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When was the last time you paused to reflect on your life as an international educator? What lessons have you learned so far both in the classroom and from your experiences living overseas? 

Whether or not you have taken the time to look back on your overseas teaching life so far, you are sure to gain some insights and ideas from this, the first episode of my two-part conversation with the wise, thoughtful, über-intentional David Carpenter as he reflects on his life, experiences, and “lessons learned” in his extensive foray into international education.

David is a retired international educator who started his overseas career in 1990. He worked at several international schools before finishing up his career in SE Asia. David partnered with Jeff Utecht to start the Shifting Our Schools podcast and with Mark Hofer to start the EdTech Co-Op podcast. David now works with Audrey Forgeron to co-publish the Educators Going Global Learning Hub and Podcast. David continues to live internationally enjoying his retirement with lots of art, adventure and travel. His biggest hope is to one day become a grandfather. 

Our guiding question for this show was: “What are some of your lessons learned as an international educator?”

Some of the topics covered include:

• Methods and tools to reflect and document one’s learning
• Recruiting
• Transitions
• Raising Children Overseas
• Followership and Leadership
• Instruction and PD

Resources shared in this episode: 

David shares so many resources and related episodes that we've exceeded the character limit here! So we've created this Google Doc with all of his helpful suggestions. Access it at this link. It is well worth the extra click!

David's Contact Information: 

Instagram: @clubcarp15

LinkedIn 

This episode was recorded on November 24th, 2025.

Categories: School Life | PD | Parenting | Recruiting | Pedagogy | Followership

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Music: YouTube. (2022). Acoustic Guitar | Folk | No copyright | 2022❤️. YouTube. Retrieved October 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEmg_6i7jA.