Teach Me, Teacher – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello everyone! Engagement can come in many forms. It can be the lesson design. It can be the teacher's style. It can be the content itself...But what if there was a way to think about engagement that demystified it a bit? What if there was a way to analyze each lesson to make sure you were getting the most out of it?

Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate, publisher, and world renowned speaker, joins us this week to discuss his vision of engagement and why it applies to ALL teachers—not just the most over the top educators.

Whether you are needing ideas or just want to be encouraged to try something new, this episode is for you!

Enjoy.

(NOTE: Due to a special and TIMED announcement in part 2, if you are a Patreon supporter or are subscribed to the Youtube channel, the video is delayed until the announcement is closer. Stay tuned!)

Hello everyone! Teach Me, Teacher is back and I cannot believe we are at season 9 of the podcast... For those that have been along for this journey, can you believe it? Truly, this has been a ride of a lifetime. 

But, we aren't done yet. 

In this intro, we debut the new theme of the season, and detail what's to come, including guests, ideas, and goals for the coming months (such as posting every podcast video on the Teach Me, Teacher Youtube channel.)

I want this season to be bigger, smarter, and more helpful to education as a whole. The only way I can do this is with your support and time. For those that continue to support the show, thank you! Reviews, shares, and support on Patreon really do mean the difference. 

Enjoy! 

Hello everyone! Join us in this episode of Teach Me, Teacher as we delve into the core principles of professional learning communities (PLCs) with insights from the book "Simplifying the Journey: Six Steps to Schoolwide Collaboration, Consistency, and Clarity in a PLC at Work" by authors Bob Sonju, Maren Powers, and Sheline Miller.

Together, we explore the essential roles within PLCs, the transformative power of data-driven decision-making, and the indispensable nature of collaboration in fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Whether you're a seasoned educator or just beginning your journey, this episode offers invaluable guidance for building a collaborative community dedicated to student success. Tune in to discover practical strategies for streamlining your school's journey towards collaboration, consistency, and clarity.

The pressure on school leaders to effectively navigate change, implement new programs, and keep teachers motivated can be intense. Solution Tree has the tools you need to rise to any challenge.

Our curated library of resources features new titles like The Emerging Teacher Leader, a guide to equip new leaders, Groups at Work to foster productive teamwork, and Implement with IMPACT to ensure initiatives hit the mark. Titles like Grading Reform That Lasts and Competency-Based Education Ignited offer methods to address critical school issues while Navigating the Unexpected provides essential strategies for facing unforeseen challenges.

Be sure to stream Passion and Persistence, a motivational video designed to inspire a collaborative team environment in your school or district.

Elevate your leadership skills and discover how these powerful resources can help you lead with confidence at SolutionTree.com/LeadershipResources

Hello everyone! Today I am joined by my friend David Bakker, PocketLab co-founder & Stanford teacher. In this episode we discuss the importance of scientific literacy, how to bring passion into the science classroom, and an amazing FREE conference any teacher involved with science should attend.

I loved this talk! Check out the FREE conference here.  Here's what it's about:

ScIC "Science is Cool" invites STEM educators from around the world to a globally attended event dedicated to Open Educational Resources (OER). We will explore this and other free to low-cost tools and resources that empower you to shape lesson plans according to your teaching style and classroom needs.

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices by Lorena Escoto Germán.

With Culturally Sustaining Practice as its foundation, Textured Teaching helps secondary teachers stop wondering and guessing how to implement teaching and learning that leads to social justice.  Lorena Germán shares her framework for creating a classroom environment that is highly rigorous and engaging, and that reflects the core traits of Textured Teaching: student-driven and community-centered, interdisciplinary, experiential, and flexible.  The actionable strategies Lorena uses to bring Textured Teaching values to life illuminate what is possible when we welcome all types of texts, all types of voices, and all forms of expression into the classroom.

Learn more about how to become a culturally sustaining educator. Visit Heinemann.com to download a sample from Textured Teaching.

Hello everyone! As Teach Me, Teacher readies to enter it's seventh season, I wanted to take some time to let the summer breathe a bit with an "off season" mini-series of the show. Today you are listening to a Q&A episode from my second show, Craft & Draft, and next week we are going back in time to highlight some other episodes of the show you may have never heard or have forgotten about.

Below is the episode description!

Jacob and Pam love answering questions from their patrons!  In this episode, they answer two separate questions:

1. How do you implement technology into the writing and reading workshop?
2. How do you use the Craft and Draft Books with GT fifth graders in a writing, reading, science, and social studies workshop?

