Vrain Waves: Teaching Conversations with Minds Shaping Education

ETHOS behind the AI

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000

We are highlighting our incredible St. Vrain Valley AI team in this episode, and their work over the last three years has resulted in an Ethical, Transparent, Human-centered, Opportunity-focused, and Safe AI framework. Keeping people, not tools, at the center of this work is the priority, and let's ask ourselves, "Will AI help our students grow, or just get it done?" "Is it a value-add and elevation of the content, or just an unnecessary extra step?" Tune in for some thoughtful conversation around our AI work and how we keep grounded in the ever-changing world of education and technology!

@Suzannahevans2

ETHOS: A Responsible Approach for AI in Education

Exploration AI: Beyond the Algorithm

AI: I can, but should I?

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Tune in for one of our most important episodes with educator, author, and speaker Matt Miller. Facing an ever-changing educational system requires putting on our "Tomorrow Glasses", along with a healthy dose of optimism and skepticism. While we can leverage AI and technology to create engagement and lighten some of our workload, it's sound, fundamental pedagogy that's still the foundation for how we serve our students best. So as we plan our lessons, let's ask ourselves, "I can use technology, but should I?

Matt Miller

Suzannah Evans

Shane Saeed

Scaffolding in the Classroom; rooted in empathy

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:00:00 +0000

Tune into one of our favorite conversations ever with master teacher Wendy Schuller, who grounds her scaffolding principles in empathy for her students. What would I need as a 5th-grader in this moment?, How am I using my data to determine what my students need? and What is the endgame for pulling the scaffolding back? are her guiding questions on a daily basis. Observing, responding, and bridging for the win!

@SuzannahEvans2

@drshanesaeed

The Scaffolding Effect

The Scaffolding Effect: Hunting, not Fishing

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Bringing 2025 to a close with one of our most important conversations! Tune in as we chat with educator-authors, Rachel Ball and Alex Fairlamb, on why we need to be hunters in our classrooms, searching for student understanding, instead of hoping and fishing for mastery. The Scaffolding Effect is one of the best professional development books we've ever read; truly scaffolding and chunking material down for all of us to understand. Happy year-end to all of our listeners!

AI in the Classroom: Enhancement, Inspiration, & Reflection

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The perfect follow-up to our episode last month with Dr. Catlin Tucker, three rockstar St. Vrain Valley educators give us a peek into how they're using AI as an enhancement tool, as inspiration and a thought-partner for students, a coach for themselves, and the ultimate brainstorming generator. Tune in to get inspired yourself and start to embrace our new AI reality!

Exploration AI: Conversations Beyond the Algorithm

Season 8 is here! Leverage and Lean into AI!

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Fri, 3 Oct 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to Season 8! Dr. Catlin Tucker is back on the show, talking with us about how we can leverage AI to be a thought partner. How can we thoughtfully design learning pathways, lean into AI for the pieces that have traditionally taken up our time, and be more available for human connection? Tune in as we discuss UDL, sustainable practices, elevating our teaching, and always, always, ensuring our students leave the classroom with agency and motivation!

@Catlin_Tucker

@SuzannahEvans2

@drshanesaeed

Elevating Educational Design with AI

The Shift to Student-Led

CatlinTucker.com

Refine, Refresh, Relate!

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Fri, 9 May 2025 06:00:00 +0000

We're wrapping up Season 7 with two master St. Vrain teachers, Joylynn Boardman and Brian Huey, who continue to refine their practice, create relevant learning experiences, and champion their students! No matter how long we've been in education, adapting, tweaking, and reflecting are the keys to sustaining student engagement. But the most crucial piece for ALL students is, of course, inspiring them to believe they CAN succeed. Tune in for one of our favorite conversations this year and have a great summer!

@SuzannahEvans2

@Drshanesaeed

Scaffolding, Mastery, and Self-Image

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 06:00:00 +0000

Tune in as we chat with Professor Dan Willingham about his flow chart for independence, mastery in education, and building up the self-image of our students. Check out his book, Outsmart Your Brain, for strategies to combat learned helplessness, understanding what it takes to achieve true mastery, and how crucial it is to help our students reframe their personal narrative about academics.

Dan Willingham

Flow Chart for Independence

Outsmart Your Brain

Suzannah Evans

Shane Saeed

Teaching to the whole student

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

It's time to connect the Physical and the Education in the classroom. Nothing is in a silo in our world. We are teaching the whole student, so connecting mind and body in our instruction benefits everyone. Incorporating movement in our classrooms creates engagement and builds attention, which helps content stick. Tune in as we chat with two @SVVSD physical education teachers who also teach academic content and how they see these two important worlds complementing each other.

@SuzannahEvans2

@DrShaneSaeed

Sound Body, Sound Mind!

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Welcome to 2025! The month of January is famous for starting new physical activity routines and we can't emphasize enough how important it is to move in the classroom too! "Movement snacks" as @DrJulianReed describes them are not only crucial for a sound body but also translate to increased academic performance. Tune in as we talk about the benefits of understanding the basics of brain science, focus, and stimulation all related to physical activity. While you're listening, move your body!

Holy Cats! Learning Progressions

Wed, 1 Jan 2025 23:00:00 +0000

Looking to build agency and standards mastery in your classroom? Then look no further than learning progressions! Tune in as we say goodbye to 2024 and chat with our very own @BennerBrainiacs. She motivates her students to self-assess on standards, visualize their goals more clearly, and achieve true mastery using learning progressions in her classroom.

@SuzannahEvans2

@Drshanesaeed

@BennerBraniacs

Learning Progression Template

Learning Targets PD

Self Assessment 1 through 6

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Inspiring students to self-assess and start working independently doesn't have to be complicated! Not only are students becoming aware of what they need and advocating for themselves, but also engaging in some beautiful metacognition. Another added benefit? All that independence and efficacy actually leads to higher-quality collaborative work! Tune in as we chat with Marcus Luther from The Broken Copier about his 1 through 6 rating system and how this simple strategy has created efficacy and independence in his classroom.

Self-Assessment 1-6

@MarcusLuther6

@SuzannahEvans2

@drshanesaeed

What's Your Lead Domino?

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Happy October to our Vrain Waves listeners! The perfect follow-up to our first episode with Brandon Slade is our conversation with these two rockstar St. Vrain educators, secondary special education teacher, Sarah Patton, and elementary counselor, Mike Laurent. Tune in as we talk about go-to strategies for not just students with needs, but the whole student body. We can't say it enough...what's essential for some is good for all and that includes us adults, too. It's not too late in the year to put some simple routines in place that will pay out huge dividends in your classrooms. What will be the lead domino that you set up tomorrow?!

Setting Up for Success in Season 7!

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Season 7 of Vrain Waves! We are kicking off with what we all need at the start of the year. Setting up for success means explicitly unpacking directions and expectations for all students, especially those with executive functioning deficits. Tune in as we chat with Brandon Slade from Untapped Learning and let's all be reminded that what's essential for some, is good for all!

UntappedLearning.com

Untapped Learning YouTube channel

@UntappedSlade

@SuzannahEvans2

@drshanesaeed

Reframing Assessment in Action

Fri, 31 May 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Wrapping up Season 6 with two rockstar teachers who show us what it looks like to reframe Assessment in the classroom. The key to engaging students is not tricky; it's building intrinsic motivation through authentic assessment and grading practices! Tune in as our very own Sam LaFever and Gideon Matchey unpack how they use explicit assessment strategies to develop mastery and shift the cognitive load to their students!

@SuzannahEvans2

@Saeed_shane

@gideonmatchey

@gideonmatcheycomposer

Learning Pit - James Nottingham

SVVSD Math

Assessment as Evidence of Success

Fri, 10 May 2024 06:00:00 +0000

What are some ways we can reframe assessment? How can we shift toward seeing assessment as evidence of success rather than a "gotcha"? Tune in as Hacking Student Motivation author Tyler Rablin speaks to creating multiple opportunities for students to grow and learn over time. Let's stop focusing on mistakes and start focusing on trends in our classrooms! Spoiler Alert: Student motivation is built by giving them more than one attempt and celebrating both what they know now and have yet to learn!

Hacking Student Motivation

Shift the Epicenter!

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +0000

March Madness and the solar eclipse might be over but the excitement of Spring continues! Tune in to hear from our very own @missluker as she speaks to shifting the epicenter of learning, replicating yourself, and creating more powerful feedback loops. How do we do this & still ensure quality instruction? Blended Learning! Dive in, build your students' agency, your own agency, the collective efficacy, and honor what it means to be a learner!

@SuzannahEvans2

@Saeed_Shane

@missluker

@Catlin_Tucker

Small Shifts for Big Impact

Fri, 1 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Tune in for our conversation with Dr. Scott McLeod about his 4 Shifts Protocol and how these shifts can help teachers engage in reflection, apply deeper learning principles, and build student agency in their classrooms. As we learn and grow as educators, the 4 Shifts Protocol is intended "to get at some specific, concrete ‘think abouts’ and ‘look fors’ that can help educators dialogue around what they might change." Continuous refinement for the win!

https://twitter.com/SuzannahEvans2

https://twitter.com/saeed_shane

https://twitter.com/mcleod

https://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/resources/4-shifts-protocol

https://www.amazon.com/Shift-Student-Led-Reimagining-Classroom-Workflows/dp/1948334526

Find an Open Door!

Fri, 2 Feb 2024 07:00:00 +0000

If the instructional door you chose to open isn't working, find a different door! We can hold high expectations for our students AND meet them where they are at the same time! Tune in as our second married teaching couple, Ken and Kendra Versoi, drop amazing and tangible strategies for effective facilitation (hint, hint it starts with Relationships).

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

Necessary Conditions, Geoff Krall

Building Thinking Classrooms, Peter Liljedahl

Necessary Condition: Learning TOGETHER

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Gifting our listeners with all things Geoff Krall! Author of one of our favorite books, Necessary Conditions: Teaching Secondary Math with Academic Safety, Quality Tasks, and Effective Facilitation, Geoff speaks to creating academic safety, moving from an emphasis on speed to thoughtfulness, and the power of letting go. But if you're not a math teacher, never fear! There is something for ALL teachers here....tune in and take a beat! Let's learn TOGETHER!

@geoffkrall

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

Learning Party, Part 2: All Ages Welcome!

Fri, 1 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Think that the Science of Learning practices are only for older students? Not true! The learning party invitation can and should be extended to all grades, Kindergarten through 12th. Tune in to our first mini-wave episode of Season 6 to hear how master (and married) St. Vrain Valley teachers, Arianne Tasker and Adam Wellington, incorporate the Science of Learning in their 1st-grade and high school classrooms. It's simpler than you think!

Learning is a party; make sure to invite your students!

Fri, 13 Oct 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Why did we all become teachers? Chances are, it's because we love to learn. How can we create and inspire that same love for learning in our students? By magic? No, not with magic at all, but with science. The science of learning allows students to internalize their successes, invest in the outcomes, and get in the driver's seat! Learning is a party; make sure to invite your students, is the mission statement. Embedding these practices in your classroom will be the game changer for you as an educator, and the game changer for your students on their road to becoming lifelong learners.

Powerful Teaching

Make It Stick

Retrieval Practice.org

Initium

Feedback Part 2: So Nice, We Had to Do It Twice!

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Feedback is too important to only talk about once! We return to one of our favorite topics with two of our own St. Vrain Valley teachers, @HeatherLea303 and @Janis Vogelsberg, to hear how they model feedback in their classrooms, give explicit instruction around the tricky peer feedback loop, and inspire students to shift away from the external motivation of grades and instead use feedback for intrinsic continuous improvement. Tip for Success: Your students should be giving you feedback too!

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

https://www.teachthought.com/critical-thinking/3-2-1-strategy/

https://twitter.com/markbarnes19/status/579628870611111936?lang=en

http://www.makinglearningvisibleresources.org/ladder-of-feedback-see-supporting-learning-in-groups-in-the-classroom.html

Feedback is Nourishment

Fri, 9 Jun 2023 06:00:00 +0000

"Feedback is not a luxury, it's a necessity; not a means to an end, but an end in itself. It's the purpose of why we teach." If these aren't mic-drop quotes for you, we need to talk! Or you need to for sure read this duo's latest work, Feedback for Continous Improvement in the Classroom. Listen in as we talk all things feedback with Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg. You'll hear how they emphasize the respect we give students by creating these opportunities for dialogue as learning and honoring what students already bring to the classroom. And you lucky listeners also get a 25% promo code when you purchase their book directly from Corwin.

@CarrieHolmberg

@BrentDuckor

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

Classrooms, Community, and Collective Efficacy!

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Our first mini-wave goes straight to the source...2 classroom teachers right here in St. Vrain! Join us as Altona Middle School's Cleveland Smith and Westview Middle School's Danny Hernandez talk classroom connections, relationships, and building collective efficacy.

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

@WestviewSVVSD

@AltonaMS

We Love It Here!

Fri, 3 Feb 2023 13:35:28 +0000

We Love It Here! Yep, we sure do! Shane and I are loving being behind the mic with Vrain Waves and in this episode, we chat with Clint Pulver, the Undercover Millennial, whose book, I Love It Here, is a must-read for anyone in the business world AND anyone in education.“No significant learning can ever happen without significant connection” is just one of our favorite takeaways and goosebump moments. Building on the last episode about creating a network and village for yourself as teachers, we will dig into how we can meaningfully and genuinely connect with our students in the classroom and in turn, connect them with their dreams!

https://twitter.com/vrainwaves

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vrain-waves-teaching-conversations-with-minds-shaping/id1365316994

https://twitter.com/suzannahevans2

https://twitter.com/saeed_shane

https://clintpulver.com/

New Year, New Hosts, New Vrain Waves!

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The mic has officially been passed to us from Ben Kalb! With the re-launch of the podcast, we are celebrating all things NEW; new year, new students, and new teachers! Our goal is to create inspiration and empowerment for educators, so alongside the giants of education, new hosts Suzy Evans and Shane Saeed will also be talking with classroom educators and how they use these theories in their practice on a daily basis. Join us for our first episode of 2023 as we talk about the power of networking, creating your teaching village, and how connecting with other educators is the key to our collective success!

We reconnect with Ben Kalb, super-podcaster and the creator of Vrain Waves to ground us all in the original mission of the podcast. We also talk about how we plan to carry on with interviewing educational movers and shakers, but then add contributions from classroom educators as well.

Our first classroom guest is one of our own, St. Vrain Valley Schools 5th-grade teacher, Farah Holburn, who talks about how she connects with other teachers, creates a positive atmosphere in her building, and continues to be a lifelong learner.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vrain-waves-teaching-conversations-with-minds-shaping/id1365316994

@SuzannahEvans2

@saeed_shane

Grading for Equity with Joe Feldman

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 11:30:00 +0000

Episode 060: Grading for Equity with Joe Feldman

Connect with Joe Feldman

Website: https://crescendoedgroup.org/ | Twitter: @JoeCFeldman

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Lindsay Laporte Twitter: @LaPorteLindsay |Oakley Schilling Twitter: @OakleySchilling| Ben KalbTwitter: @mrkalb

Principal Kafele on Transformative Change

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Episode 059: Principal Kafele on Transformative Change

Connect with Principal Kafele

Website: https://principalkafele.com/| Twitter: @principalkafele| YouTube: School Leadership Thoughts

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves |
Shane Saeed| Instagram: @fantasticallyfourth Twitter: @saeed_shane
Ben Kalb| Twitter: @mrkalb

Dr. John Spencer and the Sporky Food Truck

Mon, 9 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Episode 058: John Spencer and the Sporky Food Truck

Connect with John Spencer

Website: http://www.spencerauthor.com | Twitter: @spencerideas| YouTube: Spencer Videos

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Violet Twitter: @vhchristensen | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Violet hosts a podcast for instructional coaches called C3 (Connecting Coaches Cognition) and it can be found wherever you get your podcasts or here.

Dr. Katie Martin: Clarity and Purpose during a Pandemic

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Temple Hayles, Ben Kalb, Katie Martin) — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 10:30:00 +0000

Katie Martin is a best selling author, an acclaimed keynote speaker, and a highly sought after educational consultant! Whether you are teaching completely in person, totally virtually, or in a hybrid environment, in this episode we discuss how you can thrive!

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Temple Hayles Guest Co-Host: @haylessvvsd| Ben Kalb: @mrkalb

Connect with Katie Martin

Twitter: @katiemartinedu | Website: katielmartin.com | Book: Learner-Centered Innovation

Apollo 13'ing it with Zaretta Hammond

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Tue, 12 May 2020 09:00:27 +0000

Connect with Zaretta Hammond

Twitter: @Ready4Rigor | Website: crtandthebrain.com | Book: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Intro
- Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key, Stoicism, Blog post about habits
Zaretta’s Current Conversations (05:05)
- Covid webinars
- Apollo 13 (09:47)
Family / Parent Relationships (11:13)
- Trust Generators (other resources from the book here!)
Only learners learn (19:42)
The achievement gap (28:11)
Minimize threat, maximize connection (32:57)
- Standing, Certainty, Control, Connection, Equity
- Collectivist culture / Individualistic culture
Relationship-building (39:02)
Jim Knight - Zaretta Hammond webinar on Facebook

You're Not Listening with Kate Murphy

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:00:04 +0000

Connect with Kate Murphy

Website: https://www.nytimes.com/by/kate-murphy | Book: You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Intro to Kate Murphy, her book (01:24)
- Best Nonfiction book of 2020
Listening for a living (03:35)
We all have megaphones in our pockets (05:34)
The coronavirus pandemic is really showing us how we are not in control (07:15)
Listening is a grand adventure (07:40)
Courage & Curiosity (07:59)
No one is boring (09:12)
Nothing is black and white (10:45)
How to listen to people you disagree with (12:08)
- Clinton impeachment
- Ginsburg and Scalia
fMRI patterns during listening (17:46)
Loneliness (19:15)
Virtual Conferencing (21:00)
Growing Better Listeners through education (23:49)
How to listen well depends on the context (27:03)
What if people aren't listening to you? (30:46)
Takeaways (33:32)

Coping with Covid: Catlin Tucker on teaching during a Quarantine

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:00:06 +0000

Episode 054: Coping with Covid, with Catlin Tucker

As we all try to wrap our heads around the implications the pandemic will have on our students, our communities, our families, and ourselves, we hope to provide some comforting guidance from an expert in remote learning. Catlin Tucker, whose original Vrain Waves interview aired back in Season 2 about her book Power Up Blended Learning, joins us again for a Sunday discussion about how we can approach these changes to our instruction.

