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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Our last podcast episode of the 2023-2024 school year features Matthew (Matt) Johnson a Michigan area English teacher who has taught grade 6 - 12. Matt has written several books and his most recent book comes out during the summer of 2024 entitled:

Good Grammar, Grades 6-12: Joyful and Affirming Language Lessons That Work for More Students 

Don't fall over; it's not a mistake. Joyful and Grammar in the same sentence. Matt shares several ways by which teachers can better approach grammar in speaking and writing.

Matt mentions the ‘Da Art of Storytelling essay by Kiese Laymon as another resource to consider. Matt's own websitecontains a section with summaries of his books and links to his submissions to several journals and other resources. 

Matt also invites us to look at the choices that others make in their social media post, pulling texts and (X)/Twitter posts into the writing and into the writing structure. Little Nas X to Taylor Swift.

Every English teacher can benefit from this podcast as Matt discusses assessment practices and the mechanics of helping students enhance their understanding and application of the mechanics of English.

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This Changer Maker Conversations in Education—Literacy Across the Curriculum podcast episode features two outstanding educators, Michelle Bence and Michelle Ramzy. This dynamic duo came together through proximity in work and postgraduate studies, sharing a deep commitment to literacy instruction that has led them to share their understanding of the work with educators. Avid readers(no surprise there), Michelle and Miriam share thoughts on several professional and personal titles, thoughts on helping students read and write and the importance of seeking out sound research and methodologies to support the work. You can find them online through their Layers of Literacy website. The Alberta Professional Leaning Consortium (APLC) is grateful for the opportunities to partner in sharing their understanding through this podcast and sessions we've hosted and look forward to hosting moving forward. 

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​​Rebekah O'Dell believes in the power of choice, authenticity, and students' voices in the reading and writing classroom.

Travelling the country to work with teachers and students provides constant inspiration as she helps educators do the hard and transformative work of teaching real writing. In public and independent schools, she taught middle and high school students at all levels -from inclusion to AP and IB classes. In addition to being a real-time classroom teacher, Rebekah co-founded Moving Writers - movingwriters.org  and is the author of Writing With Mentors (Heinemann 2015) and Beyond Literary Analysis (Heinemann, January 2018).

Rebekah shares several insights into working with students to develop stronger writers and readers, resources for teachers to support that work and their development as mentor readers and writers.

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When you are blessed with an opportunity to visit with an individual whose career has been dedicated to helping children learn how to read and love reading, the conversation will be a good one. When you add decades of service as a professor at the University of Lethbridge, dedicated in large part to helping pre-service teachers develop the skills to support the instruction of all aspects of literacy, you are really on to something special. When it turns out that your guest is also a voracious reader of detective mystery novels that feed a desire to know more about other places around the world, that's just fun. Our podcast conversation with Dr. Robin Bright of the University of Lethbridge was all that and more.

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In this episode, Charlie Kraig and Rick Gilson visit with a long-time friend and colleague, Joanne Pitman, who was recently appointed as Chief Superintendent of the Calgary Board of Education or CBE. Jo (as she prefers to be called) shares some thoughts on her most recent read - and re-read, "What We Owe the Future" by William MacAskill and how it has influenced her thinking and work as a system leader and human sharing planet Earth. The episode draws to a close with Jo sharing one of many great poems from the book, "Leading from Within: Poetry that sustains the courage to lead."

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