APLC Change Maker Conversations in Education

This episode brings Dr. Jessica Wise and Sonja Pullen of the Instructional Coaching Group into conversation with co-host Collette Sylvestre and Dr. Rick Gilson about what actually happens when we sit down with another educator. The importance of listening, trust, video and so much more. At the core is value of coaching as together we strive to provide the best learning opportunities for those we teach.

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Our Guest for this episode is Rebecca Bultsma.  Rebecca's website shares a number of resources and recommendations for listening, reading, and trying as you navigate a bit of a new world with AI and, in our case, education.  Presently, Rebecca is completing graduate work in the Ethics of AI at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, travels the world presenting, and co-hosts a podcast AmpED to 11 (Apple and Spotify) of her own on AI and Education —many, many great episodes. You can follow her on LinkedIn. Rebecca lives, when not traveling for school, presentations, and just fun, between two communities, Calgary and Cardston, Alberta.

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Susan shares some of the lessons and strategies she's used over her time career as a Jr High Art Teacher, Comedian and Author. We discuss her books, writing process and some of the lessons she picked up and shared along the way as well as a couple of other books, The Science of Making Friends and the Gap and the Gain over the course of our conversation.

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Podcast Host Dr. Rick Gilson was joined by APLC Designer of Professional Learning Angela DesBarres and our guest for this episode, Dr. Julia Lindsey.  Our conversation covered strategies to support readers in developing foundational skills in phonics, phonemic awareness, and decoding, building fluency and comprehension, with the goal of fostering a lifelong love of reading.  Julia is a champion of ensuring everyone experiences the joy of reading. I love that Julia describes herself as a “phonics nerd.” Her commitment to helping students develop the skills to become lifelong learners and readers has already benefited 1000's of teachers and young readers. 

Show Notes and resources -  https://aplc.ca/lindsey_readingjoy/

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As always we start out with sharing some of our recent books read or currently reading followed by Myron taking us through his lived experience as a teacher and evolution to speaking, presenting and writing about assessment in the classroom and how we might improve our practice in support of learning in our classroom. The author of Giving Students a Say, and Grading Smarter not Harder shares his ideas, and introduces option for improved practice while exploring how we can provide greater assurance to parents and the community that our students are, in fact, learning.

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Canadian Author David Robertson visits with us about his new book released on May 13, 2025 entitled: 52 Ways to Reconcile - How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing. In the course of our conversation David shares his hopes for the book, specifically that it represents an invitation for people of all ages to consider 51 ways he offers readers to engage in the reconciliation process and generate at least one way of their own (the 52nd way discussed in the book.)

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Change Maker Conversations in Education Hosts visit with Katie Garner, the founder of Secret Stories: Cracking the Reading Code with the Brain in mind. Katie shares stories, resources and thoughts on how everyone working with little ones learning how to read for the first time, supporting those who are re-learning how to read following injury or illness, and those learning English as an additional learner can learn the secrets of the alphabet and the sounds and songs they make. Links and book title information included on the APLC website blog post.

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Kim Barker-Kay and Jason Bigcharles (Cree Wāpastim or White Horse) joined Dr. Rick Gilson and Charlie Kraig to share a conversation centred on Kim and Jason's work in developing a comprehensive website and series of YouTube videos to support teachers as they work to imbue Indigenous culture-based learning within the Alberta Curriculum.

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In this episode, we visit with Julie Stern, author of Tools for Teaching: Designing Lessons and Assessments for Deep Learning (Elementary and Secondary editions) and Learning that Transfers: Designing Curriculum for a Changing World. Julie also has a website well worth visiting for resources and examples. It is at https://www.edtochangetheworld.com. Julie discusses teaching for conceptual understanding, sharing examples from classroom visits and examples referring to various books that can be applied to all subjects and all grades.

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Recorded for the Alberta Summer Literacy Institute the YouTube Version of this visit is available on the APLC YouTube channel. David Robertson shares several of his books, sharing his stories and lived experiences in picture books like On the Trapline and through historical fiction, the residential school experience in books like Sugar Falls and When We Were Alone. The award-winning author of the Misewa Saga series, David speaks in schools and is engaged in developing the first Indigenous-run Imprint with Penguin House of Canada. Through this work, David seeks to bring new Indigenous authors to support their writing and publishing. David speaks to the importance of better understanding each other as we share this great country and land.

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