Thinking About Day 1: Recent Episodes
International Baccalaureate
In this five-episode mini-series, Robert Kelty from the International Baccalaureate brought in experts on trauma-informed practices from Canada and the United States; school leaders and principals experienced in schooling with post-disaster schooling; and multiple perspectives and expertise on strategies for reopening our school doors.
In our fifth and final episode, we conclude in a conversation with IB graduate Shreya Mahasenan as she speaks to what is important as we collectively recover to our school settings at some point in the future.
Episode four brings principals and superintendent (David Weiss, Brandi Herbert and John Wray) with significant experience in post-disaster schooling to discuss their experiences and strategies on school reopening.
Episode three features best-selling author Laura van Dernoot Lipsky on how to support our students, families, and especially our teachers in the“Age of Overwhelm.”
Our second episode is a conversation with Jamilah Pitts, an educator, consultant, and contributing author to Teaching Tolerance. Our conversation addresses how "teaching as activism, teaching as care" can help us all better support students of color and ensure our classrooms and schools are spaces of and for anti-racism.
In our first episode, we speak with Dr. Kathleen Minke, executive director of the association of school psychologists, and Dr. Eric Rossen, author of "Supporting and Educating Traumatized Students: A Guide for School-Based Professionals" to help us define what is trauma-informed strategies and schooling.
It is imperative for all in education to think about how we reopen our schools in accordance with CDC and local health guidelines, safely for our teachers and students, and in an operational manner of social distancing within our school buildings, but also with a trauma-informed and inclusive approach. We need to think about healing alongside learning―and loss―in all its forms. This means looking at trauma-informed strategies for all in our schools alongside the ability to create spaces for students of color to be seen, affirmed and feel safe.
Our newest podcast, as part of IB Voices, aims to help. In this five-episode mini-series, we’ve brought in experts on trauma-informed practices from Canada and the United States; school leaders and principals experienced in schooling with post-disaster schooling; and multiple perspectives and expertise on strategies for reopening our school doors.
It’s difficult to believe that it was only a few months ago that we in the education community had to close our school doors to protect our students and school communities from the COVID-19 and make a hard pivot to digitized learning―all in a matter of weeks. Soon enough, COVID-19 exposed a technological and economic divide for students and families, while our school leaders and educators did their best to support learning in remote spaces. Simultaneously, we saw the differences in realities in our healthcare systems from New York City to the Navajo Nation as we became acutely aware how non-discriminatory COVID-19 is and how our communities and students of color are being disproportionately affected.
As we adjusted to this reality on a global scale, prepared for virtual graduations and closed the school year the best we could. We then collectively watched, were outraged by and mourned the unjust violent deaths of too many people of color―George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Riah Milton, and Chantel Moore, to name a few―and saw the United States ignite to demand that Black, Indigenous, and people of color be seen and treated as human beings with a right to breathe, either from the conditions that exasperated the spread of COVID-19 or when dealing with law enforcement.
We explore these issues in earnest through the following five-part conversation. To all school leaders and educators around the world, we hope the series is helpful in creating a safe, loving and inclusive return to school.