Be A Funky Teacher Podcast

In this episode, I reflect on one of the most meaningful projects of my teaching career—the BAGO Mic Student Podcast. What began as an experiment to help students develop communication and leadership skills quickly became something much bigger. It transformed the way I think about student voice and reminded me just how capable young people really are.

I share how giving students a microphone, a platform, and authentic leadership opportunities allowed them to interview guests, tell their stories, celebrate their community, and grow in confidence. Along the way, I discovered that students don't just need opportunities to answer questions—they need opportunities to ask them, listen deeply, and share experiences that matter.

I also reflect on the incredible growth I witnessed throughout the year. Students became stronger communicators, more confident leaders, and thoughtful interviewers. Most importantly, they learned that their voices matter, and I learned that trusting students with meaningful work often leads to outcomes that exceed our expectations.

As I look ahead, I'm excited that the BAGO Mic has become more than a classroom project. It's now a student leadership legacy that future fifth graders will continue building. My hope is that this reminds all of us to create more opportunities for students to lead, share, and discover the power of their own voices.

• The story behind the BAGO Mic
• Student voice and authentic leadership
• Building communication skills through podcasting
• Confidence, curiosity, and storytelling
• Creating a lasting student legacy
• Lessons I'll carry into the future

• Student voice deserves to be heard.
• Leadership grows through authentic experiences.
• Students often exceed our expectations.
• Confidence develops through meaningful opportunities.
• Lasting legacies begin with one courageous idea.

In this episode, I reflect on my first year at Winnebago Public Schools after spending 22 years in South Sioux City. Starting over wasn't easy, but looking back, I realize this year changed me in ways I never expected. It challenged me, stretched me, and reminded me why I became a teacher in the first place.

I share the biggest lessons I learned throughout the year, including the importance of earning trust, building authentic relationships, listening before leading, and embracing a new community with humility. I also reflect on the incredible students, families, colleagues, and team members who made this transition such a meaningful experience.

One of the greatest gifts of this year was gaining a deeper appreciation for Native culture, student voice, and the power of collaboration. Whether through our fifth-grade team or the BAGO Mic student podcast, I was reminded that education is at its best when people work together and every voice is valued.

As I close this chapter and prepare for another school year, I'm filled with gratitude. This experience reminded me that where we teach may change, but our purpose remains the same—to serve students, build relationships, continue learning, and make a positive difference wherever we're planted.

• Reflecting on my first year at Winnebago
• Starting over after 22 years
• Building trust and relationships
• Student voice and the BAGO Mic
• Learning from Native culture and community
• Lessons I'll carry forward

• Starting over creates opportunities for growth.
• Trust is earned through consistency.
• Relationships remain at the heart of teaching.
• Every student's potential is greater than their circumstances.
• Great educators continue learning alongside their students.

In this episode, I take a step back after the PLC at Work Institute in Las Vegas to reflect on what I'm actually bringing home with me. Attending a conference is one thing, but I believe the real value comes when the notes become action and the inspiration becomes implementation.

As I look back, I realize there wasn't one speaker or one session that stood above the rest. Instead, I noticed common themes that surfaced throughout the conference—culture, relationships, collaboration, wellness, collective efficacy, reflection, and hope. Those are the ideas I want to carry into my classroom, my team, and my school community.

I also reflect on how these themes connect to my own experiences as an educator. Whether it's helping students believe in themselves, working alongside an incredible fifth-grade team, or remembering that relationships are at the heart of everything we do, this conference reminded me why I love teaching and why our work truly matters.

As I head into another school year, I'm challenged to move beyond simply collecting ideas and instead focus on putting them into practice. My hope is that these reflections encourage you to think about what you're taking back from your own learning experiences and how those lessons can make a difference for your students.

• Reflections from the PLC at Work Institute
• Culture vs. climate
• Relationships and collaboration
• Collective efficacy and student growth
• Wellness and educator reflection
• Turning conference learning into action

• Culture is built intentionally every day.
• Relationships remain at the heart of education.
• Collaboration produces stronger outcomes.
• Reflection helps make growth visible.
• Learning matters most when it leads to action.

