KindSight 101

What do business and generosity have in common? How does someone grappling with their own mortality bounce forward stronger than ever, with a newfound understanding of what matters in life? How do we teach what truly matters to our own children through our honest modelling? In this very special episode, you’ll meet Ruban Rebalkin, a loving father, husband and the Owner and operator of Tumblebums (...

Have you ever wondered what to do when a child in your class has a learning disability? How does one adequately ensure that the child maintains a strong sense of self, in spite of the fact that he or she may feel as though he/she is losing a race. What about parents? How do we support parents in navigating the rocky terrain related to having a child with learning difficulties? If you've ever taugh...

If you want to make a big impact on those around you, to truly make positive change in your school, workplace, and community, check out this game-changing episode with the one and only, Dr. Jody Carrington! In this episode, we talk about trauma, ways to connect with the kids in our lives, and some of the ways we can take care of ourselves along the way. Jody is a passionate believer in the power o...

Deep down, most educational organizations care for their employees and students, and they want to keep up with new human rights policies and best practice, but when it comes to gender diversity in the workplace and school, many of us aren’t always sure how to proceed. In this episode, I talk with transgender educator Kingsley Strudwick, founder of Ambit Gender Diversity Consulting, which was initi...

This is the kindness activity I have always been looking for. It offers the perfect mix of kindness, student agency, and inquiry. I am ALL in. What is it, you ask? The Kindness Expo...a chance for students to showcase their kindnesses to people in their lives in order to make a difference in the world and inspire others to join in! As you know by now, kindness is my jam. I am always on the hunt fo...

It’s 2007. Shutter shades are all the rage. People have to juggle ipods and flip phones for their respective music and T9 texting needs. Facebook is replacing My space. Transformers has just come out on the big screen. Picture a ninth-grade boy in Cambridge, Nova Scotia, Canada. One frosty February morning about, he enters his school wearing a pink shirt. The jeers start quietly, as people nudge a...

About Tamara She is a mom. Raising three children provides endless opportunities for reflection as you discover what works (and what doesn’t!) for each of the little personalities you are trying to shape. Tamara’s parenting stories are sparked by observations and interactions as her children learn and grow. She is an educator. Tamara began her teaching career in 1997 with Clark County School Distr...

Jody is a passionate believer in the power of the relationship with the people we love, lead, and teach. Her favorite thing on the planet to do is to speak with educators – they have the power to change the trajectory of a life every single day. It is time, she believes, that we need to start focusing less on Kids These Days, and more on those of you who hold them. The core of everything she speak...

George Couros is a leading educator in the area of innovation leadership, teaching, and learning. He has worked with all levels of the K-12 school system, as a teacher, technology facilitator, and school and district administrator. He is the author of the book, The Innovator’s Mindset and writes the blog, The Principal of Change, has done a ted talk, hosts his own podcast, and is a well-respected...

Laurie McIntosh is an incredible kindergarten educator based out of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada who dedicates herself to teaching her students to be kind through kindness cape superhero missions. A kindness superhero herself, she has been featured on The Ellen Show and has started The Kind Club , an international kindness club that any teacher can join with their class. She mobilizes kindness thro...

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for all of your lovely reviews and kind words about KindSight 101. It's been such a blast and I've enjoyed hearing how much this show impacts your life. I have a call to action. Pink Shirt Day is February 27th and I'd like to feature some fresh new ideas that teachers can use in their classrooms to boost kindness leading up to this special day. If you want to get inv...

Ever wonder how the physical classroom environment can promote inclusion? In this episode you'll learn to make your students feel comfortable and build their trust through the way you adapt your classroom environment. Dr. Rebecca Alber is an Instructor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education, a literacy specialist, a consulting editor at Edutopia, a compulsive reader, passionate about learning bein...

