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Teaching from an Ethical Center: Practical Wisdom for Daily Instruction

·48 min·4 clips
A teacher uses body movement to calm her class after a false active shooter alert.
Host Tanya Baker introduces the episode, noting a format shift where Stephanie Jones interviews Kara Fuhrman. Stephanie and Kara have a prior student-teacher relationship from Teachers College. Kara begins by discussing the importance of tending to the body in education as an ethical practice. She recounts a classroom incident where a student's active shooter alert led to a body movement exercise to reset nervous systems. Kara critiques social-emotional learning for being too cognitive and not integrated with bodily practices. She shares a metaphor about a falling tree during an outdoor lesson to emphasize listening to students. The conversation shifts to children's literature, with Kara explaining how books like 'If You Give a Mouse a Cookie' can be analyzed for cultural values. Kara then describes a formative experience with a student named Tanisha, who repeatedly noted Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in a picture book, prompting Kara to reflect on trauma and racial narratives. Stephanie and Kara explore how teacher education should allow space for personal reflection and connection to broader systems. The episode concludes with reflections on ethics, presence, and the question of what helps us live better.

As heard by us

A grounded conversation about ethical teaching, classroom attention, and the moment a student spots danger first.

NWP Radio takes a steady look at ethical teaching, bringing Tanya Baker into conversation with Stephanie Jones, co-director of the Red Clay Writing Project, and Kara Fuhrman, author of Teaching from an Ethical Center, Practical Wisdom for Daily Instruction.

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Why you'd press play

You get an ethical-center teaching conversation, a useful pause, and one tree with terrible timing.

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