Transcript
Speaker: Hello, and welcome to Human Restoration Projects podcast.
Speaker: This episode will serve as an overview to our organization, what we do, and what we believe in.
Speaker: I'm going to do this semi-unscripted, and I'm going to really dive deep into detailed thoughts on progressive education.
Speaker: If you've been following us for a while, much of this will sound familiar, and if you're new, welcome, this will certainly catch you up.
Speaker: This podcast and all of Human Restoration Project's resources remain operational due to our Patreon supporters, three of whom are Simeon Frang, Tim Fox, and Carolyn Weiserich.
Speaker: You can learn more about Human Restoration Project on our website, humanrestorationproject.org, and follow us on social media.
Speaker: Human Restoration Project
Speaker: is a nonprofit organization that wants to change education systems towards a progressive human-centered pedagogy.
Speaker: My name is Chris McNutt.
Speaker: I'm the founder and executive director, and I also teach digital media with high school students at a public magnet school in Ohio.
Speaker: Our co-developer of the organization is Nick Covington, who teaches social studies at a public high school in Iowa.
Speaker: We produce a variety of resources from this podcast to writings to free booklets and resources that we'll cover later on in the podcast.
Speaker: Our primary goal is to instill progressive education.
Speaker: Some may hear the word progressive and think the political ideology.
Speaker: Certainly there is some overlap between the two, but one can be a progressive educator and not necessarily subscribe to all the ideas of the progressive left.
Speaker: Progressive education is the belief that students are valued human beings with experience and knowledge that can build off each other in a learning community to discover and grow.
Speaker: We explicitly use this definition as opposed to creating a new term because progressive education is rooted in hundreds of years of history.
Speaker: It's nothing new.
Speaker: It's not reinventing the wheel.
Speaker: You've probably heard of some of the most influential progressive educators.
Speaker: John Dewey wrote on the importance of experiential learning, or learning by doing, and how students learn best when actively doing things that have value to them.
Speaker: Or Maria Montessori, who saw that students learn best, in developmentally appropriate ways, by exploring the world around them by playing and experimenting, not locked in age-restricted grade levels or in standardized rote-based learning.
Speaker: Or maybe Paulo Freire, the developer of the theory of critical pedagogy,
Speaker: which outlines the sharing of power with students to ensure that they are equipped with the skills to not be dominated and engineered by those in power.
Speaker: And there are many more.
Speaker: We've taken each facet of progressive education, as we see it, and incorporated them into 20 systems that we believe need to change.
Speaker: Before I talk about those, I want to recognize that the word system is very important.
Speaker: It's about systems, not about strategies.
Speaker: Often when we get involved in professional development and do workshops, and even when we're trained to be teachers, we are bombarded with teaching strategies like KWL charts, 10 for 10s, or step-by-step processes on how to do project-based learning.
Speaker: Not only are these initiatives rarely effective at changing much about our practice, they are simultaneously tied to financial incentives for the creator.
Speaker: As such, professional development companies and authors have an incentive to reinvent the wheel and push PDs with words like game-changing or the one tool you'll need, without doing much to analyze the actual thing that it is that we're doing, as in the system that we're working in.
Speaker: These teaching strategy books, such as Teach Like a Champion, are widely used by educators in teaching training programs.
Speaker: Yet we're paying very little attention to the systems that these strategies prop up.
Speaker: At many points, we're afraid to analyze these systems because it's what we're used to or even what we excelled in.
Speaker: Many of us tended to do well academically.
Speaker: The problem is, of course, that much of education hasn't changed much over the years.
Speaker: School is still school.
Speaker: And there's a growing call to improve education systems, sadly mostly by looking at ways to improve said system.
Speaker: And the world is increasingly in disarray.
Speaker: I won't spend a lot of time dissecting all the issues in the world.
Speaker: I think many of you listening know all these things that are going on.
Speaker: But in the show notes, you'll find articles specifically pertaining to anxiety, depression, and the various problems in the world that continue to grow for children, adolescents, and young adults.
