Season 3, Episode 8: Three wishes for 2022

Hey, Michael.

Hey, Diane. How are you?

I am ready for a bit of time off. I don't know about you, but that's where I am.

I hear you, and I will one up you. I think we're all ready for a little breather, a little break, and maybe that's a perfect segue into what we're going to do with this episode that sort of caps off our 2021.

Diane I think that's right, Michael. As we close out 2020, the first half of what is the third school year that has been disrupted by the pandemic, we are remembering why we even began this podcast, and that was to

unpack what was happening and how things were changing with an eye toward bending it in ways that were more favorable towards students, in ways that we both imagine are possible that we can do this.

The reality, Michael, is we both desperately want a school system in America that serves to develop every child and prepare them for a good life. It sounds simple, but it's really important.

Yeah, that prepared moniker, I think, just grows in importance. And to that end, Diane, rather than do what we have been doing this season, answering a series of questions around the current state of schooling and with an eye toward what it could be, we, we thought it'd be fun to close out this year with our three wishes for 2022.

Michael I love this. And we often bring our different perspectives to a topic that that's the fun of what we do. But today we have collaborated to the top three things that we both are wishing for for the new year.

So it's a busy season, so we're going to try to keep this short and sweet. So let me get us started, Diane, with our first wish, which is for true personalization for each student and family. So my riff on this, right, My riff for this would be, you know, recently there was an article in the 74 about parents not wanting to hold their kids back a grade when schools were starting to give them more and more options, saying, hey, we know that they're not perhaps have learned all that they that you thought they would. They're not at the academic preparedness we would expect. You want to hold them back. And parents are emphatically saying, no, no surprise there, I think, in my mind. And what I suggest is, you know, this is time to finally use this moment to break this trade off that has historically existed between social promotion on one hand and academic preparedness on the other. We can have students learning with their peers, continuing to have fun with them, experience all that they bring from different backgrounds and so forth, and getting the learning and support that they as individuals need. DIANE so I want to see leaning into personalization.

You and me both, Michael, and you know, it can go even further than what you're talking about. Certainly, you know, breaking this crazy mindset we have about these rigid grade levels and specific things that you do at specific moments in time, we can go further. I mean, we could have multi aged group kids. We could have so many different ways that we are actually personalizing. And you know me, I would take it so far that the students actually have a lot of control in that personalization and that they are choosing when and how and where and a whole bunch of parts of their learning. And let's just say, let's just finish this one off with we actually are really clear that this doesn't. It sometimes feels totally overwhelming to people, like, oh my gosh, every child's going to be doing something completely different. It will be chaos. It doesn't need to be that way. It doesn't need to look that way. We both know and are very clear about the ways that it can work in a community, in a school setting, in a system, and still be personalized. So that's what we're wanting.

Well said, Diane. It's been done. You're doing it. Lots of school systems are doing it. So let's turn to our second wish.

Great. Well, our second wish, Michael, really does feel like it is a this season. It is that we and as I use we here, I'm talking the sort of collective we society return to the mindset and approach that we feel like we saw at the start of the pandemic. I mean, one of the when we think back to the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a lot of grace. I mean, there were a lot of beautiful things that were happening at the start. It's hard to remember them now because we've moved away from that. But the ability to recognize that everyone has been through a lot is still going through a lot, that everyone has some level of frustration or anger or loss or trauma and stress, and there's so much going on with folks and we might not be able to see it, we might be able to see it, but the idea that we can have some empathy, we can give each other some space and grace. We think that this could get our schools and quite frankly our society back to a place where we can, I mean, quite frankly, stop hurting each other and ourselves.

Yeah. And this hearkens back obviously to the previous episode we did around a lot of the challenges we see right now with even violence in schools from students, but also, you know, the debates that are riling so many schools right now from critical race theory to masks to vaccination status and all the rest. And look, this isn't to say that people can't stand on principle, but. But they should do so with humanity and giving others the benefit of the doubt that they aren't bad people, that they just might be in a different circumstance, have a genuinely different personal attack.

I mean.

