Teaching Texas

By Wonder Media Network

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Subscribers: 47
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Episodes: 17

Description

In 1961, Norma and Mel Gabler were a quiet couple living in Hawkins, Texas. One day, they noticed some factual errors in one of their sons' school book. What began as a small complaint morphed into a multi-decade crusade to shape what children of Texas ​​— and therefore the country — read in their textbooks. In an election year with raging debates around education, this audio documentary charts how Texas dictated American education over the last sixty years and examines how the fight over our childrens’ classroom has only intensified today.

Episode Date
BONUS: Introducing...As She Rises Season 3: The Colorado River Basin
00:33:36

Hey listeners! We've sharing the first episode of another podcast we think you'd love: As She Rises. On the latest season, we're traversing the Colorado River Basin – understanding water through a new lens and centering stories of resilience in the face of the drought. Hosted by Leah Thomas, eco-communicator, author, and founder of the non-profit Intersectional Environmentalist, each episode focuses on a different corner of the basin, beginning in the river’s reservoirs on the borders of Arizona and Utah, and finishing in the dry delta in Mexico.

In this episode, we’re starting our journey just south of Lake Powell, in the Navajo Nation. Today, Lake Powell is around a fifth of its original size. Pools that used to be deep enough to dive into have turned into puddles of mud. And as the water disappears, the forgotten canyon beneath reemerges. Over the years, the U.S. government has signed a number of treaties with the Navajo Nation, promising certain amounts of water, and water infrastructure. But, as they struggle to reallocate water in the face of drought, the government still tends to leave indigenous communities out of the conversation.

Poet Kinsale Drake reads her poem, “after Sacred Water,” about how the U.S. government drowned an ecosystem to create a dam that is now shrinking fast. Emma Robbins, director of the Navajo Water Project, explains how her organization ensures households have running water, and that the Navajo Nation has a seat at the table. 

Wondery+ subscribers can listen to all of season 3 of As She Rises early & ad-free. Find Wondery+ on the Wondery App or Apple Podcasts. 

For More:

As She Rises is a Wonder Media Network production. Follow Wonder Media Network on Instagram and Twitter

May 22, 2023
Chapter 8: How We See Ourselves
00:40:19

Each year, Texas public school students learn the story of their state’s origin: the battle for the Alamo. The story has become a rallying cry throughout the ages for Texans, and Americans – It’s an underdog tale of sacrifice. But, it’s also not very historically accurate. In the series finale, Grace explores the danger of teaching myths as though they’re fact. 

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war. 

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Nov 15, 2022
Chapter 7: Collision Course
00:37:37

This fall, for the first time in 12 years, the Texas State Board of Education was due to review the Social Studies TEKS. In doing so, they attempted to answer the question: how should we teach U.S. History? Against the backdrop of outrage over CRT and a midterm election that will likely bring a more conservative board to power – what did the SBOE decide?

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war. 

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Nov 08, 2022
Chapter 6: Who Draws the Line?
00:36:15

Library books aren’t required reading like textbooks are, but they can play a big role in a child’s education. As activists and politicians bring book banning back into the education debate, one group of Texas parents are fighting back. They want their kids to read stories that center diversity – and in the case of one contentious book, they won. 

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Nov 01, 2022
Chapter 5: The Latest Bogeyman
00:32:22

Critical race theory. It’s the latest rallying cry for people attempting to disrupt trust in public education. What do we lose when parents vilify educators? To find out, Grace pays a visit to the Texas suburb at the center of the national conversation.

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

 

Oct 25, 2022
Chapter 4: What Sleeping Rocks Dream Of
00:36:57

Nowadays, standards known as TEKS dictate what every Texas student needs to learn. The State Board of Education is in charge of approving these standards. So, when a creationist dentist gained control of the board, those standards started to reflect his beliefs – for better or worse.

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Oct 18, 2022
Chapter 3: The Pilgrimage to Longview
00:38:34

When the Gablers’ protégé, Neal Frey, gained control of Educational Research Analysts…he took a different approach.  Grace journeys to Longview, Texas to meet the man himself and witness the last vestige of the Gablers’ enterprise.

Oct 11, 2022
Chapter 2: The More Sex You Teach...
00:30:03

By the 80s, Norma and Mel had gained real traction in the textbook industry. And with their newfound power, they start dictating what goes into textbooks. They threaded their conservative Christian beliefs into textbooks across the nation, with little regard for separating fact from opinion.

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Oct 04, 2022
Chapter 1: Under God
00:35:16

On the outskirts of Hawkins, Texas, a couple found a problem in one of their kids’ school books. They didn’t have a background in education, but because they lived in Texas, their concern ignited a national movement and several decades of influence over what the rest of the country learned. 

 

Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Sep 27, 2022
Introducing: Teaching Texas
00:03:00

Introducing Teaching Texas, a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Sep 15, 2022
Winning Wisconsin: Forward
00:34:22

In our series finale, Grace examines what happened on election night and where Wisconsin goes from here. 

Read Dan Kaufman's article in The New Yorker, Will Trump's Broken Promises to Working-Class Voters Cost Him the Election?  

An analysis of Wisconsin's election results from Craig Gilbert at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer. Dana Munro contributed reporting to this episode. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

Thanks for listening!

Nov 10, 2020
Winning Wisconsin: Closing Arguments
00:45:52

To win Wisconsin, campaigns can't solely rely on turning out their base of supporters, they need to persuade voters. 

Read FiveThirtyEight's analysis of how Trump's gaining support with young Black and Hispanic men and losing support among white women in suburbs

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer. Dana Munro contributed reporting to this episode. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

Oct 27, 2020
Winning Wisconsin: Milwaukee's Fight
00:34:14

The city blamed for Hillary's defeat is home to some of the starkest racial disparities in the country. Four years later, the citizens of Milwaukee are in a fight for the vote, for their health, and for racial justice. 

Read Joseph O'Neill's article in The New Yorker, "How Milwaukee Could Decide The Next President"

Learn more about BLOC and their work in Milwaukee

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is the Executive Producer. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

Oct 20, 2020
Winning Wisconsin: America's Dairyland
00:39:51

Four years after overwhelmingly supporting President Trump, Wisconsin's dairy farmers are struggling to stay afloat. 

Read Dan Kaufman's article in The New Yorker, "How Suffering Farmers May Determine Trump's Fate

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is the Executive Producer. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

Oct 13, 2020
Winning Wisconsin: Divide and Conquer
00:31:02

How Governor Scott Walker's attack on labor transformed Wisconsin into ground zero for divisive politics. 

Read The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics by Dan Kaufman

Read How The Right Lost Its Mind by Charles Sykes 

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is the Executive Producer. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

 

 

 

Oct 06, 2020
Winning Wisconsin: The Tipping-Point
00:27:16

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It's created by Grace Lynch, and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is the Executive Producer. 

Background reading: 

FiveThirtyEight's tipping-point analysis. 

WMN on twitter

Grace Lynch on twitter

 

 

Sep 29, 2020
Introducing: Winning Wisconsin
00:02:16

Winning Wisconsin is a Wonder Media Network production. It is created by Grace Lynch and produced by Grace Lynch and Maddy Foley. Jenny Kaplan is the Executive Producer. 

WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia 

Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08

Sep 28, 2020