Connect with Catlin Tucker

Website: https://catlintucker.com | Twitter: @catlin_tucker | Most Recent Book: Balance with Blended Learning

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Intro
- Episode 053 with Dr. Todd Rose
- Poem: Pandemic, by Lynn Ungar
- https://www.createtocope.com/: “Creativity is the pathway towards healing.”
- Washington Post Simulation article
- Lenin quote: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
- Episode 045 with Dr. Jim Afremow
- Episode 020 with Catlin Tucker
Start of Interview (10:07)
Setting schedules at home (12:00)
- Catlin’s blog with family schedule
- Security and routine at home
Fitting into family schedules (14:52)
- Schoology, Canvas, Google Classroom
- Virtual Office Hours
- Remind
Timing & Moving classes online (17:46)
- Retrieval
- Pieces of our lessons can live online -- decide which ones work for you
- Work backwards from your objectives
- Add collaborative opportunities for students to engage with each other
Combating Social Isolation (20:27)
- Catlin’s Blog Post
- Community of Inquiry Framework -- Teaching Presence, Cognitive Presence, Social Presence
- Informal conversations for development
- Stronger sense of social presence = better outcomes for online learning
- Google Slides Discussions
- Less is more, take new learning slow
Tenets of Online Learning (24:48)
- Backwards design stands true
- What artifacts do I need for assessment?
- Which instructional strategies will work for this outcome?
- Many tools have more capacity than we even know about -- dig into the tools you already know
- Screencastify
Where should we be spending our energy? (27:15)
- Video instruction on concepts & new information, model processes, and move students forward
- Online discussions are a must
- Catlin’s Doctoral Work
- Power Up Blended Learning
- Vocabulary.com; NoRedInk
Online discussions (32:34)
- Catchy title as a hook
- Layer your questions
- Media is a must
- Give students ideas for discussion responses (give a compliment, a recommendation, etc)
- Ladder of Feedback (Clarity, Value, Concerns, Suggestions)
- Online discussion tags on Catlin’s blog; [EduCause tips for online discussions]
Empowering students to help us redesign the remainder of the school year (35:41)
- Ask for student feedback
Filtering through all of these ed tech resources (38:17)
- Think big but start small
- Find your pedagogical challenge and then find the tool to address that challenge
- Kami for annotation
- Don’t overestimate your students’ readiness to access tools for learning online
- Codex.svvsd.org
- The Balance, episode with Jason Green
Balance with Blended Learning
Ben & Becky’s Takeaways (47:12)
- Catlin’s home schedule for her kids during isolation
- Jennifer Gonzalez’s Wakelet for isolation | Get on her mailing list
- Dr. Bruce Perry

Ending Average with Todd Rose

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Todd Rose, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 9 Mar 2020 09:00:07 +0000

Episode 053: Ending Average with Todd Rose

Connect with Todd Rose

Website: https://toddrose.com | Twitter: @ltoddrose | Most Recent Book: Dark Horse

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Intro to Todd Rose (00:22)
- Episode with John Couch
- WWII cockpit story
- Episode with Natalie Wexler
- Jagged profiles; Todd Rose’s TED Talk, The Myth of Average
- Episode with Cornelius Minor
- Dark Horse Characteristics
When are averages useful, when are they harmful? (10:16)
Staying away from snowflake mentality (13:01)
Jagged Profiles (14:16)
What strategies work for you? (19:17)
- All performance is a combination of aptitude and strategy.
Personality Tests (26:58)
If-Then Signatures, Everything in Context (30:34)
- Dr. Yuichi Shoda, University of Washington
- The game of judgment
Choice is the lifeblood of fulfillment (36:36)
Ideal Classroom (39:45)
Big data in Education (44:56)
Takeaways (51:21)

Aligning Words and Intentions with Mike Anderson

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 10:00:12 +0000

Aligning Words and Intentions with Mike Anderson

Connect with Mike Anderson

Website: https://www.leadinggreatlearning.com/| Twitter: @balancedteacher | Most Recent Book: What We Say and How We Say it Matter

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

What We Say and How We Say It Matter

Two Year Podiversary (1:00)
Presume Positive Intent (4:40)
Aligning word choice and intentions (05:45)
“Feedback is a gift” Kim Scott (6:00)
What we Say and How We Say it Matter (6:45)
Language has a huge impact on learning (7:30)
Sometimes our habits don’t align with our intent (8:00)
Our language impacts behavior (10:30)
Mash and Cheers (11:45)
Don’t be Sarcastic (12:45)
What is the goal of our language: (13:20)
Prove it! (15:40)
Teacher Clarity (16:30)
Relationship Building (16:52)
Practical Tips (18:00)
Single Task (19:00)
Habits are how you embody your identity (21:20)
Manipulative Praise (23:20)
What Good Readers Do (26:20)
Some day…(30:29)
Motivation is not enough (34:20)
Mike fixes our problems! (35:00)
Guest Teacher (36:30)
Directive Language (38:00)
Intrinsic motivation (38:30)
Engagement in school (41:00)
Pet Peeves (45:40)
Great Job (48:00)
Instead of talking about how we feel talk about what we are doing (52:20)
Website 55:00
What we learned! (55:10)
Do work with care (57:30)
Follow us

Live your Excellence with Jimmy Casas

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Jimmy Casas) — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 10:00:21 +0000

Connect with Jimmy Casas

Website: https://jimmycasas.com/ | Twitter: @casas_jimmy | Most Recent Book: Culturize

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Jimmy, Intro (00:32)
Live your Interview (03:18)
- Elena Aguilar, Bright Morning
“The biggest problem facing public education today is ineffective leadership.” (06:05)
- Winter CASE Conference
The importance of a strong culture (10:29)
- Todd Whitaker: The worst behavior that we're willing to tolerate in our organization will become the culture of our organization.
- Coaching for administrators (13:10)
- Iowa Principal of the Year
Recognizing a toxic culture (15:39)
- Processes, Systems, Frameworks
Being a lid (22:03)
Importance of Forgiveness (28:04)
Creating a strong classroom culture (31:10)
- “What we model is what we get.”
Being a champion for students, families, and community (35:01)
Collegial feedback & Learning from Failure (40:20)
Optimism as a Leadership Style (50:00)
Learn more from / with Jimmy (53:14)
Wrap Up & Takeaways (54:28)

The Reshaping of the World with Thomas Friedman

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 10:00:17 +0000

Connect with Thomas Friedman

Website: www.thomaslfriedman.com | Twitter: @tomfriedman | Most Recent Book: Thank you for Being Late

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Importance of Public Education (05:20)
Thomas Friedman’s Educational Experiences (06:09)
- Mr. Friedman’s articles on New York Times
- A beautiful tribute to Hattie Steinberg by Friedman
Reshaping of our World (08:45)
- “Now is the time to understand more so that we can fear less.” - Marie Curie
- 3 Climate Changes at once: Mother Nature, Market, Moore’s Law
- Exponential growth
Moore’s Law - Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel (09:42)
Technology accelerating at a pace that humans can’t adapt (13:40)
- Graph that Astro Teller, Google X, drew on Friedman’s wall
Mother Nature - Resilience & Propulsion (14:21)
- An Interview with Mother Nature
- Questions for us to apply to education within these characteristics (17:32)
- #ClearTheAir on Twitter - from the amazing @ValeriaBrownEDU and team
- Teaching Tolerance
- Episodes with Manoush Zomorodi / Cal Newport / Natalie Wexler
- Friedman’s CV
Lifelong Learning (21:45)
- Self-motivation divide: Owning Your Own Future - single most important competitive advantage
Advice to his daughters (23:12)
- Think like an immigrant - Paranoid Optimism
- Think like an artisan - from The Goldens @ Harvard
- Think like a starter-upper in Silicon Valley - Reid Hoffman - Always be in Beta (Skyline High School STEM Academy)
- CQ + PQ > IQ
- Think like a waitress at Perkins Pancake House in Minneapolis - be relentlessly entrepreneurial
Identity in the reshaped world (30:25)
- Friedman on the new grid
- Binary bias
- Myth of hemispheric dominance in the brain
- Personality Tests (Myers-Briggs: Vox, Adam Grant)
The Golden Rule (33:16)
- Friedman on the golden rule
- Marigolds, Jennifer Gonzalez
The Eye People (34:13)
- Brandi Carlisle - The Eye
  - Refrain: “I wrapped your love around me like a chain, but I never was afraid that it would die. You can dance in a hurricane, but only if you’re standing in the eye.”
- Dynamic stability - Astro Teller on dynamic stability

Bored and Brilliant with Manoush Zomorodi

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Manoush Zomorodi) — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 10:00:16 +0000

Connect with Manoush Zomorodi

Website: www.manoushz.com | Twitter: @manoushz | Book: Bored and Brilliant

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Manoush’s work (01:08)
- Note to Self podcast
- Zig Zag podcast
- Ted Radio Hour podcast
- Stable Genius Productions
- Bored and Brilliant Book
- Manoush’s TED Talk
Technology and our Brain, background of the book (02:07)
- Bored and Brilliant challenges, 2015
- Ways we ‘pay’ for ‘free’ apps
Taking pictures and our memory (06:04)
Self-regulation with technology (08:52)
Stories from Bored and Brilliant challenges in the classroom (10:10)
- Skim reading v. long form reading
- Maryanne Wolf - researcher, language processing on screens vs in books
- Sherry Turkle's - Reclaiming Conversation
Boredom in the classroom (14:15)
- Default Mode
- Autobiographical Planning
- Embracing boredom - positive constructive mind wandering
- Memory for future imagining
- Digital Minimalism Vrain Waves Episode with Cal Newport
Knowing-Doing Gap for tech use (18:14)
What Manoush is reading: Super Thinking (22:22)
Who are you online? (24:19)
- Manoush’s No Filter Project
Takeaways (25:42)
- Bored and Brilliant challenges
- Add a new behavior instead of taking away behavior
- Seinfeld jokes calendar
- Streaks app
- Brainscape app
- Brainscape article on diffuse and focused modes of thinking
  - Farnam Street blog on diffuse and focused mode
- Subreddit: Shower Thoughts - Best of Shower Thoughts

Knowledge Party with Natalie Wexler

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Natlie Wexler, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 9 Dec 2019 10:00:02 +0000

Episode 048: Knowledge Party with Natalie Wexler

Today on Vrain Waves we have an exciting and somewhat earth shaking interview from Natalie Wexler, education journalist and author of The Knowledge Gap. She walks us through the contributing research and education history that led her to write the book, and some strategies for schools to set the foundation for student success. From her website: “Education journalist Natalie Wexler focuses on two ideas that have solid evidence behind them but have been mostly overlooked by schools and reformers: immersing children from less-educated families in knowledge about the world, and linking that knowledge to writing instruction.”

Connect with Natalie Wexler

Website: nataliewexler.com | Twitter: @natwexler | Books: The Knowledge Gap, The Writing Revolution

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Intro (00:58)
- 4 times less likely to graduate if not reading on grade level by 3rd grade
- NYT Article: Reading Scores on National Exam Decline in Half the States
- Typical time spent in 3rd grade on reading: 2 hours; 16 min on social studies, 19 min on science (2012)
- Reading comprehension cannot be broken down into discrete skills
- Daisy Christodoulou - Books; (bonus: Check out her stuff on Comparative Judgment for assessment!)
Natalie Wexler’s view on the Promise of Public Education (5:25)
- Functioning democracy needs a citizenry that can understand events and how to edit and fact check the information that they’re exposed to
What is The Knowledge Gap (06:55)
- We’ve treated reading like it’s a set of discrete skills while letting content knowledge take a back seat
- Most important factor for successful reading comprehension: how much background knowledge and vocabulary you already have
The Baseball Study and reading comprehension (09:42)
2 Parts of Reading: Decoding and Comprehension (11:27)
- Cognitive Scientists and Teachers have come to opposite conclusions - decoding needs direct and explicit instruction and comprehension will come along with more exposure to content
- Language at the Speed of Sight, 271–274
- Dan Willingham (Vrain Waves Episode with Dr. Willingham)
Whose knowledge? (16:13)
- Common core history and content knowledge (18:32)
- Supplemental materials language on content in common core
Underestimating student ability and having high expectations (22:10)
Student choice (24:13)
- Behavior and content knowledge (26:01)
- The Matthew Effect in Reading
- Cognitive Load theory - novices and experts - Slides from Daniel Braithwaite
- “Leveled texts lead to leveled lives.” - Alfred Tatum
History of the role of content in reading instruction (28:35)
Alternatives to leveled groupings (31:08)
- Listening comprehension exceeds reading comprehension
- Written language is more complex than spoken language
The importance of exposing struggling readers to grade level texts (34:07)
The importance of facts and knowledge in the age of Google (36:42)
- Burden on working memory (see cognitive load theory)
The Curse of Knowledge (38:19)
- Doug Lemov: “Those of us on the privileged side of the knowledge gap have no idea how we got here.”
- Importance of pre-assessment
Misinterpretation of Bloom’s Taxonomy (40:35)
- Taxonomy, not a hierarchy
- Skipping lower levels is not appropriate
- Quote from the book: “That graphic has led many educators to conclude that the ‘lower-order’ tasks should be passed over as quickly as possible, or even eliminated, because they’re inferior to those at the top. In fact, Bloom meant that knowledge and comprehension are prerequisites for higher-order thinking, and that teachers should never ask students to start analyzing or evaluating a topic until first ensuring they have a solid understanding of it.”
The Writing Revolution (42:33)
- Writing builds and solidifies knowledge as well as demonstrating knowledge
- Retrieval Practice / The Testing Effect
- The Protege Effect
- Knowledge is like velcro
- Sentence frames with ending conjunctions for prompts
Balance between free writing & content-based writing (47:40)
- Judith Hochman - The Hochman Method
Role of the teacher in the modern classroom, PD (48:54)
- Delivering curriculum instead of creating curriculum
- Ongoing PD around content delivery, not skills in isolation
- Provide information and then guide them through thinking about that information with opportunities for desirable difficulty
Closing & Take Aways (53:00)
- NatalieWexler.com / Forbes.com contributor
- Quote: “It’s not so much that particular bits of information are vital in and of themselves—although some certainly are. It’s more that people need to have enough facts in their heads to have what one commentator has called ‘a knowledge party’—a bunch of accumulated associations that will enable them to absorb, retain, and analyze new information. Education certainly shouldn’t end with facts. But if it doesn’t begin there, many students will never acquire the knowledge and analytical abilities they need to thrive both in school and in life.”

Other Resources as well as some relevant citations from The Knowledge Gap:

Amplify Science of Reading Podcast
Shanahan: Should We Teach Students at their Reading Level
Why Minimally Guided Techniques Do Not Work, Kirschner et al
Teaching Content is Teaching Reading - YouTube Video, Dan Willingham

Teach Like an Advertiser with Dr. Lindsay Portnoy

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Lindsay Portnoy, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 10:00:06 +0000

Teaching & Advertising (01:30)
- Episode 5 w/ Pirate Dave
- Rosie the Riveter / Uncle Sam
- This Girl Can (02:28)
- Sport England
- Missy Elliot, Get Ur Freak On
Authenticity over perfection (05:05)
- Dove Real Beauty campaign
- Commercial with sketch artist
Zaretta Hammond's book, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain (07:26)
- Selective Vulnerability as a trust-maker
Growing a Fan Base (08:28)
- Clif bars
- Google Certified Innovators
- Apple Distinguished Educators
- Dr. Chris Emdin (09:53)
- TED talk
- Cogens
- For White Folks Who Teach in the 'Hood (and for the rest of y'all too)
Dr. Lindsay Portnoy - start of interview (14:24)
- Psychographics (15:00)
- "Will your spreadsheets remember you in ten years?"
- New York City Teaching Fellows
What educators can learn from marketing and psychographics (16:34)
Dr. Portnoy's dissertation (17:29)
- Piaget (18:04)
- Types of questions that kids were asking were largely dependent on the content itself
- Slow trajectory of growth disproves ages & stages
Interdisciplinary nature of design (20:20)
Define learning (21:28)
Symptoms v. Root Cause (23:24)
Formative assessment (24:45)
Empathy = taking perspective (25:42)
Epistemology (26:57)
Andrea Henkel, Quest to Learn
AI & the future of learning (30:06)
Research is formalized curiosity (32:09)
- Zora Neale Hurston
Design & formative assessment are iterative (33:20)
- Effort versus Impact matrix
HEARTS = Home, Educational Experience, Activities they engage in outside the classroom, Reasons for Learning, Transformative life experiences, Special Attributes
Killer snails, cone snails / pain management properties (39:21)
Killer snails, the edtech company (39:44)
Contact Info for Dr. Linsday Portnoy: @Lportnoy, lindsayportnoy.com, l.portnoy@northeastern.edu (43:10)
Take aways (43:38)
- John Spencer video on divergent & convergent thinking

Long May They Run

Phish podcast with Trey talking about practice

The Power of Joyful Teaching: A Compilation

Sat, 2 Nov 2019 09:00:11 +0000

Episode 048: The Power of Joyful Teaching

I know, I know - clips episodes seem overdone, but bear with us… in this show, we went through our interviews to this point and used Dr. Martin Seligman’s PERMA model for happiness to think through how we can be more joyful in our classrooms (and beyond). Links to all other shows can be found below!

Connect with Vrain Waves

Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

CAMLE - Colorado Association of Middle Level Educators
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” - Haim Ginott
Brain Rules episode with Dr. John Medina
Dr. Martin Seligman
PERMA Model
P = Positive Emotion
- Teaching from a Full Tank with Chase Mielke
- Webinar with Dr. Seligman
E = Engagement
R = Relationships
- To classroom, colleagues, craft, content
- Jennie Magiera, Ed Tech Team
- We Got This with Cornelius Minor
- Dwayne Reed
- Critical Creativity with Dan Ryder
- Positive School Culture with Jenn Gonzalez
M = Meaning
- Start with Why with Steven Shedletsky
A = Accomplishments
- Know thy Impact with John Hattie
- Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport

The Champions Mind with Dr. Jim Afremow

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 11:00:02 +0000

Episode 047: Dr. Jim Afremow - The Champion’s Mind
Sports psychologist Dr. Jim Afremow joins Vrain Waves to share the importance of cultivating a champion’s mindset in everything you do. There are plenty of parallels between sports and teaching and learning; some of these parallels are useful for thinking about your classroom or your collegial relationships in a different frame. Download the Champion’s Mind app to hear inspirational audio clips and motivate yourself for anything you’re trying to tackle in life! Enjoy!

