Teaching Saves Lives Podcast

In today's podcast,  Emily talks without a script about the ups and downs of remote learning, the importance of a social media break, how we have pivoted as instructors this year, the feelings of burnout that all of us are facing, and how we have modified and continue to adjust our practices to ensure we are meeting our students where they are, during a global pandemic.After this podcast, we will be taking a hiatus until January 2021 to enjoy some relaxation.Enjoy you holiday break, friends.  More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me this week as I take us on a walk through the world of teacher influencers, discuss why this is just noise and make a plan for emerging from the jet wash so we can continue to do the critical and crucial work of elevating education back to the profession it deserves to be.Links:Kristin Instagram:  @MsKennedyReadsOODALOOP infoBig Love by Scott Stabile quotation:  “Find people who can handle your darkest truths, who don’t change the subject when you share your pain, or try to make you feel bad for feeling bad. Find people who understand we all struggle, some of us more than others, and that there’s no weakness in admitting it. Find people who want to be real, however that looks and feels, and who want you to be real, too. Find people who get that life is hard, and who get that life is also beautiful, and who aren’t afraid to honor both of those realities. Find people who help you feel more at home in your heart, mind and body, and who take joy in your joy. Find people who love you, for real, and who accept you, for real. Just as you are. They’re out there, these people. Your tribe is waiting for you. Don’t stop searching until you find them.”More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me in this powerful conversation between myself and Noheli Hernandez, a former student from my time in Chicago as well as a poet and educator in her own right.  Our time today we discuss intersectionality, identity, self care and how we are navigating this pandemic.  She also opens up about losing Marlon, her boyfriend of 10 years, in 2019 and how that experience moved her to use poetry as catharsis and healing.  I'm so grateful for her, for Marlon, and for the power of writing in difficult times. Links:Carleton CollegeMarlon's SoundCloudPOSSE ScholarshipLouder than a BombLast Day PodcastMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me in this week's episode as we discuss the COVID 19 crisis facing our schools, our students and our teachers.  Teachers are dying and we are screaming for help, for anyone to notice us.  I spend time this week giving voice to all of our struggles, and trying my best to buoy y'all as we navigate this very difficult time in our world. Links:Michigan Rural DistrictNEA TrackerMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me and Finn (@teach_finn) as we discuss all things back to school, teacher identity, intersectionality, and our educational philosophies.  If you don't know Finn, trust me when I tell you, he is one of the BEST humans to exist on the planet, and a Kindergarten teacher of the most amazing variety.  Vulnerability and honesty in this week's episode had me in tears of hope and joy. Links:Instagram @teach_finnQ Inclusion: https://www.qinclusion.com/More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me in this week's podcast as I take a ramble through all things standardized testing, evaluations, patriotic education, the Elvis Year and the constant question of, "Am I doing enough?"  We'll cover a lot of topics in a round up of Week 8 of remote teaching, 2 weeks out from the election, and living through a global pandemic. Links:Dr. David Stovall VideoElvis Year Shirts Bonfire Link (you know you want one...)On Tyranny by Timothy SnyderMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me today as I talk with my good friend, Zack, who is one of the students who inspired me to start Teaching Saves Lives.  We cover a lot of topics from his journey since high school, the meaning of life to the military industrial complex to toxic masculinity to the importance of friendships.This episode is a sprawling conversation and one not to miss. Links:The Mask You Live In documentaryRam Dass QuotationThe Will to Change by bell hooksMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me in conversation with Kristen, of @AsWrittenbyKristen (Instagram).  We discuss all things virtual teaching, colleagues who challenge us to be better, edu celebrities, choice reading, graduate school and how we find joy in our work during tumultuous times.  This conversation is not one to miss!LINKS:University of Michigan MAC program180 Days by Penny Kittle and Kelly GallagherDr. David Stovall of the University of Illinois-ChicagoMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

In today's episode, I'm joined by the inimitable Cate Mayer, founder of Friends Vote Together and we get into all things election 2020, voting, gerrymandering, and Constitutional crisis.  If you're looking for some info about what you can do to make significant change and wrench our democracy back from the brink, this is the episode for you!Links:Friends Vote TogetherOMG WTF Constitution Really Say? OMG WTF Is Gerrymandering?Thank You for VotingMarco Polo App Jessica Yellin InstagramMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

In this week’s episode, I dig into quite a bit of what has happened in the past couple of weeks in the country and how that is impacting our work as educators.  I talk about living in reality, what it means to allow students the space they need for silence and how we continue to sustain.Notes:James Baldwin Video for reference.More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

This week’s episode continues to dig into our Back to School conversations for 2020, the year a global pandemic rocks American education systems.  I share with you insights into how my first week has gone, my successes and struggles, a bit about a few students who have deeply impacted my life, and the idea of teaching as catharsis. Notes:What You Are Feeling is Grief Article:Marlon’s SoundCloud:https://www.soundcloud.com/millymarlonKing Gutter Baby on Instagram:All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven:More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

