December 9, 2025 • 30 mins
Eric Vona describes how project-based learning can guide students from broad worries to focused, researchable questions that lead to local solutions. He talks about place-based writing born during remote learning, then shows how journalism practices—finding experts, crafting professional emails, conducting interviews—help students produce credible, public-facing work.
Literature becomes a springboard for ethics and action. Pairing Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas with contemporary responses opens honest talk about comfort, cost, and justice—conversations that translate directly to climate realities.
Eric also spotlights The Echo, a teen literary magazine turned nonprofit, where students serve as real editors, publish global youth voices, and record audio for accessibility. It’s a model of authentic learning that lasts beyond a grading period and builds the very capacities communities need now: curiosity, collaboration, and clear communication.
John Eric Vona is a writer and educator living in Tampa, FL. Passionate about conservation and sustainability, he joined the Stories-To-Live-By project so that he could find ways to bring place-centered writing into his work as a high school AP Capstone Seminar and Creative Writing instructor. He is proud to be the advisor to The Echo: Teen Art & Lit Mag, which publishes the work of artists and writers from around the world aged 13-19. You can find The Echo at echolitmag.com/.
Other resources mentioned in this episode:
University of Oregon's Journalistic Learning Initiative can be found at https://journalisticlearning.org/.
To cite this episode:
Persohn, L. (Host). (2025,Nov 11). Stories-To-Live-By with John Eric Vona. (Season 6, No. 5) [Audio podcast episode]. In Classroom Caffeine Podcast series. https://www.classroomcaffeine.com/guests. DOI: 10.5240/6C5D-9DA8-6973-6DE9-90CA-1
Connect with Classroom Caffeine at www.classroomcaffeine.com or on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lindsay Persohn (00:10):
Education research has a problem.
The work of brilliantresearchers often doesn't reach
the practice of brilliantteachers.
Over the years, we've alsotalked about how the work of
brilliant teachers often doesnot inform the work of education
researchers.
In this special series ofClassroom Caffeine, in
collaboration with the Storiesto Live by Collective, we
(00:32):
highlight this group of K-12teachers from across the state
of Florida and former teachers,now in higher education, who are
working together to sense makeand take action.
We talk with educators andresearchers who are working
together to explore how literacyteaching can respond to the
climate crisis.
Since 2021, they have gatheredin person and online to write,
(00:55):
make art, share stories, andreflect on how climate change is
shaping our classrooms andcommunities.
Supported by grants andpartnerships, they hold regular
workshops and virtual meetings,creating space for teachers to
learn from one another whilenavigating challenges like book
bans, censorship laws, and therealities of living through
major hurricanes.
(01:15):
Through this work, the group isstudying how teachers use
stories, place-based activities,and multimodal composing to
bring climate change intoEnglish language arts
classrooms.
Their collaborative researchasks, how do teachers tell
stories about climate change?
How do they navigate thepolitical, social, and
environmental pressures of theirschools?
And how can they build newliteracies that prepare young
(01:38):
people for more just and livablefutures?
In each episode of this specialseries, we talk with a
collaborator in the Stories toLive By Collective about their
experiences, connections, andlearning through this work
together.
In this episode, Eric Vona talksto us about inquiry-based
learning as a path to exploringclimate literacies and other
(01:59):
real-world challenges youngpeople face.
John Eric Vona is a writer andeducator living in Tampa,
Florida.
Passionate about conservationand sustainability, he joined
the Stories to Live By Projectso that he could find ways to
bring place-centered writinginto his work as a high school
AP Capstone seminar and creativewriting instructor.
(02:22):
He is a proud advisor to TheEcho, Teen Art and Lit Mag,
which publishes the work ofartists and writers from around
the world, age 13 to 19.
You can find The Echo at echolitmag.com.
That's E-C H O L I T M A G dotC O M.
(02:44):
So pour a cup of your favoritedrink and join me, your host,
Lindsay Persohn, for thisspecial series of Classroom
Caffeine.
Stories to live by that aresure to energize your thinking
and your teaching practice.
Eric, thank you for joining me.
Welcome to the show.
John Eric Vona (03:00):
Hi, Lindsay.
Thanks for having me.
Lindsay Persohn (03:02):
So from your own experiences, will you share
with us one or two moments thatinform your thinking about
climate literacies or climateeducation?
John Eric Vona (03:11):
Well, I mean, I definitely make an approach of
project-based learning.
It's what I use in a lot of myclasses.
In creative writing, for me,that's one of the courses I
teach.
It looks like giving studentsan opportunity to be outside to
explore the world around themand to write.
(03:32):
This is something we've talkeda lot about this last year with
Stories to Live By isplace-based writing, to explore
their community, theirneighborhood.
And that's actually something Istarted during COVID.
It was the first time I didthat.
They were all stuck inside.
They were all on Zoom meetings.
And I said, Your assignment'sjust to go in go in your
backyard or take a walk aroundthe neighborhood and write about
(03:54):
that place or find a placewhere you can you can free
write.
And I think the actualassignment for that was for them
to just send me a selfie ofthem writing somewhere outside.
And that was cute to see mystudents again and and they
really appreciated it.
It was pretty low stakes.
The other course I teachprimarily is AP Seminar, which
is the AP Capstone program.
So schools that offer it, theirstudents can take a certain
(04:16):
number of AP classes and thenthey can take this two-year
program, AP Seminar and APresearch.
And that allows them to get anAP diploma.
It's sort of College Board'sresponse to IB or some of these
other things.
But I I really enjoy teachingthe first year of that capstone
program.
It's a it's a topics course.
It's a course in research,writing, and presenting on their
(04:37):
writing.
And students have so muchchoice in what they're allowed
to do within that program.
They choose topics that are ofinterest to them.
And I've found that there's alot of ways to guide them
towards looking at the problemsrelated to the climate crisis.
They choose topics naturallythat are interested in that.
(04:58):
Climate change is a broadumbrella of things that the
students will find themselvesinterested in.
And I can help them narrow thatdown to something that is
actually researchable.
Because part of the one of thecool things about that program
is they they'll presentsolutions, right?
You can't present a solution tothe climate crisis.
But we could we could talkabout solutions to pollution in
(05:18):
the Hillsborough River.
You know what I mean?
So for me, it's all aboutproject-based learning and and
giving them opportunities toexplore kind of the local hard
and fast impacts of climatechange and of you know what
there's other words we can usetoo, right?
Conservation, right?
So that's sort of my approachto the whole thing.
Lindsay Persohn (05:39):
It sounds like a really wonderful way to help
young people put together all oftheir learning and in this sort
of self-driven way, which is anapproach to learning that I
take very often in my teachingand in youth camps and things
like that, right?
I mean, to me, that's what goodinstruction looks like.
But we also know that it can behard to do that inside of a lot
(06:00):
of classrooms.
But when we can, we do it,right?
John Eric Vona (06:03):
Yes, yeah.
Lindsay Persohn (06:04):
And I think you're to your point, giving
your students options aroundclimate education, climate
literacies, there's so manydifferent ways they can go with
that.
