Shows
Hallway ConversationsEpisode 128: What Do Successful Teachers Have in Common? (A conversation with Paul Lapka)Today we are delighted to have a guest joining us for our hallway conversation: Dave’s long-time pal, Paul Lapka. Paul currently serves as principal at an elementary school in California, and we’re excited that he will be moving to Northwest Iowa next year to become the principal at the school where Abby’s kids attend! In our conversation, we pick Paul’s brain about the kinds of things he sees successful teachers doing: from exceptional teaching practices, to a learner mindset, to the humility to be willing to keep trying. We talk about the “tricks of the trade,” an...
2025-11-1925 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 127: Parent-Teacher Conferences (or, “we really learned this stuff through the school of hard knocks!”)Abby and Dave start off this conversation reconnecting after a week of not seeing each other, because we were both presenting at different Christian education conferences. After a little catching up and reconnecting, we shift to our main topic: parent teacher conferences. (‘Tis the season!) We share stories of our own experiences as young teachers, learning how to lead a parent-teacher conference, partly through the school of hard knocks. We describe lessons we learned, and things we found that worked well for getting on the same page with parents, because we all care about the kids. We also share a...
2025-11-0519 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 126: Re-energizing in the Middle of the Semester (or, “the honeymoon is over, and it’s time to mix things up!”)We are in a season of transition! It’s been a wonderful journey as a trio, but with changing demands, Matt is going to step away from the podcast. We are grateful for the time and conversations we’ve had over the past four and a half years(!) and we wish him well as he moves into other adventures. Abby and Dave have decided to continue to record new episodes, and we hope you’ll continue to join us in the metaphorical hallway.
In today’s episode, we are thinking about what it looks like to be in the m...
2025-10-2218 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 125: Welcome Back! (or…”It’s been a hot minute, and we need to catch up…”)After a summer away, it sure felt good to get back together in front of our microphones. This first episode for season 10 is really just catching up on all the things we’ve been doing since we last recorded in May, and sharing about all the cool stuff we have coming up in the next couple of months as well. We’re excited to be back with you, friends, and we hope and pray that our hallway conversations here on the podcast will be an encouragement for you all to have hallway conversations of your own. Looking forward to conn...
2025-09-1029 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 124: Winding Down (or, Abby is an award-winning teacher, and we’re all here to reflect on our learning)We are at the end of another semester, and at the end of another season of this podcast adventure. In this episode, we reflect together on our practices, on the things we are taking away from this year, the nature of teaching as “planting seeds,” and the importance of Sabbath for educators. We hope that this conversation encourages you all to wrap up your own academic years well, friends. With this episode, we are going on hiatus for the summer, but we plan to be back with you with new episodes in the fall. We hope you’ll have time t...
2025-05-2128 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 122: Finding Joy Amidst Frustration (or, Dave adopted a dog and is navigating this!)This episode was prompted by an email Dave sent to the rest of the crew–we’ll let you listen to hear the details–but it has to do with finding lots of joy amidst some frustration. This got us thinking about the nature of joy, and we share some of the joyful memories we have from our growing up years as we begin. Then we shift to talking about finding joy in the work of teaching, even when it is challenging, demanding, and downright frustrating. How can we look for joy, and help our students learn to see joy as...
2025-04-0930 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 121: Deepening Our Understanding of Christian Education (a conversation with Shaun Brooker)In this episode we have the opportunity to interview our new friend, Shaun Brooker, who serves as Head of School at Hamilton Christian School in Hamilton, New Zealand. It was a pleasure to meet Shaun in person at the recent Converge conference in Orlando, and we were delighted that Shaun was able to join us for the show, despite the time difference between the Waikato region in New Zealand and Northwest Iowa–he is 18 hours ahead of us! Shaun is a thoughtful, passionate leader, as you will find as you listen. In this wide-ranging conversation about Christian education, Shaun sh...
2025-03-2649 minHallway ConversationsBonus Episode: It's Good to Be Smart!Friends, we know it’s been a bit since we’ve had a new episode. Never fear! We have more fun ideas still to come this spring, including some great interviews. In the meantime, we’d like to share Dave’s side project: another podcast! This one is a STEM-oriented podcast supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation called It’s Good to Be Smart! The idea is that science teachers (grades 5-10) could use the episodes in this podcast to support their teaching. Season 1 is all about matter–the building blocks of the universe. This episode is all about...
2025-03-1909 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 120: Accountability and Trust (a conversation with Darryl De Boer)Matt noticed that it was four years ago last week that we started this podcast adventure–and what a wonderful time it’s been for us! We’re so grateful to you all, dear listeners, for joining us on this journey. We hope it will continue to be a blessing for you. In honor of that milestone, we start things off with some reflections on what we have learned and what we love about this project.
This week we are joined in the studio (aka, Abby’s office with the creaky table) by our good friend, Darryl De Boer...
2025-02-1936 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 119: Teacher Collaboration (or, why Abby thinks co-teaching is a fantastic idea and we should do more of it!)In this episode we think about whether teaching is best pursued as a solo project, or whether it makes more sense in this day and age to look for ways teachers can collaborate in the work of teaching. We share some stories of our own experiences–in higher ed, and in our K-12 teaching–where we tried co-teaching. We explore the benefits and drawbacks, and try to paint a realistic picture of what a strong co-teaching approach might look like in practice. We hope this will encourage you to have more conversations about what collaborative teaching could look like in y...
2025-02-0522 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 118: Always Becoming, Never Arriving (or, Dave’s book is finally out!)Welcome to a crossover episode with our good friend, Dr. Justin Bailey, who hosts the In All Things podcast. Justin reached out to us, because he wanted to interview Dave about his book, which is out now! We agreed, and what you have before you today is a special episode all about the book. Justin, Abby, and Matt ask Dave about his motivations for writing the book, the content, the approach, and really the heart of it all: developing an imagination for teaching “Christianly.”
Dave’s book, Always Becoming, Never Arriving: Developing an Imagination for Teaching Christianly is availab...
2025-01-2240 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 117: Christmas Gifts! (or, Dave got a rubber duckie from a student, and he’s an idealist)Christmas time is here! (Cue the “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!” music!) It’s the end of the semester, and we take a little time to reflect on what we’ve done and what we’ve learned this semester. Matt prompts the discussion this week with a two-part question: 1) What gifts did we receive from our students this year? And 2) What gifts would we like to give to educators? We have a lot of great things we have found blessings from our students, from their reflective responses, to their self-knowledge, to their hospitality, welcoming nature, and idealism. We also have gifts we w...
