Re: thinking education: Recent Episodes
The Critical Thinking Consortium
As an educator, you know the value of reflecting on your current practices with an eye to adapting your strategies for more effective teaching and learning. "Re: thinking education" is an opportunity to listen to organic conversations between colleagues and partners from The Critical Thinking Consortium as they grapple with important pedagogical issues. Each episode will pull back the curtain on their critical, creative, and collaborative thinking and provide an opportunity for listeners to learn and reflect on their own practices.
In part two of our sixth Creating Thinking Systems episode, sponsored by OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association), TC² Executive Director, Usha James, continues the conversation with Superintendents Tina Jones, Jay MacJanet, and Vida Collis, about taking the lessons and revelations from part one, and creating effective school visits through purpose, intention, and trust.
Credits:
Host: Usha James
Guests: Jay MacJanet (Formerly Superintendent of Education with Trillium Lakelands District School Board, now Director of Education with Near North District School Board); Tina Jones (Superintendent of Education for Innovation and Inclusion for Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board); and Vida Collis (Superintendent of Student Achievement and Well-Being with the Waterloo Region District School Board, now retired)
Audio production: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Download a transcript of this podcast.
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
In our sixth Creating Thinking Systems episode, sponsored by OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association), TC² Executive Director, Usha James, begins the first of a two-part conversation on school visits with three Ontario superintendents, each in a different phase of their careers.
In this episode we meet Superintendents Jay MacJanet, Tina Jones, and Vida Collis, and reflect with them on how they learned that school visits may not be what they seem on the surface, setting the stage for our follow-on episode where we explore how impactful school visits can be as part of an intentional process and plan.
Credits:
Host: Usha James
Guests: Jay MacJanet (Formerly Superintendent of Education with Trillium Lakelands District School Board, now Director of Education with Near North District School Board); Tina Jones (Superintendent of Education for Innovation and Inclusion for Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board); and Vida Collis (Superintendent of Student Achievement and Well-Being with the Waterloo Region District School Board, now retired)
Audio production: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Download a transcript of this podcast.
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
For our fifth episode of Creating Thinking Systems, our OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association) sponsored series, TC² Executive Director, Usha James, joins Toronto DSB Executive Superintendent, Nandy Palmer, and Hastings and Prince Edward DSB Superintendent, Ken Dostaler, in examining strategies and challenges in building and ensuring the capacity to not only support students with special education needs, but improve outcomes for all students.
Credits:
Host: Usha James
Guests: Nandy Palmer (Executive Superintendent, Special Education Programs and Equitable Outcomes for Toronto District School Board) and Ken Dostaler (Superintendent, Student Services for Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board)
Producer: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Download a transcript of this podcast.
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
In our fourth instalment of our OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association) sponsored series, Creating Thinking Systems, TC² Executive Director, Usha James, welcomes Director of Education, Wes Hahn, from the Trillium Lakelands District School Board.
Usha and Wes explore how TLDSB drives alignment — using inventive ways to spark authentic student feedback, and ensuring everyone from the director, to coaches and consultants, to I/T staff, spend time out in the schools, where real change happens.
Credits:
Host: Usha James
Guest: Wes Hahn, Director of Education (Trillium Lakelands District School Board)
Producer: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Download a transcript of this podcast.
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
How will you start the school year in a good way?
In her back-to-school message, Usha James invites us to reflect on our shared purpose and reminds us that academic achievement and well-being are deeply connected.
She highlights our revitalized framework, dedicated to nurturing quality thinking that inspires action for a flourishing world, and focuses on one dimension that feels especially important at this time of year: growing communities of quality thinkers.
In this message, Usha shares key elements for fostering this work and leaves us with three simple, powerful activities you can use right away to listen to learner voices, build trust, and create a positive environment that supports flourishing from the very first days of school.
Download the transcript of this episode.
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
In the third episode of our OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association) sponsored series, Creating Thinking Systems, TC² Executive Director, Usha James, welcomes Director of Education, Vicki Houston, and Superintendent of Education, Kari Bryant, from the Greater Essex County District School Board in Ontario.
