This week I speak to Richard Welsh, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University and the founder of its School Discipline Lab. We talked about his new book, “ Suspended Futures: Transforming Racial Inequities in School Discipline.” The book focuses on prevalence of exclusionary discipline in schools, particularly among Black students, who are twice as likely to be suspended. The book is eye-opening and hopeful, as its full of strategies for making classroom discipline more equitable.

In our discussion, Richard breaks down what the research on school discipline disparities says and why he started researching the subject in the first place. He also explains why educators need to be involved in fixing these issues. It’s an important episode and hopefully by discussing the issue, we will start seeing some positive change.

For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.educatorforever.com/episode131.

Today’s guest is Dr. Ashley Potvin, a research associate at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute whose new book, “Creating Compassionate Change in School Communities: Leading Together to Address Everyday Suffering in Schools” comes out later this month. The book focuses on helping teachers cultivate compassion and reduce suffering in their schools — a topic we can agree is important.

Before earning her PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from CU Boulder, had several jobs in education, including teaching social studies at middle and high school, and working as teacher coach. We talk about her journey towards becoming a researcher and the longterm impacts of teaching relationships. We discuss how to create compassion in schools, and the kinds of compassion you might’ve forgotten about, like self-compassion.

For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.educatorforever.com/episode130.

Let’s talk about what it takes to be successful as a curriculum developer. I think teachers have the best background possible. We need more people who know what it's like in the classroom to be creating curriculum. Teachers have the most relevant experience. But that's not to say that we don't need to learn other skills.

In this episode I talk about what curriculum agencies look for that you can’t get in the classroom. Of course I get into lesson plan frameworks, curriculum pedagogies, and curriculum portfolios. But I also get into what curriculum agencies are looking for that isn’t so obvious.

For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.educatorforever.com/episode129.