Be a Better Ally: critical conversations for K12 educators

Tricia Friedman
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Courses
  • Updated Weekly

A podcast for educators reimagining what allyship looks like in classrooms, staff rooms, and communities. Host Tricia Friedman, global educator, coach, and Director at Shifting Schools, guides dynamic conversations at the intersection of education, identity, and digital humanities. Each episode brings together practitioners, authors, and thought leaders exploring how schools can cultivate belonging, through curriculum, culture, and critical reflection. With an eye toward digital culture and justice, this show asks: How might we be better listeners, advocates, and co-creators in an interconnected world?

  1. 21h ago

    Meredith Walker on Identity, Friendship, Comedy, and Becoming Yourself

    What does it really mean to "be yourself"? In this episode, Tricia speaks with Meredith Walker about her new book and the deeper work of self-discovery. Meredith's motto, "get your hair wet," becomes the perfect entry point for a conversation about joining the moment instead of protecting the version of ourselves we think we need to present. Together, they explore why identity is not something we solve once, but something we keep returning to. Meredith shares how her work with young people, storytelling, comedy, friendship, and even dogs has shaped the way she thinks about confidence, connection, and becoming. This conversation is especially useful for educators, families, and anyone supporting adolescents as they ask bigger questions about who they are, what matters to them, and how they want to move through the world. In this episode, we discuss: Why "just be yourself" is not enough guidance for young people How self-discovery changes as we meet new people and gain new experiences Why rethinking success matters at every age What storytelling can offer young people who need to feel seen and heard How comedy helps us loosen shame and make room for play Why friendship can be a bridge to deeper self-understanding The role of face-to-face connection in a digital world What dogs can teach us about attention, love, and belonging Memorable moments: 00:01 — Meredith explains the story behind her motto, "get your hair wet" 01:13 — Why being yourself requires reflection, not just confidence 03:32 — Rethinking success beyond career ladders and external approval 04:13 — Meredith shares a powerful story from a storytelling workshop with girls living in a Syrian refugee camp 06:02 — What good listening makes possible 07:07 — How comedy helps us question the scripts we take too seriously 09:46 — Why trying something badly can still help us grow 12:00 — Meredith reflects on creating across TV, radio, podcasts, digital work, and books 13:11 — How the book can become a bridge for friendship 14:35 — Dog wisdom, connection, and the most loving version of ourselves Pull quotes: "Get your hair wet" is really an invitation to stop guarding your look and join the moment. Identity is not a one-time answer. It is a conversation we keep returning to. Sometimes success is not the next step on a ladder. Sometimes it is helping someone feel seen enough to tell their story. Comedy can help us loosen shame and make room for becoming. Friendship helps us find ourselves more interesting. Dogs remind us that connection does not always require perfect language. For educators and families: This episode offers a gentle but powerful way to talk with young people about identity. Instead of asking them to simply "be themselves," we can help them build the habits that make self-understanding possible: reflection, curiosity, humor, friendship, storytelling, and care. Meredith's work invites us to give young people better questions, not just better advice. Listen for this question: What would change if we treated "be yourself" not as a slogan, but as a practice? Learn more about the summit mentioned at the top of the episode: https://www.sidecarcounsel.com/ Connect with Bridget: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-mcnamer/

    21 min

  2. 21h ago ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: The Oprah Podcast

