Education Conversations

Our newest episode features a conversation with Lindsey Nelson, Literacy Coordinator at the Tennessee State Department of Education. Lindsey has served as a MNPS classroom teacher, instructional coach, and the Regional Manager of Literacy for a charter school network. Lindsey and I met while working at a local university and we connected over the fact that we both have young children. In this episode, Lindsey gives amazing advice for parents deciding where to send their children to school. Lindsey discusses her family's decision making process and ways that anyone can adapt the lessons she's learned to make the best decision possible concerning their child. We also discuss literacy and how to make sense of TN Ready scores. Click here to learn more about MNPS's school choice process.

In this episode you will hear a roundtable discussion with teachers in the Educators' Cooperative. Greg O'Loughlin, who you'll remember from Episode 16, is back for this episode, along with teachers Alecia Ford, Jennifer Weinblatt, and Marc Anthony Peek. The Educators' Cooperative is a growing network of teachers working in classrooms and schools all over Nashville. Working together across the boundaries of private, public, and charter schools, CoOp teachers work to serve, support, and strengthen the vital work happening in classrooms all over our city. (educatorscooperative.com) Alecia, Jennifer, and Marc come from a variety of backgrounds and teach in traditional, independent, and charter schools, respectively. In this conversation we discuss how their experiences in the Educators' Cooperative have enriched both their professional and personal lives. We chat about how they came to teaching, what surprised them about working with teachers from different settings, teacher leadership, and much more. These ed

Today's guest, Greg O'Loughlin, is the founder of the Educators' Cooperative. In our chat you will hear about Greg's path to creating the Cooperative and the myriad ways the Cooperative is benefitting teachers and students in the Nashville area.  A local teacher, Greg saw a need for teachers to have the time and space to collaborate and share best practices in teaching and learning. Having taught in various settings himself, Greg intentionally brings together teachers from traditional public schools, charter schools, and private schools. The Cooperative provides several opportunities for teachers: a week-long summer workshop, EdCampNash, and monthly meetings, to name a few. Perhaps most importantly, the Cooperative provides the support that our teachers deserve and so desperately need. Also, since we recorded I learned that Metro Nashville Public Schools teachers can now earn Professional Development Hours for their participation in the Cooperative.  Their work isn't going unnoticed- The Nashville Public Educ

Today's guest, Cary Rayson, is the community engagement coordinator at Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee. Cary facilitates Stewards of Children training, which is a program to help adults learn how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. I went through Cary’s training earlier this year, and it really empowered me to be more proactive about protecting both my own children and children that I work with in the school setting. Back in May, Anita Wadhwani and Dave Boucher at the Tennessean reported that in a recent five year period, more than 3400 cases of inappropriate sexual behavior have been documented in Metro Nashville Public Schools. The school board members interviewed in the article were unaware of the magnitude of this issue, and the district spokesperson explained the number away by saying they “overreport” and that this isn’t a problem exclusive to MNPS. I would argue that this issue is the problem of every adult in our community. I believe that every organization who works wit

This summer I had the pleasure of teaching a podcasting camp at the Westwood Baptist Church. This year’s camp theme is Wise, creative, innovative thinkers, and Minister Elois Freeman, the last guest on the podcast, thought that podcasting could be a great medium for students to express their wisdom, creativity, and ingenuity. In this episode, you will hear middle schoolers talk candidly about their experiences in school and their suggestions for making school a better place.   Part 1: A Tale of Two Middle Schools Part 2: What Our Kids Think and Understand About Race and Discipline in Schools Part 3: The Ideal School Part 4: I Wish My Teacher Knew Here are a few suggestions for ways to get involved in helping make our schools better places for kids. NOAH Gideon’s Army Attend the Nashville Ed Chat book discussion of Part 2 of Making the Unequal Metropolis on July 28 PASSAGE Local PTO's and church and community organizations (there are too many to list!) Additional links shared by Minister Elois Freeman: Ins

