Doorways to Learning with Donna

Azucena Garcia-Ferro is an incredible ambassador for students with cerebral palsy, though in truth, she is an ambassador for all students. She sees the need for the youth of today to be partners in the educational proces, to have different opportunities in relation to learning modalities, to have teachers who present information through many different means and who aren't afraid - rather welcome - questions from the room. As an educator, a parent or a student with cerebral palsy, you're going to be amazed at the variety of information Azucena offers in a graceful, compassionate, yet straightforward way that will help everyone in a classroo. You can reach Azucena at: https://www.azucenagarcia.com/ Her podcast is: Cerebral Palsy https://www.azucenagarcia.com/podcast

To begin our second season, we explore those hidden prejudices that can affect our relationships with our students profoundly. All we have to do is recognise these (often unfounded) conclusions and magic happens. It'w not comfortable admitting we have prejudices, but it's worse not recognising the and reversing them. Now, no one is there in your mind judging you and making sure you’re being honest – so just be honest! The online course is at: https://scaffoldingmagic.com/scaffolding-magic-online-courses/ You can find more conversations like this one at Doorways to Learning with Donna: https://scaffoldingmagic.com/category/doorways-to-learning-with-donna/ Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/contact-subscribe If you like this episode, treat Donna to a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/doorwaystolearning

Jake Ruzi gives the distinction between being a dedicated educator and one who needs self-healing - in other words, when it's time to take a break from the classroom and find our balance. His daily podcast Educator State of Mind focuses on hjelping educators achieve and maintain a healthy life-work balance one day at a time. Here are tips on when you know you've reached burnout and what you can do about it for the best emotional health of all concerned.

There is so much negativity in the world, in people’s perspectives on events, on the way news is offered to us, in the way so many people choose to complain about situations they are not happy about, but do nothing to change. One thing we can do, is use these fantastic 'What if' questions to change our own situations. And maybe even for the people around us. est that I deserve a raise?  If you give a positive spin on the upcoming event, you begin thinking about what you’ll say in this positive scenario, what you’ll wear, how you’ll look the other person in the eye more directly, how you’ll search for words ahead of time that will further the positive outcome, how you’ll walk into the room with your head high, pour out positive energy in your body towards the other person or people in the situation. In other words, you’ll be living the event in advance and making it more likely to happen in this positive light. More examples here! You can find more conversations like this one at Doorways to Learning with Donna: https://scaffoldingmagic.com/category/doorways-to-learning-with-donna/ Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/contact-subscribe If you like this episode, treat Donna to a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/doorwaystolearning  

See below for activities to use this podcast in your language classes... Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna If you like this episode, ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!! What does PARSNIPs have to do with a publisher's ideology? When is a book not just a book, but rather refracted knowledge? What is hidden behind the printed words and colourful images? Rachel Long, expert in marketing, representing not just her beloved team at Macmillan Education but also the fierce devotion her fellow marketers in all publishing houses have in designing their products. She explains that there is a determined ideology behind students books that is intended to empower children, an invaluable resource in teacher's books created to ease the load of classroom educators, and the movement toward diversity and acceptance in each and every image chosen for publication. Listen and decide for yourself if Rachel's message changes your mind about publisher's books in the classroom and how we can use them more fluidly and divergently, inside and outside of the classroom, with students and their parents. Activities to use this podcast in our language classes: Rachel talks about her publisher very carefully choosing the images in the books so they reflect today's multi-cultural world. Suggestion: Ask your students, in pairs, to spend 10 minutes looking through their student book and identifying 10 images that reflect themselves and things that are familiar to them at home. Rachel talks about PARSLEYS - seven (7) tabu subjects publishers are not supposed to include in the Student Books. Suggestion: Write those seven subjects on the board and ask students, in groups of three, to talk about each of them and why they are tabu. (politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics -isms, pork) Rachel talks about parts of the books that the teachers may not use because they are so busy. The teacher guide is top of the list  Suggestion: Open your teacher guide and randomly pick a page, and promise yourself that this year, you'll use the publisher's suggestion you've just found.  Music: Ariane Sailer

