Near and Far- Class in Session

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we're making

legislative decisions

to not

be recognized.

But if you don't share

all the space,

anything that not

this praises,

is a kind of most of us do.

That's nonpartisan.

We want

we want sustainable strong

futures.

So we then

support

what kids need in schools.

It seems like a no

But here we go with more

headlines,

and we're going to

find a way to help

us.

And I like to apply that rule

in general to humor to laughter

to joy.

You know, will we find fun

and funny?

In not so great times.

Of course,

we're going to poke fun.

We're going to make jokes.

We're going to find

humor where we can.

To help us not only cope,

but sift through.

So humor,

enjoy.

We're going to have some of these

topics that are to be quite

blunt.

Pretty grim.

We think about we know what's best

for children, yet we refuse to do

what's best for children.

We know how to support.

We know we need to support teachers

more.

Yep.

We don't do that.

Right.

And so it's like the story over

and over again.

If we don't have humor,

if we don't have more information

about it,

if we don't have conversations

about it, Jacob,

then what do we have?

So I appreciate your

great work in the show.

And your,

your,

your super power,

the Susurus.

Thank you.

Thank you very much,

Johnny.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, I agree with you.

It's good to have humor,

especially.

Even more so during difficult

and dark times,

that's the whole reason

there's gallows humor,

you know,

that you can be funny

in the worst possible place

you can think of being in the

gallows.

So it helps people get

through and I think it's

important,

not not mine.

I don't think what I do

is important,

but in general,

I think it's important

to have a good sense of humor.

No doubt.

No doubt,

man.

And,

and we,

speaking of humor,

something I laughed too

quite a bit as a kid

and still even find

enjoyable.

You guys were talking about

in home room,

great,

just to clarify,

clear the air.

Jacob was right.

I was just at a meeting.

So end of my school,

your folks,

even though I do some summer

teaching,

you know,

it is officially

summer break,

which isn't much

of a break.

We'll talk about that

teachers.

I call it the off season.

It's just a change in our

work.

It's not the same work,

but we're still working that

myth that the best part about

teaching is,

you know,

the months of June,

July and August,

because we're not in school.

That's just a myth.

That's part of the

humor.

We're actually in our

off season.

It's the time of year.

We're,

we could go to the bank during

normal banking hours.

We can,

schedule doctors

appointments during the day

without having to find a

sub cover for us.

You know,

it's the time where we're

retooling.

We're setting goals for our

learning.

We're rethinking about what

we're going to teach in our

classrooms next year.

What's something we might

improve or change about what

we did this year.

And in some ways,

we're letting our immune

systems catch up.

Because, you know,

those,

those germ factories of

classrooms out there.

We'll get back to that

Jacob,

because I get to work with a

lot of teachers.

I'm a teacher educator.

You know,

Professor,

also researching what's

the condition of

teaching in our school.

So talking to a lot of

teachers.

About their experience

the last couple of years,

especially this last school

year.

And I always ask this.

A very standard question.

And all my conversations.

I call them coffee talks.

You meet some of them

don't drink coffee.

We drink something else.

Like maybe a sparkling

water or, you know,

preferred a beverage of choice.

Couple of pop,

a couple of sodas with the

teachers.

You know,

but the idea being.

I ask him like,

Hey, let's talk about your

school year.

What are some great things

that happened?

Where's some stuff that

we're,

we're,

we're,

we're difficult moments,

challenges that you faced as a

teacher.

But also,

what are the things you're thinking

about?

What are your worries?

What are the concerns you have?

What are some of the things that

you feel are on the forefront?

If you could ask.

A master panel of other teachers.

Right.

What,

what you want to know more about.

Right.

That's not just new teachers.

I talk to veteran teachers

because the good thing about

teachers, Jacob,

I think you get the

question about that.

I think it's just a

little bit of a

great one.

It's just a little bit of a

little bit of a lot of things.

There's always learning.

Great teachers are always

learning.

That's why we're

teaching people to be

life-long learners.

I think this is true in

any industry.

The very best of the best

are always

learning.

