Teach Me, Teacher

Hello everyone! Teach Me, Teacher has been very fortunate to feature so many amazing educators—especially in the literacy space. Our Top 10 Literacy Podcasts  list gets tens of thousands of hits every month and spans educators all over the United States and grade levels. It's truly an honor to bring so many great talks to educators for free. Today, we get to add to this list of amazing people and...

Hello everyone! Many dedicated professionals ignore their mental health. They put it off, hide their struggles, and often suffer in silence. Todd Nesloney not only understands this, but has lived through it and came out on the other side. In this episode, we touch on: His new book, In This Season The importance of mental health The value of community ...and much more! Todd Nesloney is the Director...

Hello everyone! As we head into another school year, many educators and administrators are asking themselves if we are on the right track. School boards, parents, and students are increasingly asking this as well. We all deeply believe in the power of a quality education, and yet many of us are concerned about the future in this regard. To discuss this, and much more, is friend of the show Todd Ne...

Hello everyone! Patrick Harris II, an educator and the author of The First Five: A Love Letter to Teachers, came on to the show last week to discuss the importance of teacher autonomy. This week, we are diving into the importance of the first five years of teaching and finding a school that fill your cup. Patrick's journey to his dream school is a wild one, but if anything, it should inspire you i...

Hello everyone! Many teachers work within districts and schools that value and understand the importance of teacher autonomy, yet this is not the case everywhere. With the pressure of accountability and an ever increasing eye on education in the political sphere, some districts and schools are opting for LESS teacher autonomy—often limiting teachers to just being program pushers or curriculum guid...

Hello everyone and welcome to season 7 of the Teach Me, Teacher podcast! If you are new to these intro episodes, I treat these as focuses for the season and update listeners on where I am at as the host and guide of the show. Times are changing, the new school year is here, and I am moving on to new and exciting adventures. Enjoy the show and WELCOME to yet another season of Teach Me, Teacher!   I...

Hello everyone! This is a re-run of our season 3 finale. Enjoy! From the post: I couldn't be any more excited to bring you none other than Hamish Brewer ! If you don't know who Hamish is, the relentless, tattooed, skateboarding principal in Northern Virginia isn't your normal principal. Hamish is high octane, constantly calling on his students to "Be Relentless. Mr. Brewer has become known as an e...

Hello everyone! Today, I am re-releasing what I believe is the one of the most important podcasts in the history of the show. Not only is it filled with honest and real world talk, it is filled with research based advice and insight from one of the premier thinkers on education today. In this episode, I sit down with Alfie Kohn and discuss a range of topics, such as why grading hurts more than it...

Hello everyone! Today I am joined by my friend David Bakker, PocketLab co-founder & Stanford teacher. In this episode we discuss the importance of scientific literacy, how to bring passion into the science classroom, and an amazing FREE conference any teacher involved with science should attend. I loved this talk!  Check out the FREE conference here.   Here's what it's about: ScIC "Science is Cool...

Hello everyone! As Teach Me, Teacher readies to enter it's seventh season, I wanted to take some time to let the summer breathe a bit with an "off season" mini-series of the show. Today you are listening to a Q&A episode from my second show, Craft & Draft , and next week we are going back in time to highlight some other episodes of the show you may have never heard or have forgotten about. Below i...

Hello everyone and welcome to part 2 of our season finale episode! If you missed part 1, check it out here. If you have been a fan of this show for any amount of time, you know that I am a mega fan of Donalyn Miller. Not just because she is an amazing person and educator, but because her work changed how I taught. In this episode we discuss: The legacy of Teri Lesesne The importance of having dive...

Hello everyone and welcome to part 1 of our season finale episode! If you have been a fan of this show for any amount of time, you know that I am a mega fan of Donalyn Miller. Not just because she is an amazing person and educator, but because her work changed how I taught. FULL STOP. So, it was an absolute pleasure to invite her back to the show to talk about all of her latest work and the soft c...