2024-12-1823 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 116: So Many Things! (or, what happens when we don’t actually plan a topic and just talk in front of our microphones)For those who have been with us from the beginning, you might remember how this podcast started with just Matt and Dave, and how we didn’t tell each other the question we were going to bring in, and just stumbled our way through thinking on our feet about how we might answer that question. We are recapturing a bit of that feeling in this episode! We sat down at our microphones at our normally-scheduled recording hour…and looked at each other expectantly, waiting for someone to remind us what our topic was for this week’s episode. We quickl...
2024-12-0426 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 115: Being a Real Human Being (or, why Dave should not teach when he isn't feeling well)In this episode we start off with some random check-in questions from Matt, inviting us to share some things about ourselves. (Be ready for some silliness, dear listeners!) This leads us into Dave sharing a story about teaching while not feeling well…and how he nearly passed out in class. The question Dave raises: how much should we let students see us as “real human beings?” We talk through various aspects of appropriate self-disclosure for teachers, the role of liking students and being liked by students in return, and strategies for giving students glimpses of who we really are beyond...
2024-11-2031 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 114: What Should We Do about AI in Education? (or, Matt has a lot of questions, and Abby and Dave have ideas)We start off this episode sharing about the different things we’ve been doing lately, with different conferences where we’ve been presenting lately. (It was marvelous for Abby and Matt to meet up with many listeners at CEA!) Dave’s conference actually sparked the topic for this week’s conversation: so many of the sessions at his EdTech conference dealt with AI in Education. We have questions, and maybe the beginnings of some answers. We discuss a whole range of ideas, from what AI is and what it currently can and cannot do, the potential impacts on teachers’ pedagogy...
2024-11-0634 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 113: Why Aren’t People Becoming Teachers? (or, why Dave thinks we have to elevate the profession!)This week we start off with a rant about Christmas decorations already being out in the stores (it’s only the middle of October!) which turned into a just-for-fun check-in question about our favorite Halloween treats from our youth. The heart of our conversation today stemmed from an impromptu conversation Matt had with a campus visitor about the Education profession, and the prospective student was definitely not planning to become a teacher. Their conversation prompted our discussion: why aren’t people coming into the profession today? We think around some of the narratives about the profession, and what parts are...
2024-10-2325 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 112: Connections (or..."We're Back, Baby!")We’re (finally!) back in the studio (okay, Abby’s office with a creaky table) to record again. We’ve missed this so much! We start by catching up about some of the events of our summer, and the things we have upcoming–lots of opportunities for us to meet up with Christian educators in different places. We love connecting with colleagues across North America, and around the world! And along these lines, our main conversation this week is about “connection” in schools–as in, what does it look like for people to be “connected” to their school community? Matt shared some q...
2024-10-0928 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 111: What Have We Learned? (or, why Dave believes “the people are the work!”)Our final episode for this season–a little time to reflect on Matt’s question, “What does it look like to end well?” We shared some of the joys and sorrows we feel at the end of a term, ideas for how to end well, and some of the things we deeply believe about the rhythms of the school year. We also took some time to look back over this year and name some of the things we have learned. We recognize that we are all still works in progress and have not yet “arrived” as teachers and leaders. We hope you’...
2024-05-2218 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 107: Teacher Leadership (or, why Abby is an effective leader, even though she never wants to be a principal)We start off today’s episode by checking in about our spring break shenanigans; we were all out traveling, and found it a wonderful time to recharge–a good reminder for us (and hopefully for you too!) that we need to take breaks, get a change of scenery, and recharge. The main topic for our discussion today came from Dave’s questions: “What is teacher leadership? And how do teachers function as leaders in school?” We discuss different ways that teachers can function as leaders–for good, or for ill–in school, even if they don’t have a formal title. We...
2024-03-2728 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 104: Power in the Classroom (or, why Dave is a “whimsical” teacher)In this episode we begin with a check-in about our favorite fashion choices from our high school days that we kind of wish would come around again. (You might be surprised…or maybe not at all!) From that silliness, we take a hard turn into a very serious topic–power in the classroom. Dave set the stage by sharing a quote from a book that got him thinking about the nature of power, how teachers use their power, and the way students respond. We think through our own growth as teachers and how we needed to assert power at some...
2024-02-1428 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 103: The Good Old Days (or, why Abby is the in-between generation, even though she never owned a flip phone)Welcome to Season 8! We’re excited to be back with you for another set of hallway conversations. We start off with a check-in about what sparked joy for us since the last time we’ve been recording, and we hope this is an encouragement for you all to practice check-ins with your students and/or colleagues as well. Matt brought the question for our discussion this week, asking us to think about how things have changed–for better, or for worse–since we began teaching. There are so many things we named from the “Good Old Days,” from technologies, to student e...
2024-01-3124 minHallway ConversationsBonus: Christmas in the Hallway, 2023It’s Christmastime! Thanks so much for listening in throughout 2023, friends, and we hope that this Christmas season will be full of peace, love, and joy for you. We hope that this short episode is a word of encouragement that will bless you as you close out 2023.
We are taking a break for a few weeks, but will be back in the studio in late January with some new and exciting things to share with you! Look for new episodes around the beginning of February.
In this episode, Dave mentions his newsletter, and a story about Advent devotionals he...
2023-12-2007 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 102: Assessment Imaginings (or, ”Are we teaching students? Or teaching students to take tests?”)This week, kind of an old-school Hallway Conversation like we did back in the early days of the show: Dave springs a question about assessment on Abby and Matt, and we just think out loud together about what assessment really, and what it is “for.” In particular, a conversation Dave had with a friend who is a K-12 teacher sparked a wondering about “just how much time should we devote to assessing learning vs. actually teaching the content?” We hope the discussion might prompt some wondering of your own–and that you might have a hallway conversation with a colleague...