Like it is a local challenge,but it's not just about big
weather patterns, right?
It's about economic impacts.
It's about social impacts.
And so there are just so manydifferent avenues that someone
could follow as they're thinkingabout, you know, the impacts of
(06:25):
a changing climate.
John Eric Vona (06:27):
Yeah, to social and and economic impacts.
A text that, or it could be atext, but it could also be a
concept that I'll bring to mystudents is the tragedy of the
commons.
And that's not something that amom for liberty is gonna come
yelling at me about that I'vebrought up climate change in the
classroom.
I mean, because it goes back toAristotle, I think.
(06:48):
And, I had a philosophy minorin college.
This idea that the commonresources, particularly common
natural resources, are thethings that are going to be
least cared for, right?
Everybody is going to pullwater from the river.
Nobody is taking care of theriver, whether it's because they
assume somebody else is takingcare of the river.
(07:09):
And then this is a particularlysalient issue in America where
there's the constant push andpull of individuality versus the
state, right?
We are a nation that thatvalues our independence, our
individual liberty, ourindividual rights, our don't
tread on me, right?
But at the same time, who'sgoing to take care of this
issue, right?
(07:30):
If it's not the community,right?
And I think sometimes we weforget that community and
government are so closely tied,which seems obvious, right?
But I think in the emotions ofpolitical debate, we lose that.
Lindsay Persohn (07:42):
Yeah.
I think we've lost sight of alot of that, yes.
John Eric Vona (07:45):
Sure.
So having them encounter thetragedy of the commons is a is a
way for students to beginthinking about natural
resources, about communityengagement, about local issues,
perhaps without the the hurdleof we're gonna do a unit on
climate change.
Particularly in Florida.
Lindsay Persohn (08:04):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And it is really ironic to methat particularly living in
Florida, and I think now, youknow, the ways in which the
climate is changing, it'simpacting everyone, right?
I mean, if you look at heatmaps across the the United
States, I mean let's just focus,you know, if we're just
focusing on the United States,sure.
We know there are so manyimpacts outside of that, but
(08:25):
yeah, the the flooding, theextreme temperatures, tornadoes,
you know, all those things thatI think people are dealing with
in ways they never have beforeor never anticipated in their
lifetime.
And so but I I love this ideaof bringing it back to an old
text that sort of sets up theproblem, but really sets up the
(08:46):
thinking around it.
Because, like you said, it'snot just introducing, like here
we're gonna think about climatechange, because I do think that
there are still some spaceswhere there's pushback around
that idea.
But if instead you approach itfrom we all share these
resources, what happens when weall take and no one is giving,
right?
And no one is really givinggiving back or no one's really
(09:09):
minding what the resource lookslike.
So yeah, I think that that's asuper important idea and a great
way to help your studentslaunch into their own thinking.
John Eric Vona (09:19):
Absolutely, right?
And I'd like to, I kind ofplugged college board, which
doesn't need to be plugged, butthere's another program that I
got hooked up with right beforeI started with the stories that
we live by project.
And that was the JournalisticLeadership Institute out of the
University of Oregon.
This was something that wasobscure to me, and I know
they're trying to grow theirprogram.
(09:39):
So I would love to give them ashout out for their curriculum
as some of the best that I'veever encountered.
And I'm a very homebrew lessonplan kind of guy.
I am a very, I'm gonna do itmyself.
I'm gonna make my own, and I'venever this felt like I had made
it.
So
Lindsay Persohn (09:56):
That's cool.
John Eric Vona (09:57):
Yeah, it was really neat.
So their program is designedfor a six through twelve.
There's a lot of modificationsin there.
And it is for journalism, butit's a way to bring a journalism
project into you could youcould do it in your English
class, you could do it in your II did it because I took over
the school newspaper and I waslike, I need help.
And then I after a year ofdoing it, I was like, no, this
(10:19):
is what I need to bring to my APseminar students.
The crux of it, the thing thatthe whole program pivots around
is students conducting aninterview with a local source, a
local expert.
It's so cool.
And to see my students talk tosomebody at the University of
Tampa who an expert in inhurricanes, right?
(10:41):
Right right after right afterMilton, right?
Because they wanted to do astory about that.
They want, why did it intensifyso rapidly?
Why was it so unique that itcame?
And they, you know, I got toteach them how to find that
person, how to write aprofessional email, how to
coordinate that interview, andthen do what we're doing now.
(11:02):
And they did it in front of theclass.
So you have a you have a guestspeaker, but I I was at my desk,
and those three teenagers whocame all dressed up with their
questions talked to him whilethe rest of the class learned
about it before they went andwrote their article.
That was powerful, that wasimpactful.
Lindsay Persohn (11:20):
Well, and you know, I I think this also speaks
to the power of project-basedlearning, right?
You know, you didn't say todaywe're gonna learn about how to
write a professional email.
That is our objective, butinstead the project leads you to
that objective.
And then there is this realworld sense of purpose around
why we would even do that in thefirst place.
So right, it's it's not myteacher telling me to do this,
(11:41):
but instead it is what the workcalls for.
And I think that in myexperience, that is when
learners take a lot of ownershipover what they're doing.
It's right, they're driven toknow how to do these things.
And it's not because it's ourpurpose, it's theirs.
John Eric Vona (11:55):
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, uh to go back tosomething very basic, I
internalize this as a teacherwith grammar instruction early
on in my career because I neverlearned any grammar from a
worksheet that my seventh gradeteacher gave me.
Right.
And when I became a teachermyself, I I started that doing
that because it was the onlything I had seen and was like,
why am I doing the thing that Ihated?
(12:16):
And it did not take all right,it did not take a lot of
research for me to be like, oh,I should be teaching this in the
frame of editing.
Oh, that's when I actually as aand I do professional editing
now, and I'm like, oh, that's uhthat's when I learned it, when
I had to learn it because itmattered for my own writing, for
the writing I was working on.
So that's exactly what you'retalking about, right?
(12:38):
I didn't say now we're going tolearn a professional email.
No, the students needed towrite a professional email.
I said contact the guy, andthey went, wow.
And I was, I got you.
You show you how to do it.
Lindsay Persohn (12:49):
Yeah, well, let's do this together.
Yeah, that's cool.
John Eric Vona (12:52):
And JLI had resources for that.
Lindsay Persohn (12:54):
That's perfect.
As you were talking about theJournalistic Leadership
Institute, I was thinking thatit might be really useful if we
linked to that in your shownotes in case anyone is
interested in exploring thosematerials.
Because I could certainly seethat, I mean, this would be
applicable in a wide range ofclassrooms, you know, civics,
you know, for sure, those kindsof things.
But I think there are a lot ofother connections as well.
(13:14):
I could even see it inagriculture courses, you know,
those sorts of things where youmight also be exploring issues
and looking to inform the publicabout them.
John Eric Vona (13:23):
They had a lot of stuff on their website and
their program about teachersusing it in in a wide variety of
classes, you know, ESOL classesand I think there was like a
foreign language teacher who wasusing it.
So absolutely.
