School Culture And Climate Episodes

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 emphas...

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 t...

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 ...

Educators can't do well by their students if they are not whole themselves. Sometimes, the best course of action is to know when enough is enough and change course to new jobs in the education field or outside of it. In this episode, Casey Jakubowski - co-author of Crush It From the Start: 50 Tips for New Teachers and school principal - and I discuss the signs to look for to determine if moving on is the right decision. In his book, see Tip #50 - Knowing When to Retreat. We als...

In this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast, Roxie Patton, Founder of RJ Consulting and Coaching, and I continue our conversation on the importance of having educators who understand the students and families they serve. Since many educators no longer live in the communites where they teach, this becomes a particularly important consideration within teaching. Roxie and I discuss ways through which educators might combat the internal biases they may have of others/their students as ...

Over 27 percent of all students in America have immigrant parents. In this episode, Ari Gerzon-Kessler and I discuss strategies for better engaging this traditionally underserved population of families. Gerzon-Kessler, a former principal, currently serves as a coordinator of family partnerships and is the author of the new book "On the Same Team: Bringing Educators and Underrepresented Families Together". He and I discuss the power of newcomer parent-teacher teams as well as home visits in bo...

In Part I, Sybil Hall and I discussed what educators can do to take ownership of their own wellbeing. Here, in Part II, Aimee Parkinson Presnall. Founder and CEO of Well-Nest (Australia) and I discuss how individual responsibility for our own wellbeing as educators can and should be further supported by school systems/administrators. School leaders also have a responsibility to implement and sustain initiatives that prioritize the collective wellbeing of all within their school community. Aimee ...

There is a wealth of things we can do to reduce the stress and anxiety that we feel as educators. In this episode, wealth and wellbeing consultant, teacher, and author Sybil Hall (Burn Bright Not Out) takes us through some simple ways we can make our lives calmer as educators be that through scheduling our time, batching our teaching tasks, and/or taking brief time outs before and during the day to meditate/reflect. Sybil Hall LinkedIn Burn Bright Not Out Book Music - Aylex

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) means much more than just ensuring that students are reading books with a diverse character. Join Maria Garcia Underwood, founder of M Ideas Consulting, and I as we discuss what deep DEI looks like in terms of curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy within school communities vested in ensuring that all members are seen and heard. We also discuss allyship. M Ideas Consulting Maria Underwood LinkedIn Music: Aylex

Many teachers are teaching 21st Century students in buildings designed in the 19th and/or early 20th Centuries. Join my next guest, Prakash Nair, CEO of Education Design International, and I as we discuss in this episode what school communities are doing around the world to design buildings that are purposefully built to engage students through collaboration and inquiry based learning. Prakash Nair LinkedIn Education Design International Music: Aylex

Join me and my guest Nicola S. Morgan - Founder/CEO of NSM Training and Consultancy - as we discuss strategies for developing resiliency in the students we teach. Nicola also is one of a select few to successfully swim across the English channel and uses this experience to guide her resiliency work in schools. We also discuss how this experience has informed her work in schools. Nicola S. Morgan LinkedIn Unfinished Business TED Talk NSM Consultancy Music: Ayles

As my next guest Maribeth Edmunds says, students with Autism will grow up to be adults with Autism. In this episode, we explore how to help our students with Autism grow and achieve academically and socio-emotionally so they can become fully integrated adults participating in our economy and community. The number of students being diagnosed with Autism is on the rise. Be prepared to educate these students. Maribeth Edmunds LinkedIn TED Talk Music: Aylex

In the wake of the pandemic, we all know that students are struggling in understanding and regulating their emotions. Before learning can occur, however, students need to be able to understand and regulate their emotions; It falls to the adults mentoring students to build SEL into the curriculum. Join Bridget Durkan Laird, CEO at Kings for Kids, and I as we discuss ways to bring simple SEL strategies into academic and after school programming. Bridget Durkan Laird LinkedIn Wings for Kids M...

In this Have a Life Teaching podcast episode, we speak with rising admin star and current vice principal Alexandra Auriemma about what she feels are her leadership strengths and opportunities for growth. We are also joined by Frederick Buskey of Strategic Leadership Coaching and host of the Assistant Principal Podcast who guides Alex, in this episode, on how she might best serve teachers by leading on the leadership edge, building relationships with teachers, as opposed to leading on the bleedin...

LGBTQ+ students (and staff) are part of our school communities and if we are truly concerned with providing a safe learning environment, which most educators would agree is part a school's mission, then this means for all students including LGBTQ+ youth. So says guest Tricia Friedman, LGBTQ+ advocate and consultant with Shifting Schools in this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast. Join Tricia and I as we discuss how to support this population of students in our schools. Re...

Inclusive Classrooms are places of joy and creativity. Join me and my guest Mariah Rankine-Landers, author of the new book "How to Create Lessons that Love Your Students", as we discuss how to create culturally responsive classrooms that could easily be mistaken for artistic studios. Want to learn how to turn your middle school classroom into a jungle when studying biomes? How to use zombies to teach exponential equations? Listen in here! LinkedIn Page (Mariah Rankine-Landers) Do Your Less...

Speaking with parents as a teacher can be a scary thing if we feel unprepared. In this episode, Crystal Frommert, assistant head of middle school and Math teacher at Awty International School (Houston), discusses several best-in-class strategies for proactively engaging with parents. We will look at several specific strategies addressed in her new book - When Calling Parents Isn't Your Calling (Road to Awesome Publishing). Crystal Frommert on Edutopia When Calling Parents Isn't Your Callin...

On this podcast, we have discussed the importance of teachers engaging in collaborative design thinking when considering how THEY will innovate their teaching practices. However, collaboration with others often comes with tension. In this episode, Ryan Burke, senior partner with Leadership and Design, discusses strategies for how to give feedback on a colleague's teaching practice rather than judgement. Ryan Burke on LinkedIn Leadership+Design Feedback or Judgement? Music: Wanderer by A...