In this episode, I look at Joseph's story through the lens of faithfulness instead of focusing on injustice or forgiveness. I'm reminded that no matter where Joseph found himself—in a pit, in slavery, in prison, or eventually in the palace—he continued to serve God faithfully and grow where he was planted.

I reflect on how easy it is to wish away difficult seasons, especially in education. Whether it's a challenging class, a difficult school year, or an unexpected transition, Joseph's life reminds me that I may not control where I'm planted, but I do control how I choose to grow.

I also explore the truth that character is often developed long before opportunity arrives. Joseph didn't become faithful when he was promoted. He was already faithful in the hardest places, and those seasons prepared him for the responsibilities that would come later.

As I prepare for another week of teaching, I'm challenged to bloom where God has planted me today. I pray that I'll remain faithful in every season, trusting that God is using both the easy and the difficult moments to shape the teacher—and the person—He is calling me to become.

• Joseph's journey from Genesis 37–50
• Bloom where you're planted
• Character before opportunity
• Faithfulness during difficult seasons
• Classroom application for educators
• Closing prayer for teachers

• Faithfulness is built before success.
• Character grows during difficult seasons.
• We can't always choose where we're planted.
• Students learn from how we live each day.
• God can use every season for His purpose.

In this Saturday Stories episode, I introduce a brand-new Leadership Kit value: Imagination. Leadership isn't always about having the quickest answer or solving the biggest problem. Sometimes leadership begins when someone is willing to imagine a possibility that nobody else has thought about yet.

I share The Unusual Idea, where a group of students is challenged to help new students feel welcome at school. While everyone offers familiar suggestions, one student quietly develops a completely different idea that changes how the group thinks about the challenge.

As I reflect on the story, I encourage students to recognize that creativity often requires courage. Different ideas can feel risky to share, but they also have the power to solve problems in ways that ordinary thinking cannot. Sometimes the idea we're most hesitant to share becomes the one that makes the biggest impact.

I close by encouraging teachers to create classrooms where creativity is celebrated, original thinking is noticed, and students understand they don't have to think exactly like everyone else. Leadership often begins with someone who is willing to ask, "What if?"

• Leadership Kit Value: Imagination
• Story: The Unusual Idea
• Think Differently and Be Creative
• Classroom discussion questions
• Leadership challenge for the week
• Free printable classroom resources

• Leadership begins with imagination.
• Creative ideas deserve to be shared.
• Different thinking can solve problems.
• Courage is often required to share new ideas.
• One creative idea can help many people.

In this episode, I reflect on Eric Twadell’s presentation about moving beyond “PLC Lite” from a national education conference in Las Vegas. His message challenged educators to recognize the difference between talking about improvement and truly committing to the work required for improvement.

Eric pushed schools to examine whether their collaborative teams are meaningfully focused on student learning or simply holding meetings, completing paperwork, and checking boxes. Authentic PLC work requires teams to examine evidence, respond to student needs, hold one another accountable, and take collective responsibility for every student’s success.

I explore several major takeaways from the session, including the importance of the four critical PLC questions, meaningful collaboration, evidence-based decision-making, continuous improvement, accountability, and the shift from individual responsibility to collective responsibility.

The episode also includes reflections on the fifth-grade collaborative team at Winnebago Public Schools. Our team was not perfect, but we created common assessments, examined student evidence, adjusted instruction, and worked together to meet student needs. Real PLC work is not about perfection. It is about commitment.