Yeah, it was it was it was veryversatile.
I don't think that there'sprobably fewer and fewer
journalism electives out there,unfortunately, in the in our
(13:46):
country.
And this was a way for studentsto encounter journalism and be
journalists, perhaps withouthaving to take a journalism
class.
Lindsay Persohn (13:54):
Great.
Yeah.
I mean, I think especiallythese days, I feel like a lot of
what we do is somewhatjournalistic.
You know, we're we'reregurgitating news to our
friends and talking with ourfamily about what's going on and
having some of those mindsetsand those approaches are, I
think, are just really critical.
So yeah, we'll definitely linkto that in your show notes.
John Eric Vona (14:12):
Cool.
Yeah.
Lindsay Persohn (14:12):
Great.
So you've already shared withus quite a bit related to this
next question, but I'll go aheadand ask it directly anyway.
What do you want listeners toknow about your work related to
climate literacies?
John Eric Vona (14:25):
My work sounds very large.
You know what I'm saying?
Lindsay Persohn (14:28):
But it is, it's important stuff.
John Eric Vona (14:31):
I've prided myself at being a teacher, an on
the ground teacher.
You know what I mean?
I have deliberately chosen notto go the route of academia or
of theory or of god forbidadministration.
Because I I want to be rightthere in the classroom with
students.
(14:51):
And I think any studentsencounter issues related to the
climate.
I don't think that it has tobe in a specialized class, or
that you have to have studentswith a special interest, or that
you have to have the cream ofthe crop students.
At my school, that's what APSeminar is.
And it does not have to be thatway, right?
(15:12):
So when I teach my AP Seminarclass and and you know the other
teachers come and guidancecouncil come to see the
presentations, and they're like,oh my gosh, they're right,
they're looking at heat maps, orthey're they're looking at at
some really intensive stuff.
It doesn't have to be that.
There are lots of ways to totalk meaningfully and and and
deeply about what's going on inthe world around them.
(15:33):
I think most of them are areinterested in in in one way or
another.
I think back to when I tookover some, I'm gonna do air
quotes useful on a podcast,right?
Lower level students.
Yeah, lower level, I hate thatterm.
And I took over some what wecall them in our district fused
classes or the inclusionclasses, right?
(15:56):
At one point.
And I think the the closestthing I got to climate literacy
with them and with doingsomething that was really higher
order and challenging was whenI had them read U rsula Le
Guin's The Ones Who Walk Awayfrom Omelas.
Should I explain the ones whowalk away from Omelas?
Lindsay Persohn (16:16):
Yeah, give it give a little premise there, a
little context for it.
John Eric Vona (16:19):
Okay.
It's a short story.
I believe it was written in the60s or 70s, won a lot of
awards, well known in thescience fiction community, and I
feel like also in thephilosophy community, but
there's I still encounter plentyof people who don't know the
ones who walk away from omelas.
In it, uh Le Guin gives us apicture of a city in
celebration.
She gives us a city in in joy.
(16:42):
They're they're they'repartying in the streets, every
day is perfect, it's a parade,they're feasting, they're doing
drugs, they're having orgies,they're doing the whole thing,
right?
It's utopia.
And underneath that is a childbeing neglected.
A child locked in a room inutter despair, and everybody in
(17:09):
the city knows about the kid.
And without the child beingneglected, being abused, without
this this sad childhood, thecity would crumble, the party
would end.
It is the philosophical debateof what do you do?
Right?
And she presents us with ananswer that some people can walk
(17:31):
away from that.
They can know about the childand say, not at that cost, I'll
leave.
Those are the ones who walkaway from Omalos, OMALOS is the
city.
I was so fed up as a teacherwith teaching dystopia.
Teaching dystopian literature.
It's just it's it's pervasive.
And I also think it's it'ssimplistic in a way that's not
(17:57):
useful to our students in thereal world.
I I may maybe this is just me,but I'm like, I don't think
they're encountering BigBrother.
I don't think they'reencountering I know you could
say they are.
I think what they areencountering every day in
America is a party.
The land of abundance, right?
Is is the the joy, right?
(18:19):
The the festivities.
But at what cost?
What's being ignored for that?
And that's that starts aconversation more about climate
change, but about socialjustice, right?
Lindsay Persohn (18:32):
Yeah, yeah.
John Eric Vona (18:33):
And so to do a unit on on utopianism or the
idea of utopia, is thatpossible, right?
Could could easily be seguedinto to anything, right?
To them writing about issuesthey see in their community,
issues of of the climate.
I believe I paired it with aletter from a Birmingham jail.
(18:53):
Probably one of the mostcommonly taught texts in
America, but there's also somevery cool that would you call
it?
A spinoff, a redux, responseliterary response to the ones
who walk away from Omelas, ifyou want to do some contemporary
texts.
NK Jemison, she wrote somethingcalled The Ones Who Stay and
Fight.
It is a short story thatdirectly directly references
(19:16):
Omelos as like that other city.
We're not like them.
Another short story, I believeit just won the nebula.
If it didn't, it should have.
It was called Why Don't We JustKill the Kid in the Omelas
Hole?
And it was a very powerfulstory about political action,
political violence.
And I would if I was back inlike an AP lit classroom, I
(19:38):
would absolutely do it.
So anytime I can bring incontemporary texts and
contemporary stories, I do thatover over classical.
But that's a way that I feellike I'm giving my students
chances to encounter somethingreally deep and meaningful and
philosophical, but that they canthey can turn around and in a
Socratic seminar, they can applythat to the real world.
(19:59):
world and that can launch usinto that project-based learning
where they they tackle a topicof their their choosing.
Lindsay Persohn (20:07):
Yeah, as you were describing the story and
the conversations around it, Iwas thinking how neat it would
be to invite your students tobring a short story or some
other text that they relate backto that and then have a
discussion about how they thinkit relates.
Like to think about the oneswho walk away from OMLOS and the
letter from a Birmingham jail,and then to think about all of
(20:28):
the ways in which one text moreor less informs the other and
how we can understand one in thecontext of another, I think
that that would be such aninteresting conversation with
young people about the text thatthey might bring.
It also gets them to read a lotof stuff in order to find find
something that connects.
But yeah, that's cool.
John Eric Vona (20:46):
And to go back to my soapbox from earlier, I
did that with quote unquotelow-level students.
Because they're not these arehuman beings.
So much to offer yeah so muchto offer deep think absolutely I
mean we were havingphilosophical discussions in the
old six period class there.
It was great.
Lindsay Persohn (21:00):
I love that message that this critical work
this work of sort ofunderstanding the world through
text I think that's such animportant point because it it it
is for everyone, right?
This is not reserved for themost elite students.
This is for everyone.
This work is for everyone.
And it has to be otherwise togo back to what you were telling
(21:24):
us from the JournalismLeadership Institute, if no one
is minding these things or if weare all just benefiting then
you know who who is minding theresource?
Who is making the connectionsis there anything else you want
to tell us about your work,Eric?
