Always A Lesson's Empowering Educators Podcast

As teacher leaders we need to create the culture in the school where balance is acceptable and encouraged. Without a healthy teacher, a classroom can never reach its fully potential. Tune in to hear two steps teacher leaders can take today to ensure teachers and students are physically, mentally and emotionally safe. You are ‘The Safe Keeper!”

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Dede Faltot Rittman graduated from Edinboro University in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary English and attended the University of Pittsburgh for post-graduate credits. After two years at Penn Hills, she began teaching English and Theater in the North Allegheny School District, a position she held for thirty-five years. For thirty-two of those years, Dede worked with underachieving students and those with special needs.

Known as “the Bunny Teacher,” Dede affectionately called her students her “bunnies,” and one year for her birthday, two of her English classes bought her a real rabbit, Binky Rittman. Dede used bunny stamps and stickers for rewards and incentives, and when students were at home sick and requested homework, Dede wrote each one a personal note, adding a bunny stamp and a lollipop!

An avid golfer, Dede coached both Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys Golf at North Allegheny.

Dede always thought she would teach for forty years, but when her husband and best friend, Scott, was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer in December 2009, she retired to care for him in the final stages of his illness. Scott died in 2012.

After retiring, Dede began her own company, Rittman Publishing, LLC, which places an emphasis on teaching the three C’s: Confidence, Communication, and Creativity, whether working with student teachers, special needs students in theater, or those who need one-on-one tutoring. She authored ‘Student Teaching- The Inside Scoop from a Master Teacher’ and ‘Grady Gets Glasses,’ her first children’s book.

• The best thing that ever happened was inclusion.
• Teachers set the example.
• Empathy can be taught.
• Devotion is really important.
• Sometimes we don’t want to face what’s going on in our lives and we blame it on our jobs.
• The more I gave of myself, the more rewards I received.
• Teacher leaders, your attitude will set the tone for the school climate.
• No one was ever late to my class because they felt safe and loved.

• Website- dederittman.com 
• Blog- http://bunnyteacher.blogspot.com
• Email – [email protected]

• Book for Teachers- https://www.wordassociation.com/selfhelp%20book%20page/studentteaching.html
• Book for Children- gradygetsglasses.com

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rittmanrules
• Twitter: @dederittman
• Linkedin: Dede Faltot Rittman
• Instagram: dede_rittman
• Google+: Dede Rittman
• Tumblr: The Bunny Teacher

• Field Trip Zoom
• Forest of the Rain Productions

• Email: [email protected]
• Blog: Always A Lesson
• Facebook: Always A Lesson
• Twitter: @gschultek
• Instagram: Always.A.Lesson
• Linkedin: Gretchen Schultek Bridgers
• Google+: Gretchen Schultek Bridgers
• Book: Elementary EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach You in College

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Click on ‘Ratings and Reviews.’

Under ‘Customer Reviews,’ click on “Write a Review.”

Sign in with your iTunes or Stitcher log-in info

Leave a Rating: Tap the greyed out stars (5 being the best)

Leave a Review: Type in a Title and Description of your thoughts on my podcast

Click ‘Send’

Sometimes we feel as though we need to be the expert in everything and start pretending we have the knowledge and skills required to do it all. The fact is, it’s a sham. We are pretending and the ones who get hurt the most are the children. Tune in to hear how to stop being a pretender and empower yourself to be better without fear, embarrassment or worse, losing your job.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

“What do you want to accomplish this year and how can I help you get there?” is a powerful question from a teacher leader to someone that they lead. Act like Publisher’s Clearing House and go knock on your colleagues’ doors during this back to school season and make their dreams come true. Tune in to hear how you can do just that!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Grading is only as good as the effectiveness of instruction leading up to it. A grade on an assessment that doesn’t match the learning leading up to it is worthless, demeaning and dysfunctional. Tune in to hear three steps you can take now to ensure you teach hard enough, long enough and deep enough for students to be successful and prepared on their learning journey.

The photo below from my trip to Colorado is discussed in the episode:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

If you are in education, you are in the people business. In order to have a successful school year, students and teachers need to feel supported. By building capacity, you are investing in people, and that has a high return on investment. Tune in to hear how teacher leaders can empower classroom teachers to attain their own dreams while also meeting school requirements.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Phyl Macomber is an award-winning national speaker, author, inclusion specialist, and curriculum strategist. As President of Make A Difference, Inc., Phyl has consulted with and trained thousands of teaching staff. She’s been a guest on several radio shows to discuss simplifying instruction for students of all abilities. Her partnership with Leave No Girl Behind International is training young people in key leadership principles globally. Phyl has created a 4-step simple system called the PACT for how to teach anything to anyone – in a way that students of any ability learn faster and deeper – and, teachers succeed in reaching and teaching ALL students while meeting the standards. Phyl’s first book, The Power of T.H.E. P.A.C.T., is being referred to as “the simple, evidence-based solution for differentiated instruction and meaningful inclusion.”

• Focus on sameness
• In everyone’s hearts, all means all
• Inclusion has become hidden curriculum
• Remember your “why”
• Move from thinking about performance to an understanding of it
• In order to solve real problems, you need to spend a significant amount of time in the environment that the problems exist
• Trust your gut
• Responsibility is a gift
• Focus on solutions to get through life
• Work smarter not harder
• Make the biggest impact

• 3-3 Exercise : 3 things I feel I did well to make a difference/ 3 things to tweak or shape the next time to better serve
• iPACT App
• Twitter Networking
• Mastermind Groups for “Vital 3”

• Website: https://aboutthepact.com/
• Twitter: @AllAboutTHEPACT

• Email: [email protected]
• Blog: Always A Lesson
• Facebook: Always A Lesson
• Twitter: @gschultek
• Instagram: Always.A.Lesson
• Linkedin: Gretchen Schultek Bridgers
• Google+: Gretchen Schultek Bridgers
• Book: Elementary EDUC 101: What They Didn’t Teach You in College

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Click on ‘Ratings and Reviews.’

Under ‘Customer Reviews,’ click on “Write a Review.”

Sign in with your iTunes or Stitcher log-in info

Leave a Rating: Tap the greyed out stars (5 being the best)

Leave a Review: Type in a Title and Description of your thoughts on my podcast

Click ‘Send’

The summer is upon us and teachers are busy relaxing… nope, teachers are busy preparing for a successful school year. This busyness is translating into going overboard in their preparation- especially due to Pinterest/Instagram photos of classroom set ups and inner workings in other classrooms around the world. Tune in to hear how to deal with the pressure of keeping up and making decisions that solely have an impact on student achievement.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Teachers enjoy decorating their classroom, but making over a classroom with stuff does not improve student achievement or instructional effectiveness. Tune in to hear about 3 characteristics that make over a classroom – and one of them is not classroom décor!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.

Summer break is upon us. Educators spend this time away from the classroom in a variety of ways, and no one way is better than the other. However, we are often quick to share advice on how someone should spend their time and this isn’t often what is best for that particular individual. Tune in to hear how to listen to your summer intuition (regardless of what others are saying) so that you can be your best for your kids in the fall.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/always-lessons-empowering/id1006433135?mt=2

This helps my show remain active in order to continue to help other educators remain empowered in a career that has a long lasting effect on our future.

Search for my show in iTunes or Stitcher.