Have a Life Teaching
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© John Schembari
Description
In this podcast, we will engage in conversation with educators providing insight on best-in-class K-12 curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices.
56 Episodes
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In this episode, I am joined by Erik Francis, author of the new book Inquiring Minds Want to Learn. In our conversation, we discuss not only how to use questioning as a form of assessment but, perhaps more importantly, as a tool for maximizing student interest and engagement in learning.
We also discuss what is wrong in how we are using Depth of Knowledge Questioning tools as well as a more research based and sound approach to using the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix than how most of us currently use this resource.
Hint - A question's level of rigor should match what denotes grade level proficiency on a particular standard.
Music - Aylex
Erik Francis LinkedIn Page
Inquiring Minds Want to Learn Book
Maverik Education
Assessment of student learning is critical if we are to get a true sense of what students know and can do before, during, and after teaching.
Join me and my next guest, Nicole Dimich, as we discuss her book - Design in Five. We discuss five steps for creating more effective assessments that are both more engaging to students and involve student self reflection.
We also discuss "better" homework practices than we often see as well as the effect of standardized and high stakes assessment on the teaching and learning process.
Music - Aylex
Nicole Dimich LinkedIn Page
Design in Five Book
Nicole Dimich - Solution Tree
Join me and my guest Gretchen Bridgers and I as we discuss her latest book - Always a Lesson. In it, and in our conversation, Gretchen discusses the four building blocks of teaching that must be considered, in order, for teaching to be successful. These blocks, or'bricks", include lesson design, class management/systems, student engagement, and, ultimately, student ownership.
This episode is not just for new educators, mind you. As Gretchen says in our conversation, it is important for every teacher to reset each year as the needs of our students fluctuate from year to year. Consider listening to this episode with Gretchen to help you refocus your teaching energies on what matters.
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Gretchen Bridgers LinkedIn Page
Always a Lesson Book
Always a Lesson Website and Podcast
There are times when school systems need to rely on external support to improve instruction and student outcomes.
While external consultants often bring a wealth of knowledge and experience in what works in schools, it can be difficult to gain the trust of educators in that many educators are suspicious when it comes to coaches/consultants having a school's best interests at heart.
In this episode, my guest Gene Tavernetti - Founder/CEO of TESS Consulting Group - and I discuss how coaches/consultants can improve instruction through quick turnaround coaching cycles while also treating educators with professional respect.
We also discuss strategies for coaching administrators and instructional coaches and how this is similar and disimilar to coaching teachers one-on-one.
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Gene Tavernetti LinkedIn Page
Maximizing the Impact of Coaching Cycles Book
TESS Consulting Group
Increasingly, financial literacy standards are being adopted across school districts and states. Join me and my guest Tevan Asaturi, Founder and CEO of Money Mastery University, as we discuss the need to teach financial literacy across K-16 - particularly in middle school, high school, and beyond - both as a necessary life skill and as a way to engage students through relevant real-world learning. Tevan also shares his tips on becoming a self-funded entrepreneur as well as strategies for attracting angel investors to one's product and/or service.
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Tevan Asaturi LinkedIn Page
Asaturi Financial Consulting
Money Mastery University
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for listening to season one of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast.
In July 24, I'll be continuing to edit great content that I hope you will enjoy in August and beyond. The podcast will be back in August/September on a limited schedule - as I will be working overseas in September - and returning full force with season two content being published weekly in October onwards.
Best,
John Schembari
In this episoode of the Have a Life Teaching podcast, Adam Andre - museum participation facilitator at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool - and I discuss how and why we should not shy away from teaching students about historical slavery nor its ongoing impact on our world today.
We discuss:
- Liverpool's connection to the transatlantic slave trade and the impact of slavery on the city's growth
- How to center the voices of those victimized by slavery
- Focusing on resistance, for example preserving the culture of those enslaved, and the legacy of slavery within the study of slavery rather than oversaturating students with stories of slavery's barbarism particularly in the upper elementary grades
- Using primary source documentation and/or artifacts in the study of slavery particularly at the MS/HS level
- How the view of historical events can change over time and involving students in this conversation
- Drawing parallels between historical slavery and the way the world is structured today
- How we memorialize those involved in the slave trade
August 23rd is Slavery Remembrance Day! Check out what the museum has planned for August should you find yourself in Liverpool.
International Slavery Museum
Liverpool Museums
And other resources:
Enid Blyton Biography
Rann Miller ASCD Article
The Slave Ship: A Human History
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In this episode, Anjana and Anya, two high school students from New Jersey, discuss their program 'Connected'
aimed at promoting awareness of the mental health struggles that often accompany the academic pressures that high achieving secondary students sometimes
feel.
Anjana and Anya share their experiences and insights on creating this high school public awareness campaign and discuss how their work has inspired peer scholars
to prioritize their mental health wellbeing.