John Eric Vona (21:40):
I don't know if it relates to climate literacy,
but if I could shout outecholitmag.com the the other
thing I do, which I it's itsound the other thing I do.
This is like my main this thisis my main jam is it's a
literary magazine that mystudents put out.
And uh we did it for 10 years.
A few years ago four I thinkfour or five now a professor at
(22:00):
the University of North Floridaspoke to them and was like wow
you guys are really good at thisyou should not just be
publishing what your studentspublish.
You're ready to become part ofthe broader literary community.
And so that involved a lot ofthings but step one was calling
up my old editors and saying doyou guys want to help like make
a organization outside of theschool because the school wasn't
(22:21):
going to school it's a literarymagazine the school wasn't
going to pay for anything or sothe Echo is now owned by the
former students.
It is a 501c3 nonprofitorganization.
I just called up the kids whoare now you know grown up you
know the our president our boardpresident is a PhD candidate at
I think it's Northwestern.
He's in Chicago.
(22:42):
We've been going strong forfour or five years now and
accepting work from teens allover the world.
Lindsay Persohn (22:47):
It's amazing.
John Eric Vona (22:48):
It's it's awesome.
It's so much fun and it's someaningful so many times when
you're making a literarymagazine as a at a at the high
school level it's just theeditor putting in their poems or
or some one kid begging theother kids in creative writing
to do something.
And we've taken that aspect outof it and now like my students
are like real editors likereviewing submissions from
(23:10):
around the world.
And I think this week they'vegot a story coming out from I
know and it's summertime andwe're still publishing um we've
got a story coming out uh thatwas sent to us from Sydney
Australia a short story theydid.
And they have a they podcastthe story they record the
stories and poems as anaccessibility thing.
So that's echo litmag.com tellyour kids to submit to us it's
(23:34):
like my pride and joy.
Lindsay Persohn (23:36):
It's amazing.
I mean and I think it's justit's another testament to what
project based learning andreally project based thinking
can do.
John Eric Vona (23:43):
It's project based learning the max because
we talk about students takingownership over their learning.
Lindsay Persohn (23:48):
Right.
Here you go
John Eric Vona (23:50):
Literally like my my students are still
involved it's an alumni runorganization.
I can't get rid of these kidsyou know.
Right that's incredible.
And and they come in all the time and teach
the new staff members and thethat's I'm I sit get to sit back
and watch my former students ona regular basis come in and
just take over and jump right inwith like minded teenagers the
(24:14):
the mentorship I'm I'm like theluckiest guy in the world that
I've managed to do this and pullit off.
So echo litmag.com
Lindsay Persohn (24:23):
And we'll we'll post that in your show notes as
well we'll post that link yeah.
There you go.
So Eric one more question for you.
Given the challenges of today'seducational climate what
message yeah right what messagedo you want teachers to hear?
John Eric Vona (24:37):
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Lindsay Persohn (24:40):
A good old literary reference there which I
guess now is also a TVreference.
John Eric Vona (24:45):
Oh yeah I never watched that I only read it like
uh the true mark of a snootyEnglish teacher is the sentence
I just said so I'm reallycautious actually like I said
don't let the bastards grind youdown and I have to like check
my own male privilege on thatone.
So let me like I
Lindsay Persohn (25:04):
Say more say more
John Eric Vona (25:05):
I will be happy to say more.
This will be my landacknowledgement but it's for
gender.
I definitely realized early onin my career that I can get away
with things that the many womenin the English department
around me cannot. I learned thatlesson when I was doing
successfully doing a banned bookunit for years and having my
kids read just whatever Isuggested and parents would come
(25:27):
to me and be like this is sogreat.
You're challenging them we readit too and the instant the
instant I passed that along tothe other teachers at my level
they were all getting calledinto the principal's office they
were all getting in troublethey were all having these
conferences and thesuperintendent was getting
emailed how dare you make my kidread The Jungle or Clockwork
(25:48):
Orange and I had a sit backmoment where I was like oh my
God this is this this is my maleprivilege as a teacher and in
that way I don't know that Ihave advice for other teachers
that are you know what I mean?
Lindsay Persohn (26:01):
Yeah no I get that.
I Eric Vona gets away with ityou know that's a and it's sad
because I I want like make yourkids do the thing do the project
based learning and then I I seethe women around me just
attacked and it's when we talkabout education being under
attack I mean it's a it's it's apaint collar profession, right?
(26:23):
And I'm like is this abouteducation or is this about I I
hate to paint in such a broadstroke but is this about America
hating women and and that'stough.
I know you get it I don't teachinto the choir
But but you know other male teachers I've
worked with in the past evenworking with my college students
who are apprenticing into theteaching profession I have had
(26:46):
my colleagues from schools sayto you know the lone male
student that I have basicallythat well you can get away with
a lot.
I mean those were his words youknow you you don't have to be
so careful you can get away witha whole lot and it is it is
interesting especially like yousaid in a profession where where
there are so many womentraditionally and currently you
(27:07):
know it is quote unquote woman'swork.
And so I think that it is avery it's an interesting maybe
even if I can if I can kind ofturn your message on its head
perhaps it is a little bit of amessage of solidarity because I
think that what you encourage meto do and what hearing, you
know, hearing your story, itdoes encourage me to think
(27:29):
differently about how I canengage my students in projects.
It encourages me to think abouthow you push those boundaries.
You know I think we all have tofind the space we can work
within and for some people youknow the tolerance for risk is
quite low and for others it'squite high.
And I think that if we all pullin the same direction that we
are challenging students withreal world thinking, real world
(27:51):
text real world challenges andthen supporting them to meet the
goals that they set becauseit's what their project or what
they're thinking, you know, it'sthat trajectory.
I think if we all pull in thatdirection, perhaps there is a
bit of space for us to make fora little bit more accepting
educational climate foreveryone.
John Eric Vona (28:11):
I hope so because yeah absolutely it's
intended to be solidarity rightand I hope that we can find ways
to to do everything you justsaid and to not let the bastards
grind us down.
You know but I am becomingincreasingly hesitant to give
advice to other teachers aboutwhat I do.
Lindsay Persohn (28:31):
I get it.
Yeah I really do understandthat
John Eric Vona (28:33):
I'm like I'm getting I'm getting away with
what I get away with and I don'twant to get somebody else in
trouble.
Lindsay Persohn (28:37):
But I think there is also a lot to take from
your message about how we cansupport students with their own
goals, the challenges they seein the world, you know, all of
those wonderful things aboutauthentic and exciting learning
in school spaces.
Exciting you know like it canbe it can be that way you have
to find the space yeah and
John Eric Vona (28:57):
Yeah let the kids get excited and let them
take the risks let them pursuewhat they're interested in it's
it's it's kind of a a simplemessage but to quote the Arthur
theme song it comes from theheart there you go
Lindsay Persohn (29:12):
Yeah there we go uh we'll we'll end on a real
positive note there with goodold Arthur
John Eric Vona (29:17):
Good old Arthur
Lindsay Persohn (29:19):
Another literary reference
John Eric Vona (29:22):
Oh wow yeah we've we've really run the gamut
here today
Lindsay Persohn (29:24):
Yes we have yes we have yes we have well Eric
thanks so much for taking sometime to talk with me today and I
really enjoyed hearing aboutthe work you do in your
classroom.
