Is a response to the two profit-driven, extractive systems of fast food and fast fashion that's resulting in a crisis is actually...being slow about it? And what can we learn from this for Education? Dare we call it slow...schooling? (just another way to see it as an industrial, mechanical, colonial, extractive, capitalistic, etc. system) "Slow Schooling" doesn't quite have the ring, I get it, but in this podcast I riff about the concepts and draw the comparisons for what we can learn! Find out more about the Embodied Teacher 3-Week Workshop  Join the free Regenerative Ed Community!  

Regenerative Ed

Slow Food, Slow Fashion, Slow... Schooling?

The first day of school. The first day of Thanksgiving break. The dates of Winter break. The dates of spring break. PD days. The last day of school. All definitely on my calendar, and all used to orient my way through the year. While that's fine and even logical, what could happen to the way we view work if we use seasonality and connection to orient ourselves in this time-space continuum, instead of just not-work days or commercial holidays? I share some brief thoughts and application for the classroom. Please continue the conversation on Instagram @groundedteaching  or on our free community! Links: Join the free Regenerative Ed Community! Show Notes Page for reflection questions for yourself and your students as you consider using fall as a marker of time in your school year! More about the Embodied Teacher Workshop! Regenerative Ed Patreon 

Happy Equinox! Orienting Our Idea of Work Around Seasonal Shifts

This week I muse about STRESS in a way that will (I'm hopeful!) leave you feeling a little better, maybe with a little game plan, and maybe also with a few ideas for creating a more regenerative classroom towards the end. Listen in and let us know what you think! Links: Article: "The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Control Trial" (2016) Article: "Hormesis Defined" (2007) Download the hormesis poster for your room (or for behind your desk as a reminder! Regenerative Ed Free Community Regenerative Ed Patreon Embodied Teacher Workshop Regenerative Leader Free Class: Industry to Ecosystem  

F*CK! That's Cold!

"My goal this year is for you to own your  learning." "Teachers need to have ownership over their own professional development." "I'm working to help principals own the relationships they foster with their community." Today, I chat (with myself-- solocast!) about one of the ed jargon-y terms that get thrown around a lot by us well-meaning educational professionals. "Ownership". Does it have a place in our communication about school when we're using school as an entry point for creating a more regenerative future? Let's explore some alternatives! Links from today's podcast: MOST IMPORTANTLY: READ BRAIDING SWEETGRASS by Robin Wall Kimmerer (seriously, what are you waiting for). If you can, support your local bookstore! Join the (free) Regenerative Ed Community! Check out the Embodied Teacher Workshop Series! As a side-bar, I mention supporting your local Fibershed, which is supporting the folks who are trying to relocalize the fiber industry. Think: farm-to-table, but only farm-to-fashion. You can probably find one that's been established near you by using this map.   (Hey! If you live within 250 miles of Cleveland, Ohio, we're Rust Belt Fibershed!)  

"Ownership"

