Shoshanna Sumka on Experiential Education & Leadership
Join Shoshanna Shumka, Executive Director of the Independent School Experiential Education Network (ISEEN), as she discusses experiential education, the Kolb learning cycle, and the importance of human connection in learning. Discover how ISEEN supports educators and fosters impactful, real-world experiences for students.
- Independent Schools Experiential Education Network (ISEEN)
- ISEEN Programs
- What is Experiential Education?
- ISEEN Catalyst Institute
- Kolb’s experiential learning cycle
- Inside Dawson’s Innovation Center, four-minute video introducing the Alexander Dawson School’s experiential learning building
- Contact Shoshanna on LinkedIn
Transcript
Peter Frank 00:00:02
Nick welcome to Talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank 00:00:05
the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for
Peter Frank 00:00:08
technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens,
Peter Frank 00:00:12
we'll hear stories from technology directors and other
Peter Frank 00:00:15
special guests from the Independent School community and
Peter Frank 00:00:17
provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.
Ashley Cross 00:00:22
Hello, everyone. So you'll notice today I am not
Ashley Cross 00:00:26
Kristina Lewellen. This is Ashley Cross. I'm the Senior
Ashley Cross 00:00:29
Director of Education and content here at Atlas, and I'm
Ashley Cross 00:00:33
very excited to fill in for Kristina. Today, we're going to
Ashley Cross 00:00:37
welcome a special guest in just a few minutes, Shoshana sunka,
Ashley Cross 00:00:40
who is the Executive Director of the Independent School
Ashley Cross 00:00:43
Experiential Education Network, I see, but before we do that,
Ashley Cross 00:00:46
we'd like to just catch you up on what's happening. So we just
Ashley Cross 00:00:50
got through with Memorial Day weekend. Bill Hiram, how did it
Ashley Cross 00:00:53
go? What you guys do this Memorial Day? Good
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:56
morning, Ashley. It's good to be here for those
Hiram Cuevas 00:00:58
who don't know, I'm Hiram Cuevas, the Director of
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:00
Information Systems at St Christopher school in Richmond,
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:03
Virginia. So we had a wonderful time at our home. We had all the
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:08
children come on over for a nice cookout. And we actually live
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:11
right around the corner from a neighborhood pool, so there's
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:15
all sorts of excitement going on in that vicinity. So we can hear
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:19
all the laughter and all the patriotic music being played and
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:22
the celebrations going on. So it was kind of a nice way to kind
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:25
of have some fellowship at home and some good food and family
Hiram Cuevas 00:01:29
time. That's awesome.
Bill Stites 00:01:30
I am Bill Stites, the Director of Technology at
Bill Stites 00:01:33
Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair New Jersey, but at
Bill Stites 00:01:36
this stage, after the weekend that I have, I feel like I am
Bill Stites 00:01:39
the New Jersey Parkway traveler. Normally on this weekend, I am
Bill Stites 00:01:46
down the Jersey Shore in Margate with my mother spending time on
Bill Stites 00:01:49
the beach. But as many of you know, my oldest has just
Bill Stites 00:01:53
graduated college. He has landed his first job, which put him out
Bill Stites 00:01:57
on Staten Island, scenic Staten Island, he was out there on
Bill Stites 00:02:01
Saturday starting his new job, and proceeded to have a car
Bill Stites 00:02:05
breakdown. So I spent my weekend driving down to the shore,
Bill Stites 00:02:10
driving back up home, dealing with that, and then driving back
Bill Stites 00:02:14
to the shore, and then driving back home yet again. So I think
Bill Stites 00:02:18
this is now the first time where it feels like my back end is not
Bill Stites 00:02:22
moving, is not doing between 70 miles an hour and 35 miles an
Bill Stites 00:02:26
hour, which, if you've ever traveled in New Jersey on any
Bill Stites 00:02:31
type of holiday weekend in the summer, you know you're either
Bill Stites 00:02:34
moving very fast or you're not moving at all. So I experienced
Bill Stites 00:02:37
all of that this past weekend, and I'm happy to be actually
Bill Stites 00:02:41
back at work, which is not something I normally say after a
Bill Stites 00:02:44
long weekend. I usually wanna still be on the beach, but I'm
Bill Stites 00:02:47
happy to be back and at it
Ashley Cross 00:02:49
Well, Bill, I'm kind of on the opposite end of
Ashley Cross 00:02:51
the parenting spectrum right now. My kids just got out of
Ashley Cross 00:02:55
school. My son finished kindergarten. My daughter
Ashley Cross 00:02:57
finished preschool. So we had the little blow up pool in the
Ashley Cross 00:02:59
backyard. It's really nice, very hot down here in southern
Ashley Cross 00:03:02
Alabama. So let's turn and start talking about our guest.
Ashley Cross 00:03:07
Shoshana. Is a longtime leader in global learning and
Ashley Cross 00:03:11
experiential pedagogy, so y'all She's really cool. I'm so
Ashley Cross 00:03:14
excited to have her on the pod today. She's got over two
Ashley Cross 00:03:17
decades of experience spanning university programs, k 12
Ashley Cross 00:03:20
independent schools and national networks from keto to Sidwell
Ashley Cross 00:03:24
Friends and now to her work at Isee, she has dedicated her
Ashley Cross 00:03:27
career to building inclusive, Justice centered learning
Ashley Cross 00:03:30
experiences that spark real world impact. Shoshana, welcome
Ashley Cross 00:03:34
to the pod and tell us too, would you do
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:36
this Memorial Day? Oh my gosh. Thank you so
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:39
much for having me here today. It's really exciting to be here.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:42
I went camping. I guess that's you know what experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:46
educators do. But we went to a really family friendly also have
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:50
a fourth grader, so closer to that end of the parenting
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:53
spectrum. But we went camping at the little Bennett campground
Shoshanna Shumka 00:03:57
here in Maryland, and we had a great time. We have beautiful
Shoshanna Shumka 00:04:01
weather. The sun was shining. It was freezing at night, so we
Shoshanna Shumka 00:04:04
kind of snuggled in our sleeping bags, but it was a great time.