Anjana and Anya emphasize the importance of students developing time management skills and not overextending
themselves academically and/or in other activities. They also highlight the potential for increasing the number of students supporting their campaign and connecting
their organization/campaign with other schools and organizations to further their mission to reduce academic stress.
Liz Warner, Co-Founder of the School Culture and Climate Initiative (SCCI), also discusses the work that SCCI does within schools to increase opportunities, such as those experienced by Anjana and Anya, to develop student leadership capabilities which, in turn, can have an overall positive impact on school culture and climate.
Liz Warner LinkedIn
School Culture and Climate Initiative
HOSA - Future Health Professionals
Music - Aylex
In this episode, we speak with Maria Nielsen - former school principal, current education consultant, and author of the new Solution Tree book - 15 Day Challenge: Simplify and Energize Your PLC at Work.
We discuss how to write 15 day curriculum units, efficaciously and efficiently, through a seven step PLC process that is strategically aligned to academic goals, anticipates student needs, assesses impact on student growth and achievement and is collaborative in nature.
Learn how such a process not only increased teacher ownership and creativity in design of the learning plan at Maria's school but helped clarify and differentiate for educators at her school the content that students had to learn (boulders) from learning that was superfluous (butterflies).
If you like this episode, also check out our recent conversations with Chad Dumas on using data within PLC work as well as our chat with Marine Freiburn and Sandy Brunet on developing learning objectives.
Maria Nielsen Solution Tree Bio
Maria Nielsen LinkedIn
The 15 Day Challenge Book
Learning by Design
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In an earlier episode, we spoke with Alice Vigors about her work in creating cross-content thinking classrooms. In this episiode, we speak with Professor Peter Liljedahl, of Simon Fraser University, about how to create thinking classrooms in Mathematics - primarily K-6 - where students are doing the heavy cognitive lift as opposed to teachers.
Join me and my guest co-host Norman Eng, student teaching supervisor at Brooklyn College/CUNY, as we chat with Peter Liljedahl about:
- The 14 practices associated with a thinking Math classroom (macro/micro moves);
- Exemplars of what a thinking Math classroom looks like;
- How a thinking classroom differs from traditional models of teaching (i.e. the I Do, We Do, You Do Model);
- How teacher practice shifts from answering questions to asking them and having students make meaning of learning before direct instruction;
- How to prepare student teachers in this alternative methodology
Peter Liljedahl - Building Thinking Classrooms Website
Building Thinking Classrooms Book
Norman Eng - 10X Your Teaching Website
Teaching College Book
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Earlier this week, we chatted with Ryan Steuer and Andrew Larson about the mechanics of embedding PBL within our teaching practice.
This week, we speak with Carolyn Brown, Acting VP of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose, and Rose Reiken, middle school teacher at High Tech High in San Diego, about their PBL unit collaboration.
Learn more in this episode about how Carolyn and Rose partnered on a project that benefited both the museum, in improving the youth engagement factor of their public tours, and Rose's students in their understanding of Japanese American internment during WW2 and human rights issues. Also learn about the intergenerational bonds formed between the docents at the museum and Rose's 7th grade students.
Carolyn Brown LinkedIn Page
Rose Reiken LinkedIn Page
High Tech High - Middle MESA
Japanese American Museum of San Jose
Music - Aylex
In this episode, join me and my guests Ryan Steuer and Andrew Larson - authors of PBL Simplified and Life's a Project - as we discuss the ins/outs of teaching through a project based learning model.
In this episode, we discuss the what and why of PBL - student engagement in learning - as well as practical ways to implement PBL in the classroom. We chat about how to align PBL learning to standards, the typical length of a PBL unit, sample units, the role of community parthers and student public presentation of their work, as well as ways to assess both individual students and small groups through PBL. Both guests also talk about the impact of PBL in renewing their passion for teaching.
Andrew Larson LinkedIn Page
Life's a Project Book
Ryan Steuer LinkedIn Page
PBL Simplified Book
Magnify Learning
Music by Aylex
New teachers coming into the profession often struggle in
knowing what to do/learn first. Indeed, as my next guests say, for most new teachers, the goal is simply surviving day to day and to make it into their second yearof teaching.
Join me and my guests, Tom Hierck and Alex Kajitani – book authors and Solution Tree education consultants – as we discuss their new book – You’rea Teacher Now! What’s Next? We discussthe importance of forming relationships with both students and colleagues, as the key to survival, and knowing our students’ DNA – Dreams, Needs, and
Abilities. We also discuss how administrators should know the DNA of theirstaff.
Developing positive relationships with students
lets students know that teachers care about them as individuals and helps teachers to design lessons that speak to student interests and aptitudes.
Tom Hierck LinkedIn
Alex Kajitani LinkedIn
You're a Teacher Now Book
Tom Hierck Website
Alex Kajitani Website
Music - Aylex
In this episode, we have the opportunity to chat with Chad Dumas - former school principal, CEO of Next Learning Solutions, and Solution Tree PLC@Work consultant - about how schools should be using data strategically in both PLCs and school leadership teams to improve student growth and achievement.
