OEA Grow

In the final episode of season four, Kayla talks with veteran educator Rob Hillhouse as he reflects on twenty years of wisdom, blunders, and learnings. Rob has accumulated experience as an educator across K-16 and currently serves as Secondary Multilingual Teacher on Special Assignment in the Beaverton School District. Through sharing some of his stories as an educator, Rob describes lessons learn...

“Their success is my success” states Beth Aydelott, popular writing and literature instructor at Lane Community College. Kayla talks with Beth this week about engaging and encouraging community college students. For Beth, this process starts before the semester begins when she sends a welcome email with access to the syllabus, readings, and the assignment list. Beth thinks this helps them feel a b...

Student motivation is the topic of this extended episode conversation with host Kayla Potter and High School Language Arts Teacher Desmond Spann. At the foundation of the discussion is the concept that motivation is a skill that ultimately must align with students’ values and interests. Desmond acknowledges the difference between internal and external motivation in the classroom and why he strives...

How do you build a classroom community? This is the question Kayla tackles with OEA member Rachel Hsieh. Rachel is a District Mentor and Coach and previously worked as a fourth-grade teacher. Rachel now spends her time mentoring new educators and classroom community is one thing she mentors them on.    Rachel tells us that classroom community is all about belonging. Some strategies Rachel and Kayl...

Education is a field that can require a lot of your time. It may feel like there’s always more to do. In this episode, Kayla talks with Clarissa Buchholz, a high school science teacher, about time management and setting reasonable expectations. While there’s so much to do as an educator it can be hard to leave work in the building, keeping ourselves happy and healthy allows us to do our jobs well....

In the first interview of our Back to School season, OEA member host Kayla Potter interviews middle-school Social Studies Teacher, Malik White. Kayla and Malik, an early career educator, discuss what it has been like to be a new teacher. Malik’s first year of teaching occurred during the 2020-2021 school year and most of the year was in comprehensive distance learning (CDL) due to the Covid-19 pan...

Season 4 host Kayla Potter shares about herself, and previews upcoming content for our Back to School season.  If you are interested in learning more about the New Educators of Oregon Network (NEON), visit bit.ly/NEONoregon .

Episode 10 Many educators have experienced increased student behavioral issues since the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted schools. In this final episode of Season 3, Leonne talks with Jodie Wyatt, a District Behavior Coach, about inclusive behavior interventions. Jodie has been an educator for more than 21 years. Her current role serves all 14 schools in the Corvallis district, which has embraced Colla...

In this episode on student mental health, Leonne talks with OEA member Lorin Reed and Corvallis High School (CHS) student Kaylee Pickering about Sources of Strength, a suicide, violence, and addiction prevention project based on peer relationships and community building. Lorin is a PE and health teacher at CHS as well as an instructor of Sources of Strength and a football coach. Kaylee is a studen...

This week’s episode is on safe, welcoming, and inclusive schools for LGBTQ+ students. Leonne discusses the topic with three staff members of Basic Rights Oregon:  Jo Xavier Doyle, Leadership Development & Training Program Manager, Gaby Gardiner, Statewide Engagment Manager, and Seth Johnstone, Transgender Justice Organizer & Trainer. Basic Rights Oregon works for legal and lived equality for LGBTQ...

In this episode, we turn to community college for a discussion of how gamification can create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive environment. Dr. Sascha McKeon is a biology instructor and faculty at Blue Mountain Community College. Leonne talks with Sascha about how she successfully gamified her biology for non-majors course by creating four different paths to completion based on the four “houses” i...

Kelsey Madison is an Oregon educator with a passion for working with youth in outdoor places. In this episode, season host Leonne talks with Kelsey about place-based education. Kelsey defines placed-based education as a way to ground in the place that we are in. It helps communities by asking those people to identify and solve local concerns. With a degree in environmental biology, experience in m...

How does special education connect to a safe, welcoming, and inclusive school? In this episode, Leonne talks with life skills and peer tutoring special education teacher Niels Pasternak (Eugene EA) to answer this question. Niels is also the Chair of the OEA Special Education Committee and the Executive Director of Educational Equity Now. For Niels, special education is all about inclusivity, servi...

