PODCAST as an ED Resource. Supporting the Whole Student.
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Kevin McCaskill, Executive Director of Madison Park Technical Vocational HS, Pt II
Pandemic exposed a lack of access to technology for some Boston families.
DECEMBER 2020 PODCAST – This month’s podcast is the second part of the conversation between Executive Director Gary Kaplan and Kevin McCaskill, the Executive Director of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, the only Vocational High School in the Boston Public School system. Mr. McCaskill has been working in education for over 30 years and between them, Gary and Mr. McCaskill have close to 75 years of experience advocating for public education. In this episode, they discuss how the current pandemic exposed a lack of access to technology for some Boston families, how progress and change continues to work its way across the country, and the most important types of leadership needed in our schools to ensure they provide the best possible education to our students.
JFY Welcomes Kevin McCaskill, Executive Director of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School
Technology could be the great equalizer for underserved populations.
OCTOBER 2020 PODCAST – This month’s podcast features a conversation between JFY Executive Director Gary Kaplan and Kevin McCaskill, the Executive Director of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, the only Vocational High School in the Boston Public School system. Mr. McCaskill has been working in education for over 30 years. Between them, Mr. Kaplan and Mr. McCaskill have close to 75 years of experience advocating for public education. In this episode, we’ll hear as they talk about a variety of topics, including Mr. McCaskill’s reason for leaving the private sector and beginning a career in education, why urban schools struggle to hire diverse educators, and how technology could be the great equalizer for underserved populations.
Dr. James Weaver of NFHS, Importance of Extracurricular Student Activities, AUGUST 2020 Podcast
Dr. James Weaver, Director of Performing Arts and Sports
AUGUST 2020 PODCAST – This podcast features Dr. James Weaver, the director of performing arts and sports of the National Federation of State High School Associations. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Federation is the national leader and advocate for high school athletics, as well as fine and performing arts programs. Dr. Weaver has been the director of performing arts and sports for the past four years. In this interview, he discusses the importance of extracurricular activities for students, his own involvement in high school and college activities, how organizations are navigating during the Covid-19 era, and the groundbreaking preliminary results from a study of aerosol spread during performing arts activities.
Kingsman Academy Public Charter School Presents in DC, JULY 2020 Podcast
JFYNet Partner School takes their rebuild process to DC
JUNE 2020 PODCAST – This month’s podcast features excerpts from a presentation by Kingsman Academy Public Charter School in Washington, DC, a JFYNet partner school. The presentation to the DC Public Charter School Board took place on June 20th, and describes the process begun shortly after the school’s opening in 2015. The Kingsman staff and administration realized that their operational plan was not serving the needs of their student population as they had thought it would and spent the next few years redesigning the school from the ground up. The current move to competency- based learning is the final step of their rebuilding process.
Executive Director at PACE Guides At-Risk Students Towards Success, JUNE 2020 Podcast
Once an at-risk student, Jorge Santana now leads students towards success
JUNE 2020 PODCAST – This month’s podcast features Jorge Santana, the Executive Director of the PACE Career Academy Charter School in Pembroke, New Hampshire, a JFYNet partner school. In this episode, you’ll hear how Mr. Santana was an at-risk student while growing up, worked early in his career to find systemic solutions to help students connect with mentors, and how PACE Academy works with students who are considered at risk and struggle with education due to other factors in their lives. We also hear two current students at PACE Academy discuss how they have found success with the help of Mr. Santana and all the staff members at PACE.
Teachers: Impact of COVID-19 on Daily Activities, Students and More, MAY 2020 Podcast
Teacher Perspectives: Shifting to Remote & Distance Learning
Impact of School Shutdown, Students Perspective, APRIL 2020 Podcast
Student Perspectives: Effect on Educational Programs
APRIL 2020 PODCAST – Our April podcast features students from Needham High School, Durfee High School in Fall River, Bridgewater State University and UMass Amherst as they discuss how the statewide school shutdown has affected their educational programs, their extracurricular activities, and how the Covid-19 virus may create a “new normal” in the future.
From face-to-face to online classes with Dr. Michael Marrapodi, MARCH 2020
Tips and Strategies for Teachers Transitioning to Online Courses
MARCH 2020 PODCAST – Today’s podcast will provide some tips and strategies for teachers transitioning to online courses. It features Dr. Michael Marrapodi, Dean of Online Programming at Cambridge College. This podcast was created by JFYNetWorks, a Boston-based nonprofit provider of blended learning programs to schools. JFY’s blended instructional support programs build skills and help raise individual and school performance measures. JFY brings online assessments and curriculum into the classroom and works with teachers to provide individualized instruction to help students achieve measured skill gains.
In response to the current crisis, JFY is now offering its online curriculum and teacher support remotely to help teachers sustain instruction during the shutdown. For more information on JFYNet‘s Remote Learning contact Greg Cunningham.
Teachers often wonder whether an online course can be as effective as a face to face course. As Dr. Marrapodi explains, the potential is absolutely there.
Madison Park Tech Voc Grad, Settenah Wright, Now the Educator, February Podcast
Lessons taught during Black History Month
FEBRUARY 2020 PODCAST – Settenah Wright is a graduate of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, where she now teaches English as a Second Language. She grew up in Roxbury, MA, attending the Boston Public Schools and spent two years living in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is where her ESL teaching career began. In this episode, Ms. Wright shares her classroom lessons during Black History Month, and the local connections Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X and Barack Obama have to the Roxbury neighborhood.