Connect with Dr. Jim Afremow
Website: goldmedalmind.net | Twitter: @goldmedalmind | Books: The Champion’s Mind; The Champion’s Comeback; The Young Champion’s Mind

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Intro links
- Space Jam the movie
- Practice until you can’t get it wrong - Peyton Manning
- Champions v. Contenders
- “Part of this process requires us to maintain our eagerness to learn and grow, and to take well-trained, disciplined action to make solid change in our lives.”
What can we learn from athletes? (06:15)
What is a champion? (07:02)
- Being vitally involved in life
Handling setbacks (07:52)
- Ugly but effective
- Serena Williams
- Relaxes when she’s down in a match
Greatest of All Time (09:54)
Arrogance v. Confidence (10:51)
- Time to be humble (preparation phase) then confident (performance phase)
- Ego edges greatness out
Self-talk (13:10)
- Anxiety management
- Butterflies - try to get them to fly in formation
Mental game / Physical game (15:15)
Visualization / Mental Imagery (16:02)
- Big days or daily routines
- Psych yourself up instead of psyching yourself out
Peak Performance Coordinator for the San Francisco Giants
Motivation (19:41)
- Get into a great mood / frame of mind
- Pick a predator to emulate
Good / Better / Best (21:50)
- Great way to debrief: What went well? What could I have done better? How will I make those changes to help myself be best tomorrow?
- Lebron & his son video
Deliberate Practice (24:23)
- Process goals & outcome goals
- Continuous improvement
- Rest / Recovery / Regeneration - Don’t be lazy with your recovery
Meditation & breathing techniques (26:47)
Champions & their contract (27:33)
- Dr. Afremow article about JJ Watt: "I think no matter what job you do, I don’t care what job it is, you want to outperform your contract. I feel like that’s how everybody should attack their job, at least. You should want people to think you’re underpaid because of how hard you work, because of how well you do your job, because of how you go about your business."
- Importance of Gratitude
- Sometimes we have to go against socialization to be our best selves
Team Sports & Teaching (29:44)
- When we give ourselves to others, we get more in return.
- A rising tide lifts all boats
On Twitter: @GoldMedalMind
Relationships (31:40)
- Learn the learner; study the student - be vulnerable with students
Coach-Athlete Relationship (33:10)
- Balance between challenge & support
Optimism (34:49)
- Baseball card research study (article)
- When it’s time to perform, be psychotically optimistic.
Body Language (36:46)
Confidence, Concentration, Commitment, Composure (38:24)
- “That’s like me” or “That’s not like me”
- Negativity bias for survival
What are we doing that gets in our own way? (40:07)
- “I know” list
- Gift of failing & how to learn from it: I just learned something that didn’t work
3 P’s: Present, Positivity, Process (43:17)
- Let go of today & focus on the next thing
Mantras / Routines (44:44)
- Mind over matter
- Be like water
- I love hills
- Bruce Lee quote:
- “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Commonalities among people that surround champions (46:03)
The Champions Mind App
- Use the app to build mental skills & strategies
Take Aways (48:32)
- Cornelius Minor Vrain Waves episode
- 3 questions for being a team player:
- “Think about these three self-reflection questions regarding your role as a teammate: 1. What am I doing that is hurting my team (e.g., complaining, gossiping)? 2. What am I not doing that is hurting my team (e.g., cheering for my teammates, accepting my role on the team)? 3. What are the specific action steps I will take to be a better teammate moving forward (e.g., hustling on every play, being more vocal on the field)?”
- PLC+ Vrain Waves episode

Dr. John Medina, Brain Rules

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 7 Oct 2019 09:00:23 +0000

Episode 046: Dr. John Medina - Brain Rules
We’ve been waiting for years now for the chance to interview Dr. John Medina: Developmental Molecular Biologist, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and author of Brain Rules, Brain Rules for Baby, Brain Rules for Aging Well, and Attack of the Teenage Brain, to name a few. Dr. Medina takes time out of his busy schedule to chat with us about Theory of Mind, stress and learning, and some history behind our fancy brains.

Connect with Dr. John Medina
Website: http://www.brainrules.net/ | Twitter: @BrainRulesBooks | Books: Brain Rules, Brain Rules for Baby, Brain Rules for Aging Well, Attack of the Teenage Brain

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Intro to Brain Rules Chapter Summaries (01:12)
- Rule #1: Exercise Boosts Brain Power
- Doris Kearns Goodwin episode
- Rule #3: Every Brain is Wired Differently
- Free Solo Documentary
- Daniel Kahnemann, Thinking Fast and Slow
Dr. Medina’s journey through career (05:53)
Drawing / Arts and the Brain (08:45)
- Decentering behaviors are brain vitamins - can change the aging brain
Theory of Mind & Empathy (11:01)
- Cognitive & affective empathy
- Improving Theory of Mind - Read lots of literary fiction, journal about your feelings while you read
Teachers must be able to form accurate perceptions of students’ abilities (14:45)
- When are you bewildering a student?
- Book studies with faculty
Educational Ecology (16:35)
- “Learning is primarily a relational enterprise.”
De-stressing the teacher / Theory of Mind takes an enormous amount of cognitive resource
Empathic distress (17:56)
- Jon Kabat-Zinn
- The Mindful Way Workbook
Stress Study with Dogs (20:00)
- Chapter in Brain Rules: Stressed Brains Don’t Learn the Same Way
- Martin Seligman / Stress study with dogs / Learned Helplessness
- Inability to control the aversive stimuli = stress
Depression (23:41)
- NPY Peptide - resilience to aversive stimuli
Executive Function (25:58)
- Nature v. Nurture - boat analogy
- Aerobic Exercise is a powerful way to improve executive function
- Add a cognitive component = even bigger boost
- Gym in the center of the school
- Our brains evolved while we were walking 12 hours a day
Are cell phones hurting teenage brains? (29:46)
- Longer you spend looking at screens, worse you are at interpreting social cues from other people’s faces and expressions, nonverbal skills
- Recovered after 5 days
Multitasking and erosion of the attentional spotlight (33:04)
- Inability to multitask when there are a lot of things to attend to creates stress / anxiety in the brain
One recommendation for teachers (36:48)
Take aways (38:33)
- Episode with Dr. Tony Wagner
- “Focused leaders say no.” - Dr. Jackie Kapushion
- Episode with Cal Newport
- Yuval Noah Harari & the imagined order
- Mindful Way Workbook; The Onward Workbook by Elena Aguilar
Mark Pearson, Libro.FM
- Free Audiobooks for teachers; find out more at: https://libro.fm/alc-program

Expertise in Education with Dr. Tom Nichols

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 09:00:11 +0000

Episode 045: Dr. Tom Nichols, Expertise in Education
Five-time Jeopardy! Champion, professor, and author Dr. Tom Nichols joins us on Vrain Waves to discuss the implications of his work on K12 education. We chat with Dr. Nichols about the importance of relying on experts, cultivating our own expertise, and the cognitive heuristics that get in our way. From his website: “Tom Nichols is a U.S. Naval War College University Professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is a specialist on Russian affairs, nuclear strategy, NATO issues, and a nationally-known commentator on U.S. politics and national security.” And he agreed to talk to us!! Ben and Becky! We are so excited to share his thoughts with you, our busy listeners - please share your thoughts on Twitter with the #MakeSomeVrainWaves or tweet us @VrainWaves with your favorite takeaways. Thanks for listening!

Connect with Dr. Tom Nichols
Website: Facebook: Death of Expertise | Twitter: @radiofreetom | Book: The Death of Expertise

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

“Nothing builds up resistance to learning like constant praise.”
Dunning-Kreuger Effect (05:58)
Foreign Affairs Article from Dr. Nichols about his Ukraine example
Confirmation bias (08:57)
Desirability bias (09:17)
Idea of omnicompetence (from Richard Hofstadter’s book: Anti-intellectualism in American Life) (10:02)
Original blog post before the book
We are a postmodern society (13:47)
“Expertise is necessarily exclusive.” / Inequality in expertise (18:02)
Is education the solution? (23:43)
- Your degree is not a validation, it’s a license (28:08)
  Oxford University Press - 3 anonymous peer reviewers
Our responsibility to defer to expertise (30:10)
@RadioFreeTom on Twitter
- Gentle correction from colleagues
- Anecdata
We are inherently bad at statistics (36:03)
- Kahneman on Thinking Fast & Slow in Scientific American
Our interest in learning is at an all-time low (37:30)
Dr. Nichols frequently writes for: USA Today / The Washington Post / The Atlantic
Takeaways (41:01)
- Dan Willingham’s Book: When Can We Trust the Experts
- David Rock: “If you have a brain, you’re biased.”

Teaching from a Full Tank with Chase Mielke

Mon, 9 Sep 2019 13:14:47 +0000

Connect with Chase Mielke
Website: https://affectiveliving.com/ | Twitter: @chasemielke | Newest Book: The Burnout Cure: Learning to Love Teaching Again, ASCD

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (01:56)
- Tammy Trzebiatowski (@ttrzebiatowski)- Exercise & alone time
- Andy Leiser, Hastings MN - EL Tech Integration (@AndyLeiser): from Amy Fast, EdD (@FastCrayon) - cards written to future self
- Tyler Tarver, Dean of NLC College (@TylerTarver) - Set 3 goals each week
- Temple Hayles, Instructional Technology Coach (@haylessvvsd) - Hold Fast, Stay True
- Ben: Exercise gratitude
- Becky: Practice mindfulness; Getting Mindful about Race in Schools, Elena Aguilar (@brightmorningtm); EFGHI (Empathy, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Humility, Intentionality)
Chase Mielke Intro (10:56)
- Chase’s story & origin of the book (11:17)
Subjective Well-Being, Circumstances v. Action (12:57)
- Sustainable Happiness Model Meta-Analysis, Sheldon & Lyubomirksy
- Circumstances = 10%; Intentional Actions = 40%; Genetics = 50%
- “Circumstances matter but my actions matter more.”
What can we do? Internal locus of control (15:06)
- Empowered Thriving Model: Awareness → Attitude → Actions
Awareness (16:27)
- Matthew Killingsworth & Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University Research - 47% of our time spent thinking about something other than the present moment
- App = Track Your Happiness
Twin challenges of focus (17:57) - Rambling & Rumination
- “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” - William James
Rumination & Rambling (19:03)
- Rambling - can’t always control; Rumination we can start to improve with practice
Tangible tips for being in the present (20:55)
- Thich Nhat Hanh: Piece Is Every Step
- Mindfulschools.org
- Calm app has free accounts for teachers!! (https://www.calm.com/schools)
- Atomic Habits: habit stacking
Societal acceptance of mindfulness & meditation (24:15)
- Excitement from students
Staff mindfulness (27:01)
2 components of happiness: Hedonia v. Eudamonia (27:58)
- Living purposefully - live our best so we can give our best
Recognizing your own triggers (29:49)
- Check in with your body
Techniques for re-energizing (32:39)
- Better sleep habits; hobbies
- Gratitude practices, altruistic practices
Gratitude (35:20)
- Upward vs. downward comparisons
- Practicing with students / children
- “What made your heart happy today?”
Frequency & Recency of Positive Emotions (39:02)
- Wired to be more alert to threats than rewards
- Hebb’s postulate: Neurons that fire together wire together
Inattentional Blindness (41:16)
- Invisible Gorilla
- “When I look for X, I notice less Y.”
- Celebrating the good
Finite Framing (47:35)
- Moments are unique, this one will end, cherish each one
Practical Optimism (51:16)
- Habits of thinking: Permanence (this will always be as it is) & Universality (everything - a whole child, a whole school, education as a system, etc - is affected by this)
Wrap Up & Take aways (54:49)
- ‘Gratituesday’ newsletter at affectiveliving.com
- ASCD one hour webinar from Mr. Mielke

Fisher & Frey PLC+

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Becky Peters, Nancy Frey, Ben Kalb, Doug Fisher) — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 09:00:10 +0000

Episode 041: PLC Plus with Nancy Frey & Doug Fisher
Join us for this discussion with the potent pair Doug Fisher & Nancy Frey! We learn about their new book, PLC+ and the five questions that get to the heart of what collaboration time should look like in schools. Stay tuned until the end for a special promo code for our listeners for the PLC+ Institutes the authors will be hosting in Colorado in October!

Connect with Fisher & Frey
Website: www.fisherandfrey.com/ | Twitter: @DFisherSDSU; @NancyFrey | Newest Book: PLC Plus, Corwin Press

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Out of Our Heads & Into the Classroom: (01:30)
- American Express: Simple Guide to Lean Meetings
- Robyn Jackson on weekly team meetings
- Have an agenda / protocol
- Techless meetings
- Pre-mortem from Daniel Pink
- Collaborative notes & DRIs
- Toby - Chrome Extension
Introduction to Fisher & Frey & PLC Plus (08:12)
- Their School: Health Sciences High & Middle College in San Diego
- Questions: Where are we now? & the importance of pre-assessments
  - Side note: common questions for PLC work come from DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2010 as a PLC foundation: Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work; we acknowledge this foundational work when discussing PLCs :
    - ```
     What do we want students to learn? (essential standards)  
```
- ```
 How will we know if they have learned? (team-developed common assessments)  
```
    - ```
     What will we do if they don’t learn? (systematic interventions)  
```
- ```
 What will we do if they already know it? (extended learning)  
```
- Collective Efficacy
- Graham Nuthall, Hidden Lives of Learners
  - Students already know between 40-50 percent of what the teacher is teaching (Nuthall, 2007)
- Equity: Removal of Barriers vs. intervention as responses to student data
- Activator: Someone to guide the group
What are PLCs getting wrong? (13:21)
- Emphasis on the structural conditions can overwhelm the focus and mission of the group
- PLC must continually reinvest in itself
- Lack of attention to instruction - “How do we move learning forward?”
  - Literacy example (16:49)
- Curriculum / Instruction / Assessment
- Recent research that ~20% of in-class tasks are on grade level TNTP’s The Opportunity Myth - and an article from EdWeek
- PLC+ Protocol - Assignment analysis (from The Education Trust) (19:34)
  - Equity in Motion work from The Education Trust
Trust and the importance of Relational Conditions (21:18)
- Activator helps keep the conversation moving
- Protocols provide consistency
PLC+ / PD (22:57)
- Roughly a 1 to 3 ratio - Full staff Professional learning to PLC+ Time
Credibility & Efficacy (24:33)
- Teacher Credibility: Trust, Competence, Dynamism, Immediacy
Self-Efficacy and Collective Efficacy (27:17)
- Albert Bandura’s research on self-efficacy -
  - From Leading Impact Teams, by Bloomberg & Pitchford (& based on Bandura’s research, as well as Goddard, Hoy, & Hoy): Efficacy = Mastery Moments, Vicarious Experience, Feedback, and Trust
“Where are we going?” and “Where are we now?” (31:08)
- 5 Questions in PLC+: Where are we going? Where are we now? How do we move learning forward? What did we learn today? Who benefited and who did not benefit?
Bringing data to the PLC+ (33:22)
- Student feedback
Equity / Cognitive Bias / The Decisions we choose to make: (35:52)
- Quote from PLC+: “Underlying every decision about what we choose to gather data on is an unspoken decision about what we won’t look at.”
- Data should be aligned to team’s common challenge; then did we impact learning or not?
  - Invite students to PLC+ times for feedback
Protocols for learning walks
- Microteaching protocols
What did we learn today? Every single day we should be formatively assessing
Scheduling logistics (44:56)
- Two PLC+s - Grade level & Content level
- Vertical & Horizontal conversations are necessary
Grading at their school (48:19)
- Competency-Based / Mastery of Standards
- Formative homework & classwork
All Learning is Social Emotional (50:41)
- Social Emotional Academic Learning
Removing institutional barriers vs. Intervention (54:27)
- Support each learner individually - help them find a way to mastery
Special offer for Vrain Waves Listeners!! (58:50)
- Promo Code: VRAINWAVES
- Go to corwin.com/PLCColorado to register; Oct 3 & 4 in Denver at the Curtis Hotel

First Week of School Activities

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (St. Vrain OPD) — Mon, 12 Aug 2019 09:00:03 +0000

Episode 040: Welcome to the 2019-2020 School Year!!!
A quick intro episode after our summer break. Listen for some inspiration, activities, and free resources to help get your year started off right!! Please consider sharing with a friend, and point some feedback our way at tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback! Thank you!

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Temporal Landmarks (01:08)
- Episode 009 with Daniel Pink
- Atomic Habits, by James Clear
- Habit stacking (02:13)
Three Minute Know Me (04:51) - Design School X, dK12 Network, Design Tech High
- IDEO
- Teachers Guild
Episode 006 with Dan Ryder (06:58)
- Ed Tech Team Blog Post: 15 Ideas for Back to School Creativity with Intention
- Tableau for teachers (07:57)
Breakout tasks (09:04)
Unsplash - royalty free images (11:55)
Goals (12:53)
- Beth Comstock, Imagine it Forward
- “Tell me something I don’t want to hear.”
- “The pace of change will never be slower than it is right now.”
- Tech Insider Video (2:52): 7 Amazing Technologies we’ll see by 2030
- Consumption v. Creation (15:15)
- Ben’s platypus / Tutorial he used

Making the Most of Your Summer

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 09:00:03 +0000

Episode 041: Making the Most of Your Summer
A compilation episode highlighting advice on how to make the most of your summer, courtesy of the interviews from some of our amazing guests. Don’t let decision fatigue get you down! And share with us your summer plans at #makesomevrainwaves.