When you feel scared, which do you choose: fight or flight? What if Justin told you that it's actually not a choice you make, but one your body makes naturally? How could understanding a crazy term like POLYVAGAL help your students to feel more empowered? Are you an educator concerned about students who may have experienced trauma? If so, this video is a valuable resource for you. Join us as we sit down with Justin Sunseri, a licensed therapist working within California's public school system, who generously shares his expertise to help you navigate this important topic.Justin provides insightful information on how trauma can become normalised and affect both students and educators. He introduces the Polyvagal Theory, a biological explanation of how our bodies respond to stress and unexpected danger cues. Through a clear and engaging discussion, Justin breaks down the Polyvagal Theory, making it accessible and understandable.By understanding this theory, you'll discover how students' stress responses are not a result of weakness or emotional immaturity but rather a natural, evolutionary response. Justin's expertise shines as he explains how he helps students experiencing trauma and guides them through the steps to navigate the Polyvagal ladder, teaching them self-calming techniques to foster healthy interactions.Don't miss this enlightening conversation that can empower educators to create safe spaces and support students on their journey to healing and growth. Subscribe now for invaluable insights and strategies. Activities to use these techniques in your classes ⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!⁠⁠ Activities to use with this episode:

Jeff Gargas is the person to call when you want support. He's not going to recommend a different curriculum, he's not going to ask you to invest in a pricey assessment packet, he's not going to even try to convince you to switch publishers. He's simply going to support you. Well, he's going to support you in rethinking your curriculum and assessments and publisher's books, but only to the extent you use them all just a little differently so that your students master those skills that they need to triumph in the standardised exams they have waiting for them at the beginning, middle or end of the year. See below for activities to use this podcast in your language classes... Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast ⁠⁠⁠ You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!! www.teachbetter.com BIOGRAPHY Jeff Gargas is an entrepreneur, author, and COO. He is passionate about helping people overcome the fear of failure and follow their dreams.  

Are you tired of your students' indifference towards reading? Are you frustrated daily with your students' lack of comprehension of key points in texts? Where do you think the ideal model for professional training is (and it isn't Finland!)? Are you ready to hear some of the BEST reading strategies you may every be privileged to hear on a podcast or anywhere else for that matter? Jennifer Serravallo has swept in to leave a trail of golden breadcrumbs so that your students know the way from one cover to another of any book you may challenge them with. So much fun and effective reading strategies you aren't going to find anywhere else! Jennifer insists on the importance of strategies as ways of scaffolding reading - yes...she not only knows, but revels in the concept of scaffolding!!! She includes Inferencing, summarising, , using the title to remember key points, the first and last lines of the story, what does the main character want to achieve, and what happens that stops them from reaching their goal and so much more. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

How many languages do you need to speak to be an effective teacher-trainer? Is it important to know the majority language of the country if you're an English teacher? What do you do if you're giving a workshop and the electricity gives out suddenly? Today you have the opportunity to find out something you may never before have heard: What makes a good trainer? Why did your school hire that person and not the other? Why did I resonate with what he says instead of the person I listened to last week? Why do I feel on fire when she comes to my school instead of last year's trainer? We're going to learn a lot about what makes Nina the incredible teacher-trainer that she is - how publishing, volunteering, and breathing in the salt of the sea as often as possible, is essential to her educational vision. Join us now for a breathtaking journey through Canada, Greece, Spain, and most of the rest of the world, as Nina tells us about her journeys and her joys that she passes on to all of the participants in every single session she gives. Activities to use this podcast in your classes: Nina talks about having to suddenly change all of her presentation because of power-outages. Ask your students to work in groups and list EVERYTHING they do in a 24-hour period that involves electricity (or a battery-powered device that depends on recharging with electricity). Next, they write alternative ways of carrying out each of those items without electricity. Groups exchange lists, eliminate duplicate, carry out a class discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of electricity and. our dependency on it. Nina's childhood was filled with different accents and cultures. In groups, students make lists of people they've met from other cultures and/or countries. They include emotions they have had about those people - whether positive or negative, why they had these strong emotions - either because of the clothes those people wore, their accent, the way they operated that was different from the majority culture, anger that might have been caused by simple misunderstandings of common ways to communicate, etc. Lead a classroom discussion on how respect for other people's belief, cultures and customs on a small scale - in a classroom, neighbourhood and country, might change global conflicts. Another strategy Jennifer shares is to identify social, physical and cultural cues that are similar or different from the readers. Outside of class, students read the class text/book and take notes on these three elements of the ma in character/s in relation to themselves. In class, students work in groups, share notes, and make a list of similarities and differences of the main characters, using names (or not) of specific students. Find activities for this episode and more conversations like this one at Doorways to Learning with Donna: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/contact-subscribe If you like this episode, treat Donna to a coffee!!! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/doorways... Contact Nina at: https://www.ninalauder.com/