John Eric Vona (29:34):
Absolutely thanks for having me Lindsay
that was awesome.
Lindsay Persohn (29:36):
Thank you By centering teachers'
experiences and creativity theStories to live by collective
reimagines literacy education asa powerful way to engage with
the climate crisis.
Together members of thiscollective are showing how
stories and teaching practicesrooted in place can help
communities respond to climatechange while nurturing hope,
(30:00):
justice and resilience forfuture generations.
If you have an interest injoining this group please reach
out to Dr.
Alexandra Panos, AssociateProfessor of Literacy Studies at
the University of South Floridaat ampanos at USF dot edu
That's AMPANOS@ USF dot edu.
Education research has a problem.
The work of brilliantresearchers often doesn't reach
the practice of brilliantteachers.
Over the years, we've alsotalked about how the work of
brilliant teachers often doesnot inform the work of education
researchers.
In this special series ofClassroom Caffeine, in
collaboration with the Storiesto Live by Collective, we
(00:32):
highlight this group of K-12teachers from across the state
of Florida and former teachers,now in higher education, who are
working together to sense makeand take action.
We talk with educators andresearchers who are working
together to explore how literacyteaching can respond to the
climate crisis.
Since 2021, they have gatheredin person and online to write,
(00:55):
make art, share stories, andreflect on how climate change is
shaping our classrooms andcommunities.
Supported by grants andpartnerships, they hold regular
workshops and virtual meetings,creating space for teachers to
learn from one another whilenavigating challenges like book
bans, censorship laws, and therealities of living through
major hurricanes.
(01:15):
Through this work, the group isstudying how teachers use
stories, place-based activities,and multimodal composing to
bring climate change intoEnglish language arts
classrooms.
Their collaborative researchasks, how do teachers tell
stories about climate change?
How do they navigate thepolitical, social, and
environmental pressures of theirschools?
And how can they build newliteracies that prepare young
(01:38):
people for more just and livablefutures?
In each episode of this specialseries, we talk with a
collaborator in the Stories toLive By Collective about their
experiences, connections, andlearning through this work
together.
In this episode, Eric Vona talksto us about inquiry-based
learning as a path to exploringclimate literacies and other
(01:59):
real-world challenges youngpeople face.
John Eric Vona is a writer andeducator living in Tampa,
Florida.
Passionate about conservationand sustainability, he joined
the Stories to Live By Projectso that he could find ways to
bring place-centered writinginto his work as a high school
AP Capstone seminar and creativewriting instructor.
(02:22):
He is a proud advisor to TheEcho, Teen Art and Lit Mag,
which publishes the work ofartists and writers from around
the world, age 13 to 19.
You can find The Echo at echolitmag.com.
That's E-C H O L I T M A G dotC O M.
(02:44):
So pour a cup of your favoritedrink and join me, your host,
Lindsay Persohn, for thisspecial series of Classroom
Caffeine.
Stories to live by that aresure to energize your thinking
and your teaching practice.
Eric, thank you for joining me.
Welcome to the show.
John Eric Vona (03:00):
Hi, Lindsay.
Thanks for having me.
Lindsay Persohn (03:02):
So from your own experiences, will you share
with us one or two moments thatinform your thinking about
climate literacies or climateeducation?
John Eric Vona (03:11):
Well, I mean, I definitely make an approach of
project-based learning.
It's what I use in a lot of myclasses.
In creative writing, for me,that's one of the courses I
teach.
It looks like giving studentsan opportunity to be outside to
explore the world around themand to write.
(03:32):
This is something we've talkeda lot about this last year with
Stories to Live By isplace-based writing, to explore
their community, theirneighborhood.
And that's actually something Istarted during COVID.
It was the first time I didthat.
They were all stuck inside.
They were all on Zoom meetings.
And I said, Your assignment'sjust to go in go in your
backyard or take a walk aroundthe neighborhood and write about
(03:54):
that place or find a placewhere you can you can free
write.
And I think the actualassignment for that was for them
to just send me a selfie ofthem writing somewhere outside.
And that was cute to see mystudents again and and they
really appreciated it.
It was pretty low stakes.
The other course I teachprimarily is AP Seminar, which
is the AP Capstone program.
So schools that offer it, theirstudents can take a certain
(04:16):
number of AP classes and thenthey can take this two-year
program, AP Seminar and APresearch.
And that allows them to get anAP diploma.
It's sort of College Board'sresponse to IB or some of these
other things.
But I I really enjoy teachingthe first year of that capstone
program.
It's a it's a topics course.
It's a course in research,writing, and presenting on their
(04:37):
writing.
And students have so muchchoice in what they're allowed
to do within that program.
They choose topics that are ofinterest to them.
And I've found that there's alot of ways to guide them
towards looking at the problemsrelated to the climate crisis.
They choose topics naturallythat are interested in that.
(04:58):
Climate change is a broadumbrella of things that the
students will find themselvesinterested in.
And I can help them narrow thatdown to something that is
actually researchable.
Because part of the one of thecool things about that program
is they they'll presentsolutions, right?
You can't present a solution tothe climate crisis.
But we could we could talkabout solutions to pollution in
(05:18):
the Hillsborough River.
You know what I mean?
So for me, it's all aboutproject-based learning and and
giving them opportunities toexplore kind of the local hard
and fast impacts of climatechange and of you know what
there's other words we can usetoo, right?
Conservation, right?
So that's sort of my approachto the whole thing.
Lindsay Persohn (05:39):
It sounds like a really wonderful way to help
young people put together all oftheir learning and in this sort
of self-driven way, which is anapproach to learning that I
take very often in my teachingand in youth camps and things
like that, right?
I mean, to me, that's what goodinstruction looks like.
But we also know that it can behard to do that inside of a lot
(06:00):
of classrooms.
But when we can, we do it,right?
John Eric Vona (06:03):
Yes, yeah.
Lindsay Persohn (06:04):
And I think you're to your point, giving
your students options aroundclimate education, climate
literacies, there's so manydifferent ways they can go with
that.
Like it is a local challenge,but it's not just about big
weather patterns, right?
It's about economic impacts.
It's about social impacts.
And so there are just so manydifferent avenues that someone
could follow as they're thinkingabout, you know, the impacts of
(06:25):
a changing climate.
John Eric Vona (06:27):
Yeah, to social and and economic impacts.
A text that, or it could be atext, but it could also be a
concept that I'll bring to mystudents is the tragedy of the
commons.
And that's not something that amom for liberty is gonna come
yelling at me about that I'vebrought up climate change in the
classroom.
I mean, because it goes back toAristotle, I think.
(06:48):
And, I had a philosophy minorin college.
This idea that the commonresources, particularly common
natural resources, are thethings that are going to be
least cared for, right?
Everybody is going to pullwater from the river.
Nobody is taking care of theriver, whether it's because they
assume somebody else is takingcare of the river.