2023-12-0625 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 101: Stories of Thanksgiving and EncouragementThis week: three short pieces stitched together that we hope will prompt a little thanksgiving, and will give you a word of encouragement for the work you are called to do as an educator. This episode includes a section we snipped out of our previous episode in which we interviewed our friend, Lynn Swaner. (See episode 099 - it’s a really good one!) It also includes two short pieces from Dave’s now-defunct blog that we hope will give you a little boost. Also, it’s been an insane couple of weeks between a few of us teaching an overlo...
2023-11-2217 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 100: A LIVE Hallway Conversation! - Recorded in front of a live audience at the Christian Educators’ Association ConferenceIt’s our 100th episode!!! We’re proud–and a little surprised, honestly–that we’ve made it to this milestone. Thanks to you loyal listeners for being with us throughout the journey to this point! Coincidentally, we had the joy of recording a live episode at the Christian Educators’ Association Convention held in South Bend, Indiana in October 2023, which became a fun celebration for our 100th episode as well; it was great to connect with some fans of the show while we were there. We solicited a bunch of questions from the audience, and it was fun to think on our...
2023-11-0845 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 098: Walking the Camino, part II (or, education as pilgrimage)This week is part two of our conversation with our co-host Abby De Groot along with our friends Rikki Brons and Gayle Doornbos as they share about their adventure this summer on pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. We recommend that you go back and listen to our last episode before diving into part two of the conversation. In this part of the conversation, we focus on what pilgrimage is, what it is all about, and how pilgrimage might even be educational—an adventure in pedagogy. We discuss the difference between pilgrimage and “going for a walk,” the ro...
2023-10-1130 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 097: Walking the Camino, part I (or, pilgrimage is both an individual and communal exercise)This week’s episode is a special first part of a two-part episode. We have a couple of friends joining us today, Dr. Rikki Brons and Dr. Gayle Doornbos. Abby, Rikki, and Gayle adventured together this summer, going on a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. The Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route traveled by Christians for centuries, and this was no vacation: this was a spiritual and educational journey! In this episode, we hear a bit about what prompted this pilgrimage for them, how it worked, and what they learned. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing abou...
2023-09-2724 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 096: Our Favorite Podcasts (or, why Dave Mulder dominates at trivia)So…we were a little punchy recording this episode, because it was Friday afternoon and it had been a long week. We hope you enjoy a little extra silliness and bantering back and forth! This episode is in response to a question from a listener; Mike asked us to share some of the podcasts we love (besides this one) and were happy to share. There are a wide range of different ideas here, but we think you’ll find something to add to your list for listening–things that we think will bring you opportunities for learning, or laughter, or bot...
2023-09-1326 minHallway ConversationsSummer 2023 Replay: What’s the Value in Project-Based Learning?Greetings, loyal listeners! We are still in full summer mode, but don't worry--more new episodes coming your way soon. This week is a replay of a popular episode from about one year into this podcasting adventure; hopefully, you'll enjoy re-listening (or perhaps listening for the first time!)
And so, for today, one from the archives. Our main topic in this episode was sparked by a question from a listener; Loretta asks, “In the past few years, our school has embraced Project Based Learning as a preferred teaching method. What are your thoughts on PBL? And what do you...
2023-08-0925 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 094: More Encouragement for Novice Teachers (and the difference between ”good” and ”great?”)This is a new episode, but perhaps a little different than most! We have had a terrible time getting the three of us to be in the same place at the same time with the mindset and wherewithal to record new episodes. (Never fear–new episodes are coming soon! Once we’re all back from our summer travels, we’ll get back into our normal routine.) :-) In the meantime, this one is made up of two elements: both a snippet from an earlier conversation that Dave had cut out during the editing process, as well as a solo record...
2023-07-2612 minHallway ConversationsSummer 2023 Replay: Changing Our MindsGreetings, loyal listeners! We are into full summer mode now, but don't worry--more new episodes coming your way soon. We plan to work around our travel schedules and different pace of the summer months, and we will still have an episode for your listening pleasure every other week as has become our pattern. But we probably be alternating new episodes and replays throughout the summer--hopefully, you'll enjoy re-listening (or perhaps listening for the first time!) to some of our earlier episodes.
And so, for today, one from the archives. In this episode, Dave kicks things off by...
2023-06-1424 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 089: Efficient and Effective Grading (or, maybe we could just stop grading everything??)Our discussion this week was sparked by a hallway conversation about all the grading we are doing these days. Abby shared a couple of resources (posted below) that she has shared with the future teachers we serve–some really good prompts! As we looked at these pieces, we saw many ways we are already implementing some of these strategies, and some strategies we might like to try in the future as well. We hope there are some great nudges here for you in ways to be more effective and efficient in getting feedback to your students, no matter the gr...
2023-04-1920 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 088: Math Anxiety and ”Mathletes”: A Conversation with Dr. Val ZonnefeldThis week, we are joined with our good friend and colleague, Dr. Val Zonnefeld, who teaches in the Dordt University Department of Mathematics. Her expertise is in math education, and she teaches multiple courses for the future teachers in our program–both math content, and math methods. We start this episode by sharing our own “math stories”: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Val has extensive knowledge from the research in math education as well as a ton of practical experience from her years teaching math in middle school, high school, and college classrooms. Throughout our conversation, Val shares...
2023-04-0534 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 087: Hiring Teachers and Keeping Teachers (or, “Jeans Friday” and coffee gift cards won’t cut it!)Abby kicks things off for this week’s conversation as it’s “hiring season,” and she is serving on a hiring committee for teachers at her own kids’ school. We also see our students, future teachers that they are, heading into interviews, and know that they are highly sought after! (You might not have heard, but there is a bit of a teacher shortage going on!) All joking aside, in this episode we discuss the challenges of the teaching profession today. In particular, we wonder how schools can acknowledge the hard work teachers do, facilitate ways to make that work more...
2023-03-2222 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 085: Beating the February Doldrums (or, if you want to keep your ice from melting, try packing it in ground beef!)“For the shortest month…February is the LONGEST MONTH.” In this light, Dave brings the question for this episode: “How can we beat the February doldrums?” We think out loud together, as usual, and share some of our strategies. Some are small things, like just noticing how the days are getting longer. Others are bigger strategies, like dress-up days, or including intriguing projects, or saving a high-interest mini-unit that brings you delight to break up this stretch. We also think about how we sometimes need “permission to play”--and encourage ourselves (and our students) to be a little silly, playful, and wh...
