March 12, 2024

97. From Student Apathy to Active Learning: Innovative Strategies for Reigniting Teacher Passion & Engaging Students with Special Guest Dr. Diondraya Taylor

26 minutes

One of the reasons that students are apathetic and disengaged is because they don’t see the point or value in learning.

We’ve talked in this short mini-series about apathetic students and disengagement and some real strategies and mindset shifts we can make as educators to reduce the burnout from these types of behaviors.

We need a way to reignite our passion but also to intrinsically motivate students to see the value in life-long learning. Last week we talked about adding productive struggle to our classrooms to support students in building the life skills necessary, but this week, I want us to get into the nitty gritty of taking this a step farther and implementing project-based learning strategies that can transform the way students see the value in their education. Where we shift from the traditional 'sit and get' method to a more hands-on, minds-on approach where students aren't just passive recipients but active participants.

That’s why in today’s episode, we chat with Dr. Diondraya Taylor, who is the founder adn CEO of Mindset & Milestones - a social enterprise that helps schools and youth organizations create real-world learning programs using project-based learning. They provide a weekly project newsletter for teachers and program development services for admin who want to take their schools to the next level. Dr. Taylor fell in love with entrepreneurial thinking through her roles with different startups, and this is where she recognized that applying problem-solving to the real world is an amazing tool for educators to encourage innovation and ambition in their students. Dr. Taylor is also a triple Bruin having graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in psychobiology and entrepreneurship, a Master’s in Education, and a Ph.D. in Education and Organizational Change. Between her business and her research, she is committed to the preparation of youth for the future of work and transforming classrooms into spaces for real-world learning.

HEAD OVER TO THE SHOW NOTES: teachingmindbodyandsoul.com/episode97

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