Proud Rural Teacher

Today you’re meeting a former student of mine, Cassie Miller and her colleague Matt Lansing from Maquoketa high school. Initially, I asked for this interview because I read a recent facebook post from Cassie’s singing the praises of their FFA alumni and the construction progress made on their new Ag learning center, but as the interview went on, I was blown-away, really, by the level of support an...

Today you’re meeting three wonderful people who have developed opportunities for students in the Baraboo school district for over the 15 years as part of a program called Transition Plus. Just to give you geographical context, Baraboo is 15 minutes south of Wisconsin Dells. In a nutshell, the Transition Plus program provides services to students with educational disabilities and transition needs i...

This episode of the Proud Rural Teacher Podcast is part of the Stories from the Driftless Series , a series dedicated telling the digital stories of the teachers in the Driftless Region. The series is made possible thanks to a grant from the Rural Schools Collaborative. The grant is part of RSC's I am a Rural Teacher campaign , a national advocacy effort that is supported by The Bill & Melinda...

This episode is just a quick drop of news regarding the new podcast series: Stories from the Driftless. 

Staying current with last week’s theme of digital storytelling, I wanted to share with you another example of the importance of recording our history. As part of a class assignment, one of my students, Jalen Schmitz, chose to learn how to use Soundtrap to record an interview with his grandfather about his time as a farmer in Lancaster in Southwest Wisconsin. It’s such a nice example of how we can...

For the first half of the 20th century, if you were a kid in Southwest Wisconsin, you attended a one-room school. K-8, one room, one teacher. You walked miles to school throughout the seasons, and spent a tremendous amount of time with the same group of people. In Grant County, by 1912, we had 201 one-room schoolhouses , but by the end of the WWII, schools began consolidating. By 1950, most were g...

In this episode you'll meet Gary Funk, Director of the Rural School Collaborative. The RSC's mission is "to build sustainable rural communities through a keen focus on place, teachers, and philanthropy." Today, we are focusing on two funding and support opportunities for educators -- the National Signature Project Award and the Grants in Place Fellows program.  To learn more about the RSC, vi...

Today's podcast episode features Laurie Heimsoth, a 5th grader teacher at Mineral Point Elementary in Southwest Wisconsin. Laurie, like many teachers, has moved her class to remote learning at home. Mineral Point is considered a rural area where not all kids have access, but Laurie has done a great job preparing her crew for this change in environment. Listen to hear how she is making the transiti...

In this podcast episode you'll meet Jerry Apps, Wisconsin author, speaker, and storyteller on Wisconsin history, agriculture, and our rural heritage. Over the years, I've read his books, blog posts, and I've been able to hear him speak. I'm always left feeling a sense of gratitude for rural Southwest Wisconsin. His words are important to share because it reminds us that where we live...matters, an...

This fall our School of Education has developed a new position called "Recruitment & Retention Specialist." For a small School of Education in a rural area, this type of investment is important as we strive to support our students through their undergraduate career and encourage incoming freshman to consider education as a career. Kayla Murphy joined the school of education this fall to lead t...

This first episode provides an overview of the mission of the Proud Rural Teacher podcast.