Even the great say the greatest

hockey player.

I'm probably watching on the ice

in the last decade.

Conor MacDave.

And I said,

because it's playoff times.

I mean,

it's kind of unbelievable

because the great

teachers are always

learning, right?

That doesn't

mean they're back to school

necessarily,

but their life-long

learners,

like they're teaching their

kids to be.

So, we asked that question

of,

more about?

What are the biggest

concerns or the

kind of conversations?

A caveat, Jacob,

because I'm going to,

I'm going to,

I'm going to dovetail

into home-room question

that came up.

About using words like

teaching,

but I'm going to complicate

it a little bit more.

So, there are certain

industry terms.

They're not used to make

people think that,

that teachers or professors

are smarter than

the rest of the world,

but it is the science

and study of teaching.

That's what pedagogy

means.

It's the scientific practice

of teaching.

So, all the theories

that are connected to the

teaching,

it's sort of like if I said,

well, don't call it

biology.

Just call it science.

Right?

I mean,

like, yeah,

it's science,

but it is particular

kind of, you know,

set of practices

with science.

The other term,

I kind of throw

with that pedagogy word,

the study of,

right?

If we kind of do the

etymology pedagogy,

you know, the science

over the study of teaching,

is the term practice.

I'm not talking about

missing practice,

like AI, you know,

practice.

We're talking about

practice,

P-R-A-X-I-S,

practice.

That's when we are

doing our best teaching,

or even our worst teaching,

just teaching,

our practice,

but we're doing it

informed by theory,

informed by conversations

like we're having

here on Busted Pencil.

So, let's say we had

some great episodes this

year with, you know,

suggestions and curriculum,

suggestions for how to implement

AI into your classroom.

And when I'm,

you know,

listening to Busted Pencils

and thinking with Tim and

Johnny and Jacob,

or maybe it was just back

then, you know,

or one of our wonderful

guests,

and you're like,

well, that's a great idea.

Let me look that up a bit.

Let me read about it,

like good teachers often do.

And then you implemented

into your teaching.

That's,

you're engaged in practice.

Theory-informed practice.

And those are two terms

that I want to de-

intellectualize.

And what I mean by that is

I think intellectual work

is really important,

but they're

for everyday language words

for teachers,

like practice and pedagogy.

Right?

Now,

it's teaching,

but it's sort of the nuance

that they,

they're getting into the study

of our teaching.

The way,

none of our teaching is just,

hey, I'm going to walk

in the room and see what

happens with these kids.

You know,

30 little ones,

one grown up,

let's see what happens.

That's not what teachers

are out there doing.

They have a plan.

The plan is often informed

by different theories,

different approaches

to learning that have informed

them on how to structure

their classroom and their

teaching.

Right?

And they have,

you know,

a style.

Like, we have a game plan

when we go,

I mentioned earlier,

Connor McDavid.

He's got a coach.

He's got people teaching him

all the time,

even though he's one of the

greatest hockey players.

He's on the ice.

He's executing a plan.

He's engaged in hockey praxis.

Right?

Not practice.

Practice helps us be stronger

at our praxis.

But I'm talking about praxis

with an X.

P-R-A-X-I-S.

Right?

Bringing it,

like Terminator X

from one of my favorite

bands.

We'll get back to that.

That's a little,

little question.

See if Jacob nails.

Who was,

who was Terminator X,

the DJ for?

I know listeners out there

that are maybe around my age.

Know exactly who that is.

We'll come back to it.

We'll drop more hints.

But that's my trivia for Jacob.

If you can nail that by the end

of the show.

You aren't just the word

for Sores.

You are a man.

Yeah.

I'm going to need some of

those hints coming up.

Because I'm,

look,

Johnny, I'm not just chairman

of the boards.

I'm also half your age.

So you're going to have to

meet me where I am.

Okay.

Terminator X was the DJ

or a band frontman.

But I could say two people,

although I like to give sort

of theoretical credit to one.

Chuck D.

Public enemy.

You my man.

Public enemy.

Public enemy number one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So phenomenal band still

doing the work.