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Physical exercise (03:53)
Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina
Episode with Doris Kearns Goodwin
Benjamin Hardy blog post in Medium: “Behavior drives motivation.”
Robyn Jackson: “First you make your habits, then your habits make you.” (VW Episode with Robyn Jackson
Dan Willingham: “Never rely on willpower when you can make a plan to avoid it.” (VW Episode with Dan Willingham
Distraction (07:42)
Episode with Cal Newport
30-day digital detox
Dan Willingham: “Memory is the residue of thought.”
Making Memories (10:06)
Episode with Dan Heath: Power of Moments
Love Reading the Most (11:00)
Episode with Cornelius Minor
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
The Art of Gathering, by Priya Parker
Stop Talking, Start Influencing, by Jared Cooney Horvath
Spark! The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, by John J Ratey
(720) 900-1741 let us know how you are making the most of your summer! Or tweet us at #makesomevrainwaves

Doris Kearns Goodwin & Michael Goodwin - Learning Through History

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 27 May 2019 09:00:04 +0000

Episode 038: Doris Kearns Goodwin & Michael Goodwin, Learning from History

Connect with Doris Kearns Goodwin
Website: https://doriskearnsgoodwin.com/ | Twitter: @DorisKGoodwin

Connect with Michael Goodwin
Website: https://riversc9.wixsite.com/riversandrevolutions/michael-goodwin-rivers

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Constitutional Convention Story (01:32)
Doris Kearns Goodwin (Website)
Leadership in Turbulent Times
Rivers and Revolutions (3:51)
How Doris & Michael got started in education (04:01)
The impact of Concord on their lives (05:46)
Layers of history
Richard Goodwin (08:22)
NPR story on Richard after his death
Doris’ many books (09:48)
Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties (10:38)
“It’s not a question of capacity, it’s a question of will.”
Social mobility, rising to our potential
Involvement in politics for our youth (13:17)
Help students create change on a local level first
Rivers & Revolutions (16:14)
Interdisciplinary approaches to education - holistic way of looking at the world
Concord Carlisle High School
Rivers, Revolutions, Air, Fire, & Love
A Plea for Captain John Brown by Henry David Thoreau
The Power of Storytelling (22:12)
Forbes article on Lincoln & Storytelling, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work
Squaw Sachem
Education is about building community
Investigation of Love
Empathy (27:07)
Through public life you experience other people’s worlds
Seeing people as ‘other’ is a threat to our future
Diverse classrooms v. Tracking
Open exploration of that diversity in that classroom
Soliciting feedback live from students in the classroom - how can we support each other
“If you think you have more to contribute than someone else, you don’t, and if you think you have less to contribute than someone else, you don’t.” Everyone has something to add.
Team of Rivals (33:17)
NPR story with Doris talking about Team of Rivals
Lincoln put 3 of his biggest rivals on his cabinet
Internal confidence that he could learn from those people around him who all thought they could do a better job than he could
Vulnerability & confidence
It’s not about giving up control, it’s about sharing it. This is not work we can or should do in isolation.
Leadership in Turbulent Times (36:41)
Story about LBJ and Doris Kearns Goodwin working for him
White House Fellow program
Lyndon B. Johnson’s Presidency
Building Learning Communities through the Arts (39:42)
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Concord River Institute
Resilience / Failure (44:18)
Role of Public Education in our society (47:10)
History can give us perspective and build empathy
Making connections
Takeaways (51:48)

School Leadership Reimagined with Robyn Jackson

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 13 May 2019 09:00:33 +0000

Dr. Robyn Jackson, School Leadership Reimagined

Connect with Dr. Jackson
Website: mindstepsinc.com | schoolleadershipreimagined.com | Twitter: @robyn_mindsteps

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Dr. Jackson’s books on ASCD
4 Disciplines of Buildership
Why leadership is insufficient (03:18)
“A builder goes out ahead, then they invite people to that.”
“Bosses say ‘Go’. Leaders say ‘Let’s go.’ Builders say ‘Come’”.
The importance of culture (05:45)
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” - Peter Drucker
“Whoever controls the narrative controls the culture.”
How do you regain control over your narrative (and therefore your culture)? (07:27)
Have compelling answers for these three questions:
- What are we building? (have a compelling vision)
- Why is it important? (have a compelling mission)
- What’s my role? (a set of core values)
Mindsteps, Inc - core values: (11:02)
1 - Drama-free work environment
2 - Do the right thing, even when it hurts
3 - Figure it out
Core values as decision filters
Vision / Mission / Core Values (13:41)
They don’t mean anything if they don’t govern the work.
They have to be non-negotiables
Only 3, no more than 4, they should be ranked
Everybody has to sign off on them
Hire based on those things - shape interview questions that tease out people’s core values
Master schedule has to support your core values (BONUS: See this article from our very own Andrea Smith, Lyons Middle / Senior Principal, on how your master schedule reflects your climate and culture!)
Has to hit 100% of your students
Builders Lab Workshops
Advice for teacher leaders (21:55)
Culture = organizational habits & the stories we tell about them
Robyn’s AP Class story (22:30)
Jay Matthews’ book on Jaime Escalante
“What you start in your classroom can be powerful enough to change the culture of your entire school.”
“Be who you want to see.” (28:23)
“If you really want to change your culture, you are in the most powerful position to change it. There is nothing more powerful than a teacher.”
Pygmalion effect (29:49)
Kids will rise to the expectations you have for yourself. (not the expectations you have for them)
Blog post about it
Master Teacher Project (31:12)
7 Principles of Effective Instruction (32:29)
“Use Feedback to help you both get better”
What kind of feedback is this assignment going to give me about how students are doing?
How do I respond so I can give the student the type of feedback this assignment was designed for?
Color-coded rubrics (36:22)
Feedback has to give kids a pathway to improvement
Rigorous Instruction (38:34)
Free tutorial for rigorous instruction
Requires students to construct meaning for themselves
Requires students to impose structure on information
Requires students to integrate skills into processes
Requires students to apply what they’ve learned to more than one context and to unpredictable situations
Unit planning template
Dr. Jackson’s interview with Ashton Kutcher - Curious Not Furious (42:29)
Kutcher’s work on human trafficking / Bodies are not Commodities A21 curriculum
Funding Iowa Donors Choose projects
“If you don’t take every opportunity to learn something, if you’re not looking at everybody as ‘they have something they can teach me’, then you’re significantly cutting yourself off from insights, some perspectives that could really broaden your own.” (47:32)
Being passionate about something makes you quicker to judge sometimes (49:52)
“Curiosity and judgment can’t fit in the same space.” (51:08)
Summer PD opportunities with Dr. Jackson - 2 Builders Labs (June 24-26 in CA; July 15-17 in Arlington VA for Instructional Coaches)
Takeaways (52:50)
AP Progress in St Vrain
10 signs of a toxic culture (Episode 8 - How to Detoxify your school culture - School Leadership Reimagined podcast) “Safety is not about removing discomfort.” Are people safe enough to be uncomfortable with me?

Teaching Kids Who Read with Daniel Willingham

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Daniel Willingham, Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:00:02 +0000

Episode 038: Dr. Dan Willingham, Cognitive Scientist

Connect with Dr. Willingham
Website: http://www.danielwillingham.com/ | Twitter: @DTwillingham

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Loving reading the most (05:07)
Make it an easy choice (07:12)
Rewards & incentives for reading (07:26)
“Take your kids seriously as a reader as soon as you can.” - Dan Willingham
Making books the topic around the water cooler (10:15)
Fluent decoding, comprehension, and motivation - the three-legged stool of raising kid who read
“Before he can develop taste, he must experience hunger.”
30 min reading with the principal @ Indian Peaks Elementary - Kathi Jo Walder (11:36)
Camp EmpowerED in SVVSD - May 28 & 29th, Register HERE
Dr. Willingham’s books: The Reading Mind, Raising Kids Who Read, Why Don’t Students Like School
Dan’s next book: Memory & Self-regulation of memory (12:46)
Make It Stick, Mark McDaniel & Peter Brown, Henry Roediger (note: Read this book! It’s amazing!)
Re-reading (14:07)
Highlighting (17:22)
Annotating is much better (19:43)
Vocabulary instruction for understanding complex texts (20:31)
Explicit vocabulary instruction works AND it’s very sensitive to context - need a number of examples to round out understanding
Encouraging reading for leisure with rewards & incentives (24:41)
Attributions (stickers, rewards, etc… what role do grades play in this??)
Drop Everything & Read; Sustained Silent Reading (28:31)
Research: Manning, M., & Lewis, M. (2010). Sustained silent reading: An update of the research.
Digital vs. Analog reading (30:54)
YouTube video APS Conference in San Francisco - psychological science in K12 education (34:09)
What psych concepts do we, as teachers, need to get better at? (35:49)
How kids behave & what they do
Theories of memory & knowledge; Behaviorist / Cognitive / Constructivist
Research on Homework (39:31)
Homework as a reflection of school values
Takeaways (41:47)
Ask the Cognitive Scientist column
Why Don’t Students Like School
“Memory is the residue of thought. To teach well, you should pay careful attention to what an assignment will actually make students think about, not what you hope they’ll think about, because that is what they will remember.” - Dan Willingham

Positive School and Classroom Culture

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 09:00:14 +0000

Episode 037: Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy
It’s not a real cult. It’s a mindset, a family, a ton of free resources, a podcast, great blog posts, relevant topics, and, frankly, a security blanket for busy teachers. Many times it’s pushed our thinking, strengthened our practice, and given us solace. It’s the Cult of Pedagogy, and we had the privilege of speaking to the “Head Teacher Nerd”, Jennifer Gonzalez, about school culture and much much more.

Connect with Jennifer Gonzalez
Website: www.cultofpedagogy.com/ | Twitter: @cultofpedagogy

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Cult of Pedagogy (02:10)
Blog, Podcast, YouTube (04:17)
Jennifer’s favorite episode: Episode 4 (06:32)
- Recent Episode with Sal Khan
- TQE Method post
SxSW Keynote - The Aerodynamics of Exceptional Schools (08:19)
9 Principles to make change happen: e.g. Validation (blog post on validation)
Importance of a strong School Culture & Classroom Culture (11:49)
- Marigold analogy (14:18)
Teachers supporting each other (17:38)
Teacher self-care (20:13)
Angela Watson
Balancing relationships at work with relationships at home (23:30)
Setting boundaries on social media (25:34)
List feature | Twitter chats
Promoting positive classroom culture (27:22)
Student classroom discussions - blog post
Icebreakers
360 Spreadsheets
Equity Maps & Chat Stations (29:29)
Equity Maps: iPad app to map classroom conversations
Chat Stations
Grading & Grading Practices (33:50)
Blog post: How Accurate are Your Grades?
Blog post: 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half
Student Self-Assessment (36:17)
Starr Sackstein
Todd’s Brain
Delaying the Grade post
Jennifer’s Teachers’ Guide to Tech 2019
GeoGuessr game
Becky & Ben’s favorite CoP blog posts (42:49)
Pedro Noguera on Cult of Pedagogy
5 Second Solution for a Talkative Class YouTube video

Digital Minimalism With Cal Newport

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 1 Apr 2019 09:00:37 +0000

** Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism**
Join us to learn from best-selling author & Computer Science professor Cal Newport as we talk to him about exploring the world of digital abundance, using technology with intention, and walking through life with purpose. Learn more from Cal on his website, at calnewport.com, where he has archived about 10 years of blog posts on everything from study habits to career advice and more - and read one of the business books everyone will be reading this year to engage in this discussion further.

Connect with Cal Newport
Website: calnewport.com | Book: Digital Minimalism

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

From the book: “The urge to check Twitter or refresh Reddit becomes a nervous twitch that shatters uninterrupted time into shards too small to support the presence necessary for an intentional life.”
Why digital minimalism? (03:27)
- Deep Work - technology in the workplace
Professional v. Personal use of technology (04:42)
Engineering technology for constant use (05:52)
- Re-engineer the social experience to be addictive - constant, intermittent, incoming stream of social approval indicators - autotagging, liking, etc.
Steve Jobs on minimalism (08:02)
- Original iPhone - making listening to music & talking on the phone more magical
- (Cal’s NYTimes OpEd: Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us To Use Our Smartphone Like This)
- Screen use iOS
Average modern user - 2 h social media per day - Tristan Harris (10:58)
- Psychology of detaching yourself from social media
- Maximalist mindset - natural loss aversion
What is Digital Minimalism? (13:04)
How to minimize: 30 day Digital Declutter (14:38)
- Digital Declutter experiment with 1,600 people
Modeling good digital habits for the younger people in your lives (19:41)
Public perception on these shifts (20:52)
- NBA commissioner on social media and stress in players
- 2016 oped for NYTimes - & the commissioned response
Increased social media use & loneliness (23:18)
- “Social Snacking”
- (Psychology today article on this topic)
Focus is the new IQ - from Deep Work (25:10)
Start with the value and then identify the tools that help; questions we should ask for instruction (26:14)
- Start with learning goals & add the goal of developing deep, focused thinkers
Audio vs. visual for reading (29:33)
Value of in-person lecture (31:34)
Professional Rock-Paper-Scissors (on YouTube!) & what that teaches us about social psychology (32:27)
Value of solitude (35:04) - “freedom from input of other minds”
- Lead Yourself First
- Solitude deprivation
- Stress & anxiety in generations with ubiquitous technology during adolescence
Making the declutter process stick (39:35)
Attention capital theory & Cal’s next book (42:16)
- From his blog: Attention switching blog post
- Attention residue (48:14)
Willpower is a finite resource (50:25)
- Rituals around deep work can reduce the barrier of entry
“Follow your passion” is bad advice (54:38)
- Blog post
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You
- Ngram viewer
To learn more from Cal: calnewport.com - 10 years of blog posts
Work Life Podcast with Adam Grant

Evicting The Enemies of Yes (ASCD Recap)

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Connect with Alyssa Gallagher & Kami Thordarson
Website: www.inprogress-consulting.com/ | Twitter: @am_gallagher; @kami_thor

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Ditching Deficit Thinking (ASCD Recap)

Tue, 19 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Connect with the Dream Team
Websites: learningpersonalized.com, habitsofmindinstitute.org, nuatc.org | Twitter: @allison_zmuda, @benakallick

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with ASCD
Website: www.ascd.org | Twitter: @ASCD, @ASCDConf, #Empower19

Dwayne Reed on a Culture of We - ASCD Recap

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Episode 035: Dwayne Reed, Welcome to the 4th Grade :)
In the first of our mini-series highlighting the conversations at the ASCD Empower 2019 Conference (#Empower19 for more on social media as well…), we sit down with inspirational teacher Mr. Dwayne Reed from Chicago Public Schools. Please enjoy this quick discussion about getting to know our classroom by starting with ‘you’, then ‘them’, then ‘we’, a quick reprise of his keynote at the General Session of the conference. (Becky’s Chicago accent comes back a little harder in this episode, too, so brace yourselves for that…)

Connect with Dwayne Reed
Twitter: @TeachMrReed | Facebook: Mr. Dwayne Reed

Connect with Vrain Waves
Website: vrainwaves.com | Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with ASCD
Website: www.ascd.org | Twitter: @ASCD, @ASCDConf, #Empower19

Links & Show Notes

ASCD Empower Conference in Chicago, IL - upcoming ASCD conferences
Welcome to the 4th Grade on YouTube (01:31)
Ron Clark - bread / pizza analogy
Overview of his speech - relationships matter (08:08)
- Who am I (08:42)
- Who are THEY (09:30)
- Who are WE (10:32) - and “Sharing the Shine”
Working on this throughout the year - how do our strengths advance as us a group (11:52)
On Love (14:21)
- Angie Thomas’ The Hate You Give (Amazon, Overdrive)
Self-care & relationships (18:51)
Closing (20:51) & My Teacher Loves Me, with Mr. Reed & student, Tre

We Got This with Cornelius Minor

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Cornelius Minor, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 4 Mar 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Connect with Cornelius Minor
Website: kassandcorn.com | Twitter: @MisterMinor | Book: We Got This

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Cornelius’ Introduction & Background (02:05)
- Working through and reflecting on failure; teacher imagination (03:45)
We Got This, the book, and the Teacher-as-Hero Narrative (05:59)
- Jamal Eigel, illustrator
Why is the Teacher-as-hero narrative problematic? (07:40)
- People as humans not heroes; allies, not saviors
- Heinemann Podcast w/ Mr. Minor - Building Better Heroes
We all want better (09:52)
- Teaching in the contemporary political moment
- We are pro-kid - to help them create opportunities for themselves
- “Anything that abridges opportunity is my enemy.”
- Challenge: How do we actualize ‘better’
How do we navigate the contemporary political moment? (12:05)
- Everything is iterative
- Story about Cornelius & his soccer team
- Bringing it back to the classroom - what it means to be a member of a community - advocacy & activism (16:10)
- The world hands you a curriculum - if you’re observant & you listen, you can do really powerful things
- How can we all help surface and solve those stories? (17:55)
- Racism, ableism, classism - Who should be working to solve it?
- Empathy is a really powerful tool
- Decolonize school by trying to understand each other
Get to know our students better by listening - “Where is the poetry in this person?” (21:04)
- Spend our time observing (22:35)
- Labels are necessary shorthand but we have to avoid getting trapped in those (23:08)
- Disability spread - the spread effect (23:57)
Hip Hop Ed (24:31)
- #hiphoped
- Art vs. product (25:08)
- At the heart of hip hop is innovation / engineering / iterative design
- Fearless around the act of creation
- Hip hop came out of the Bronx
- Can’t teach without the crowd
How can we be more fearless in our creation? (28:36)
- What is school?
- True creation is messy & noisy - where are we leaving space for that during the school day?
- Embrace approximation (instead of perfection) (30:12)
How do we create space for learning from each other? (31:45)
- Be deliberate about it
- Ms. Disbrow as Cornelius’ mentor
- Watching specific teaching moves, going into each other’s classrooms at least once a week - specific, scheduled time to watch, then specific, scheduled time to practice the learning
Practices in literacy instruction (35:49)
- Students and book selection - craft independence
- “We’re here to create book culture.”
- Independent reading time in class (37:51)
- Agency for students (39:05)
Modeling in writing (39:52)
- Lucy Calkins / Reading & Writing Project
- Readers Workshop / Writers Workshop
- Writing essays - “Essay is a journey of thought.” (39:50)
- Is our own ability a ceiling on our kids’ progress?
Letting go of power without letting go of control (44:27)
- Physics of human relationships
- Create multiple points of investment / sharing power
- “How can I raise a kid’s status in front of their peers?”
How to teach with deep community engagement (48:18)
- Parents & teachers need to see each other as experts
- How can I labor to understand each student in order to give them the best possible experience?
To learn more from Cornelius Minor:
- Kassandcorn.com
- Heinemann.com - We Got This
- Loads of Free Resources from the Book!! Graphic organizers for your own Action Research to support your reflection & iteration
- @MisterMinor on Twitter
- @CorneliusMinor on Instagram
Wrap Ups & Take Aways (52:21)

Sylvia Acevedo on Building Girls of Courage, Confidence, and Character

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Episode 032: Sylvia Acevedo, Girl Scouts & STEM
In this episode, Girl Scout CEO Sylvia Acevedo shares so much wisdom and insight into how to reach learners at every level, especially girls. Her stories, both from her own life and from being the CEO of girl scouts and seeing the projects that students are working on, are sure to inspire! Stay tuned after the episode for more classroom tips and instructional resources.