    Introducing Oprah and renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel on What We Really Want in a Relationship from The Oprah Podcast. Follow the show: The Oprah Podcast World-renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel returns to The Oprah Podcast to share her brilliant relationship insights with a live audience. Esther has incisive advice for Gen Z women who’ve given up on dating, a mother of five struggling to heal old wounds in her marriage and a single mom who put her dating life on hold to focus on raising her son. Plus, Esther reveals what she learned during her first-ever therapy session between a man and his AI chatbot girlfriend. She also reflects on the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking book Mating in Captivity — and why, in today’s age of disconnection, its message is more crucial than ever. BUY THE BOOK! The 20th anniversary edition of Mating in Captivity, published by HarperCollins and written by Esther Perel, is available wherever books are sold. https://www.estherperel.com/mating-in-captivity 00:00:00 - Welcome Esther Perel 00:03:00 - Desire in long-term relationships 00:05:12 - Relationships in 2006 vs. 2026 00:08:45 - We’re more connected and less accessible 00:10:32 - 3 most common sex challenges today 00:13:00 - Esther’s dating advice 00:17:30 - One person can’t be everything 00:21:05 - The love myth we learned 00:22:50 - What to look for in a partner 00:25:30 - Relationship ambivalence 00:29:40 - Relationships with chatbots 00:36:36 - Chatbot relationships are here 00:37:57 - When couples therapy took off 00:39:00 - Healing from relationship ruptures 00:42:00 - Importance of repair 00:46:00 - How to date again 00:48:28 - Healing from heartbreak 00:54:50 - How Esther understands people Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

  3. May 21

    Keala Kendall on Horror, Hawaiian History, and Teaching Students to Question "Paradise"

    Tricia Friedman speaks with Keala Kendall, author of That Which Feeds Us, a gothic novel that begins with a missing sister and opens into a larger conversation about Hawaii, diaspora, colonialism, memory, and the stories we are taught to accept about place. Keala describes her writing process as a kind of "ingredient foraging." The novel began as the story of a diaspora girl returning to Hawaii for the first time to search for her missing twin sister. As Keala researched and followed the emotional truth of the story, she realized horror was not simply a genre choice. It was the form the story required. For K–12 educators, this conversation offers a powerful way to think about place-based learning, media literacy, Indigenous histories, and the role of fiction in helping students ask better questions. Keala challenges the postcard version of Hawaii often shown in films, tourism campaigns, and popular culture. She asks readers to look at what gets hidden when a place is sold only as paradise. Tricia and Keala also discuss horror as a serious literary form. Keala makes the case that horror can reveal what a society fears, what it refuses to confront, and what histories remain unresolved. Her description of history as "one big ghost story" offers a compelling frame for educators working with students on historical memory, colonialism, belonging, and power. This episode is especially useful for educators interested in how speculative fiction can help students engage with difficult truths without reducing literature to a lesson plan. Keala is clear that That Which Feeds Us is entertainment first. But the book also invites readers to think more carefully about whose stories are amplified, whose are flattened, and what it means to be haunted by history.

    30 min

  4. May 14

    What Mothers Teach Us: Dr. Brittney Cooper on Mama Says I'm Fine

    This week, Tricia Friedman welcomes New York Times bestselling author Dr. Brittney Cooper to the podcast for a conversation about her new picture book, Mama Says I'm Fine. Based largely on Cooper's own childhood, Mama Says I'm Fine is a heartwarming story about family, resilience, and the powerful force of a mother-daughter bond. The book carries Cooper's well-known feminist sensibility, offering young readers a story rooted in love, care, and empowerment. In this conversation, Brittney shares the backstory behind the book and reflects on what it means to write from memory, to honor maternal love, and to create stories that speak to young girls with honesty and tenderness. Tricia and Brittney also discuss collaboration, including how picture books ask writers and illustrators to build meaning together. The episode explores how a simple phrase like "I'm fine" can hold courage, reassurance, protection, and love, especially in the relationship between a mother and daughter. In this episode Tricia and Brittney discuss: The childhood memories that helped shape Mama Says I'm Fine Why mother-daughter relationships can carry so much emotional meaning How stories for young readers can hold both sweetness and strength Writing girlhood through a feminist lens The role of resilience in family stories What it means to collaborate intentionally on a picture book How children's books can speak to adults, too Guest bio Dr. Brittney Cooper is a New York Times bestselling author, professor, cultural critic, and public thinker. She is the author of several books, including Eloquent Rage: A Black Woman Discovers Her Superpowers, Feminist AF: A Guide to Crushing Girlhood, and her debut picture book Stand Up! 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change. She is a professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University and cofounder of the Crunk Feminist Collective. Her cultural commentary has appeared across major media outlets including MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, PBS, Essence, The Root, TED.com, and more. She has also been named four times to The Root 100. Her newest picture book, Mama Says I'm Fine, is a story of love, resilience, family, and maternal care.