Speaker: Now, we need to talk about the systems that need changing, those that are rooted in progressive education.
Speaker: We've outlined 20 of these, and there may be more.
Speaker: But you'll soon find that when we talk about implementing one of them, the others do follow suit.
Speaker: You can't have one idea without the other.
Speaker: It's a natural progression that we're talking about if we're talking about valuing young people and their place in the classroom.
Speaker: All the statements that I'm about to make are backed by substantial research, and I'll link to that as well.
Speaker: First, learning is rooted in purpose-finding and community relevance.
Speaker: Schools need to recognize purpose-finding in schools.
Speaker: Young people are disenchanted, they're disillusioned, and many of them are very apathetic to the world around them.
Speaker: Although there are plenty of teachers working to inspire young people around the world,
Speaker: The current education system works against teachers who go beyond the curriculum to cater to student interests.
Speaker: Students are typically bored at school.
Speaker: We need to intentionally focus on helping students find their calling through reflection, one-on-one experience building, and exposure to a variety of cool things that interest them beyond the four standard subjects that are typically offered.
Speaker: And with that, students learn experientially.
Speaker: as in through active learning by doing things based on their interests.
Speaker: They're more motivated, and it's fairly obvious.
Speaker: It's a lot more engaging to build something than just do worksheets and tests and everything that goes with that.
Speaker: Note that when I say building something, some people automatically assume construction or something along those lines.
Speaker: But learning experientially could be reading or writing, or maybe even test-taking.
Speaker: The experience is that students see an end goal that matters to them, and they're actively learning to get there.
Speaker: It's about the learner seeing a connection to a greater goal that they themselves are choosing.
Speaker: It's a teacher's job to inspire, motivate, and connect to guide that path.
Speaker: It often feels like, for example, that we're maybe training all of our students to be engineers instead of inspiring students to be engineers.
Speaker: That's a very different point.
Speaker: Our goal isn't to train everyone the fundamentals of every single thing that they're going to do, but to have students inquire and discover what they love about those fields.
Speaker: so that they might pursue them in the future.
Speaker: This is, of course, not the same for community and pro-social goals, which can and should be universal.
Speaker: For example, an anti-racist education, or community connectedness, or even financial literacy.
Speaker: These are things that all students are going to use.
Speaker: They're all things that they need.
Speaker: And it's different, say, than like the five paragraph essay or deep reading skills or proofs in algebra.
Speaker: Students also need to be connected to the community.
Speaker: Some schools are almost explicitly stating at this point that their goal is for students to escape their community, which is a shame.
Speaker: There are so many great people willing to work with young people and the impact that bringing community members to the school is.
Speaker: and sending school members out into the community is just really insane.
Speaker: Students being placed in internships, working with nonprofits, doing community service, learning from experts and elders, all of this is a huge untapped resource for so many districts.
Speaker: And further, we can make classrooms that are cross-disciplinary.
Speaker: The four core subject area idea is rooted in some semblance of reality.
Speaker: Obviously, we want students to be able to read and do basic arithmetic.
Speaker: However, I, as well as most progressive educators, would argue that in order to promote literacy and build upon basic skills, that we need to engage learners in things that inspire and interest them.
Speaker: Then the rest will follow.
Speaker: If we design experiences that are rooted in reality, as opposed to these simulated endeavors, students will naturally want to read and naturally use math, turning to teachers and peers when they need help.
Speaker: After all, they want to do these things.
Speaker: It's evident if you walk into any elementary classroom.
Speaker: That's the first five systems out of 20.
Speaker: Purpose-finding experiential learning, connection to the community, cross-disciplinary classrooms, and promoting literacy.
Speaker: As a brief side note, I think it's important to recognize that the mindset of progressive education through all of this is that human beings are naturally good, caring individuals who will help each other.
Speaker: If someone believes that without being controlled, students are naturally not going to learn anything and just the world will descend into chaos, it's pretty obvious that none of what I'm saying is going to connect.
Speaker: Time and time again, it's been shown that children, uncorrupted by the ales of society and pressures of their environment, are natural learners and care about one another.
