The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Former elementary school teacher Erica Richardson tells her story of how she founded the grass-roots literacy organization Culture Books. We discuss her concerns about elementary literacy teaching and assessment that is not serving the learning interests of elementary aged students. She also describes the programs that her organization conducts to promote develop culturally sustai...

Send us Fan Mail Adam Jordan and Rebekah Cordova are among the founding members of the All Y'all Social Justice Collective. In this episode they discuss how All Y'all supports the work of teachers through providing meaningful, action-oriented professional development experiences.

Send us Fan Mail We continue our series on teacher developed literacy initiatives with Shereen Cook a teacher who has been part of the Project LIT team for several years. She discusses how she implements Project LIT in her classroom.

Send us Fan Mail Podcast guest Jarred Amato discusses the literacy initiative, Project LIT, that he started with a group of students. What started as a classroom project about "book deserts" has now become a literacy community of over 40 chapters all across the country. Jarred discusses how project based learning, social emotional learning and culturally sustaining pedagogies intersect w...

Send us Fan Mail  Guest James Dittes, a German and English teacher in Gallatin, TN, discusses his work with a global student exchange program that he coordinates. We also discuss the importance of having a global perspective and how this can enhance learning for students. 

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host Scott Lee draws on his experiences in alternative schools discussing ideas on how to approach teaching students in a changing, unpredictable environment.

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a commentary by host R. Scott Lee discussing problems with structural racism in schools. The episode focuses on important omissions in social studies, civics and the humanities and a lack of professional development regarding implicit bias.

Send us Fan Mail Continuing commentary on racism in schools and what educators can start doing.

Send us Fan Mail Commentary on how racial inequality and injustice is a problem that all teachers must deal with, an article from The Bitter Southerner is suggested for reading.

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host R. Scott Lee continues commentaries about how schooling will be different during the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode he discusses how teachers should be planning for classroom procedures in the 2020-2021 school year.

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host Scott Lee commentary on what the upcoming school year may look like and some thoughts on what educators may need to prepare for as we can expect another school with COVID-19 disruptions. 

Send us Fan Mail Our guest for this episode is Joshua Sneideman who is the co-author of the book, Everyday Superheroes: Women in STEM Careers. Joshua is a former middle school science teacher and former Einstein Fellow working in the US Department of Energy. We talk not only about his book, but also the essential nature of literacy development and social emotional learning in STEM instruction.

Send us Fan Mail Teachers sometimes find themselves in tit-for-tat power struggles with students. Our guest, Richard Tate, has worked with teachers and mental health professionals on ways to develop positive relationships with children and adolescents. We'll talk about how power struggles start as well as why and how to avoid them. We will also learn about the programs of Nurture the Next.

Send us Fan Mail Guest Jennifer Knowles of the Center for Mindful Living discusses how to use mindfulness techniques in the classroom. Jennifer coaches teachers in the use of mindfulness in schools. Not only can mindfulness practice improve the social emotional climate in a classroom, Jennifer also discusses how mindfulness can improve academic performance. We will also talk about techniques and a...

Send us Fan Mail Thoughtful Teacher Podcast host Scott Lee shares the ideas of the podcast and briefly tells about upcoming episodes.