When has a superintendent EVER answered her own phone? Isn't that what her secretary is supposed to do? If I tell you that Robert Shaps superintendent of the renown coastal district of New York - answers his own phone - as busy as he is and with a mind-boggling daily agenda that he keeps, it is going to give you your first inkling of what type of person and what type of administrator he is. Robert Shaps is currently the superintendent of the Mamaronek Union Free Schools, New York. Some of the programs he has been championing during his 13-year tenure here have been: global citizenship, relevancy in the work force, leadership, authentic learning, multi-culturalism, inclusive bilingualism, and much more. His ideology is largely founded on the studies of Kim Marshall and Harvard Project Zero. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

How would your teenager solve the problem of eviction, what message would she want to give and take away from a political rally, what would he plan to do to clean up the local rivers and surrounding areas, how would living in China would heighten her understanding of the shades and subtlies of multi-culturalism? These are only some of the real-life issues the students in the school district of Mamaronek New York work on daily, led by superintendent extraordinnaire Robert Shaps.    For those of you who were mesmerised by the first part of my chat with Robert and his verbal illustrations of what makes a school system that works - and I can only imagine it was all of you - you are sooo lucky because there is even more more of how a leader can use his position to make each teacher, each student, each parent, each administrator feel valued and a participant in the positive changes in their educational world. Robert Shaps is currently the superintendent of the Mamaronek Union Free Schools, New York. Some of the programs he has been championing during his 13-year tenure here have been: global citizenship, relevancy in the work force, leadership, authentic learning, multi-culturalism, inclusive bilingualism, and much more. His ideology is largely founded on the studies of Kim Marshall and Harvard Project Zero. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

With corruption in Nigeria rampant, Okechukwu Anunobi, has the structure to include character development in the schools so that educators can literally be the societal changers for the generation that will one day soon lead the country. With his unique structure, he believes that prostituion, drug abuse, kidnapping and most other incomprehensible behaviours, will be a thing of the past. Listen to the conclusions to his passionate introspetion on wanting his country to move into moral virtues and compassionate communities. You can find more conversations like this one at Doorways to Learning with Donna: https://scaffoldingmagic.com/category/doorways-to-learning-with-donna/ Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/contact-subscribe If you like this episode, treat Donna to a coffee! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/doorwaystolearning

As my experiences on the planet have changed and my perspective of life has evolved, I see education very differently. I believe the classroom is where we encourage human connection and where the curriculum the content is far less important that than the social skills our students can develop when we’re all together. If we want a generation of students, learners, humans on the planet who can work together to solve the problems they have been born into and have had no part in creating, we need to give them as many opportunities to develop the skills to work in teams – not to conform to each other’s ideas but to know how to respectfully share and listen to each others ideas, know how to actively listen, negotiate different perspectives, encourage variations based on justifiable visions, and in short work together to shine as one ray of light made up of crystals of each one’s individual light. How does that sound for the New Year? Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!

On this episode we have not one but two very special guests for our Winter holiday episode. Parents are also educators and these two women are parents and very intentional teachers. They come from two different parts of the world, and from two very different cultures. What they have in common is theor willingness to explore how their cultures and the cultures they have around them have influenced their lives, the lives of their children, and the lives of the students and people they have worked with. Shelly Winterboer (https://www.facebook.com/shellywinterboercoaching) shares her experiences teaching in South Africa and the cultural overlays she had to navigate, and Damaryus Acevedo (https://rephonic.com/podcasts/the-homegirl-factor-podcast) explains how growing up bilingual can be more challenging than beneficial at times. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!

