Beyond the Bell

Assistant director of elementary and middle school literacy Brent Crouse and host Evelyn Lauer discuss engagement strategies, culturally responsive teaching, and the outlook for the 2021-2022 academic year. Crouse began his career as a non-traditional Teach For America corps member in 2010, at the age of 32. After acceptance into the program, he moved from Portland, OR to Philadelphia, where he ta...

World languages teacher Cheryl Nesbitt and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the complicated space of hybrid learning, including the challenges of breakout rooms and the magic of face-to-face interaction.  Nesbitt has been teaching for more than 30 years in various contexts, both domestically and overseas in Japan. She taught at private schools, but returned to college in 2014 to complete her credentials...

Physical education teacher Jenny Lynch and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the instruction of dance classes without touch and the importance of mindfulness and movement, especially this year. Lynch is in her 18th year of teaching high school in Aurora, Colorado.  She teaches Freshmen English, Basic Dance, Intermediate/Advanced Dance, and Beginning Ballroom Dance. She is an active person who enjoys the o...

English teacher Alyssa Guzman and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the challenges of being a first-year educator during the pandemic and the experience of presenting diverse texts and controversial conversations in a conservative community, especially this school year.  Guzman is a first-year teacher out of Lincolnwood, Illinois. Her time at Niles West High School led to her becoming passionate about rea...

Preschool teacher Megan Barber and policy director Erin Helgren share how their school district in rural Oregon created solutions to keep young children learning through the pandemic. Megan Barber is the Yoncalla School District Preschool Director and Head Teacher. She has a strong background in social work and parenting education as well as elementary education. These experiences have given her t...

Business teacher Nicholas Pahl and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the pros and cons of teaching team/project-based courses during remote and hybrid learning.  Pahl teaches investing, marketing, and INCubatoredu ,  a national, entrepreneurial program that started out of Barrington, IL. Pahl, who has been in education for 10 years,  started this program at Dundee Crown High School. The program won Unchar...

Host Evelyn Lauer discusses all the challenges of hybrid teaching and looks toward season 3. Season 3 of BTB will kick off April 11. Connect with Evelyn on Twitter and Instagram @evelynalauer.

Host Evelyn Lauer talks with four educators who are also mothers of young children and asks the age-old question: How do you do it all? The group chats about the toll the pandemic has had on working moms, the insanity of most days, and how to balance teaching and grading and parenting -- and doing the dishes! Julia Kapelnikova is an English teacher and instructional coach at Highland Park High Sch...

Journalism educators Leland Mallett and Rebecca Pollard discuss their experiences with the extreme cold, snow, and power outages in Texas recently and the effect on schools -- and their student media coverage of it all.  Mallett has been advising yearbooks and newspapers since 1999. He is the newspaper, yearbook, and photo adviser at Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas. Legacy’s publications ha...

Kindergarten educator Laura Doran and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the importance of building community, the incorporation of toys into lessons, and what it looks like to teach five year olds how to read via Zoom. Doran teaches at Walled Lake Consolidated School District in Michigan. She has been teaching for 23 years, primarily grades first through third. Currently, she teaches kindergarten remotely...

English teacher Abdel Shakur and host Evelyn Lauer discuss creating a community during remote learning, holding conferences to connect with individual students, and working on a podcasts while teaching. Shakur teaches 9th and 10th grade at Evanston Township High School in Evanston, IL. He is a writer and teacher concerned with telling the stories of Black teachers. A Catalyst Chicago Classroom Sto...

Drama educator Michelle Salerno and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the limitations of teaching theater during a pandemic, the embracement of masks during production, and the magic of extracurriculars, especially now. Salerno has a Ph. D. in theatre and has taught several subjects in colleges, high schools, middle school, and in a community jail. She is currently teaching drama and communications classe...

