Back in mid-December, the day after returning from a ten-day trip, I had a chance to meet with reporter Ana Tintocalis of The California Report. She was interested in my visits to schools around the state for a story on innovation in education, which in turn was part of a series on innovation in various fields. This story aired on KQED radio on January 2, 2015 (audio embedded below).
Ana Tintocalis and Smita Kolhatkar in the Barron Park Elem. maker space, Dec. 2014.
My project is not directly concerned with innovation, though as I search out and visit excellent teachers and schools, I certainly encounter a variety of innovative practices. I was glad to have a chance to share some of my observations with The California Report. Ana spent around 45 minutes interviewing me, and then I joined her for at least an hour visiting teacher Smita Kolhatkar at the Maker Space at Barron Park Elementary School. The final report is of course significantly shorter, and it gives me a renewed appreciation for how much time and effort and editing goes into producing a story.
I was pleased with the final result overall, though, predictably, I’m wishing that more specific examples that came up in the interview could have also made it through the final edit. The most specific details included in the story concerned the teacher-led school I visited as part of a 5-day trip to Northern California; even if the whole interview had focused on that one week, there would have been plenty of other examples to discuss as well (as you can see in the linked blog post). You can read about more of my school visits on this blog or my EdWeek Teacher blog, Road Trips in Education.
One correction if you listen to the story: I haven’t visited 50 schools yet, though I aim to reach that number by the project’s end, and I’m half-way there right now.
For anyone who finds my project interesting and worthwhile, I have a couple of suggestions. First, use the sign-up form below to get on my email list and receive occasional updates on the school visits and the book that will follow. Then, if you’d like to help sustain the project, take a look at this Support web page and consider a contribution, maybe even at a level that will ensure I can send you the book when it’s done.