Common Ground Education Podcast

With over 20 years in teaching at the elementary level, Howard Shaw made it his mission in the classroom to truly connect with students, and make them love school again. Moving into his next professional chapter, he joined a brand in the education space called VariQuest, which not only provides tools that save teachers precious time, but also focuses on providing social-emotional learning content opportunities he truly believes in. Click here to download some for free! (https://info.variquest.com/thank-you-for-listening-download-these-sel-resources-now) With social-emotional learning being an underrated and under-utilized tool in schools until recent years, having customizable SEL visuals and hands-on learning supports empowers educators to reach their students when sometimes district support can be lacking. We welcome you to our podcast where Howard and Charles will discuss promoting consistent messaging, concept reinforcement, and teaching to the whole child.In our podcast discussions as well as the linked resources, you will see how visual supports can make an impact in helping your students reach social-emotional development goals. You can also learn more about Howard’s company, VariQuest, at https://www.variquest.com.

Amit Thaker is a champion of mental health advocacy, focusing on increasing access to care and decreasing the stigma associated with mental health treatment. In 2017, while serving on the Sr. Leadership team of an acute care psychiatric hospital, he witnessed the immense issues with the way the system worked. He spent the next two years creating and launching ReferralGPS, a company laser focused on tackling the problem of connecting patients into treatment. Partnering with schools and other organizations, ReferralGPS has been able to move the needle and help thousands of individuals obtain appropriate care.Prior to launching ReferralGPS, he led initiatives at area health systems including primary care mental health integration, community relations, psychiatric recruitment and strategic planning. Amit is personable and encouraging. He partners and collaborates with school social workers to help understand how to connect students with the services that they need outside of school. He has a personal connection to a system that he’s worked in and allowed his knowledge of the healthcare system to impact his growth. He has a special perspective on the importance of mental health because of his role inside of hospital administration and his partnering with schools across the state of Illinois. Common Ground Education Podcast is happy to welcome Amit Thaker to the podcast to further our conversation about the importance of mental health. Amit is welcomed to the show to bring us closer as a network and offer school social workers knowledge outside our professional domain. Join us by listening this month to our special guest Amit Thaker as we honor the vital recognition of mental health awareness.

Illinois Association for School Social Worker (IASSW) is vital organization that helps prop up the profession of School Social Work. IASSW has a wonderful history of pioneers that have helped trail blaze the profession that we recognize today. IASSW takes leadership in centralizing training for school social workers by hosting yearly conferences. They also provide several opportunities for online PD. IASSW takes leadership in state policy advocacy. This organization is made up of volunteers and Illinois has been blessed by their contributions. President Dr. Tiffany Nelson is in the midst of her second term. She graces the podcast to speak about her passion for the organization, this year's conference, membership benefit improvements (new website features) and her experience with national organizations/committees (SSWAA). Thanks to Dr. Nelson for all her work for students and school social workers. Her work translates to tangible positive change to education in the state of Illinois.

Welcome to a wonderful discussion with Dr. Barthelus, Director of Practice Innovations at CASEL and Dr. Skoog-Hoffman Director of Research Practice-Partnerships at CASEL. In this episode we talk about the importance of the equity lens when installing or implementing social emotional learning in schools. Additionally, Dr. Barthelus and Dr. Skoog-Hoffman help us navigate the world of SEL at the middle school and high school level.

In this Observatory Episode, Dr. Sanjay Nanwani interviews Dr. Phillip M. Brown, PhD. Philip M. Brown, PhD serves as President of the International Center for Assault Prevention. He is a Senior Consultant for the National School Climate Center and a Fellow, Center for Applied Psychology at Rutgers University, where he created and directed the Center for Social and Character Development, conducting research for the U.S. Department of Education on social emotional and character development programs. He is the author of numerous government publications, articles, and two books, the two volume, Handbook of Prosocial Education (2012) and School Discipline: A Prosocial Perspective (2016), both of which he co-authored and edited. Here is our conversation with him on a range of issues relating to improving school climate and how to build safe, supportive and engaging schools."

