The Personal Playlist Podcast

Carlee Fossella loves first and foremost her son Eros, time spent with family, and travels. The rest of her heart is devoted to French and teaching. She currently teaches Grade 1 French Immersion at the TDSB and prior to taught Core French in Middle School. Carlee is the Primary/Junior Lead.

Jillian DuBois serves as an elementary educator in Clearwater, FL. She has been in the field of education for two decades. She is the recently published author and illustrator of “Liv’s Seashells”, and Optimistic Originator of Imparted Joy LLC. Jillian’s journey continues to bring much fulfillment as she thrives on building authentic relationships with her students and guiding their curiosity and wonder. She uses her voice to foster hope for student equity and empathy. Her passion is to initiate and infuse joy to those in education by focusing efforts on listening, serving, and growing alongside colleagues and friends. Jillian spends her free time adventuring outdoors, soaking up the sunshine and surf on the local beaches, and finding new paths to hike with her husband, Tim, and their son, Austin. She says that, "Each day is a FRESH opportunity to listen, be slow to criticize, and quick to empathize. Keep dancing and dreaming with JOY."

As an educator, instructional designer, assessment specialist, and podcast host, Natalie has lived into her belief that learning is driven by our passions, aligned with our strengths, and at the heart of our humanity. Whether working with kids or adults, she strives to create an inclusive culture that embraces learning as the vehicle through which we find out who we are and how we might make a positive impact on the world. Natalie is currently the Assessment Instructional Design Lead for a K-12 special education school in Calgary, Alberta, and the host of the #EduCrush podcast (https://kite.link/EduCrush) which features inspiring educators, innovators, and activists who are reimagining education.

AJ Bianco is a husband, father of three amazing children (2 boys and a girl), and currently is the Vice Principal of East Brook Middle School in New Jersey. When it comes to the ideal classroom, AJ is an advocate for technology tools and methodologies. He is also a major proponent for Blended Learning practices, Personalized Learning and the Flipped Classroom model to enhance student learning. AJ is an avid podcast listener, host of ReflectEd Podcast, co-host of PodcastPD, and co-host of The Chas for 28, a Yankees podcast. He is also a co-host of #CoffeeEDU in Bergen County, New Jersey. You can find AJ at a variety of EdCamps and Conferences throughout New Jersey and New York. AJ shares his passions for education, educational technology, and leadership through his website at www.ajbianco.me.

Chris Quinn is an educational leader. He retired last year after 30 plus years in education serving as a district coordinator and classroom teacher in London's District Catholic School Board , finishing in kindergarten. Chris is a great uplifter of people and has started hashtags such as: #QofthWeek, #WWEd, and #FbFEd, is a supporter of #GlobalStaffroomSunday and a member of #CrazyPLN @ChrisQuinn64 @Gratefuledu64

Bonnie Nieves is a high school Biology teacher with a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Leadership and is a member of the MassCUE board of directors. She is passionate about creating immersive and authentic experiences that fuel curiosity and creating student-centered, culturally responsive learning spaces that promote equity and inclusion. Her book “Be Awesome On Purpose” will be out this spring. She enjoys connecting with educators through social media, professional organizations, conferences, Twitter chats, edcamps, and now ClubHouse! She is currently working on a website “Educate On Purpose” where educators will be able to find and share lessons and units for all content areas that incorporate meaningful routines and assessments. Bonnie encourages you to connect with her on Twitter & ClubHouse @biologygoddess, Instagram @beawesomeonpurpose, and LinkedIn.

Erika Sandstrom is a Digital Learning Coach as well as a 6th through 8th grade Digital Media Teacher who is in her 30th year as an educator. Erika also founded the “Mindful Super Hero Club” @ClubMindful and is a Green Screen and Video Production online professional development presenter for educators. Her mindfulness enthusiasm is derived from 16 years as a Yoga/Pilates Instructor and she has found a FUN creative way to share and teach it to ALL. Erika was also dubbed “Green Screen Gal!” in 2018 and has a dream to teach ALL educators globally the benefit of utilizing Green Screen technology! Erika’s new series for 2021 of lesson plans, tutorials, a digital book, an online course, and video series is called “Cultivating Compassion Through Creativity!.” Additionally, her NEW online course “3..2..1..ACTION! Become a Green Screen ROCK STAR” is launching in 2021 and is perfect for any educator who is excited to get started with OR sharpen their Green Screen and Video Production skills!