Right. And you can disagree without being disagreeable. Right. And bring a measure of humility that none of us have all the answers in the world and grace and gratitude and bringing that mindset that we saw where, you know, the teddy bears went up and in neighborhoods and the rainbows and so forth. Let's just extend that measure even as we have these difficult conversations. I think it's absolutely critical because conversations from one human to another are so important right now.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And my, my sort of last thought on this is, you know, I don't think sometimes as a parent we need to be reminded of this, but I think we need our society be reminded. You know, the children are watching. They watch every single move we make. And the adults in our society are not doing this right now. And the children are watching and they're doing the same stuff. And so I just think this is such an important wish. And our third wish is a bit of a right turn from this, Michael. But we have decided in there, so bring us on.

Yeah, let's do it. I mean, to the end of actions speak louder than words. This one might seem funny given the first two, but I don't know that it is because we're both witnessing, pushing for a reauthorization of the elementary Secondary Education act, or what's currently called the Every Student Succeeds act, or essa, but in a way that really incentivizes the focus and redesign that we want to see in our schools. You know, acceleration of next generation assessments that are really innovative in measuring the growth of each child and allowing for a variety of different ways to show that you actually know and have mastered different knowledge, skills, habits even. Right. That you can. Because ultimately you treasure what you measure and you measure what you treasure. Right. And we're not doing that today. There's a lot of lack of clarity around that. But we can be doing better. We really need to lean in on this moment, and I think we'd like to both see that. And it feels like maybe just like yesterday, that we reauthorized this act in 2015, I think it was. But it's been six years. It's time to take that next step. And I think it could do a tremendous amount of good, of giving people the space and opportunity to really lean into the things that we're talking about in these first two items.

So, so critical and sort of. Two quick thoughts on that, Michael. One, you know, you and I are not people who sort of, like, hate the previous acts. In fact, we feel like they serve purposes, they moved forward. But we also are people who don't think we should just keep doing the same thing forever. And we think that this is a moment in time that look, the world, even if it was just 2015, the world is fundamentally different today. What is in that current act? Lots of it. Not applicable. Not happening. Like, not. And, you know, some people are like, fine, just let it be nothing. I'm not one to just have policy sit there. Big policy like that that's not actually working and doing something for us, even if it's neutral, which I don't think it's neutral right now. So it's time to move forward and to take the next step and to. We have an opportunity to be really thoughtful about that.

Yeah, well said. Well said. So let's, let, let's, let's bring us home, wrap this up. Diane.

Well, we like to conclude every episode with sort of what we're thinking about, reading, watching, et cetera. Outside of maybe this, this intense focus on education, I don't know. I think we've both been super busy, so I don't know that we're doing anything in the moment. So, Michael, maybe what we should talk about today is what are you looking forward to reading or watching or listening to?

Oh, I love it.

As we move into a little bit of time off.

Yeah, I love it. I think these times off are super important. One of my mentors, Giselle Huff, has written a first draft of her autobiography. So I'm excited to read that draft. I think it'll be a really interesting story, but I will tell you, Diane. And we actually got. My wife and I got the chance to watch something. We're an interfaith couple, as you know, and we watched a super lighthearted movie about the interplay between Hanukkah and Christmas. That, to be totally frank, was a really bad movie, but it was a really good reminder to focus on what binds us together as a people rather than what pulls us apart. And I listened to a podcast shortly after, after called the Living Jewishly podcast. And it talked actually a lot about the complexity and even controversy in the holiday of Hanukkah, stuff that I wasn't super familiar with. But at the end of the day, these rabbis who were talking about it, they basically said it should be seen as a holiday of gratitude and the more universal idea of creating light emits darkness. And I thought that was an appropriate message given what we're talking about really today. So what's on your list, Diane, as you recharge?

Beautiful. I love that. And I think in the same vein, Michael, in keeping with the theme today and in hopes of a positive and fresh start to the new year, I picked up a book at my very favorite local bookstore that I just love. It brings me such joy. I'm looking forward to reading All About Love, New Visions by Bell Hooks. And I think that we're maybe our hearts are both in the same place as we wrap up this year.

Well, you'll have to report back at the start of next year on it when we come back. But with that, we will leave you all for 2021. We all hope you're able to celebrate, unplug, take a deep breath and really celebrate the togetherness of these holidays and have that gratitude. And we will see you next year. On class Disrupted.