This week, Leonne interviews Phoenix Blickle, a nurse with the Multnomah Education Service District working in two elementary schools. In the episode, Phoenix explains the window of tolerance. Coined by a neuropsychiatrist named Dan Siegel in a 1999 book, the window of tolerance describes the mental/emotional states where we’re able to function at our best. When you’re within your window of tolera...

You’ve probably already heard the term “trauma informed” but maybe you’re wondering what exactly this looks like in education? In season 3 episode 3, Leonne interviews Jeff Crapper, a CTE Teacher on Special Assignment in Beaverton, an award-winning science and health sciences teacher, and a facilitator in OEA’s Becoming a Trauma Informed Educator series. He’s also a parent with years of experience...

In the second episode of the Safe, Welcoming, and Inclusive Schools season, Leonne talks with Kelsey Hibbert, Dean of Students at Linus Pauling Middle School in Corvallis and former middle school teacher. At Linus Pauling, Hibbert runs the Student Center, a place for students who need to reset and regulate, report safety issues or difficulties, or talk through peer-to-peer issues. At the Student C...

Welcome to season three of the OEA Grow Podcast, a member-led production of the Oregon Education Association. In season three we will be discussing Safe, Welcoming, and Inclusive Schools. This topic has been a prominent one on educators’ minds both before and since the publication of OEA’s Crisis of Disrupted Learning Report . We will continue with member-to- member conversations with the occasion...

OEA member host Leonne Bannister kicks off season three with community partner Amanda Coven, former middle-school math teacher and current Director of Education at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Leonne and Amanda discuss navigating critical conversations about honest, accurate history with a focus on Senate bill 664: Holocaust Education which passed in 2019. It is cur...

In the final episode of Season Two: Conflict Resolution Strategies, Joyce welcomes Brinda Narayan-Wold and Huck Wilken to discuss the free and confidential mediation process available to OEA members. The OEA Mediation Network helps individuals and teams reduce conflict-based suffering and get back to a place of dignity. Communication, decision making, and professionalism issues are the three major...

Joyce is joined by retired educator Beverly Wilson to discuss what happens in our brains and bodies when we experience conflict. When our values, needs, or identities are threatened, we react biologically and have an opportunity to interrupt the conflict. They discuss values (culturally defined) and needs (universal), the role they play in conflict, and the different ways people respond to a given...

We’ve all dealt with difficult people before and are likely to again. Maybe we’ve also been “difficult” ourselves? Mediator and former middle school math and STEM teacher Huck Wilken talks with Joyce about dealing with difficult people. A lot of conflict starts with miscommunication. Huck explains that managing our own emotional response is the first step in dealing with difficult people in confli...

In week 4, Joyce chats with MaryJean Harris Williams, PhD about conflict management styles. MaryJean teaches Communication Studies at Clackamas Community College. MaryJean recognizes that most people don’t like conflict and have different styles of dealing with conflict. Joyce and MaryJean help us understand the five main conflict management styles: avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromise,...

Joyce’s guest in this episode is Suzi Spencer, alternative high school teacher in Salem. Collaborative problem solving has been used in Suzi’s school for the last few years. Suzi defines collaborative problem solving as a situation where all involved parties are asked for their perspective, all perspectives are honored, and the parties come up with solutions together. Collaborative problem solving...

The Conflict Resolution season kicks off with a discussion about the liberating potential of conscious listening. Joyce chats with OEA member Brinda Narayan-Wold, School Counselor at Kelly Middle School in Eugene, and mediator with the OEA Mediation Network. Joyce and Brenda emphasize that conflict resolution strategies, like conscious listening, can be used in both our professional and personal l...

Welcome to season two of the OEA Grow Podcast, a member-led production of the Oregon Education Association. In season two we will be discussing Conflict Resolution Strategies. The host, Joyce Rosenau, and all guests of this season are members of the OEA Mediation Network- a conflict resolution service for OEA members started in 2019.  Some of the episode topics will include: the neuroscience of co...