Ashley Cross 00:04:08
Shoshana, I have to tell you, my kindergartener
Ashley Cross 00:04:11
Bennett, came home with a flyer for Cub Scouts at the beginning
Ashley Cross 00:04:14
of the year, and it was like camping, and I was not a camping
Ashley Cross 00:04:18
person at all. We've gotten into it this year with my family, and
Ashley Cross 00:04:21
it has been such a lovely family experience for us. We've had a
Ashley Cross 00:04:25
really, really good year. So that's cool that you guys do
Ashley Cross 00:04:28
that as well. Yeah, it's really
Shoshanna Shumka 00:04:29
fun. You're like, in nature, you're like, No
Shoshanna Shumka 00:04:32
devices, you're just running around.
Unknown 00:04:35
Yep, I actually
Hiram Cuevas 00:04:36
went camping for our honeymoon with my bride two
Hiram Cuevas 00:04:39
weeks. We can't we hit a bunch of national parks, and we
Hiram Cuevas 00:04:43
figured out this marriage was going to last if we could hang
Hiram Cuevas 00:04:45
out in a two person tent for two weeks.
Unknown 00:04:49
Wow. Hiram,
Ashley Cross 00:04:50
that is very adventurous. I'm impressed. 31
Ashley Cross 00:04:53
years later, we're still together.
Bill Stites 00:04:55
You might want to have done that prior to getting
Bill Stites 00:04:57
married, but that's a different story. But yes, that's the 10.
Bill Stites 00:05:00
To do prior to actually putting the ring on the finger, my
Unknown 00:05:02
friend. So
Ashley Cross 00:05:04
Shawna, we're talking a lot about experiential
Ashley Cross 00:05:06
education today. I love that you kicked us off with camping. Can
Ashley Cross 00:05:08
you tell us a little bit about just a personal experience, kind
Ashley Cross 00:05:11
of outside the classroom that's helped how you shape the world?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:15
Well, this is a bit unusual, but when I was a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:19
senior in high school, my entire family moved to Nairobi, Kenya
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:24
in East Africa. This was for my dad's job, and as you can
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:28
imagine, it totally shifted the entire way that I see the world.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:33
So attending high school in Kenya, I went to school with
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:38
people from all over the world who spoke dozens of different
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:41
languages, the entire landscape of the East African savannah was
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:46
different than where I grew up, in Silver Spring Maryland, and I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:51
learned about the importance of relationships across difference
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:54
and how we learn from each other and just build understanding of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:05:59
People who are different than you. So that transformational
Shoshanna Shumka 00:06:02
experience, for me, sparked a desire to continue learning and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:06:07
traveling around the world. That's what kicked
Bill Stites 00:06:09
it off. That's impressive. Spending that amount
Bill Stites 00:06:13
of time going abroad like that. You don't often hear of that
Bill Stites 00:06:16
type of high school experience, and that probably provided you
Bill Stites 00:06:20
an incredible overview and insight to how you can benefit
Bill Stites 00:06:24
from this type of travel, this type of work, getting out in the
Bill Stites 00:06:27
field, doing the things that you're doing. But before we kind
Bill Stites 00:06:30
of get into it, I would love for you to define for us, when we're
Bill Stites 00:06:36
talking about experiential education, what does that mean
Bill Stites 00:06:40
for you, and how does that differ from what we might be
Bill Stites 00:06:43
doing in schools that we might be calling project based
Bill Stites 00:06:46
learning or any other type of umbrella you want to put over
Bill Stites 00:06:49
that type of learning? What does that mean to you to set the
Bill Stites 00:06:52
context for the conversation for our listeners?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:06:54
I really appreciate that question, Bill,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:06:56
and also you might not know, but your school is an Isee member.
Bill Stites 00:07:00
Oh, I know, yes, I know. Yes, not. I do know your
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:03
school is doing it. And different people
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:07
think about experiential education in different ways, but
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:09
one shorthand way of talking about it is learning by doing.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:14
But it's so much more to that when I talk about experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:18
education, I'm thinking about a learning cycle where both
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:22
children and adults, we all learn through reflecting on
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:26
experiences. It's pretty simple when you think about it that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:30
way, and we broaden that to think of experiential education,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:34
or the way that I talk about it is as a pedagogy or even a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:39
mindset shift that incorporates the whole person. So it's
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:43
looking at head, heart, hands, so emotional, cognitive and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:50
physical learning that has a holistic, interdisciplinary
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:54
focus. So it brings in a lot of academic subjects that is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:07:58
applicable to the real world. And you know what you said?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:00
Bill, yes, project based learning, place based learning,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:04
outdoor education, are all under the umbrella. There's a big tent
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:08
of experiential education. So all of those things are
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:12
considered experiential education.