Speaker: Now into more systems.
Speaker: Social justice is the cornerstone of educational success.
Speaker: We must demand inclusive spaces.
Speaker: So much of our school culture is based in a white heteronormative school culture.
Speaker: I'm a white male teacher, Nick is a white male teacher, and we both know and recognize that we have a privilege in spreading the word about these practices, as well as how we operate our classrooms.
Speaker: The curriculum and culture of the classroom rarely reflects the learners themselves.
Speaker: we need to explicitly decolonize it counteracting racism classism showcasing lgbtqia plus resources and more this also involves promoting and showcasing non-white leaders and voices further
Speaker: Racism and classism has led to discriminatory and highly troublesome disciplinary practices that primarily target students of color.
Speaker: The way that schools participate in the carceral network, the connection between prisons, society, and people of color and or the poor, must be remedied if we have any care for establishing an equitable society.
Speaker: The use of restorative justice, ending the carceral network, and promoting community-focused, love-based solutions to problems should be implemented at every school.
Speaker: These practices can be taken at a non-administrative level within classrooms.
Speaker: And with that comes supporting student voices.
Speaker: We do ensure that there is a platform for students to share power in the classroom.
Speaker: We can't just pretend to hear students and then continue to ignore their suggestions.
Speaker: Students themselves do not have the choice to come to school.
Speaker: And learning shouldn't be an authoritative act.
Speaker: We need to co-create that space with them.
Speaker: That's inherently tied to critical pedagogy.
Speaker: As mentioned before with the writings of Paulo Freire, the teacher in many cases has become the oppressor, one who doesn't see students as offering inherent value, instead we're just banking knowledge into each person and having them regurgitate it.
Speaker: A true, democratic classroom would be entirely rooted in causes that students care about or are inspired to care about.
Speaker: Through all of this we are building a reflective space.
Speaker: Dewey defined reflection as not only self-reflection, but a process that builds in connection with others.
Speaker: We must not only see our development as important, but the community at large.
Speaker: That means that empathy and a shared sense of belonging are necessary for true learning to occur.
Speaker: All of this highlights our second set of systems, demanding inclusive spaces, utilizing restorative justice, authenticating student voice, adopting critical pedagogy, and building a reflective space.
Speaker: In addition, these concepts must be equitable beyond the classroom itself.
Speaker: Much of our teaching practice in the United States is hampered, not because of what we're doing as teachers, but because of an inequitable society at large.
Speaker: HRP places resources on our website to demand community change, such as proper funding, to make a better future.
Speaker: It's incredibly difficult.
Speaker: And honestly, an unfair ask, although we try, for teachers to help students who are homeless or who miss meals.
Speaker: And so many of our students are in this position and they need our help.
Speaker: With that, we're halfway there.
Speaker: Next, we need to talk about dehumanizing practices in school.
Speaker: There are so many things that we do at school that are based on things that we've quote-unquote always done.
Speaker: Yet, these practices aren't based on research.
Speaker: Most classes regularly assign homework.
Speaker: From elementary to high school, many of us still believe that there is a benefit in assigning homework because we had teachers that, well, assigned homework.
Speaker: But when homework is studied, it's shown to almost always be detrimental to learning, specifically for elementary and middle school students.
Speaker: At the high school level, its only benefit has been shown to prepare for standardized testing.
Speaker: Outside of that, homework causes stress.
Speaker: It furthers inequities for those who can complete homework because they tend to have more time and wealth, which tends to be sadly the primary indicator of success between those that do well in school and not well in school.
Speaker: and it takes away time for play and more authentic learning.
Speaker: We also continue to assign grades, despite a wealth of studies that show how grading hurts intrinsic motivation.
Speaker: No one receives a low grade and then all of a sudden doubles down on learning content and engaging more.
Speaker: Usually it's the opposite effect, and that's highly backed by research time and time again.
Speaker: It seems like grading is just a mask for ranking and sorting students, which then harms students who are less compliant or not from the oppressive culture at alarming rates.
Speaker: we continue to use standardized testing, despite there being little to no linkage between doing well on standardized tests and having successful outcomes.