Public enemy.

Chuck D.

One of.

I would say as a kid of the 90s.

I mean 80s and 90s.

But really coming of age in the 90s.

Becoming a teacher.

In the end of that great century.

Right.

Public enemy.

One of my teachers.

Chuck D.

For sure.

Teacher.

Artist.

Man, he just dropped knowledge.

You know,

we'll get back to that.

I digress a bit though, Jacob.

The context of practice.

You know, informed

teaching.

As we know about.

Like theory that informs our

teaching.

That praxis.

I'm calling you know.

How do we know about it.

We know about it.

Because we have the study of teaching

and learning pedigogy.

The study of teaching,

so people whose job is to study.

All these different things.

Do better in groups,

or whether we do better, you know,

individually, or maybe it's a mix

because kids have different learning styles.

How should we teach kids with different learning styles?

Let all falls under the umbrella.

Who figures that out Jacob?

The people who engaged in studying pedigogy.

The study of teaching and learning.

So I know Tim drop that.

Hey, it's just teaching.

Don't use that word.

I'm going to be like Tim.

Come on, man.

Come on, man.

Are we in another beef?

You always.

But also Jacob.

Tim and I always beef

because I don't always get the sarcasm.

That's one of my.

My kryptonites.

Sometimes Tim is being sarcastic.

And I think he's being serious.

And then I'm like,

those are fighting words.

Tim and he's like,

that's the sarcasm.

And I'm like,

Oh, listeners.

Now that went right over Johnny's head.

And he's all amped up about things.

But Tim.

But Tim and Jacob,

you guys talked about.

One of my favorite.

Favorite shows of all time.

Sesame street.

Right.

We did.

We did.

Yeah.

And, and, you know,

I think Tim, he's,

he's like,

he was saying, you know,

all the,

the accusations.

And he's not wrong.

The accusations of,

and I hate to do get into this

because I'm always.

Trying to find more complex,

nuanced ways.

Then saying,

well, the conservative media

or the liberal media,

like the polarize.

And you nailed it, Jacob.

We're in that so-called culture war,

which is real.

I hate to get pulled into its vortex.

Because on, at the end of the day,

it's so far from what all of us.

On the ground in our neighborhoods

and communities are actually experiencing

from one another.

Right.

It's so far from those.

It's so polarizing.

That it seems like it seems futile at this point.

But it's real.

And yes, there are, you know,

people on the far right thing.

Sesame street is a communist,

you know,

like it's trying to instill communist values

or whatever.

And,

and,

and you guys talked about Burton Ernie

and Robert Duckey and all the things.

But,

but they're not wrong.

I'm not going to say communist

because I think that's ridiculous

because it's obviously,

it came to its rise during the Cold War.

I mean,

I mean,

it gained its largest popularity

in the,

in the thick of the Cold War,

which I got to be a kid during.

And most listeners did too.

Right.

Unless you're younger and you're listening

and you're like,

Cold War, what's that?

Right.

That's before global warming.

Now,

warming was already starting up,

but something different.

It was sort of like a political battle

between,

you know,

capitalist democracies

and,

and, you know, communist experiments.

Mostly,

USA,

USA versus Russia,

the USSR,

and now Russia.

And, you know,

communism versus democracy,

kind of stuff.

And I won't get into too much

of the social studies details of that.

But,

but when we talk about sesame street,

I want to give it credit

because it was born.

It was a little mini history lesson, right?

It was born in the late 60s,

right?

Premiered, right?

In 1969.

I'll call that a nodal year.

Like,

holy smokes,

stuff that was happening

in this country in 1969.

Was paradigm shifting.

I know some of our listeners

are old enough to remember that

and you're like,

the late 60s,

especially in 1969.

Paradigm shifting.

In fact,

destabilizing in some context.

There were assassinations.

There were political fear.

There was a height of a cold war

happening.

There were a lot of discussions going on.

But,

when we think about

Sesame Street,

we think about something

that created in the late 60s

was,

was related to and born out

of President Johnson's war

on poverty,

which wasn't only Johnson's,

but it was a continued effort

as a nation to say,

hey,

we want to end poverty.