• Eric Twadell’s challenge to move beyond PLC Lite
• The difference between meetings and meaningful PLC work
• Keeping student learning at the center
• Meaningful collaboration and shared action
• Using evidence to guide instructional decisions
• The four critical questions of a PLC
• Continuous improvement and professional humility
• Accountability as shared responsibility
• Moving from individual to collective responsibility
• Reflections from the fifth-grade collaborative team at Winnebago

• PLC Lite creates meetings without meaningful action.
• The purpose of a PLC is to improve student learning, not complete paperwork.
• Meaningful collaboration requires examining evidence and responding to student needs.
• Data and evidence help teams move beyond assumptions and opinions.
• The four critical questions remain central to effective PLC work.
• Continuous improvement requires persistence, humility, and commitment.
• Healthy accountability strengthens consistency and follow-through.
• Student success and student struggles belong to the entire team.
• Authentic PLC work can be messy and imperfect.
• Real PLC work is not perfection. It is commitment.

In this episode, I reflect on Tim Brown’s presentation about self-efficacy, reflection, and goal setting from a national education conference in Las Vegas. His message focused on helping students recognize their own value, accomplishments, growth, and ability to succeed.

Rather than hearing entirely new ideas, I found myself affirming many practices I have tried to build into my classroom and teacher leadership work over the years. Tim’s session reminded me that those practices matter because students need intentional opportunities to stop, look back, and recognize how much they have grown.

I explore several major takeaways, including why self-efficacy influences persistence, resilience, and achievement; why reflection is often missing from classrooms; how meaningful goals provide direction; and why progress builds confidence. Students do not develop confidence simply because adults tell them to believe in themselves. Confidence grows through experiences and evidence.

The episode concludes with a challenge for educators to help students reflect, identify progress, celebrate accomplishments, and recognize their strengths. When students begin to see evidence of their own growth, they are more likely to believe that continued growth is possible.

• Tim Brown’s session on self-efficacy
• Helping students believe they can succeed
• Why reflection is often missing from learning
• Making student growth visible
• Student-led goal setting
• How progress builds confidence
• Celebrating student accomplishments
• The importance of authenticity and trust
• Helping students recognize their strengths
• Reflection as part of effective teaching

• Self-efficacy influences effort, persistence, resilience, and achievement.
• Students need opportunities to recognize their own growth.
• Reflection helps students make sense of learning and progress.
• Growth often remains invisible until students intentionally look back.
• Meaningful goals provide focus, purpose, and direction.
• Confidence develops through successful experiences and evidence.
• Celebrating progress reinforces effort and persistence.
• Authenticity helps adults build trust with students.
• Students often underestimate their own abilities.
• Great teachers help students imagine possibilities beyond what they currently see.

In this episode, I reflect on Jason Hillman’s powerful presentation about trauma from a national education conference in Las Vegas. Rather than building his session around a framework or school improvement strategy, Jason shared his family’s deeply personal experiences with breast cancer, his own health challenges, and his daughter’s eating disorder.

His story reminds us that trauma does not only affect students. Trauma impacts teachers, administrators, parents, families, and entire communities. What we see on the outside may be connected to grief, fear, stress, or pain that remains invisible to those around us.

I explore several important takeaways from Jason’s session, including the idea that behavior often has a backstory, invisible struggles are still real, relationships can become lifelines, and empathy and expectations can coexist. Understanding trauma does not require educators to abandon accountability. It helps us provide accountability with greater compassion and support.

The episode concludes with a personal story about a teacher from my childhood who was undergoing cancer treatment and a lesson my mom taught me: all people have problems. We may never fully know what another person is carrying, but remembering that reality can change how we teach, lead, and respond to others.

• Jason Hillman’s personal presentation about trauma
• Trauma’s impact on students, adults, and families
• Why behavior often has a backstory
• The reality of invisible struggles
• Grief and how it changes people
• Relationships as lifelines during difficult seasons
• The positive and negative influence of one person
• Balancing empathy with expectations
• How resilience can be developed
• Schools as places of safety, consistency, and healing
• A childhood lesson about compassion

• Behavior often has a backstory.
• Trauma affects adults and families as well as students.
• Invisible struggles are still real.
• Grief can change how people experience and respond to the world.
• Relationships can become lifelines during difficult seasons.
• One caring person can have an enormous positive influence.
• One unhealthy relationship can also leave lasting wounds.
• Empathy and accountability can coexist.
• Resilience can grow through relationships, support, hope, and perseverance.
• Understanding someone’s story can change how we teach and lead.