Hello everyone! As the school year closes out and we begin to look to the future, many of us are taking the time to look back and offer advice for new teachers from our experiences. Ciara Bennion, otherwise known as  @ciarak.beauty on Instagram  has been doing just that!  I have been a fan of Ciara's for awhile now, but what made me reach out to get her on the show was her video on what she would...

Hello everyone! As the school year closes out and we begin to look to the future, many of us are taking the time to look back and offer advice for new teachers from our experiences. Ciara Bennion, otherwise known as @ciarak.beauty on Instagram has been doing just that!  I have been a fan of Ciara's for awhile now, but what made me reach out to get her on the show was her video on what she would sa...

Hello everyone! Between the constant attacks on education, toxic echo chambers on the internet, and the quiet majority, many people believe that schools are doing very little good. Of course, we know this isn't true. We see the greatness happening everyday in the halls, our classrooms, and around school grounds. Yet we have struggled to share the good news about education in many places. We have l...

Hello everyone! Between the constant attacks on education, toxic echo chambers on the internet, and the quiet majority, many people believe that schools are doing very little good. Of course, we know this isn't true. We see the greatness happening everyday in the halls, our classrooms, and around school grounds. Yet we have struggled to share the good news about education in many places. We have l...

Hello everyone! I LOVE WRITING . It's such powerful tool to learn through and teach with. Because of this, understanding writing is key to employing it well in the classroom. While I talk about secondary focused writing often, I wanted to bring on someone who could give voice to the elementary perspective. Today we are returning to my chat with Melanie Meehan, author of The Responsive Writing Teac...

Hello everyone! I LOVE WRITING . It's such powerful tool to learn through and teach with. Because of this, understanding writing is key to employing it well in the classroom. For some educators, this comes naturally. For many others, we have to dedicate ourselves to understanding the craft to be able to teach it to young people. It also pays to know what the grades before you taught and how writin...

Hello everyone! In honor of teacher appreciation week, the United States Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona , has come to Teach Me, Teacher to discuss the politics continuing to shape education, as well as the hope and good news coming down from Washington. It was an absolute honor to speak with Secretary Miguel Cardona for the time we had. Many feel as if teachers are just yelling into the vo...

Hello everyone! Summer is on the way and that means many of you are eyeing new ways to serve as a leader in your district (and beyond.) But what does it mean to be a leader today? So much has changed over the past few years…is there even a guide anymore? YES! Matt Renwick, author of the fantastic Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H , is on the show today to talk about his lessons in leadership and his view o...

Hello everyone! Summer is on the way and that means many of you are eyeing new ways to serve as a leader in your district (and beyond.) But what does it mean to be a leader today? So much has changed over the past few years…is there even a guide anymore? YES! Matt Renwick, author of the fantastic Leading Like a C.O.A.C.H , is on the show today to talk about his lessons in leadership and his view o...

Hello everyone! One of the key aspects of being a teacher is being able to communicate well with many people. At times, especially in the classroom, it can feel like there just isn't time to communicate well. We have lessons and tests to do. Papers to grade. Emails to send… But this isn't something that's complicated. It's not "rocket science." It's a basic need that our classes need to succeed. L...

Hello everyone! One of the key aspects of being a teacher is being able to communicate well with many people. At times, especially in the classroom, it can feel like there just isn't time to communicate well. We have lessons and tests to do. Papers to grade. Emails to send… But this isn't something that's complicated. It's not "rocket science." It's a basic need that our classes need to succeed. T...

Hello everyone! Welcome to part two of my talk with Erin Gruwell! Last week, we discussed the power of writing, stories, and teaching honestly. In this episode, we dive into HOW to create a workshop that that is an empowering writing community and why this should be our goal. Backstory: Over twenty years ago, the students in first-year teacher Erin Gruwell's high school class in Long Beach, Califo...

Hello everyone! Over twenty years ago, the students in first-year teacher Erin Gruwell's high school class in Long Beach, California, were labeled "unteachable"—but she saw past that. Instead of treating them as scores on a test, she understood that each of them had a unique story to tell. Inspired by books like Anne Frank's diary, her students began writing their own diaries, eventually dubbing t...