Speaker: In one study, when students had not taken standardized tests and still went to college, you saw more Black and Latinx students that were admitted, and all students graduated at higher rates in four years than those that took the test.
Speaker: The ridiculous practice of standardized testing has ramifications in everything that we do.
Speaker: The white-centric curriculum, no time for community involvement, over-the-top scheduling,
Speaker: And just the general stress and inhumane nature of how testing works, which I don't really think needs much explanation.
Speaker: We all know this.
Speaker: Then we need to talk about building strong relationships in lieu of the control systems that are dehumanizing.
Speaker: To borrow a quote from Bell Hooks, quote,
Speaker: Because we're talking about systems, when we say build strong relationships, we're not talking about strategies that begin to treat students like projects, such as focusing on performance goals or developing activities for these surface-level connections.
Speaker: Instead, we're talking about removing barriers that get in the way of a student-teacher relationship, such as policing students mentally and physically, or reigning over them with some kind of commanding presence.
Speaker: Finally, in this category of dehumanizing practice, is reforming food systems.
Speaker: I think we often forget just how bad a typical school lunch is, or that so many of our students lack access to three meals a day.
Speaker: Some districts do offer free breakfast, but they're not as common as you might think.
Speaker: And despite these being free meals, they're gross, they're disgusting.
Speaker: Rarely do educators eat the meals served at their schools, especially in low-income districts.
Speaker: Due to corporate connections and questionable governmental oversight, most districts import flash-frozen gruel that meets nutritional guidelines.
Speaker: But no one wants to eat and digest that, so as a result we see students avoiding meals or taking unhealthy alternatives like pizza and chips.
Speaker: There is a health crisis in this country, and schools are contributing to it.
Speaker: And finally, the last category, which is being respectful towards each other's innate human worth.
Speaker: As in, don't let the system detract from the fact that we're complex living people.
Speaker: For example, multi-age classrooms are more like the real world.
Speaker: Maria Montessori and modern incorporations of her model utilize multi-age classrooms for the benefit of all students.
Speaker: There's greater self-direction, and students learn from each other authentically.
Speaker: Sorting students in a grade level based off their age doesn't make much sense in terms of child development.
Speaker: and it's a result of overstandardization and simplification, not necessarily science.
Speaker: When we have students learning together, it's important that we recognize how valuable cooperation is.
Speaker: So much of school as it exists now is competitive.
Speaker: Our tests and grades are competitive, but so are our review games, our lesson plans, and even our treatment of students.
Speaker: It can all feel like this big rat race, especially at large schools where students are lost in the shuffle.
Speaker: Forced competition implies that education is all about me,
Speaker: And it standardizes the practice that some students are more valuable than others.
Speaker: By shifting to cooperative activities and learning, we are teaching the values of inclusion and communal space, which in turn sets up a wondrous future.
Speaker: This isn't to say that all competition is bad, but it shouldn't be forced.
Speaker: Students should set this up themselves.
Speaker: There can be some friendly competition.
Speaker: But when it's standardized and forced by the teacher or the institution, that's when we start seeing problems.
Speaker: In the same vein, allowing students to self-direct their learning has an enormous effect on their development.
Speaker: Self-control and decision-making are key principles in life satisfaction in well-regulated children.
Speaker: This doesn't mean, however, that students are all just going off doing their own thing.
Speaker: No, we're talking about building a community of learners based on trust.
Speaker: Sometimes students will be doing their own thing, but sometimes they'll partner with each other and learn to compromise and grow as a learning community.
Speaker: In the same way, teachers also need the ability to self-direct and grow in their own practice.
Speaker: Authoritative, top-down control systems tend to hurt all those involved in the learning process.
Speaker: With that, we need to support our teachers.
Speaker: It's a common trope, and we know how bad it really is.
Speaker: But teachers leave the profession at alarming rates, pay a substandard, and teachers face some of the highest stressors of any profession.
Speaker: Like all public services, teachers see the world for what it really is.
Speaker: It's inequitable and it's full of problems.