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:14
So Shauna, if we were to take a quick overview of
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:19
your journey starting, obviously, it seemed like high
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:22
school was one of those life experiences that probably is a
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:27
punctuated moment in your life that has led you to the
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:32
direction that you're in today. But what brought you to actually
Hiram Cuevas 00:08:35
lead Isee,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:37
I love working with educators, so that's number
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:40
one. And going backwards, you know, I grew up in a family that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:45
instilled Jewish social justice values and with the idea that we
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:51
should leave the world a better place than we found it. And so I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:08:54
was engaged in environmental work. After we left Kenya, I did
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:00
a gap year in Israel, Palestine, I studied abroad in Indonesia,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:05
and then after college, I wanted to save the rain forest. You
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:10
know, like any young idealist, and lived in South America and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:14
Ecuador for eight years, working with environmental organizations
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:18
in the rain forest, I had this light bulb moment when I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:21
realized that my gifts and my strengths was working with
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:25
students, and that if I could bring students to the Amazon, to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:31
the rain forest, that they would see that education is a powerful
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:34
tool for social change. That's what brought me here, and I have
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:38
been working in student Global Social Justice educational
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:44
programming for the last 20 or so years, and what I found the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:49
most helpful for me in my career, as I was working with
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:54
students doing these immersive project based travel programs,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:09:59
was Ken. Connecting with other educators like you all to learn
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:04
best practices and get that support to do this work, because
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:07
sometimes it can feel really lonely as an educator doing
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:10
something a little bit different. And when I worked in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:14
higher ed and when I was at Sidwell, connecting with other
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:18
educators was the way that helped me grow in my career and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:22
my profession, and I wanted to be able to give that back
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:25
through I seen the Independent Schools, experiential education
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:29
network and help other educators Connect. I'm a connector. I like
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:33
connecting people. How
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:35
much of an influence did your degree in
Hiram Cuevas 00:10:37
anthropology play in this journey anthropology gave
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:42
me the framework to think about
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:46
different cultures and how people connect across
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:48
difference. And so understanding that the way culture is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:53
developed in Kenya or the way that culture is developed in the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:10:57
United States just gave me a framework for thinking about
Shoshanna Shumka 00:11:00
cross cultural communication and so that inclusive and openness
Shoshanna Shumka 00:11:07
in Isee, and I think is grounded in my background in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:11:11
anthropology.
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:12
I was an anthropology minor, so I
Hiram Cuevas 00:11:13
couldn't resist asking the question, great
Unknown 00:11:16
love anthropology.
Bill Stites 00:11:18
So for a number of years here at MKA, for well over
Bill Stites 00:11:22
a decade, I ran an Irish studies program with our Upper School.
Bill Stites 00:11:26
At the time our Upper School head of the department, and we
Bill Stites 00:11:29
spent an entire semester working with them and teaching with
Bill Stites 00:11:32
them, and led into this two week study around the country. We
Bill Stites 00:11:36
spent two weeks traveling abroad. We met with Ivan Cooper,
Bill Stites 00:11:40
who was head of the Bloody Sunday March up in Derry. We
Bill Stites 00:11:43
studied and worked with people in their various migration
Bill Stites 00:11:47
centers, so on and so forth. And one of the things that we did in
Bill Stites 00:11:51
part of that, the reason I was there, was we traveled around
Bill Stites 00:11:54
with laptops, digital video cameras, digital cameras, and we
Bill Stites 00:11:57
documented things. We recorded things. We recorded interviews.
Bill Stites 00:12:01
We did a lot of work, both in collecting resources as well as
Bill Stites 00:12:06
developing resources to, again, as you're saying, to share,
Bill Stites 00:12:09
connect, to get the word out. And that was probably in the
Bill Stites 00:12:13
early 2000s that we were doing that, given we're a technology
Bill Stites 00:12:17
based podcast here, what does the use of technology look like
Bill Stites 00:12:21
now within the context of the work that you're doing with the
Bill Stites 00:12:25
organization there. As
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:26
you mentioned, Bill, it's so important to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:28
document that work, to demonstrate student learning,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:32
and there's some great partners that we work with. Un ruler is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:37
one of them. They are a platform where it's an online journal
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:43
where students can document their learning, can share
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:47
photographs and reflect on some of the learning, whether it's a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:51
travel program in Ireland or, you know, program in New York
Shoshanna Shumka 00:12:56
City, students document their learning. I have to say that,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:01
going back to the old school, notebook is still a piece of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:05
technology, right? Like a pen and paper is technology, and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:08
sometimes it's also really powerful to step away from
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:15
digital technology and use analog technology and have
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:18
students write in a journal reflect using longhand so
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:23
there's different ways, depending on the situation.
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:26
I'm a huge proponent of journaling. I
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:29
really do love seeing what students can produce in recent
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:33
years, because we talk about post COVID frequently on the
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:36
pod. Have you noticed a decline in the ability for students to
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:41
be able to journal in the way that they used to do pre COVID
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:46
as a result of them being so involved with digital
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:51
technologies that it makes it more difficult to actually
Hiram Cuevas 00:13:54
capture what they're thinking about. I think
Shoshanna Shumka 00:13:58
students, when given the opportunity to write
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:01
and journal and given a designated space and time away
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:07
from a device, they're just fine at journaling. I think it's
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:12
really about making the time and space to allow them that time to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:16
journal and to sit with their thoughts and to reflect. So I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:19
think they can still do it if we provide that opportunity for
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:22
them.