This week I'm talking to teachers AND musicians, Shanna and Eric of By Light We Loom, who have their music has been featured in movies and countless stages. We check in about how music can teach us about teaching, focusing in on four areas: presence, process, rhythm, and emergence.  About Shanna and Eric Teaching Bios, first! Shanna Delaney:  Shanna has taught at Lake Local Schools in Hartville, Ohio for the past 14 years.  She pairs a dedication to empowering her students with a passion for social justice to engage her students in meaningful and authentic learning that truly makes a difference.  She currently teaches College Credit Plus British Literature II, College Credit Plus College Composition 1, Public Speaking, and Women's Studies Media and Literature.   Eric Ling: Eric has taught at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio for the past 13 years.  Eric's passion for education and dedication to his students drives him to design unique courses that engage students in authentic learning.  He has taught history, economics, and business courses. This summer Eric is making a transition into administration as the Dean of Faculty where he will focus on engaging teachers in best practices and driving innovation from an institutional level.     Band Bio:By Light We Loom, a husband and wife indie-pop duo out of Cleveland, Ohio, combines creative beats, vintage synths, soaring vocals, and intimate harmonies with story-folk songwriting sensibilities to deliver high-energy performances that promise to move your heart and feet in equal measures. Since its origin in late 2014, By Light We Loom has toured heavily with highlight stops at MidPoint Music Festival, Brite Winter Festival, NEO Cycle Music Festival, The Heights Music Hop, and opening for notable indie acts: The Paper Kites, Car Seat Headrest, Maps & Atlases, Telekinesis, Lucy Dakus, Sondre Lerche, Deep Sea Diver, The Mynabirds, Twin Forks, The Kin, Kopecky, Radiation City, Matt Pond PA, Frontier Ruckus, and more. By Light We Loom released their debut EP, “The Ignition,” in May of 2015 to critical acclaim and local radio play. Maturing their sound through live performances, they quickly released a more realized EP, “Caught in the Tide,” in January of 2016. “Caught in the Tide” received nationwide radio play, landing the album in the Top 100 of the College Radio Charts. The success of this album resulted in By Light We Loom being named Cleveland Magazine’s “Best Indie Rock Artist of 2016” . Songs from “Caught in the Tide” were also featured in episodes of PBS’s “Roadtrip Nation” in 2017 and 2018. They followed up this release with an intimate four-song EP "Canopy" that pays tribute to Eric's father who passed suddenly the year prior.  Most recently, By Light We Loom's original music was featured in the award winning film "The Enormity of Life."  Eric and Shanna are currently working hard on a new release due out in October of this year. Link to Music:  http://soundcloud.com/by-light-we-loom   Join the Regenerative Ed CommunityClick here to join our free community to link up with other education professionals who are looking to add more life into their learning communities! 

Teaching as Band Life with Teachers (and musicians!) Shanna and Eric of By Light We Loom

Today I'm sharing about a potential purpose for ed we can rally around while recapping what we mean by "Regenerative Ed" (surprise-- they're similar!). While I share my own thoughts, this episode is meant to be a conversation starter, not an end-all-be-all answer! Share your thoughts about what education is for on our Regenerative Ed Mighty Network (ya'll, it's free.).  We believe that reciprocity is an important part of a healthy living system, but that doesn't necessarily mean $$ through our Grounded Teaching Patreon.  If you got something out of this podcast, send us a word of affirmation, share the podcast with a friend or rate/review, or even shoot a prayer/send a good vibe-- we will take it! :) 

What's the Purpose of Education (and a Regenerative Ed Recap)

I'm so happy to bring you this great conversation with Christine Cassella, a birthworker and herbalist who helps us uncover three things: 1) the content we should be teaching in our classrooms to help better prepare people for life! 2) the parallels we can draw between birthwork and ed work, and what we can learn as humans working within extractive systems to try to change them, and 3) some helpful stuff about taking control of our own health! Okay, it's not related necessarily to education, but this is important stuff, folks!    About Christine:Christine Cassella (she/her) is a mother, biologist, community herbalist, and holistic birth worker.  She has been passionate about natural health and wellness throughout her life, but became particularly passionate about the childbearing years when she was pregnant with her first baby. She and her family live on 120 beautiful acres in Chardon, OH that they steward using regenerative land management principles. They call this land Resilient Acres. Her herbal and birth work business is called Resilient Birth & Botanicals.    resilientbirthbotanicals.com resilientacres.com Insta: @resilient_birth_botanicals @resilient_acres   You can access our Patreon Here: https://www.patreon.com/GroundedTeaching   You can join our free Regenerative Ed Network Here: https://regenerativeed.mn.co/   

OUTSIDE ED BUT FOR ED: Education as Birthwork with Birthworker Christine Cassella

There are so many entry points with the potential to jostle us awake from what we may perceive to be "just the way things are"-- and gender binary is one of those (major) ways our culture can get stuck in black-and-white thinking... which is, as you know because you're here, pretty incongruent with the idea of being better educated. Finn Menzies shares queerness as one entry point--one portal-- to being able to see and live more freely. So let's dig into it! FINN MENZIES, HE/HIM  Co-founder, trainer, workshop facilitator & consultant Finn Menzies has been an educator for over 10 years. He has taught in classrooms ranging from preschool to college. Currently a kindergarten teacher, his priority is creating an environment that promotes connection, awareness, and curiosity.  Finn is well known in his community as a teacher of trans experience. He offers guidance to LGBTQ families & has shared his story as a part of FLASH, King County’s comprehensive sexuality education curriculum. When Finn is not teaching kids or consulting grownups, he is either writing poetry about the magic and the albatross of growing up as a trans man or facilitating UNdoing Ego: a writer's workshop on meditation and generative writing. https://www.qinclusion.com/ http://picturesofpoets.com/Poets/finn-menzies/ http://www.finnmenzies.com/  Other mentions: Podcast I mention that features the mycologist, Guiliana Furci, who notes that "without decomposition, there is no regeneration". Regenerative Ed Mighty Network-- our new free community for any education professional who wants more life in the system! 