2023-02-1519 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 084: Reading Biographies: An Ode to Claire Alexander (or, stay out of the dryer kids!)Today’s conversation was sparked by an assignment Abby gives in one of her courses–she has her students write a “reading biography” to reflect on their process of becoming a reader, how they feel about reading, and how their stories impact their reading habits even today. This has us thinking about our own reading biographies, and we shared some of our own stories, including Matt’s love of hockey cards, Abby’s secret hiding places (stay out of the dryer, kids!), and the time Dave got mugged on his way home from the public library. (So many reading adventures...
2023-02-0122 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 083: ”Always Becoming” (and Pablo Escobar’s Hippos?)Welcome to Season 6! We are excited to dive into more conversations with you. We begin this episode with a little reflecting on the journey that has brought us to this point; we’re so grateful to you, dear listener, for joining us on the journey.
This episode is inspired by the fact that Dave has been working on writing a book(!!!) and we spend a little time celebrating that he has completed the manuscript, and is piloting it in his Introduction to Education class this spring. The title is Always Becoming, Never Arriving: Developing an Imagination for Te...
2023-01-1822 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 082: Christmas (and Breaks!)It's a shorty solo episode from Dave this week, as the three of us haven’t been able to get together long enough in the same room to record an episode in the past two weeks! In this episode, Dave shares an old post from his now-defunct blog about the importance of taking breaks. We hope it’s an encouragement to you to embrace the change of pace that comes with Christmas break. We’ll be back with new episodes in January!
If you’re interested in reading Dave’s original post, you can find it here: https://iteach-and...
2022-12-2104 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 081: An Advent InvitationMatt and Dave had a great time away in British Columbia recording our last episode with our friend Darren Spyksma, but it sure is good to be back with our normal trio–we definitely missed having Abby with us!
After a little good-natured joking around, we turn much more serious, thinking about the Advent season we are now in. All three of us love Advent! Matt brought along an Advent prayer that we used to open our conversation today. Dave recently shared an Advent story in his email newsletter, which became a big part of our conversation to...
2022-12-0718 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 080: A LIVE Episode from InspirED!Matt and Dave recently had the opportunity to travel to British Columbia for the InspirED Christian Educators’ Conference, and while we definitely missed Abby, we loved having the opportunity to record a live episode while we were there. Regular listeners will notice a dip in audio quality–hazards of recording a live episode in a large room! (Thanks for listening anyway; we think there will be a good bit of wondering and curiosity for anyone who listens in.)
Because we’re used to being a trio now, we asked our good friend, Darren Spyksma to join in the fu...
2022-11-2347 minHallway ConversationsBonus: More Thoughts on Teaching Bible with Gayle DoornbosThis week: a short bonus episode with more wisdom about teaching the Bible from our friend and colleague, Dr. Gayle Doornbos. After we “finished” recording our last episode, Dave left the mics on and kept recording. Gayle had more wise things to share about faith formation as part of a Bible class. We hope you’ll be encouraged, challenged, and blessed by what she has to say here!
A peek behind the scenes: this is almost always how we end our recording sessions--with Dave just leaving the mics on. Once in a while, we have a great moment that g...
2022-11-0209 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 078: Advice for Teaching the Bible - with Gayle DoornbosThis week, Abby was not able to join us for recording, and while we definitely missed her, we were grateful to have a good friend from the Theology Department join us, Dr. Gayle Doornbos, Associate Professor of Theology at Dordt University. Gayle teaches a course entitled “Teaching the Bible,” and knowing this, we invited her to join us for a conversation about teaching the Bible as an academic subject. As Matt and Dave both have had their own (mis)adventures in teaching Bible classes, we thought Gayle’s insight and experience would be worth sharing with our listeners, as we hav...
2022-10-2628 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 076: Adventures in Reimagining AssessmentThank you, loyal listeners, for joining us each week! You may have noticed that there was no episode in the queue last week. Never fear; we have no intention of giving up on the podcast! But with some changes to responsibilities for two of us this year, we are having a harder and harder time getting all three of us into the studio together to record a weekly episode. So we are planning to shift to an every-other-week schedule for the foreseeable future. We hope you’ll continue to join us for each new episode when they drop. We lo...
2022-09-2826 minHallway ConversationsSummer 2022 Replay: FailureGreetings, loyal listeners! We have had a terrible time finding shared times for recording lately, but don't worry--more new episodes coming your way soon. For today, one from the archives. In this episode, Matt asks the question, “What’s up with all this talk of failure and what do we mean when we talk about ‘failure?’ Is failure truly essential to learning? And how do we reconcile failure when we live in a culture that can hyper-promote excellence and success?” We try to define what we actually mean by “failure,” and we discuss why some schools seem to hold up failure as...
2022-08-1022 minHallway ConversationsSummer 2022 Replay: PositivityGreetings, loyal listeners! We have had a terrible time finding shared times for recording lately, but don't worry--more new episodes coming your way soon. For today, one from the archives. In this episode, Dave is wondering about positivity, which is typically one of his strengths, but questions whether positivity can sometimes become toxic. We begin by talking about potentially-problematic positivity in our personal lives before turning our attention to our work as educators. We talk about how teachers can model for students and demonstrate appropriate ways to communicate emotions. We briefly touch on what to do with negativity in t...
2022-08-0321 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 071: The Work of Imagination in Teaching ChristianlyToday’s episode was inspired by Dave’s recent re-reading of David Smith’s book, On Christian Teaching. Dave is wondering about the work of imagination and how it connects to teaching “Christianly.” Smith encourages teachers to “see anew”--to reflect on our practices, and perhaps develop more of an imagination for the work of teaching, and the possibilities and potential of how we can help students to “see anew” through our pedagogy. We talk through different ideas for how this might play out for teachers in their work, and share some examples from our own teaching as well.
We’d always...
2022-07-2726 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 066: Why Free Reading Is Important (Or, Just Say No to Accelerated Reader)In today’s episode, Abby mentions a tweet that she read recently that prompted wondering about what free reading could (should?) look like in middle school and high school classrooms. We jumped into talking through the joys and challenges of creating a culture of reading–and how it might be more of an expectation at the elementary grades, but could have huge benefits for older students as well. We question the role of accountability programs like Accelerated Reader, and discuss the ways AR actually doesn’t promote a healthy, positive culture of reading within a school. Abby shares from her ex...
