The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Our friend James Dittes returns to share his latest experiences with teaching internationally. When we first met James in 2020 he had started an exchange program with his class and a school in Germany. Since our last conversation, James has taken on a new adventure and now teaches English in an international school in Turkey. In this conversation he shares how he approaches teachi...

Send us Fan Mail Hayes Greenfield is a jazz musician, composer, and teaching artist. In this episode he shares the importance of not just music-but sound and how teaching students about sound can enhance social emotional learning and student attention.

Send us Fan Mail Donna Van Natten-the Body Language Dr.- shares her expertise on non-verbal communication and behavioral intentions. A former teacher herself, the conversation focuses on communication skills with students in the classroom.

Send us Fan Mail Lynne Roland, Brain Hopkins, and Raymond Appleberry are educators in the Grand Prairie Independent School District in Texas and Rising Phoenix Consulting. In this episode they share their stories of creating a culture where students develop resilience because of their work implementing restorative practices and cultivate positive relationships based on The Circle of Courage Model.

Send us Fan Mail Sloyd is a 19th century teaching methodology that fell out of favor in the early 20th century in America. Luke Johanson shares how The Sloyd Experience is bringing this highly useful teaching approach back to relevance for students in the 21st century.

Send us Fan Mail Listen to this conversation with science curriculum developer Janneke Petersen shares how she empowers students with Symbiotic Schoolyard. This curriculum helps teachers plant and grow native plants in their schoolyard. This place-based learning initiative is aligned to Next-Gen Science Standards and helps students understand how ecology is local and meaningful in students' e...

Send us Fan Mail Transgender and non-binary students often do not find inclusive experiences in schools and many teachers do not know where to turn in finding resources and supports. Scott Lee shares a conversation with Vanessa Ford and Rebecca Kling who discuss their book The Advocate Educator’s Handbook: Creating Schools Where Transgender and Non-Binary Students Thrive who discuss issues surroun...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever worried that your students are using an artificial intelligence (AI) program to cheat? To do homework? To do something else dishonest? Join me for this conversation with Jen Roberts as we talk about not only how to prevent academic dishonesty using AI, but actually how to use it in the classroom to actually enhance student writing!

Send us Fan Mail Outdoor learning expert Becca Katz shares the powerful, research based reasons why students perform better when outdoor learning is part of everyday education activity. She also shares about how her non-profit organization provides professional learning opportunities for teachers to make outdoor learning part of their regular teaching.

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host Scott Lee shares a story about a former student who was in foster care and eventually adopted by his foster parents and how it all happened without using a computer dating service.

Send us Fan Mail Librarian Caroline Mickey says "reading builds empathy" in this conversation about school library censorship. Caroline shares her experiences having a lesson cancelled as the result of an organized campaign falsely claiming that her lesson had inappropriate content about the role of motherhood.

Send us Fan Mail Sue Jones a Trauma Informed Practices Coach in New York shares how using the restorative intervention Life Space Crisis Intervention supports students who have experienced trauma and present with elevated ACE scores.

Send us Fan Mail Equity-focused school leadership is an ongoing, whole-team process for school improvement. In this continuing conversation Mark A Gooden and Scott Lee discuss the ongoing routines and habits of equity focused leadership teams as well as various challenges educators face regarding equity practice.

Send us Fan Mail For schools to truly provide an equitable learning environment, educators and school leaders must understand implicit bias and how implicit bias affects all our interactions with students (and other professional educators). In the first of two episodes Mark Anthony Gooden shares his work and insights into these important and timely issues in a conversation with host Scott Lee.

Send us Fan Mail Host Scott Lee offers this commentary on the implications of the lack of prioritizing civics education in the US.

Send us Fan Mail In this conversation, occupational therapist Michele Morgan shares how she and her colleagues implemented several mental health interventions within her school district's career and technical education (CTE) program. Using evidence-based approaches they developed a relationship-focused, student-centered curriculum model that promotes safety and wellness. This far-ranging conv...

Send us Fan Mail Many times students with serious mental health needs are sent to separate schools or residential placements. In this episode we discuss an alternative-The Therapeutic Inclusion Program with Michael A Murray and Laura Balogh. After developing and implementing The Therapeutic Inclusion Program in their public school they co-authored the recently published book The Therapeutic Inclus...

Send us Fan Mail In this conversation Sarah Giddings and Wendy Salcedo-Fierro share their experiences working with students in Teacher-Powered Schools. Teacher Powered Schools are organized intentionally to have a shared, collaborative leadership structure. Both Wendy and Sarah share how their schools are different, how it changes their professional practices and how the student experience is diff...

Send us Fan Mail The conversation continues as Steve Van Bockern and host Scott Lee discuss some examples of what happens, or should be happening in schools. Steve Van Bockern is author of Schools That Matter: Teaching the Mind and Reaching the Heart and is co-author with Larry Brendtro and Martin Brokenleg of Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Futures of Promise. Listen in this conversation that provides...

Send us Fan Mail Schools can create a culture where students are challenged academically while also supporting the well-being of all students. In this conversation host Scott Lee and Steve Van Bockern discuss how the needs of students can be met without sacrificing academics. Steve Van Bockern is author of Schools That Matter: Teaching the Mind and Reaching the Heart and is co-author with Larry Br...

Send us Fan Mail In this conversation Scott Lee and Brantley Turner discuss Brantley's experiences as an administrator in shared Sino-US school and how her work shapes her beliefs in the importance of challenging assumptions and helping students become global citizens.

Send us Fan Mail Host Scott Lee thanks listeners from around the world for supporting The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast and issues a call to action about the lack of quality mental health services for children and adolescents in the United States.

Send us Fan Mail Teachers are drowning in data and much of this data has little value to inform and improve instruction. Scott and Matthew Courtney discuss how to solve this problem- and do so simply and without wasting valuable time. Matthew Courtney is author of the book Exploratory Data Analysis in the Classroom and he shares how to effectively choose useful data (that teachers are probably alr...

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host Scott Lee explores the problem with the growing trend of retaining 3rd grade students for a full year using state testing scores. This commentary considers some of the problems with using state tests in this way, policy considerations and a few ideas for what could be done differently.

Send us Fan Mail Scott Lee has a wide ranging conversation with author and former teacher and literacy coach Jill Speering. Jill shares insights from her memoir Rubies in the Rubble: An Educator's Transformation from Pain to Prominence, from Abuse to Absolution. The discussion includes Jill's work as an elementary teacher, district-wide literacy training specialist and school board membe...