Queerness as a Portal with Finn Menzies

It's a twin talk! Which means I sit down with Grounded Teaching co-founder (and my twin sister) Jess, who also happens to be a wildly talented high school English teacher going into her 17th year in the classroom.  We start out by introducing our new Regenerative Ed network--it's totally free! What is the Regenerative Ed Network? We're trying to distance ourselves from facebook and wanted a place we can build a movement of teachers, ed leaders, etc. who really care about the future of holistic education. Best part: you can meet and interact with people from all over! Today is the launch day, so if you join today, welcome! You're one of those people that shows up to the party first! But please engage on there. We can't wait to connect with you there!  Place Based Ed: Jess spills the details of her year-long Edshed project. We cover What we mean by "Edshed", and how our experience co-organizing a local fashion group helped us come up with the term. The details and challenges of the project, including the dispositions and skills students learned the concept of only issuing one grade at the end of the year-- what happened when she tried less grades and how she did it how she worked with other teachers in her building the student results at the end of the project (whoaaa!) what differentiates this edshed project from other place-based projects  

Creating More Life through Place-based Ed: Edsheds

We may beat ourselves up because this year didn't go as planned. STOP! "Should have" is rooted in fictional fantasy of the past, and it's not a helpful centering of reflection for moving into a more  regenerative way of being, teaching, leading, parenting, etc. We aren't in the past. We are here. Quit shoulding on yourself. 

Dear Teacher, There Was Nothing Else You Should Have Done

In this episode we talk with Dr. Brad Kershner, a school leader, educational researcher, and author of many essays and a book titled Understanding Educational Complexity- Integrating Practices and Perspectives for 21st Century Leadership.  We get into the goal of education, identity, educational leaders (not managers!), definitions of faith and hope that could be helpful for all of us in ed. We even get to touch on social media, polarization, and technology-- this conversation spans a lot of really deep topics, and I hope it can be a springboard for our own contemplation about our roles in the ed system. More About Dr. Brad Kershner: Twitter Patreon YouTube Book Hope as Process

Dr. Brad Kershner: Hope, Leadership, & Big Thoughts for Ed

An Earth Day episode where I take a good look at the work I did today as a literacy coach, and, maybe how it's effective or not, but more importantly, how the whole dang thing might be anchored in the wrong stories.  Some solo musings, today, friends! 

Two Stories at the Root of Education Issues

Are we wasting our energy in ed? Short answer is that it’s complicated, but based on the perennial, indigenous, connected wisdom that there is no such thing as “waste”: THE ANSWER IS NO. But it feels like we are. Because, why else would we be SO tired? Jess and I try to tease it out by thinking about reciprocity, living systems, and the mechanical ed system in this twin-talk episode.

TWIN TALK: Are We Wasting Our Energy in Ed?

We're in a season of melting here in the Northern half of the US. If we think about education as a living system, we've been in a frozen winter structure forever. Let's take a lesson from nature. It's time to thaw out.  In this episode we mention: Free Breathwork Workshop on March 19 I'm F*cking Tired: An Energy Retreat for Teachers

Welcoming the Thaw

Short term solutions and instant gratification--our culture is totally bombarded and shaped by all of the messaging that points towards short-game decision making. While this is a thread that weaves through almost all of our episodes and our workshops at Grounded Teaching, let's take a little dive into the idea of playing the short game vs. the long game in education. 

We're Playing the Short Game

A podcast from Grounded Teaching, Regenerative Ed explores how thinking about education as a living system can help all of the humans in this system to grow and thrive...from the ground up.

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Regenerative Ed

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