Educator Forever

As we embark on this new year, I want you to think about what you really want. Then believe– KNOW– that this is possible. Before setting goals and making progress towards what we want to achieve, we need to really see the possibilities in front of us. So often, we talk ourselves out of doing what we want to do. I talked myself out of building Educator Forever for years. People will think I’m tryin...

Dr. Bibi Pirayesh is a learning specialist and educational therapist who has been in private practice for over 15 years. works with children in grades one through 12, and covers a wide range of learning difficulties, including dyslexia, ADHD and spectrum disorders. While the emphasis of her work is on remediating learning disabilities in a one on one setting, she is also a sought after speaker and...

Khiana Wheeler leveraged her 15-year career in banking to seamlessly transition into education, bringing strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills to her role as a middle school science teacher. Passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences, she pivoted to curriculum writing and instructional design, where she applies her unique blend of industry and teaching expert...

Cynthia Rapaido is a highly accomplished educator with over 30 years of experience in K-12 education. She’s spent time as a high school principal, assistant principal and teacher, and went on to do work many roles in higher education. With so much experience built up over the years, she recently put the lessons she learned into her book, “Step Up Your School Leadership Game.” In our discussion, Cy...

Dr Jewel White Williams has a doctorate in health sciences and certifications as a health education specialist, certified nursing assistant and EMT with over 22 years of experience as an English teacher and school administrator, Dr Jewel has a passion for both education and wellness. She blends her expertise in health sciences and education to empower communities fostering impactful wellness and s...

As 2024 comes to a close it's a great time to reflect on what's this year been like for you. Often, as we head into the new year, we can get so forward thinking into the goals we hope to accomplish and the New Year's resolutions and all the things for the new year, but before we do that, let's think about this year. Let's really take a moment to reflect.  In this episode, I go through several...

Kayla Coburn is a children's book author and the founder of Inclusion Starts Now. She has worked in education since 2010 and is now a parent of two kids figuring out strategies to raise inclusive kids. She works as an inclusion specialist to support families and schools on best inclusive practices. In this episode, Kayla shared her educational background, her transition to teaching gymnastics and...

Bobby Donohue is the founder of Planet Bonehead, an innovative educational platform that revolutionizes the way climate change is taught in schools. With over 15 years of experience in educational content development, Bobby is dedicated to providing teachers with the knowledge resources and support they need to effectively educate young learners about environmental issues. His work focuses on empo...

In this episode, I talk about strategies for overcoming burnout and how to shift from burnout to balance. I get into the importance of recognizing possibilities, setting boundaries, and prioritizing tasks. I want teachers to consider alternative careers or flexible roles within education, weighing constraints like salary and childcare. You need to prioritize self-care rituals and delegating tasks...

Bryson Tarbet is a passionate advocate for inclusive music education, as well as a business owner and podcaster. He started his career as a pre-K to sixth grade general music teacher and during his tenure as an educator, Bryson spent a transformative year as part of an elementary school intervention team where he discovered his passion for working with students with disabilities. Drawing from this...

Laura C. Chávez-Moreno is an award-winning researcher, qualitative social scientist, and assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Departments of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and Education. She is the author of “How Schools Make Race: Teaching Latinx Racialization in America"(Harvard Education Press, 2024). In this episode Chávez-Moreno discusses her journe...

Setbacks are inevitable, but they don’t have to be as bad as they feel. They don’t have to be negative. They can be so many things, including growth opportunities. When we start new career journeys, we can be so focused on success. But the road to success is not often linear. As we find our way forward, the path can be filled with setbacks. It can be “make it or break it” when you start to experie...

For this episode I talk to Matt McGee, founder of MRM Education, a tutoring and college admissions consultancy that promotes academic curiosity, mental health, and confidence in students. With over a decade of experience as an admissions specialist, consultant and tutor, his intensive mentorship method has helped hundreds of students raise their grades and gain admission to Ivy Plus schools. Matt’...

In this episode, I share my journey of going from kindergarten teacher to entrepreneur, detailing five stages of my career. It's a story that starts with the birth of my daughter and ends with me having to hire employees for my growing business. While Educator Forever is still growing, it was fun to look back at the beginning of it all. For all links and resources mentioned in this episode, head t...

Georgia O’Keefe and Christine Zuppa are co-founders of Making the Grade Project, an organization with a mission to empower educators starting with the very beginning of their careers. While they specialize in helping teachers in their home state of Massachusetts to pass the MTEL, they support teachers everywhere in setting up their classrooms and careers for success. Christine and Georgia each spe...

Renes Lophanor, a language teacher with over 23 years of experience, discusses his journey in education, emphasizing the importance of building strong relationships with students and treating them with respect. Renes advocates for a teaching approach that values creativity, flexibility, and genuine care for students. Renes's book, "I Still Love Teaching," aims to share his insights and methods to...

In this episode I talk about how fun curriculum writing can be, and how it's such a creative outlet. One of my favorite things about curriculum development is that you get to think about things that are interesting in the world and bring it into the curriculum that you create. I want you to think about when developing curriculum, you get to create what you find interesting and what you want to see...

We’ve reached 100 episodes, so we’re celebrating. On this episode I've invited the wonderful Educator Forever team to join me in celebrating not just completing 100 episodes but all of the amazing work that they've done beyond the classroom. Besides discussing our favorite episodes were, the team let’s me know what they love most about working with Educator Forever and how it’s empowered them. It...

Rob Owen is the founder of Move2Focus. With over 21 years as a school principal, author, and classroom educator, Rob deeply observed and personally felt the significant stress and burnout that plague the education world. After using both mindfulness and Tai Chi, Rob started to introduce these practices to students.  Now he runs Move2Focus, which supports educators to use Tai Chi and Qi Gong i...

Dr. Maggie Broderick is an associate professor at National University, where she serves as a dissertation chair and as a faculty lead for Social Emotional Learning and Curriculum and Instruction. She is also the director of NU’s Advanced Research Center and the editor of the International Journal of Online Graduate Education. In this interview, Maggie and I talk about online education, going from...

Lisa Vodala is the founder of Preschool Readers, she works with her team of preschool reading specialists to provide children ages three to five with an academic Head Start through their proprietary award winning accelerated reading instruction, which they deliver in person and virtually, enhanced by their exclusive framework, the Clear Approach, a framework for differentiated instruction. I talk...

Dr. Shelby Kretz is the creator of Little Justice Leaders, an organization that provides social justice education resources for families, educators, and schools. Shelby earned her Ph. D. in Education from UCLA, and her research explores social justice education at the elementary school level. Over the past decade, Shelby has worked with thousands of parents, teachers, and school leaders to bring s...

Dr. Meghan Waldron is an educator, advisor, learner, writer, thinker and doer. When she is not advising or teaching in the university setting, Meghan is working with students on their personal writing via Smart Solutions Tutoring. Meghan is passionate about helping students find their voices, and she works tirelessly to provide opportunities for them while building their confidence. She is equally...

Mimosa Jones Tunney, founder & president of the American Emergent Curriculum (AEC) and The School House, is a former political speech and Hollywood television writer who wrote scripts for Oprah and HBO. It was a collaboration with Aaron Sorkin that eventually led her down the path of researching American education, which made her realize she needed to improve our system. Drawing from her backg...

Olivia Odileke is the dynamic CEO of Kampus Insights and a passionate advocate for innovative education. As the author of "Beginner's Guide to Nearpod" and "Spark Curiosity: A Guide to Quick Inquiry Tasks," Olivia has established herself as a leading voice in educational technology and student engagement strategies. With a track record of training over 15,000 teachers, Olivia is on a mission to re...