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Insights Into Education Podcast

American education is caught at a cross roads. While there is no shortage of discussion about how to educate children moving forward, much either lacks historic insight into the fundamental building blocks that got us here, or is based by policies funded and dictated by private interests. In Insights Into Education Dan and Ed informally discuss the concerns of parents and teachers about the state of American education. They focus on what they have collectively learned in almost 100 years of experiences as teachers and administrators. They believe education must be focused on each individual child. They share a wealth of knowledge about experiential education. As parents, and having dealt with parents' concerns on many levels, they share insights into what parents need from teachers and the education system.
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Insights Into Education Podcast
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Now displaying: 2016
Nov 17, 2016

This 19 minute episode introduces parents to the essentials of brain development in children who are allowed to play and develop naturally, without technology. No tablets. No smart phones. No electronic programs should be introduced at home or at school which are falsely touted as educational until major brain development can overrule their limited educational value and their addictive qualities.  Ed and Dan urge parents to read: Glow Kids. How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids - And How To Break The Trance, by Nicholas Kardaras. 2016. This issue is a red flag concern for everyone unaware of how the misuse of technology can impede brain development.  

Oct 23, 2016

Cashing In On Kids.  Dan and I attempt to look at education from the reformer’s point of view. What is their thinking?  Why destroy public schools? Are their approaches good for your child? For our communities?  For our country?  In our minds, we do not accept the argument that individuals can take profits from the tax dollars citizens pay for education.  We reject education scams that build Real Estate empires for individuals and corporations. We reject experiments that damage children. We wonder why our concepts of morality and ethics are not shared by the reformers. 

Oct 4, 2016

This episode is a continuation of Episode 12 with Holli Kenley.  Dan and Ed ask Holli to give us more detail about her work on bullying, and particularly on methods schools, organizations, families and all of us can use to create empathy. She enlightens us of the dangerous practices of institutional bullying often used to stop bullies from hurting others. Holli gives us specific information about of how to stop the thoughtless cruelty that makes life hell for so many and may even result in bullycide. 

Sep 19, 2016

In this episode, Dan and Ed have a great visit with Holli Kenley, a lady who is reaching thousands of people of all ages through her books, presentations, school assemblies, and radio talks.  Her messages are clear and very helpful. She has been a teacher, marriage counselor, and leader in helping us all understand human needs.  Dan and Ed focus on Holli’s book, Another Way, which is a proven aid to students, parents, and teachers.

Sep 12, 2016

This is the second time we have been fortunate to have Rosemary Agneessens, an experienced community organizer and facilitator, as a guest. Rosemary shares insights into empowering local community groups to identify and organize to save the best parts of our communities. If we lose the power to lead, as many communities have, then the last best hopes for positive change in our country will be gone. 

Rosemary Agnessens has a diverse and wonderful background. Born and raised in Detroit, MI she entered a religious community of Franciscan sisters after high school, taught school in the Green Bay Diocese before working in Nicaragua with youth groups and then returned from Central America to do Pastoral Ministry in Texas which led her to community organizing.

In 1990 her job as an organizer transferred her to Phoenix, Arizona where she left the convent and returned to education.  Later she worked in the Creighton School District for 18 years — the majority as principal. More recently she relocated to Prescott, Arizona where served as Abia Judd Elementary School's principal for 3 years and for the last 3 years has focused on organizing parents on legislative issues.
Aug 21, 2016

The beating hearts of America are its communities and at their core are our schools.  Our  special guest for this episode, which is focused on building community effectiveness, is Rosemary Agneessens, an experienced and accomplished educator, community development leader, and a powerhouse when it comes to vitalizing and strengthening communities.

Dan and Ed define what they see as a major weakness in America today as communities are too often disjointed and not effective in preserving the qualities necessary for America to continue its growth and to foster a strong core. 

Rosemary Agnessens has a diverse and wonderful background. Born and raised in Detroit, MI she entered a religious community of Franciscan sisters after high school, taught school in the Green Bay Diocese before working in Nicaragua with youth groups and then returned from Central America to do Pastoral Ministry in Texas which led her to community organizing.

In 1990 her job as an organizer transferred her to Phoenix, Arizona where she left the convent and returned to education.  Later she worked in the Creighton School District for 18 years — the majority as principal. More recently she relocated to Prescott, Arizona where served as Abia Judd Elementary School's principal for 3 years and for the last 3 years has focused on organizing parents on legislative issues.
Jul 11, 2016

In this episode Dan and Ed examine the dynamics behind teaching and learning. They rely on first-hand experiences to explain how the structure of our schools often places the teacher in a Sage-On-The-Stage role rather than as an education facilitator and mentor.

