The Learner-Centered Collaborative Podcast Learner-Centered Collaborative

George Couros, an innovative teaching, learning, and leadership expert, shares his insights on what makes a great principal. The discussion revolves around the five key pillars outlined in his book "What Makes a Great Principal," co-authored with Allyson Apsey.

The conversation delves into the following topics:

👥 Relationship Builder: George emphasizes the importance of building meaningful connections with students, staff, and the community. He shares personal experiences and lessons learned from his parents on the value of relationships.
🌱 Continuous Learner: George stresses the significance of principals being continuous learners themselves, modeling the behavior they expect from their staff and students. He discusses the impact of learning by example.
🌟 Talent Cultivator: George explores the idea of recognizing and nurturing individual strengths, rather than focusing solely on weaknesses. He emphasizes the importance of helping everyone find their unique talents and supporting them in their growth.
🔀 Resource Maximizer: George highlights the often-overlooked aspect of resource management, which is crucial for bringing visions to fruition. He shares strategies for maximizing available resources and leveraging the diverse talents within a school community.
🔭 Visionary: George discusses the importance of cultivating a shared vision for the school, one that involves the entire community. He emphasizes the need for principals to facilitate a collaborative process, rather than imposing their personal vision.

Throughout the episode, George draws upon personal experiences, anecdotes, and research to illustrate the significance of these pillars in shaping an effective and impactful principalship. He encourages principals to embrace a learner-centered approach, foster a culture of continuous growth, and empower their staff and students to reach their full potential.

Bryanna Hanson, Learner-Centered Collaborative’s Director of Learning Design, delves into her educational journey and her commitment to transforming assessment and grading practices. Bryanna’s teaching career began with enthusiasm but soon encountered the constraints of conventional grading and curriculum standards.

With a foundation rooted in a genuine passion for learning and an early realization of the limitations of traditional assessment methods, Bryanna’s path took a transformative turn when she found herself teaching Spanish at a competency-based micro-school. This experience steered her towards a learner-centered approach that emphasizes authentic learning experiences over teaching to the test.

During this episode, Bryanna and Katie discuss:

🇪🇸 Bryanna’s “aha” moment when studying abroad in Spain and seeing how acing Spanish class did not translate to real-world use.
⛓️ The limitations and inequities traditional grading and assessment create.
🌮 Lessons learned when doing competency-based assessment within the context of a student-run food truck.
🎯 Distinguishing between traditional, standards-based, and competency-based assessment practices.
🕓 The power of measuring growth over time and how competency-based assessment honors this goal.

Throughout the conversation, Bryanna reflects on the challenges and opportunities within the current educational landscape, advocating for a future where education is more aligned with fostering holistic development and preparing students for the complexities of the world they live in every day.

A.J. Juliani, author, speaker, and educator, shares his insights and experiences on creating meaningful and relevant learning experiences for young people. And, how doing so is evolving in the age of AI.

Key topics covered include:


🏈 Drawing parallels between effective coaching practices and effective teaching practices, such as focusing on skill development and nurturing a love for the process rather than solely on winning. As A.J. put it, "first downs over touchdowns."
🤖 Realistic perspectives on the opportunities and challenges presented by AI in education, including the need to move beyond using AI as a classroom management tool and towards harnessing its potential to support meaningful learning and teaching.
💻 Practical strategies for using AI tools like SchoolAI to provide timely feedback and facilitate teacher-student conferencing.
📖 Insights from his upcoming book Meaningful and Relevant on addressing student distraction by prioritizing purposeful and contextualized learning experiences.
🎯 His hope for the future of education to move beyond narrow academic achievement measures and embrace a more holistic view of student success, potentially leveraging AI to support data-driven approaches to well-being and competency development.

Dr. Stephanie Buelow, Associate Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Hawaii, shares her experiences and insights as an educator aimed at putting learners at the center through literacy instruction and teacher development.

Stephanie discusses key moments that shaped her teaching philosophy, including the power of student conversation and letting students take the lead with technology integration. She also reflects on how being a parent has influenced her view of honoring students as whole people.

Key topics covered include:

📚 Moving beyond novel studies to provide authentic reading experiences
🏫 The need for extended clinical experiences in teacher preparation programs
🗣️ Developing a literacy clinic for teacher candidates to apply their learning
👥 Envisioning fluid, collaborative models of co-teaching for novice educators
✍️ Stephanie's own journey to developing an identity as a reader after college

Stephanie shares her vision for education that empowers both teachers and students through autonomy, collaboration, and investing in people over programs.

Sonn Sam, National Director of Partnerships at Big Picture Learning, discusses his experiences and insights on creating learner-centered education systems.

Sonn shares how his experiences as a refugee from Cambodia shaped his educational journey and how he did not feel seen or supported in traditional school environments. He found mentors and purpose through community programs focused on his interests, like dance.

Later, transformative educators helped Sonn discover his passion for empowering youth by asking him questions no one had asked before about what he cared about. This led him into education and working with Big Picture Learning.

Key topics covered include:


The importance of knowing students' interests and passions to drive relevant learning
Small group advisory structures for relationship building- Connecting students with mentors and internships in the community
Developing competency-based systems and authentic assessments
Moving from theory to action by starting small and evolving practice over time

Sonn emphasizes the need to build ecosystems that honor the brilliance in every student, not just those who fit traditional measures of success. His vision is for an education system where every child feels seen, heard, and loved.

Nerel Winter, CEO of Bostonia Global in Cajon Valley, CA shares his experiences and insights on creating a learner-centered high school within a traditional district system.

Nerel discusses his background as a musician who fell into education and became disillusioned by the conventional school system's focus on college admissions over personal purpose and relationships. This led him to envision a TK-12 school aimed at personalizing education around each student's interests, strengths and aspirations.

Key topics covered in our conversation include:

🤝 Advisory structures to build trust and understand each student deeply
🗺️ Exposure to diverse careers and mentorships tailored to student passions
📜 Competency-based transcripts showing mastery and growth over time
🧠 The difficulty of shifting educators' mindsets away from standardized measures
🎓 Nerel's hope for schools to focus on supporting meaningful life paths over college admissions