Leaders of Today: From Teens to Titans

As an educator, we need to care more about the student as an individual than as a student - Authentic Learning is the Key

Sarah Hunt, M. Ed. has more than 20 years of classroom instructing and school leadership expertise. She has implemented, led, and built an entire school-wide experiential learning program. Additionally, as an experienced Project-Based Learning (PBL) educator, her students learned by working on real-world, personally relevant projects.  She also has served on countless strategy teams and school boards tasked with evaluating, implementing, and launching new school initiatives.  Sarah is also the recipient of the 2019 NSEE Outstanding Leader in Experiential Education: K-12 award. 

In this episode, Sarah talks to us about Authentic Learning, and how this approach to education not only enhances the ability to engage student voice, but it is also a great strategy for engaging and motivating students. It isn’t easy, but Sarah gives some steps on how to incorporate it into your classroom practices. There is no doubt Sarah is passionate about Authentic Learning and she would love to talk to any interested educator about their ideas.

Sarah and I talk about how authentic learning developed for her as an educator. She noticed that it felt more relevant to give students opportunities to connect what they were learning to the real world. Her students became more invested and their learning was on a deeper level. 

Since starting she has known that project-based learning and authentic learning were more valuable, and she has worked with some great educators, to understand the research behind the benefits. 

Sarah is always trying to find ways to give students voice and choice in the classroom. One of the best things we can do as a teacher is to put ourselves in our student's shoes and try to remember what it was like for us to be seen and valued and heard. 

As a consultant, she shares how she works with educators to shift the way that they're teaching, and add more authenticity to their curriculum. She dispels the idea that authentic learning is an approach in which kids can learn whatever they want, and learning doesn't really matter. Authentic learning has standards we want them to meet. There's flexibility in how you get there. 

Sarah shares that the most critical aspect of teaching is creating a relationship, so her students feel like she cares about who they are as an individual, more than she cares about who they are as a student. 

 

Sarah shares resources 

Another colleague who's also trying it.

Buck Institute 

Other teachers 

YouTube

Her organization Purposeful development

 

What is Purposeful Development:

Teaching teachers how to teach and improving the environment. 

Professional development on how authentic learning can improve student motivation. 

Consulting on how you can improve your programming. 

Implementation build a school-wide experiential learning program and helps you implement it.

Sarah’s email: shunt@purposefuldevelopment.org

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How does the Human Connection show up in our classrooms

Voice can be shared in a variety of places and ways (podcast)

Vulnerability in a classroom - are you are students

Have you ever had a student lose a parent? How do you handle that emotion for your student for their peers - what about engaging them all in the conversation

What guidance do we give students about life after HS? Do we give the impression that college is the next best step? What are our biases in that? Do we do what we are supposed to do or want to do at this phase in our lives?

Do you relate to students who learn in the same ways you learn - do you struggle with students who learn differently or do you engage with them on how you can better serve them as an educator?

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou, We talk about how this relates to an educator

Maybe we learn so much more about teaching when we are students and when we become parents.

Find Matt on The Life Shift Podcast

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A curious student talks about uncovering her passion and not feeling driven to take the conventional path

Meet Abigail, a podcast host and co-host, a voice actress, and a wife. She lives in the Dallas area with her husband and three dogs. She hosts the Manic Pixie Weirdo, a podcast where we talk about relationships a place where everybody can come and be free to explore the world. She is also the Co-host of Best Idea in the Room. 

In this episode of Education Unimagined we're going to be talking about Abigail’s leadership skills and how she developed them. We're going to be discussing some unconventional paths after high school, opportunities to explore different things, taking initiative in schools, and opportunities to explore. We're also going to be talking about curiosity, projects and group work, and the anxiety that comes when we engage in a group. Finally, we'll be discussing acceptance and forgiveness.

In my interview with Abigail, we talk about her leadership skills: love of learning, curiosity, love, fairness, and kindness, and her path of education which was an unconventional path after high school. She has gone to community college and is not finished as she is trying hard to not graduate with any debt, she only takes classes when she can afford to take them. It has given her opportunities to explore different things.

We talked about how taking initiative in schools is difficult. How she found herself to be often bored, and why don't we give students the opportunity to explore the things that they're curious about or the things that they're interested in, Why we're so driven to take the conventional path once we graduate high school? 

I ask her about the need to reframe questions we ask in the classroom and wait time, we talk about projects and group work. She shares her experiences with the science fair. She gives advice on how teachers can support students with group work anxiety.

I ask her to give advice to her younger self. From her advice, we talk about acceptance and forgiveness.

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Putting student advice into practice: Mental Health

In this bonus episode of Education Unimagined, I am going to talk a little bit about my perception of student mental health, and student behaviors in my classroom I talk about previous episodes in which this topic has surfaced.

It's kind of surprising to me how often mental health from a student's perspective has come up in these conversations with students. In my first episode with Joe Simione, he talks about mental health and how he didn't have time to experience anxiety.

The conversation I had with Kela and her mom a student in my chemistry class as a sophomore, and that year her anxiety was so overwhelming that she did not see another way out. She made the choice and luckily was unsuccessful in her attempt at taking her life. I thought it was because of peer pressure, but it was about her anxiety.  She defines of what giving a hundred percent from a teacher's perspective versus a student's perspective. Which made me think about my role in the classroom and about the observations I'm making with my students. There's a whole lot more to what we are doing in the classroom than delivering content. 