Having both recently embarked on new leadership roles, Vicki and Kari reflect on their experiences of intentionality while navigating significant system-wide change, all while improving data literacy, reconstituting the leadership team through fostering alignment and cohesion, and ultimately reuniting the district to a student achievement-driven footing. Finally, Vicki, Kari, and Usha take a look forward to carrying on the work into to the upcoming school year.
Download the transcript of this episode.
Credits
Host: Usha James
Guests: Vicki Houston (Director of Education, Greater Essex County District School Board) and Kari Bryant (Superintendent of Education - Elementary Staffing, Greater Essex County District School Board)
Producer: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
In this second episode of our series Creating Thinking Systems, sponsored by OPSOA (Ontario Public Supervisory Officers’ Association), Usha James, TC² Executive Director, welcomes two guests from the Bluewater District School Board in Ontario. Lori Wilder, Director of Education, and Wendy Louwerse, Superintendent of Education, describe their journeys in creating a district-wide thinking system and how the use of a critical inquiry question ("How can we continuously identify, plan for, and effectively respond to support the learners for whom our current practices are not working?") has led to increased alignment and a common language. They highlight the need for data literacy, instructional leadership, and a focus on student needs.
Download the transcript of this episode.
Credits
Host: Usha James
Guests: Lori Wilder (Director of Education, Bluewater District School Board) and Wendy Louwerse (Superintendent of Education, Bluewater District School Board)
Producer: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
In this first episode of our series Creating Thinking Systems, Usha James, TC² Executive Director, welcomes two guests from the Limestone District School Board in eastern Ontario. Krishna Burra, Director of Education, and Jess Silver, Superintendent of K-12 Curriculum and Program Services describe the district’s journey to think critically and collaboratively in a number of different ways. Three inquiry questions were developed that used data to guide system-wide planning with a focus on student achievement and professional learning.
Download the transcript of this episode.
Visit our website for more information about professional learning with TC².
CreditsHost: Usha James
Guests: Krishna Burra (Director of Education, Limestone District School Board) and Jessica Silver (Superintendent of Education, Limestone District School Board)
Producer: Neil Bateman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Visit our website at tc2.ca for more information about professional learning with TC².
Follow us on LinkedIn.
As we begin the 2024-2025 school year, Usha James, Executive Director of TC², reflects on recent challenges in education from mental health strains to the impacts of remote learning. She acknowledges that, although we are already doing many good things for students and educators, we may not be reaching everyone as effectively as we wish. Usha encourages educators to be intentional by focusing on one or two impactful practices that can make a significant difference, particularly in supporting those learners who have been hardest to reach. She highlights the importance of slowing down, truly getting to know your learners, and focusing on learning that makes a meaningful difference, while also fostering compassion and collaboration within educational communities.
What are the environments in school and outside of school that we hope to foster, and how might high-quality thinking help us advance our goals? What are the relationships between thinking, learning, and living a beautiful, fulfilling, and good life?
In this back to school message, Usha James, Executive Director of The Critical Thinking Consortium, asks the question, "How will we start the year in a good way?"
In this episode, Warren Woytuck, TC² Director, interviews Usha James, TC² Executive Director, and poses the question, “What really matters when teaching for deep learning?” In the first part of their conversation, Usha provides practical ideas for teachers about how they might identify and distinguish deep learning from other forms of learning. Then, Warren and Usha explore aspects of practice that support deep learning, and identify three principles that could be applied in any learning situation.
CreditsAnnouncer: Warren Woytuck
Host: Warren Woytuck
Guest: Usha James
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Producer: Kaye Banez
In our first episode, we explore assessment and the idea that it can be much more than something that's imposed on students. Usha James, TC² Executive Director, interviews Garfield Gini-Newman, TC² Senior National Consultant, about the ways that assessment can actually be used to inspire. Rather than prompting feelings of anxiousness and trepidation, assessment can be designed to inspire further learning and curiosity. Usha and Garfield explore practical and powerful ways to re-think assessment and how it can be used to inspire thoughtful and meaningful learning.
CreditsAnnouncer: Warren Woytuck
Host: Usha James
Guest: Garfield Gini-Newman
Podcast administrator: Kara Zutz
Producer: Kaye Banez
Director: Andy Nesbitt
The Critical Thinking Consortium, or TC², is a non-profit organization of partner groups and individual members dedicated to supporting critical, creative, and collaborative thinking.