Have you ever been bullied as an adult? Were you also bullied as a child? Adult bullying comes in many forms and sometimes we don't even recognise it. The person who takes a parking place from us as we're about to turn into it, someone who won't let us go ahead on the checkout line when we have one item, a partner who demeans any request we have to strengthen the comfort level of our relationship, a supervisor who uses degrading terms and abides by unforgiving schedules to control us, a neighbour who dismisses requests for respecting those around her. And how did these adults become bullies or rather - when? In most cases, this started from their childhood. And why wasn't it stopped, curbed, dissipated? In most cases because the teachers were not trained in how to reteach these misled souls to be kind to themselves, first and foremost, so that they knew how to be kind to the people around them. This podcast explores a specific case of adult bullying and how then some specific tools educators can use to begin the process of stopping this type of misdirection in its tracks at the youngest ages. This a not-to-be-missed quick and energetic exploration of the origins of bullying and how we can be enormously impactful and proactive in the face of it. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!⁠

Can we change the behaviour of the people around us? I mean, how much are you aware of the people around you and how much do you take into account your own behaviour with regards to their best interests? I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, because I just got back from Finland and the difference between the expectations when we’re out in public between Finland and Spain is incredible. Scandanavians have an attitude towards what’s appropriate in public and what’s not that’s similar to how I grew up – in the. Northeast and pretty much everywhere in the States and Canada as well. And I’m going to bring this around to the classroom, because there is a culture in the classroom whether you are aware of it or not, and the culture you grew up in, and the culture you’re living in – whether they’re the same or not – influence how your students act towards each other and towards you. One culture or another influences your expectations of how your students act and what you reinforce or not. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

Have you been in an online course, put in the Breakout Room and someone hijacks the conversation? Actually, it isn't a conversation because it's one person talking and asking for help on her/his needs? Is there an equanimity within the people connected? Is there generosity? Is there respect and honour for the opinions, ideas, searching of all? If you've found all these elements, please feel you've won the lottery!! If you haven't, it's probably simply because you and the rest did not learn team building techniques when you were younger. Just imagine a world in which groups of adults or students get together and they have their own best interests at heart but they also have the patience and intention to let those around them to feel heard, seen and honoured. Would that not be a fabulous place to be? In this episode we explore the importance of connection - to ourselves and to others, and how that connection needs to be practiced within the classroom so that it later leaves the learning environment and becomes second nature in adulthood. Join us for a quick yet inclusive consideration of team building and connection, and click here for a simple and effective activity to energetically unite your group. Let me know how you feel when you're finished participating! Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

If you've lived with dyslexia, you can see it as a curse or you can see it as a challenge. Julie Hundley takes it one step further: she sees it as her super power!! There aren't many opportunities we have as educators to hear from our students' own mouths what helped them and hindered them in their schooling. We can learn so much from their experiences, and Julie is here to offer her journey, hoping that it will help other children, young adults, parents and teachers to have realistic but positive expectations in living, working with, being an advocate for, facilitating, a child with dyslexia. This is a fascinating and informative conversation with a young adult who remembers still, and is still compensating for neural challenges. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!⁠

How do your belongings define you? How is your lifestyle and personality reflected in the choices you make on the material realm and on the emotional? Does the language your learning say something about you or the compassion you have for yourself when you are having a difficult time say more about you? Let's explore forms and how they define you - and how giving our student more opportunities to develop 21st century skills could save them from looking at themselves and others rigidly. Just consider...and then think about pickup trucks, the wind in your hair - or more accurately the wind in your dog's hair bouncing around in the back, and let's open doors!!! Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!

What does a marijuana patch on the South Island of New Zealand and 21st century skills have in common? Well...think about it and then listen to a story that puts them together - or does it. You decide and let us know! Doorways to Learning opens another door to the reasons why giving our students the opportunity to learn 21st century skills is so important. We give you an alternative list of these skills, and a concrete example of Donna's experience in not using these essential skills that might have gotten her out of a rather dicey situation. Subscribe to get notices for new episodes and free activities to use in your classes: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast You can find more conversations like this one at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Doorways to Learning with Donna⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you like this episode,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠treat Donna to a coffee!!