Jacob and Pam share how they use technology while maintaining their Craft and Draft Books in their workshops.

They each follow-up with several ideas regarding how to use the Craft and Draft Books with gifted and talented students.  Jacob shares how he would use the Books to help the students to explore a plethora of genres and disciplines.  Pam shares ideas that she has used in the past that would bring in a multi-disciplinary thinking approach.

Join Jacob and Pam as they explore ideas while they do one of their favorite things–answering audience questions!

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices by Lorena Escoto Germán.

With Culturally Sustaining Practice as its foundation, Textured Teaching helps secondary teachers stop wondering and guessing how to implement teaching and learning that leads to social justice.  Lorena Germán shares her framework for creating a classroom environment that is highly rigorous and engaging, and that reflects the core traits of Textured Teaching: student-driven and community-centered, interdisciplinary, experiential, and flexible.  The actionable strategies Lorena uses to bring Textured Teaching values to life illuminate what is possible when we welcome all types of texts, all types of voices, and all forms of expression into the classroom.

Learn more about how to become a culturally sustaining educator. Visit Heinemann.com to download a sample from Textured Teaching.

Hello everyone and welcome to part 2 of our season finale episode!If you missed part 1, check it out here.

If you have been a fan of this show for any amount of time, you know that I am a mega fan of Donalyn Miller. Not just because she is an amazing person and educator, but because her work changed how I taught.

In this episode we discuss:

1. The legacy of Teri Lesesne
2. The importance of having diverse books in schools
3. Fighting against programs and initiatives that are bad for readers
4. Reclaiming book joy for students and ourselves

You DO NOT want to mis the season finale to season 6 of Teach Me, Teacher.

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their new book, The First Five: A Love Letter to TeachersBy Patrick Harris II.

We all have stories. We all have experiences to share. A memoir with a call-to-action, The First Five affirms the humanity of all teachers. Patrick inspires you to dream big about what you want for yourself, our students, our schools, and our educational system.

In The First Five, Patrick brings to light the realities of teaching, especially in the first five years. He immerses you in his world with personal stories that lead to lessons, questions, and exercises to help you reflect on your own journey. Each chapter includes interviews with a diverse group of educators.

Creating change in our education system is a process. It will happen from the ground up and the inside out. If we want to make a long-lasting impact we need to know more than just what to do; we need to start sharing our stories, not just our strategies. The work we do together throughout this book and beyond will leave you feeling hopeful, empowered, and challenged. No matter where you start, know that this work is ongoing. Give yourself grace. We are in this together, for the long haul. Here’s to the next five years.

Hello everyone and welcome to part 1 of our season finale episode! If you have been a fan of this show for any amount of time, you know that I am a mega fan of Donalyn Miller. Not just because she is an amazing person and educator, but because her work changed how I taught. FULL STOP.

So, it was an absolute pleasure to invite her back to the show to talk about all of her latest work and the soft censorship happening in schools right now that is getting in the way of book joy.

If you have never heard Donalyn Miller speak before, you are in for a treat. If you have, then you are still in for a treat because this episode is all about book love, choice, voice, and the problem with censorship today in schools.

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their new book, The First Five: A Love Letter to TeachersBy Patrick Harris II.

We all have stories. We all have experiences to share. A memoir with a call-to-action, The First Five affirms the humanity of all teachers. Patrick inspires you to dream big about what you want for yourself, our students, our schools, and our educational system.

In The First Five, Patrick brings to light the realities of teaching, especially in the first five years. He immerses you in his world with personal stories that lead to lessons, questions, and exercises to help you reflect on your own journey. Each chapter includes interviews with a diverse group of educators.

Creating change in our education system is a process. It will happen from the ground up and the inside out. If we want to make a long-lasting impact we need to know more than just what to do; we need to start sharing our stories, not just our strategies. The work we do together throughout this book and beyond will leave you feeling hopeful, empowered, and challenged. No matter where you start, know that this work is ongoing. Give yourself grace. We are in this together, for the long haul. Here’s to the next five years.

Hello everyone! As the school year closes out and we begin to look to the future, many of us are taking the time to look back and offer advice for new teachers from our experiences. Ciara Bennion, otherwise known as @ciarak.beauty on Instagram has been doing just that! 

I have been a fan of Ciara’s for awhile now, but what made me reach out to get her on the show was her video on what she would say to her first year self if she could. There were so many great pieces of advice in that video that I wanted to address them in a longer form on the podcast. 