(07:09):
And then this is a particularlysalient issue in America where
there's the constant push andpull of individuality versus the
state, right?
We are a nation that thatvalues our independence, our
individual liberty, ourindividual rights, our don't
tread on me, right?
But at the same time, who'sgoing to take care of this
issue, right?
(07:30):
If it's not the community,right?
And I think sometimes we weforget that community and
government are so closely tied,which seems obvious, right?
But I think in the emotions ofpolitical debate, we lose that.
Lindsay Persohn (07:42):
Yeah.
I think we've lost sight of alot of that, yes.
John Eric Vona (07:45):
Sure.
So having them encounter thetragedy of the commons is a is a
way for students to beginthinking about natural
resources, about communityengagement, about local issues,
perhaps without the the hurdleof we're gonna do a unit on
climate change.
Particularly in Florida.
Lindsay Persohn (08:04):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And it is really ironic to methat particularly living in
Florida, and I think now, youknow, the ways in which the
climate is changing, it'simpacting everyone, right?
I mean, if you look at heatmaps across the the United
States, I mean let's just focus,you know, if we're just
focusing on the United States,sure.
We know there are so manyimpacts outside of that, but
(08:25):
yeah, the the flooding, theextreme temperatures, tornadoes,
you know, all those things thatI think people are dealing with
in ways they never have beforeor never anticipated in their
lifetime.
And so but I I love this ideaof bringing it back to an old
text that sort of sets up theproblem, but really sets up the
(08:46):
thinking around it.
Because, like you said, it'snot just introducing, like here
we're gonna think about climatechange, because I do think that
there are still some spaceswhere there's pushback around
that idea.
But if instead you approach itfrom we all share these
resources, what happens when weall take and no one is giving,
right?
And no one is really givinggiving back or no one's really
(09:09):
minding what the resource lookslike.
So yeah, I think that that's asuper important idea and a great
way to help your studentslaunch into their own thinking.
John Eric Vona (09:19):
Absolutely, right?
And I'd like to, I kind ofplugged college board, which
doesn't need to be plugged, butthere's another program that I
got hooked up with right beforeI started with the stories that
we live by project.
And that was the JournalisticLeadership Institute out of the
University of Oregon.
This was something that wasobscure to me, and I know
they're trying to grow theirprogram.
(09:39):
So I would love to give them ashout out for their curriculum
as some of the best that I'veever encountered.
And I'm a very homebrew lessonplan kind of guy.
I am a very, I'm gonna do itmyself.
I'm gonna make my own, and I'venever this felt like I had made
it.
So
Lindsay Persohn (09:56):
That's cool.
John Eric Vona (09:57):
Yeah, it was really neat.
So their program is designedfor a six through twelve.
There's a lot of modificationsin there.
And it is for journalism, butit's a way to bring a journalism
project into you could youcould do it in your English
class, you could do it in your II did it because I took over
the school newspaper and I waslike, I need help.
And then I after a year ofdoing it, I was like, no, this
(10:19):
is what I need to bring to my APseminar students.
The crux of it, the thing thatthe whole program pivots around
is students conducting aninterview with a local source, a
local expert.
It's so cool.
And to see my students talk tosomebody at the University of
Tampa who an expert in inhurricanes, right?
(10:41):
Right right after right afterMilton, right?
Because they wanted to do astory about that.
They want, why did it intensifyso rapidly?
Why was it so unique that itcame?
And they, you know, I got toteach them how to find that
person, how to write aprofessional email, how to
coordinate that interview, andthen do what we're doing now.
(11:02):
And they did it in front of theclass.
So you have a you have a guestspeaker, but I I was at my desk,
and those three teenagers whocame all dressed up with their
questions talked to him whilethe rest of the class learned
about it before they went andwrote their article.
That was powerful, that wasimpactful.
Lindsay Persohn (11:20):
Well, and you know, I I think this also speaks
to the power of project-basedlearning, right?
You know, you didn't say todaywe're gonna learn about how to
write a professional email.
That is our objective, butinstead the project leads you to
that objective.
And then there is this realworld sense of purpose around
why we would even do that in thefirst place.
So right, it's it's not myteacher telling me to do this,
(11:41):
but instead it is what the workcalls for.
And I think that in myexperience, that is when
learners take a lot of ownershipover what they're doing.
It's right, they're driven toknow how to do these things.
And it's not because it's ourpurpose, it's theirs.
John Eric Vona (11:55):
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, uh to go back tosomething very basic, I
internalize this as a teacherwith grammar instruction early
on in my career because I neverlearned any grammar from a
worksheet that my seventh gradeteacher gave me.
Right.
And when I became a teachermyself, I I started that doing
that because it was the onlything I had seen and was like,
why am I doing the thing that Ihated?
(12:16):
And it did not take all right,it did not take a lot of
research for me to be like, oh,I should be teaching this in the
frame of editing.
Oh, that's when I actually as aand I do professional editing
now, and I'm like, oh, that's uhthat's when I learned it, when
I had to learn it because itmattered for my own writing, for
the writing I was working on.
So that's exactly what you'retalking about, right?
(12:38):
I didn't say now we're going tolearn a professional email.
No, the students needed towrite a professional email.
I said contact the guy, andthey went, wow.
And I was, I got you.
You show you how to do it.
Lindsay Persohn (12:49):
Yeah, well, let's do this together.
Yeah, that's cool.
John Eric Vona (12:52):
And JLI had resources for that.
Lindsay Persohn (12:54):
That's perfect.
As you were talking about theJournalistic Leadership
Institute, I was thinking thatit might be really useful if we
linked to that in your shownotes in case anyone is
interested in exploring thosematerials.
Because I could certainly seethat, I mean, this would be
applicable in a wide range ofclassrooms, you know, civics,
you know, for sure, those kindsof things.
But I think there are a lot ofother connections as well.
(13:14):
I could even see it inagriculture courses, you know,
those sorts of things where youmight also be exploring issues
and looking to inform the publicabout them.
John Eric Vona (13:23):
They had a lot of stuff on their website and
their program about teachersusing it in in a wide variety of
classes, you know, ESOL classesand I think there was like a
foreign language teacher who wasusing it.
So absolutely.
Yeah, it was it was it was veryversatile.
I don't think that there'sprobably fewer and fewer
journalism electives out there,unfortunately, in the in our
(13:46):
country.
And this was a way for studentsto encounter journalism and be
journalists, perhaps withouthaving to take a journalism
class.
Lindsay Persohn (13:54):
Great.
Yeah.
I mean, I think especiallythese days, I feel like a lot of
what we do is somewhatjournalistic.
You know, we're we'reregurgitating news to our
friends and talking with ourfamily about what's going on and
having some of those mindsetsand those approaches are, I
think, are just really critical.
So yeah, we'll definitely linkto that in your show notes.
John Eric Vona (14:12):
Cool.
Yeah.
Lindsay Persohn (14:12):
Great.
So you've already shared withus quite a bit related to this
next question, but I'll go aheadand ask it directly anyway.
