NAIS - New View EDU Episode 4: Key Takeaways

In "Schools for Growing Citizens," Episode 4 of the NAIS New View EDU podcast, hosts Tim Fish and Lisa Kay Solomon explore the idea of changing our mindset about the word “citizen,” from engaging with it as a noun to treating it as a verb—a set of guiding principles that can be translated into actions each person can take to contribute to society.

The guest is Baratunde Thurston, award-winning writer, activist, comedian, and host of the podcast How to Citizen With Baratunde, who shares his four pillars of citizenship, as well as stories about how his experiences as an independent school student shaped his worldview and citizen behaviors.
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Use these prompts to spark discussions with your leadership teams. (You can also read the full episode notes here.)

Key Takeaways

Baratunde’s work focuses on “citizening as a verb”—a teachable, learnable, active set of practices. How and where do these show up in your school? How are they recognized and supported? How do they integrate with each other?

To participate
To build relationships
To understand power
To make choices for the collective

Baratunde reflected a lot on his experience at an independent school, and how he exercised power and agency as a student, including self-advocacy, writing for the school paper, writing and producing a new play, protesting, and advocating on behalf of other students.

Where do students exercise power in your school? How does the school interact with that power?