In Part three of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we talk about the importance of developing beginners mind as teachers as a way to teach growth mindset from the context of our own authentic experiences. Sounds scary right? Nope…it doesn’t have to be. Stefanie shares a few easy and tangible ways that you can train your brain to be more adaptable, whether you want to help your students to gro...

In Part two of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we explore the dark side of growth mindset and why it’s important to go beyond the superficial teaching of adaptability. We discuss some of the physiological clues that suggest whether a student in experiencing fight, flight or freeze and how to become more aware of our own body language in order to create a safe environment for our students. W...

In part one of my interview with Stefanie Faye Frank, we discuss how the factory model of education and our behaviorist stimulus-response approach to teaching is holding our students back from being able to compete within the new connection economy. We discuss the importance of running our classroom like an innovation lab, where failing fast is important and taking risks through vulnerability and...

In this episode, you'll hear how Simon Sinek's brainchild Start with Why empowers teachers and educational leaders to see, hear, and seek to understand their students in order to create cultures of belonging and safety in schools. I speak with Stephen Shedletzky about kindness, the golden circle (finding your "why"), and the circle of safety. About Stephen: In his engaging and dynamic st...

In this episode, I explore the concept of homelessness, toxic masculinity, and a revolutionary way of bridging the gap between those living in privilege and marginalized individuals with Marko, the founder of the Existence Project. MARKO (Founder of the Existence Project) A creative, adaptive, self-starter with an aptitude for social enterprise, Marko passionately dedicates his energy and skills t...

Whether you call it compassion fatigue, compassion burnout, or empathic distress, being on the front lines with those experiencing distress or trauma is taxing, emotionally. Often nurses, teachers, and community service employees suffer from this affliction, but there are ways to protect yourself and beat empathic distress. Listen, as Dr. Alber shares her tips for overcoming compassion fatigue so...

“Creative thinking is the fuel for getting things going. Dreaming about the project is a huge part of the process. The actual 'doing' requires following through on the dream, but the dream is the rough sketch. I encourage people to ponder and conjure the vision, but eventually I'll nudge you to "prove your groove." Don't just say you are a writer... Write. Don't just dream about making a...

We all want to teach our students to be kind, but sometimes doing so explicitly can be harder than it looks. In this episode, you'll hear 3 tangible, actionable, and easy ways to teach kindness within the classroom that you can implement starting today. Dr. Rebecca Alber is an Instructor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education, a literacy specialist, a consulting editor at Edutopia, a compulsive re...

In this episode, you'll hear about the global crisis of homelessness from a Mayor's perspective. Mayor Lisa Helps is the current Mayor of Victoria, Canada and she weighs in about the hidden issues related to homelessness, 2 specific limitations all cities have to overcome, the reason youth are the answer to solving the crisis, and she provides some tangible ways that every citizen can contribute....

Kindness should be easy, right? Wrong! Kindness, the act of sitting alongside someone in empathy and putting ourselves in their shoes through compassion is one of the hardest things we can do. As a result, people are nice, but they don't always act in kindness. It turns our there are five reasons that prevent us from being kind. Once we understand what stops kindness, we can learn and teach our wa...

We talk a lot about the concept of growth mindset in schools, but how do you develop it? In this episode with Dr. Rebecca Alber, you'll learn actionable ways to foster growth mindset in yourself and in your students. Dr. Rebecca Alber is an Instructor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education, a literacy specialist, a consulting editor at Edutopia, a compulsive reader, passionate about learning being...

Have you ever found yourself stumped by the question, "Why are we doing this, for?" or have you ever been graced with the inevitable "Is this on the test?" query? In this very special episode, I talk to the one and only Seth Godin about disrupting the industrial model of education, helping students to get comfortable with struggle of learning and the venture beyond the pull of...

When I put a call out to some of my friends and colleagues to learn the actionable ways they create a culture of belonging within their classrooms, I was blown away by the responses I received. I will be incorporating many of these strategies and lesson ideas within my own practice. In this episode you’ll hear a unique way to connect authentically with families during your first week in the classr...