equity while applying punitive measures to schools based on students’ aggregate performance. We have been largely mired in deficit-based policy that is ineffective for spurring transformation and generally …

#vted Reads

#vted Reads is a podcast by, for and with Vermont educators, discussing books for professional development and use in the classroom. Host Jeanie Phillips sits down with an educator, student or author each episode and together, they look at a book they feel is relevant for Vermont learners. Whether it’s YA, popular press or professional …

Summer reading 2018

Get your red hot summer reads right here! Or your chilling-in-the-AC-far-away-from-sunlight summer reads. We don’t judge. For educators, summer is a time to relax, recharge and maybe fit some professional development in, but honestly, not til like, August, easily*.

#VTED Reads: Care Work with Dr. Winnie Looby

Welcome, listeners, to another episode of vted Reads: talking about books by, for, and with Vermont educators. In this episode… we own an oversight. On this show, we are dedicated to breaking down systems of inequity in education. We administer flying kicks to the forehead of intersectional oppression! But we haven’t yet talked about disability. …

How one district gave teachers the gift of time

What if we could give more time to educators, many of whom are overworked and in danger of burnout? The Kingdom East School District (KESD) did it, and other districts could too.  Recognizing that educator wellness is the foundation for student wellbeing and learning, KESD added ten early release days to their calendar. Teachers use …

From the innovativeEd mailbag: Flummoxed in Flannery

From the innovativeEd mailbag: a reader looks for ways to keep pathways of conversation open with their colleagues when it comes to talking about difficult topics. Meet “Flummoxed in Flannery”. “Dear InnovativeEd, With everything that’s been going on lately, simple conversations with coworkers have turned into a minefield of hurt feelings, recriminations and misunderstandings. So …

Culturally Responsive Curriculum by design

If you want to know what an organization prioritizes, examine its budget. If you want to know what educators care about, look at their curriculum. Curriculum is perhaps the most concrete representation of educational values. Students’ day-to-day experiences are rooted in their direct engagement with this bundle of lesson plans, materials, and assignments. We package …

#vted Reads: Brave Like That

Are you wear-your-mask-in-a-pandemic brave, listeners? Or get-vaccinated-when-needles-scare-you brave? On this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Vermont author and educator Lindsey Stoddard, who’s here to talk about her new middle grades book, Brave Like That. We’ll talk about the many different kinds of brave you can be, along with how students know that tiny …

The Culturally Responsive Learning Environment

  Imagine a place where every person can be their authentic whole human selves. A culturally responsive learning environment is a place where everybody belongs. The posters and images on walls, books and materials on shelves, the furniture and flow of the space all radiate belonging. These tangible items convey important information: what is valued, …

#vted Reads about Equity & Cultural Responsiveness in the Middle Grades

In January 2020, the Vermont state legislature proposed a resolution formally apologizing for the legislature’s role in passing a 1931 law making eugenics perfectly legal and encouraged in the Green Mountain State. Meanwhile, on the Standing Rock Reservation, in South Dakota, the future of the Dakota Access Pipeline is in doubt, but only at the …

Culturally responsive practices for equity in the classroom

Equity. In Vermont and beyond, educators and administrators are talking about equity. But what does equity look like in practice? Most importantly, how do we stop talking about it and start doing it? Culturally responsive practices are a concrete way to do equity work in the classroom. So what are they and what do they …

5 keys to a successful virtual parent night: 2020 edition

How do you blend a time-honored tradition and an unprecedented moment of social, civil and personal upheaval? Carefully. Very carefully. So, in order to make lemonade from 2020’s truckload of lemons, currently broken down in the fast lane of our lives, let’s look at 5 keys to a successful virtual parent night. 1.Provide choice — …

Centering care and love

Schools have been preparing for students all summer: developing protocols for handwashing and bathroom use, deploying hand sanitizer stations, hanging signs to remind students to stay socially distant, measuring and taping classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways. It’s *A LOT*. You are carrying an enormous burden, and I applaud your hard work, creativity, and fortitude. It is …