Batsheva Frankel, MAT, the producer and host of the podcast, Overthrowing Education, is a veteran educator of over 25 years and the founder of New Lens Ed. where she gives online and in person workshops, courses and coaching for universities, conferences, schools, and educators across the US and around the world. In 2017, Behrman House published her book, The Jewish Educator’s Companion.

Thaddeus Bourassa holds an Honours Degree in Psychology, a Bachelor of Education, a Master’s Degree in Education and is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. During his career he has spent time in early, middle, and senior high including a project-based learning program. Currently, he is a Grade 6 Teacher at the Learning From Home School, an EdTech Mentor and an Instructional Support Teacher in The Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He continues to explore the possibilities of research-informed practices to teaching and learning, purposeful technology integration and 21st century skill development. At the very core , Thaddeus cares deeply about people and is always working towards collaboratively creating sparks of light and removing barriers so individuals can live their best lives.

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph is currently the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Leicester Lester Public Schools. He has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 27 years in the field. Experiences such as the Director of Digital Learning and Innovation, elementary school principal, classroom teacher, and district professional development specialist have provided Matt incredible insights on how to best support teaching and learning and led to nationally published articles and opportunities to speak at multiple state and national events. He has a master's degree is in special education and his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Boston College. Matthew is the author of Power of Us: Creating Collaborative Schools and co-author of Modern Mentoring, Reimagining Mentorship in Education.

Bruce Reicher has been a teacher for 26 years. The past 14 he has been a middle school technology teacher. Bruce teaches Digital Leadership, Python Coding for games and TV Production. Reicher is also an author of the book Scripted - An Educator’s Guide To Media In The Classroom and he’s been a Board of Education Member for the past 8 years.

Because of her knowledge of ELs and her engaging and enthusiastic presentation style,Dr. Michelle Yzquierdo has become a very popular and sought-after trainer and presenter,receiving accolades from all facets of education. She has presented at the local, state, andnational level on a variety of topics including best practices for ELs, implementation of effectivenew arrival centers, factors contributing to the success of newcomer immigrant ELs as well asnumerous trainings addressing state and federal accountability and compliance concerns.Excelling in the field of education the last 20 years, Dr. Yzquierdo has worked closelywith ELs and teachers of ELs in multiple capacities. Her experience includes high school scienceteacher, new arrival team, where she taught students from all demographic groups, including ELsand first-year immigrant ELs. She has held a variety of other positions including sciencedepartment chair, sheltered instruction peer facilitator, district ESL instructional specialists andeducational program specialist. Dr. Yzquierdo has received numerous awards and honors duringher time in education including teacher of the year, commendations from the Texas House ofRepresentatives, and fellowships in both Switzerland and Swaziland.Dr. Yzquierdo holds an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University, a master’sdegree from the University of Houston, and a doctorate degree from Lamar University. Herdoctoral research focused on the factors contributing to the success of high school immigrantstudents and she continues researching and presenting on this important topic. As the child of animmigrant, the teacher of numerous immigrant ELs throughout the years, and a researcher, Dr.Yzquierdo has seen first-hand what it takes to support ELs and immigrant ELs so they may seesuccess. She has dedicated her career to providing educators with the appropriate and necessaryresearch-based strategies and tools to assist ELs in becoming proficient in both English-languageand content acquisition. Dr. Yzquierdo lives in Houston, TX with her husband, Carlos, and sons,Kai and Karsten. She is the author of the book, Pathways to Greatness for ELL Newcomers:

Kyle is the K-12 Mathematics Consultant with the Greater Essex County District School Board, where his passion for mathematics fuels him to Make Math Moments by sparking curiosity, fuelling sense making, and igniting teacher moves. When he is not working on the next media-rich contextual math task and recording episodes of the Making Math Moments That Matter Podcast, he is spending time with his wife and two children. He shares his most recent noticings, wonderings, reflections and resources in mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy by delivering workshops across North America and blogging on www.makemathmoments.com, www.tapintoteenminds.com, www.mathisvisual.com and @MathletePearce on all social media platforms.

