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Host Ana Torres knows firsthand how hard it is to be a teacher. That's why on Beyond My Years, she seeks out the people who have thrived over decades in the classroom: seasoned educators. You'll hear stories that make you cry, make you laugh... and may change the way you think.
22 Episodes
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Host Ana Torres is joined by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Ed.D., a linguist and speech pathologist known for her work with multilingual learners. In this episode, Elsa focuses on small changes that educators can make to create classrooms that are more inclusive and supportive of multilingual learners. She shares strategies for morphology instruction, learning useful information about students’ home languages, shifting away from a deficit mindset when it comes to multilingual learners, and more. She’l...
On this episode of Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres is joined by Dan Meyer, Ph.D., Vice President of User Growth at Amplify and former Chief Academic Officer at Desmos. Dan’s journey in education began much like that of many other teachers—with a love of his content area. But entering the classroom proved difficult as he struggled to engage students who didn’t share his interest in math. In this episode, Dan gives listeners insight into his secret for engaging students in anything. He provide...
Host Ana Torres welcomes former NJDOE Chief Academic Officer Tracey Severns, Ed.D., to discuss not just how to bring more joy to the classroom but how joy and laughter can draw in even the most vulnerable students. Tracey outlines the current research on what humor can do in the classroom and shares her own observational research in a case study school on the power of increasing smiles. She shares tips and tricks for both classroom teachers and administrators for how to encourage a culture of...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Kareem Weaver, an educational powerhouse who has spent over 30 years working toward the end of illiteracy. Kareem levels with Ana about the hard truths of education reform. Together, they get vulnerable about the personal costs they’ve paid in being committed to their work and the belief they share that no teacher should have to make those sacrifices. Kareem also discusses his time working in juvenile detention facilities, how a f...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres absorbs wisdom from A. Simone McQuaige, winner of Amplify's Science of Reading Changemaker Star Award in 2024. Simone teaches Ana about what it takes to support wider change across an entire district, and about the common traits she sees in all seasoned educators. She also shares stories about how her mother tried to convince her not to become a teacher, about learning to be calm and reflect, and about how she thinks about her legacy as an educator. T...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres gets wisdom from Serena Klosa, an educator with 37 years of experience as a teacher, principal, and now deputy chief of schools. Serena discusses what it takes to be a good mentor and to be mentored by others—stressing the humility it requires and the strength it creates. She also shares stories of the “Queens of the Third Floor” and their no-nonsense approach to mentoring, and opens up about the lessons she won’t let herself forget. Taking all those ...
On this episode of Beyond My Years, Ana Torres picks up every nugget of wisdom she can learn from LaTonya M. Goffney, Ed.D., superintendent of schools for the Aldine Independent School District in Texas. LaTonya shares her journey through many different roles in education before she ended up in an educational leadership role. She stresses the importance of building a teaching community, including finding teacher mentorship, having people advocating for you, and valuing the work you do. LaTony...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres walks alongside Luz Selenia Muñoz as she retraces the path that led her from planning to become a psychologist in Puerto Rico to living in Chicago as a veteran bilingual teacher with 20 years under her belt. Luz shares how finding her happy place in second grade took time, describing how she quickly learned that teaching upper elementary was not for her. She also dives into how immigrating from Puerto Rico to the United States taught her how to persev...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres delves into the wisdom offered by Rebecka Peterson, an educator whose journey began much like Ana’s: as a young immigrant to the United States. Rebecka shares all that she has come to love and appreciate about the K–12 environment after a tough transition from teaching college-level courses. She also reveals her most important lesson learned: Teach humans over content. Rebecka talks about her “One Good Thing” blog, where she documented daily positives...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns from the best, sitting down with 2024’s National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman. Missy talks about always being open to new ideas and perspectives, offers tips on building relationships with families, and discusses the importance of slowing down. She also shares the story of being the “bossy” kid in the classroom, because she wanted to help her classmates learn.Today, she feels that being a dedicated teacher means advocating for her stude...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres takes you to the northernmost region of Alaska to sit down with Patti and Rod Lloyd. Patti and Rod are longtime educators in a rural school district where caribou outnumber people, the village is only accessible by plane, and the indigenous culture of the Iñupiat people goes back 10,000 years. They teach Ana about how they make the content matter by connecting it to student life outside of the classroom, the honor of teaching where children are the mo...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns all she can learn from the life stories and lessons of Khamphet Pease. While other teenagers might have been sneaking around to go to late night scary movies, Khamphet was applying for scholarships and submitting college applications. As a refugee from Laos, Khamphet shares the difficulty she experienced navigating a home culture that did not encourage education or career ambitions for women. Despite that, she laughs over her stubbornness that ...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns from Fawn Nguyen, a math educator with over 30 years of classroom experience! Fawn tells Ana the story of her near-death experience being lost at sea while escaping Vietnam, and explains how it shaped the sense of gratitude she leads with in the classroom. She also discusses what it means to be yourself in the classroom, the importance of sharing your mistakes with your students, and the merits of advocacy vs. authority with students. Taking al...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres becomes a student of Eric Jones, an educator who came out of retirement at 80 years of age to help with a national teacher shortage—thus becoming the oldest paid teacher in Britain. Eric talks with Ana about building a collaborative classroom and what it means to teach children, not content. He also shares how the trajectory of his life changed when one man recognized and encouraged his desire to be a teacher. He’ll also discuss how going to school in...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show “Abbott Elementary. Joyce tells Ana all about her experiences working in a Title 1 school and what it means to know the community of Philadelphia. They also discuss how Joyce's time serving in the military informed her work as an educator, how she transformed a challenging classroom during her first year teachin...
Ana Torres and Eric Cross give you the first look at Season 2 of Beyond My Years, launching September 17, 2025. This trailer highlights what’s coming this season including shorter episodes and takeaways from our Classroom Insider. Season 2 focuses on common classroom challenges, looking to the experts and to the research to get you answers. We'll discuss topics from how to find your teaching style and actually engage students in math, to helping students develop critical thinking, and more! S...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres is joined by Science of Reading: The Podcast host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., who’s here to make the case for all educators investing in student literacy development, regardless of the content domain they teach. Throughout the conversation, they discuss how all teachers are literacy teachers and share four simple tips for developing academic language in any classroom. Finally, Ana and Classroom Insider Eric Cross discuss what they learned and Eric shares hi...
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross reconnect with three past guests—Fawn Nguyen, Rebecka Peterson, and Simone McQuaige—to explore key challenges from their early teaching days: classroom management, decentering oneself, and time management. Ana and Eric share their own experiences with these common hurdles, then offer a quick look at what’s ahead in Season 2. Show notes: Episodes mentioned:Simone McQuaigeRebecka PetersonFawn NguyenSubscribe to Beyond My...
To close out the year, we’re revisiting some of our favorite moments from the first nine episodes of the Beyond My Years podcast – and looking ahead at some of what’s to come in 2025! Listen to Beyond My Years: Subscribe to Beyond My Years on AppleSubscribe to Beyond My Years on SpotifyListen to Beyond My Years via web browser
En este episodio especial de Beyond My Years, Ana tiene el placer de hablar con Luz Selenia Muñoz en español, su idioma de origen. Luz ha sido maestra por 20 años, en dos países diferentes y en dos idiomas distintos. Con toda esa experiencia, Luz comparte las lecciones que le han parecido trascendentes para todos los estudiantes y todas las escuelas, como la importancia de crear conexiones significativas con los estudiantes, ser paciente con sus estudiantes y consigo misma, así como encontrar...
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