Ashley Cross 00:14:23
So Shoshana Isee runs a couple of really
Ashley Cross 00:14:26
interesting programs. I kind of shift us for just a minute and
Ashley Cross 00:14:29
talk about your winter and summer institutes. So first of
Ashley Cross 00:14:33
all, can you give us an overview of those and tell us a little
Ashley Cross 00:14:37
bit about what makes those special? And then I'd like to
Ashley Cross 00:14:39
tell the listeners about my connection
Unknown 00:14:41
with that. So we run Deep Learning Institutes.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:46
We run a summer institute for classroom
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:49
teachers and a winter Institute for program directors. And I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:53
love Ashley that you were with us in Colorado at the Dawson
Shoshanna Shumka 00:14:57
School last summer. And what's unique. Think about them is that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:01
we learn about experiential education by doing experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:06
education. So it's less talking, less sage on a stage, and more
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:12
guide on the side, and we are engaged in practicing the Kolb
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:17
experiential learning cycle, reflecting on it, building
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:21
relationships, building community, and getting out in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:25
the place, wherever we are at the institute, either in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:28
Boulder, Colorado, where we'll be in June, and Baltimore,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:33
Maryland, where we'll be next January, we experience
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:37
experiential education in action by being in the student's shoes
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:40
and getting to experience what a student might experience. That a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:15:42
student might experience.
Ashley Cross 00:15:44
That's very cool. So now Shoshana had invited
Ashley Cross 00:15:47
Atlas to help facilitate one of these, and so they have one on
Ashley Cross 00:15:51
maker spaces, and so I was there as the CO facilitator, and it
Ashley Cross 00:15:55
was my first experience with Isee, and I was really excited
Ashley Cross 00:15:58
to be there. Jeff and I had spent all year kind of prepping
Ashley Cross 00:16:01
for it and planning we had touch base, but I have to tell you,
Ashley Cross 00:16:04
Shoshana, when we got there, one of the first things that we did
Ashley Cross 00:16:07
was we went outside, which I loved. It was a beautiful
Ashley Cross 00:16:10
morning at Dawson, and we got in a circle, and Jeff was standing
Ashley Cross 00:16:14
next to me, and he took his shoes off, and I kind of looked
Ashley Cross 00:16:17
at him, and I was not quite prepared for this, exactly what
Ashley Cross 00:16:21
I was getting into. And then I looked around, and Jeff was not
Ashley Cross 00:16:24
the only one that took his shoes off. Everybody took their shoes
Ashley Cross 00:16:27
off, and they had their feet in the grass. And so I was like,
Ashley Cross 00:16:29
Okay, I'm in. I'm doing this. And so it was just a lovely
Ashley Cross 00:16:33
experience. It was a really reflective way to start the
Ashley Cross 00:16:37
morning. Literally ground it in the grass. It was a beautiful
Ashley Cross 00:16:41
place. We had a wonderful cohort that went through that
Ashley Cross 00:16:44
experience with us. But then the other thing, in addition to our
Ashley Cross 00:16:47
learning in the small group in the maker space, with this very
Ashley Cross 00:16:50
hands on, we came together as a larger group, and we did again,
Ashley Cross 00:16:53
more about the cold learning cycle and more about
Ashley Cross 00:16:56
experiential learning and how they could take it back to their
Ashley Cross 00:16:58
schools. But then we also had the opportunity to explore the
Ashley Cross 00:17:02
area, and that was really fascinating, too. Through this
Ashley Cross 00:17:05
process, you guys took us up into, you know, the mountain
Ashley Cross 00:17:09
area we were talking about conservation, we did a hike, and
Ashley Cross 00:17:12
we actually went with a local expert who led us through. And
Ashley Cross 00:17:15
it was very powerful. So I appreciate the opportunity to
Ashley Cross 00:17:17
get involved in that. It was something that I really enjoyed.
Ashley Cross 00:17:21
Can you tell us a little bit more for our listeners that
Ashley Cross 00:17:23
maybe aren't familiar with this? I think this is a great
Ashley Cross 00:17:25
takeaway, more about that colds learning cycle. What is that?
Ashley Cross 00:17:30
Why is that so central to the institutes?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:33
Yeah, thanks, actually, and I love that you
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:35
were there, creating the inaugural Makerspace pedagogy
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:40
cohort, and going back just reflecting what you said. I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:43
mean, the institutes are soulful experiences where we invite
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:47
vulnerability, and yes, we invited everyone to take their
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:50
shoes off and feel nature, and we do circle up in the morning
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:54
to model what you might do with your students. How do you ground
Shoshanna Shumka 00:17:58
your students in nature and in place? So I love that you were
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:01
able to experience that. At iseem, we draw on the Kolb
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:06
experiential learning cycle, which was developed by a couple,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:11
David and Alice Kolb, who were psychologists, and they
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:14
researched and observed how people learn, what is their
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:18
cognitive process as they're learning, and what they realize
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:23
is that people learn through experience, and that this
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:27
learning is not linear, it's cyclical. And so they describe
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:31
the cold experiential learning cycle, which consists of direct
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:36
experience. There's an experience that you have, like
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:40
standing in the graph that could be an experience, you reflect on
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:43
that experience, you analyze it, and then experiment, you apply
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:50
it to future learning. And I think that is really the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:18:53
essential piece, is taking your newly learned knowledge and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:00
applying it to real world situations, so that reinforces
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:03
your understanding. So I'm sure, as technology educators, you do
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:08
this all the time, right? Students learn and then they
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:12
apply it to another situation. How might this work in a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:15
different application? So there are many models. It's not just
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:19
the Cole of experiential learning cycle. We find it
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:21
useful, but you might find that there are other similar models
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:26
that explain how people learn, the scientific method, the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:31
writing process, the design thinking process. There are lots
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:34
of ways to describe these processes, but we've stuck to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:37
the cold cycle. And I actually have a funny story one of our
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:40
schools, one of our member schools in Texas, who we did
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:44
some consulting work with for a full year, and we did a lot of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:46
programs and workshops and professional learning with their
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:49
faculty. They have embraced David and Alice's cold
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:53
experiential learning cycle, and they've turned it into a verb.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:19:57
So they say, Are you Cole being. Like, are you holding that in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:01
your classroom? And I love how they're constantly thinking,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:04
Okay, have we included the entire learning cycle in our
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:09
lesson planning? Because doing one without the other, you don't
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:13
get the complete learning if you reflect, but you haven't had an
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:16
experience, there's really nothing to reflect on. But if
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:19
you try to do the abstract conceptualization, or the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:23
knowledge building piece, without the students have any
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:25
experience of it, it's hard for them to really absorb that and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:29
really understand what the lesson is about.