WARNING: Expletives and strong language are used in this podcast episode. In this episode, I’m speaking to you about the events unfolding rapidly in our schools as we open buildings up for face to face learning, and also about the inequity of remote and online learning.  This episode digs deeper into larger education policy, decisions being made at the state and federal level, and how we, as teachers in districts, navigate these ups and downs.  I also want to make it clear that I am speaking as a member of the larger group of 4 million educators in this country and not as about my specific situation.  My own district is making decisions that are based in safety and trying to do what is best for our community; I remain eternally grateful to work with the folks I do, in whatever capacity this allows me, and the students who have changed my life and views of teaching.  I don’t want anyone to listen to this episode and get it twisted that I’m not fully recognizing that my situation is unique and, in the grand scheme of a very difficult time, ideal.  I have the opportunity to work remotely, I have the ability to stay connected to students, albeit through a screen, and I work with educators who are thinkers and problem solvers; a team effort to make the best of a very challenging situation for all.  I understand my privilege; but today, I want to acknowledge that many, many, many, the vast majority really, of educators are not in that position...not even close...and allowing those folks to feel seen is critical. We, as a collective group of educators, though, in this country are facing some incredible challenges, and it is imperative we acknowledge those and work to unpack them.  They are not challenges with easy solutions, nor problems that can be solved by simply resigning or quitting or leaving the education field, though I know many of you are tempted to do this.  I am as well. I get it.  I believe the first step, though, in working through this disaster of 2020 is to talk about it, to acknowledge that we are in a very dark place as a society and as educators, and that many, many, many of us are terrified for our lives, our jobs and our futures.  Talking about and acknowledging fear and reality does not make us bad teachers--it makes us humans, and in today’s episode we will also talk about identity and teacher identity--how that changes from year to year, and now, more than ever, how that is challenged as we begin teaching from our homes, our empty classrooms, or from behind shields and shower curtains.  ...Unconscionable: adjective - not right or reasonable, unprincipled.It is unconscionable that we have teachers dying in our school buildings--the story that came out yesterday of Demetria Bannister, a 28 year old elementary educator from South Carolina who succumbed to COVID19 after she began the school year virtually.  28 years old. A woman of color. Dead. NOTES:Angela Watson podcast here.Neil deGrasse Tyson Life Lessons here.More TSL:  Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community here You can find the Teaching Saves Lives website here Teaching Saves Lives Instagram here Teaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Join me as I take a tour through how choice reading works in my classroom. I Book Talk a couple books, speak about the value of conferring, and do a bit of a preview into my Writer’s Notebooks.  If you have always wanted to know about reading and building a love of books with your students, this is not one to miss!Penny Kittle info here.More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

This episode feels really important, especially on the eve of my own Back to School experience of the 17th year of my teaching career.  This was a frenzied one to write, an emotional one to record, but, I believe, a very important one for you to hear.  In today's episode, I dig into the culture of toxic positivity in our schools and how we can manage to work in a world that feels just truly insane. We'll discuss the concept of spiritual bypassing and how we show up as teachers for our students this year. Also, I talk about the 90s TV show Northern Exposure...Notes:Toxic Positivity informationSpiritual Bypassing informationNeil deGrasse Tyson talk here.Northern Exposure "The Quest" episodeAntiMasker Protests at Schools:More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

In this week's bonus episode, I continue my conversation with Abby, one of the four students who inspired me to start Teaching Saves Lives.  Abby and I discuss the impact of the podcast S-town, rural education, her plans for the future and her wonders and worries regarding life in 2020 and beyond.  Enjoy!More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

In this week's episode, I have the opportunity to talk with Abby, a former student and now good friend.  Abby is one of the four students who inspired Teaching Saves Lives and is at least 50% of the reason why TSL exists.  I have been incredibly lucky to know her and to stay in touch with her over the years, and now I am glad to call her a friend.  In this episode we discuss a whole slew of things--her trajectory as a student, her reading prowess, the work we did in her class, her plans for the future, and what it means to grow up in a rural community.  This is NOT an episode to miss!Thomas Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel here Shake the Dust by Anis Mojgani: A Thousand Naked Strangers by Kevin HazzardMore TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

In 2018, a science teacher chose to hang a Pride flag in her classroom in a public school.  She was disciplined and removed from the classroom for 5 days as a result of her decision.  In this week's TSL Bonus Podcast, hear Shannon Fisher's powerful and important story of what happened when trying to create safe and inclusive classrooms for her students, what she learned through this experience and how she processed this as an educator. Resources:Anti-Racism Center link here Book: Waking up White by Debby Irving link here More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

This week I sit down with Shannon Fisher, both my colleague and a powerful science teacher. We discuss all things relationship building, anti-racism education, and what it is actually like to teach in conservative communities that might not be supportive of such work.  This conversation is one not to miss; you'll find yourself inspired and motivated to begin the work within your own school!Resources:Anti-Racism Center link here Book: Waking up White by Debby Irving link here More TSL:Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community hereYou can find the Teaching Saves Lives website hereTeaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

This week I'm joined by 12 students past and present who share what life has been like for them since the pandemic began.  Our conversation varies from plans for next year to a lack of American empathy.  This is one of the best conversations I've engaged in since the pandemic began and I cannot wait to share it with y'all!For full Bonus podcast access, Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community here You can find the Teaching Saves Lives website here Teaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here

Episode 2 is a deep dive into my background as an educator, a few fun stories of the kids I've encountered over the years and the schools in which I've worked.  It's been a journey!Join the Teaching Saves Lives Patreon Community here You can find the Teaching Saves Lives website here Teaching Saves Lives Instagram hereTeaching Saves Lives Twitter here