Student intervention for anti-racist education

Schools are committed to bringing anti-racism into curricula and systems more than ever before. Even in predominantly white schools there appears to be a growing acknowledgment that anti-racist education is crucial for all students. Big changes seem to be underfoot. And that’s a wonderful thing. But there will be pushback. White fragility and white rage …

Trauma-informed distance learning, with Alex Shevrin Venet

The need for trauma-informed practice is particularly salient during the current global pandemic, when many if not all of us are experiencing trauma daily. And educators are working hard to translate trauma-informed practice to emergency remote learning. Luckily, we have experts like Alex Shevrin Venet engaged in the current moment. She’s a local Vermont educator …

On equity in the middle school movement

The middle school movement has been a powerful force for positive change. It’s rooted in progressive education, with special attention to the developmental needs of young adolescents. In Vermont, we are ahead of most other states in implementing middle school systems and associated student-centered practices. That’s a good thing. Relative newcomers to this place, like …

#vted Reads: The Benefits of Being an Octopus

This one goes deep, folks. On this episode educator Corey Smith joins me to talk about The Benefits of Being an Octopus, by Ann Braden. We talk glitter and posterboard, coffee and peanut-butter smoothies, and using the Equity Literacy Framework to dismantle inequality in our systems of learning with both students AND adults. What might …

#vted Reads: Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty

In this episode of #vted Reads, I return to my old stomping grounds at Green Mountain Union High School. I’m talking with school counselor Ally Oswald, about the realities of reaching and teaching students in poverty. Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty is also the title of a 2013 book by educator and reformer Paul …

#vted Reads: No Fixed Address with Annie Brabazon

Reader, today we’re going to talk toilets. Now, not in a weird way or a gross way, but because they’re a central theme in Susin Neilson’s No Fixed Address. They’re big white porcelain symbols of the main character’s resourcefulness as he navigates housing insecurity, and they’re really important to think about in terms of access …

Check, Please! #Hockey with Peter Langella

Reading and discussing graphic novels OMG Check Please! Librarian Jeanie Phillips talks graphic novels with Peter Langella, Vermont librarian, educator and former minor league hockey player and coach. First off the bench: “Check Please!” by Ngozi Ukazu, and how a good coming out story still needs all the other bits. Come for the comics, stay …

Our 2017 Holiday Reading Guide

A very happy holidays and good reading for all There’s nothing like relaxing with a good book for the holidays. And if you find yourself with a little quiet time and are looking for some reading recommendations, we, as always, are here to help. Here’s what we’re reading for the holidays.

Courage lives on

  This fall, we’ve been talking  about everyday courage in schools. We’ve written about the courage it takes to start a new team, using technology to open up communication with students and to open up our practice. We’ve shared examples about how teachers are showing up, engaging in hard conversations about race, their own practice, about …

The #everydaycourage of staying curious in the face of negative feedback

Feedback often feels like criticism. But what if we used it as an opportunity to grow? In third grade, I had my own time-out chair in the principal’s office. My exuberant chattiness, combined with an 8-year-old’s lack of social filter frequently earned me a trip to that chair that sat in the corner facing the …

#everydaycourage

It’s time we celebrated it in our schools. When we walk into Vermont schools, we see it. It’s there, every time, when our eyes scan the hallways, the classrooms, and the shared spaces. It’s #everydaycourage, and it lies at the heart of innovative education.

J-Term at Hazen Union

Personalized, proficiency-based PBL or bust During a faculty meeting in late December of 2016, educators and staff talked about the need to provide personalized learning options for students at their small, rural Vermont school. They wanted do so in a way that  honored the students’ need for passion-based, independent projects, as well as the desire …

The great Brian Eno-powered STEAM PBL caper

  Wondering how to blend project-based learning with STEAM? Yes, STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. Earlier this year we profiled The Cabot School’s amazing public exhibition of sound sculptures highlighting water conservation. They were a big hit with the Cabot community, the students who made them and, it turns out, a fair number …

VT Secretary of Education speaks on equity in Vermont

“I don’t believe you can be an educator committed to student voice and not be a powerful advocate for equity.” This past August, the University of Vermont played host to an international conference focused on ways to amplify student voice and increase student partnership in the classroom. Attendees were lucky enough to hear an address …