Only Relate! We live in a world of limitless opportunities for connection, yet we are lacking in authentic human relationships. This podcast is aimed at teachers, yet applicable to parents, students, and anyone seeking answers to the following questions:
How do we ensure that we are truly reaching others? How does our relationship with ourselves impact our relationships with our friends, colleagues, and family? What can we learn from the school classroom as we engage in the “classroom of life”?
Join 25-year International Educator Nat Damon in conversations about what it means to truly relate to other human beings. Through mindfulness. Through kindness and compassion. Through building bridges of trust. Through using our words with intention. Through navigating change, which is truly the only constant in life.
Guests include educators, school reformers, advocates of education, spiritual leaders, business leaders and coaches, and others who all share an appreciation for the relationships in their personal and professional lives.
Reach. Teach. Talk. with Nat Damon promises to inspire through authentic conversation and engage the listener through insightful discussion designed to make you feel as if you are part of an exchange between friends. Stories form the basis of each episode, and helpful life lessons are the result.
Whether you are a teacher, a student, or just someone seeking deeper meaning in your day-to-day interactions with others, this podcast is for you.
41. ChatGPT in the Classroom: Savior of Education or the Worst Thing Ever? (Spencer Burrows,11th Grade Dean at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, California, as well as Teach Plus of California policy fellow)
40. The Cherishing Classroom (Fr. Gregory Boyle, Jesuit Priest and Founder, Homeboy Industries, Inc.)
39. Disconnecting to Connect (John Kalapos, Associate Head of School, Buxton School - MA)
38. The Art of Possibility (Benjamin Zander, Music Director, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra)
37. Cultivating Positive Masculinity (Craig Wilkinson, Founder, Father a Nation, South Africa)
36. Boys as Relational Beings (Judy Y. Chu, Lecturer in Human Biology, Stanford University and Board Chair, Promundo)
35. Relational Positivity (Mike Erwin, (Co-Founder, The Positivity Project)
34. Finding our Selves through Sisu (Katja Pantzar, Helsinki-based Journalist, Author: Finding Sisu)
33. Relational Trust (Parker Palmer, Author: The Courage to Teach, educator and founder, The Center for Courage and Renewal)
32. Culturally Responsive Teaching Informs Relational Teaching (Zaretta Hammond, Teacher, educator and author of Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain)
31. Let the Children Play (Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Page, Professor of early childhood education, Lesley University (MA), author, Let the Children Play)
30. Meaning-Making in the Remote Classroom (Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang [USC] and Dr. Rebecca Gotlieb [UCLA]
29. The Finnish Miracle (Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish education expert, author Finnish Lessons 2.0 and professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia)
28. To Listen is to Understand (André Lee, Thought-Leader and Filmmaker, The Prep School Negro)
27. “Listen” to Me (Erahm Christopher, Filmmaker)
26. The Hidden Power of Listening (Dr. Graham Bodie, Professor, Consultant, University of Mississippi)
25. Compassion in the Classroom of Life (Jimi Slattery, Executive Director, Compassion Matters)
24. The Change Cycle (Lorri Palko, Executive Coach: Love, Money, Purpose, LLC)
23. Rassias is Relational Teaching (Ann Diederich, Educator, Global Scholar)
22. Are We Lonely or Alone? (Rev. Janet Broderick, Priest, Writer, Ceramicist)
21. Discovering the Special in Our Needs (Susanna Peace Lovell, Life Coach for Special Needs Families)
20. The Tribal Classroom (Dr. Lou Cozolino, Professor, Pepperdine University, Writer - The Social Neuroscience of Education)
19. Constructive Candor (Drew Kugler, Leadership Coach, drewkugler.com)
18. Building the Remote Classroom (A Teacher’s Perspective) (Marc Rudajev, Educator)
17. Building a Strong SEL Connection with Brittany Collins (Author, Educator, Curriculum Designer)
16. Building a Thriving Classroom (Dr. Tyrone Howard, UCLA)
15. It’s Cool to be Kind (Ben Berger, The Kindness Movement)
14. Building a Growth Mindset Online (Hamish Mackenzie, Director, Digital Resilience, UK)
13. Making Remote Teaching Relational: Building the Online Classroom (Brad Rathgeber, Head of School, Oneschoolhouse.com)
12. Making Remote Teaching Relational: Building Empathy Online (Claire Goldsmith, Executive Director, Malone Schools Online Network)
11. Teacher Wellbeing (Adrian Bethune, TeacHappy, Inc.)
10. The Art of Teaching (Andria Zafirakou, 2018 Global Teacher of the Year)
9. Relationships Matter Most (Rob Loe, ED, The Relationships Foundation)
8. Teaching and Coaching (Alex Rosenblum, UNLV football, coach, US history teacher)
7. Mindfulness and Learning (Suze Schwartz, Founder, Unplug Meditation)
6. The Power of Belief (Brian Wogensen, English Teacher, Archer School for Girls)
5. Adolescent Health (Oona Hanson, Parent Coach)
4. Two Sides of Technology (Matthew Arnold, The Reboot)
3. The Call to Teach (Chip Williams, International Educator)
2. Build the Trust Bridge (Judy Mansfield, 45 year elementary school teacher)
1. Only Connect! (Eric Wlasak, Director Diversity/Inclusion, Village School)
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“Oftentimes when a technology is released that relates to education or could be, it immediately divides the education world into two camps. Either this is going to be the savior of education, or this is the worst thing ever and we need to ban it. And I don't think it's any of those two ends. It's somewhere in the middle. And then I think with any kind of technology, you need to view it as a tool and use it when it's useful and don't use it when it's not.”
