Important ideas carefully curated. Available about every other month in podcast audio. Subscribe where you get your podcasts.
Point of Learning is for anyone curious
about what and how and why we learn.
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Supervision, Poetry, and Feminism with Paula Roy (003)
Paula Roy is the teaching supervisor who hired me to work at Westfield High School in New Jersey in 1997. In our conversation, we talk about the possibilities and the challenge of supervising teachers; how to establish a safe, yet challenging space for classroom discussion; why sarcasm doesn't work in groups; feminism as an f-word anybody can embrace; and poetry as a way to see how everything is connected.
School and Civil Discourse with Bob Petix (002)
The current state of political discussion shows that somebody's got to provide a place for people to learn to listen and challenge each other respectfully. Veteran principal Dr. Robert G. Petix shares some ideas about this, as well as the difference between really leading a school and merely managing it.
Talking TV with Kevin Johnson (001)
My pilot episode showcases a conversation with Kevin Johnson, sound engineer, director, television teacher--and a former student of mine. We open with Quentin Tarantino's definition of the frame as the basis for cinema. From there we discuss the technical (but useful) distinction between learning and acquiring skills, characters' names on Cheers, the many demands facing teachers today, and a different take on designing a school's master schedule.