Maddie talks about mental health in her episode about being a three-season athlete. 

In season one, I spoke to Brianna who struggled because she was often seen as an exceptional student, but she had anxiety, and navigating that was challenging, especially when Covid happened. I learned a lot from Brianna because as a student in my AP chemistry class, I remember feeling really intimidated by her because she was so smart. But I also realized that she was struggling in my class more than anyone, but not academically. She was struggling to keep up with the work.

She was struggling to keep up with the in-class assignments. And it was really interesting for me to have this conversation with Brianna after having her in my classroom and again, listening and learning about how students put on incredible masks, which leads to the conversation with Avery. 

Avery and I talked about how we have been wearing masks In school and probably in our lives long before Covid, we don't bring our full selves to the classroom because we're afraid of judgment, that perception that we're worried what others might see. That conversation with Avery was really, really powerful and I encourage you to listen to that episode. You will learn so much. 

As educators, we are talking a lot more about the mental health of our students and teachers, but I think we still have a long way to go in understanding how mental health presents itself, and how it's different for every person. It requires us to know more about ourselves. It requires us to be more observant. It requires more empathy and vulnerability to know that we don't know a lot we make a lot of accommodations for physical ailments, crutches, slings, and elevators. We need to be doing the same kind of thing for students And adults with mental health challenges.

Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts.

Maggie shares that despite having dyslexia if she is struggling with something, she now has the confidence that she can do it. Just because she heard, “she can’t, she can’t,” through her early years of elementary school didn’t mean she couldn’t be successful.

People, who will go on to change the world, do more than demonstrate academic excellence.

Maggie is a high school junior who was unable to read until fourth grade because she was undiagnosed with dyslexia.⁣ She has never been one to let challenges get in the way of her goals. Despite having an older smart sister, who did not struggle academically Maggie’s family provided incredible support.

Maggie used these challenges to develop into a successful leader. #LeadershipDevelopment is needed for all students to reach their best potential - maybe just one step further than a test or letter grades which are often the first benchmark when assessing a student's education. But what's more important?⁣⁣

Believe in your potential and give yourself the credit you deserve. Not every decision is made with ease, and there's always a challenge to overcome. You can't reduce your leadership ability to just grades in education.⁣⁣ Grades shouldn’t define your child, and our education system shouldn’t be structured around such schoolteacher-centered, traditional grading scales. Grading encourages competition between our learners.

Maggie and I talk about how with the awareness of grades comes focus, and maybe it's time to rethink education. Could doing away with grades have an impact on a child's self-confidence and academic progress? Every learner has their own set of needs and struggles, and grades should never be the cause of one's negative self-image and esteem.

Can leadership and growth be developed through other means than traditional schooling? Maggie is so grateful for her path, but where might she be if she had been seen sooner, and not felt the pressure of the grade motivation?

A student-athlete shares about mental health, academic challenges, making choices after high school and much more

In this episode, we meet Maddie, a 16-year-old senior, who is a three-season athlete. She is a driven and competitive athlete, who also loves school and challenging classes. Balancing all she wants can be difficult, but she shares how she learned her limits.

 

Her dream school would have less structured time for academics, flexible time for sports, good food, a gym and library of course, but more importantly, a mental health center, and mental health days that students could take without penalty. 

 

For her age, she is very mature, and has some really valuable advice on how we engage with students. Our words have power as teachers and coaches. While we may not be able to prevent every negative impact, knowing that power is really important in these roles.

Sometimes we need to understand the behavior as the method of communication from our students

This episode takes a different approach from our normal interview. Kiana shares the story of her 6-year-old son who is nonverbal. Listening to her share about Tristan and his experience gave me several ways how I can be better for my students.

Behaviors are ways of communication.

If we only give feedback on poor behaviors we communicate the message that those are the behaviors we seek.

The environment may be a challenge for the student to be able to learn.

Gain some new understandings about being a student from another country

I learned so much in this conversation with Abeer, a student from Oman. I admit before she shared the information about Ramadan, I had no idea. It is an incredible religious observance, and as a teacher who has students who observe there is an incredible amount of resilience.

I think listening and learning from other cultures is an important way to build community and empathy. We can all work on our listening skills.  

A smart student shares how intelligence is celebrated in one area over another

In this episode we meet Analisa, she is a student in Atlanta Georgia.  She shares her struggles in education mostly with feeling not as smart because she doesn't love math.  But we also get a chance to chat about some of the amazing leadership opportunities she has had, being a member of her local NAACP, and the creation of her book Little Oak.  She has written fables to connect the stories of social justice to animals and trees.  I am excited because not only will she be reaching young children with these stories, but also parents and grandparents who may choose to read this book to their children.  Make sure to check out her book here:

https://analisawrites.com/ 

How can educators celebrate each student’s strengths and weaknesses

In this episode we meet Ellery from Massachusetts.  She has experienced five different types of school systems and shares some what was the most beneficial for her, as well as what prevented her from being her best self.

 

She shares that students actually find asking teachers for help easier than asking their peers.  She also shares that sometimes the leader in the class is the one who shows that it is ok to ask questions.  How the teacher responds tells the class if it is ok.

 

As she enters her junior year she sees some of her town peers going into their senior year.  She is grateful for the choice to reclass, and the experiences she has had throughout her educational journey.