Better Learning Podcast

Amber Harper is a wife, mom, and a proud former classroom teacher from Indiana. She taught first through fifth grades for 12 years. Since becoming a Google Certified Trainer and Innovator, she recently decided to serve a new type of student: burned-out, frustrated, left-behind educators who desire change. Her mission is to help to lead them to a path of fulfillment, happiness, and a feeling of efficiency and effectiveness in their classrooms or schools. 

Amber is available for school workshops, speaking engagements, and as a teacher coach, I also lead small group programs and 1:1 coaching opportunities for educators looking for a true solution to their problem with burnout. Amber is also a Google Trainer and EdTech consultant.

Website Links

Website: www.burnedinteacher.com

Podcast: www.burnedinteacher.com/podcast/

Email: [email protected]

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Kendall Artusi founded Bright Futures Academy - grew it from 48 to 800 students from 2001-2016. During this time she uncovered and reported that the original board of directors participating in an IRS tax scheme ran $65 million dollars thru the school. Kendall ran the school with a staff of up to 100 employees which operated across 4 campuses in 3 municipalities with no management/support company. 

In 2016, Kendall began working for Academica and now oversee 8 schools in PBC, writes charter applications for different programs and am currently opening a new school in South Carolina based off of the Bright Futures Acady Program. The school is called Clear Dot Charter School and will open in Columbia, SC in August 2019. The focus is Global Competency. The school’s sponsor is The Charter Institute at Erskine, and they have been amazing! We are working with MB Kahn Construction and American Charter Development to acquire the site and build the school. 

Kendall is passionate about Charter School Education because she believes in choice; and that families should have an option to send their children to schools with programs that best meet their needs. She wants to help break the cycle of poverty and equally prepare all students to have an opportunity to realize their dreams. 

Website Links:

www.academica.org

www.cleardotcharterschool.org

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Justin Zimmerman joined the Linsly family as Headmaster in 2014, bringing a wide range of experience in the independent school world. After attending boarding school at The Culver Academies in Indiana, he continued on to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he played DIII ice hockey and earned his BS in Natural Science and Biology. He later earned his Master’s Degree in Education from Indiana University. 

Previously, Mr. Zimmerman worked as Dean of Studies and Student Life at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, OH. He also taught AP Environmental Science and Biology at WRA and Culver and coached ice hockey and lacrosse. 

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Dr. Robert Dillon has served as an educational leader throughout the Saint Louis area over the last twenty years as a teacher, principal, and director of innovation. Dr. Dillon has a passion to change the educational landscape by building excellent engaging schools for all students. Dr. Dillon has had the opportunity to speak throughout the country at local, state, and national conferences as well as share his thoughts and ideas in a variety of publications. He is the author of four books on best practices in learning.

Bio: Dr. Robert Dillon

Websites: www.DrRobertDillon.com 

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Will Richardson has been working with school leaders from around the world to reimagine practice in the classroom and professional learning. He is an internationally acclaimed speaker and author on educational technology who is a former public school teacher, a parent of two teenagers, and a pioneer in the use of social media in education.

Bio: Will Richardson

Twitter @willrich45 

Websites: ModernLearners.com Change.School

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Elizabeth Hofreuter the Head of School at Wheeling Country Day School and Julie Cartwright the Director of Advancement at Wheeling Country Day School talk about how WCDS empowers students to think, to create, and to communicate in a nurturing environment where learning and character are paramount.

Cast Website: www.Cast.org

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

John Myers is Director of Marketing and Training for Haskell.  Haskell is dedicated to designing and manufacturing the highest quality furniture for business, education, government, and institutional enterprises.

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Stacy Fretheim is the Executive Director of the Wellington-Alexander Center.  The Wellington-Alexander Center provides intensive intervention services for individuals with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities. The one-of-a-kind, all-inclusive neurodevelopmental screening, assessment and treatment center offers collaborative care for all ages. 

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Mark Hubbard is president and co-owner of Paragon Furniture.  Mark’s primary activity is promotion of Paragon products. Mark frequently interacts with dealers, architects, designers, owner representatives and end-users in order to better understand how the instructional tools of education are transforming learning environments and the furnishings within.

Website: Paragon Furniture

Maker Space: Maker Space Guide

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @ParagonPeople

Facebook: @ParagonFurnitureInc

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller

Mike Sinclair currently serves as the principal of Brashier Middle College Charter High School in Simpsonville, SC.  He has held this position since 2006 when he opened the school with the charter planning board.  Brashier is located on a satellite campus of Greenville Technical College and serves 440 students in grades 9-12 though the middle College model providing dual enrollment courses.  The student body annual performs within the top 10 high schools in South Carolina and 97%-100% graduate on time each year.

Mike graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1994 with a BA in Psychology and received a M.Ed. from Furman University in Educational Leadership in 2002.  In 2012 he was selected as the SC Charter Principal of the Year, and in 2013, received the prestigious Milken Educator Award.

As a teacher, Mike was positioned to lead many professional development opportunities and was convinced that the quality of the teachers serving students was the key to success.  He left the classroom in 2000 to serve as an Instructional Coach, and was assigned as the principal of a middle school in 2002.  That middle school would change his perspective and passion for serving students.  Why should a middle school principal be able to predict with fairly good accuracy which students would not graduate and which students would attend college?  As a Title I principal from a small textile town without a lot of job opportunities, this did not rest well with him.

Today, Mike works closely with his staff to open opportunities for each of his students while working in state organizations and within state government pathways to challenge the traditional model of education and share his passion that every student is “Worth It”.

Website: Brashier Middle College Charter High School

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @BMCCHS

Produced by Shoop Media for Kay-Twelve.com

If you are interested in being on the show or know someone who would be a great guest, please connect with Kevin Stoller