Teach Me, Teacher

Hello everyone! Today, we are talking about social justice in our classrooms! To discuss, I brought on the amazing Megan Forbes, otherwise known as @toocoolformiddleschool on Instagram and Youtube ! In this episode, we discuss: Misconceptions about social justice What social justice is and isn't The difference between political and partisan Why we should all try to understand the power of social j...

Hello everyone! It's time for part two with Penny Kittle! We continue talking about 180 Days,  as well as: What do you do in a conference with a student? What are the other kids doing? How do you know if your student is becoming a better reader and writer? Are digital lexile programs good assessment data for our students? What is good assessment data? And much, much, more! You do not want to miss...

Hello everyone! Welcome to season 3. I am overly excited to bring this episode with Penny Kittle to you. If you're in ELA, you probably know who Penny Kittle is. If you don't know who she is, you're in for a treat, regardless if you teach ELA or another subject. In this episode, Penny and I discuss her new book (co-written with Kelly Gallagher), 180 Days, and how we can better our literacy practic...

Hello everyone. I'm leaving the classroom.

Hello everyone! Today, I have the pleasure of bringing you one of the most important episodes of the show, and the season 2 finale! If you missed part one, listen here.  Danny Steele is a fantastic principal, writer, and speaker, and someone I've followed for a long time. I brought him on to talk about culture and empowering teachers and students, but we ended up talking about so much more. In thi...

Hello everyone! Today, I have the pleasure of bringing you one of the most important episodes of the show. Danny Steele is a fantastic principal, writer, and speaker, and someone I've followed for a long time. I brought him on to talk about culture and empowering teachers and students, but we ended up talking about so much more. Yet, it's not the topics that make this episode shine bright, it's th...

Hello everyone! Welcome to a FANTASTIC episode about how it's important to not only know your why, but how it's also important to use it to fuel your work in the classroom. To discuss this, I've brought on Hal Bowman, of Teach Like a Rockstar and Be The One fame.  We hit on a lot in part 2, but specifically, we hit on some amazing self reflective questions we all need to be asking ourselves in ord...

Hello everyone! Welcome to a FANTASTIC episode about how it's important to not only know your why, but how it's also important to use it to fuel your work in the classroom. To discuss this, I've brought on Hal Bowman, of Teach Like a Rockstar and Be The One fame.  We hit on a lot in this episode, and it is definitely one for the record books. Whether you're a coach, a new or veteran teacher, or an...

Hello everyone! Now more than ever, there is a need for relationships in our classrooms. What some might call "the hidden standards" of teaching, need to come out in the open, and drive our decisions and how we conduct ourselves daily. It could be argued that the younger generations are less equipped to deal with emotions than other generations were. Due to the sterilization of human emotion they...

Hello everyone! Now more than ever, there is a need for relationships in our classrooms. What some might call "the hidden standards" of teaching, need to come out in the open, and drive our decisions and how we conduct ourselves daily. It could be argued that the younger generations are less equipped to deal with emotions than other generations were. Due to the sterilization of human emotion they...

Hello everyone! Today, it is my pleasure to bring you part 2 of our episode with Joe Dombrowski, otherwise known as Mr. D, to discuss the revolution in education, and how and why you need to be a part of it. If you missed part 1, you can find it here.  The world of education is changing, and Joe asks us a simple question in this episode...do we want to join him? What follows is a series of reflect...

Hello everyone! Today, it is my pleasure to bring you Joe Dombrowski, otherwise known as Mr. D, to discuss the revolution in education, and how and why you need to be a part of it.  Mr. D rose to fame after his video pranking his students went viral, and Ellen brought him on her show. Since then, he has spoken all around the world, is a featured speaker at Get Your Teach On, and he's the most aggr...

Hello everyone! Today, it is my pleasure to bring back Josie Bensko, otherwise known as @MANIACSINTHEMIDDLE ,  for PART 2 of the episode, to discuss how she gets her kids moving, how she thinks about her lesson plans, and a little bit about the power of INSTAGRAM. I just can't say enough about this episode (which is proven, if you listen to my ending ramble about it). Josie is absolutely amazing,...