Connect with Sylvia Acevedo
Website: www.sylviaacevedo.org; https://www.girlscouts.org/ | Twitter: @SylviaAcevedo | Book: Path to the Stars

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Sylvia on being an Author, Entrepreneur, Engineer, and Rocket Scientist (01:54)
Head Start program / Girl Scouts of America
Sylvia on telling her story: Path to the Stars (03:18)
Importance of math & programming in Middle School
Fashion Institute of Technology in NY
Early experiences with Girl Scouts & how they shaped her interests (07:17)
One of the first Hispanics, male or female, to get a Masters Degree in Engineering from Stanford
Troop leader helped her explore her interest in science
Estes Rocket Kit
Cooking is just like Science
Resilience, determination, & confidence
Girl Scout Cookie Program (10:43) - Create your future, create your own opportunities
Never walk away from a sale unless you’ve heard ‘No’ three times
Persistence, Resilience, and getting to Yes (11:30)
Girl Scouts impact (13:02)
Half of all female elected officials were girl scouts; almost every female astronaut was a girl scout
Girl Scouts Alumnae Impact Study Report
Sylvia’s CEO Patch (13:38)
Voyager 2
Barriers to success (16:46)
Find out the barrier & address that - what is the reason behind that ‘No’?
Bilingualism (20:11)
Bilingual brain development & creativity
Name changes (21:15) - “Sylvia Elia Acevedo Monge” → Sylvia Acevedo
English is the de facto language of business - competitive advantage
What Public Ed can learn from Girl Scouts (24:21)
Learning organization (story behind the badges)
Look at potential → Build skills → Take Action
Caring adult / troop leader
Include all 5 senses in the work
Bronze, Silver, Gold Awards for service
Every year a few girls change state laws with their community action
Child Marriage Law in NH
Smoking laws
No Straw November
Girl Scout Gold Awards
Girl Scouts Mission: “Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”
Eco-gloo
STEM + Civic Action (31:54)
Focus on how to make the world a better place
To girls, ranking is not as important as linking
Learning skills in a girl-only space (36:35)
De facto norm is the male experience (37:48)
Decoding the Digital Girl report
Girl Scouts research
Cybersecurity
Cancer Research on women (41:10)
Drug studies based on 180 pound male
Increasing partnerships with schools (43:36)
Number of programs / ways to implement
Ben & Becky’s takeaways (45:34)
Out of our Heads and into the Classroom (47:55)
Gold Award - adding in high, difficult goals for your classroom
Badges (digital or real)
IBM Badging program for its employees
Community aspect - videos to students
Civic Engagement in K12 classrooms: NCLCE Guidebook / Other resources from Jenny Pettit of SVVSD
Put that you were / are a Girl Scout on your LinkedIn Profile!! Join the Girl Scout Network!

Solving Wicked Problems with Design Thinking

Mon, 4 Feb 2019 09:30:00 +0000

Episode 031: Design Thinking for School Leaders
Co-authors Alyssa Gallagher and Kami Thordarson stop by Vrain Waves to share the 5 elements of design-inspired leadership. Alyssa & Kami “believe that educators can solve the challenges that face our schools faster and more effectively than any policy, top down mandate, or expensive commercial solution.” Tune in as they explain how design, creativity, and observation can help us navigate and advocate for change.

Connect with Alyssa Gallagher & Kami Thordarson
Website: www.inprogress-consulting.com/ | Twitter: @am_gallagher; @kami_thor

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Visit Vrainwaves.com for full episodes, show notes, and more, and to give us feedback!
Episode w / Dr. Robert Dillon - Designing Learning Spaces
Episode w / The Tech Rabbi - Educated by Design
Design Thinking for School Leaders (01:27)
Episode w / Stephen Schedletsky
Intro to Alyssa & Kami (02:37)
Why should we think like designers? & Wicked Problems (03:32)
Powerlessness & Agency (05:21)
Everything around us has been designed, everything can be redesigned. (07:07)
Building Creative Confidence (07:53)
Remain curious
Accidental design (09:31)
Role of a school principal (10:20)
Building Empathy (11:57)
Shadow a Student (12:41)
Shadow a Teacher
Reading fiction to build empathy
Observation to build empathy (14:10)
Swiffer design story
Design-inspired leadership (18:57)
5 Roles: Opportunity Seeker (problem-finding), Experience Architect, Rule Breaker, Producer (Bias toward Action), Storyteller
Stitchfix story - delight your user (22:32)
“What if” sessions (25:11)
2 bucket challenge warm up (27:10)
Tina Seelig, Stanford professor
Experience Architect (30:43)
Colorado Education Initiative
Menlo park Superintendent - Erik Burmeister; community tour
Perspective matrix (34:53)
The End of Average (37:11)
Design toward the edges (37:21)
OXO - extreme design
Microsoft Inclusive Design
Mistake stories (39:24)
(HBR article about embarrassing story before brainstorming)
For more: Leadlikeadesigner.com
Takeaways (43:07)
IDEO - Teachers Guild - Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit
Teachers Guild newest collaboration: How might we strengthen communication and trust between families and teachers to better support students’ success?

Educated by Design with The Tech Rabbi

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Tech Rabbi, Michael Cohen, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 09:30:00 +0000

Educated By Design with The Tech Rabbi
In his new book, Educated by Design, The Tech Rabbi Michael Cohen shares his journey to education through design, while providing useful tools and resources for the reader to help expand students’ belief in their own creative ability. Today on Vrain Waves, he shares many of these insights with us!

Connect with The Tech Rabbi
Website: https://thetechrabbi.com/ | Twitter: @TheTechRabbi

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

3 Episodes on Design
Designing Learning Spaces with Dr. Robert Dillon
This week = Design Thinking with Michael Cohen
Next week = Leadership with Design
What is Design Thinking (01:27)
Stanford d.school model
Divergent thinking
Why for Design Thinking: To support self-efficacy so people realize their capacity to make an impact (03:04)
“Everything around us has been designed so can be redesigned.”
Collective Efficacy, effect size of 1.57 (03:36)
Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (04:58)
Educated By Design – Bad Idea Factory (05:45)
Empathy – Define – Ideate – Prototype – Test
Co Barry, CreatEdu – Airplane Wars
Post it Note App (07:15)
Design for fellow classmates (08:02)
School Retool – Shadow a Student Challenge
The Tech Rabbi (09:13) – Michael Cohen
ISTE Keynote 2018
@TheTechRabbi on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Educated By Design book
Everybody has intrinsic creative ability (14:05)
Functional fixedness (15:10)
Daniel Pink Episode of Vrain Waves – his book Drive
The Candle Problem – Dunker’s Problem
30 Circle Challenge
Connecting Education & Design (19:38)
Design is about understanding the needs of others & then creating a solution
2 Types of Designers; Fiver.com for logo development vs. Boutique customized design
Adobe’s MAX Conference
Subskills of Design (23:08)
Improving in Empathy (25:14)
Empathy Maps (Dave Grey, St Louis) Think – Do – Say – Feel
Kindness by the Dozen
Dan Heath Episode (29:53)
Entrepreneurship class – Survey / Xerox
Divergent thinking & student choice at Elementary & Middle levels (33:47)
Evaluate process vs. product / growth & reflection
Humility & Service to Others (37:37)
Wrap Ups & Reflections (42:18)

On Learning Spaces with Dr. Robert

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Robert Dillon, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters,) — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Episode 029, Dr. Robert Dillon: The Space
We’ve covered what we teach, and how we teach, and why we teach… but we have never really talked about WHERE we teach. So today, enjoy the insights and inspirations of Dr. Robert Dillon. In this interview, we discuss the research behind where we learn, how we can put this research into practice by making small changes to our environment, and strategies for keeping this top of mind as we move throughout the school year.

Connect with Dr. Robert Dillon
Website: www.drrobertdillon.com/ | Twitter: @drrobertdillon

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

David Thornburg - 3 archetypal learning spaces (05:45)
Campfire, Watering Hole, Cave
Cooperative Learning Structures / Kagan strategies (07:09)
Quiz, Quiz, Trade
Intro to Dr. Robert Dillon (09:46)
The Space, the book - co-authored by Dillon & Rebecca Louise Hare
St Vrain’s Innovation Center
Why Space Matters (11:32)
Movement, choice, active engagement (12:30)
John Medina’s quote: “If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom.” - from Brain Rules
Designing Learning spaces (14:01)
Optimize the perimeter
Color, Clutter, Visual Noise = distraction
“We always have control over less in our classrooms.”
Strategies to declutter (14:50)
Do I still need that anchor chart?
Ask students every 2 weeks
“Where our students learn matters. Are they guests? Or are they collaborators? (17:04)
Steelcase (19:10)
Steelcase research on Education spaces
University of Melbourne research on ed spaces: LEaRN (Learning Environments Applied Research Network)
Vanderbilt on Learning Spaces
Interaction Geography (20:03) - how people move through the space
Example
The need for Quiet (21:05)
The cost of interruptions (Washington Post, Forbes, Fast Company)
Bob’s favorite learning spaces (24:08)
What’s on the walls? (25:26)
More images of students doing the work vs the ‘perfect’ finished products
Process over product
Accelerant for classroom management (28:02)
Rocky Mountain Elementary
Open Educational Resources (29:49)
OER Commons
Engage NY math curriculum
What are the verbs for your space? (31:29)
Hacks for improving space (33:01)
Natural light; simulate nature
Use visual displays to do so
Balance ‘green time’ with ‘screen time’
Classroomscreen.com
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (34:50)
7 principles: Equitable Use, Flexibility in Use, Simple and Intuitive Use, Perceptible Information, Tolerance for Error, Low Physical Effort, Size and Space for Approach and Use
#LearningSpaces on twitter / instagram & Flexspace.com
How to keep up with these things (40:57)
“Release trapped wisdom into the system.”
To learn more: drrobertdillon.com; @drrobertdillon on twitter
Reflections from Ben & Becky (43:31)
Suzy Evans - teacher clip on assessment-capable learners & using space during assessment (45:21)
LEAVE US A MESSAGE!!! 720-900-1741

Into the Classroom!

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Ben Kalb, Becky Peters, Thom Gibson) — Mon, 7 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Episode 028, Into the Classroom
For our first show of 2019, we decided to outsource for more tangible tips and creative ideas for your classroom to kick off second semester. We asked Vrain Waves listeners to give us a 2-3 minute voice clip of them describing something in their classroom or their practice that they wanted to share with a broader audience - an extended version of our Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom segment. Here’s the result - we hope you enjoy, and would love it if you would contribute too! We’ll likely include more of these in different episodes, so please call us (720-900-1741) or email us with a short voice memo and we’ll share your ideas with our audience! Thank you so much, and Happy New Year!

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb
Email: becky@vrainwaves.com, ben@vrainwaves.com

Links & Show Notes

(02:13) Megan Soderlund (Teacher, HS Social Studies - @megss_8) → Unit planning with creative essential questions. Ex: Was farming a mistake? Was Alexander the Great overrated?
(03:49) Catrina Estrada (Assistant Principal - @CatrinaEstrada) → Get rid of red notification bubbles with a separate email for junk mail / subscriptions
(04:54) Adam Wellington (Teacher, APUSH & Gov - @awellington83) → “Make a Meme” class openers - https://imgflip.com/
(07:02) Ann Feldman (Tech Integration Specialist - @annfeldman1) → Leverage Class Kick & its audio feature for descriptive feedback
(09:52) Thom Gibson (Teacher, Middle School math / video / robotics - @gibsonedu; The Thom Gibson Podcast; https://thomgibson.com/) → Consider starting a classroom economy
(11:14) Casey Luker (Learning Technology Coach - @missluker) → BreakoutEDU boxes and the reflections for different participants that come along with the experience
(13:56) Keith Kennison (Teacher, Middle school Math & Science - @kennison_keith) → Join students in exploring the Why, modeling inquiry and learning through challenge
(16:00) Shelly Stevens (Instructor, Teacher Prep Program - @smbpinky) → Interactive Daily Agendas via google slides - Catlin Tucker on interactive daily agendas
(20:24) Heather Brubaker (Teacher, elementary art) → Cross-Disciplinary Challenge; PE / Science / Art; unlikely partner challenge - “Understanding is an Art”
(22:15) Diane Lauer (Assistant Superintendent of Priority Programs and Academic Support - @MrsLauer) → Professional development through video coaching / video for self-growth - Harvard’s MQI Project (Mathematical Quality of Instruction) - Harvard CEPR Visibly Better website / #visiblybetter hashtag on twitter
(26:19) Matt Hawkins (Teacher, Design & Innovation - @mrhawkinsgl) → Landmarks design challenge & building with Minecraft; Minecraft Education Edition
(28:39) Kim Wiggins (Assessment Coordinator - @KWigginsSVVSD) → student empowerment through creating assessment-capable learners; assessment as done with students vs. to students; Learning goals vs. performance goals
(30:48) Sarah Pomranka (Teacher, IB - @sarahpom) → Talking individually with each student for feedback, both before & after assignments; + learning technology to demonstrate understanding
(32:16) Nate Wilcox (Teacher - @natewilcox) → Shortcuts app (formerly Workflows)
(33:17) Anna Mills (Teacher, Innovation / Neuroscience - @millsanna1) → Integrating neuroscience understanding into K-8 curriculum
(36:06) Felecity Treptow (ADE - @felecitytreptow) → Voice Memos app for the classroom
(37:22) Carly Adams (Teacher - @missadams08) → Apple Classroom to organize learning technology
(38:18) Michelle Shory & Irina McGrath (ESL Instructional Coaches - @michelleshory, @irina_mcgrath) → Use closed captioning in Google Slides during presentations - use Screencastify to record; YouTube Clips - settings: adjust speeds, add closed captioning; Google Translate - conversation mode - Things We Wish We Knew 6 Months Ago on Wakelet.com

Auld Lang Syne: The Best of 2018

Mon, 31 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Number 5:
Episode 5 with Dave Burgess:
“Mediocrity doesn’t motivate.”
Episode 11 with Dan Meyer:
“Never assume anyone even cares.” / “Teach math as if it were an elective.”
Episode 9 with Daniel Pink:
“Time plays a much bigger role than we realize… we are temporal creatures.”
“Pay careful attention to endings.”

Number 4:
Episode 14 with Dr. Brent Duckor & Dr. Carrie Holmberg:
“Kids need to build on prior knowledge & associations.”
Episode 10 with Jennie Magiera:
“Treat students like they are human beings.”

Number 3:
Episode 23 with Dan Heath:
“Beware of the soul sucking force of reasonableness.”
Episode 21 with Catlin Tucker:
“Our classroom spaces should be places where everybody is experimenting, everybody is taking risks, and everybody is learning. That can’t just be the students.”

Number 2:
Episode 04 with Kim Scott:
“Radical candor is about how to collaborate effectively with a group of people.”
Episode 02 with Dr. Tony Wagner:
“Our profession is afflicted with the curse of isolation.”
“Isolation is the enemy of improvement, it is the enemy of innovation and it is the enemy of science.”
PD Credits for listening to Vrain Waves: www.tinyurl.com/vrainwavesPD

Number 1:
Episode 18 with John Hattie:
“Know thy impact.”
“I couldn’t care less how teachers teach.”