What do you want listeners toknow about your work related to
climate literacies?
John Eric Vona (14:25):
My work sounds very large.
You know what I'm saying?
Lindsay Persohn (14:28):
But it is, it's important stuff.
John Eric Vona (14:31):
I've prided myself at being a teacher, an on
the ground teacher.
You know what I mean?
I have deliberately chosen notto go the route of academia or
of theory or of god forbidadministration.
Because I I want to be rightthere in the classroom with
students.
(14:51):
And I think any studentsencounter issues related to the
climate.
I don't think that it has tobe in a specialized class, or
that you have to have studentswith a special interest, or that
you have to have the cream ofthe crop students.
At my school, that's what APSeminar is.
And it does not have to be thatway, right?
(15:12):
So when I teach my AP Seminarclass and and you know the other
teachers come and guidancecouncil come to see the
presentations, and they're like,oh my gosh, they're right,
they're looking at heat maps, orthey're they're looking at at
some really intensive stuff.
It doesn't have to be that.
There are lots of ways to totalk meaningfully and and and
deeply about what's going on inthe world around them.
(15:33):
I think most of them are areinterested in in in one way or
another.
I think back to when I tookover some, I'm gonna do air
quotes useful on a podcast,right?
Lower level students.
Yeah, lower level, I hate thatterm.
And I took over some what wecall them in our district fused
classes or the inclusionclasses, right?
(15:56):
At one point.
And I think the the closestthing I got to climate literacy
with them and with doingsomething that was really higher
order and challenging was whenI had them read U rsula Le
Guin's The Ones Who Walk Awayfrom Omelas.
Should I explain the ones whowalk away from Omelas?
Lindsay Persohn (16:16):
Yeah, give it give a little premise there, a
little context for it.
John Eric Vona (16:19):
Okay.
It's a short story.
I believe it was written in the60s or 70s, won a lot of
awards, well known in thescience fiction community, and I
feel like also in thephilosophy community, but
there's I still encounter plentyof people who don't know the
ones who walk away from omelas.
In it, uh Le Guin gives us apicture of a city in
celebration.
She gives us a city in in joy.
(16:42):
They're they're they'repartying in the streets, every
day is perfect, it's a parade,they're feasting, they're doing
drugs, they're having orgies,they're doing the whole thing,
right?
It's utopia.
And underneath that is a childbeing neglected.
A child locked in a room inutter despair, and everybody in
(17:09):
the city knows about the kid.
And without the child beingneglected, being abused, without
this this sad childhood, thecity would crumble, the party
would end.
It is the philosophical debateof what do you do?
Right?
And she presents us with ananswer that some people can walk
(17:31):
away from that.
They can know about the childand say, not at that cost, I'll
leave.
Those are the ones who walkaway from Omalos, OMALOS is the
city.
I was so fed up as a teacherwith teaching dystopia.
Teaching dystopian literature.
It's just it's it's pervasive.
And I also think it's it'ssimplistic in a way that's not
(17:57):
useful to our students in thereal world.
I I may maybe this is just me,but I'm like, I don't think
they're encountering BigBrother.
I don't think they'reencountering I know you could
say they are.
I think what they areencountering every day in
America is a party.
The land of abundance, right?
Is is the the joy, right?
(18:19):
The the festivities.
But at what cost?
What's being ignored for that?
And that's that starts aconversation more about climate
change, but about socialjustice, right?
Lindsay Persohn (18:32):
Yeah, yeah.
John Eric Vona (18:33):
And so to do a unit on on utopianism or the
idea of utopia, is thatpossible, right?
Could could easily be seguedinto to anything, right?
To them writing about issuesthey see in their community,
issues of of the climate.
I believe I paired it with aletter from a Birmingham jail.
(18:53):
Probably one of the mostcommonly taught texts in
America, but there's also somevery cool that would you call
it?
A spinoff, a redux, responseliterary response to the ones
who walk away from Omelas, ifyou want to do some contemporary
texts.
NK Jemison, she wrote somethingcalled The Ones Who Stay and
Fight.
It is a short story thatdirectly directly references
(19:16):
Omelos as like that other city.
We're not like them.
Another short story, I believeit just won the nebula.
If it didn't, it should have.
It was called Why Don't We JustKill the Kid in the Omelas
Hole?
And it was a very powerfulstory about political action,
political violence.
And I would if I was back inlike an AP lit classroom, I
(19:38):
would absolutely do it.
So anytime I can bring incontemporary texts and
contemporary stories, I do thatover over classical.
But that's a way that I feellike I'm giving my students
chances to encounter somethingreally deep and meaningful and
philosophical, but that they canthey can turn around and in a
Socratic seminar, they can applythat to the real world.
(19:59):
world and that can launch usinto that project-based learning
where they they tackle a topicof their their choosing.
Lindsay Persohn (20:07):
Yeah, as you were describing the story and
the conversations around it, Iwas thinking how neat it would
be to invite your students tobring a short story or some
other text that they relate backto that and then have a
discussion about how they thinkit relates.
Like to think about the oneswho walk away from OMLOS and the
letter from a Birmingham jail,and then to think about all of
(20:28):
the ways in which one text moreor less informs the other and
how we can understand one in thecontext of another, I think
that that would be such aninteresting conversation with
young people about the text thatthey might bring.
It also gets them to read a lotof stuff in order to find find
something that connects.
But yeah, that's cool.
John Eric Vona (20:46):
And to go back to my soapbox from earlier, I
did that with quote unquotelow-level students.
Because they're not these arehuman beings.
So much to offer yeah so muchto offer deep think absolutely I
mean we were havingphilosophical discussions in the
old six period class there.
It was great.
Lindsay Persohn (21:00):
I love that message that this critical work
this work of sort ofunderstanding the world through
text I think that's such animportant point because it it it
is for everyone, right?
This is not reserved for themost elite students.
This is for everyone.
This work is for everyone.
And it has to be otherwise togo back to what you were telling
(21:24):
us from the JournalismLeadership Institute, if no one
is minding these things or if weare all just benefiting then
you know who who is minding theresource?
Who is making the connectionsis there anything else you want
to tell us about your work,Eric?
John Eric Vona (21:40):
I don't know if it relates to climate literacy,
but if I could shout outecholitmag.com the the other
thing I do, which I it's itsound the other thing I do.
This is like my main this thisis my main jam is it's a
literary magazine that mystudents put out.
And uh we did it for 10 years.
A few years ago four I thinkfour or five now a professor at
(22:00):
the University of North Floridaspoke to them and was like wow
you guys are really good at thisyou should not just be
publishing what your studentspublish.
You're ready to become part ofthe broader literary community.
And so that involved a lot ofthings but step one was calling
up my old editors and saying doyou guys want to help like make
a organization outside of theschool because the school wasn't
(22:21):
going to school it's a literarymagazine the school wasn't
going to pay for anything or sothe Echo is now owned by the
former students.
It is a 501c3 nonprofitorganization.
I just called up the kids whoare now you know grown up you
know the our president our boardpresident is a PhD candidate at
I think it's Northwestern.
