Changing Course: Reimagining Education for America's Students

Introducing Changing Course, a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio. Host Jonathan Santos Silva will bring you conversations from six schools across the country that are reinventing education with students at the center. Each episode will feature stories about how teachers are partnering with students and what that can teach us about the future of education. Changing Course launches Spring 2022.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with the students and leaders of North-Phillips School of Innovation in Tarboro, N.C., about what it looks like to partner with and design a school based on the needs of its most important stakeholders: the students and the community they serve. Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with students and educators at The MET School in Providence, Rhode Island, about how designing a curriculum around a student’s unique passions and unlearning traditional academic expectations helps every student become their own valedictorian. Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with the students and leaders of DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach in Kapolei, HI, about how leadership engagement begins with embracing your identity as an individual and a community. Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with the students and leaders of Kendall-Whittier Elementary in Tulsa, OK, about how students in the Tulsa Changemakers program are finding their voice and learning skills that are helping them make change in their communities.   Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with staff and student activists from West High School in Denver, CO, about how they mobilized to successfully reunite their school years after it was split in two. Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva rounds out the season with a return to his old stomping grounds in South Dakota, where he speaks with staff and students at Todd County Middle School about how practices from Lakota culture help foster an inclusive environment and help build healthy student-staff relationships. Changing Course is a new podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

In this special bonus episode, host Jonathan Santos Silva gathers students and educators from season one of Changing Course for a live roundtable discussion about the power of student-staff partnerships, the impact of diversity and authentic cultural representation, and the importance of failure.  Featured speakers include: Hailey Ho (Student) - DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach, Hawaii Katie (Alum) - The MET School, Rhode Island Jamilah Bullock (Lead Designer)- North Phillips School of Innovation, North Carolina Andrew Spector (Co-founder/Program Director)- TulsaChangemakers, Oklahoma Dana Haukaas (Principal) - Todd County Middle School, South Dakota Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Bonus Episode in Partnership with UnTextbooked: Gavin Scott, currently a Sophomore at Columbia University, interviews Dr. Brenda Child, author of the book Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families 1900-1940 and his Great Aunt Babe. They talk about Native boarding schools across North America and how they affected the lives of the students that attended them (some of which were Gavin’s ancestors). It offers a look at a particular set of experiences at Native boarding schools and is not meant to be reflective of all boarding schools across the U.S. and Canada at all moments in history. About UnTextbooked: United by their curiosity and a thirst for knowledge that extends beyond the classroom, the UnTextbooked podcast is a global student-led search for truth. UnTextbooked is not affiliated with Teach For America.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with leaders and educators from The Center for Black Educator Development in Philadelphia, PA, about how to create safe spaces that value and invest in young Black leaders. The Center is the first teaching academy in Philadelphia dedicated to investing in the next generation of Black teachers, starting as early as high school. Guided by the lens that excellent education is a political act, Sharif El-Mekki and his team at the Center demonstrate how restoring education to disenfranchised students is the purest form of activism. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Changing Course, a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio, is back with Season Two! Host Jonathan Santos Silva (South Dakota ‘10) will sit down with innovative nonprofits from across the country that are committed to attracting, training, and retaining BIPOC educators. Each episode will feature thoughtful conversations about how organizations are investing in and providing careers where BIPOC staff can flourish. Season Two of Changing Course is back in January 2023. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with leaders and educators from Nashville Teacher Residency (NTR) in Nashville, Tennessee, to explore how the next generation of teachers may already be working within our schools. Nashville Teacher Residency is a one-year program focused on rebuilding the teacher pipeline using Tennessee’s “Grow Your Own” model. By sourcing teacher candidates already working within local schools (e.g., cafeteria workers, paraprofessionals, or behavior interventionists), the program provides financial resources to help residents transition into the education field and earn their teaching licenses. With support from highly effective mentor teachers, NTR positions passionate teachers with diverse professional experiences to become high-performing full-time educators who enrich the lives of the students they are already committed to.  Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with leaders and educators from Brothers Liberating Our Communities (BLOC) in Kansas City, Missouri, about making teaching a sustainable career for Black men. Inspired by the work of Sharif El-Mekki from the Center for Black Educator Development (featured in Episode 201), BLOC began curating professional development specifically for Black men in education. Through connection, development, and engagement, the team has retained 100% of BLOC members. Founder Cornell Ellis and the team at BLOC hope that one day all students will have access to equal representation and revolutionary Black male educators. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with Dr. Wenimo Okoya, Founder of Healing Schools Project. Based in Newark, New Jersey, the non-profit intentionally centers the experience of BIPOC educators, believing that when interventions are built around those furthest away from systemic privilege, educators and students of all backgrounds benefit. Healed teachers heal students.  Healing Schools Project helps educators from around the country collectively address toxic school cultures that cause burnout and steer them out of the classroom. By creating school cultures that value community care over self-care, Healing Schools Project helps teachers and students thrive by build healthy and sustainable school environments.  Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with Amanda Fernandez, CEO and Founder of Latinos for Education (L4E) in Boston, MA, and Jay Alvarez, a high school educator in Houston, TX, and participant in L4E’s Latinx Teachers’ Fellowship, about the impact of increasing opportunities for Latinx educators. As the first Latinx-founded and led nonprofit dedicated to creating leadership pathways for emerging Latinx leaders, Latinos for Education is committed to building an ecosystem of Latinx advocates by infusing Latinx talent into positions of influence. By developing, placing, and connecting essential Latinx leaders in the education sector, L4E strives to break down barriers to educational opportunities for the next generation of Latinx students. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio. Resources: Latinos for Education TFA’s Latinx Alliances

In this special bonus episode, we hear from guest host Kayla Camacho, a 2014 Teach For America Dallas-Fort Worth alum, and leaders across Teach for America’s network who are innovating culturally relevant methods for recruiting and supporting Native educators to better serve Native students' success. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.  Resources: TFA’s Native Community Alliances National Indian Education Association Leading Educators through Alternative Pathways (LEAP)

Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with Teach for America leaders about the importance of investing in BIPOC educators and the work TFA is doing to remove the barriers that keep them out of the classroom. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio. Resources: Teach For America Joining Teach For America TFA’s Black Community Alliances TFA’s Native Community Alliances TFA’s AAPI Community Alliances TFA’s Latinx Alliances TFA’s National Prism Alliances

During an educators' meeting in Memphis, KeAsia Norman, a BIPOC educator and aspiring school leader said, “If a school isn’t actively engaged in the community, it’s just another building.” In this special live episode, host Jonathan Santos Silva is joined by a panel of innovative BIPOC educators and Teach For America alumni passionate about radically re-imagining the role of school within communities. Through their unique insights, we learn how to transform school buildings into vital community spaces that better reflect their students’ and staff’s needs. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio.  Featured speakers include: Tony Delarosa, Educator, Writer, and Thought Leader Ebony Payne Brown, Founder and Executive Director at PEACE Academy Charter Christopher Sandoval, Performing Arts Teacher & Department Head at Kipp Comienza Community Prep Each of these educators have been featured in One Day Studio’s video storytelling. To learn more about their work please check out the following resources: Ebony Payne Brown: Starting an Afrocentric School like PEACE Academy Charter Tony DelaRosa: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Teaching AAPI Narratives  Christopher Sandoval:  When Spirits Dance: Exploring Identity Through Día de los Muertos Traditions