Speaker: Yes, there are fantastic people.
Speaker: There's hope.
Speaker: We love our students, but we see all the cracks.
Speaker: And most of us place those problems on our shoulders with little to no support.
Speaker: Teachers need not only increased pay, but professionalism.
Speaker: They need to be treated as experts.
Speaker: They need to be given planning hours and even more planning days and the ability to self-direct and organize their own professional development.
Speaker: And for our last shift,
Speaker: which can't be understated, we have to stay buzzword free.
Speaker: There is so much corporate influence in education, and everyone is trying to make a buck off of schools' backs.
Speaker: Many of the shifts I've spoken about are sold in packages and in turn become fads.
Speaker: They've reappeared over the years and rarely address the underlying systemic problems.
Speaker: They're short-term solutions based on surface-level knowledge and market as quick fixes to completely change the culture of the classroom.
Speaker: These ideas take work.
Speaker: They're not easy, and they need expert-level understanding.
Speaker: We can't build a professionalized education system that centers all students on a capitalistic, simplified marketing campaign.
Speaker: Now, you might be thinking, why does all of this have to be so complicated?
Speaker: Why not just take all of these ideas and simplify them?
Speaker: Why not just package them into one commonly accepted idea?
Speaker: And I would tell you that that relates to the huge problem I was just talking about, teachers as professionals.
Speaker: Human beings are incredibly complex, teaching is incredibly hard, and the entire system of education is an almost insurmountable mountain to climb.
Speaker: If we have any hope of changing the education system, teachers must be familiar with these ideas and in my opinion have a solid understanding of the pedagogy and research to make change.
Speaker: And you might say that none of that is a fair expectation.
Speaker: And you're right.
Speaker: Working within the education system is easily one of the closest reflections you'll see of inequity in society.
Speaker: Not only are students rarely treated as well as they should be, teachers aren't respected either.
Speaker: And asking teachers to do even more work, on top of the lack of respect by many and relatively low wages for the work they do already, is unjust.
Speaker: But this is a form of activism, and activism isn't easy or simple, and it's exhausting and never fair to our side.
Speaker: Human Restoration Project is a form of virtual grassroots activism.
Speaker: Our goal is to provide you with resources to make these systemic shifts easier in your own practice, to help you navigate the waters, so that you can band together in your own pocket you find yourself in and do good work.
Speaker: I'm not saying that most teachers don't think these systems are important or that teachers are bad teachers.
Speaker: There are certainly teachers that have become bad teachers because of working in a certain authoritative manner for so long, and burnout is certainly prevalent due to everything that I just mentioned.
Speaker: In my view, once these systems change for the better and become more progressive, many teachers who may not enact the extra work of changing the status quo will adopt to the new revolutionized status quo.
Speaker: As in, those who worked within the systemic confines before will easily adapt to a more human-centered system afterwards.
Speaker: I don't blame teachers for working in the way that they do.
Speaker: None of this is about blame.
Speaker: These systems are a result of centuries of racism, sexism, and classism, as well as just simple convenience for organization.
Speaker: All of us work within these confines, and most progressive educators aren't model teachers.
Speaker: I can't claim that I utilize all of these systems within my own classroom, but I know and recognize that these changes need to exist, and I use whatever methods I can to continually move the needle towards progressive education.
Speaker: Something boiled down to a very easy-to-implement idea is never going to solve these serious complex problems.
Speaker: Further, I think to better understand all this, we also need to frame what we do not believe in.
Speaker: People are quick to jump on the progressive education train by misconstruing the practice.
Speaker: Sometimes concepts are best defined by what they aren't.
Speaker: So here's a very short list of some concrete examples.
Speaker: We are diametrically opposed to teach like a champion and other high accountability systems, quote unquote, that control students' physical and mental states.
Speaker: I think that kind of goes without saying.
Speaker: We are opposed to any publishing or marketing of progressive ideas that do not take any steps to redefine the system itself.
Speaker: As in, making games and activities that make the system better or more fun for sure,
Speaker: but they aren't taking any steps to actually question that system and change and flip it on its head.
