April's Confidence Boost for Students & Teachers!
Schoolutions: Curious Educators. Evidence-Based Strategies. Classrooms Where Every Child Thrives.
04/04/26
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This month, @schoolutionspodcast focuses on cultivating student confidence through insightful conversations. Dr. Benjamin Freud discusses the principles of regenerative agriculture, emphasizing that learning by doing is essential for true understanding. Following this, Colleen O'Brien, Ed.D., highlights the critical role of civic education in fostering informed citizens and strengthening democracy.
Muriel Summers speaks to why we need to believe in children, even before they believe in themselves. And science busker extraordinaire, David Price, shows why science busking is a brilliant way to spread STEM knowledge and education.
🌱 Dr. Benjamin Freud | @greenschoolbali
Discover regenerative education: a philosophy where active learning and real-world doing are inseparable. A must-hear for anyone rethinking instructional strategies and innovative teaching.
🗳️ Colleen O'Brien, Ed.D. | Civics for Colorado
Civics education is more urgent than ever. Colleen unpacks the difference between student apathy and a lack of confidence; a distinction every educator working on student motivation and student participation needs to hear.
⭐ Muriel Summers | @LeaderinMeChannel
Co-creator of the Leader in Me resources, Muriel, reminds us why believing in kids before they believe in themselves is at the heart of a pro-kid mindset and whole-child education. Essential listening for mentor teachers, instructional coaches, and anyone focused on school culture.
🔬 David Price | Science Made Simple UK Science Busker
A science busker with @ScienceMadeSimpleUK , who travels the world, David brings STEM education to life through wonder and curiosity a masterclass in attention in class and empowered educators in action.
Join us this April. We can't wait to see you. 💙
CONNECT & SUBSCRIBE:
👍 Like if you're ready for education transformation
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📱 Share Wednesday reels with your teaching team
📚 Chapters
0:00 - April theme: cultivating student confidence
0:12 - Dr. Benjamin Freud | Regenerative education at Green School Bali
0:30 - Colleen O'Brien, Ed.D. | Civics education & student confidence
0:50 - Muriel Summers | Believing in kids before they believe in themselves
1:10 - David Price | STEM education & the science busker
1:30 - Join us this April
#TeacherPodcast #StudentEngagement #ClassroomBelonging #StudentMotivation #ActiveLearning #InspiringStudents #EffectiveTeaching #InstructionalCoaching #TeacherSupport #MentorTeachers #ProfessionalDevelopment #SchoolLeadership #EducationLeadership #SchoolCulture #EquityInEducation #CulturallyResponsiveTeaching #InclusiveClassrooms #ProKidMindset #WholeChild #StudentSuccess #EmpoweredEducators #EducationTransformation #TeacherImpact #STEMEducation #CivicsEducation #RegenerativeEducation #LeaderInMe #NewTeachers #HomeschoolPodcast #InstructionalLeadership
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Previous Episode
Part two of my @schoolutionspodcast conversation with Superintendent Fabiola Bagula, Ph.D., details the San Diego Unified School District's strategies for affordable housing and community building. Their initiative showcases a regional vision for urban planning that aims to tackle the housing crisis and drive social change. This discussion offers a glimpse into real estate and local news efforts to support educators.
💫Make sure to watch Part 1 & Some Episode Mentions:
➡️David Tate's Conscious Accountability
➡️Ayanna Pressley (quoted by Fabi) "The people closest to the pain should be closest to the power."
➡️Emancipatory Leadership and Improving Equity in Education
➡️Balboa Elementary: school where Fabi served as principal and implemented the full-day grade-level PLC/RTI model
📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction: Part 2: The Financial Strategy & Bold Regional Vision
1:45 How to reduce a billion-dollar budget deficit without sacrificing people
3:00 Investing before cutting: the asset-based approach to budget decisions
4:15 Removing "my department, my budget" identity from financial decisions
5:30 Three things every district needs to replicate the housing initiative
6:00 A forward-thinking board and strong labor union relationships
6:45 Community buy-in, and the dog park request
8:00 Documenting the process so other districts can replicate it
9:00 What emancipatory leadership means: power to the people closest to the pain
10:45 200 schools, no one-size-fits-all: regional autonomy within system stability
11:10 Influence over power: building voice, agency, and community
12:30 Giving principals protected time together for communities of practice
13:30 The Balboa Elementary model: one full grade level out every day
14:00 The Yale research finding that stopped superintendents cold
15:30 What actually moves student achievement: competitive wages and time
16:15 Affordable housing as peace of mind, the missing layer in teacher time
17:45 BRAND NEW: The Regional Housing Finance Authority
18:15 What if we built affordable housing around under-enrolled schools?
19:30 40% of community college students are housing insecure
20:00 Bond money, votes, and a vision for families setting roots in San Diego
21:00 How to follow the initiative and access resources as they're published
21:45 Next episode teaser: Dr. Benjamin Freud, The Green School Bali
🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Next Week: Dr. Benjamin Freud, Head of Upper School at Green School Bali, challenges everything we think we know about education, from the dangers of "global citizenship" as a mission statement to why rubrics and standardized assessment are fundamentally at odds with how learning actually works.
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Next Episode
In part one of my S5E32 Schoolutions conversation, Dr. Benjamin Freud, Head of Upper School at Green School Bali, challenges conventional beliefs about education. This conversation explores the philosophy of education, questioning whether traditional approaches truly foster learning. We discuss the future of education, focusing on sustainable living and environmental education as pathways to deeper understanding and innovation.
We cover:
→ Why "learning through doing" is not the same as learning and doing, and why that distinction matters for instructional strategies and lesson planning
→ How low engagement and disengaged students aren't behavior problems but design problems
→ Why global citizenship is one of the most dangerous phrases in a school mission statement
→ The difference between regenerative design, sustainability, and what it means for inspiring students and thriving schools
→ The case for philosophy in K–12 as a tool for student participation, critical thought, and whole child development
→ What biomimicry reveals about inclusive classrooms, anti-bias teaching, and a pro-kid mindset that actually scales beyond the jungle
Some Episode Mentions:
- Regenerative Education: Quality Emerges Through Community Voices
- Bruno Latour
- A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manuel De Landa
- The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
- Coconut Thinking
- The Bird Lab
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction — Meet Dr. Benjamin Freud
1:45 From Paris to Bali: Ben's arc into education
3:30 Bruno Latour and the power of assemblages
5:00 Green School Bali — what makes it different
7:00 Learning & doing (not learning through doing)
9:00 Why skills-based education can be dangerous
11:00 Preparing students for an unknown future
13:00 The sixth mass extinction — education's missing priority
15:00 AI, outputs are dead — it's all about inputs now
18:00 The bio collective and what "we" really means
19:30 The Bird Lab — biomimicry for regenerative design
22:00 Why inclusion always involves exclusion
24:30 Lightning round begins
25:00 Why "global citizenship" is a dangerous phrase
26:30 Stop teaching world history — teach global history
27:30 More philosophy in schools
28:30 History should be taught backward
29:30 What's coming in Part 2: rubrics and assessment
🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me as a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
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