English and journalism teacher Sarah Lerner and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the tease of hybrid learning, the productivity of working back at school, and her 46 days of working remotely after Covid-19. Lerner teaches at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She was the 2014 Sun-Sentinel High School Journalism Teacher of the Year,  a 2019 CSPA Gold Key recipient and 2020 Special Recognition Adviser f...

Media publications teacher Natalie Brown and host Evelyn Lauer discuss tips for hybrid teaching, the challenges of creating a yearbook during a pandemic, and the joys and reliefs of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.  Brown is the Dragon Media adviser at Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, Texas -- a 6A school in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex home to around 3000 students. Brown has been a jour...

Music teacher Justin Johnson and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the impossibility of recreating performances online, the benefit of asynchronous time for enrichment, and the use of polls to increase engagement and competition. Johnson is in his ninth year as Director of Bands at Niles West where he conducts the concert band, symphonic band, and symphonic wind ensemble. Johnson also directs the pep band...

Mathematics teacher Sachin J. Jhunjhunwala and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the magic and humanity in remote learning, the importance of group work, and the escape of John Hughes films. Jhunjhunwala is a second-year Instructional Coach and third-year mathematics teacher at Highland Park High School in Highland Park, IL.   There, he has taught Algebra I Survey, Geometry, and AP Statistics.  Prior to t...

Host Evelyn Lauer introduces the second season of Beyond the Bell. Please follow her on Twitter @evelynalauer. 

Host Evelyn Lauer discusses her highs and lows of semester 1 of remote teaching. She also gives her resolutions for the new year. Season 2 of BTB will kick off Jan. 3, 2021. Connect with Lauer on Twitter @evelynalauer 

Host Evelyn Lauer and the Iowa Round Table -- Patrick Johnson, Natalie Niemeyer-Lorenz, Jonathan Rogers, and Chris Snider -- discuss the challenges of hybrid teaching, the differences and similarities between high school and collegiate instruction on Zoom, the understanding that SEL matters at all levels, and the reality that we must simplify our lessons. Patrick Johnson is a doctoral student and...

Middle school ELA teacher Shanna Yarbrough and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the dilemma of the three-percent Covid positivity rate threshold in New York City, the benefits of new technologies, and the challenges of summative assessments while teaching remotely.  Yarbrough has a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz, an MFA in Book Arts from the University  of Alabama, and a Master of Arts in Teac...

Media and English teacher Adriana Chavira and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the need for flexibility, the challenges of teaching remotely, and the escape of Queens Gambit .  Chavira is a native of Los Angeles and spent a decade as a newspaper reporter in Southern California before becoming a teacher 18 years ago. She teaches photography, advises the news magazine, news website, and yearbook at Daniel...

English teacher Jarrin Williams and host Evelyn Lauer discuss  the chaos of hybrid/blended learning, technology as a form of engagement, and the difficulty of building relationships when both students and teacher are wearing masks.  Williams teaches freshman English at Rock Island High School in northwestern Illinois. This is his twentieth year in the classroom, having taught in Minnesota, Iowa, a...

Art teacher Jesse Gardner and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the challenges of teaching a supply-heavy course remotely, engagement in a cameras-off classroom, and the beauty of a growth mindset during these times.  Gardner is an artist, teacher, mother, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-jeans kinda gal. She lives on a small-ish island near Seattle, WA, where she makes a home with her wife and blended family, incl...

History teacher Sarah Govis and host Evelyn Lauer discuss hybrid learning, the struggles of engagement while wearing masks, and student teaching the week of the election. Govis is a senior at Winona State University  who is currently student teaching U.S. history and sociology near St. Paul, Minnesota. She will graduate in December with a double major in History and Social Science Education, with...

Biology teacher Aaron Mathieu and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the need to scale back the AP curriculum, including resource-intensive labs, and how Covid makes us consider our core values in education.  Mathieu teaches Honors Biology and AP Biology at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School in Acton, Massachusetts. In addition to his classroom teaching, Aaron is the advisor for the BioBuilder Club at A...