Hello everyone! Today, it is my pleasure to bring you Josie Bensko, otherwise known as @MANIACSINTHEMIDDLE ,  to discuss how she gets her kids moving to foster that much needed student engagement. If you're not on Instagram, or just haven't come across her yet, you're missing out. Josie is one of my favorite teachers to watch. Her energy and her style of teaching is inspiring, but it's her ability...

Hello everyone! It is my pleasure to bring Ryan Sheehy back for part 2 of the podcast. Ryan is an Educator/Author/Speaker Elementary Principal @HighlandsMDUSD, and author of Be The One For Kids. Part one can be heard here. In this episode, we talk about the importance of parent involvement, administrative leadership, the importance of relationships, and getting away from excuses. Ryan comes from a...

Hello everyone! It is my pleasure to bring Ryan Sheehy to the podcast. Ryan is an Educator/Author/Speaker Elementary Principal @HighlandsMDUSD, and author of Be The One For Kids. In this episode, we talk about administrative leadership, teacher leadership, getting away from excuses, and Ryan's amazing brand new book, Be The One For Kids. Ryan comes from a sports background, and you can tell as he...

Hello everyone! As much as I enjoy highlighting the big voices in the educational community, I love finding the new ones too. In this episode, I continue my conversation with Katie Tollitt of For Teachers, and dive into about as many subjects as we could. This is truly one of the best conversations of the podcast. You'll hear about new technology, ideas, insights into teaching at private schools a...

Hello everyone! As much as I enjoy highlighting the big voices in the educational community, I love finding the new ones too. Katie Tollitt of For Teachers, a new Youtube channel dedicated to helping teachers at all stages of their career, came on the show to discuss the negative stigma that has recently attached itself to teaching. This stigma is perpetuated by politicians, community members, and...

Hello everyone! Last week, Haley Curfman and I discussed how kindness is at the center of everything she does in her classroom. This week, we dive deeper into this idea, and hit on some connecting ideas which really focus on bringing humanity back into the classroom. Our students need more love, not more drills. They need more compassion, not more tests. They need more stability, not more data thr...

Hello everyone! Sometimes, I really like who I get on the show, and sometimes I'm a big fan of the guest... in the case of Haley Curfman, also known as The Weary Teacher, it's both. Haley is an educator who embodies what it means to teach kids...she's kind, smart, humorous, and has an eye for the WOW factor that gets kids engaged. Her ideas and insights are truly worth listening to, and her energy...

Hello everyone! It's time to talk about diversity in our curriculum, and I've brought on an educator from New York, Marguerite Thompson, to help us through this complex and hot topic issue. I found Marguerite after her post sharing her door decoration went viral. Just seeing it, a massive depiction of a black woman with big and grand hair, I knew Marguerite had something to say. Sure enough, I was...

Hello everyone! It's time to talk about diversity in our curriculum, and I've brought on an educator from New York, Marguerite Thompson, to help us through this complex and hot topic issue. I found Marguerite after her post sharing her door decoration went viral. Just seeing it, a massive depiction of a black woman with big and grand hair, I knew Marguerite had something to say. Sure enough, I was...

Hello everyone! I'm just going to be blunt... I. LOVE. THIS. EPISODE. Adam goes into detail about how a school should go about solving culture issues, why it's important to tackle culture first, and how, even though he struggles like the rest of us, the work still must happen. The lives of our students and of our teachers are too important to ignore glaring issues in the culture of our schools and...

Hello everyone! Today, I have the honor and privilege of bringing you Adam Dovico, a first time principal at Moore Magnet Elementary in North Carolina, and co-author of The Limitless School with Abe Hege. Adam Dovico is an accomplished teacher, author, speaker, and professor. He began his career in North Carolina as an elementary school teacher, then worked as a teacher and the school implementati...

Hello everyone! Today, it is my pleasure to bring you Sue Szachowicz, a retired principal of Brockton High School and now a Senior Fellow for the International Center for Leadership in Education, to close out our 3 part episode on how to change a failing school. She chronicled the turn-around of Brockton High in her book Transforming Brockton High: High Standards, High Expectations, No Excuses,and...