Episode Description: In this episode, Kobi Nelson talks with Sphere program manager John Snoad, a former high school teacher and football coach of more than 30 years, about practical ways to bring civil discourse into any classroom. John shares how he retooled his own curriculum around curiosity-driven questions instead of binary thinking, unpacks Sphere's "Who Should Decide?" four-corners activity in detail, and offers advice on building a classroom culture where students feel safe voicing an opinion.

Main Topics

01:25 - John talks about his background

06:03 - Retooling curriculum questions and moving past true/false thinking

08:26 - Introducing civic engagement and the "Who Should Decide?" activity

15:39 - Guiding students without imposing personal bias

17:59 - Building norms and sentence frames to spark curiosity (the AWARE framework)

22:40 - Advice for teachers with limited time or a scripted curriculum

24:56 - Starting with writing before discussion, and students' fear of being "canceled"

27:20 - Creating a safe space and drawing out quieter students

29:35 - Knowing yourself as a facilitator

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.sphere-ed.org
• https://www.sphere-ed.org/publication/principles-civil-discourse-primer
• https://www.sphere-ed.org/sphere-summit

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Episode Description: In this episode, Patience LeBlanc, Sarah Lane and Kobi Nelson discuss ways that school leaders can be set up for success by approaching conversations with positive intent and having a goal of listening to learn. We explore how leaders shape school communities that foster civil discourse and viewpoint diversity, and how that work happens when they intentionally show up every day to support the teachers they work with.

Guest: Patience LeBlanc

Timestamps:

04:37 - The importance of building relationships as a foundation for safe dialogue

09:21 - Small moments that build trust

12:02 - Keeping professional spaces free from evaluation pressures

13:24 - Leaders as lead learners: modeling and engaging alongside teachers

18:58 - Building authentic relationships with teachers over time

20:26 - Using hallway conversations to establish approachability

24:07 - Preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist

26:02 - Practical steps for leaders to get started with fostering civil discourse

28:15 - Future hopes for civil discourse in education and ongoing organizational efforts

Resources Mentioned:

• https://www.sphere-ed.org/
• https://www.sphere-ed.org/leadership-toolkit-civil-discourse

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Summary: This episode explores the power that comes from teaching economics as a reflection of human action and the ways that this lens can help teachers empower their students to understand that their choices and actions matter. During the conversation, Kobi and Colman also discuss what it takes to have honest, complex conversations about economics and why content knowledge matters just as much as pedagogy.

Timestamps:

4:44 — The Sphere Summit experience and how it reinvigorated teacher passion

8:25 — Connecting students to the bigger picture through economics as human action

12:25 — Challenging conversations around economic systems and trade-offs

16:31 — Pedagogical strategies including news culture, and real-time charting

22:18 — Teaching predictions through the concept of consumer anticipation

28:18 — The content knowledge gap facing economics educators

32:57 — What all educators should know about the value of economics

Resources Mentioned:

• "Spotlighting the World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell"
• The World Factbook Archives (from UPenn)
• Financial Times
• The Wall Street Journal
• Bloomberg
• The Journal of Economic Education
• Sphere Education Initiatives
• Sphere's Real World Economics Lessons
• Sphere's Economics in One Virus Lessons

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.