Seyyed Sharifi is an educator at Hartvigsen School in Taylorsville, Utah, where he works in the Post High School program for 18-22 year olds with severe disabilities. Last year Seyyed was chosen from more than 2200 nominations for the Granite Education Foundation’s Excel Awards and he received the Granite School District Teacher of the Year in 2024. He continues to be recognized for his work: Seyyed was named a Finalist for the Utah Teacher of the Year in 2025, and recently was recognized as a University of Utah Outstanding Public Educator of the Year for 2025. Seyyed grew up in Utah, went to Kearns High School, and recently completed his Master’s degree of Education in Special Education with an emphasis on mild to moderate disabilities. 

In this episode, Seyyed describes his philosophy of teaching, Connection over Everything, the importance of really seeing his students, and the unique approach he’s taking in his classroom to help his nonverbal students experience activities they might not otherwise and to communicate their needs. He shares the family history and the need for healing that led him to teaching. As he describes the challenges and rewards of teaching in the field of special education it becomes apparent how invaluable the work is for students and their families, how desperately the field needs more teachers, and how difficult it is to retain them. 

For more about Seyyed and his award as Granite School District Teacher of the Year:

https://www.taylorsvillecityjournal.com/2024/05/06/490799/hartvigsen-school-instructor-named-granite-school-district-teacher-of-the-year

For more on Seyyed’s father’s book: 

A Square Sky: A True Story of a Prisoner in Afghanistan, by Ahmad Sharifi

One of the most challenging aspects of engaging in political discussions in a country with a bipartisan government has been the polarization of views, not only nationwide but in communiies, workplaces, neighborhoods, families, classrooms. Wisconsin is considered a “purple state,” where Democrat and Republican parties have similar levels of support among voters. This is the environment in which Ann Herrera Ward taught government in high school for twenty years. Ann earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before working in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven years. She then obtained her teaching license at Marquette University, where she also earned a master’s degree in instructional leadership. Ann was a government teacher at the high school level in Milwaukee for twenty years. While teaching, she worked on a doctorate degree in Curriculum and Instruction, completing her dissertation research on discussing politics in polarized environments in 2012. She went on to teach methodology and to guide and coach student teachers at Carroll University, Marquette University, and the University of Wisconsin Madison, before she retired two years ago. And she continues to finds way to share her passion for civic education, through teaching civics courses online for Wisconsin Virtual School.

In this episode, Ann describes how she persisted in teaching political discussions in the polarized environment of a purple state. She taught mock elections for years in her AP Government and AP Political Science courses despite divisions among students, including during a rare gubernatorial recall election. She describes the methods she used with high school students and taught to student teachers that foster an open classroom climate where students can learn from structured academic controversies. And she provides a variety of resources where teachers, parents, and other adults can learn more about those methods and curricula and engage in potentially polarized discussions themselves. One of the worst things we can do for young future voters, she cautions, is to make them afraid to talk about controversies, which feels like timely advice for voters of every age.

Find out more about the resources Ann mentioned regarding curriculum around structured academic controversy, which can also provide guidance for establishing discussion norms in polarized political environments:

Deliberating on a Democracy, through Constitutional Rights Foundation:

http://did.deliberating.org/about_us/index.html

https://teachdemocracy.org/programs

Street Law:

https://streetlaw.org/

Facing History and Ourselves:

https://www.facinghistory.org/

Choices, from Brown University

https://www.choices.edu/

The Political Classroom, by Diana Hess and Diana McAvoy

https://education.wisc.edu/news/the-political-classroom-holds-potential-to-reduce-partisan-divide/ 

News Literacy Project

https://newslit.org/

Inquiry-based Social Studies (developed by teachers)

https://www.inquired.org/ 

For adults: Living Room Conversations (community civics curriculum beyond high school)

https://livingroomconversations.org/

Gubernatorial recall election Ann mentioned:  https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/06/05/154384654/live-blog-wisconsin-decides-governors-fate-in-recall-vote

Angie Johnson is one of the founding members and now the principal of the Mountain West Montessori Academy in South Jordan, Utah, which has served Kindergarten through 9th grade students as a tuition-free public charter school since 2013. The school’s mission is founded on Montessori philosophy and is to facilitate student-centered learning and intellectual curiosity through an individualized and interdisciplinary curriculum, hands-on experience, and community involvement. 

In this episode Angie shares what drew her to the Montessori philosophy and to offering a more equitable public Montessori program. She discusses the key ways the system of Montessori differs from the traditional approach to education, and what is possible with its mastery-based learning model and choices within limits. She describes how the teachers can be experts and artists in interpreting diagnostics and offering a differentiated curriculum based on the materials and resources in a Montessori classroom.