And,

and Jacob,

things haven't changed much since then

in terms of one of the things we know

is early childhood interventions.

Our wise investments

against two things.

Poverty and imprisonment.

Okay,

so this is by and large

and I know some folks,

a little older than me,

can probably say,

come on,

it wasn't so romantic,

Johnny,

there was disagreement

with that back then.

I know that.

But a large effort

from people in that era

to say,

let's end poverty.

Let's end childhood hunger.

Let's end children

in poverty.

And what could be an equalizer

in that schools?

Public education.

But what about,

for kids who are too little

to be in schools?

Well,

we need preschool programs.

Well, that's a little easier said

than done.

What can we do

to help educate children

who aren't in preschool yet

or who aren't able to get

to a good quality preschool

or can't afford those options?

We don't necessarily have that,

those widespread head start programs,

which also Jacob

are being cut

in the moment as well,

which is another

real blatant attack on childhood.

But you know what I'm saying here

is like the war to end poverty

is, say, invest in children learning

because two things go down

when you have early childhood investment

in their education and their learning.

Poverty, right?

Joblessness, homelessness,

these epidemics right now in our country

and,

and,

and presentment,

which we also know,

those things can flick

with a political agenda

to increase the number of people in prison

because it's been privatized

and it's an investment

as well as

to increase the number of people in poverty, right?

Which is,

which,

which let's be just blunt about this.

The current administration's actions.

I'm most into actions.

I don't know their intentions.

I'm not going to accuse them of their intentions

because they know their intentions.

In fact, they spelled them out for us in documents.

But I'll just stick to the actions.

All the actions they are taking show to me

that they want more poor people.

Not only do they want more people living in poverty,

but they specifically want more people

not only in poverty and locked into systems of debt,

but also,

they want to increase the number of people in prison,

which doesn't make economic sense

because people in prison cost more money.

Let's not even get into the politics of Johnny

basically being an abolitionist.

It's a little more complicated than that.

I mean,

I for a number of years spent some time thinking

like we should not have prisons

and I've maybe shifted a bit on that.

But I absolutely do not think that we should not

should have a prison industry,

a privatized for-profit prison system.

It seems antithetical to the goals of democracy

and rehabilitation and to acknowledging that,

you know, there are consequences for actions,

but it's turned in to profitize it a bit

to make it private has really,

I think, done an ethical turn away from democracy

in that context.

So, I mean, I'll get into that any other time

we can have a whole show on like the school

to prison pipeline or the prison,

prison nexus.

But the idea here being it costs.

I'm not an instrumentalist,

but an instrumentalist argument.

The cost to keep somebody in prison is way more.

Can dig up the numbers.

Few years back it was close to 30 grand

through the math.

Goals know to educate a child

in a public education system around,

you know, 12 to $18,000 is adequate.

We might even say a little bit more with inflation right now.

18 to 20.

Let's even be generous.

It's less expensive to educate a child

for a few years than it is to keep somebody

who's incarcerated in prison.

And we know we have statistical significance

around this.

That early education intervention,

your success in school.

Right.

Inoculates you.

From most likely being incarcerated.

Now that.

Jacob, I'll take out of the equation like extreme

social paths and like serial killers.

Sure.

That you know that the outlier case where someone

said, well, you know,

this prisoner has, you know,

college education and I, you know,

I do believe that there are some, you know,

dispositions and, and, you know,

and trauma is inflicted.

I'm not a psychologist.

Educator and educational researcher.

Some tangent to that stuff.

But, you know, that doesn't say that it's eliminating

all crime.

Just saying it's it's been shown to have statistically

significantly reduced.

The number of people who turn to crime.

Right.

Or who end up incarcerated,

which Jacob, if we've privatized prisons,

cuts into profits.

So these two things it's hard to ignore.

Why are we cutting Sesame Street?

Well, because it educates children and we've already

made classrooms about a field.

Let's make the living room of everybody's home.

Also a battlefield.

And that's one of the things that for ages people

were able to access.