Goals - Episode 26 with Stephen Shedletsky

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Starting with Why with Stephen Shedletsky

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Ben Kalb, Stephen Shedletsky, Becky Peters) — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with Start with Why
Website: https://startwithwhy.com/ | Twitter: @steveshed, @simonsinek |
Stephen's recent Discovery Ed Webinar

Links & Show Notes

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk summary (02:15)
- “People don’t buy what they do, they buy why you do it.”
Why start with WHY? (04:12)
What happens when you start with why? (05:07)
- Proctor & Gamble
- Image of Golden Circle here
How you find your why… describing love (08:25)
- Look to the anthropology - map peaks and valleys in your life & why will emerge (08:56)
- Why lives in limbic brain, has no language
Don’t put ‘I’m a teacher’ in your WHY (10:02)
- Take your ‘whats’ out of your ‘why’
- Richard Branson (11:30) - Infusing fun so that we positively impact people’s lives - put a splash of red in a mundane world of grey
- Collective efficacy
Context vs. content (14:28)
- “Vision without execution is hallucination.” - Edison
Clarity of Why, Discipline of How, Consistency of What
Discipline of How (16:18)
- Stephen’s WHY: To connect with people in meaningful ways so that we connect with depth and live in a more fulfilled world
Helping students find their why (19:40)
- Life experience & brain development are crucial
Does your why change? (22:04)
- If you live in line with what you believe, the result is passion, if you live out of line with what you believe, the result is stress.
Organizational ‘why’ vs. individual ‘why’ (23:08)
- “For what reason are you proud to be a part of this institution?”
- 2 ways to change a population: Evolution or Revolution (24:45)
- Nested Whys
- Simon Sinek’s Why: To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that each of us can change the world for the better
- “We can each choose to be the leader we wish we had.”
Consistency of What (26:08)
- Authenticity - we say & do what we actually believe
What about when we’re not consistent with our why? (28:30)
- Ask for accountability
- Keep goal in our heads = 7-15% will accomplish
- Write goals down = 45% will accomplish
- Share goals with someone we care about = >80% will accomplish
- (Note: I couldn’t find where Stephen found these numbers, so don’t have a link, but tried to look around online and found that the jury is kind of out on whether or not and when it’s a good idea to share your goals, with whom, what kind of feedback to receive, etc. There are a lot of factors here that make goal-sharing for accountability a grey area.)
- Continue - Start - Stop
Leaders Eat Last (31:08)
- “A whisper is a shout.”
- Inspiration & Clarity, then Trust
- Safety, Value, Belonging
General George Flynn (34:18)
- Definition of leadership - ask someone how they’re doing and care about the answer
Fulfillment > Happiness (36:14)
Work-Life Balance & Flow state (36:48)
- Martin Seligman
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi & Flow
- Flow = when you’re both challenged and skilled
Books that have shaped Stephen’s worldview (38:40)
- Man’s Search For Meaning, Viktor Frankl
- Start with Why, Simon Sinek
- Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek
- Give and Take, Adam Grant
The Infinite Game: Game Theory & Simon’s new book (40:02)
Takeaways (43:07)
Ben’s skills video (44:25)
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who can come alive.” - Howard Thurman
Michelle Obama
Cal Newport - So Good They Can’t Ignore You
tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

John Couch on Rewiring Education

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (John Couch, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 3 Dec 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Episode 025, John Couch: Rewiring Education
In this episode, we speak with a former executive of one of the most influential companies on the planet! In addition to being a personal friend of Steve Jobs, John Couch was the Vice President of Education at Apple Inc. for 16 years. This giant in education enthralls us with stories from his book, Rewiring Education, explains the merits of challenge-based learning, and shares why creativity is worth 100 IQ points!
Couch and jobs pic

Connect with John Couch
Website: http://rewiringeducation.com/about/

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Purpose of Education (06:22)
1912 Essay - Rockefeller, Board of Education
Todd Rose, End of Average
Lifelong learning & Challenge Based Learning (10:20)
Some resources for CBL: Digital Promise | Apple | EdSurge
Relevant, Creative, Collaborative, & Challenging
Ex: Throw a dinner party (13:42)
Rewiring Education (14:44)
Change is the only constant
Education Rewired (coming soon) - case studies
Beyond School non profit (17:53)
eSpark (18:43)
SAMR (19:31)
Space (20:10)
Dr. John Medina - Brain Rules
Campfire, watering hole, cave, mountaintop
Marco Torres
“Creativity is worth 100 IQ points.”
How do you push a 20,000 pound marshmallow? (26:04)
Microschools
“The way we design our classrooms today will ultimately define our societies tomorrow.”
Slides on website (28:43)
Chuck Yeager / sound barrier
Computer as a Mental bicycle
Benefits of Failure (33:39)
Technology is an environment (37:04)
“We hire people that can solve a problem.”
Graph of student engagement, Gallup
Lisa Mercier | I Wanna Iguana design challenge (39:38)
Everyone Can Create / #everyonecancreate
#makesomevrainwaves
tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

Understanding How We Learn with the Learning Scientists

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Episode 024: Dr. Megan Sumeracki & Dr. Yana Weinstein - The Learning Scientists

The Learning Scientists are cognitive psychologists who spend their time sharing research-backed study methods via their podcast, their blog, and their new book, Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Today, they talk to us about their research and how it translates into the classroom. Enjoy!

Connect with The Learning Scientists
Website: www.learningscientists.org/
Twitter: Dr. Weinstein: @doctorwhy; Dr. Sumeracki: @DrSumeracki; Learning Scientists: @AceThatTest

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

IES Report: Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning, 2007 (05:06)
Learning Scientists (LS) 6 strategies:
Spaced Practice, Retrieval Practice, Elaboration, Interleaving, Concrete Examples, Dual Coding
Retrieval Practice (07:48)
The Testing Effect
Concept maps from memory
Blog post
Podcast episode on retrieval
Cognition and Learning Lab at Purdue (12:47)
Deconstruct concepts into pieces for retrieval (15:15)
Retrieval practice helps with flexible application of learned facts / concepts in new situations (17:08)
Cognitive Processes & Creativity (18:26)
Learning Scientists’ Weekly Digests - subscribe today!
Recent digest on creativity
Spacing (19:11)
Podcast episode on Spaced Practice
Blog post about spacing
Inefficiency of cramming for long-term benefit (21:08) (Blog post)
Weekly Digest: Teachers’ Implementation of Spaced Practice
Interleaving (25:08)
Weekly Digest on Interleaving
Podcast episode on Interleaving
Blog posts on Interleaving
Studies on interleaving - performance starts worse but is better in long term; “The Effects of Interleaved Practice” - Taylor & Rohrer, 2010 (30:47)
Felicia Smith (story)
Learning styles (36:04)
Weekly Digest on learning styles
Sharing the strategies with students (43:04)
Strategies Posters on the learning scientists website
Out of our heads & into the classroom (46:37)
Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide
Time logs (47:43)
@AWellington83
Find Becky’s sketchnotes from previous episodes at vrainwaves.com
Learningscientists.org
The Effortful Educator
RetrievalPractice.org / Make it Stick
“Every time a memory is brought to mind, it is reconstructed and reinforced. When students take a quiz, they’re not just checking their memory, they’re enhancing it.”
ATTN ST VRAIN TEACHERS: Please feel free to reach out to Kim Wiggins, one of the SVVSD Assessment Coordinators, who has more resources and a huge passion for these topics! wiggins_kimberly@svvsd.org, or find her on twitter @KWigginsSVVSD.

Episode 024: Dr. Megan Sumeracki & Dr. Yana Weinstein - The Learning Scientists

Dan Heath on the Power of Moments

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Dan Heath, Heath Brothers, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 5 Nov 2018 10:00:00 +0000

Connect with Dan Heath
Website: heathbrothers.com

**Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Dan’s intro to Power of Moments (3:01)
UPC scanner Bush surprise (4:15)
Power of Moments in the classroom (5:58)
Sign up for Heath Brothers Email Newsletter
Ed examples from Power of Moments (06:49)
What are peak moments (07:24)
Community College showcase (08:10)
What’s it like to be a 7th grader (09:03)
The call for more peak moments in the classroom (10:48)
Research on deeper learning (11:25) - not just for fun; reinforce and motivate the learning (Learning Policy Institute, AIR, more from AIR)
Example of Peak moment: Hillsdale High, San Mateo CA (12:21)
Susan Bedford (English) / Greg Jouriles (History)
Trial of Human Nature (Video of Dan telling the story)
“Beware the soul-sucking force of reasonableness.” (16:43)
Peak moments are rarely reasonable
Build peaks, don’t fix potholes (20:14)
Magic Castle hotel in LA
(YouTube Video of this story)
Instinct in our lives that we can improve things by fixing the problems with them (23:04)
Cool quote about this: “The electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles.” - Oren Harari
In our schools, where do we prioritize efficiency over moments?
Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection
Flamboyan Foundation example at Stanton Elementary in DC; principal Carlie John Fisherow - Family engagement
Four questions during home visits:
Tell me about your child’s experiences in school, and about yours.
Tell me about your hopes and dreams for your child’s future.
What do you want your child to be someday?
What do I need to do to help your child learn more effectively?
A moment that triggered a change; relationships don’t progress in steady increments; some hours are more important than others
Curse of Knowledge (33:18)
Made to Stick is about communication; Power of Moments is about experience
HBR article from Heath brothers on Curse of Knowledge
Loudon academy of Science outside of DC - Functions example (37:02)
First chapter of both books we’ve discussed are free online at heathbrothers.com
Takeaways (41:33)
GREAT free resources at heathbrothers.com when you sign up for the newsletter

Student Engagement with Allison Zmuda

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Ben Kalb, Becky Peters, Allison Zmuda) — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Connect with Allison Zmuda
Twitter: @allison_zmuda | Website: allisonzmuda.com, learningpersonalized.com

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

To skip ahead to the interview, go to the 8 minute mark
Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom: (01:20)
Students keeping track of mistakes & analyzing errors: Student Assessment Reflection Template (uncommon schools); from Driven by Data (Santoyo)
Another example
A slightly different approach
Mardi Gras Napkins (3:31)
Annotating pictures with Markup (5:09)
Vrain Waves Episode with George Couros
Allison intro (08:20)
Allison’s books (08:44)
Allison on student engagement (learning is a voluntary endeavor) (09:00)
What is engagement (10:30)
Chart created with Robyn Jackson (Engaged or Compliant Learner)
Real Engagement book
Episode with Elizabeth Green (14:18)
Constraints of Time (15:28)
It’s not the topic, it’s the goals; what are you trying to go after?
Classroom management / student behavior (18:15)
Habits of Mind (19:16)
Restorative Justice (20:40)
Bena Kallick - Personalized Learning & Habits of Mind (21:17)
Art Costa
-ing verbs - we are all becoming
Measuring engagement (23:27)
Results-Only Learning Environment (26:49)
4 Cs of Real Engagement (28:14) Clarity, Context, Challenge, Culture
Clarity = goal clarity; what are you aiming for? “The teacher is not the customer that the students are trying to make happy.”
Understanding by Design (29:20)
Challenge (30:07) Teacher modeling learning
Allison’s challenge with her stroke (34:15)
Professional Collaboration (41:05)
Allison’s favorite examples of engagement (44:43)
Learningpersonalized.com (47:40)
“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of education have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry...”
Habits of Mind: Listening with Understanding and Empathy / Thinking Interdependently (51:20)
Bad advice (52:30) - micromanaging content & skills
Tools from Allison Zmuda:
7 Elements of Personalized Learning
Using the sliders to personalize design

Catlin Tucker on Blended Learning

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Catlin Tucker, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 8 Oct 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Connect with Catlin Tucker
Twitter: @catlin_tucker | Website: catlintucker.com

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom:
- Timesaving hack: Ctrl + Cmd + Shift + 4 = copy screenshot to clipboard instead of desktop
- The Box of Awesome
- Metaphorical Fashion - another great one from Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom - Design us a t-shirt!!
Catlin Tucker - Power Up Blended Learning (06:52)
- Christensen Institute on Blended Learning (07:31)
Catlin’s definition of Blended learning: active, engaged learning in the classroom + active, engaged learning online; + more control over time, place, pace, and path of their learning experience; shift of control from teacher to student
Catlin’s journey to blended learning (08:40)
Fear of amount of time taken to move into blended learning (10:26)
- “Everybody is experimenting, taking risks, and learning [in a classroom].” (10:44)
Students handling the extra work (13:17)
- More challenging to be a student in a student-centered classroom, but the decision-making / agency trade off pays off
Assessment for learning (15:38)
- Grades as a carrot & carrots don’t work (+ our interview with Daniel Pink)
- Any assessment score can be reassessed in Catlin’s class
- Ongoing self-assessment station (18:04) & more info here
Her latest book: Power Up Blended Learning
- 10 learning targets per unit (21:34)
Station Rotations (22:49)
- Working with students during the day (26:18) instead of giving feedback at home at night
- Examples of stations (28:20)
Hosting Online discussions (31:04)
- Bringing the momentum from online discussions back into the classroom (36:12)
- Schoology online discussions
- Backchannelchat as a replacement for Today’s Meet
- Four Corner Conversations routine (37:25)
Shifting role of the teacher in the classroom (39:52)
- Students bring the meaning to the activities that she designs / then she is the coach
Planning horizontally = turn your vertical agenda horizontal and break it into station rotations (41:43) (presentation, video)
- Vocabulary.com / noredink.com
Tucker Time (46:33) = teacher-led station
Power Up Blended Learning (47:35)
- Sustainable Infrastructure for Professional Learning
- Coaching / modeling / co-teaching / small Professional Learning Communities in buildings
- Catlin’s requests to leaders (55:40)
Wrap Up (56:32)

George Couros on The Innovator's Mindset

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (George Couros, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Episode 020: George Couros, https://georgecouros.ca/blog/

When it comes to innovation in the classroom, George Couros is simultaneously the man, the myth and the legend! He stops by Vrain Waves to discuss mindsets, guinea pigs, and what parents really want for their students...tune in to find out more!

Connect with George Couros
Twitter: @gcouros | Website: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Episode 019 with Denise Pope (01:00)
Episode 018 with John Hattie (01:30)
Out of our heads and into the classroom (02:10)
Last week: Classroomscreen.com
Gamestorming.com / Atomize (03:10)
Checklist co-creation (04:54)
Atul Gawande: Checklist Manifesto book; articles (06:27) - concise, clear, collaborative
#makesomevrainwaves
George Couros Intro (07:05)
What is an Innovator’s Mindset (07:44)
Carol Dweck’s work on Growth Mindset
Innovator’s Mindset definition: ‘the belief that abilities, intelligence, and talent are developed so that they lead to the creation of new and better ideas.’
George on being innovative (11:16)
Blog: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/
Based on the Alberta Principal Quality Standards
On balancing values / principles with fresh perspective (14:42)
Writing to learn
360 view of ideas (15:42)
Clive Thompson: “It’s easy to win an argument inside your head. But when you face a real audience, you have to be truly convincing.”
Smarter Than You Think
Uber driver story (18:20)
Purpose of education (21:21)
Strengths-based vs. deficit-based vs. data-driven vs. learner-driven (25:05)
Strengths inside your own district, in your own colleagues
RTI - Response to Intervention (27:57)
Develop people instead of fix people
Evidence-informed vs. data-driven (29:56)
Compliance → Engagement → Empowerment (31:30)
“Change never fails because it happens too early.” (35:51)
Blog posts and trends in education (40:43)
Stephen Covey - Speed of Trust
Post on cursive / time for content
Twitter: @gcouros | georgecouros.ca | Innovator’s Mindset Book
Katie Martin | Vrain Waves Episode with Katie Martin
George & Katie’s Podcast

Social and Emotional Learning with Denise Pope

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Denise Pope, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Episode 019: Denise Pope, ChallengeSuccess.org

Dr. Pope joins us on Vrain Waves to talk about the role that stress plays in our students lives, how we can work to decrease that cognitive takeover, and some digestible research we can both learn from and share with our parents. Enjoy!!

Connect with Dr. Denise Pope
Twitter: @chalsuccess | Website: http://www.challengesuccess.org/, https://ed.stanford.edu/faculty/dpope

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Out of our heads and into the classroom (01:26)
Classroomscreen.com (01:45)
Google copy vs. edit url instructions (03:05)
Critical Creativity (04:29) - Resume Rationale
4 Quadrant activity from Mandy Fernandes (06:38)
#MakeSomeVrainWaves
Denise Pope intro (07:51) - Challenge Success network | Overloaded and Underprepared
Denise on purpose of education and the way we do school (08:37)
Embracing change (11:15)
Curriculum Construction at Stanford (12:03)
Overloaded and Underprepared (14:23)
Challengesuccess.org (14:45)
Student academic stress, root cause (15:26)
SPACE framework (17:58) Getting students involved (21:07)
Stress & academic pressure
PBL (23:32)
Alternative & Authentic assessment (26:08) Choice, Voice, Revision, and Redemption, Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students (28:33)
Climate of Care (33:20); Advisory (35:39)
Stress in adults (37:25)
Block scheduling (40:02)
The Jared Project | The Dot Project | Relationship Mapping (41:01)
Educate Parents (42:39)
Resources on challengesuccess.org | Grade-level Research
Videos (44:41)
White Papers (45:39) - homework and elementary education white paper
Publications
Overloaded and Underprepared Examples / Case Studies (47:45)
Northern California, Wellness Curriculum in PE classrooms / mindfulness, meditation, stress, sleep
Ann & Nate Levine Academy, Texas: “Show what you know” boxes on quizzes and tests
Revision / retakes (49:51) (external article, opinion on Voice, Choice, Revision, Redemption)
Elementary research - Play time, down time, family time (“PDF”) (50:23)
Finland - 15 min recess every hour
Homework in elementary school
Denise Pope ppt on protecting PDF
Wrap Up (53:23)
Research for teachers (54:08)

John Hattie on Visible Learning and Feedback

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (John Hattie, Becky Peters, Ben Kalb) — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 10:55:00 +0000

Episode 018: John Hattie, Visible Learning

We are so excited to share with you the conversation we were lucky enough to have with Dr. John Hattie - educational researcher, professor, Director of the Melbourne Educational Research Institute, and overall brilliant person. Please enjoy, and send your questions, comments, discussions to us @VrainWaves to keep this conversation going!

Connect with Dr. John Hattie
Twitter: @john_hattie, @VisibleLearning | Website: https://visible-learning.org/

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

Out of our heads and into the classroom (01:18)
Graphic Jam / dual coding (02:15)
Everyone Can Create, Apple (03:45)
Show me your values (04:17)
Intro to John Hattie (07:11) | Hattie’s Meta-Analyses
Start of interview (07:49)
Hardware / software / inside - How we think (08:52)
What is visible learning & what problem does visible learning answer? (10:38)
95-97% of what we do increases achievement to some degree
Above average effect = >0.4 effect size / List of influences
Know thy impact (13:59)
Professional development (15:25)
Moving from ‘how we teach’ to ‘how we interpret our impact’
Hattie’s visible learning team workflow: (17:30)
Teachers are to “D.I.E.” for
Diagnosis = Needs Analysis (16 to 20 factors) - ask staff, teachers, students
Intervention & Implementation
Make sure the intervention addresses the diagnosis
Implement effectively
Evaluation
Use a portfolio of evidence to change how we think
Evaluation vs. Research (20:03)
Evaluative mindset for educators
Graham Nuthall’s research | book: Hidden Lives of Learners |
Feedback discussion (23:28)
Feedback given v. feedback received
What type of feedback is received? (25:30)
Importance of where to go next
Amount of feedback the teacher receives about where to go next (26:40)
June 2018 EdWeek article w / Dr. Hattie on Feedback (2018)
2011 article on feedback
Directions for Assessment in New Zealand | NZ Assessment for Learning
Visible Learning Feedback book, 2018
Assessment-Capable Learners (28:33)
Book: Developing Assessment-Capable Visible Learners
Teaching students to be interpretive about their test scores
Book: 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning
Assessment as helping the teacher
Nuthall: students know 40-60% of what is being taught
ASCD Article - Fisher, Frey, Hattie: Assessment-Capable Learners
Class Size Discussion (34:24)
0.2 effect size
Same instruction in smaller v. larger classes (35:45)
Hattie’s 2015 Reports: What Doesn’t Work in Education: The Politics of Distraction | What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise
Gene Glass research
Andreas Schleicher: TED Talk - Use Data to Build Better Schools
Classroom relationships (39:32)
Henry Levin (40:52) - The Economics of Student Time | Mapping the Economics of Education
How do we make schools more inviting for students (40:03)
Science of Learning Center in Melbourne (42:23)
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (43:20)
Strengths-based Education (45:56)

How to Rock the First Week of School: strategies, techniques, and activities for kicking off the school year right!

