New Teacher Center

Listen to Gary Briggs and Joshua Martinez, two former educators currently on NTC’s Professional Learning Systems team, speak about the challenges of addressing the commitment to reexamine your ideas of who the stakeholders are in your ecosystem.

Aurora Juarez Lopez, 18, is a recent graduate of Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Aurora’s family immigrated from Mexico and she grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. As the oldest of three children, she wants to be a role model for her younger sisters who are 15 and 4. Aurora shares her experience translating for her family, her thoughts on what teachers can do to support multilingual students, and what she's looking forward to next year when she goes to college.

High school seniors Grace Ayena and Mikayah Cheeks are part of the Chicago Public School's Student Voice Committees. Run through CPS’s Department of Equity, the student voice committees aim to give upper elementary through high school students leadership opportunities, improve school climate, and foster communication between adults and students. In addition to being active members of the student voice committees at their schools, Grace and Mikayah are also part of a district-wide high school leadership program, the Student Voice and Activism Fellowship, also known as SVAF. The fellowship is a year-long program where students participate in an intensive summer of learning and planning and take part in stakeholder meetings, conferences, and student-led events. Grace and Makayla have both been part of student-led professional development for adults. They shared their perspectives on how adults in schools can build trusting relationships and foster open communication with students, and what they wish their teachers knew about them.

Sixteen-year-old Alizea Daniels shares her experiences moving from a small school in a rural community on a reservation to a bigger middle school in a town of 40,000 in Northern Idaho. As a member of the Coeur d'Alene and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, she also reflects on being an Indigenous student at a predominantly white high school and offers advice on how teachers can help Native students feel at home in their classrooms.

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We close out our Revolution podcast series with a synthesizing conversation between Dr. Tanji Reed Marshall, from Education Trust, and Atyani Howard, with New Teacher Center. Tanji and Atyani reflect on key learnings from the past six months, distill the learnings down into actions, and offer insights into where our education discussions might go next. They also remind us that the intellect of every child matters- as does the intellect of our educators. Listen in to hear their reflections as we close out the year.

In this bonus episode, hear from teacher Chrystal Seawood on how she builds relationships with students through deeply understanding who they are as students. She shares how she led with vulnerability through transitions brought on by the pandemic. Listen in to hear ways you can join Chrystal in following the breadcrumbs your students drop to show you who they truly are.

The revolution for our students must come through a focus on their learning and a pedagogy of empowerment. Join Zaretta Hammond and Dr. Tanji Reed Marshall on this episode to hear how teachers and leaders can ensure students are being given the cognitive tools to take agency of their own learning. Listen in as they explore a framework for getting ready for rigor, important leadership shifts to support educators, and issue a call to action for how we message the work with our students. Learn about ways you can support the dynamic dance between student, teacher, and content.

How do systems leaders remain grounded in the best practices for ensuring equity for each students in their schools? In this podcast, Dr. Lillian Lowery, Vice President of Student and Teacher Assessment at Educational Testing Service, shares strategies that systems leaders can leverage to support schools and teachers in remaining student-centered. She speaks to the importance of systems leaders gathering multiple types of data, listening to educators and students and analyzing data, and then utilizing the data to allocate resources and make decisions. Listen in to hear ways systems leaders can work in partnership with families and teachers for the success of students.

How does our country need to change systems and structures to better support a diverse educator workforce? Eric Duncan, Senior Data and Policy Analyst on the P-12 team at The Education Trust, shares how to gather the data needed to move forward in recruiting, hiring, and creating an environment where educators of color thrive. He will share specific ways Boston Public Schools changed their policies to support diverse educators and suggestions for how system leaders can rebuild the trust of their educators. Listen in to identify ways you can work to support a more racially diverse educator workforce no matter what role you hold or the community where you live.

Professional learning needs to be cohesive and situated in the work of educators to be effective. Atyani Howard, Chief Program Officer for New Teacher Center, shares how we are exploring new ways to work with our partners in response to the context our educators and students are living in today. 

Atyani pushes us to consider how critical it is to know the story of students in order to keep students at the heart of teaching and learning. Listen in to learn what you can start doing tomorrow to transform professional learning for teachers.

Krysten and Erika are back to discuss the upcoming season of the New Teacher Center's podcast, The Revolution, in partnership with The Education Trust. Listen in for a sneak peek for what you'll hear in upcoming episodes.

Principals are on the front line in supporting students, teachers, and families. Hear how Mariah Cone, Vice President, School Leadership Development at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, supported school leaders through the transitions required by Covid-19 building closures and their response to the call for anti-racist education and Black Lives Matter movement in their area. Mariah shares some of the strategies principals are using to collaborate with each other as well as how Alliance schools approached anti-racist education with students and teachers. In considering return to schools, Mariah shares how school leaders might focus their attention to the trauma response necessary when we return to learning this fall.

Fostering curiosity at school and home is one way for educators and caregivers to support the student learning at home. Hear Terra Tarango, Director of the Van Andel Institute for Education, speak to the importance of the three C's and how educators can attend to them during virtual learning. Learn about the resources provided by her organization and how to engage students in science while at home. Find the resources discussed in this conversation at: www.blueappleteacher.org.

Transitioning to the virtual space requires shifts in how teachers provide instruction and how they respond to events happening in broader communities, such as the most recent acts of police brutality in the United States. Hear Principal Thelma Sambrook share how her teachers engaged students in their own responses to racism. She also shares how she leveraged her digital butterfly staff to support their colleagues' development and ways she engages the community in deep conversation to respond to their needs. See more of her school in action on Twitter, @TDSB_Winona

Routines and rituals, like graduation, are foundational to the school experience. Hear how Tamara Albury (@AlburyTamara), principal at Young Women's Leadership Academy, transitions the experiences that matter to her community to a digital environment. Learn how she is currently leveraging these digital versions and how she plans to continue to use these once students and families return to school buildings.

Our COVID-19 Resource & Community Support Podcast features education leaders from across the nation.  Our leaders work in schools and districts that are unique, yet face many similar challenges in leading during a global pandemic.  In these robust and candid conversations, you'll learn about each guest’s experiences, how they’re supporting academic and social-emotional learning, what’s keeping them up at night, and what is inspiring them to keep on working.

Guests of the Week: 

• Maya Bennett, Director of Student Affairs, Basis Baton Rouge Charter School
• Roberto Ramirez, Head of School, Basis Baton Rouge Charter School

We invite you to start here, with our very first episode!  You'll hear from Krysten Wendell, Director of School Leadership, and Erika Reese, Senior Director of Internal Learning, on why we started this series and what you'll learn along the way.

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