Angie addresses the challenges of balancing this educational method, which is founded on mixed-age classrooms and early childhood development, with the charter school random lottery system. She shares the rewards of seeing children grow and develop long-lasting habits through practicing executive function skills, learning to prioritize time and interests through choice, and practicing conflict resolution skills at different ages through the peace education program. Students in the middle school program complete a capstone project, an interest-based study, for an entire year, evidence of the groundwork of the previous years in keeping them engaged and developing self-efficacy.

Find out more about the Montessori method: https://www.mwmacademy.org/montessori_method

Check out Mountain West Montessori Academy’s podcast since 2019: Do you See? Topics include anxiety, interviews with students, gratitude, power struggles, conflict resolution, and many others!

https://www.mwmacademy.org/podcast

For more about the use of the Waseca Rainbow boxes Angie mentions in relation to literacy building:  

https://mcguffeymontessori.com/spelling-with-the-rainbow-boxes-in-lower-elementary/

In the last episode we heard about the mental health needs of college athletes and how they are met at a Division I university. In this episode we hear about how their academic needs are met. An outstanding former high school and college student-athlete herself, Mary Chris Finnigan combines a love of the energy of sports with an extensive background in academic counseling. She played college basketball at the University of California Santa Barbara. She served as the head girls’ basketball coach for her former high school for eight years, where she also worked as a guidance counselor and served as the Director of the Counseling Center for eight of her thirteen years there.

Since July 2018 Mary Chris has been the Director of Academics for the Athletics department at the University of Utah, a public research university in Salt Lake City. In this role she and her staff support the 500 student-athletes at the University in becoming independent learners, while also ensuring they have a positive student-athlete experience. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Mary Chris is the day-to-day academic advisor for the University’s baseball, golf, men’s basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball teams. 

In this episode, Mary Chris describes the many aspects of her work and its challenges and rewards. She shares insights into the needs of student athletes on many different levels and what it means to have a positive student-athlete experience; the pressures of timely tracking of NCAA eligibility, complicated by recent changes in NIL; and the importance of building relationships from recruitment through degree completion.

After 18 years working in corporate sales, Nic Collins decided to go back to school to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. He is now working in an internship for the athletics department at the University of South Carolina, where he is one of many resources on the Mental Health and Performance Team for student-athletes. Nic also advocates for mental health, writes, and is a talented musician, coach, and guest speaker. He is one of the two dynamic hosts of The Constant Quest podcast, which explores topics around personal growth and inspiration and how different people find them.

In this episode, Nic shares about why he went back to school, why educating about mental health is important to him, how therapy is helpful for college athletes, and the challenges and rewards of his role offering one-on-one counseling for athletes at the University of South Carolina.

Listen to Nic and Taylor’s The Constant Quest Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-constant-quest-podcast/id1661138894

https://open.spotify.com/show/46lJOsOUptOX0a2ani4ozr?si=d00510b8c5ad477c

Find out more about mental health advocacy through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health Awareness Month (May) at https://www.nami.org/get-involved/awareness-events/mental-health-awareness-month/

Sydney Parks completed a Masters program in Ecological Economics with a Flipped Classroom model at the University of Edinburgh last year. Before completing this program in Scotland, Sydney had earned a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, and worked as a Synthetic Biology researcher in the biotechnology sector. In that work she encountered scientists who had an in-depth understanding of their subject area, confidence from that deep understanding, and fluidity in the way they could speak about it. She realized that the way she learned in school–taking in lectures with content determined by the teacher, memorizing facts, and competing and striving for good grades–a passive learning model, did not give her the same kind of confidence or fluency. When considering graduate programs, Sydney sought a more active learning experience, which led her to choose the University of Edinburgh's program because of its use of the flipped classroom.

In this episode, Sydney shares how through this education model she unlearned former habits and beliefs about education and became a more inclusive and empathetic teacher and student with her peers.

For more on the Flipped Classroom model:

https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/flipped-classroom-pros-ands-cons/

For more on Ecological Economics at the University of Edinburgh:

https://geosciences.ed.ac.uk/applicants/postgraduate-taught/ecological-economics

https://economicpluralism.org/pluralist-courses/ecological-economics-sruc-the-university-of-edinburgh/

For more on active learning:

https://cei.umn.edu/teaching-resources/active-learning

In addition to hearing from people who are currently inside the classroom, I enjoy meeting, and hearing the stories of, people who are using their experiences and skills to try to make the educational system better in some way. Dr. Bryan Hale's career in the educational system spans over 25 years. He has been a high school math teacher in Ohio, an assistant principal in North Carolina, and a Principal of a K-8 school and then a charter high school in the Chicagoland area, where he considered becoming a superintendent. His doctoral research on Holistic Wellness in Education and the six domains of wellness eventually led him to shift direction. Now he uses his research and experience as an educator to support school communities. He works with school leaders on building school culture through a wellness lens. 