    18 min

  5. May 6

    We will always need stories with Patricia Cornwell

    Bestselling author Patricia Cornwell joins Tricia Friedman to discuss True Crime: A Memoir, her deeply personal account of the life behind the books. Cornwell is known around the world for the Kay Scarpetta series, which has sold millions of copies and helped shape the modern forensic thriller. Her memoir, published by Grand Central Publishing on May 5, 2026, turns that same investigative intensity toward her own story. In this conversation, Cornwell talks about why now was the moment to write a memoir, how difficult personal experiences shaped her career, and what it means to tell the truth on the page. She reflects on writing, survival, research, violence, and the kind of curiosity that keeps a creative life moving. In this episode Tricia and Patricia Cornwell discuss: The story behind True Crime: A Memoir Why Cornwell chose to write about her own life now How Kay Scarpetta changed the crime fiction landscape The relationship between lived experience and fiction Why curiosity matters to writers, investigators, and readers How Cornwell thinks about truth, memory, research, and resilience What readers may discover when they return to Scarpetta through the memoir Get your copy of True Crime: https://www.patriciacornwell.com/

    17 min

  6. Apr 30

    What the fun?

    Join Tricia Friedman Monday, May 4th for a free Futures Literacy session exploring the future of fun: https://triciafriedman.com/futureoffun/

    5 min

  7. Apr 23

    What an Applied Linguist Sees in the Age of AI

    In this episode, Tricia speaks with Dr. Kimberly Becker, an applied linguist and social scientist, about what shifts when AI enters the world of writing, research, and communication. Their conversation moves past the usual panic about cheating and detection and instead asks a deeper question: what happens when language is no longer written first and foremost for other humans? Dr. Becker explains the difference between theoretical and applied linguistics, shares how her research examines real-world writing, and discusses a current study comparing human-written research abstracts with AI-generated ones. One of the major concerns she raises is not simply whether AI can produce fluent text, but how it may strip away context, stance, and nuance in ways that matter, especially in fields like healthcare research. The episode also explores what AI may reveal about the way many of us were already writing before tools like ChatGPT arrived. Tricia and Dr. Becker talk about language written for algorithms, the emptiness of content made just to circulate, and why polish is not the same as thought. They also get into what this means for schools, writing instruction, and whether this moment could push educators toward valuing complexity over compliance. Learn more about this week's guest: https://www.womentalkinboutai.com/

    32 min

  8. Apr 14

    Get A People's Climate into first place!

    Special call out, months back we were thrilled to host Shilpi Chhotray, of A People's Climate on the pod, and Shilpi's show is SO close to winning a WEBBY. This is a big big deal, so we need you to show your support. A People's Climate is a top 5 Webby nominee (out of 13,000+ entries) and currently in a tight race for the People's Voice Award.   This is one of those rare moments where an independent project is up against corporate-backed platforms—and can actually win.   🗳️ If you have a minute, please vote + share: https://wbby.co/57463N ⚠️ Don't forget to confirm via email. Share this to get the episode out.

    38 min
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5
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About

A podcast for educators reimagining what allyship looks like in classrooms, staff rooms, and communities. Host Tricia Friedman, global educator, coach, and Director at Shifting Schools, guides dynamic conversations at the intersection of education, identity, and digital humanities. Each episode brings together practitioners, authors, and thought leaders exploring how schools can cultivate belonging, through curriculum, culture, and critical reflection. With an eye toward digital culture and justice, this show asks: How might we be better listeners, advocates, and co-creators in an interconnected world?

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