Compassion and Dignity for Educators: The key to changing school communities

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/fb/cb/e1/fbcbe118-d88d-b4a5-8cce-0bb994e9718e/mza_2351210277279771936.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

unMASKing with Male Educators: Creating Emotionally Safe Classrooms & Schools for Male Students

Ashanti Branch - Taking Off The Mask

279 episodes

3 days ago

Only 23% of K-12 educators in America are male, a gender gap that has serious ramifications for male students - who often face DISPROPORTIONATE disciplinary action. This podcast is for male educators who want to embody a necessary change in schools, via healthy social-emotional outcomes. Come away with actionable lesson plans, relatable stories, and a renewed purpose. The US Surgeon General says the mental health of our youth is the "crisis of our time." Male educators are uniquely positioned to address this - because real men teach. Join our community: "Advocates for Young Men" at Skool.com

How To

Education

RSS

All content for unMASKing with Male Educators: Creating Emotionally Safe Classrooms & Schools for Male Students is the property of Ashanti Branch - Taking Off The Mask and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

How To

Education

https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/343423/343423-1731444623629-d81c148485afb.jpg

Compassion and Dignity for Educators: The key to changing school communities - w/ Dr. Bill Penuel

unMASKing with Male Educators: Creating Emotionally Safe Classrooms & Schools for Male Students

55 minutes

3 weeks ago

Compassion and Dignity for Educators: The key to changing school communities - w/ Dr. Bill Penuel

Welcome to UnMASKing with Male Educators. As we close out the year, we’re revisiting some of the most downloaded and most meaningful conversations of the season. This replay with Dr. William (Bill) Penuel is one of those episodes that continues to resonate deeply with educators who are navigating burnout, discipline challenges, and the emotional weight of teaching in today’s schools.

Dr. Bill Penuel is a former middle school teacher, professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a nationally recognized scholar focused on educational change, compassion, and justice in school communities. He is the co-author of Creating Compassionate Change in School Communities, a book that invites educators to rethink discipline, grading, and leadership through an inside-out approach rooted in self-compassion and collective care.

As we prepare for a new season of UnMASKing with Male Educators, returning with fresh conversations and exciting news about where we’re headed—we invite you to slow down, reflect, and revisit this powerful dialogue. This episode reminds us that schools are often sites of suffering, and that compassion is not weakness, it’s a skill, a practice, and a path toward justice.

Wishing you and your loved ones a restful and restorative holiday season.

In this conversation, we explore how educators can cultivate compassion for themselves and their students while navigating the real challenges of classrooms and school systems. You’ll hear:

How to shift your relationship to pain in order to best serve yourself and your students
How educators can put self-compassion into action
What does skillful care look like for children who are systemically marginalized?
What is an “inside-out” approach to school change?

(0:00) Class in session

(2:00) Bill introduces himself

(3:40) Bill and Ashanti share their teacher personas

(11:20) Applying “contemplative practice” and “meditation” to teaching and education

(12:30) Getting close to your resentment

(17:20) Sitting with your pain and suffering in order to help others

(22:00) Working as a bouncer and what it teaches you about servicing others

(29:00) Finding common humanity, and how it helps navigating difficult situations

(34:50) Critical Care - an important subject in the field of education

(39:00) Deservingness gets in the way of compassion

(41:30) Bill’s approach to helping boys in schools and confirming dignity

(51:00) Bill’s book and where to find it

---

Connect with Bill Penuel:

Bill’s book: https://www.colorado.edu/crowninstitute/compassionate-change-schools-book

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-penuel-8069b5/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crowninstitutecu

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrownInstituteCU

---

Contribute to our Dance-a-thon fundraiser: https://charity.pledgeit.org/EFC-DanceAThon

Join our Skool Community: https://www.skool.com/efc-young-mens-advocates-2345

Email us questions and comments at totmpod100@gmail.com

Create your own mask anonymously at https://millionmask.org/

---

Connect with Ashanti Branch:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/branchspeaks/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BranchSpeaks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BranchSpeaks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibranch/

Website: https://www.branchspeaks.com/

---

Support the podcast and the work of the Ever Forward Club: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/branch-speaks/support

---

Connect with Ever Forward Club:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everforwardclub

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/everforwardclub

Twitter: https://twitter.com/everforwardclub

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-ever-forward-club/