In this episode, Bryan shares about the challenges and rewards of his years in the educational system, as well as the student who was his inspiration to research the six domains of wellness: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental. He discusses how helpful it can be for the intellectual wellness of a school environment to identify areas of (un)wellness for students and how those can impact learning. In his work with schools, through qualitative and quantitative data, Bryan helps adults identify the driving forces behind student behaviors. This can lead to increased awareness of student and educator needs.

For more information about Bryan’s work, or to schedule a call or zoom chat, he can be reached at [email protected] .

We’re ending Season 2 with insights from a statewide-recognized coach of the year. Amanda Wolff is an English teacher and the Head Coach of both the Girls’ and Boys’ Cross-Country and Track programs at Cyprus High School, a Title I school in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under her leadership over the past five years, the team has grown from 55 participating athletes to 130. The Girls’ Cross-Country team took Regionals last year, and the team placed 6th overall in the State. The Girls’ Track and Field team took Regionals for the first time since 1978! Amanda was named the Utah Track and Cross Country Association (UTCCA) 5A Coach of the Year, and was also recognized as the statewide Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) Girls’ Cross-Country Coach of the Year in 2024.

In this episode, Amanda shares how it’s an ongoing process learning to balance full-time teaching and being a head coach. She describes how her athletes shifted their mindset, from feeling defined by the stereotypes they faced as a high school on the “west side,” to believing in themselves and becoming a team that can compete with any other team in the state. Though her roles take a lot of time, as a former high school and college athlete herself, with coaches that changed her life, Amanda appreciates the opportunity to be a trusted adult in her students’ lives, someone who guides and believes in them. “We’re a family,” she says about her program. Her philosophy of teaching and coaching is that relationship-building is key, so that kids feel safe and keep showing up, in order for learning to happen. She credits bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress for inspiring that philosophy.

Rachel Bartholomew is currently an instructional coach for both an elementary school and a Title I junior high school in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before that Rachel taught reading for 20 years in all three levels of school: elementary, middle school/junior high, and high school, and in three different states: North Carolina, Washington state, and Utah. Rachel also coached volleyball, basketball, and track and field at the junior high level for 10 years. 

In this episode, Rachel shares about what has kept her going through 20+ years as an educator. She discusses how instructional coaching differs from teaching, how we can benefit from a “culture of coaching” that can help us improve and grow, and the particular skill set that she brings to it from her own experiences as teacher and athletics coach. She describes how teaching has shifted in the last 20 years, and gives examples of how she has and has not been able to help various educators in her goal of making it easier for them so students know what they’re supposed to be doing and more learning can occur. Throughout the episode, Rachel addresses questions about the feedback cycle, evidence, growth, proficiency, resistance, and shares what she has found to be the most powerful question she can ask educators (and they can ask themselves). Ultimately, Rachel says, her work comes down to relationship, and connection is everything. 

Find about more about collective efficacy: https://ascd.org/blogs/three-actions-for-building-a-culture-of-collective-ef-cacy

Kids These Days https://www.drjodycarrington.com/

Teachers These Days  https://www.drjodycarrington.com/

Jimmy D. Hart, Chief Empowerment Officer of Hart Global Industries  is an author, coach, speaker and trainer. He has been involved in education for 31 years, in roles ranging from teacher and coach, to site administrator, middle school and high school principal, and district administrator. Now he uses his extensive experience to help school districts put the R.A.I. framework, which stands for Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion, into practice. He offers leadership training and coaching for adults, and is committed to facilitating consistent and equitable access to resources and interventions for all students, regardless of their background or circumstances. 

In this episode, Jimmy discusses how the R.A.I. framework provides actionable words that give administrators, educators, and students alike the opportunity to self-reflect on unselfish practices–how they can use Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion to be better versions of themselves. They help school leaders ask, How are we serving the people within the organizations that we’re responsible for leading? Jimmy shares how Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion put the emphasis on human capital, and provide an atmosphere for connectivity. At the heart of the framework is a sense of community and belonging because it helps us to consider, Who’s not at the table?

Find out more about Jimmy and Hart Global Industries and subscribe to the email list at https://www.jimmyhartglobal.com/

For more about the impact of the RAI framework for Tanque Verde Unified School District in Southern Arizona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onH2KChBOW4