2022-06-1523 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 065: What Are Report Cards For?Dave’s Facebook memories recently reminded him of his former role as a Technology Director in K-12, when part of his job involved printing report cards, which got him thinking about the purpose of report cards, and whether they do what we think they do. Dave shares his frustration about the reductionism in trying to compress a whole term’s learning into just one symbol–a letter grade. We candidly share our own school experiences with getting grades and how they were reported on report cards. We wonder together about alternative ways we could think about communicating learning in ways t...
2022-06-0824 minHallway ConversationsBonus: Chit Chat in the HallwayConsider this a peek behind the scenes...we really are friends, and we really do just hang out together and talk about things. When we get set to record, we usually start with a sound check, and then jump in. But sometimes we go off on a tangent right from the get-go...and that's what happened here. K-pop, fiction we're reading right now, Dave's recent vacation...it all shows up in a 10-minute window. We hope you enjoy this bonus episode!
2022-06-0311 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 064: Teaching Who We AreOur check-in today is about the different rhythms of summer; Matt starts us off with the myth of “summers off” for teachers, but we recognize that we do have different opportunities with the coming of the summer months. Late bedtimes, smoothies for lunch, and changing exercise routines–we have lots to enjoy with the coming of summer!
Our main topic of discussion today comes from Matt’s recent re-reading of Parker J. Palmer’s impactful book, The Courage to Teach. (Which is one of Dave’s very favorite books ever.) A central concept in the book is one we’ve me...
2022-06-0127 minHallway ConversationsTransitioning towards Summer Bonus - The Staff RoomMany thanks to you, our dedicated listeners! We are in that hectic season of wrapping up our semester with all of the final grading and reporting and final details, so we did not have margin to get into the studio (a.k.a., Dave's office with a cheap microphone) to record a new episode. But you are in luck! We are pulling a classic episode out of the archive. In this episode, we discuss the problems and potential of the staff room. What happens in the staff room? What should happen in the staff room? We hope you'll be c...
2022-05-2520 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 063: We Invite You to Do NothingWe educators are such busy people, aren’t we? In today’s episode, we consider a selection from Jenny Odell’s book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Maybe this sounds like we are encouraging slothfulness? Not that, exactly…but we discuss the idea of being intentional in planning ways to be fully present in Creation, with family and friends, and perhaps choosing to do different things. We consider the magnetic pull of social media, and the way it pushes us to feel FOMO (fear of missing out.) Odell suggests that we instead embrace NOMO (the necessity of missi...
2022-05-1824 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 061: Riding a Unicycle on the Edge of a CliffFor today’s check-in question, Matt asks us what random things we have on our desks or shelves that tell something about us. You might be surprised by what we share…or maybe not! As we are looking towards the end of another academic year, the main topic today is around summative assessment. Dave recently shared a professional development workshop for a local school about the topic, and we spend some time thinking about the purposes and practices of summative assessment. Dave shares his definition for summative assessment, and then we argue a bit about the different ways summative asse...
2022-05-0424 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 055: What’s the Value in Project-Based Learning?We start off today’s show with a check-in question, wondering about who we would like to interview if we each had our own talk show. Our responses probably say quite a bit about each of our own unique personalities! Our main topic today is a question from a listener; Loretta asks, “In the past few years, our school has embraced Project Based Learning as a preferred teaching method. What are your thoughts on PBL? And what do you think are some of the best things about PBL and maybe what are some of the downfalls of teaching in a PB...
2022-03-2325 minHallway ConversationsSpring Break 2022 Bonus - AwardsMany thanks to you, our dedicated listeners! We are on Spring Break this week, and so we are pulling one of Dave's favorite episodes out of the archive. In this episode, we discuss a question from a listener about end-of-the-year awards ceremonies--maybe this will be good food for thought for you at this point in the spring as you might be thinking ahead to the end of this school year? We hope you'll be challenged and encouraged by listening.
Friends, we are preparing for our first book discussion! We are going to be reading and discussing Flourishing Together...
2022-03-1624 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 052: Preserving, Pruning, and PioneeringToday’s check-in question caused us to reminisce about our favorite road trips, and you definitely don’t want to miss Matt’s story about a mysterious stranger who just might have been an angel in disguise. After this, Dave raises a question inspired by another podcast he was listening to recently: thinking about education today, what is something we should preserve, something we should prune, and something we should pioneer? As we share our ideas, we grapple with the role of librarians, whether we should chuck standardized tests or not, the value of Accelerated Reader, the challenge of managi...
2022-02-2325 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 050: Digital Devices, and Riding into BattleIn this episode, Dave kicked things off with a weird check-in question about fantasy beasts and riding into battle. (We’ll see if we let him ask the check-in question in the future…this got a little strange!) Today we have a question from a listener! Joseph asked us a question about what to do when school leaders begin to realize that students are misusing school-issued devices. Drawing on our various experiences in school leadership, teaching, and educational technology, we think through some different ways schools and parents can partner together to help students learn about the ways digital devi...
2022-02-0922 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 049: Design, Creativity, and Cruising the LoopOur check-in question today brought us back to our high school experiences, and we wind up talking about cruising the loop, mullets, and how we know every single word of some songs. (And, of course, we would LOVE to hear your stories related to this check-in question; please drop us a line at hallwayonvospod@gmail.com.) We then turn to more substantial topics of discussion, prompted by a quote Abby brings us from Dan Pink’s book A Whole New Mind related to the design of toilet brushes (of all things!) and how this illustrates the importance of good de...
2022-02-0224 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 046: Orbiting the Giant HairballThis week’s conversation starts with Matt’s check-in question of, “What brought you joy this week?” (Are you using check-in questions with your students? We’d love to hear from you about this. You can always contact us at hallwayconvospod@gmail.com) The main discussion this week stems from a quote Dave brought from the book Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie: “Orville Wright did not have a pilot’s license.” We think through the conditions teachers need to feel empowered to take risks, and how collaboration is a key aspect of thriving together–not getting tangled up in the “giant h...
2022-01-1224 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 045: Coping with NewnessHappy New Year! The Hallway Conversations crew is excited to be back with you for a new season and more conversations about teaching and our ongoing learning. After some silliness and laughter checking in with our New Year’s resolutions, we get down to the question of the week. Dave raises the question, “How do we cope with new things?” This is the time of the year where educators are in the thick of things, and yet we often have the opportunity to engage with new things as well as we turn the calendar over. We talk through some new co...