Hiram Cuevas 00:20:33
Most of the programs, I believe, as I've
Hiram Cuevas 00:20:35
read, are partnering with teachers. Is there a student
Hiram Cuevas 00:20:38
component as well? Do you have a blended environment as well.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:41
We are full professional development,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:44
working with teachers. Yep, we work with teachers, educators,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:47
administrators, heads of school, academic deans, directors of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:52
global learning, outdoor education. We are a professional
Shoshanna Shumka 00:20:56
network. But I will say a caveat to that is in that networking.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:01
Sometimes schools connect and have their students work
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:05
together, right? So, if they're in New Jersey, and they find
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:08
other schools that are doing sustainability, and they have an
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:10
Earth Day conference, you know, a student led Climate Change
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:15
Conference, then the students will come together. And
Shoshanna Shumka 00:21:17
oftentimes they make those connections through Isee, one
Bill Stites 00:21:21
of the things I'm actually curious about, just to
Bill Stites 00:21:24
hear a little bit more about, because, to be completely frank,
Bill Stites 00:21:26
I don't know anything about, is the work that Atlas did with
Bill Stites 00:21:29
you, when you were talking about about that inaugural work around
Bill Stites 00:21:33
the makerspace and those areas, what did that look like within
Bill Stites 00:21:36
the context of the work that you're doing? Ashley,
Unknown 00:21:39
do you want to do that one sure I can start. So
Ashley Cross 00:21:42
I think this began with a conversation between
Ashley Cross 00:21:45
Kristina and Shoshana, and my work for my dissertation was
Ashley Cross 00:21:50
actually an exploratory study on maker spaces, and so they looped
Ashley Cross 00:21:54
me into the conversation. So I spent, like I said, about a year
Ashley Cross 00:21:58
planning with Jeff, who runs the makerspace there at the Dawson
Ashley Cross 00:22:02
school. And again, we were looking at, what does this
Ashley Cross 00:22:06
experience look like when we bring people together? So it was
Ashley Cross 00:22:09
really interesting, because there's not a whole lot of
Ashley Cross 00:22:11
programming for people who run maker spaces. There have been
Ashley Cross 00:22:15
events like constructing modern knowledge in the past that have
Ashley Cross 00:22:18
been really addressed that constructivism approach to
Ashley Cross 00:22:21
making in schools. But this was a really cool thing that focused
Ashley Cross 00:22:26
a lot on the logistics too. You know, we have all of these
Ashley Cross 00:22:28
projects. How are you going to organize these even solving,
Ashley Cross 00:22:31
like, issues of, how are you going to store all of these
Ashley Cross 00:22:34
student projects that happen in the space? So a lot of the
Ashley Cross 00:22:36
conversations that was bringing these people together that are
Ashley Cross 00:22:39
much like tech leaders, very isolated in their own roles at
Ashley Cross 00:22:43
their school, and bringing them together and giving them space
Ashley Cross 00:22:46
to connect, to talk about really innovative projects and work
Ashley Cross 00:22:49
that they're doing, again, community partnerships and
Ashley Cross 00:22:53
incorporating more of professional development for
Ashley Cross 00:22:56
them. How can they bring in this reflective Cole cycle, things
Ashley Cross 00:22:59
like that? So we really set the stage for what that could look
Ashley Cross 00:23:03
like in future years of the institute. It kind of set up a
Ashley Cross 00:23:06
framework bill, I would say, for what participation looks like
Ashley Cross 00:23:10
for a makerspace cohort within the icing Summer Institute. What
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:16
I loved about it was framing Makerspace as a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:20
pedagogy, and connecting that learning to the cold,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:24
experiential learning cycle, so that the reflective practice, so
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:28
that tying it to, you know, students existing knowledge, or
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:31
how can they apply it to real world situations, maybe the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:35
maker space is connected to a community based organization
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:39
that's looking for a solution for something, and so doing
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:43
something in the classroom that can then be used in the real
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:46
world. I really love that connection. And the other thing
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:49
that I loved about the makerspace educators cohort is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:53
that it's also part of the holistic Summer Institute for
Shoshanna Shumka 00:23:58
experiential education, you know, pedagogy and practice in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:01
the classroom. And so there were math teachers, science teachers,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:04
English teachers, global languages, history, etc. And so
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:08
while there's some time spent in your specific discipline group,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:12
there's also time for interacting with everyone. And
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:16
so there's spaces for someone who's in the maker space to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:20
connect with the English teacher and see, you know, how could you
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:23
do English and makerspace, or how could you connect history
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:26
and Makerspace pedagogy? So I really loved that it had that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:29
interdisciplinary component, as well as time to revise a lesson
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:35
to think about, you know, how you might connect this to your
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:37
curriculum? And I saw the educators playing, building
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:41
things and feeling what it feels like to be in a student's shoes
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:45
to what it's like to be a student to then bring that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:24:48
feeling back into RE, energized and inspired teaching.
