Sonya Gunnings-Moton: Urban Education Advocate

Glen Lineberry, principal of Miami Junior-Senior High School in rural Arizona and Director of the Arizona Student Opportunity Collaborative, discusses with Punya Mishra how his innate curiosity, pursuit of knowledge and ideas, and ability to be persistent has served him over the course of his career. Lineberry shares how he started out in business and made a career shift to education, and talks about the opportunities he had to quickly advance and take on responsibility in a rural school setting. Lineberry and Mishra also explore the power of exposing learners to big ideas, how to create a culture of risk-taking and innovation, and the importance of persistence in driving change.

Learn more about Glen Lineberry at his school website, Miami Area Unified School District #40, and at Arizona Student Opportunity Collaborative. 

This podcast was produced at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have comments, feedback, or ideas? Stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra.

Dr. Pam Moran, former Superintendent of Albemarle County Schools in Virginia and currently Executive Director of the Virginia School Consortium for Learning, discusses with Punya Mishra the early influences in her personal and professional life, her career path into teaching, school leadership and district administration, and her perspectives on how to build schools and school systems that encourage creativity and risk-taking in their educators and students. She shares stories about her family, her first day of teaching, and learning to “get to yes,” and describes how she has worked to nurture creativity in educators, giving them space and support to tinker and develop their ideas and share them beyond their own classrooms and schools to transform the larger system.

Learn more about Pam on Twitter @pammoran and her website.

This podcast was produced at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have comments, feedback, or ideas? Stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra.

Dr. Gerald Fussell, principal of a middle school in British Columbia, Canada, has a conversation with Punya Mishra on the influences that brought him into teaching and public school administration, starting with the experiences he and his siblings went through as students. Fussell discusses the early career change he made to move into teaching, and then his shift into school leadership and administration. He emphasizes how his love of learning continues to drive him, and how his passion for supporting and advocating for students has led him to challenge the status quo and seek ways to change the system to better serve students. 

Learn more about Gerald Fussell on Twitter @GFussell and his website, his blog, and the Lake Trail Community School website.

This podcast was produced at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have comments, feedback, or ideas? Stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra.

Dr. Sonya Gunnings-Moton, associate dean of support services and engagement at the College of Education at Michigan State University, joins Punya Mishra to discuss her personal and professional journey. She describes the strong influence of her father’s work as an important figure in urban psychiatry, as well as her early experiences of attending largely white suburban schools as an African-American. Gunnings-Moton explains her initial training in psychology and then her move into teacher preparation, university administration, and her focus on urban education. She talks about integrity, racial discrimination and her commitment to advocating for students and families. 

Learn more about Sonya: Michigan State University Faculty Staff Bio

This podcast was produced at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have comments, feedback, or ideas? Stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra

Education leader, speaker and activist Jeewan Chanicka is currently CEO and Superintendent of a growing International American School system based in Dubai, and was previously Superintendent of the Toronto District School Board in Canada. In this episode, Chanicka discusses with Punya Mishra how his personal experiences and background have shaped his identity and his role as an education leader. Chanicka explores the early roots of his role as an activist; his ongoing work to engage communities and be a voice for the oppressed and marginalized while leading large organizations; and his views on the changes that must be made in education to truly bring equity to the forefront of what schools do.

Learn more about Jeewan Chanicka at jeewan.ca or follow him on Twitter @jeewanc

This podcast was produced at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have Comments, feedback, or ideas - stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra.

Dr. Karen Bohlin, head of the Montrose School, an independent girls school in Massachusetts, chats with Dr. Punya Mishra about her views on the role that education and schools should play in fostering human flourishing and developing practical wisdom in students and educators. She explains how the influences of her family and her own experiences in school shaped her interest in working in education, and discusses how her career path took her from an academic university-based position to 18 years in her current role as school leader. Bohlin and Mishra also discuss the role of literature in building understanding across cultures and time, and the power of stories to create connections and shape character. Finally, Bohlin shares her views on managing and leading an organization, and what that looks like in a pandemic.

Learn more about Bohlin and the Montrose School at: https://www.montroseschool.org/about/meet-the-head

For more information, check out learningfutures.education.asu.edu Keep in touch with Punya on Twitter @punyamishra, or at punyamishra.com

Dr. Shawn Loescher, CEO of Urban Discovery Schools in San Diego, has a conversation with Dr. Punya Mishra about his formative educational and professional experiences, including the influence of his family, his time in college studying music alongside subjects like philosophy, and his experiences working abroad in the Czech Republic and Slovakia following the Velvet Revolution, during a time of great political upheaval there. Loescher talks about his fundamentally optimistic view of the possibility for social change, and how he balances that with realism. Mishra and Loescher then discuss how Loescher’s values and educational philosophy play out in his more recent work as leader of a network of urban schools, including in his approach to “managing up,” teacher training and development, bridging research and practice, and the school network’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explains how design thinking and action research are integrated into the fabric of Urban Discovery schools in their approach to continued learning and improvement.

Learn more about Shawn Loescher and Urban Discovery Schools at sloescher.com, www.urbansd.com, or follow him on Twitter @shawnloescher

For more information, check out learningfutures.education.asu.edu Keep in touch with Punya on Twitter @punyamishra, or at punyamishra.com

Join Dr. Punya Mishra in conversation with educational leaders as they explore the role that values and principles play in what they do. Each episode features a leader of an educational organization talking about their personal stories and the development of their ethical compass. They also discuss how their value systems influence their professional work as a leader, including the dilemmas they face and how they maintain integrity to their vision in a complex, messy world. Season 1, coming soon!

This podcast was produced at the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Follow MLFTC on Twitter at @asueducation and share this episode with #ValueLadenPodcast.

You can learn more about the Value Laden Podcast and related work by visiting the Learning Futures website: Learning Futures (though principled innovation) brings collaborative leaders, creative thinkers and innovative ideas together to design the futures of learning and advance equity and excellence in education systems.

Have Comments, feedback, or ideas - stay up to date with host Dr. Punya Mishra and follow on Twitter at @punyamishra.