As a supplement to their education.

Right and I'll get a little bit more into that too,

because I want to give Sesame Street some more props.

I loved hearing Tim Sing-Rubber-Docky.

My one of my favorite.

I was just talking with someone the other day of my other,

one of my other favorites was Grover's near and far.

Love that.

And then what did that.

You're like Johnny.

Near.

Wow.

Near.

You know,

I loved that stuff him running up near and then running

that far.

You know, the other thing being there was a waiter.

There's a fly in my soup.

Oh my god.

That's a classic line still often dropped at restaurants.

If you if you have a friend or you yourself are a server.

I spent some time doing restaurant work.

You know a good reference to Sesame Street when someone says,

well, waiter, there's a fly in my soup.

Right.

But nonetheless.

Sesame Street for decades on apology.

Unapologetically.

Was designed to have educational benefits.

In fact, studies show that children who watch Sesame Street were 16.

16% less likely to fall behind in school.

Right.

They also know that Sesame Street.

Remember it premiered in 1969.

And so this is why I want to give credit to the far right.

They do have opposition to this because it.

That's why I want to give credit to the far right.

That's why I want to give credit to the far right.

Sesame Street is not trying to promote communism.

But they absolutely were trying to be in living rooms in a way to help.

Mediate.

The importance of cultural representation of global.

Communities.

Right.

Like it.

Sesame Street intentionally committed.

To representation of diversity for minority children and families.

And so we need to really bring some back.

The community.

I think we should as well.

I think it's coming up to a multicultural environment.

Even if we didn't necessarily.

Live in a multicultural environment.

I mean, this is a gift to�.

Okay.

The world is diverse.

It's growingly multilingual.

But what if I live in a predominantly.

Monalinguo.

And everyone kind of looks somewhat similar.

I could say maybe a predominantly white community.

Nothing wrong with that.

Although we can get into sort of some sort of.

And here for all white communities are white supremacy in any context.

But said grow up in a.

You know, not in a city, which historically meant like rural.

Predominantly white or segregated communities.

Well, Sesame Street was integrating some of those ideas of like humanizing.

Our diverse cultures, dispelling myths.

You know, peaking curiosity in a respectful non-appropriative way.

For decades and decades.

They also like Mr. Rogers.

I'll throw him in there with PBS.

Addressed difficult topics.

Sesame Street, right?

They talk about death, divorce, racism, disability, all kinds of things.

You know, wants and needs.

I mean, as a social studies teacher, Sesame Street is like an early childhood dream.

For my students to have a connection to.

They've already had some foundational groundwork laid not just around their ABCs.

But around democracy, around neighborhoods, around community.

That's the whole idea of Sesame Street, right?

Where people kind of were different.

What got along navigated their differences, their emotions.

So like social emotional learning.

Right.

What's happening in Sesame Street's not only.

For kids, but you know, for adults, we're listening along.

And they're part of that conversation.

It's what I would call.

You know, a kind of pedagogy back to that science of teaching.

Right.

It's informed by the idea that.

To learn means we should be comfortable welcomed to the learning.

Right.

What more comfortable space than our living room.

Together listening.

With the fun of songs and puppets and everything.

But navigating things that were pushing like.

Like PSJ said, right?

That was our, or a Vigotsky, the zone of proximal,

proximal development, when we're in that little bit of uncomfortable space,

like a new idea.

Change helping facilitate that change in a really welcoming way.

Sesame Street.

Providing that sort of critical pedagogy.

That shifting and changing how we see the world.

Through inviting us into a conversation like Tim does when Tim says.

Hey, bus depensals.

All of you.

It's about having a conversation with our neighbors, right?

That's what it's about is being we, I'll use a big word because I'm not anti-intellectual.

I think blue collar scholars.

Like Jacob, you said, we're, we are word the sources.

We love words because words are what we have, right?

When we talk, right?

Certain words ought not to be only able to be used by people who have mastered only the Queen's English.

So I'll, I'll use some big words here.

Good teaching should be ontologically welcoming in epistemologically challenging.