A special thank you to Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu, for joining me on the Season 3 premiere of Pondering Education. CLICK HERE to learn more about Councilor Wu’s campaign to become the next Mayor of Boston!
Pondering Education Podcast Season 3 Premiere: “Reopening Schools Safely”
Aug 17, 2020
Show notes
A Conversation with Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu to discuss the reopening of Boston Public Schools.
Release Date: Sunday, August 16, 2020
On today’s episode of Pondering Education, Ryan speaks with Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu, about the upcoming reopening of Boston Public Schools.
Ryan also reveals his “EduBook Recommendation of the Week” as well as his “Educator to Follow” pick – two brand new segments to the show.
Be sure to check back to the show notes in the coming days for access to a transcript of the show!
Today’s Special Guest: Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu
“When she was elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, Michelle became the first Asian-American woman to serve on the Council. In January 2016, she was elected President of the City Council by her colleagues in a unanimous vote, becoming the first woman of color to serve as Council President.
Her legislative work has focused on access to opportunity for residents of all backgrounds. Michelle was the lead sponsor of Boston’s Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity — both of which passed unanimously through the Council and were signed into law by Mayor Martin J. Walsh. She also authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance, which guarantees translation, interpretation and assistive technology for access to city services regardless of English language proficiency or communications disability. To promote economic development, she also introduced a successful ordinance to end the city’s ban on BYOB for small neighborhood restaurants, and recently introduced the “Boston Unplugged” ordinance to eliminate all permits and fees for small businesses in commercial districts to host acoustic performances.
In 2016, Michelle was honored as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as part of Marie Claire magazine’s New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America. In 2017 she received the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s highest honor, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor, her sons Blaise and Cass.”
Thank you all so much for listening! Be on the look out for a full transcript of today’s episode coming soon. I’ll be back with an all-new episode next Sunday evening!
Pondering Education – Special Edition: Unpacking a Teaching Tolerance Workshop
Aug 28, 2019
Show notes
Pondering Education
SPECIAL SUMMER EPISODE!
Release Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Welcome to a special edition of Pondering Education! On tonight’s show, Ryan unpacks many of the lessons learned from an unbelievable Teaching Tolerance workshop last week.
Among the topics discussed tonight:
How to speak up against every prejudice, bias, and stereotypes.
Social Justice Standards
Essential Questions
Preparing for Difficult Conversations
What debate topics (if any) should be off limits in the classroom?
Be sure to visit Teaching Tolerance for an abundance of free resources to help ensure your classroom is safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all students!
Finally, Ryan’s book, LEAD from Day One, is now available through EduMatch Publishing!
That’ll do it for this episode of Pondering Education. Until next week, be sure to take care of yourself, take care of each other, and, of course, take care of your students.
Best,
Ryan
Pondering Education S2E13: EduChatting with Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton
Apr 08, 2019
Show notes
“EduChatting with Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton”
On tonight’s episode of #PonderingEducation, Ryan goes educhatting with Starr Sackstein, NBCT and Connie Hamilton, Ed. S. from last month’s ASCD #Empower19 conference in Chicago!
To kick off tonight’s episode, Ryan discusses last week’s MCAS controversy and calls on the Massachusetts Department of Education to take drastic actions to rectify the mess caused by the inclusion of a racist question in the 10th grade ELA test.
Following a final word from our month-long sponsor, Studentreasures, Ryan speaks with Starr and Connie from Empower19!
***Note: Please excuse the background noise throughout the interview. The media room was hopping at the time!***
Racial equity. If you’re involved in education at some level, you’ve undoubtedly heard the call to action to bring about racial equity to our schools. But how do we go about ensuring equity for all students? Tonight’s episode of Pondering Education seeks to help us all understand the actions we can take to help close the opportunity gap.
“Supporting Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students”
Release Date: Sunday, March 24, 2019
Episode Overview
On tonight’s episode, Ryan speaks with Vanessa Ford and Becca Mui on how we can best support our transgender and gender non-conforming students in school. It’s a fantastic conversation that touches upon the benefits of establishing GSAs, understanding the importance of pronouns, and much, much more. You won’t want to miss this conversation that was recorded live in Chicago during last week’s ASCD Empower19 conference!
Also in the episode, Ryan touches upon the topic of supporting students with ADHD. He speaks with Tim Grivois-Shah and Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah on how schools can put plans in place to better meet the needs of students with ADHD!
Thank you to all for supporting Pondering Education! We are now on SPOTIFY! Please continue subscribing to the show, and, if you’re so inclined, a nice review would go a long, long way!
We will see you later in the week when Ryan speaks with Karmen Rouland and Nyla Bell as we discuss racial equity in education!
Take care,
Ryan
Pondering Education S2E10: A Conversation with Elizabeth Acevedo
Mar 01, 2019
Show notes