He's in Chicago.
(22:42):
We've been going strong forfour or five years now and
accepting work from teens allover the world.
Lindsay Persohn (22:47):
It's amazing.
John Eric Vona (22:48):
It's it's awesome.
It's so much fun and it's someaningful so many times when
you're making a literarymagazine as a at a at the high
school level it's just theeditor putting in their poems or
or some one kid begging theother kids in creative writing
to do something.
And we've taken that aspect outof it and now like my students
are like real editors likereviewing submissions from
(23:10):
around the world.
And I think this week they'vegot a story coming out from I
know and it's summertime andwe're still publishing um we've
got a story coming out uh thatwas sent to us from Sydney
Australia a short story theydid.
And they have a they podcastthe story they record the
stories and poems as anaccessibility thing.
So that's echo litmag.com tellyour kids to submit to us it's
(23:34):
like my pride and joy.
Lindsay Persohn (23:36):
It's amazing.
I mean and I think it's justit's another testament to what
project based learning andreally project based thinking
can do.
John Eric Vona (23:43):
It's project based learning the max because
we talk about students takingownership over their learning.
Lindsay Persohn (23:48):
Right.
Here you go
John Eric Vona (23:50):
Literally like my my students are still
involved it's an alumni runorganization.
I can't get rid of these kidsyou know.
Right that's incredible.
And and they come in all the time and teach
the new staff members and thethat's I'm I sit get to sit back
and watch my former students ona regular basis come in and
just take over and jump right inwith like minded teenagers the
(24:14):
the mentorship I'm I'm like theluckiest guy in the world that
I've managed to do this and pullit off.
So echo litmag.com
Lindsay Persohn (24:23):
And we'll we'll post that in your show notes as
well we'll post that link yeah.
There you go.
So Eric one more question for you.
Given the challenges of today'seducational climate what
message yeah right what messagedo you want teachers to hear?
John Eric Vona (24:37):
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Lindsay Persohn (24:40):
A good old literary reference there which I
guess now is also a TVreference.
John Eric Vona (24:45):
Oh yeah I never watched that I only read it like
uh the true mark of a snootyEnglish teacher is the sentence
I just said so I'm reallycautious actually like I said
don't let the bastards grind youdown and I have to like check
my own male privilege on thatone.
So let me like I
Lindsay Persohn (25:04):
Say more say more
John Eric Vona (25:05):
I will be happy to say more.
This will be my landacknowledgement but it's for
gender.
I definitely realized early onin my career that I can get away
with things that the many womenin the English department
around me cannot. I learned thatlesson when I was doing
successfully doing a banned bookunit for years and having my
kids read just whatever Isuggested and parents would come
(25:27):
to me and be like this is sogreat.
You're challenging them we readit too and the instant the
instant I passed that along tothe other teachers at my level
they were all getting calledinto the principal's office they
were all getting in troublethey were all having these
conferences and thesuperintendent was getting
emailed how dare you make my kidread The Jungle or Clockwork
(25:48):
Orange and I had a sit backmoment where I was like oh my
God this is this this is my maleprivilege as a teacher and in
that way I don't know that Ihave advice for other teachers
that are you know what I mean?
Lindsay Persohn (26:01):
Yeah no I get that.
I Eric Vona gets away with ityou know that's a and it's sad
because I I want like make yourkids do the thing do the project
based learning and then I I seethe women around me just
attacked and it's when we talkabout education being under
attack I mean it's a it's it's apaint collar profession, right?
(26:23):
And I'm like is this abouteducation or is this about I I
hate to paint in such a broadstroke but is this about America
hating women and and that'stough.
I know you get it I don't teachinto the choir
But but you know other male teachers I've
worked with in the past evenworking with my college students
who are apprenticing into theteaching profession I have had
(26:46):
my colleagues from schools sayto you know the lone male
student that I have basicallythat well you can get away with
a lot.
I mean those were his words youknow you you don't have to be
so careful you can get away witha whole lot and it is it is
interesting especially like yousaid in a profession where where
there are so many womentraditionally and currently you
(27:07):
know it is quote unquote woman'swork.
And so I think that it is avery it's an interesting maybe
even if I can if I can kind ofturn your message on its head
perhaps it is a little bit of amessage of solidarity because I
think that what you encourage meto do and what hearing, you
know, hearing your story, itdoes encourage me to think
(27:29):
differently about how I canengage my students in projects.
It encourages me to think abouthow you push those boundaries.
You know I think we all have tofind the space we can work
within and for some people youknow the tolerance for risk is
quite low and for others it'squite high.
And I think that if we all pullin the same direction that we
are challenging students withreal world thinking, real world
(27:51):
text real world challenges andthen supporting them to meet the
goals that they set becauseit's what their project or what
they're thinking, you know, it'sthat trajectory.
I think if we all pull in thatdirection, perhaps there is a
bit of space for us to make fora little bit more accepting
educational climate foreveryone.
John Eric Vona (28:11):
I hope so because yeah absolutely it's
intended to be solidarity rightand I hope that we can find ways
to to do everything you justsaid and to not let the bastards
grind us down.
You know but I am becomingincreasingly hesitant to give
advice to other teachers aboutwhat I do.
Lindsay Persohn (28:31):
I get it.
Yeah I really do understandthat
John Eric Vona (28:33):
I'm like I'm getting I'm getting away with
what I get away with and I don'twant to get somebody else in
trouble.
Lindsay Persohn (28:37):
But I think there is also a lot to take from
your message about how we cansupport students with their own
goals, the challenges they seein the world, you know, all of
those wonderful things aboutauthentic and exciting learning
in school spaces.
Exciting you know like it canbe it can be that way you have
to find the space yeah and
John Eric Vona (28:57):
Yeah let the kids get excited and let them
take the risks let them pursuewhat they're interested in it's
it's it's kind of a a simplemessage but to quote the Arthur
theme song it comes from theheart there you go
Lindsay Persohn (29:12):
Yeah there we go uh we'll we'll end on a real
positive note there with goodold Arthur
John Eric Vona (29:17):
Good old Arthur
Lindsay Persohn (29:19):
Another literary reference
John Eric Vona (29:22):
Oh wow yeah we've we've really run the gamut
here today
Lindsay Persohn (29:24):
Yes we have yes we have yes we have well Eric
thanks so much for taking sometime to talk with me today and I
really enjoyed hearing aboutthe work you do in your
classroom.
John Eric Vona (29:34):
Absolutely thanks for having me Lindsay
that was awesome.
Lindsay Persohn (29:36):
Thank you By centering teachers'
experiences and creativity theStories to live by collective
reimagines literacy education asa powerful way to engage with
the climate crisis.
Together members of thiscollective are showing how
stories and teaching practicesrooted in place can help
communities respond to climatechange while nurturing hope,
(30:00):
justice and resilience forfuture generations.
If you have an interest injoining this group please reach
out to Dr.
Alexandra Panos, AssociateProfessor of Literacy Studies at
the University of South Floridaat ampanos at USF dot edu
That's AMPANOS@ USF dot edu.
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