Carl reflects on the first few weeks of a new school year. He has been subbing in a variety of buildings, grade levels, and settings. He also talks about how the narrative that we tell about what we are trying to do can make us happy, healthy, and open or miserable, unhappy, and closed. Also why do schools have beautiful courtyards that don't get used?

Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist who runs a tutoring service in New York. Her book I Didn’t Believe Him which tells the story of her son who told her in kindergarten that his school wasn’t teaching him to read. She responded by telling him to trust his school. Later she learned more about the reading program the school was using and how it actually created bad habits in her son and other children and actually kept them from becoming good readers. At the time she was in graduate school and was “just a mom” and not yet a psychologist so at first she didn’t question the school and their methods.

The conversation ranges from how people learn to read, school practices, what parents can do, the effects of age on learning to read, and much more.

www.StepstoReading.com

I Didn’t Believe Him on Amazon

Steps to Reading Book 1: Short Vowels

Steps to Reading Book 2: Blends

Steps to Reading Book 3: Digraphs

Steps to Reading Book 4: Long vowels

Skylar Primm studied geology in college and began working in alternative schools after college. In elementary school he remembers a kindergarten teacher that allowed him to read Ranger Rick magazines when he finished his work, which didn’t take him very long. He is currently the lead teacher at Koshkonong Trails Charter School, where outdoor learning and place and project learning are the focus. Topics include nature education, self-direction, screen addiction, and more.

https://www.cambridge.k12.wi.us/o/koshkonong/

Head of School at Premier Arts Academy, a charter school in Elkhart Indiana.

https://www.premierartsacademy.org/

Carl talks to Ashley about starting a charter school and how PAA is different from conventional school. After working in the event hosting business, Ashley decided to go back and get a degree in education. She worked in Chicago area schools for a while but felt like the system didn’t work well for many learners. She moved back to Elkhart and started the Elkhart Education Foundation in order to inspire innovation in Elkhart public schools. The foundation made some good impact on kids and teachers, but Ashely wanted to do more. She proposed an arts magnet school to the school corporation leadership but they did not share her vision, so she decided to create her own school. PAA is based on bringing joy back to school, making younger learners and adult staff alike happy to come to school and feel creative. PAA is dedicated to arts integration, challenge based learning, and small group learning for every child every day.

Sandy Imanse is a therapist, former school counselor,and mother of 2. Growing up she was a tomboy who wanted to hang around boys, but to do so she had to beat them up. That led to some trouble at school, although grades were never really an issue. When her daughter started school she loved it and loved learning. She was an early reader but in second grade she got a teacher who did not understand her and she started not wanting to go to school. She would actually hide in the morning to avoid going. This led to her being placed in a multi-age program that had flexible grouping. She also talks about her son’s experience and how school failed to give her the education she needed facing life as an adult.

Carl talks to author Jimmy Huston about his books for younger readers that range from I Hate to Read Book, and I Hate Math 2 to Cussing for Kids and The Dyslexic Handbook. Jimmy 's parents were both educators and school was easy for him, if not always that meaningful. After college he got into the movie business as a screenwriter and then began writing books for kids.

https://cosworthpublishing.com/

https://byjimmyhuston.com/

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Don Berg is the Executive Director of Deeper Learning Advocates. He is the host of the Agentic Schools Vodcast and author of The Agentic Schools Manifesto.

He is the author of the award-winning book Schooling for Holistic Equity.

In order to help K-12 schools strive for deeper learning he founded Attitutor Services.

His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals.

He has over 20 years of experience leading children in self-directed educational settings.

Carl and Don discuss how learning happens and how schools often miss the “hidden curriculum” and opportunities to foster authentic learning.

https://www.holisticequity.org/

Special link to Manifesto offer: /support-files/the-agentic-schools-manifesto-carl-rust-4aug24.pdf

Carl talks to Josh Pickel who has had a variety of experiences working in public schools near his hometown of Canton Illinois. Josh began as a science teacher and after some negative experiences left teaching for a time. “I didn’t like how I was being made to work with kids.” He felt “blocked off” from doing things he felt were right.

He has also taught adult GED classes and started a Liberated Learners program, Canton Learning Cooperative, based on the North Star model. https://www.northstarteens.org/ https://kennethdanford.com/

This coming school year (2024-2025) Josh will be working with 7th and 8th grade students in a Social Studies setting. He plans to work with them democratically to build a self directed learning space.