Free Range Humans

Free Range Humans is a podcast that explores "how we can make schools fit for human consumption." Hosted by Jal Mehta, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Rod Allen, former district superintendent and Assistant Deputy Minister with the BC Ministry of Education.

Free Range Humans is a education podcast hosted by Jal Mehta, Rod Allen, with 79 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jal Mehta, Rod Allen hosts Free Range Humans, a education show with 79 episodes published.

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  Episode #90

  Gardens, Not Factories – Designing Schools for Human Flourishing

  Aug 4, 202652 min

  Caleb Collier is the co-founder of The Forest School and The Institute for Self-Directed Learning in Fayetteville, Georgia. He is also a co-founder of Story Arts, a creative storytelling collective of schools in Atlanta, Georgia, has a PhD in Language and Literacy (Georgia State University), and has published books and articles on the field of education. Highlights from his conversation with Rod and Jal include: why schools may be producing exactly the outcomes they were built to produce; why those outcomes may no longer be preparing students for the future; lessons traditional schools can learn from camps, apprenticeship, and Indigenous approaches to learning; the importance of decision making and even failure in the classroom; considering the difference between cultivating intelligence and cultivating wisdom; how AI and rapid technological change make adaptability more valuable than memorization; and a lightning round that covers beard maintenance and a case of mistaken identity. Check out Caleb Collier's Substack Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Email us at freerangehumanspod@gmail.com or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219

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  Episode #89

  The Promises We Make to Children

  Jul 15, 20261 hour

  Susan L. Engel is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Founding Director of the Program in Teaching at Williams College. She is the author of several books, including her latest American Kindergarten: Dispatches from the First Year of School, and her essays on education have appeared in The New York Times , Bloomberg View , The Washington Post , The Nation , The Atlantic Monthly , Salon , and The Boston Globe. Highlights from her conversation with Rod and Jal include: why kindergarten offers a unique window into the strengths and challenges of American education; a look a Susan's "five promises" that shape children's early school experience; exploring the tension between compliance and engagement in classrooms; why love remains an essential, and sometimes controversial part of great teaching; how teachers shape children's identities long before report cards ever do; the emotional side of thinking, and why separating "hard skills" from "soft skills" misses something essential about how children learn; interesting observations on Montessori education; and a lightning round that asks everyone what promise education should make to all future learners. Check out Susan's Book: American Kindergarten: Dispatches from the First Year of School Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Email us at freerangehumanspod@gmail.com or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219

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  Episode #88

  Belonging Is the Foundation of Great Schools

  Jul 7, 202645 min

  Dr. Leyton Schnellert is a Professor in the University of British Columbia's Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy and Co-Director of the Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship. Dr. Schnellert is also the Pedagogy and Participation research cluster lead in UBC’s Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) and co-chair of BC’s Rural Education Advisory. His community-based collaborative work contributes a counterargument to top-down approaches that operate from deficit models, instead drawing from communities’ funds of knowledge to build participatory, place-conscious, and culturally sustaining practices. Highlights from his conversation with Rod and Jal include: why discussions around inclusion need to start with strengths instead of deficits; strategies for creating student, teacher and whole class profiles – and how those profiles can drive goal setting and accountability; how teachers can intentionally design learning for diverse learners; why project-based, place-based, and community-connected learning continues to be one of the most powerful ways to engage students; why belonging and "mattering" are important in the classroom, how the work of inclusion and belonging has adjusted to a polarizing political landscape; what it means to think big and start small; and one of the fastest lightning rounds ever! Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Email us at freerangehumanspod@gmail.com or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219

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  Episode #87

  Are Schools Preparing Kids for a World That No Longer Exists?

  Jun 15, 20261h 5m

  Ted Dintersmith is an education advocate, author, filmmaker, and former venture capitalist whose work focuses on preparing young people for a rapidly changing world. After a successful 25-year career as a partner at Charles River Ventures and service on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations focused on education and entrepreneurship, he turned his attention to reimagining schooling for the innovation era. Ted is the executive producer of the acclaimed documentary Most Likely to Succeed and the author of What School Could Be , drawing on visits to hundreds of schools across all fifty states. Through his writing, films, philanthropy, and public speaking, he has become a leading voice for educational experiences that cultivate creativity, purpose, agency, and real-world problem solving rather than standardized test performance alone. Highlights from the episode include: an opening plug for Rod and Jal's new "Deeper Learning Alliance," a growing community of school leaders learning together, experimenting together, and transforming education—guided by Harvard's Deeper Learning Institute; Ted's shift from the venture capital to the education space; an introduction to the "PEAK" framework for meaningful learning experiences; what we can learn from how Finland values and prepares their teachers; examining the skills schools reward versus the skills modern life demands; why schools seem to be overvaluing the wrong types of math; the connection between education, democracy, and civic life; and a lightning round that examines the world of gambling! Learn more about the Deeper Learning Alliance Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Email us at freerangehumanspod@gmail.com or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219

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  Episode #86

  What Latvia Can Teach Us About Deeper Learning

  Jun 8, 202657 min

  Zane Olina is passionate about creating meaningful learning opportunities for both young people and adults. She has an MEd and PhD in Learning and Instructional Technology from Arizona State University, and her career spans classroom teaching, curriculum reform, leadership development, international education initiatives, and deep involvement in OECD Learning 2030 work. Currently, Zane works as Head of Professional Support at the Ogre Municipality Education Authority serving about 10,000 kids in Latvia. Highlights from her conversation with Rod and Jal include: what it was like growing up in the Soviet Union, and the idea of "learning between the lines" in a somewhat restrictive environment; why meaningful learning requires more than memorization and tasks for the sake of doing tasks; how extracurricular activities model a better approach to true learning and growth – and what could possibly translate back to the classroom; how educators can help students develop expertise, perseverance, and the confidence to tackle problems whose solutions are not immediately obvious; the importance of showing progress and promoting students' self-efficacy; where AI may or may not fit in the classroom; a powerful example of adults shadowing students to better understand the day to day learning experience; and a lightning round that will leave you wanting to play some board games! Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Email us at freerangehumanspod@gmail.com or Tweet us at @jal_mehta and @Rodroad219

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