The intersectional nature of traumatic events tends to be covered in ways that are surface-level and glazed over. A pandemic that disproportionately impacts oppressed groups interacts complexly with protests that fight much more visible forms of racism. Meanwhile, at Twitter HQ, 2,900 miles away from my school, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, wields his immense power… Read more Meditating on the First Amendment
This is a version of an assignment I was asked to write for my graduate school’s “Applications of Effective Teaching” course. It is an implementation of an educational autobiography [buy the book here]. This post mentions some schools, by name. Many of these schools have now changed, both for the better and worse. The stories… Read more [WDYL] Educational Autobiography
This week I learned that I am fortunate to be in early stages of learning the structures needed to be a teacher. The year is winding down for me. And while the end of the year is closer, I’m really looking toward the beginning of the year in reflection. Here’s what I realized: This was… Read more [WDYL] A Reflection on Structures
This week I learned that I need to dive deeper into what trauma-informed pedagogy looks like. Last week was originally slated to be our Spring Break in NYC, but, of course, COVID-19 has completely changed the course of what is expected of us as educators in one of the hardest-hit cities in the world. Of… Read more [WDYL] Trauma-Informed Pedagogy
The ASCEND blog has long laid dormant. For me, it’s really been more of an outlying brain than anything else. That said, as I’ve sat in quarantine, I’ve had more time to consider what I need to do as a newly-minted educator in our surreal developing reality. At the end of Summer last year, I… Read more WDYL: An ASCEND Blog Update
Why In my life, I’ve had two transformational moments in education. The first was in fifth grade, where I was given the power to leverage my curiosity through self-directed learning and technology. The second was in high school, when I entered the International School of Communications (affectionately known as the ISC). The experiences I had… Read more What Did You Learn Manifesto
“How” Trees In response to my last post, I’ve also been considering the best way to transform purposes and visions into tangible roadmaps. Organizations I’ve observed often do a poor job of scoping their goals, and do an even worse job articulating their purpose. Is there some process that can help organizations ensure that they… Read more How Trees
Philosophy drives education, so it’s important that we ask ourselves unanswerable, philosophical questions from time to time. Let’s start with this one: What is the purpose of education? Of course, there is no single answer to this question. Education serves many purposes, and these purposes will continue to evolve for a multitude of reasons. The reason… Read more The Purpose of Education
I was recently listening to Hidden Brain, and came across an episode about a metaphor from Alison Gopnik’s book, The Gardener and the Carpenter. The metaphor goes as follows: as a parent, you can either be a Gardener or a carpenter. The Carpenter: If you are a Carpenter, you have precise control over a final product —… Read more The Carpenter and the Gardener
