Vrain Waves: Teaching Conversations with Minds Shaping Education

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**Vrain Waves: Teaching Conversations with Minds Shaping Education**

Vrain Waves seeks to provide teachers powerful professional learning anywhere, and anytime. We feature interviews with educational giants, successful professionals, and sought-after consultants to help teachers feel more informed, inspired, and connected. Join us each week as we highlight educational theory, strategies, and tools that all teachers can put to use in the classroom.

Latest Episodes:

Grading for Equity with Joe Feldman Feb 26, 2021

Show notes

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 Nov 23, 2020

Show notes

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 Nov 09, 2020

Show notes

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 Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

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 May 12, 2020

Show notes

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 Apr 19, 2020

Show notes

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 Mar 23, 2020

Show notes

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 Mar 09, 2020

Show notes

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)
- Dan Willingham Tweet
- Last episode about language with Mike Anderson
- @VrainWaves on Twitter
- ben@vrainwaves.com / becky@vrainwaves.com

Aligning Words and Intentions with Mike Anderson Feb 24, 2020

Show notes

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 Feb 10, 2020

Show notes

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)

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