powerED Up

Brittany is the 2023 Wyoming Teacher of the Year, and she has brought her life experience as a learner into her own classroom. She isn’t afraid to showcase herself as a real person to allow her students to see past the titles and be kind to all. Tell your real stories and show your real self to allow students to be themselves. Working with parents to help advocate for students who need additional...

This week is short and simple; we have quick messages from many former guests to share words of inspiration to start the school year right!

Ryne Anthony, Director of Flux Space, and Todd Guellich a STEM educator, is rapidly changing; our job is to stay relevant with our instruction for students. Educational technology and STEM or STEAM continue to be a hot topics. Regardless of what you teach or where you teach, we need to think about the instruction in our classroom.  There are strategies to put into place for students to experience...

Student-Centered learning is a phrase thrown around education, and there is fluff around it. This is a foundational instructional strategy, at its core, is sound in practice.  The approach to student-centered learning has become blurred. Cory Henwood joins the podcast again to break this down into a conversation about how and why to implement it. Student-centered learning is not small-group instru...

We brought Dr. Don Berg back to the podcast to focus solely on goal setting.  It is crucial personal practice for us to implement to grow as professionals. There are specific strategies and science behind how our brain works to hack successful goal setting. We dive deep into the conversation and focus on how to support students with the goal-setting process as well. It is necessary to set small go...

In every podcast we hear from our guests, relationships matter. Care for the students, be real, be present, etc.  This is, without a doubt true, but how do we do it well? This podcast digs deep into this question and forces our guests to create a guide for how teachers can create successful relationships with students. Bethany Petty and Candace Young join the show to help peel back the onion on th...

According to the International Institute for Restorative Practices, “ We believe that human beings are instilled with the need to connect and grow with each other, but not the methods. Here at the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), we provide our students with the tools they need to effect change within their own lives as well as their schools, their organizations, and their...

The opportunity to put Anthony Swann and Ramon Benavides together on a podcast creates an emotional, robust conversation. Both men share their deepest feelings about how we can support trauma-inflicted and struggling students. This is the best education conversation on supporting struggling students available on any podcast today.  Empowering students and developing self-efficacy skills so they ca...

Teachers are potentially going through small or big changes to prepare for the new curriculum, classrooms, courses, grade levels, or maybe even a new school. The summer is a great time to reflect, goal setting, and mentally prepare.   Reflect on your core teaching values that are non-negotiable aspects of your classroom.  Think about how to protect these core values in your new situation. It’s ess...

As teachers, there is more than a basic job description to detail all we do.  Jessica Saum and Autumn Rivera come back as guest co-hosts to enrich this conversation.  We all get emotional and personal and talk deeply to make it as meaningful as possible for our listeners. Teaching is exhausting but incredibly rewarding when we make the best efforts in the right ways. It’s important to recognize wh...

It is summertime! Ken and Matt take a few minutes to reflect on the year and discuss summer plans and goals. Most importantly, they preview the 2023 summer series. Be sure to come back each week this summer for an amazing in-depth professional development episode. We bring back our top guests to join the conversation as co-hosts!

Weston Kieschnick is a gift to education, teacher, administrator, speaker, and author, and changing the lives of teachers. His passion is in good teaching, and empowering teachers to do that well. His mission has always been to take the knowledge we know and blend it to meet the students of today.  His first book Bold School was ahead of its time in technology integration, encouraging teachers to...

AJ Crabill is uniquely positioned to support school districts from the school board to the student. He is focused on creating systems that focus all school employees on improving student learning. It is so focused they measure all of their time from school board meetings to a principal's calendar. Teachers support students, principals support teachers, upper administration supports principals,...

Christine Girtain is the 2023 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year and a fantastic model for how facilitating empowering and content-rich classrooms.  She works in a unique classroom, but her strategies and stories can be applied to all classrooms.  She empowers her students to be their best and pursue that through research. Students are capable; we must allow them to rise to the occasion. Sometim...

Jon Bergman is an amazing educator, pioneer of the Flipped Classroom, presenter, author, and influential educator. His passion and ability to change education have profoundly affected how learning occurs worldwide. Jon has been teaching since the mid-80s, and for him, it’s simple to define; kids are kids. We need to support our children with best practices and support structures for them to grow....

Allowing our students to read significantly below grade level is unacceptable. As Marnie Ginsberg states, “Reading is not that hard to learn;” we can’t accept anything less.  She shares countless strategies for teachers to utilize to help develop our students into stronger readers. The data we often receive is too vague to know what students can and cannot do.  Assess your students and hold yourse...

Jason has had the experience worth listening to, K-12, from teacher to administrator.  He encourages teachers to start to look at the classroom as a learning atmosphere, not a teaching stage. Stop planning lessons and start designing lessons. A lesson needs a clear learning target and objective students understand to strive for. Assess prior knowledge to make decisions about the upcoming lesson. C...

Long-time middle school science teacher turns towards STEM. Bryan has a passion for change, innovation, and learning. This inspiration has transitioned into all his activities with his students to create authentic learning. Bryan invests time in his students to inspire a learning culture so they can accomplish any goal. Use local references, in his case, the military community, to create design ch...

Samantha’s experience before education has reminded her of the value of respecting every student and every parent as an individual.  It allows her to create an unwavering positive rapport and respect in the classroom. Start every day on the same page and on the same note to be the best version of yourself Create opportunities for students to thrive through the structures you create in the classroo...

Sarah started her teaching career working with some of our youngest learners at the age of two and moved on to continue to work with middle school students. She utilized a maker space in her art classrooms to help foster and develop creativity. Sarah has transitioned into utilizing movement in learning; she is now a certified yoga instructor and finding ways to blend it into instruction. Use a mak...

Ty White is the 2023 Arizona Teacher of the Year and was an amazing guest. He teaches Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2 to high school students.  The class is focused on experiences, phenomena, and observing the world around them.  He backs those experiences up with the math second. His approach is increasing retention and enrollment in Chemistry 2. The perspective of Ty’s life experiences helps him foc...

Greg Goodhart is the learning coach. He is focused on empowering students and teachers to unlock the power of learning to impact their academic performance. He showcases how a performance-based subject showcases the ability of students to be at their best. The whole purpose of learning is to be able to perform, not memorize, but perform. Focus on retrieval practices to help students be more confid...

Mark has experience as a teacher, building administrator, and central office. This experience has given him the perspective always to do his best for students. Working in a district office can help elevate teaching by constantly analyzing curriculum, technology, and best teaching practices. Evaluating the integration of technology starts with the “why”.  What is the instructional impact? The secon...

Dr. Danny Brassell is America’s leading reading ambassador and is passionate about getting every child to love reading. The more we get kids excited about reading, the more they will love reading, and the more they will learn reading. If we spend so much time teaching students how to read, shouldn’t we teach them to love reading first? Develop a love for reading, so they can read to learn. A great...

Kelly Shrein is the 2022 Alaska Teacher of the Year. She has embraced her community in Anchorage, Alaska to create a more meaningful, authentic, and engaging curriculum. Students are constantly engaged in learning objectives that can have a direct impact on the local community.  The authenticity of learning expands into her classroom conversations.  The third-grade students are well-vers...