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 10:55:00 +0000

** How to Rock the First Week of School**
And we’re back!! Thanks for tuning in for Season 2 of Vrain Waves! In this episode Ben and Becky discuss and share activities to make this first week in your classroom the best one ever! Please share your ideas using the #makesomevrainwaves so that we can learn from each other!

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes

The Power of Moments (02:20)
Episode 5 Season 1 (03:06) - Dave Burgess
Premortems with Daniel Pink (06:23)
Show students what they’ll be able to do at the end of the year (08:28) - story from Allison Zmuda
Episode 6 Season 1 (09:50) - Dan Ryder - recipes from Intention the Book
Name tent paper dialogue example (10:30)
Rewiring Education (12:41) - John Couch - What is the purpose of school?
5 numbers that tell your life story (13:42) - Here’s the tweet I saw this in - idea attributed to @Jeff_Zoul
Co-create norms (14:38) - Episode with Dr. Carrie Holmberg & Dr. Brent Duckor

Make Some VrainWaves Summer Challenge

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Ben Kalb Becky Peters) — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 10:00:00 +0000

End-of-Season Call to Action
This time around, instead of standing on the shoulders of more giants, Ben & Becky reflect on the season with their simple next steps for action and invite you to do the same. #MakeSomeVrainWaves with us this summer and share your plans @VrainWaves on twitter or Facebook, or on our website at www.vrainwaves.com.

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Links & Show Notes
Knowing-Doing Gap (01:00)
Devorah Heitner episode (01:40)
“The gap between knowing and doing is more important than the one between doing and knowing.” The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action (02:18)
Challenge for our listeners (06:00)
Easy-to-implement action steps & share with #MakeSomeVrainWaves
Ben & Becky’s action steps (07:08)
Peak-Trough-Recovery calendar color coding - Daniel Pink (07:30)
Giving clear feedback - Kim Scott - reminder with Momentum: “It’s not mean, it’s clear.” (08:09)
“Talk Less, Listen More” on the syllabus - Jennie Magiera - ask participants / students to hold you accountable (08:50)
Say no to projects you can’t handle - Jennie Magiera / Tony Wagner (09:30)
Journaling & reflecting, capturing ideas - Tony Wagner / Dan Meyer (10:30)
Preheating the grill - teaser clips for new episodes - Dave Burgess (11:04)
Control your state - Dave Burgess - 5 minute journal app (11:42)
Share your ideas! #MakeSomeVrainWaves - tweet out your action steps from any professional learning so we can learn from each other.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!

Formative Assessment Strategies and Moves with Dr. Duckor & Dr. Holmberg

Mon, 18 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Episode 014: Dr. Brent Duckor & Dr. Carrie Holmberg, Mastering Formative Assessment Moves
In the foreword for this book, Dr. John Hattie describes the work of Dr. Duckor and Dr. Holmberg as “[bringing to life] how to think of one’s self on a trajectory of powerful practices that unite instruction and assessment.” In many conversations, we tend to separate the two and don’t think deeply enough about the intersection of instruction and assessment. A highly recommended read from the 2 authors with publisher ASCD. Our conversation with them should give you a good idea of what their perspective before or after you read.

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with Dr. Duckor & Dr. Holmberg
Twitter: @BrentDuckor, @CarrieHolmberg | Website: http://validitypartners.com/ | Book: Mastering Formative Assessment Moves (Amazon | ASCD)

Links & Show Notes

Skip to Minute 7:55 to get to the Interview with Drs. Duckor & Holmberg
Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (03:51)
Two Truths & A Lie (04:07)
Create a meme (4:44)
Analogies (05:26)
Introductions to guests (06:47)
7 moves: Priming, Posing, Pausing, Probing, Bouncing, Tagging, Binning
Priming: Preparing the groundwork; establishing & maintaining norms; acting to acculturate students to learning publicly
Posing: Asking questions that size up the learner’s needs in the lesson and across the unit
Pausing: Giving students adequate time to think and respond as individuals or in groups
Probing: Asking follow up questions that use information from actual student responses
Bouncing: Sampling a variety of responses intentionally & systematically to better map the terrain of student thinking
Tagging: Publicly representing variation in student thinking by creating a snapshot or a running record of class responses
Role of Formative Assessment (08:52)
National Research Council, 1999 book: How People Learn: Mind, Brain, Experience, and School (free pdf download)
“Kids are better served when we build the bridges from where their own understanding is to the content than when we ignore it and pretend that they’re a blank slate.”
Why do Formative Assessment (10:57)
Identifies the gap between what we think we’re teaching and what the students are understanding
Teacher decision making and the formative assessment moves (13:32)
Sound principles in educational assessment (14:23) - 2001 National Research Council: Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment
Observation and interpretation
Priming & visibility of thinking (15:36)
(From the Book: “...priming can help make not only learning visible, priming can go a long way toward making students visible”)
Practical uses of priming (16:43)
“We all have the right to be wrong.” “We all can risk an explanation.” “Our voices should be heard.”
Habits of Heart / Habits of Mind (18:15)
Dr. Holmberg on being a better listener, having language for the moves to get better at them (19:27)
Pausing (20:50)
Essential to processing time
Mary Budd Rowe on Wait Time; another
Kenneth Tobin
Pauses of 3 to 5 seconds are where the magic happens
Inside the Black Box, Black & Wiliam (impact of FA on student achievement)
Balance between efficiency and authenticity with follow up questioning
Tagging (26:38)
Visual representations of student responses
High tech or low tech
Releasing control & embracing anxiety (29:49)
“Teachers, like artists, are often dealing with the complexity of the moment.”
Tagging around the room or virtually, what do we do with tagging after the process (32:57)
Bouncing as a precursor to tagging (34:05)
Assessment triangle - p 44 (Cognition, Observation, Interpretation), how students develop competence (34:18) from Knowing What Students Know, NAP
Synchronizing the 7 moves & using common language (36:08)
Targeted bouncing on student writing (37:24)
Binning to make instructional decisions (38:20)
How do we get better at the 7 moves? (39:40)
STEM & misconceptions (41:10)
Predict → Observe → Explain routine from Stanford (41:30) - use for your teaching
Dr. John Hattie
Dr. Lorrie Shepard, University of Colorado
Jim Popham
Robert Linquanti, WestEd
Assessment-Capable Learners; student role in formative assessment (43:52)
Transparency with students with FA (45:35)
To learn more from Brent & Carrie: validitypartners.com (free resources & email links)
Takeaways with Ben & Becky (47:55)
Tweet us @VrainWaves with your Formative Assessment Moves!!

AJ Juliani on Genius Hour, PBL, Design Thinking and Student Inquiry

Mon, 11 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with AJ Juliani
Twitter: @ajjuliani | Website: http://ajjuliani.com/ | Books: AJ Juliani on Amazon

Links & Show Notes

Skip to Minute 9 to get to the Interview with AJ Juliani
What is Genius Hour? (01:33)
Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (02:07)
Structure (02:30)
Getting Started with Genius Hour
Genius Hour Blueprint
Numbers app template
Inspiration (03:45) | Kid President on Empowerment | Jack Andraka TED Talk | Caine’s Arcade | Genius Hour Examples
Authentic Audience (05:17)
Three N’s (06:46) - What did you learn that’s new, what do you need from me, what are you going to do next?
#20time / #geniushour
AJ Juliani Intro (9:07) - Director of Technology and Innovation at Centennial School District
Genius Hour, what it is, how AJ started with it (10:40)
Read Daniel Pink’s book Drive - Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
The 20% Project blog post | #20Time
Joy Kirr, Gallit Zvi, Hugh McDonald, Denise Krebs
The Genius Hour Manifesto
Examples of Genius Hour projects (15:28)
How Genius Hour works (17:42) Planning → Topic Selection → Pitch → Research → Making → Presentations → Reflection
Topic Selection: March Madness Bracket for ideas
Shark Tank Pitch - 1 minute
1. What they’re going to learn / make
1. Why they’re going to learn / make it
1. How they’re going to learn / make it
1. What will success look like
Mapping to Standards (21:12)
Managing Time (22:53)
Getting started with Inquiry-based learning (25:35)
Get kids comfortable talking without the teacher asking a bunch of questions: Discussion games, sentence stems, fishbowls, symposiums, etc
Genius Hour / Passion Projects for teachers (28:34)
Teacher Innovation Pitch in Centennial SD
Student Innovation Lab / Centennial X
Design Thinking (31:50)
Launch book | co-authored with John Spencer
Chris Lehmann quote: “If you assign a project and get back 30 of the exact same thing, that’s not a project, that’s a recipe.
HBR Article on Design Thinking
Stanford d.school
IDEO
Failures to watch out for with Design Thinking & Genius Hour (36:08)
1. Managing expectations & building early
Project Global Inform
Prototype early
1. Trust & Relationships - be self-reflective
Compliance - Engagement - Empowerment Continuum (42:34)
Empower book
Developing choice & decision skills (44:47)
14,000 hours with students - how much of that time do we give them practice making choices and decisions?
Other podcasts / interviews with AJ
Cult of Pedagogy | AJ’s podcast, Inside Innovation | TLTalk Radio
Homework for teachers (47:46)
What were the last 5 things you learned and why were you excited about learning them? Then, think about how you learn best, and then think about your classroom
Ajjuliani.com - @ajjuliani on all social media
Post interview takeaways with Becky & Ben (49:34)

Teaching Digital Natives with Screenwise Author Devorah Heitner

Mon, 4 Jun 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with Dr. Heitner
Twitter: @DevorahHeitner | Website: https://www.raisingdigitalnatives.com/ | Book: ScreenWise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in their Digital World

Links & Show Notes
Virtual assistants (1:45) - Google conference virtual assistant preview video
Smarter Than You Think (from here on out known as “STYT”) by Clive Thompson (4:19)
The Audience Effect (4:40) - pattern study with little kids; also written up in STYT
How much more we’re writing with technology (05:50)
Introduction to Dr. Devorah Heitner (08:15)
Response to people panicking about technology (09:04)
Definition of digital natives (10:38) - still need mentorship
What they love: Access to content & diversity of content; sharing & creating content (11:35)
Dr. Heitner’s TEDx Talk: Empathy is the App
Mentoring > monitoring (15:10) (Blog post on this / Mentorship Manifesto)
Teaching Digital Citizenship (17:26)
Focus on the positive, share in smaller circles, show positive models on social media
Modeling good digital behavior (19:52)
Toby - google chrome extension to save your tabs
Tech savvy vs. Experiential wisdom (22:43)
What students have to say about tech in the classroom (24:40)
SAMR model
“App-enabled, not app-dependent.”(http://blog.yalebooks.com/2013/11/18/app-enabled-or-app-dependent/)
Thoughts on fears around screen time (27:10)
Consumption v. creation
Parent-Teacher digital communication (28:37)
Including parents virtually in class as mystery readers, guest speakers, etc (29:40)
Temper our expectations (30:17)
Connectivity Stress (33:58)
Setting up technology boundaries / Intentional Tech Habits (34:40)
Humane Tech / @TristanHarris / @adamleealter
Tips: Turn off wifi during deep work; Double / triple screening; give start and end times for distractions
Devorah on her successes and being flexible (37:48)
Rapid Fire (40:40)
Wrap up (45:05) - Cal Newport Book: Deep Work

Dan Meyer: If Your Content is The Aspirin, How Do You Create the Headache?

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Math Expert Dan Meyer Ben Kalb and Becky Peters) — Mon, 28 May 2018 11:08:00 +0000

Episode 011: Dan Meyer, Desmos
Dan Meyer has been revolutionizing math instruction for years, and in this episode he shares with us the importance of mentors in his life, a few of his favorite teaching mantras, mathematics as storytelling, and how to notice and develop perplexity.

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with Dan Meyer
Twitter: @ddmeyer | Website: blog.mrmeyer.com | Desmos

Links & Show Notes

Math is a (usually poorly told) story (02:22)
Put students in a place to experience new learning through a need
Dan’s math journey & mentors (4:20)
“Be Less Helpful” (6:58)
Let students do the interesting, important work of the thinking about the problem
Thanksgiving dinner task example - by giving all the information necessary you’re making the problem less interesting, losing the opportunity for deeper thinking, and blocking some students out
Discovery learning in the math classroom (9:52)
You can always add, you can’t subtract (11:08)
Once you add information, you change the nature of the challenge
3-act math (Dan Meyer’s spreadsheet; Dan Meyer’s ‘How-to’ / Graham Fletcher’s EL resources (12:39)
Bucky the Badger task / Blog write up
One 5th grade student: “While we were figuring it out, our ideas changed and it changed the question we were asking.”
Subtract stuff from the problems in your curriculum (18:38)
Popcorn container task
Benjamin Baxter (20:23)
“Never assume anyone even cares.”
Teach math as though it were an elective
Perplexity / Curiosity: Teaching as a science - reproducible (24:23)
“Developing curiosity in ourselves and capturing those curious moments and presenting them in curious ways for other people, that has to be an ongoing discipline.”
Benefits of being a connected educator (27:31)
Quick growth; posing open questions and semi-formed ideas
Memorization in math (30:26)
Driving analogy
Having as much as you can in your long-term memory makes more interesting work possible
Practice with purpose, mix frequently with purposeful activities (not memorization drills)
Offer them pictures of where their memorization will be used
Math assessment (35:07)
Break learning objectives down into smaller grains of learning and assess on each
Standards-based Grading
Talk to him more about this @ddmeyer
Desmos (38:04)
Free calculators
Polygraph game
If [vocabulary] is the aspirin, what is the headache?
Students solve problems created by each other
Teacher.desmos.com for more free resources
Dan’s TED Talk
tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback
Lots of other videos of Dan’s keynotes, ideas, etc…
Sign up for Dan’s newsletter on his blog

Jennie Magiera on EdTech, Personalized Learning, ISTE, and Courageous Edventures

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 21 May 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Vrain Waves
Twitter: @VrainWaves | Becky Twitter: @BeckyEPeters | Ben Twitter: @mrkalb

Connect with Jennie Magiera
Twitter: @MsMagiera | Website: teachinglikeits2999.com | Book: Courageous Edventures

Links & Show Notes
Reflecting on Learning technology in classrooms (1:46)
Jesse Buetow - This 5th Grade Life Podcast
Jennie Magiera intro - book: Courageous Edventures (6:30)
Chief Program Officer at Ed Tech Team
ISTE 2018 in Chicago
How do I differentiate with technology? But not lose my personal life in the meantime (9:20)
I could transcend space and time by ‘cloning myself’ with videos
What are innovative ways we can approach the problems teachers face every day? → Courageous EdVentures book is a problem based approach to this
Innovation in the math classroom (12:07)
Jennie’s history with math
Learned that math is really creative & beautiful & inspiring
Explain Everything - ToonTastic - tell the narrative of the mathematical story
Other Math Heroes (16:40)
Dan Meyer - blog.mrmeyer.com - 3 act math - twitter
Mathalicious
#mathchat
NCTM conference
How to know your students really well (19:40)
Lunch in the cafeteria with students
Be careful to see your students as whole people, not people we need to save - changes the types of questions you ask them
One human being talking to another
“Instead of asking students ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ ask, ‘who do you want to be today?’ In this way, we are no longer asking students to wait to matter.”
Student agency (24:01) - empowering students so they are able to do things that will affect their own lives.
Make time in your day to exercise those skills (25:10) National Teachers Academy
5 to 13 yo at this school speaking at public hearings and city hall, etc… given students an education in social justice, equity, and voice - being involved in their own community
#giveNTAachance | @WeAreNTA | wearenta.com
Everyone in the building believes in the power of student voice
Preparing students for discussions in classrooms (29:49) -
Be aware of what voices are in the room first - never try to colonize our student voices - Dr Chris Emdin @ Columbia
Use your voice as a tool - different voices for different tools - mock debates - Today’s Meet (tutorial) - mock Twitter chats
Jennie Magiera’s TED (& other) Talks
Genius Hour (32:07)
Flopped the first time because teacher always knows the answer, creativity is not fostered, asked for a rubric, didn’t know how to get an ‘A’
Ken Robinson - Schools Kill Creativity
Teacher Innovation Exploration Plan (TIEP)
Problem-Based Innovation for working through using learning technology in the classroom
Select one challenge and then work systematically through to your solution
Favorite time saving hacks (38:05)
Use your inbox as a task list
Four D’s of productivity - do, delegate, delete, delay
Boomerang / Inbox by Gmail
Automating assessment scoring - gForms, Flubaroo, gClassroom
NPR Article - OK Go - Here it Goes Again (43:15)
bit.ly/studentsrule
Teachinglikeits2999.com
Billboard: Talk Less, Listen More (46:15)
How Jennie learned to say ‘No’ more (47:05) - notecard - say no to three things a month
Takeaways (48:40)
tinyurl.com/vrainwavesfeedback

Daniel Pink and Harnessing the Power of When

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Daniel Pink, Ben Kalb, Becky Peters) — Mon, 14 May 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Daniel Pink
Twitter: @danielpink | Website: www.danpink.com | Book: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Links & Show Notes