2022-01-0517 minHallway ConversationsChristmas 2021 Bonus - Lessons from COVIDLike last week...we are taking a short break from recording new content in light of the busyness of the end of our semester. This week's bonus episode: the first episode where Matt and Dave invited Abby to join us in front of the microphone. Obviously, the quality of the discourse improved as soon as Abby was here, so we quickly encouraged her to join the team--and the podcast is better because she did! This episode includes some storytelling around the lessons we all learned from a year of emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19. We hope you'll enjoy t...
2021-12-2229 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 043: The Danger of a Single StoryWe have a lot of silliness in the intro to this episode, with Dave complaining about having a cold, an argument about whether real or fake Christmas trees are superior, and a surprise visit from our good friend and colleague, Ed. When we finally pull things together, Abby brings us a quote from a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie entitled “The Danger of a Single Story,” and prompts us to continue the discussion from our last episode about stories and the role of storytelling in both our pedagogy and curricula. Through the ensuing discussion, we think through what voic...
2021-12-0822 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 042: Teaching as Storytelling?This week, Dave brought a passage from Kieran Egan’s book, Teaching as Storytelling and raised the question, “How do we invite students to see their learning as part of a storyline?” We talk about the way stories can grab not just students’ minds (intellect) but their hearts (emotions) as well. Matt brings up the idea of human beings as “story-formed people” and we discuss the way that stories can draw students into deeper learning. We also talk about helping our students find themselves inside the stories of the curriculum...and how the Big Story of Scripture (Creation, Fall, Redemption...
2021-12-0122 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 041: Thanksgivings & GratitudeThis week, Abby raises the question, “What are you thankful for?” (She jokes that it’s the cliche question...but it *is* Thanksgiving week in the U.S., and we *do* have plenty to be thankful for.) The three of us share things about our work that bring us joyful gratitude in spite of the challenges that come with the work of teaching. Our deep hope for this episode is that it might give you some encouragement, and maybe a few laughs, and perhaps it will spark you to think about the things related to your work that give you a...
2021-11-2418 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 040: ”More than one thing is happening when we teach...”This week, Dave brought a quote from David Smith’s book, On Christian Teaching and closed with the question, “What really matters when we are teaching?” We spend some time thinking through the wide range of things that happen simultaneously when we are teaching, and how we can focus on the things that really matter amidst all of the complexity in what happens in the classroom. As Matt says it, “How can we make sure that we are actually on about the things we say we are on about?”
We highly recommend you read David I. Smith's book On Chr...
2021-11-1721 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 039: Partnering with ParentsThis week, Abby—fresh off of parent-teacher conferences for her own kids—prompted us to think about the question, “What are some ways that we, as schools and teachers, can partner well with parents in the education of their kids?” We think both broadly about what “partnership” means, and more specifically about some particular things educators can do to build bridges between home and school, including “good calls home,” three-way conferences between teachers, parents, and students, and school-wide celebrations of learning. Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or a school leader, we hope this episode is an encouragement to you in foster...
2021-11-1025 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 038: Online Learning...the Future of Education???This week we have a question from a listener! Alex asked the question, “In the pandemic we suddenly saw schools scrambling to operate online. Many schools were not truly ready for this. When you look at the role of online in the realm of education, what do you see as its place in the fabric of what schools do?” We think through the things schools and teachers experienced in the early days of the pandemic with the scramble to teach online, and the difference between online learning that was designed for online and what Dave calls “emergency remote teaching.” We think...
2021-11-0318 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 037: On Empathy for Students (And Taylor Swift)This week, we have a question from a listener! An anonymous listener asked the question, “If you could share one thing with a middle school student who is having a rough week…what would you tell them?” We think through ways to help encourage and support students, and we consider the importance of responding with empathy. Along the way we consider taking our students’ world seriously...and we learn that Abby is secretly a fan of Taylor Swift.
We do recommend that you listen to Taylor Swift’s song, “Fifteen,” which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ
2021-10-2720 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 035: A LIVE Recording of Hallway Conversations!We recently had the opportunity to record an episode in front of a live audience! We were at the Heartland Christian Educators Convention held on the campus of Dordt University in early October. We started by sharing some stories in response to Matt’s question, “Why did you become an educator...and what keeps you in education?” After this, we tackled a variety of questions submitted from our audience. We answered questions about risk-taking in the classroom, how often schools should review their curriculum, how to make school coffee more palatable, the mixed value of final exams, and Dave’s (quest...
2021-10-1339 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 034: When it All Seems Like Too MuchThis week, we have a question from some listeners--students of ours, who listen to the show!--who are wondering about what to do if they realize the negative environment of the school they are serving is affecting their mental and emotional well-being. We recognize that this actually describes what many educators are currently experiencing in their work today! We think out loud together about ways to approach this challenging situation, and think about what self care looks like for contemporary educators. As part of our conversation, Abby shared a piece by Jennifer Gonzalez, which you can read in its...
2021-10-0625 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 032: Our Areas of Expertise - LeadershipThis week we conclude our mini-series in which we reflect upon and share about our areas of expertise. This week, we ask Matt to share about one of his areas of expertise and passion: school leadership. Matt shares his story of how he became a school leader, and some of the key lessons he learned along the way. Abby shares that her kids’ school is currently looking for a school leader, and asks Matt for advice on what they might look for in an effective school leader. As always, lots of laughter, as we try to take our work ve...
2021-09-2223 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 031: Our Areas of Expertise - LiteracyThis week we continue our mini-series in which we reflect upon and share about our areas of expertise. This week, Abby shares from her well of wisdom about one of her several areas of expertise: Literacy. We focus especially on content-area literacy, and Abby helps us expand our understanding of what literacy looks like in content areas beyond language arts courses--and how it actually shows up in every discipline in some ways. She also shares some stories and tips for helping students effectively communicate their ideas, and encounter the ideas of others--the real key for literacy instruction!
In...
2021-09-1523 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 030: Our Areas of Expertise - Educational TechnologyThis week we are beginning a mini-series in which we reflect on and share about our areas of expertise. This week, Dave shares his thoughts about his area of expertise: Educational Technology. We talk about how technology is changing the teaching and learning environment. Dave tells his story of how he got started in Educational Technology, the things he’s learned along the way, and some tips for educators on how to keep learning about new technologies.