Hiram Cuevas 00:24:54
What's interesting is on this pod, we often talk
Hiram Cuevas 00:24:56
about AI, and I'm curious. Do you see this pedagogical
Hiram Cuevas 00:25:01
approach facilitating AI use in a practical sense for our
Hiram Cuevas 00:25:06
schools that is experiential? I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:09
think that AI can be really useful in a lot of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:13
different settings at schools. I'm all for it. If schools want
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:17
to create AI policies and teachers can use it to come up
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:22
with the rubric and help lesson plan designing. And I also see
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:28
experiential education as a bit of an antidote to full AI
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:34
reliance. And so when I'm talking about analog, when I'm
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:38
talking about going outside the classroom, I'm talking about
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:41
human relationships. I want us to also embrace the human
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:46
aspects and help students learn how to talk to people who are
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:50
different than they are, or work collaboratively in teams to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:54
build their leadership skills. And this is what experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:25:59
education does when done well, it really emphasizes the human
Shoshanna Shumka 00:26:04
parts of learning. So AI is fine, and let's also make sure
Shoshanna Shumka 00:26:10
that we get students out into the world and that we're more
Shoshanna Shumka 00:26:12
human.
Unknown 00:26:14
So the pedagogy
Hiram Cuevas 00:26:15
is really a giant pause button to really make sure
Hiram Cuevas 00:26:18
that we get the kids outside and doing things. I love it.
Hiram Cuevas 00:26:22
Absolutely
Ashley Cross 00:26:22
love it. I think that'll be interesting to see
Ashley Cross 00:26:25
how these tools continue to evolve over time. So my husband,
Ashley Cross 00:26:30
he's one that has all the latest shiny things. He's got the meta
Ashley Cross 00:26:33
Ray Ban glasses, and so last week, he keeps playing around
Ashley Cross 00:26:36
with it, and he's like, Oh, look, in real time, it will
Ashley Cross 00:26:39
translate in my ears, if someone is speaking to me in Spanish,
Ashley Cross 00:26:43
and it will tell me what they're saying. And it does this for
Ashley Cross 00:26:46
multiple languages. So, you know, maybe there's tools like
Ashley Cross 00:26:48
this that can help break down language barriers and help us
Ashley Cross 00:26:52
really have more human connections, where the device
Ashley Cross 00:26:57
kind of disappears a little bit into the background. But I'm
Ashley Cross 00:26:59
with Russell, you know, it's all got to be done in a very
Ashley Cross 00:27:02
intentional way. Shoshana, I wanted to ask you, too, for our
Ashley Cross 00:27:06
listeners, if they're thinking about practical takeaways from
Ashley Cross 00:27:09
this podcast, and they're saying, Wow, okay, this all
Ashley Cross 00:27:12
sounds really interesting, how might we bring some of this to
Ashley Cross 00:27:15
our school, maybe at a small scale? Do you have any advice
Ashley Cross 00:27:18
for our listeners how they can start taking advantage of maybe
Ashley Cross 00:27:21
some local community partners.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:24
You know, I think most of our schools have
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:26
in our mission public service or being good stewards and good
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:31
members of our community. So community engagement, service
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:35
learning, this is one of the strong pillars of experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:39
education, and there are often nonprofit partners that are
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:45
serving in the community, that schools can partner with really
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:48
easily. We want to make sure that it is a mutually beneficial
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:52
partnership, that there's equitable exchange of knowledge
Shoshanna Shumka 00:27:56
and resources. But there are many, many nonprofits out there
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:02
who are willing and able to partner with schools and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:07
students can contribute their time or unique skills at that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:12
organization. So, for example, students might be able to help
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:17
with marketing or web design, you know, using their computer
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:21
programming skills or social media marketing to support an
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:24
organization that might be serving in the community and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:28
support their mission. That way, that's great.
Ashley Cross 00:28:32
So kind of shifting again, you guys have
Ashley Cross 00:28:34
launched something brand new. So can you tell us a little bit
Ashley Cross 00:28:38
about the capitalist Institute? What that is, how it came about.