Welcome to the School Climate & Violence Prevention podcast series. This podcast series is collaboratively sponsored by Common Ground Educational Podcast, the International Observatory for School Climate and Violence Prevention (http://institucional.us.es/ioscvp/) and the international School Social Work Network (schoolsocialwork.net).These podcasts showcase recent research and/or practice efforts about a range of issues that support – or undermine – schools being places where students are safe, supported and engaged as well as learning socially, emotionally, civically and academically. We hope that these podcasts foster learning and international conversations about what we can all do to support our children being able to learn and develop in healthy ways, around the world.Welcome to our podcast interview with Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D.. Jonathan will be talking about Prosocial Measurement Tools and Systems: Recognizing and Promoting Social Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) and School Climate Improvement. Jonathan is the co-president of the International Observatory for School Climate and Violence Prevention at the University of Seville. He is also an adjunct professor in psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Jonathan is interviewed by Sanjay Nanwani , Ph.D. Sanjay teaching English and Citizenship Development at the Universidad Externado and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bogota, Colombia as well as being involved with a range additional international educational projects.In this podcast as well as in the linked handout, you will learn about recent developments in prosocial (e.g., SEL, character education, school climate) measurement practices.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion boards and committees are vital for all school districts to hear and respond to marginalized voices within their communities. DEI structures play a central role in adjusting or fine-tuning protocols and practices for all students. Latonya Simelton joins the show today to share her wisdom, experience and knowledge in this domain. Latonya Simelton is a life long advocate of educational equity and student success. For 17 years she has been an equity and inclusion practitioner, at the leadership level, in the educational and corporate arenas. She is a systems change agent identifying policies and practices that result in inequities and works to transform systems. Her advocacy for equitable schools shows up in her service as a CUSD 308 board member. 6:37- Why is DEI important? 13:05- Misconceptions around DEI 15:40- How to Begin 21:10- Basic Functions of DEI Bodies 27:30- How All Educators can Help Resources mentioned: -Illinois Coalition of Educational Equity Leaders- https://www.iledequity.org/aboutilee- Coaching for Equity -Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center-https://greatlakesequity.org/map-eac

Margot Wagner is a recent graduate of Aurora University. She earned her MSW and PEL certification during one of the most intensive years in education. We discuss the pandemic year and the challenges we are facing in education. Come listen to Margot's inspiring personal story and her unique perspective on diversity and inclusion. Margot joins Common Ground as a new host! We are so excited to have Margot join the CG team and look forward to her episodes!

Welcome to an important episode that features Brittany Brunell, Co-founder of EveryDaySpeech. In this episode we learn about EveryDaySpeech's origin story and their journey with social emotional learning. Brittany shares about the features and functions that EDS has to offer in their completely digital SEL curriculum (games, video modeling, interactive-avatar social games, evidenced based content). In this episode, EDS gifts Common Ground listeners 25% off with a promo code. In addition, EDS has given Common Ground 5 free annual memberships to raffle off in the Common Ground Resource Page on Facebook. Come learning more about a curriculum that can impact both Sped and Gen Ed in your building! https://everydayspeech.com/"Everyday Speech is a social-emotional learning platform. We empower teachers with video-modeling curriculums to nurture the fundamental strategies and skills that all students need to maximize potential towards a healthier, happier, and fulfilling future." -EDS

It's interviewing season and Common Ground Education brings a few quick tips to support fellow school social workers. In addition, the podcast describes a vision of advocacy using podcasting.

Patrick Mulkern is School Social Worker who serves as the Wellness Coordinator for a high school in the San Francisco area. As the Wellness Coordinator he leads a multidisciplinary team that works to reduce barriers to services for LGBTQ+ students. This program provides individual and group therapy, case management, mentoring and sexual/reproductive health services. Patrick brings his expertise and targeted experience in this area to help educators and school social workers envision and strategically plan for more inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students. 1:00- Introduction to Patrick Mulkern and the Wellness Program 4:15- Tiered Supports for LGBTQ+ Students 8:15- Barriers LGBTQ+ Students Face 10:15- Providing Support to Queer and Questioning Youth 14:20- Challenging Staff 18:10- Creating Inclusive Environments for Students Across ALL Grade Levels 21:15- How to Engage Families Around Issues of Sex and Gender 23:00- Where Can School Social Workers Start? 26:00- Ideal Supports at the High School Level 30:00- Hopes for 2021- Policy Considerations

Dr. McMurtrey is an immunologist/virologist that's been working with Covid-19 since nearly the inception of the pandemic in the United States. In August, Dr. McMurtrey began a phase two vaccine trial. Still unaware of a placebo or actual vacccine, Dr. McMurtrey walks us through his experience. Further, he answers questions about the virus and latest research. Who better to ask than an expert in vaccines currently using a Covid-19 vaccine? 0-7 min- Vaccine Experience 7 min- How to know the validity of the vaccine trial results? 12:06- Latest Research 13:40- Long term health impacts 15:40- Comorbidities 19:20- Thoughts on prevention 26:00- Hyper-Individualism vs Collectivism 27:00- Conflating the circumstances between Small Business and Education 29:30- Any good news? 31:00- How does life change for a person once they take the vaccine? 33:00- 2021 Predictions

Ali Hearn is a powerful education consultant. Her gifts surrounding educational systems, macro perspectives and empathy provide unique and effective ideas. In this podcast we consider the difficulties of returning to school, empathizing with teachers and Ali shares some AMAZING ideas to help support our students. Ali holds a unique gift that allows her to put students first while finding tangible ways to support staff. @heyalihearn On Ali's new website heyalihearn.com you can sign up for the SPARKS newsletter where Ali provides meaningful/helpful strategies, tips, resources, humor, reflections and lessons learned from the field to inspire, ignite and impact educators/communities.