2021-09-0823 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 029: Remembering How to TeachWelcome to Season 3 of Hallway Conversations! We are excited to keep playing with ideas with you all, and we look forward to continuing to grapple with what teaching Christianly looks like as we begin this new academic year and new season of topics and questions. As we record this episode, we are at the end of our first week of the new academic year. To kick off this season, Dave asks the question, “What have you learned or remembered about teaching after week one?” We play around with some of the things we have remembered about how to teach. We h...
2021-09-0122 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 028: First Day of SchoolThis week, Matt asks the question, “How do we go about setting good rhythms for the first day of school?” We think through some of our favorite activities for the first day--ways to get students actively involved, setting the culture of the classroom, and engaging in real learning from day 1. Along the way, we discover that Abby loves scavenger hunts, that Matt has passion for knowing kids by name as a key part of building relationships, and that Dave knows all the countries of the world. (It’s a weird, free-flowing conversation, friends!) We hope that you’ll be encourag...
2021-08-1818 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 025: The Staff RoomThis week, Dave asks the question, “What happens in the staff room? What *should* happen in the staff room?” We discuss some of the positive and negative aspects of what can happen in the staff room. We share stories from our own experiences for good or ill that happened in the teachers’ lounges or faculty workrooms we’ve been part of. We also wonder about the benefits of explicitly deciding on norms for what staff members should be able to expect for what happens in the staff room--including perhaps napping?
2021-07-2818 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 024: Changing Our MindsThis week, Dave asks the question, “What is something you’ve changed your mind about?” We share a variety of stories from our own teaching practices, including the idea of learning styles, the importance of bringing in diverse perspectives, and even the way we think about what “rigor” means in education. We talk through reasons why we should change our minds about things, and whether there are things we should *not* change our minds about.
We mentioned a few resources in this episode that we wanted to include here in the show notes:
The report on the myth o...
2021-07-2123 minHallway ConversationsBonus Episode: Responding to Student WorkThis bonus episode is made up of a couple of leftovers that didn’t make the cut from our last episode about redos, but we thought you might still find this part of the conversation interesting, and maybe even helpful.
Dave asks the question, “How do you describe what you are doing when you respond to student work? Grading? Correcting? Marking?” We think through what feedback means, and how we provide students with the information they need to confirm and deepen their learning. We hope you enjoy this bonus conversation!
2021-07-0207 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 021: RedosIn today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Anna asks about the challenges that come from giving students “redos” on their work. Specifically, she asks about the balance of some students needing multiple opportunities to succeed, while others take advantage of being able to do low-quality work on the first attempt, knowing they will have the opportunity to “fix it” later. We discuss the habits of mind needed to make redos work well, what it means to be people of both grace and truth, and our own experiences with making some learning activities lower stakes for our studen...
2021-06-3021 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 019: ReputationIn today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! John asks, “How much should teachers worry about our reputations? Should we lean into a good reputation and take more risks? If we have a bad reputation, how should we go about correcting this?” In the conversation, we talk about some of the problems of how parents and students--and teachers--talk about reputations of teachers, and how they are sometimes unfairly arrived at. We discuss the role of risk-taking based on reputation, and committing to “daring acts of pedagogy.” We also consider the difference between reputation and legacy, and how teache...
2021-06-1623 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 018: Social and Emotional DevelopmentIn today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Loretta asks, “How can teachers support social and emotional development in the classroom?” We discuss what it means that students are whole persons who are developing simultaneously in many different ways--physically, cognitively, socially, emotionally, spiritually, etc.--and the importance of teachers recognizing how these different developmental domains impact each other. We share some examples from our own parenting and teaching experiences as well. Abby shared some resources for further learning, which we recommend to you:
If you appreciated this episode, you really should listen to this podcast as wel...
2021-06-0924 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 017: AwardsIn today’s episode, we have a question from a listener! Kevin asks, “What role do end-of-the-year awards ceremonies play in schools, and what role should they play?” Abby and Matt share their (very different!) experiences with high school awards ceremonies, and we think about what kinds of messages are conveyed through the particular gifts and talents we might award (or not.) Dave shares about an approach a school he used to teach at used for celebrating gifts of all of the students. We talk through various aspects of recognition, and the importance of “seeing” our students and “naming” their strength...
2021-06-0223 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 016: Professional DevelopmentIn today’s episode, Abby asks the question, “What does intentional professional growth look like for practicing teachers?” We wonder together about the pace of change, and whether some teachers get cynical about the constant flow of new ideas coming at them through professional development sessions with a sort of “this too shall pass” attitude. Matt gives insights on the importance of intentionality in professional development as a former school administrator, and Dave shares his heuristic of “rest, reading, and reflection” as a means of structuring summer professional growth. We wonder quite a bit about the way schools can leverage the ex...
2021-05-2621 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 015: PositivityIn today’s episode, Dave asks the question, “Is there ever a point when positivity becomes toxic, or even just problematic?” We begin by talking about potentially-problematic positivity in our personal lives before turning our attention to our work as educators. We talk about how teachers can model for students and demonstrate appropriate ways to communicate emotions. We briefly touch on what to do with negativity in the staff room, and spend a little time thinking through how educators might be able to embrace healthy positivity even when things are hard.
2021-05-1920 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 014: FailureIn today’s episode, Matt asks the question, “What’s up with all this talk of failure and what do we mean when we talk about ‘failure?’ Is failure actually essential to learning? And how do we reconcile failure when we live in a culture that can hyper-promote excellence and success?” We try to define what we actually mean by “failure,” and we discuss why some schools seem to hold up failure as a key component to learning. We grapple with some students’ tendency towards perfectionism, and explore the grace that might be present in embracing risk-taking and missteps--and the importance of...
2021-05-1221 minHallway ConversationsWhat's next for Hallway Conversations?Just a mini-episode this week to update you all on some things that are happening behind the scenes at Hallway Conversations. Consider the episodes we've released so far as "season 1" of this podcast, and as we are looking ahead to starting "season 2," there are a few changes ahead!