In this episode, I reflect on Regina Stephens Owens’ presentation about physical, mental, and relational wellness from a national education conference in Las Vegas. Teaching is deeply rewarding, but it can also be physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. Regina reminded educators that caring for ourselves is not another task to add to an already crowded list. It is necessary if we want to sustain this work.

I share several ways her message connected to my own life, including losing my mom, participating in grief therapy, making difficult professional decisions, improving my physical health, and losing around 80 pounds. These experiences have reminded me that wellness affects every part of who we are and how effectively we can serve students, families, and colleagues.

The episode also explores the importance of healthy relationships, appropriate boundaries, asking for help, and moving beyond merely surviving. Educators often become skilled at getting through the day or making it to the next break, but the goal should be more than survival. We should be able to experience joy, purpose, fulfillment, and genuine well-being at work and at home.

The episode concludes with a challenge for educators to take an honest inventory of their physical, mental, and relational wellness. Taking care of yourself is not selfish. It is stewardship. The people we serve benefit when we are healthy enough to continue showing up with energy, compassion, wisdom, and purpose.

• Regina Stephens Owens’ wellness presentation
• Physical, mental, and relational wellness
• Why teaching must be approached as a marathon
• Reflections on losing approximately 80 pounds
• Grief, therapy, and learning to carry loss
• Relationships as an essential part of wellness
• Healthy boundaries for educators
• Why asking for help demonstrates strength
• Moving from surviving to thriving
• Educator wellness as part of school improvement

• Teaching is a marathon, not a sprint.
• Physical health influences energy, patience, focus, and resilience.
• Mental health is connected to professional effectiveness.
• Grief does not simply disappear; we learn how to carry it.
• Healthy relationships are an essential part of wellness.
• Appropriate boundaries help educators sustain their ability to serve.
• Asking for support is a sign of courage, not weakness.
• Educators should strive to thrive rather than merely survive.
• Investing in educator wellness is part of school improvement.
• Taking care of yourself is stewardship, not selfishness.

In this episode, I reflect on Anthony Muhammad’s presentation, Transforming School Culture 2.0, from a national education conference in Las Vegas. His message reinforced one of the strongest themes from the entire conference: school culture influences nearly everything that happens inside a building.

Anthony challenged educators to look beyond slogans, programs, and mission statements and examine the behaviors of the adults who create the daily school experience. Culture shapes relationships, collaboration, trust, student achievement, and the way both students and staff feel when they enter a school.

I share several major takeaways from his session, including the difference between culture and climate, the importance of accountability, the reasons people naturally resist change, and why safe and comfortable are not always the same thing. I also explore how mission, vision, and values create alignment and why schools must intentionally build back hope.

The episode concludes with a reflection on the responsibility every educator has to build and protect culture. Culture is not created by administrators alone. It is shaped through every interaction, decision, relationship, and behavior. The culture we create today influences tomorrow’s outcomes and eventually becomes part of the legacy we leave behind.

• Anthony Muhammad’s Transforming School Culture 2.0 session
• Why culture influences nearly every part of a school
• The difference between culture and climate
• How adult behavior shapes student experiences
• Accountability as responsibility rather than punishment
• Understanding resistance to change
• Why safety and comfort are not the same
• Mission, vision, values, and organizational alignment
• Building back hope in schools
• Protecting culture through shared leadership
• Reflections from Winnebago Public Schools

• Culture influences relationships, collaboration, achievement, and student experiences.
• Culture is how people behave, while climate is how people feel.
• Students experience the culture adults create.
• Healthy cultures balance support with accountability.
• Understanding resistance helps leaders respond with patience.
• Growth often requires discomfort within a safe environment.
• Mission provides purpose, vision provides direction, and values guide behavior.
• Hope can be rebuilt through intentional leadership and collective effort.
• Everyone in a school can help lead and protect its culture.
• The culture created today becomes part of a school’s lasting legacy.