A passionate advocate for children, families, schools and communities, Dr. Susan Hopkins is the Executive Director of The MEHRIT Centre and the CEO of The MEHRIT Centre’s sister company, Self-Reg Global. Over Susan’s two decades of experience in education, she has worked in roles in the early years, K-12 and post-secondary across contexts from Italy to the Northwest Territories (NWT) including classroom teacher, program support teacher, vice-principal, district coordinator for inclusion, researcher, curriculum developer, and post-secondary instructor. Susan led the NWT implementation of the Early Development Instrument in kindergarten, co-authored the 10-Year Early Childhood Framework, developed the NWT play and culture-based kindergarten curriculum and led the Planning, Research and Evaluation division for the Department of Education. Under 5+ years of Susan’s leadership, The MEHRIT Centre has evolved into a highly respected, accessible, and successful center for teaching and learning Self-Reg. Susan recently co-authored the Self-Reg Schools Handbook for Educators and developed the online resources for the Principal’s edition with Stuart Shanker (Pearson, 2019). You can listen to an episode of #OnEdMentors with Susan and other "Self Reggers" on Remote Learning and Beyond here: https://voiced.ca/podcast_episode_post/self-reg-in-remote-learning-and-beyond/

Sara Candela taught high school English and journalism in New York for 14 years before moving to California 3 years ago to pursue interests in various aspects podcasting and writing, among other explorations. Part of the journey always included a search for ways to still work with teachers and students - or at least serve them in some way. To bridge between her old teaching life and her new one, Sara started the podcast From Bell to Bell - A Podcast About School, in which she invited teachers to choose a film that takes place in school and talk about what it tells the public about education or kids. After learning how to launch, produce, and manage many podcasting clients at once, and getting to know the podcasting world of Los Angeles pretty well, Sara somehow became connected to Swivl, and slowly made a transition to working on a podcasting tool they were developing for the classroom, Synth. When the pandemic hit, a year and a half of work on Synth started to close as the Swivl side of the business demanded more help, and Sara began transitioning over to learning about the core of the company. Now, she serves as Marketing Manager for Swivl - which includes Synth and skilled.space - and loves facing the challenge of shaping the future of not only educational technology, but the landscape of coaching. Sara loves deep conversations, podcasts, yoga, getting lost in the woods, hiking with her two dogs, reading, paddling, music, her family, the California sun, & constantly getting better at being a human. She co-hosts The Dock with Stephen Hurley on Saturday nights on VoicEd Radio.

Bill Cotter entered education after completing his M.A. in Anthropology at UC Davis, where he conducted his fieldwork in Madagascar and Tanzania. After a year of teaching in California, Bill sought to combine his passions for education and travel by becoming an international school educator in 2009. During his seven years abroad Bill taught in China, Mexico and Peru. In Peru, Bill helped build the Roosevelt Innovation Academy, a project-based program for high school students focused on real world learning. After 8 years in the classroom, Bill took a remote-based position with Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder, a nonprofit focused on developing the next generation of ethical leaders by developing transformational experiences abroad for high school students. In his current role, Bill develops programming for high school students in partnership with 12 inspiring nonprofits spread across 4 continents. Bill is based in Costa Rica where he lives by the beach with his wife Luz and dog Mar.

Steve Floyd is an award winning computer science and computer engineering teacher and currently an Education Officer at Ontario's Ministry of Education. He has a passion for technology in schools, and it's potential to change how students think and learn. Steve is currently a PhD candidate in Curriculum Studies at Western's Faculty of Education, where he is researching computer science curriculum in K-12 education. Steve has 3 boys, ages 12, 10 and 7, and is married to his wonderful wife Lisa.

Steve Floyd is an award winning computer science and computer engineering teacher and currently an Education Officer at Ontario's Ministry of Education. He has a passion for technology in schools, and it's potential to change how students think and learn. Steve is currently a PhD candidate in Curriculum Studies at Western's Faculty of Education, where he is researching computer science curriculum in K-12 education. Steve has 3 boys, ages 12, 10 and 7, and is married to his wonderful wife Lisa.

Scott is an ELA Teacher turned Edtech Coach, with a focus on PBL & amplifying student and teacher voices. Scott is an MIE Expert & hopes to become a Google Innovator soon. Additionally he loves all things edtech, STEM, & 3D printing. Scott has two podcasts: TNT Edtech and Education Today.

Beth Lyons is a mom, a wife, a reader who loves to be outside. She is currently a teacher librarian in the Peel District School Board. She reflects and shares about her own learning journey as an educator and a teacher-librarian on her blog The Librarian’s Journey and on Twitter (@MrsLyonsLibrary). Currently, Beth is serving as OSLA vice-president, is a contributor to both The Teaching Librarian Magazine and the Canadian School Libraries Journal, and is one of the co-hosts for the podcast Read Into This (@into_read).