In this part, we continue our talk from last week and talk about some much needed nuanced advice for first year teachers.

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their new book, The First Five: A Love Letter to TeachersBy Patrick Harris II.

We all have stories. We all have experiences to share. A memoir with a call-to-action, The First Five affirms the humanity of all teachers. Patrick inspires you to dream big about what you want for yourself, our students, our schools, and our educational system.

In The First Five, Patrick brings to light the realities of teaching, especially in the first five years. He immerses you in his world with personal stories that lead to lessons,  questions, and exercises to help you reflect on your own journey. Each chapter includes interviews with a diverse group of educators.

Creating change in our education system is a process. It will happen from the ground up and the inside out. If we want to make a long-lasting impact we need to know more than just what to do; we need to start sharing our stories, not just our strategies. The work we do together throughout this book and beyond will leave you feeling hopeful, empowered, and challenged. No matter where you start, know that this work is ongoing. Give yourself grace. We are in this together, for the long haul. Here’s to the next five years.

Hello everyone! As the school year closes out and we begin to look to the future, many of us are taking the time to look back and offer advice for new teachers from our experiences. Ciara Bennion, otherwise known as @ciarak.beauty on Instagram has been doing just that! 

I have been a fan of Ciara's for awhile now, but what made me reach out to get her on the show was her video on what she would say to her first year self if she could. There were so many great pieces of advice in that video that I wanted to address them in a longer form on the podcast. 

In this episode we cover: 

1. The best grades to teach (according to us)
2. Pitfalls with being young
3. Dealing with toxic adults in the workplace
4. Making a change of school if you need something better 

...and so much more! 

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their new book, The First Five: A Love Letter to TeachersBy Patrick Harris II.

We all have stories. We all have experiences to share. A memoir with a call-to-action, The First Five affirms the humanity of all teachers. Patrick inspires you to dream big about what you want for yourself, our students, our schools, and our educational system.

In The First Five, Patrick brings to light the realities of teaching, especially in the first five years. He immerses you in his world with personal stories that lead to lessons,  questions, and exercises to help you reflect on your own journey. Each chapter includes interviews with a diverse group of educators.

Creating change in our education system is a process. It will happen from the ground up and the inside out. If we want to make a long-lasting impact we need to know more than just what to do; we need to start sharing our stories, not just our strategies. The work we do together throughout this book and beyond will leave you feeling hopeful, empowered, and challenged. No matter where you start, know that this work is ongoing. Give yourself grace. We are in this together, for the long haul. Here’s to the next five years.

Hello everyone! Between the constant attacks on education, toxic echo chambers on the internet, and the quiet majority, many people believe that schools are doing very little good. Of course, we know this isn’t true. We see the greatness happening everyday in the halls, our classrooms, and around school grounds.

Yet we have struggled to share the good news about education in many places. We have let the loud and negative minority win the discussion about what schools are and what they are accomplishing.

This, in turn, has made many move away from their purpose. Their why for being in the classroom. In this episode, we are hoping to shift the focus back to what truly matters... THE KIDS. 

Hal Bowman, speaker, podcaster, and author of the latest book Dear Teacher, is back for part two to talk about the power of educators and why we should move forward with a reinvigorated focus on our purpose for being teachers.

This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their new book, The Joy of Reading by Donalyn Miller and Teri Lesesne.

What reading experiences have entertained you, provoked you, taught you, inspired you, helped you to see your own life more clearly, or connected you with others?  As teachers, librarians, school administrators, and caregivers who love reading, we know what it feels like to fall into a book and let the world fall away. We have joyous reading memories, and we know how reading can sustain and inspire us.

Now consider: When talking with children about their reading lives at school, are you likely to hear about this transformative reading joy? Or are you more likely to hear about reading logs, book reports, and standardized tests? For too many young readers, reading is joyless. It is something that is required of them, but not something that they choose to do.

Here’s the truth: It is possible to teach children how to read well without killing their love for reading in the process.

The Joy of Reading is a guide for teachers, librarians, administrators, and families to create the conditions for joyful reading. Donalyn Miller and Teri Lesesne draw from their decades of work with students, teachers, and librarians, providing practices that nurture joy while identifying factors that destroy joy, all with a clear understanding of the realities of today’s classrooms and libraries.

There’s more to life than school and work. There’s more to reading than school-based value systems for it. We can aim higher than short-sighted measurements and, instead, become reading encouragers, supporters, and role models for lifelong, joyful reading.