Ashley Cross 00:28:41
What are you guys working on right now? This is our first
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:45
new institute that we've developed in 10
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:47
years. So it's really exciting, and so grateful to the EE Ford
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:52
Foundation for giving us the seed money to develop this new
Shoshanna Shumka 00:28:57
institute. What we heard from our member schools is that they
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:01
wanted more support in bringing change to their institutions.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:07
Change is hard, and we also know that this kind of learning, this
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:12
place based, whole student, environmental, focused, world
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:17
focused, global learning, focused education, is really
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:21
impactful, and that is what our students need to thrive in this
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:25
world today, and it's really hard to make those changes in
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:28
traditional schools. So our members asked us for an
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:34
institute like this, the catalyst, which is a spark, a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:39
bringing a new idea to a school with a leadership team equipped
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:45
with the skills and ability to implement these changes. So it's
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:51
not only going to be talking about deep learning, like a deep
Shoshanna Shumka 00:29:55
learning intimate retreat, about experiential education. Pete.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:00
Aggie, we're bringing it into the classroom, right? So we're
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:03
talking about assessment. How do you assess the learning? How do
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:05
you build faculty buy in? And we are going to have a whole unit
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:11
on leadership development, and you're developing your
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:14
leadership skills. And how do you as a leadership team, bring
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:19
everyone on board. Everyone's happy about this. Everyone is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:23
excited and willing to do something a little bit
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:28
different. So one of the main differences at the catalyst
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:31
Institute, not only is it smaller and we bring in outside
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:34
expertise on these issues, we have a year long coaching cohort
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:40
to support the school leaders in implementing their action plan
Shoshanna Shumka 00:30:44
that they come up with during the catalyst.
Bill Stites 00:30:49
What are some of the things that you look for in
Bill Stites 00:30:51
schools, or you talk to about schools to making this
Bill Stites 00:30:53
relationship between you and them successful? Like, what does
Bill Stites 00:30:57
a school need to do to set themselves up for success in the
Bill Stites 00:31:01
work and what you're doing.
Unknown 00:31:03
We're looking for schools
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:04
that are open minded and committed to doing
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:10
things a little bit differently. You know, experiential education
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:13
can be messy. I mean, you see this in the maker space. So
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:16
being open to the messiness and also having your school culture,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:21
having the people both at the top, the upper level
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:25
administration, and everyone who's actually doing the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:28
learning on the ground, the teachers that everyone is
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:31
everyone is a strong word. Let's say that there is a mass of
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:36
people who are willing to try something new, and so that
Shoshanna Shumka 00:31:40
openness and willingness to try something new,
Ashley Cross 00:31:44
I think that's really, really fascinating,
Ashley Cross 00:31:46
because we see the same thing here at Atlas a lot of people,
Ashley Cross 00:31:50
even when they go back and they get, like, advanced degrees,
Ashley Cross 00:31:53
let's say that they've gone back and they have a master's degree.
Ashley Cross 00:31:55
A lot of times they actually don't have leadership training.
Ashley Cross 00:31:59
A lot of these things talk about theory, but when you get down to
Ashley Cross 00:32:03
people, it's a lot messier. And so having cohorts like that and
Ashley Cross 00:32:09
groups that can kind of guide them where they can have
Ashley Cross 00:32:11
conversations, it's really, really important. We do that
Ashley Cross 00:32:13
here at Atlas a lot, too, through the Leadership
Ashley Cross 00:32:16
Institute, but also just through our content and programming we
Ashley Cross 00:32:20
try to provide. So I definitely see that need as well. I'm
Ashley Cross 00:32:23
really glad you guys are doing that. Can you tell us a little
Ashley Cross 00:32:26
bit more about what you're excited about for this upcoming
Ashley Cross 00:32:31
year? We've kind of just almost wrapped it an academic school
Ashley Cross 00:32:34
year, and we're looking ahead at your programming, your different
Ashley Cross 00:32:38
things for icing, and it doesn't even have to be in the short
Ashley Cross 00:32:40
term. But Shoshana, what are you most excited about for I seen s
Ashley Cross 00:32:43
future?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:32:44
Well, I love this time when we come up to the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:32:47
end of the academic year and we try to practice what we preach.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:32:51
So we'll take the time over the summer to reflect, reflect on
Shoshanna Shumka 00:32:55
what went well, reflect on what we might do differently next
Shoshanna Shumka 00:32:58
year. And so we look at the survey feedback from our
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:02
attendees, and we do take some time over the summer to think
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:06
about what we might do. I am so excited about the catalyst
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:10
institute that is number one, launching this in October, and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:15
I'm very excited to see where that goes and to see the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:18
transformation that that will inspire in schools, and I am
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:22
really excited about the possibility of venturing beyond
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:26
independent schools. I come from the higher ed world, and I know
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:31
that experiential education is a pedagogy that works well for all
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:36
students, and someday, I really hope that we're able to build
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:41
our network and expand and bring schools in Beyond The
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:44
Independent School world, so that all students have the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:47
opportunity to participate in these transformative
Shoshanna Shumka 00:33:50
experiences.
Unknown 00:33:52
We've
Ashley Cross 00:33:52
been talking about looking ahead a little bit, but
Ashley Cross 00:33:55
just a second ago, we talked about management, and actually,
Ashley Cross 00:33:57
let's kind of look back. If you could give advice to your
Ashley Cross 00:34:00
younger self or a new leader just starting out again, we
Ashley Cross 00:34:03
mentioned there's many of those out there, not only in the tech
Ashley Cross 00:34:06
world, like here at Atlas, but also across divisions at
Ashley Cross 00:34:09
independent schools. What advice do you have for somebody that's
Ashley Cross 00:34:14
getting started
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:16
as I mentioned the beginning, the thing that's
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:17
helped me the most in my leadership is to find other
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:22
people in my profession who do similar work, so people that I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:26
can build community with and share my struggles and my
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:29
challenges and also share wins and successes with that for me
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:34
is so important in my career, and seeking out professional
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:38
learning opportunities, going to the institutes, going to the
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:41
conferences, connecting with folks. I found some of my best
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:45
friends through going to some of these networks. And I even co
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:50
authored a book with someone from, you know, a different
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:53
school that we had met through these professional networks. But
Shoshanna Shumka 00:34:58
I would say, advice. Thanks to future leaders, is remembering
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:02
that there are so many different ways to be a leader, leading
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:06
with my heart is the way that I lead. And I think the world
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:10
needs more leaders who lead with their heart.
