Empowerment Starts Here

In this episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Nikhil Goyal. Nikhil talks about the impetus to school reform. It all started as a high school student and knowing that his needs as a learner were not being addressed. Nikhil started researching alternative models for teaching and learning and learned about the progressive movement (such as constructivism) that centers students in the learning process and allows learners to make meaning of their worlds. Power in this episode is connected to individual learners and the discussion questions the role of power in the learning process.

In this episode, the informant shares insight on words and the human experience those words represent. She talks about writing, publishing and the development of the mind. In the close out, the host talks about a mental function called chunking and how it is essential for experts and the highly creative mind.

In this conversation, you will learn about movement as vital to building brain cells, moving information from short-term into long-term memory, and positioning students as co-constructors of knowledge—not just mindless receivers of someone else’s knowledge.

In the close out of the episode, the host talks critically about no-excuse schools that regulate students bodies as artificial forms of achievement. Such regulations have a structural impact on marginalized communities.

For more information about the Case of Learning ad Moving, please visit the show notes at Empowerment Starts Here.

In the episode, Empowerment Starts Here with Rev. Gwen Thomas. In it, she speaks passionately about the value of not only welcoming people in their differences but celebrating them in their differences. She gives a thoughtful run down on the Bible passages that are typically used to deny LGBT persons their full humanity and then advocates the idea of a radical Jesus that comes to give it back to them. Finally, she talks (along with the host) about the paradox of the black church that both comforts and harms those that have been racially oppressed.

This episode provides an overview of the Empowerment Starts Here podcast as a new project. In it, the host describes the relevance of power for social change. She describes six treatments of power and offers a few disclaimers about what the show is and what it is not. Finally, she sends out a call to action to describe how listeners can join the host and the producers to help make this show a success.