Dr. Cobb is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Oklahoma State University. Dr. Adam Cobb worked with a non-for profit in Ravenswood and Austin neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. He has traveled extensively through the globe with a passion to improve soil to create sustainable food sources. Dr. Cobb's unique experiences give him a unique perspective on the intersection between science and justice issues. Science Fails Forward (9:30) Examples of Poor Science Claims (12:40) Sometimes a Scientist saves the day and sometimes it's the scientific system (15:45) Practical Tips for Finding Better Scientific Research (21:50)

Dr. Curtis McMurtrey earned PhD in both Microbiology and Immunology. His studies included immune responses to Tuberculosis, Dengue virus, T. gondii, and HIV. Currently He is the Director of Immunoproteomics a PureMHC. Up until recently they’ve worked on designing vaccines for certain types of cancer. When COVID hit pharma switched gears to study SARS-CoV-2.In this episode we going into detail about the virus, mask efficiency, issues around ventilation, common misconceptions, latest research implications, latest updates on vaccines and when they may be available and returning back to school from an immunologist perspective. Intro, (3:19) Explanation of current work, (4:45) Expert perspective on Covid-19, (8:32) The efficiency of masks, (15:02) Latest Research, (17:54) False reporting of Covid-19?, (21:15) Thoughts on returning to school, (25:30) How long does it take to be infected in a room with Covid-19? (28:00) Upcoming Flu season, (31:30) What if schools don't follow recommendations?, (34:15) Ventilation Systems in buildings, does it matter? (36:30) Update on latest Vaccines (42:43) Estimated time for vaccines. Will there be enough? (46:08) Summary

Ali Hearn and I recorded this episode on May 20th and I had planned to release it the next week. That week the unjust killing of George Floyd occurred and I felt that it was not appropriate to release a podcast at that time. I did not want to be a distraction to a very important movement. With that said, I wanted to create a podcast of two school social workers working through the difficulties that COVID-19 presents and the positive and negative pieces that comes with that process. This is just a snippet of our conversation. We have learned so much since May 20th but I thought it was still important to digitally mark this time in history. @heyalihearn heyalihearn.com

In partnership with School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA), Common Ground was fortunate to host Dr. Raines. Dr. Raines specializes in the ethics (among other things) and has a wealth of experience to share with us. In this podcast, Dr. Raines addressed ethical issues we are facing during this pandemic and offers some observations that may be helpful. James C. Raines, Ph.D., calls himself an accidental academic with the heart of a practitioner. He has been President of the Illinois Association of School Social Workers, Midwest Council of School Social Workers, and the School Social Work Association of America. He has written four books published by Oxford University Press, most recently Evidence-based practice in school mental health: Addressing DSM-5 disorders in schools. He was the Department Chair of Health, Human Services and Public Policy at California State University Monterey Bay from 2010 - 2016. He is currently a full professor of social work and teaches courses in ethics and social work practice.

In this episode, we are joined by Brianne Jonathan, BCBA and former special education teacher. Brianne brings in-depth knowledge to the process of writing/facilitating Functional Behavioral Assessments and practical educational experience that gives her a unique and powerful perspective. In this episode, we review each section of a school based Functional Behavioral Assessment and include best practice tips for writing a legally defensible assessment.

In another fantastic collaboration with School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA), we feature Dr. Laurel Thompson, student services director of Broward County which includes Stoneman Douglas in Parkland. After the tragedy in Parkland, Dr. Thompson (former social worker) led efforts to reduce violence in her school district. On this episode, Dr. Thompson inspires and informs social workers and educators on the violence prevention in her district.https://www.browardschools.com/Page/51565https://www.browardschools.com/Page/32439

Common Ground is pleased to host Jackie Salemi, Superintendent of Recreation, from Fox Valley Special Recreation Association. This AMAZING organization provides a diverse range of year round recreational activities to enable residents with disabilities to experience active, healthy and playful lifestyles. To learn more, go to Fvsra.org. Find them on twitter @FVSRA. This podcast is for parents, participants and those looking for employment in this field!