They share examples of programs that work and issues faced by teachers working in the system.  Both share observations of how learning accelerates when children start taking responsibility for their own learning. An important part of this episode is the vital role parents must play in their child’s education. 

Jun 25, 2016

In this episode Ed and Dan feature Judy Querry, a recently retired elementary school teacher from Colorado. Judy shares how experiential, hands-on education experiences gave her insights into learning that helped her reach children and become super-effective. 40 years ago, Judy worked with Ed and Jo Berger in a program that accelerated learning through motivation and involvement. At Crow Canyon, in the Mesa Verde region of Southwest Colorado, Judy participated in community service programs and archaeological research that helped her understand the need for the immediate and practical application of taught data. Judy’s experiences are especially valuable for parents and teachers who wish to be more effective, not less effective, in these times of false education “Reforms.”  Judy relates how she was able to student teach with a Colorado Teacher Of The Year in a one-room school house located in remote McElmo Canyon in SW Colorado.

Jun 14, 2016

Dan and Ed share their personal experiences as educators searching for ways to improve our public schools. They share examples, such as creating a variety of experiential programs both within the public school system and outside of it, like the immersive programs Ed developed which later became Crow Canyon. They touch on many of the key insights common among teachers and educators about what needs to be done to improve our schools and how we can remove antiquated structures that limit teaching and learning.  Ed shares experiences as a teacher that still have the potential to open the coercive model that limits student growth. Both explain why they went on quests to find other ways and insights into education that support natural learning and that challenge students to make a contribution.

Jun 6, 2016

In this episode, Dan and Ed discuss the re-segregation of America’s schools through the use of the school choice movement. Charter schools and vouchers-type programs are being used to separate white middle class students who achieve from students of color and, what is perceived to be lower achievement. Dan and Ed discuss the “cherry picking” (siphoning off students who achieve and make the school look good) and leaving public schools to deal with students who need special help. By starving the public schools and cutting support for their programs, children are damaged

May 24, 2016

In this episode Dan and Ed explore the origins of public education and the original intent of those who worked to create "One Nation" out of myriads of different cultures. They explore the concept of “Americanization” which, through the 1940s, was a large part of what schools focused on.  By the mid-1990s forces began to rise out of other philosophies that worked to divide American by ripping apart communities and their most important heart, the public schools. The so-called “reformer’s” written goal is to starve and kill public schools.  Dan and Ed discuss the rise of charter or partial schools, their original intent, and the way many are now being used to destroy communities, re-segregate by race and color, create wealth for individuals and corporations, and weaken the education our children deserve.  This episode provides powerful insights into many of the issues that currently face the United States and Europe as topics such as national identity and isolationism shape and drive political discourse.

May 10, 2016

Our education programs are damaged by external forces that have by-passed professional teachers, and the needs of children, to force standardization and forms of inculcation on education. 

Luckily, most teachers are doing what is right for kids.  Most teachers are protecting children from the guaranteed failure and humiliation which is part of the education reform movement.

This episode gives parents and teachers another look at the reasons for the Opt Out movement. 

Apr 26, 2016

In episode three, Dan and Ed explain their objections to the cookie-cutter (standardization) approaches corporations and many high profile non-educators have forced on education.

These groups intentionally bypass the proven advances of the past which revolved around educators spending time with students, learning how they learn, and working to understand the progression which best drives student engagement and retention.

They are damaging children and replacing the concept of education with inculcation.   

In the future is teaching to be based on inculcation? If so, who has the right to identify the “facts” which are force-fed using tests to determine what is taught? How did this takeover of instruction come about?

Dan discusses some of the history behind the standardization movement. 

Apr 19, 2016

In this episode, Dan and Ed identify forces hurting children. Forces at work in America that are not based on what is best for the child. These forces are driven by ideologues who have little or no experience as educators. Many are looking at ways to personally profit from the money taxpayers pay for education. The movements they have started are called Education Reform, or Corporate reform. Most boil down to little more than complex efforts to kill or forever alter public schools. In this episode Dan introduces the pivotal concept of Transformation, a required concept for future episodes and educators everywhere. 

Apr 17, 2016

In this introductory episode, Dan and Ed informally discuss the concerns of parents and teachers about the state of American education. They focus on what they have collectively learned from almost 100 years of experiences as teachers, researchers and administrators.

They believe education must be focused on each individual child and back this up through a wealth of knowledge about experiential education. They further bolster these observations and lessons with knowledge drawn from both sides of the table parent/educator table while sharing insights into what parents need from teachers and the education system as a whole. 

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