The Dash

"You have to have a real person that connecting with the kids whose making it real ... they have all these things going on inside of them and you need that adult who recognizes that and is working with them on that." - Steven Miletto Steven Miletto of the Teaching Learning Leading K12 podcast joins me to talk about personalized learning, changes he's noticed in education throughout his career, and...

"I figured out what gift I was born with and when you can touch on that you never work a day in your life." Allison Dankner is a Family Behaviorist and Literacy Specialist that is committed to empowering families to work together successfully. She helped open two schools, one public and one charter, and talks with me about the differences between the two and the factors that lead to student succes...

"Communicating does not mean as the adult you do all the talking and the child is supposed to listen. At some point, the adults need to stop and listen to the children." - Erica Wortherly Erica's teaching career started when she volunteered in her children's classrooms. She then taught full-time for 7 years while earning her Master's Degree in Social Work, and continues to work with schools and ed...

"How can I teach, not only other people's children but my own child, about the world and their impact in the world if I've never taken that leap of faith and stepped out into the world to see exactly how my own experiences, whether personal or educational, can impact someone else." - Tyree Simmons Tyree Simmons is originally from Brooklyn, NY and has taught in Maryland, Georgia, Abu Dhabi and Duba...

"There is no perfect school, there is no perfect school system, there is no perfect teacher or school leader, but it's because we're all human and in our humanity there are imperfections. But I believe in those imperfections that's what makes us great because it requires us to lean and depend on each other." - Dr. Maisha Rounds Dr. Maisha Rounds started in South Carolina and is now a turnaround sp...

"Your purpose and the things that fulfill you is tied to whatever you do with excellence and ease." - Brittany Sherell Brittany Sherell is a special education teacher, certified happiness coach, and the author of "The Fulfillment Factor". She specializes in helping women discover what's missing in their lives, and puts that practice into her own life while teaching. We talk about releasing expecta...

EP 142 College Is Possible with Antonio McFarland by Tre' Gammage

"Teaching is an art form and it does start... with people and relationships."- Ayodele Harrison Ayodele has worked in education for 20 years, with 16 of them being in the classroom. His company, CommunityBuild Ventures, LLC focuses on building equity in schools by engaging the community and team-building within those communities. We talk about how to build equity in schools, the importance of lear...

"Every single time that you can save a young man or a young woman and you can convince them that going this path is better than the path that you may have already been on." - Lloyd Knight This is Lloyd Knight's third episode as a guest on The Dash, and the conversations just get better every time. Lloyd just released his book "I'm Blessed!: My Life Story Told Through Mentorship" (available on Amaz...

"I'm asking for a balance: that we balance the supports that we offer our kids, we balance the way that we organize our schools so that we have a balanced person who is graduating from our schools and participating in society." - David Adams David Adams is the Director of Social Emotional learning for the Urban Assembly, as selection of 23 schools in New York City. He's also on the Board of Direct...

"Diversity just means that there is something different. Diversity could be embracing skin color; it could also be in diversity of thought - just having different perspectives and opinions... Equity is more about structure, who has power, whose voice is at the table, or not, and diversity is really just thinking about who's there." -Jalen Brown Jalen Brown is a classmate of mine from college who h...

"People confuse a student's current performance level with their potential. Those are not the same things." - Jonathan Plucker Dr. Jonathan Plucker is not afraid to share information. He talks to me about the importance of interpreting data, looking at good data and bad data, how we're using the information we gather in education to improve our schools. He talks about the importance of nurturing s...

"There's power in perseverance; there's power in patience; there's power in being still within the storm. Stick in there. You're stronger than you actually know." - Karen Vassell Karen Vassell is the Director of Early Childhood Programs for Sumter School District in Sumter, SC. Her early career included being a guidance counselor, where she discovered how strong she was. She was inspired to improv...

"I am a lifetime learner." -Dr. Saundra Carr Dr. Saundra Carr is the Program Coordinator for the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. I had the honor of being Dr. Carr's very first podcast, and this episode she talks with me about being a lifetime learner, helping others achieve higher education and the importance of communication. https://www.che.sc.gov/ scarr@che.sc.gov 01:25 - The Com...

"[I]t might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization" - Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark Dr. Tim Hall is the Director of Academics at Thales Academy and the founder of Religion Matters, a consulting company that provides services on how to teach about religion in sc...

Erick Pryor started his college career wanting to be a chemical engineer, but he started on a new path once he noticed some fellow students struggling with math. Now he helps his district understand the importance of SEL in schools and how it impacts the way his students learn. 02:25 - Developing a good school community 05:00 - Helping new teachers have a great start 08:20 - The correlation betwee...

Greg Acuna wanted to change the world, starting when he was just 8 years old. After moving to India and having a daughter of his own, he was inspired to create the game Acting Kindly @School, which teaches students to work together by performing random acts of kindness. His goal in creating this game is to change school violence and bullying into cooperation and friendship. You can order Acting Ki...

"There are teachers who are gifted to teach students who struggle. They may never have the highest scores in their building... You can't base the incentive based on how my students perform because if I've agreed to teach the students that nobody else will teach I'll never show you on paper that they're the highest students in the building, but I can show you that they're beating their own record,...

EP 130 Chapter 8: What's Growing In Your Garden by Tre' Gammage

EP 129 Flashback: Released Expectations with Josephine Lee by Tre' Gammage

EP 128 Chapter 7: Released Expectations by Tre' Gammage

EP 127 Flashback Praising Insecurities with Ashley Varner by Tre' Gammage

EP 126 Chapter 6: Praising Insecurities with Ashley Varner by Tre' Gammage

EP 125 Flashback: Every Decision Counts by Tre' Gammage

It’s all about you because you control the decisions you make every day. At the same time, it’s not about you because your decisions impact other people too.