We're so grateful that you take the time to listen in, and we hope you'll be blessed by these conversations. We're always interested in hearing from our listeners--you can always reach out with your questions, comments, and feedback at hallwayconvospod@gmail.com. We hope that these conversations will spark...
2021-05-0502 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 013: Ending the School Year WellIn this episode we are happy to again have our friend and colleague, Abby De Groot, joining in today’s conversation! Today, Matt raises the question, “With the end of the school year in sight, what might it mean to ‘end well?’” The three of us share some of the things we grapple with at the end of the academic year, and all of the feelings that come with it--joy, grieving, relief, and all the rest. We wonder about ways to mark endings well, no matter the grade level of our students. We also discuss the rhythm of the school yea...
2021-04-2823 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 012: ExcellenceIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “Are we in danger of, or have we made excellence an idol in Christian education?” We we discuss how school mission statements are structured—and how often excellence is named as part of the mission. We think through the meaning of rigor in academics, and the purpose of school as an institution. We wonder about excellence as a learning target for Christian schools; is this what we are aiming for? We get specific about things like assignments, feedback to students, and the way we use grades as a way of trying to measur...
2021-04-2122 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 011: Emotional LaborIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about the emotional labor of teaching, what do we mean, and what does it look like?” Dave explains his understanding of this term: the way we manage our own emotional state to help bring about a particular emotional state in others--which is something educators must do often. We grapple with the implications of this for educators: do we have to deny some aspect of our whole selves to do the work we are called to do? We discuss how our teaching identities play out as we do the emotional labo...
2021-04-1421 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 010: Teaching for DelightIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “How do we teach for ‘delight?’” We talk about this in the context of both delighting in our students as well as teaching them to delight in their learning. We discuss what planning looks like in teaching for delight, and the tension of balancing structure and serendipity. As we think through developing learning spaces that are safe for students even when they can be uncomfortable, we think through David Smith’s conception of “gardens of delight”--and how we can invite students into these kinds of learning opportunities to take joy in their learning...
2021-04-0718 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 009: ManagementIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “When we talk about classroom management, who or what are we actually managing?” We discuss how our thinking about management has evolved throughout our careers, including Matt’s disastrous first day of teaching Kindergarten PE. Dave shares his conception of “office consciousness” as part of creating a space where learning happens. Along the way we also discuss norms for behavior, the importance of practicing procedures, the connection between discipline and discipleship, and ideas we’ve gleaned that can help shape the classroom environment in such a way that we might not have to “manage”...
2021-03-3123 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 008: Lessons from a Year of COVIDIn this episode, we welcome our first guest to the podcast, our good friend and colleague, Abby De Groot. To kick off the conversation, Matt raises a two-fold question: “What are your initial reflections as we look back at this past year? And, what shouldn’t (or should) return to ‘normal’ as we move forward?” The three of us reflect together on things that we experienced over the past 12 months, and how it has shaped our work as educators. We share ideas we’ve noticed about how the challenges of teaching in a COVID world have pushed teachers, students, and whole sc...
2021-03-2428 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 007: Classroom CultureIn this episode, Dave asks the question, “How do we foster an environment where learning can flourish?” Matt shares how James Smith’s book Desiring the Kingdom was formative for him in thinking about what flourishing means, and how it got him considering some of the practices that Christian educators can (and perhaps should) be incorporating to bring about flourishing. We describe some of the formative practices we use to help foster a culture of learning in our classrooms, and the places that we are still growing in our teaching practices.
2021-03-1720 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 006: AdviceIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “What is the best (or worst) advice you ever received as a teacher?” Dave shares a story of some unfortunate advice he received as a novice teacher that colored the beginning of his teaching practice. We talk about classroom management, wanting our students to like us, having high expectations, and how we have grown as teachers. We also explore the relationship between accountability and joy in both the classroom and in our faith lives. We also wind up talking about teachers we had who formed us as teachers—how the conversations unfold!
2021-03-1019 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 005: HomeworkIn this episode, Matt brings up one of Dave’s most-read blog posts, which is entitled “No More Crappy Homework,” and raises the question, “How do we avoid giving ‘crappy homework?’” Dave shares from some of the research he has done about what makes for effective homework. Matt and Dave reflect together on some of the less-than-optimal assignments they gave to students early in their careers, and talk about equitable homework, grading homework, and various perspectives parents have on the value of homework. Matt asks about strategies for making more effective homework, and Dave shares some research-based suggestions.
You can re...
2021-03-0320 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 004: Self-CareIn this episode, Matt kicks things off by asking, “How can we do ‘self-care’ well as educators?” We discuss the pros and cons of the idea of work-life balance, our identities as educators, the importance of supporting each other as colleagues, and caring for ourselves well so we can serve others well. We get a little vulnerable about our own struggles with this, and share some of the strategies we use to strive to keep our lives in rhythm.
2021-02-2420 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 003: MotivationIn this episode, Matt raises the question, “What motivates you?” We talk about different aspects of motivation, including Dan Pink’s work around autonomy, mastery, and purpose, the challenge of our Enneagram number (we are both type 3), and learning to be our authentic selves. Dave shares his 10-minute rule for getting started on hard things, and Matt shares his conception of vision-driven decision-making, which he finds very motivating.
2021-02-1723 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 002: MetaphorsIn this episode, Matt asks the question, “What would be your metaphor for describing yourself as a teacher?” As we discuss this question, we share our own metaphors for our teaching. We also discuss how Dave talks with his whole body, the role of playfulness and imagination in our teaching practices, and how we exhibit care and concern for our students.
2021-02-1020 minHallway ConversationsEpisode 001: GoalsIn this episode, Dave asks the question, “How much should we focus on goals in education?” As we discuss this question we talk about the role of learning targets, hospitality in the classroom, and teaching responsively. Matt and Dave both share some stories from their own practice and the way we’ve grown in understanding what students need and how clarity on goals can actually encourage learning.
2021-02-0320 minHallway ConversationsIntroducing "Hallway Conversations" with Matt and Dave!Coming soon: a new podcast series from a couple of guys who have been teaching for a while, but still have lots of questions about education. We welcome you to listen in on our "hallway conversations" about topics and issues that we think are important for Christian educators to consider, no matter where you teach, what subject you teach, or what grade levels you teach.
We invite you into conversation, and we hope these might spark some hallway conversations of your own!
2021-01-2701 min