Always A Lesson's Empowering Educators Podcast

Effective leaders balance being in control and being a friend to those they lead. Teachers can struggle with managing their classrooms and helping students reach academic success. Tune in to learn how effective teachers lead from the side so that they can build relationships that last with their kids but also maintain order in the classroom.

Email: [email protected]

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.

Joann is an educator of over 20 years. She began her career as a TA at an elementary school in Memphis, Tennessee. She was drawn to special education and worked with boys in the juvenile system as well as medically fragile students. Joann has experience at the middle school level in a self-contained life skills classroom, as well as both an inclusion K-5 and preschool classroom. She received her principal and superintendent certification while being a behavior instructional coach for her school district in charge of completing AYP analysis. Quickly after, she moved to an AP role at an elementary school before moving to Austin, Texas for her current role working for Region 13 Education Service Center as a Special Education Specialist supervising first year teacher interns and providing PD. Each day, she asks herself “How have you inspired potential today?” and every day, she can answer that question with evidence and confidence that she has made a positive impact no matter how big or small.

Quotables

• All teachers need support
• Becoming a great teacher didn’t happen overnight
• A great teacher is someone who cares that every student every day learns and grows and feels like a real human being- you’re teaching the whole child!
• Constantly remind your students and teach them and review your classrooms rules, procedures and expectations
• Students crave structure. Teachers crave support.

Connect with Joann

• Email: [email protected]
• Twitter: @region13
• Website:
• http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/
• http://www4.esc13.net/
• http://kids.esc13.net/

Connect with Gretchen

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

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?

• 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’

It’s important to know how you as an individual need to be motivated in order to do your best so that you can a) locate the leader for you b) advocate for yourself. Tune in to hear how educators can succeed in the classroom by knowing their number 1 motivator and finding a leader, the shepherd, who can give it to them, the sheep, consistently.

Email: [email protected]

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 come in all shapes and sizes in terms of their style and personality. Some are loud and circulate the classroom constantly. Others are quiet and remain at the board to share their knowledge. The most important factor in a classroom is student learning and that is tied to teacher effectiveness. The truth is that teacher effectiveness doesn’t have to be cookie cutter. There are great teachers whose classrooms look and sound completely different. Tune in to hear how you can still be you AND be an effective teacher- even if its not by the current trends.

Email: [email protected]

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.

The paper trap is a real thing in the world of education. Teachers often struggle with their mental health and the paper trap is one of the most popular reasons why. Tune in to hear strategies for how to unlock 5 typical paper traps all in a teacher’s day!

Email: [email protected]

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.

Effective leaders are reflective in how the way they lead affects others. If you wouldn’t follow you, what makes you think others will? Tune in to hear how to self evaluate your leadership and make changes today that will have a positive impact tomorrow!

Connect with Gretchen

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?

Matthew is the founder of Academic Approach, an organization that helps schools in underserved communities prepare students for the SAT and ACT, the tests they need to succeed on to gain admission to college. He’s also a former New York City teacher. He says “aligning high-impact test preparation with curriculum and instruction is not easy work, but it’s valuable and necessary. Often this work is approached as an “either-or:” either I focus on test prep or I focus on my curriculum. If you can approach the challenge as a “both-and” instead, you can find some efficient, creative solutions: I can both teach my curriculum and integrate in skills-based test preparation that teaches my students the high-impact skills they need for success both in my class and on the test. With the right assessment, reporting, and professional development system in place, we can achieve that all-important “both-and” in teaching and learning.”

• “Teach beyond the test”
• “With the proper mentorship, students can fail forward… a lesson in resilience”
• “The way [students] experience failure can be positive and productive or paralyzing”
• “If you do take a student centered view of teaching, you never are done because there’s always a new student and each student is different”

• Locus of control
• Growth mindset
• Grit
• Rigorous academic approach
• Self Conception

• Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins (“backwards design” and “teaching for transfer”)

Connect with Matthew

• Website: https://www.academicapproach.com
• Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-pietrafetta-45558917?trk=extra_biz_connect_hb_upphoto 
• Academic Approach Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Academic-Approach-107012349498/timeline/
• Academic Approach Twitter: https://twitter.com/AcademicApprch
• Academic Approach LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/academic-approach

Connect with Gretchen

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

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?

• 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 field of education is full of amazing moments, but all good things have moments that can tarnish or discourage us. Our destiny has a lot to do with how we handle those rougher moments. They can be the moments that define us and strengthen our resolve or they can destroy us. Tune in to hear how to use these moments so that they are not wasted, but utilized to catapult you into your potential.

Connect with Gretchen

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?

To get to the next level in your leadership journey, you need to surround yourself with people who possess the skills that you need to get there. Tune in to hear about 4 categories of people that will help build your tribe towards career success.

Quotables

Connect with Gretchen

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?

Being successful is not easy. It often requires a lot of hard work behind the scenes and the journey tends to not be a straight line. The frustration felt while trying to become successful can seem insurmountable. Tune in to hear two things you can do today to ensure success as an educator!

Quotables

Connect with Gretchen

Leave a Rating and Review

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

Why?

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.

How?