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:14
So Shauna, in the spirit of creating these
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:16
relationships, is there a network specifically that
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:21
someone who may not be a member of ice scene who wants to get
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:24
connected. So for technology people, it has been Twitter for
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:29
many, many years. It's now moved on to ised, and now there are
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:34
all sorts of different venues for us to communicate with one
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:37
another. Is there a specific one that someone could get started,
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:42
so that they get the exposure, and then they can perhaps get in
Hiram Cuevas 00:35:46
contact with the icing community.
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:49
I think the irony here is that we're not
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:51
always the techie folks. The biggest platform I see
Shoshanna Shumka 00:35:55
experiential educators on is LinkedIn and connecting on
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:00
LinkedIn and sharing ideas. What have you seen that works in your
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:04
programming on LinkedIn? And I seen we have a Google group, and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:09
that's one of the ways that our members communicate, is we just
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:11
say, Hey, what are you doing for this? And then 10 people will
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:15
respond and say, Oh, well, we use this, and it's pretty low
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:18
tech, but it's a great way for our members to connect. So look
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:23
for other experiential educators on LinkedIn, and maybe think
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:26
about joining Essie.
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:28
So would that Google group be available to non
Hiram Cuevas 00:36:31
members as well? It's
Ashley Cross 00:36:33
only for members. Okay, thank you. I mean, I think
Ashley Cross 00:36:36
you shared a lot, and for a school that's just starting its
Ashley Cross 00:36:39
journey on experiential education. You kind of talked a
Ashley Cross 00:36:42
little bit about where they can find some of those people. Any
Ashley Cross 00:36:45
other first steps that you'd recommend for them? Let's
Unknown 00:36:49
just talk to
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:50
another school about this. And they were
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:51
saying, Yeah, we'd like to do more experiential education. I
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:54
said, Well, how do you define experiential education? And they
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:57
were like, oh, yeah, we just talk about it, but we never
Shoshanna Shumka 00:36:59
really define it. So I think a first step would be as a school
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:03
community, to define experiential education on for
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:07
yourself. What do you mean when you say experiential education?
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:11
And it can even be a collaborative process where
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:14
people come up with that definition together. You can
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:16
pull from many different ones. We, I see and had spent some
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:19
time coming up with our own definition of experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:22
education, but that could be a fun first step. When I imagine
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:26
these kinds of group processes, I picture flip charts and
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:29
markers or writing on the whiteboard and doing a
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:32
collaborative process. But looking at those resources,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:35
looking at I seen resources, there's a lot of other
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:38
organizations dedicated to specific strands of experiential
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:43
learning, so global learning, or community based learning,
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:47
service learning. There's different organizations. There's
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:49
some just dedicated to outdoor education. So I would check out
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:53
different organizations and see what's the best fit for your
Shoshanna Shumka 00:37:57
school. Shoshana.
Ashley Cross 00:37:57
This has been a really, really fun conversation.
Ashley Cross 00:38:00
I hope people have learned a lot about experiential education,
Ashley Cross 00:38:04
maybe what it is, how they can bring it to their school, a
Ashley Cross 00:38:06
little bit more about the cold cycle. And again, another just
Ashley Cross 00:38:09
really fantastic organization that serves the space icing. So
Ashley Cross 00:38:14
where can people go to learn more about icing or to connect
Ashley Cross 00:38:18
with you? You can go
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:19
to our website. It's I seen info.com
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:22
you can email our general staff email for general information
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:27
staff. At, I seen info.com or you can email me. My direct
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:31
email is Shoshana. That's two n's. At, I seen info.com I feel
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:38
funny having a.com URL because I seen as a 501, c3, nonprofit
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:43
organization. And I don't know, 20 years ago when the founders
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:46
created the art.com domain. I just, you know, when I started
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:50
seven years ago, I just didn't been too busy building is seen
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:53
to change the URL over to a.org but we are a nonprofit
Shoshanna Shumka 00:38:57
organization. It's
Bill Stites 00:39:00
interesting to call that out, because I looked at it
Bill Stites 00:39:02
as well and I thought the same thing. I was like, that's
Bill Stites 00:39:04
interesting. I know one of these
Unknown 00:39:06
days I'll change it. Well, we will be sure
Ashley Cross 00:39:08
to include all of those things in our show notes.
Ashley Cross 00:39:11
Shoshana, thank you so much for coming on with us today and for
Ashley Cross 00:39:14
sharing with the Atlas community. We appreciate you.
Ashley Cross 00:39:17
Thank you
Shoshanna Shumka 00:39:18
so much for having me. Really an honor.
Peter Frank 00:39:21
This has been talking technology with Atlas,
Peter Frank 00:39:24
produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in
Peter Frank 00:39:26
Independent Schools. For more information about Atlas and
Peter Frank 00:39:30
Atlas membership, please visit theatlas.org if you enjoyed this
Peter Frank 00:39:34
discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and share this
Peter Frank 00:39:38
podcast with your colleagues in the independent school
Peter Frank 00:39:40
community. Thank you for listening. You.