Teachers on Fire

DAN JONES is a 7th and 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher in Mansfield, OH. He is the K-12 Editor for Flipped Learning Review Magazine and the author of Flipped 3.0 Project Based Learning: An Insanely Simple Guide. In this conversation, Dan tells us about the time his passion for teaching died and he almost quit the profession entirely. Instead, he Googled “new and innovative teaching practices” and...

Andi McNair is a keynote speaker and trainer specializing in edtech, genius hour, and innovation in education. She is also the co-founder of #makeithappenEDU and the author of Genius Hour: Passion Projects that Ignite Innovation and Student Inquiry. In this conversation, Andi describes the low moment in her classroom that changed it all for her - when she realized her learners were completely dise...

Joy Kirr is a 7th Grade ELA teacher in Elk Grove, Illinois. She writes at http://geniushour.blogspot.com/ and in 2017 published Shift This!: How to Implement Gradual Changes for MASSIVE Impact in Your Classroom. In this conversation, Joy takes us to a moment when a parent criticized her publicly with “Genius Hour is crazy - and all the parents think so!” She shares what she learned from that exper...

Sarah Johnson is an author, speaker, and consultant in the areas of instructional leadership and personal-professional balance. With experience as an English teacher and principal, she likes to laugh, sing, and makes a habit of running every day. She is a co-author of Balance Like a Pirate: Going Beyond Work-Life Balance to Ignite Passion and Thrive as an Educator. Her mission? Helping Educators T...

Bryon Carpenter is a high school teacher at the Abbotsford Virtual School in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. As a trained scientist, passionate creator, and lifelong learner, Bryon serves in the spaces of library, math, science, and ADST (Applied Design and Skills Technologies). Bryon’s passion? Seeing teachers utilize new technologies to advance student learning and help them represent their learning in...

Jeff Bradbury has been recognized as an ASCD Emerging Leader, Google Certified Teacher and Trainer, and digital innovator. The founder of TeacherCast.net, Jeff has spoken at TEDx and other conferences, provides training and consulting for educators across the United States, and currently produces ten regular educational podcasts. Simply put, there aren’t many people in the world producing more res...

Jeff Gargas is the COO/Co-founder of Progressive Mastery Learning and The Teach Better Team. Jeff works with teachers across the United States to help them improve their practice and “reach the unreachable student.” An entrepreneur at heart, Jeff shares about the challenges of hitting walls in the music industry and the educational training space. He shares how he redefined his mission, finding st...

Nicholas Amaral is the district staff development coordinator at the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District in Bergen County, NJ. Nick’s passion is education technology: helping teachers help students create and innovate in their classrooms. In our conversation, Nick shares about a point early in his teaching career when he faced deep discouragement and a lack of motivation. Rather than...

Soney Day is a 2nd grade teacher at Coy Miller Elementary School in Frisco, TX. As a teacher, mom, tech integrator, proud Texan, and Seesaw ambassador, Soney enjoys advocating for young learners and strives to have an innovator’s mindset. In our conversation, Soney shares about an emotionally draining challenge she faced in just her second year of teaching. Although it was nightmarish at the time,...

Jordan Potrzeba is a 4th grade teacher at Walter Caldwell Elementary School in Auburndale, FL. Imagine being told by your principal in your first year of teaching that you were different and didn’t belong. After experiencing just that, Jordan moved from Nebraska to Florida, where he found a school community that welcomes his energy, ideas, and unique personality. In our conversation, Jordan shares...

Tonya Gilchrist is a language teacher and literacy coach at Tokyo International School in Tokyo, Japan. An experienced speaker and presenter, Tonya advocates for learner agency, the inquiry mindset, and joyful leaders. Tonya knew she wanted to become a teacher since she was in third grade, but the daunting pressure and prescriptive directions to teach to standardized tests threatened to make her q...

Bobby McCutcheon is the principal of Randall Elementary School in Independence, MO. He’s a husband, father, #GeniusHour advocate, travel junkie, Royals fan, and occasional political expert. After teaching for several years at the middle and high school levels, Bobby was offered the position of elementary principal and has never looked back. He points to a decision to transform his diet and fitness...