Speaker: For example, teach like a pirate.
Speaker: Although I don't believe that all educators using this system are bad teachers, there are certainly those who are using these methods to soften the blow, rather than questioning why we're punching to begin with.
Speaker: I'm also highly concerned that these publishing companies rarely support their work through research, and are mostly showcasing the voices of white males.
Speaker: We are opposed to systems based on aesthetics and what I would call this like wonder-based education, such as Instagram teachers who do room transformations and capture the awe of their students.
Speaker: I'm not saying that's a bad thing to do.
Speaker: I'm sure it's really cool.
Speaker: But like I just said, if we're basing our pedagogy on making the classroom look cool and not addressing the systemic problem, then we have a problem.
Speaker: We are against parties that are advocating for the abolishment of public education.
Speaker: Although we do support unschooling homeschooling school alternatives,
Speaker: as long as it's the student's choice to make those decisions.
Speaker: There is a place for this majority public education system that supports humanized practice.
Speaker: Education as a social good is a given.
Speaker: And finally, we are opposed to systems that benefit only those with wealth or white students.
Speaker: Progressive education has legitimately been given a bad name because the rich do prefer these methods.
Speaker: Independent schools are overwhelmingly white and demand high tuitions.
Speaker: I believe that that education should be available for all.
Speaker: We should be questioning why rich, primarily white people, are sending their students to play and inquiry-based schools with rich curriculums, but are publicly using coded language like we need increased accountability of schools, which in other words translates that we need this dehumanizing test-based schools for the lower class and students of color, and then we'll just continue doing all this really cool stuff.
Speaker: This podcast, as well as the resources that Human Restoration Projects creates, are designed to equip you with the tools necessary to build systemic change in your classroom.
Speaker: Our long-term goal is that educators utilize our resources in conjunction with the many other organizations doing great work
Speaker: to slowly but substantially change how schools work from the inside.
Speaker: We already see this happening, where schools are adopting portfolio systems, they're dropping traditional discipline structures, they're adopting purpose-based curriculums and redefining how schedules work.
Speaker: And more often than not, this is because small groups of teachers have organized larger and larger, and they've pressed administration to change what they're doing.
Speaker: It's up to the will of teachers organizing together as professionals to demand substantial change.
Speaker: What we produce, from sparking dialogue and conversation with experts, to supplying professional development coursework, to giving you free resources, is to help you navigate a progressive framework that recognizes what you do is backed by expert research.
Speaker: It isn't just a good feeling to treat students like humans, it is scientifically sound.
Speaker: There isn't just one way to do this right.
Speaker: In fact, progressive pedagogy is centered on the community and the specific unique learners in your room each year.
Speaker: The way that we think about rightness is by recognizing what issues exist and then using a progressive pedagogy to solve them.
Speaker: All of our resources are creative commons share alike.
Speaker: You can build off them and modify them.
Speaker: They're all free.
Speaker: You can share what you create based off of our resources as long as it's free as well.
Speaker: We don't require you to submit any personal information.
Speaker: And all of our financial data is posted on Patreon every month.
Speaker: We believe in open resources and the open, transparent sharing of information.
Speaker: I highly encourage you to check out our research on our website, as well as our recommended book list to dive further into what progressive education is and how much evidence we have to make these changes.
Speaker: You can download our primer and our handbooks to see real-life examples of progressive education in action.
Speaker: You can attend one of our summits to talk to like-minded educators about what they're doing.
Speaker: You can push for progressive change at your school and recommend our organization and others like it to teachers and administrators to band together and brainstorm solutions.
Speaker: And bring some students into the fold.
Speaker: Talk to them about the education system.
Speaker: Build that coalition.
Speaker: And have students begin to lead that change.
Speaker: After all, this is all about students.
Speaker: If you ever have any questions about what we do at HRP, feel free to email me.
Speaker: It's chris at humanrestorationproject.org.
Speaker: I'd love to answer your questions or just talk to you, and I look forward to it.
Speaker: So let's continue to restore humanity together.
