Reach. Teach. Talk. With Nat Damon Nat Damon

Reach Teach Talk focuses its 42nd podcast episode on the upcoming film, “A Case for Love”, and explores how it brings school and family communities together.

What is ”unselfish love”?  During the darkest days of the Global Pandemic, filmmaker Brian Ide (President, Grace-Based Films) set off on a nationwide quest for the answer to that question. The result is the brilliant documentary film, ”A Case for Love”; a collection of 14 stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and with a throughline focused on the teachings of Bishop Michael Curry. Nat talks with Brian about how this is a perfect film to screen for middle school and high school students, parent groups, and communities of all types. Because the world needs more unselfish love...and ”A Case for Love” is a perfect place to find it.

www.acaseforlovemovie.com

Three years after the great pivot into remote teaching due to the Pandemic, teachers are now facing a technology revolution in the classroom once more. ChatGPT is changing the way students write, research, study and think. The AI technology impacts the way teachers are designing, assigning, and grading assessments. Yet the advent of ChatGPT has created in many situations a cat and mouse game that no one wants to play - particularly as we still struggle to form trusting bonds in the classroom. Join us for a deep look into the impact of AI in the classroom as it stands today, and learn strategies to help integrate ChatGPT smoothly into you classroom.
Spencer Burrows is the 11th Grade Dean at Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, California, as well as Teach Plus of California policy fellow and Coro Lead LA alumnus. Burrows serves as education adjunct faculty at National University and on the Board of Directors of TEACH Public Schools in South Los Angeles. Two recent articles that Spencer has written appeared in Chalkbeat and Education Week.
Three years after the great pivot into remote teaching due to the Pandemic, teachers are now facing a technology revolution in the classroom once more. ChatGPT, released to the world in January of 2023, is changing the way students write, research, study and think.  The AI technology impacts the way teachers are designing, assigning, and grading assessments. Yet the advent of ChatGPT has created in many situations a cat and mouse game that no one wants to play — particularly as we still struggle to form trusting bonds in the classroom. Join us for a deep look into the impact of AI in the classroom as it stands today, and learn strategies to help integrate ChatGPT smoothly into your classroom. You may well decide that this new technology actually serves as a boost to your instructional delivery. Or not. Yet if one thing is certain, ChatGPT is here to stay.

We are thrilled to celebrate our 40th episode by hosting Father Gregory Boyle, Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, based in Los Angeles and influential around the world. In this teaching and mentor-focused conversation, Father Greg speaks with Nat about the transcendent power of relational wholeness at Homeboy and in our classrooms. Belief, Hope and Love are its mainstays.

France did this back in 2019…why can’t we? Buxton School, a co-ed boarding school in Williamstown, MA, introduced the 2022-23 academic year with a new smartphone policy: No smartphones allowed. After the Wall Street Journal spotlighted the impact of this policy on campus life, Nat sat down with Associate Head of School John Kalapos, to speak about the relational impact on all members of the Buxton community. What resulted is an instructive case study on the decision to eliminate the influence of smartphones in the classroom and on campus — 24/7 — at a boarding school.

Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and co-author of the book, “The Art of Possibility”, and an infamous TED Talk speaks about the essentialness of positivity in the classroom (and the classroom of life). Music is in all our hearts. Mr. Zander makes a beautiful case for it in this immersive conversation.

Join Nat and South African author, speaker and social entrepreneur Craig Wilkinson (www.fatheranation.co.za) as they discuss the crucial role men play in the lives of their youth and society. For anyone working with or raising boys in this day and age, their conversation will provide exploration and strategies on how to cultivate positive masculinity in today’s world.