#EduCrush

Continue the conversation with Natalie onTwitterorInstagram

Continue the conversation with Alex onTwitterorInstagram

Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

On this episode Alex discusses how the court of public opinion influences policy, ethics and our feelings about assessment.

✊ Check out the website for the Empowerment Ecosystem Summit for the schedule, locations, and details on how to register!

Parent communication isn’t the sexiest part of our jobs, but that doesn’t make it any less critical. Natalie is joined by Crystal Frommert, author of “When Calling Parents isn’t your Calling,” to discuss strategies to proactively partner with parents and how to assert ourselves when communication crosses into disrespectful territory.

Show Notes:

• Whenever possible, we should lean towards verbal rather than written, digital communication.
• Many of us are nervous about talking to parents because of bad past experiences and deep fears of being exposed as a fraud.
• Parent communication in education is NOT customer service; we are professionals, not “yes” people.
• Strategies for proactive parent communication are meet-the-teacher nights, information nights about special events, or spontaneous positive phone calls home.
• A great question to ask when talking to parents about something tough is, “What suggestions do you have for me to support your child through this?”
• As we build our expertise, we can avoid talking about grades with parents altogether by sharing evidence of learning directly.

💬 Continue the conversation with Natalie on Twitter or Instagram

💬 Continue the conversation with Crystal on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

✊ Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

On this episode Alex interviews an expert in the community work that goes on in major cities. He has 20 years of experience working with children and youth, non-profits, schools, and families. He also happens to be my older brother, Rodney Noel.

Continue the conversation with Natalie onTwitterorInstagram

Continue the conversation with Alex onTwitterorInstagram

Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

✨Join us at the 2024 Empowerment Ecosystem Summit!

Assessment and identity might not seem like a logical pairing on the surface, but they are a powerhouse combo for learning and professional growth.

Everyone has an assessment story that we carry into the school space and those experiences determine what we believe to be true about ourselves, learners, and learning.

Today Natalie reconnects with her childhood friend, Karley Alleyn, to explore the shared childhood experience that was fundamental to their assessment identities and what Karley learned about the role of authentic mentorship in its continued development during her Masters research.

Show Notes:

• Natalie and Karley’s shared history of competitive rhythmic gymnastics is the foundation of their assessment identity to “please, perform, and perfect” and a focus on external rewards.
• Assessment identity is our understanding of assessment through our experiences as a student, educator, and as a human being.
• Karley chose narrative inquiry as the method for her assessment identity research as story is the foundation of our identities.
• This topic is important for all educators as it is an invitation to courageously look inward and share who you truly are.
• Authentic mentorship opportunities, not coerced or forced partnerships, are a powerful space for educators to develop their assessment identity as they enter the profession.
• An important first step in exploring assessment identity is to go inward and ask, “What was my first transformative assessment experience and how has it impacted my teaching practice?”

💬 Continue the conversation with Natalie on Twitter or Instagram

💬 Continue the conversation with Karley onInstagram

✊ Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

✨Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

Happy new year! What are the things in this world that make your jaw drop? Things that are so awesome that you can’t help but get excited about it, about learning about it and experiencing it? On this episode of #Educrush, Alex explores knowledge for need, for honour and for awe as we take some time to look to the past and to space!

Links to SN 1006 because it’s awesome.

https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1308b/

https://www.nasa.gov/universe/supernova-remnant-sn-1006/

Continue the conversation with Natalie onTwitterorInstagram

Continue the conversation with Alex onTwitterorInstagram

Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

✨Join us at the 2024 Empowerment Ecosystem Summit!

Sometimes, our focus on external change is just a reflection of the deeper changes we know we're avoiding in ourselves.

Go read that again.

Join Natalie for a solo episode to seize the new year and finally let go of the toxic habits, patterns, and relationships in your life to manifest your deepest desires. And no, manifesting isn’t magic, it’s science. Learn the biological basis for this powerhouse practice and a three-step process to apply it to your own life.

💬 Continue the conversation with Natalie on Twitter or Instagram

✊ Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

✨Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

Show Notes:

• A game of high/low for the holidays.
• Natalie gets personal about the 15-year karmic cycle she’s ready to release.
• The science behind manifesting as described by Dr. Bruce Lipton in “Biology of Belief.”
• A three-step process to tap into creative visualization and clear blocks.

This week on #Educrush, Alex is looking back on some of the interviews that match with what has turned out to be the focal point of the year…Community.

Continue the conversation with Natalie onTwitterorInstagram

Continue the conversation with Alex onTwitterorInstagram

Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

In this crossover episode, Natalie joins fellow podcast host and co-author, Tom Schimmer, to discuss how story is critical to rehumanize assessment, embrace the messiness of change, and to cultivate the mindset necessary for inner peace.

💬 Continue the conversation with Natalie on Twitter or Instagram

💬 Continue the conversation with Tom on Twitter or Instagram

✊ Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

✨ Check out the website for the Empowerment Ecosystem Summit for the schedule, locations, and details on how to register!

Show Notes:

• Rehumanizing assessment through story allows us to tap into deeper learning, build empathy, and demonstrate cultural expansiveness while gathering evidence of the critical competencies.
• When students are the storytellers, they develop agency.
• Storytelling in the classroom can range from micro moments to macro projects, and capture evidence of the standards as well as metacognition and reflection.
• Change requires leaders to become storytellers to model the vulnerability of making mistakes and trying something new.
• The stories we tell ourselves determine our mindset.
• If you live to please others you'll lie to yourself, but when you tell yourself the truth, you'll find your inner peace, even if that doesn't make everyone happy.

As the winter Holiday’s loom, now is the time of the year that I and others start to think about family. The countdown is on and we’re ready for a break. What does it look like to use this time, leading to the holidays, as an opportunity for personal growth and community building? Join Alex for a brief discussion on sharing traditions for the season!

**Note from Alex** This episode is shorter than usual because I am sicker than usual but I hope you still enjoy!

Continue the conversation with Natalie onTwitterorInstagram

Continue the conversation with Alex onTwitterorInstagram

Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

Download Nat's six research-based ways to INSPIRE change in assessment and grading!

As soon as we say the word inclusion, there’s an exclusion. Designing an education system that is grounded in the mindset that all students belong and are capable of high levels of learning is the real goal. Dr. Shelley Moore joins Natalie to talk about what inclusion means to her and how we can make change through collaboration, standards-based approaches, and stories.

💬 Continue the conversation with Natalie on Twitter or Instagram

💬 Continue the conversation with Alex on Twitter or Instagram

💬 Continue the conversation with Shelley on Twitter or Instagram

✊ Join our Facebook group for community, connection and allies.

✨Check out the website for the Empowerment Ecosystem Summit for the schedule, locations, and to register!

Show Notes:

• A personal story for Shelley that reveals the transformative power of inclusive education was in grade 8 when she experienced a middle school program that was organized in cohorts, supported by tech and inquiry-based.
• The vision for ideal inclusion is that we don’t need to talk about it anymore; as long as there’s inclusion, there is also exclusion.
• Two ways to reduce stress and workload in inclusive education are through collaboration and thinking standards-based.
• Stories and humour are critical for making change in a complex system like education.
• We don’t need ability groups for all students to receive the support they need to be successful, especially as these groups limit students from grade-level instruction.
• Inclusion requires us to build our capacity to teach strategically, and two powerful strategies are designing learning progressions and fluid, goal-oriented groups.