Read More“I don't save any life, I don't fix anybody. But I know that transformation happens here (at Homeboy Industries). And the same thing happens in a classroom because you need a place and a communal space where transformation can happen in each other's company. And you want to be good company with each other.”
Read More“... The spread of technology and the instant information of knowing everything all the time and anyone you've ever met being able to reach you at any time, we felt isn't actually valuable for the type of education we're trying to provide here. We think it's important that you can intentionally reach anyone you want to reach, but that communication can and should be intentional. It shouldn't be sort of like my phone buzzes, I look down. Oh, my friend from home wants to talk to me about something totally irrelevant to the awesome thing that's happening in front of me right now.”
Read More“And it came to me very powerfully one day...when I suddenly realized that powerful though the conductor is, he actually doesn't make a sound.”
Read MoreWhen we start talking about relationships, this is where toxic positivity comes in. Let's just have relationships, let's just be together. Most people say they'd like that, but somehow the dominant culture ain't making that happen. The fact is, the parent hears that and says, "You're saying that to me, but I'm not the one creating a cognitively hostile environment, an emotionally hostile environment, or relationally hostile environment by allowing racial bullying or allowing microaggressions.”
Read MoreA lot of these online programs, they're getting marketed to families of young children in so-called preschool. They should be rejected, because they're getting kids to memorize letters, numbers and colors. But this isn't true learning. It's actually interfering with the learning.
Read MoreAs we think about transitioning remotely, one move may be to create space and structured ways to help young people understand how to still engage in a reflective process when they stepped away from the screen. So we provide opportunities in front of the screen and then provide structure for how they might do that separately (afterwards).
Read MoreMost importantly, the school principals and administrators fully trust the teachers' way of thinking and doing what they do in the classrooms. When that is the defining culture, then, of course, the teachers trust the kids, and the children trust the teachers. It’s this really strong element of trust that makes it possible to build these relationships in the schools and leave teachers room and freedom to design what is best for the kids.
Read MoreHow can you ask questions with curiosity and take away judgment? How do you take your judgment out of a question you're asking? It's deceptively simple, that concept. Really listen when someone gives you an answer to your question when you ask a question with curiosity. Just really, really listen.
Read MoreTrue active listening begins with creating a safe environment. In my film, I wanted the audience to take a direct bird's eye view of what's going on in (the high school students’) life before they get on campus, so they understand a little bit better about why the students are acting the way they are in school.
Read MoreWhat would it look like to have, as one recent philosopher has coined, a listening society? What would it mean to actually take seriously markers of well-being alongside of GDP and other markers of economic health to talk about how well we're doing as a society? How could listening be part of that shift in mindset and culture within schools to really stress the importance of some of these skills from kindergarten, all the way through high school?
Read MoreYou can train your mind to become more compassionate and therefore your brain can grow in the parts that are adept for compassion and for prosocial behavior and emotional regulation, and for developing deeper connections with people. All of those things can be developed.
Read MoreIt doesn’t matter if we label the change good or bad. It may be a great change in some respects, but… I would say that we get attached to the outcome of the change we want, and we lose sight of the process and how much care needs to go into the process.
Read MoreNothing really touches you unless it's real. You have to have an emotion. You have to have a connection to be able to learn, to be able to feel the culture of someone else. You have to participate in it, engage in it, connect with others. You cannot do this by yourself.
Read MoreThe wonderful thing about the whole way in which the spiritual life can ease this kind of loneliness is the sense that we're all under something bigger. There's a kind of equality so that you can love your brothers and sisters around you because it's not like I'm worse than you, or I'm less than you, or I'm better than you, or I have more to contribute than you.
Read MoreArizona is my greatest gift…I remember when I first found out that my daughter was different, and that she would potentially have a different life trajectory than most families that I knew of. And I always love to have that trip down memory lane because it makes me appreciate so much what is right now. Which is, by the way, nothing I thought would be possible back then.
Read MoreThe key is to create an environment where everyone feels invested, like they're benefiting from it and a respected member of the tribe.
Read MoreIt’s not about you. It's about their story. Because they're the ones who have to change. Not you. You’re there to help them change. So make it about them.
Read MoreWe've actually had an increased interaction with parents...sometimes the student will be in the (parents’) office and mom or dad pops in unintentionally because they need to pick up a book or a sheet of paper or some document and they'll say, 'Hi, Mr Rudajev. How are you?
Read MoreWe need these emotional skills as much as we need content-based knowledge.
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