Dan Ryder is the co-author of Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom and is currently the Education Director of the Success & Innovation Center at Mt. Blue High School in Farmington, ME. In our conversation, Dan shares about what ignites his passion for education today: seeing the philosophical focus shift from the acquisition of information to problem-solving, creativity, and design thin...

Christopher J. Nesi teaches 9th grade history at New Brunswick High School in New Jersey and is a Professor of Communications at Rutgers University. He also hosts the House of EdTech and Podcast PD podcasts and operates the Education Podcast Network. In our conversation, Chris shares his passion to see educators and learners of all ages take up the endeavour of creative work: “You don't have to sh...

Danielle Peters is an elementary teacher at Westerman Elementary School in Surrey, BC, Canada. Recently completing her Master’s in Ed. Tech., Danielle is passionate about helping kids learn, create, and innovate using technology. In our conversation, Danielle talks about how team teaching allows her to better meet the social-emotional needs of her learners and learn from her colleague’s perspectiv...

Diana Williams is an elementary teacher at Bayridge Elementary School in Surrey, BC, Canada. She is also a speaker, a consultant for her district, a student of PBL, award winner, and constant innovator. In our conversation, Diana speaks candidly about the challenges teachers face during labor disruptions and shares some frank advice for up and coming teachers. She talks about some of the initiativ...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast, we speak with Brooke Moore. Brooke is the District Principal of Inquiry and Innovation in Delta, BC, Canada. She is also an instructor at Vancouver Island University and the editor-in-chief of UBC’s Transformative Educational Leadership Journal, located at http://teljournal.educ.ubc.ca/. In our conversation, Brooke describes the experience of workin...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Lindsey Danhoff. Lindsey is a first grade teacher (soon to be third grade) at Evening Street Elementary School in Worthington, Ohio. Lindsey shares about the challenges and rewards of working to change school practices, and speaks to what really ignites her passion for education: a growing emphasis on creativity and innovation. She also...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Gallit Zvi. Gallit is currently a principal intern in Surrey, BC, Canada, and a co-author of The Genius Hour Guidebook. Gallit describes how she overcame the challenges of transitioning into a new grade level earlier in her teaching career. She talks about the things that really ignite her passion in education today, including the magic...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Lynn Thomas. Lynn is the department head of English and Library and Digital Lead Learner at Dunnville Secondary School in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. In this conversation, Lynn shares candidly about a year of serious family health challenges, crediting the support of administrators that helped her work through this difficult time. She s...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Caterina Rylance. Caterina is a middle school languages teacher and ESL coordinator at St. Theresa Catholic Middle School in Sherwood Park, AB, Canada. Still in her second year of teaching, Caterina talks about how her writing at survivingteaching.org became a healthy outlet for her to reflect on the mix of frustrations and victories th...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Maria Thompson. Maria is a middle school teacher at Snow Hill Middle School in Snow Hill, Maryland. Maria is an expert in Summit Learning, a program that personalizes learning and supports students while they direct the focus of their own studies. She has great insights to share that fit nicely within the models of project-based and inq...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Adam Miller. Adam is a middle school physical education teacher in Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. In this conversation Adam tells a hilarious story of having to manage a swim class for a group of kindergarteners within 20 minutes of their first day of school. He shares about why he’s so passionate about physical education, the...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast we speak with Antonio Vendramin. Antonio is the District Principal of Communicating Student Learning in the Surrey School District of BC, Canada. In this conversation, Antonio discusses the exciting opportunities made possible by the recent shift toward a competency-based curriculum in British Columbia. He describes the power of good digital storytel...

In this episode of the Teachers on Fire podcast, we chat with Adam Moler. Adam is a middle school history teacher at New Richmond Middle School in New Richmond, OH, USA. In this conversation, Adam speaks openly about what it was like to address some authentic doubts he was having about his own practice. He credits a solid PLN on Twitter and some inspirational reading as the key resources he looked...