Daniel Pink Intro (00:46)
..* Drive (01:19) - Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose
Prime your brain (2:50)
..* “Timing isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.” - Miles Davis (3:50) Biological clocks in every cell of our body
Time of day & standardized testing - Denmark study (5:21)
School start time for high schoolers (6:21)
..* Chronobiology / Chronotypes
..* American Academy of Pediatrics Report (don’t start school before 8:30)
..* Teen depression, teen obesity, lower test scores, more car accidents
..* Adults saying ‘don’t be lazy’ - remember how detrimental that can be from our discussion with Glenn Whitman!
..* We don’t take timing seriously (8:43)
Phases of the day based on chronotype (9:53)
..* 15% are larks
..* 20% are owls
..* The rest of us are ‘third birds’
..* Pattern of the day (Twitter, Daniel Kahneman)
..* Peak → Trough → Recovery
“Our cognitive abilities don’t stay the same throughout the day.” (11:20)
..* Peak: Analytic work - most vigilant at this time
..* Trough: increase in medical errors, decrease in handwashing in hospitals, more car accidents: Administrative work - not a lot of brainpower
..* Recovery: High mood but less vigilant - time for Creative Work
Scheduling (14:45) - Not just a logistical issue, it’s a pedagogical issue and a strategic issue
..* Only criterion we use is availability (rooms & people) when we schedule anything - we should give more weight to the ‘when’
..* Time of day alone represents about 20% of variance in how someone performs on the job (15:50)
..* We’re intentional about the ‘what’ - the curriculum, the ‘who’ - who’s in the room, the ‘how’ - the pedagogy, but the ‘when’ takes a back seat, which is a big mistake.
..* Study of 2 million students in LAUSD - student performance in math in the morning vs. math in the afternoon
..* Corporate earnings calls - NYU study (19:07) - even led to temporary stock mispricing
..* Communicate important messages earlier in the day
Taking breaks (22:02)
..* Breaks are undervalued
..* Something is better than nothing - even if 1 to 2 minutes, better than nothing; breaks should be social, even for introverts; moving is better than stationary; outside is better than inside; fully detached is better than semi-detached
..* We look at recess as a concession - recess is part of what we need to learn!
..* Denmark - 20 to 30 min break before those standardized tests, scores went back up
Temporal Landmarks (24:48) - trigger an interesting form of mental accounting
..* Try using fresh start dates or temporal landmarks for when you want students to try something new
Suggestions for School: (27:20)
..* More breaks for teachers and students alike, analytical classes (literacy & numeracy) in the morning, move art / music to later in the day, pay more attention to how well things are working and adjust accordingly - test and reiterate
..* Increase our chances of being successful; not guarantees
Premortems - Gary Klein (30:53)
..* Make mistakes in your head and come up with solutions before you make those mistakes, e.g. ask students: AP test is in 6 months, you get a 1, what went wrong?
Group Synchronization (34:46) Oxford research on prosocial effects of synchronous play with children (boosts our mood, increased collaboration, more open to playing with kids who don’t look like them, open minded, generous, etc.)
Motivation (37:57)
..* Autonomy, Mastery, & Purpose - Genius Hour & self-directed projects, student-led conferences, solve problems in their local community
Homework from Daniel Pink (40:56)
..* Be a better observer of your own behavior - how are you doing at different times of day? Observe and act accordingly
..* Beginnings, middles & ends - importance of the end of the year
Danpink.com / danielpink.com / email newsletter
Takeaways (43:52)
..* Quiz on Daniel’s website to learn your own chronotype
..* Make the end of year powerful!

Brain Based Teaching and Learning with Neuroteach Author Glenn Whitman

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 7 May 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Episode 008: Glenn Whitman, NeuroTeach
Today we talk with one of the authors of NeuroTeach: Brain Science and the Future of Education, Mr. Glenn Whitman. His dedication to understanding neuroscience and learning in order to effect change at the school building level permeates policy at the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. Glenn speaks to us about the ways in which learning about the brain can enhance our instruction.

Connect with Glenn Whitman
Twitter: @gwhitmancttl | Website: thecttl.org | Book: NeuroTeach: Brain Science and the Future of Education

Links & Show Notes

Out of our heads and into the classroom
Memory Palace / Memory Journey (1:35)
..* Kevin Horsley, International Grandmaster of Memory
..* Priming (2:55)
..* Spacing (3:25)
..* Hidden Brain (3:49)
..* Thinking Fast & Slow / You are Not So Smart (4:11)
..* “The more you know, the easier it is to know more.”
..* Science of Success episode with Kevin Horsley
..* Storytelling (5:00)
..* Dreams as a story to create narrative from chaos
..* Broca’s Area (5:37)
..* Brain lighting up when hearing stories same as if action was happening to you (fMRI)
..* Stillmotion: touch the heart to move the mind
Intro to Glenn Whitman (6:50)
..* NeuroTeach
..* CTTL
..* Think Differently & Deeply
One educational truth: Every day every kid will bring his or her brain to class (7:54)
How do kids actually learn, never trained (8:37)
In 2007 - asked ourselves ‘What makes an Expert Teacher?’ (9:02)
..* Do we know enough about the organ of learning, the brain? Only 20% of teachers have been exposed to that sort of training, per Glenn’s experience
Mind Brain Education - train St Andrews Teachers in the Learning Brain + ongoing PD in Educational Neuroscience (10:17)
..* Denise Pope at Stanford
..* Dan Willingham at UVA
..* Rob Coe at University of Durham in UK
Mission-driven (12:55)
Teacher enthusiasm for working with research (13:41)
“Can you change the culture of a school through research?” (14:22)
..* We don’t intentionally use research enough in the learning space to improve instruction.
..* Teacher as researcher
..* Ready-made research (15:25)
..* E.g. Memory (16:00)
..* Spacing effect, active retrieval, dual coding, flashcards being misused
..* Action Research (17:01)
..* Original Research studies (17:25)
Unconscionable List (18:12) - “detrimental pedagogy”
..* Labeling students (19:15)
..* Surprise quizzes that count for substantial points (19:51)
..* Wasting the beginning and the end of class (20:34)
..* Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting (21:55)
..* Exclusive Content: add 2 more to the list
..* No high school should start before 830 am (22:42)
..* No more than 4 subjects a day (23:20)
..* Other unconscionable list items:
..* Balance between project-based learning and the content knowledge necessary to be successful in those projects (23:38)
..* The Myth of Learning styles (24:34)
..* Howard Gardner
Start and end of class (25:31)
3 questions every Monday from one teacher - one thing you remember from last week, 1 thing you remember from last month, 1 thing you remember from September (28:19)
..* Primacy recency effect
Labeling (29:09)
..* What labels do to our mindset (29:57)
..* Create a fixed mindset & a self-fulfilling prophecy
..* Neuroplasticity (31:09)
The Mindset Scholars Network (31:40)
..* Belonging Mindset
..* Purpose & Relevance Mindset
Study - Reminded participants of race before a math assessment (33:34)
..* Hardiman out of Johns Hopkins
..* Downshifting (33:55)
12 Things Teachers should do for every student every day (35:16)
..* Choice Final Exams (35:38)
..* Low stakes Formative Assessment (37:08)
..* Connection between emotion and learning (37:37)
..* Rick Wormeli “Fair is not always equal.”
..* Spacing / active retrieval / dual coding
..* Exclusive Content
..* Teaching students the neuroanatomy behind learning (39:37)
Making the podcast better (40:03)
..* Think Differently & Deeply - authors podcast (40:25)
..* Acknowledging prior knowledge
Teaching is a learning profession for the adult (42:03)
..* You should be better in June than you were in September
..* Project Zero’s Thinking Routines
..* Ron Ritchhart
..* CTTL - Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning
Mind, Brain, Education (44:10)
..* Twitter is a great lifeline - the Learning Scientists - subscribe!
..* @gwhitmancttl
..* “NeuroTeach Global” being released in January 2019 (45:01)
Multitasking (46:41) - think about the pace and the amount of activities we’re giving our students
Self-testing is the million dollar strategy (49:00) - how much do you know without referencing anything, then build upon the gaps
We want doctors that have studied the organs of the body; we want teachers that have studied the organ of learning (50:47)
..* Studying the learning brain should be the foundation in our professional learning for improving at other pedagogical techniques
Takeaways (53:21)

Learner-Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, and Unleash Genius with Dr. Katie Martin

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Katie Martin
Twitter: @katiemartinedu | Website: katielmartin.com | Book: Learner-Centered Innovation

Links & Show Notes

Marigolds & Walnut Trees / companion planting - an analogy from The Cult of Pedagogy (02:05)
..* Check out our show notes for each episode at vrainwaves.com
Katie Martin Intro (5:57)
..* Buck Institute of Education
..* Learner-Centered Innovation
Why Katie went into teaching (7:03)
Learner-Centered Innovation, the book (8:33)
..* Started with blogging
Why be social on Twitter / blog, etc. (9:50)
Buck Institute for Education (BIE); Examples of PBL (11:17)
..* Kim Cawkwell (@mskimcawkwell) - 4th grade
..* Most engaging lessons happen when people get to solve their own problems (12:46)
..* Gold Standard Essential Design Elements, BIE (13:28)
..* Dr. Martin’s 10 Characteristics of Learner-Centered experiences (15:11)
Teachers create what we experience (17:15)
..* 25 hour learning challenge (18:19)
What does your ideal classroom look like? And the ‘knowing-doing gap’ (20:03)
Adaptability and evolution of practice (22:28)
What should we be calling those skills? (24:55)
..* World Economic Forum - Future of Jobs Report (Top 10 2020 Skills)
Katie Martin’s top 3 skills (26:20)
Inspired by Research / Informed by Practice (27:38)
..* Book Recommendations:
..* Creativity, Inc. (Ed Catmull)
..* The Power of Moments (Chip & Dan Heath)
..* Originals (Adam Grant)
Jeff Bezos - stay focused on the customer (30:10)
Coaching on strategic abandonment and letting go of things that don’t work (33:56)
Developing a culture of innovation (38:41)
What is the purpose of public education? (40:02)
Katie’s TED Talk (42:14)
..* “I hope they’re just as in love with learning when they graduate high school as they were when they started kindergarten.”
Cajon Valley School District (42:57)
..* David Miyashiro, Superintendent
..* Ed Hidalgo, Innovation & Engagement Officer
..* World of Work for K-8 students
Rapid fire (44:53)
To learn more: katielmartin.com
Takeaways (47:35)
..* Give us feedback!

Critical Thinking and Creativity in the Classroom with Dan Ryder

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Connect with Dan Ryder
Twitter: @wickeddecent or @intentionbook / #dtk12chat | Website: danryder207.com | Book: Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom
**
Links & Show Notes**
Out of Our Heads and Into the Classroom (02:30)
Phrankenword: vocab mashup
Give us a phrankenword for Vrain Waves!! Tweet it to us or send it on Facebook.
6-word story: Hemingway origin story (04:21)
Dan Ryder Intro (06:25)
Mt. Blue High School, Farmington ME
Education Director for new Success & Innovation Center at Mt. Blue
#dtk12chat on Twitter (09:22)
Dan’s Favorite Design Challenge (10:40)
How might we design a tiny house for the 4 main characters in Of Mice & Men?
Empathy Maps (12:36)
Intention the Book (14:35)
Amy Burvall, co-author - @AmyBurvall
Academic Knowledge + Critical Thinking + Creativity = Edusymbiosis
Dan’s Top 3 favorite ‘recipes’ from the book (17:40)
Intention Oreo - #IntentionOreo
Potent quotables - #IntentionQuotes
One Word to Rule them All - #IntentionOneWord
Color Palette Activity #IntentionColor (19:27)
Colourlovers.com
Unpacking standards (24:50)
How do you get better at being creative? (28:51)
Podcasts Dan listens to: Uncivil; Code Switch; Reply All; Design Matters; All Songs Considered; WTF with Mark Maron; Across the Hall; Radio Zamunda
By being curious! & having access to information. & by having co-conspirators
Book that changed Dan’s practice: A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink (32:24)
Be the thinking classroom: teach students how to think, not what to think (34:35)
Failing at providing timely feedback (35:57)
Audio feedback on gDrive
Don’t grade everything (41:30)
Only assess what students deem their best work (42:55)
Intentionthebook.online | @WickedDecent (Twitter, Instagram, Medium)
Takeaways (46:00)

How to Teach Like a Pirate with Dave Burgess

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Get ready to sail the seven seas with this week’s guest, Mr. Dave Burgess. Using magic, humor, and a trademark level of enthusiasm to augment his already stellar content, Dave is a sought after speaker, well-known author, and high-quality publisher followed by educators around the world. In this episode we discuss how good teaching relates with good coaching, some of Dave's favorite hooks, and why a costume can't cover up for boring learning!

Connect with Dave Burgess
Twitter: @burgessdave | Website: daveburgess.com | Book: Teach Like a Pirate

Links & Show Notes
Out of our heads and into the classroom: “Hook” hacks with Ben & Becky (1:34)
Snowball Fight (1:34)
Dance Party (2:26)
Cue YouTube videos to certain spot
3 Act Math (3:56)
Dan Meyer - Secondary 3 Act Math (Explanation / Background)
Graham Fletcher - Elementary 3 Act Math
(Not familiar with Dan Meyer? Watch his video, ‘Math Class Needs a Makeover’)
Alphabet aerobics (5:21)
Dave Burgess Introduction (6:31)
Dave Burgess Publishing & Consulting
Other pirates mentioned: George Couros, Alice Keeler, John Spencer, AJ Juiliani, Jimmy Casas
How Dave got into teaching (7:30)
Teaching / Coaching overlap (8:45) / John Wooden
PIRATE acronym and how it applies to teaching (10:00)
Passion / Immersion / Rapport / Ask & Analyze / Transformation / Enthusiasm
Digging deeper into passion (12:30)
3 circles of teaching (14:20)
Content / Techniques & Methods / Presentation
Getting better at Presentation (16:40)
Questions are the key to creativity (17:41)
Dave’s recommendations for authors to learn from (18:45)
Seth Godin (Linchpin)
Anthony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within / Unlimited Power)
“Questions are the laser of human consciousness.”
Ed Tech integration (22:20)
R. Buckminster Fuller - “Don’t fight forces. Use them.”
Student-centered classroom & TLAP complementary texts (24:56)
Learn Like a Pirate, Paul Solarz
Explore Like a Pirate (Gamification), Michael Matera
Play Like a Pirate, Quinn Rollins
“You teach what you know; you teach who you are.” (27:35)
Maya Angelou & storytelling (28:50)
It’s about the power of your presence.
The most important thing in the world is courage.
Teaser hook (30:47)
Always preheat the grill; creating anticipation / curiosity / buzz before the lesson
Ted Talk - Teach Like a Pirate (33:10)
Dave on Failure (33:33)
Progress happens outside of your comfort zone; if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not growing
Failure as feedback (36:54)
Pirates turn their sails to the wind (41:08)
Enthusiasm (42:03)
Control your state - 1) what you focus on; 2) your physiology
If they didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room? (45:00)
@burgessdave / #tlap / daveburgess.com /daveburgessconsulting.com
Get connected!!
Ben & Becky Take-Aways (47:21)
Joe Biden quote
Medici Effect

Kim Scott (Giving and Learning from Feedback, Radical Candor, and more!)

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Mon, 9 Apr 2018 11:00:00 +0000

Links & Show Notes (please note, some language bleeped using a horse sound)

Out of our heads and into the classroom: Feedback hacks from Ben & Becky (2:01)
Errors & Misconception videos (3:15)
Adaptive assessments with google forms (5:20) (Written Steps | Video)
Real-time feedback during performances (6:50)
Free up your time for face-to-face student conferences (8:55)
Video yourself (9:50)
Kim on the book, Radical Candor - how to be a good human being, parent, manager, leader (11:44)
What is Radical Candor? (13:18)
Mostly about collaboration
Care Personally & Challenge Directly
Ruinous Empathy (15:05) - ‘Bob’ Story (15:45)
Manipulative Insincerity (17:35) - “the desire to be liked is the path to hell for a leader.”
Radical Candor in student-teacher relationships (19:53)
“It’s not mean, it’s clear” story (21:45)
Order of Operations in Radical Candor
Be willing to solicit feedback first (23:50)
Focus on the good stuff. Give praise first - focus on success (25:00)
Offer criticism (28:20)
Feedback is a gift -
Be Humble (you may not be right) (29:23)
That’s why it’s called ‘candor’ and not ‘truth’. You may be wrong.
Be helpful (31:00)
Do it immediately (32:53)
Do it in person (33:10)
80% of communication is nonverbal
Respond to their reaction
What does this look like when it’s done successfully? (35:15)
Situation - Behavior - Impact (not about personality traits)
How do we get better at receiving and learning from the feedback we receive

First practice asking for feedback. “What could I do or stop doing that would make it easier to work with me?” - What’s your go-to question? (40:00)
Embrace the discomfort. Don’t get defensive. “Listen with the intent to understand, not to respond.” (41:49)
Reward the candor. Publically. (45:25)
Coaching in Kim Scott’s life (47:15)
Rapid Fire (48:50)
Billboard: Radical Candor framework in congress
New belief, behavior, or habit: Getting good sleep
Kim thanks teachers (51:15)
Kim’s novel, The Measurement Problem
To learn more:
Kim’s Podcast
Radicalcandor.com
@kimballscott | @candor
Takeaways: (52:48)
Don’t take it personally - Kim Scott video demonstrating this with her sister
“It’s not mean, it’s clear”
Science of Success podcast, episode with Adam Grant
Rate us on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen)
Give us feedback!

Elizabeth Green (Chalkbeat, Building a Better Teacher)

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 14:30:00 +0000

Join us as we learn from Chalkbeat founder, journalist, and teacher advocate, Elizabeth Green. She talks with us about developing educational infrastructure and supporting teachers across the country.

Mark Barnes (Hack Learning and the Results Only Learning Environment)

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:30:00 +0000

In this episode, we talk hack learning and Results-Only Learning Environments with the original ed hacker - Mark Barnes. Mark challenges us to rethink some of our most fundamental systems - grading, feedback, peer observation - and empowers teachers to make revolutionary changes in their classroom.

Tony Wagner (Creating Innovators, Global Achievement Gap and more!)

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:30:00 +0000

Don’t miss this incredible interview with Dr. Tony Wagner - widely respected author, educator, and speaker, helping us all reframe our thinking in order to transform education.

About Vrain Waves

stvrain.vrainwaves@gmail.com (Benjamin Kalb, Rebecca Peters) — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 02:22:00 +0000

Becky Bio (1:04)
Ben Bio (1:58)
Purpose & goals of the podcast (2:55)
How to contact us (7:25)
Twitter: @VrainWaves
Blog: www.vrainwaves.com
Email: becky@vrainwaves.com; ben@vrainwaves.com