Dumas discuss the four lenses through which we should collect/review data, systemically, as we set school improvement goals and develop our 3-5 year school strategic plans - achievement, perception, demographic, and program data. How does program and perception data affect achievement, and vice versa, etc.?
We also discuss examples of each type of data, processes that school leadership teams might use while reviewing data, and the priority that we should be placing on collecting formative assessment data (exit tickets) in our classrooms - teacher data - and then reviewing this data across classrooms at the school level/supporting teacher teams doing this work.
Chad Dumas LinkedIn Page
Next Learning Solutions Webpage
Let's Put the C in PLC Book
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In an earlier episode with Darlene Prott, we discussed how to help students to engage in the act of reading itself.
In this episode, we speak with Lorraine Radice - K-12 director of literacy in a public school district in New York and author of the book Leading a Culture of Reading -about how to create a welcoming school community culture centered around reading.
This culture can take many forms, some of which we unpack here - adult book study, parent academies centered around how to help parents read with one's child, class/teacher book swaps, activities where students are the stakeholders driving literacy discussions, and many more!
Radice also describes her work as a "reading role model" in previewing and presenting new childrens and young adult fiction/non-fiction texts to her colleagues - who then serve as adult reading role models to their students - as well as the genres of text that different learner age groups tend to enjoy.
Dr. Lorraine M. Radice Web Page
Leading a Culture of Reading Book
Lorraine M. Radice X Account
Music by Aylex
These are challenging times in the world and, as we see on university/K12 school campuses, global events are having a direct impact on the teaching and learning environment.
How do we teach students about both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia?
How do we engage with those who do not share our perspectives on the Israel-Hamas conflict?
I hope you will listen to this podcast conversation with Dr. Debbie Almontaser - cultural diversity specialist and founder/CEO of the Bridging Cultures Group - as we discuss how to have a thoughtful conversation with our students about this sensitive topic.
We also discuss ways through which we can help our students work through rascist tropes that are promogated on social media and elsewhere about both Arab and Jewish Americans.
Dr. Debbie Almontaser LinkedIn Page
Bridging Cultures Group
New York Times Article - Critics Cost Muslim Educator Her Dream School
Music - Aylex
As Darlene Prott - Founder and CEO of NJ Teacher 2 Teacher says, we may think students should be able to read once they pass third grade but we may want to think again especially if we are supporting multi-lingual learners.
Students may be able to decode words by 3rd grade but do they truly understand and can they make meaning of and draw connections from what they are reading?
In this episode, Prott and I discuss how teachers - particularly cross content teachers grades 4 and up - can help students deconstruct what they are reading while also improving student vocabulary development in ways that are visible to the teacher. In particular, we discuss the importance of using annotation codes with students as they read as well as whole group read alouds across K12.
Darlene Prott LinkedIn Page
NJ Teacher to Teacher Webpage
The Gift
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Today, principals are coming to the job younger and with less experience. While they come with curiosity and enthusiasm for the job, many still struggle in the role because they do not have a grounding in the basic pillars of leadership in school settings.
In this episide, my guest David Franklin - CEO and founder of The Principal's Desk - and I discuss the five pillars of leadership as discussed in his new book - Advice from The Principal's Desk.
We highlight the importance of improving student attendance, being creative in reaching out to families, and learning to listen before acting as school leader.
David Franklin LinkedIn Page
The Principal's Desk Blog
Advice from the Principal's Desk Book
Music by Aylex
In this episode, Jose Bowen - DEI education consultant and former President of Goucher College - and I discuss his new book Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning.
Indeed, in his book and in our chat, Professor Bowen asserts that AI will not replace jobs but rather require students today to use AI to develop both their metacognition and creativity if they are to be marketable for the jobs that AI will actually create.
We also discuss practical ways through which teachers can integrate AI into their classroom instruction. As Professor Bowen argues, AI is poised to revolutionize how we receive and process information much like the advent of the Internet some thirty years ago.
Jose Antonio Bowen LinkedIn
Jose Bowen Webpage
Teaching with AI Book
The New 3Rs of Education TED Talk
Music - Aylex
April 7th will be the thirtieth anniversary of the start of the Rwandan Genocide in which 800,000 men, women, and children - mostly from the Tutsi minority group - were deliberately and systematically murdered because of who they were - not because of anything they did.
In this episode, my guest Jacqueline Murekatete - human rights lawyer and founder of the Genocide Survivors Foundation - and I not only discuss her work in supporting survivors of global genocide but also her experiences as a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda.
We discuss ways through which educators can make students not only aware of the typical hate speech and demonisation of victims that often occurs, prior to the crime of genocide, but also help students to become upstanders against it. We also discuss how Rwanda today teaches its own students about its troubled past.
Warning: This episode describes situations of physical violence and emotional abuse.
Jacqueline Murekatete LinkedIn
Genocide Survivors Foundation
BBC - How the Rwandan Genocide Happened
Music - Aylex
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