Lesson: Impossible - An Exploration of Educational Innovation
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to interviews with educators who are on the forefront of innovative pedagogy, with your host Aviva Levin. Check out www.lesssonimpossible.com for podcast info and blog.
Episodes
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to connect Second Language Acquisition theories with practical classroom applications. The special agents assigned to help you with this task are Florencia Henshaw and Maris Hawkins, authors of "Common Ground: Second Language Acquisition Theory Goes to the Classroom".
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Some SLA theories that refuse to die
2️⃣ Their fav...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to debate which three characteristics are the ingredients for a great teacher. The special agents assigned to help you with this task are Nick Zaveri, Christopher Tudisco, Jack Scanlan, William Mealey & Aviva Levin.
Prior to Edupodlooza 2022, teachers on Twitter responded to the question of what top three traits they though made a great teacher, which led...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to personalize your professional development to the unique needs of your teaching practice. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Agent Darcy Bakkegard.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Teachers taking agency over their own professional development
2️⃣ Using the design process as a model for innovating your practice
3️⃣ Removing the barriers and hypocrisy of tr...
Your mini-lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to consider a new resource: Gimkit, a game show for the classroom. The resource specialists assigned to help you with this task are Josh Feinsilber and Jeff Osborn.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ The origins of Gimkit: Josh’s high school project!
2️⃣ The ways Gimkit Live differentiates itself from Kahoot or Quizlet
3️⃣ How cooperative mode...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to explore the possibilities of standards-based assessment to further student learning. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Tyler Rablin, of Washington State.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ His journey towards proficiency-based assessment, learning progressions, & grade conferencing
2️⃣ How to make the transition, & what to do with students who are already ...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to consider a new resource: Educalme, a school-based mindfulness app available in English and French. The resource specialist assigned to help you with this task is Kailey Lefko, teacher and co-founder.
Click here for links and resources mentioned in the episode or more information about the podcast. Click here for Lesson: Impossible’s blog for modern languages/ELL teachers.
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to join the global #ObserveMe movement by requesting constructive feedback from your colleagues. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Robert Kaplinsky
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ The origins of the #ObserveMe movement
2️⃣ Why we need to rethink how we ask for feedback and why it matters
3️⃣ The role of the observer
Click here for links and resources men...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to teach PE and health with a focus on all students’ needs. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Stephanie Ferri.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Developing her student-centered, holistic, motivating, ungraded PE and wellness curriculum
2️⃣ The messy conversations that need to happen in health classes and her favorite fitness units
3️⃣ How this model could be...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to critically examine how language textbooks perpetuate colonialism. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Julia Spiegelman, a PhD Candidate at UMass Boston.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ How language textbooks position students as traveling consumers
2️⃣ Confronting linguistic prescriptivism and the idea of the textbook as the objective truth
3️⃣ Using the ...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to ditch the red pen and begin ‘ungrading’. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Jessica Zeller, a professor of dance.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ What ungrading looks like in her dance history and dance methodology classrooms
2️⃣ How ungrading creates an environment for engaged, risk-taking, and honest students
3️⃣ Getting students to do the thinking inst...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to improve your teaching practice by being part of a Professional Learning Community, or PLC. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Chad Dumas.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ What is, and is not, a PLC?
2️⃣ How to start a PLC for the first time
3️⃣ How to improve an existing PLC with a focus on community
Click here for links and resources mentioned in the ...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to use various planning and instructional strategies to support your neurodiverse students. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Drew Thompson, of Organized Minds.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Drew’s personal experiences as a neurodiverse learner and the supports he wished he had received
2️⃣ Scope creep, the dark side of graphic organizers, inductive ve...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to incorporate Project Based Learning into your teaching to support, among many amazing things, the Social-Emotional Development of your students. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Mike Kaechele.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Responding to school and community needs, such as reacting to an ICE raid, or helping farmers choose their next potato crops
2️⃣ G...
Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to welcome students with limited or interrupted formal education (aka. SLIFE) into your classroom. The special agent assigned to help you with this task is Orly Klapholz, co-founder of “Inlier Learning” from Hollywood, Florida.
According to the UN, by the end of 2021 as many as half a million people will likely flee Afghanistan. After time spent in refugee camps, many families will ...
🎙Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to consider becoming an educational podcaster🧑🏽🏫💬. The special agents🕵️♂️🕵️♂️ assigned to help you with this task are co-hosts Mealey and Tudisco of the Unprofessional Development Podcast.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Their origin story and how podcasting has enriched their teaching
2️⃣ Their division of labor and co-hosting dynamic
3️⃣ Their only ru...
🎙Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to become more culturally competent🌏 by exploring research📙 on the varied educational📝 attitudes and experiences of Asian-American immigrants🔑. The special agent🕵🏽♂️assigned to help you with this task is Dr. Pawan Dhingra of Amherst College.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ What Pawan has learned through his research of how some Asian immigrant parents an...
🎙 Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is instill a love❤️ of books📚 in even the most reluctant😩reader. The special agent🕵🏻♀️ assigned to help you with this task is middle school teacher Kari Pitstick of Illinois.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Strategies to help students develop a love of reading
2️⃣ Helping students find appropriate books (content and reading level)
3️⃣ Why she’ll never give up ...
🎙Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to work with colleagues👩🏼🏫🧑🏽🏫 from different subject areas👩🏾🔬👨🏼🎨 to create interdisciplinary units 🔢📝🔬 for students. The special agent🕵️♂️ assigned to help you with this task is Steve Capone of Utah.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ How Steve and his team create, plan, implement, teach, and then assess cross-curricular units
2️⃣ The importance of maint...
🎙Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to celebrate🎉 math🔢 in front of your students as a joyful😃, relevant🗺, and inclusive❤️ subject. The special agent🕵🏻♀️ assigned to help you with this task is Shelby Strong of New Orleans, Louisiana.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ How “I’m not a math person” is rooted in historical inequities and self-protection
2️⃣ Why the narrative we’ve accepted about ma...
🎙Your lesson, should you choose to accept it, is to support neurodiverse learners👦🏽👩🏾🦱👱🏼♀️ by better understanding how their brains work 🧠. The special agent🕵️♂️ assigned to help you with this task is Michael Weingarth of Connecticut.
In our conversation we discuss:
1️⃣ Why we need to assume all learners have undiagnosed learning differences and how our brains work when processing new information
2️⃣ The ...
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