Innovativeed

We talk with legendary awesome stats guy Mark Olofson -- *Dr.* Legendary Awesome Stats Guy Mark Olofson -- about his doctoral research into adverse childhood events and school performance. It's some pretty important stuff, about how the intersecting traumas that affect students have some long-reaching consequences. Full transcript: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/do-adverse-childhood-events-affect-student-performance/#

Remember those interactive sound sculptures we profiled in Episode 26? Meet the teacher who made it happen, and hear how art is an inextricable part of physics, how Brian Eno can help teach circuitry, and how to keep play alive in science. Full transcript: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/steam-pbl-unit/

How to design a student exhibition that empowers students and provides a compelling, informative experience for the community? Cabot High School, in rural Cabot VT, did it with TED talks, sound sculptures and a funk band.

Resident stats guy and all-around smart person Mark Olofson talks with two researchers from Michigan State University. Their research focuses on the state-level twitter conversations among educators: who is doing it, and what they're getting out of it. And, spoiler alert, when they looked around the country, Vermont emerged as a pretty special place.

What would you tell your neighbors about your school? What do you think they'd say in return? The Washington West Supervisory Union in the Mad River Valley of Vermont aims to find out by hosting a series of community conversations. Life LeGeros, a longtime educator and WWSU community member, is taking part in those conversations, and sharing out what he learns.

This past August, the University of Vermont played host to an international conference focused on ways to amplify student voice and increase student partnership in the classroom. Vermont Secretary of Education Dr. Rebecca Holcombe, spoke powerfully on the need for intersectional equity in Vermont, in supporting students. Full transcript: http://wp.me/p4r2oE-2Ei

At The Compass School in Westminster, Vermont, students advance through grades by producing evidence of their accomplishments from the year, using the previous year's reflection to inform the current one. We had the chance to sit down with a student just finishing 11th grade at Compass, and hear not just about his Y.E.A.R. (year-end academic reflection) but how it's going to prepare him for the all-important graduating Roundtable.

Brattleboro, Vermont was incorporated back in 1753, a former military fort that embraced trading, commerce and the power of nearby Whetstone Falls to spur mill production. It’s been home to countless tiny, fascinating episodes of Vermont history -- episodes that current residents can now listen to each week on the radio, being described and re-enacted by students from Brattleboro Area Middle School. This is a story of how community organizations can partner with students to make history new again, and connect students more strongly to their hometown. Full transcript here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/making-history-on-the-radio-with-community-partners/

We visit the Vermont Middle Grades Institute and learn how attendees are working to better implement their state's 2013 "Flexible Learning Pathways" initiative. It's like summer camp. But for middle school teachers. Full transcript available here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/2016-middle-grades-institute-podcast/#.VwfH_T9lC7A

Tarrant Institute reporter Rachel Mark talks with educator Mandy Thomas and students at The Dorset School, where the move to student-led conferences started with screencasting.

Middle school students at Shelburne Community School have been collecting pencils to send to Ghana this fall. One of the school educators explains why. Music is "Golden Ocean" by Nicholas Heidlas, used with permission.

A conversation with entrants to the 2015 ChampBot Challenge at the Champlain Mini-Maker Faire. Produced by Tiffany Lee for the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education and WRUV FM Burlington, and aired on that station as episode #6 of the "VTED Talks" series. Original air date: 11/10/15, WRUV FM Burlington. The image at left is "Sharkmobile at Maker Faire 2009" by Dawn Endico. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

In order to find out more about Generation Z, we asked middle school students about theirs and their families' relationship with technology. And found no easy generalizations. The episode's music is by dirtwire (dirtwire.net) and the image is by Wes Fryer, CC 3.0. The sound clip explaining different generations is part of a public service announcement by the US Department of Transportation, licensed under educational fair use.

Sometimes school change begins with just one person, and just one podcast. Principal Mike Berry of the RESVT podcast, tells us how he's using podcasting to help students find their digital voices, prepare for the challenges of middle school and open his school to the community. Music, as always, is courtesy dirtwire, an Oakland CA-based electronic duo. Hear more of their music at dirtwire.net.

A 2014 report from the Foundation for Excellence in Education on the quality of digital learning, state by state, raises questions about how edtech should be assessed. You can find a copy of the report here: http://digitallearningnow.com/report-card/ The music for this episode is, as always, by dirtwire; go listen to more of their work at dirtwire.net.

"Bio," says one 9th grader. "We were in Bio. And there were some machines sitting there and one was a centrifuge. And I knew what it was because of Minecraft." We talk to middle school students and server admins about why Minecraft works for them. The music in this episode is by dirtwire; check them out on http://dirtwire.net

5th grade educator Hannah Lindsey on the difference between edmodo and Schoology, digital badging and how to teach great commenting on the internet. The music for this episode is "Searching for Jupiter", by Nicolai Heidlai, whose other work can be found here on Soundcloud.

Ian, a high school senior, talks about his journey from being a STEM learner to teaching the arduino track of his high school's STEM Academy. "In middle school I was not sure AT ALL what I was gonna be when I was older. So that's the interesting thing, with the transition to high school that changed so much." Full transcript here: http://tiie.w3.uvm.edu/blog/from-stem-learner-to-teacher/

In this episode, we talk with math educator Lea Ann Smith about Essex High School’s STEM Academy a personalized STEM learning program that lets students work toward digital portfolios, project-based learning and community internships. The music you hear in the background of the episode is a song called "Bed Spring", by the Oakland-based band Dirtwire, used with permission. You can find more music by Dirtwire at dirtwire.net.

Three 8th graders at Essex Middle School sat down and shared with us the progress they're making on their project-based research into making and releasing music and doing algebra online. And as you'll see, for these three, it's all part of the same thing.