This week's guest is North Nashville educator, Elois Freeman. Elois is direct, authentic, and carries a wisdom that can only be acquired through a long and meaningful life. Elois grew up going to segregated schools in North Nashville and went on to graduate from Fisk University in 1970. After graduation, Elois left Nashville to teach school in different locations around the country. Since returning to Nashville, Elois has been deeply involved in education activism work. Elois and I met at a book discussion of Making the Unequal Metropolis by Dr. Ansley Erickson. I am so glad that she agreed to come on the podcast to talk about her first hand accounts that correspond to the overarching account that Dr. Erickson presents in the book. In our conversation, we discuss the strong community ties in the North Nashville community, how the interstate construction in the 1960's intentionally divided and damaged Jefferson Street (where Elois' family still resides today), whether or not desegregation should be a current g

This week's guest is Dr. Ansley T. Erickson, author of Making the Unequal Metropolis: School Desegregation and its Limits. Ansley is an Associate Professor of History and Education at Teachers College Columbia University, and I think her book should be required reading for anyone interested in how politics, policy, housing, power, and privilege shaped Nashville's schools. In the interview, we discuss the early days of desegregation in Nashville, how local, state, and federal policies shaped our unequal landscape, vocational education, misconceptions about busing, and much more. Mentioned in this episode: Walking Into History: The Beginning of School Desegregation in Nashville by John Egerton The Promise, a special podcast series from Nashville Public Radio Student diversity push upsets some parents at UWS school by Lindsey Christ

  Dr. Mary Crnobori is the trauma-informed coordinator for Metro Nashville Public Schools and she is doing incredibly important work to raise awareness about trauma-informed practices and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Common ACEs are violence in the home, divorce, a parent with mental illness or substance abuse problems, abuse or neglect, or a parent who is incarcerated. Not to mention the skyrocketing rate of childhood poverty in Nashville. While poverty rates have gone down citywide, as of 2016, childhood poverty is currently above 60 percent in 4 council districts.  When I told someone I was doing this episode, he said “Isn’t aces just kind of a buzz word at this point? Don’t we already know this stuff? I thought that was really interesting point, and I think that he’s probably not the only one who has this misconception. What we commonly hear about ACEs is that a high ace score is correlated with poor educational outcomes, behavior issues, and even health problems.  The part of the conversation th

What do you say when a student asks, "Did you vote for Donald Trump?" In this episode, we discuss how to respond to difficult questions, how to get students to engage in civil discourse in these turbulent political times, and what happened when Tarana Burke, the founder of the #metoo movement, led Hume-Fogg students in a walkout to protest gun violence. Amanda Smithfield is a librarian at Hume-Fogg Magnet High School, and in her words, she is the "proudest Democrat ever to sponsor the high school Republicans." In addition to starting clubs for both the high school Republicans and the high school Democrats, Amanda has started a movement called ProjectCivAmerica, where she hosts monthly bipartisan discussions on topics such as gun control and net neutrality. Amanda provides resources for anyone who wants to host their own ProjectCiv discussions.  Holly Korbey is my special guest cohost this week. Holly is an education journalist who is passionate about closing the research to practice gap. She has written groun

Today’s episode is about corporal punishment in Tennessee schools. Did you know that 109 districts in TN still allow corporal punishment? Did you know that students with disabilities are hit at higher rates than students without disabilities? Alanna Autler is my guest today. She is an investigative journalist with Channel 4 WSMV here in Nashville, and she has been thoroughly investigating this issue. Alanna’s reporting on corporal punishment of students with disabilities led to two state senators requesting this report from the Comptroller of the Treasury’s office. If this is an issue you care about, please call or write your legislators and tell them to support HB 2330, a bill that would ban corporal punishment for our most vulnerable students. Further reading: http://www.wsmv.com/story/35374177/students-with-disabilities-punished-at-higher-rate-at-60-middle-tennessee-schools http://www.wsmv.com/story/37723027/state-releases-report-on-corporal-punishment-in-schools-following-i-team-investigation http://

If you are involved in public education in Nashville, you are probably familiar with TC Weber's blog, Dad Gone Wild. TC publishes new posts every Monday and Friday (and sometimes in between) that explore the ins and outs of what's happening in Metro Nashville Public Schools. Love him or hate him, TC fearlessly informs our community about things that are happening that we might not otherwise know about. In this conversation, we talk about the moral implications of overworking and underpaying teachers. We also talk about his blogging journey and what sustains his work. Finally, TC discusses his decision to run for the District 2 MNPS School Board seat. He shares his priorities: teacher recruitment and retention, capital needs, making sure we're spending money wisely, and having honest conversations about restorative practices and discipline.

In this episode you will hear Alison McArthur and Hank Clay discuss the community schools model and how their organizations are transforming schools here in Nashville.  Alison is the Coordinator for Community Achieves and Hank is the CEO of Communities in Schools of Tennessee. Here is a list of ways that you can get involved: Contact a site manager at a Community Achieves school to become a mentor, tutor, lunch buddy, club leader, etc. You can also donate needed items. Click here for a list of schools and contact information. Contribute a monetary or in-kind donation to Communities in Schools of Tennessee. Attend a Communities in Schools of Tennessee site visit. Upcoming site visits are on Feburary 20 at DuPont Tyler Middle Prep and on March 28 at Bellevue Middle Prep. Sign up for the Communities in Schools of Tennessee mailing list. I prepared this episode before the horrific mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. I hope you'll consider joining me at March For Our Lives Nashville on

Leticia Skae-Jackson is a Literacy Teacher Development Specialist at Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School here in Nashville. I reached out to Letitia after reading her Edweek blog post, 4 Steps to Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher. Leticia's enthusiasm for teaching and learning is contagious and she shares many gems of wisdom in this episode. We begin by talking about Leticia's childhood experience of immigrating to Nashville from Malawi, Africa. Next, Leticia describes her journey towards becoming a more culturally responsive educator as well as insights and suggestions for educators who wish to become more culturally responsive. We also talk about how brain research should support teaching and learning, and finally Leticia gives advice to teachers on how to maintain their sanity when new initiatives are continuously being introduced. Here are some resources if you'd like to read more about culturally responsive teaching. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-misconceptions/   https:

I had a nice chat with Chris Weber, the Director of Student Assignment Services for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Chris has been with the district for a long time so he was able to provide some interesting insights into the past, present, and future of different initiatives. He was also very forthcoming and it is apparent that he truly wants to help families navigate this sometimes confusing process.   I think you will enjoy listening if you are a parent navigating the school choice application process or if you are a community member who just wants to know more about how it all works. Here are some of the topics we explore in the episode: The historical context of magnet schools The past, present, and future goals the district has for magnet schools The updated admission requirements for academic magnets Transportation options for students not attending their zoned school Why all parents should visit their zoned schools before making assumptions Zoned option schools and schools with geographic priority z

In this episode you will hear parts of my conversation with Vesia Wilson-Hawkins, a local education blogger who used to work for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Vesia’s blog is titled, “Volume and Light,” and tagline is, “speaking out for better Nashville Schools”. It is obvious that Vesia cares deeply about supporting families navigating the education system and that she believes that all kids should be entitled to attend a great school. While she and I may disagree on certain things, I feel like Vesia and I have a lot in common and we had a very interesting and thought provoking conversation. School choice has been a huge topic of debate in Nashville and across the country during the past several years. I am typically of the belief that we should put our money and resources towards improving our existing public schools, and Vesia is clearly supportive of families having increased access to schools of their choice. The reason I wanted to interview Vesia is because one day I was reading her blog, ands she wro

In part 2 of my interview with Jarred Amato, we discuss supporting teachers, the real struggles facing students, teaching the “classics", and how we can all connect and get involved to support our schools. © 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved.

This episode is part 1 in a series of two episodes with Jarred Amato, a high school English teacher and recently named Penguin/Random House Teacher of the Year. We discuss the power of giving students time to read diverse books during the school day, as well as Project LIT, Jarred's groundbreaking, student-led movement connecting students and the community through literature. Follow Jarred on Twitter @jarredamato and follow Project LIT @ProjectLITComm. © 2017 L. Dunnavant. All Rights Reserved. 

The story of education in Nashville is long and complicated. Once ideas and stereotypes are perpetuated for a certain amount of time we begin to mistake them for facts. What is a good school? Who decides? Who benefits from this label? Who is hurt by it? What are our shared understandings and underlying assumptions?  Mentioned in this episode: Jack Schneider, author of Beyond Test Scores: A Better Way to Measure School Quality Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative journalist, New York Times articles Ansley Erickson, author of Making the Unequal Metropolis: School Segregation and Its Limits