Classroom Q and A

There is no shortage of advice for teaching and teachers. Among the recommendations, some are duds, some are cliches, and some are invaluable gems. In the episode, we discuss the best teaching advice we’ve received in our careers.

Follow on Twitter: @EmilyGolightly3 @cseroyer @JennyVo15 @MCUSDSupe @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork, @Jonharper70bd

Emily Golightly has taught for the past 17 years in NC, serving as a classroom teacher in grades K-3, a reading specialist, an ESL teacher, and most recently, a media coordinator of a K-5 library. She enjoys her role as an ESL mentor teacher. She is also passionate about literacy and has served on her local and state-level reading associations. She is a member of the North Carolina English Learner Advisory Council and the NC EL Teacher Network. Chelonnda Seroyer began her educational career as a high school English teacher in Madison, Alabama. She used Dr. Wong’s book, The First Days of School, as an “instruction manual” to set up her classroom. At the end of her first year of teaching she was awarded the “Bob Jones First Year Patriot Award”. At the end of her second year of teaching, she was awarded the “Patriot Award.” This award is given to a faculty member in recognition of valuable contributions, dedication, and service to the educational community. PJ Caposey is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, consultant and a best-selling author of eight books who currently serves as the Superintendent of Schools for the nationally recognized Meridian CUSD 223 in Northwest Illinois. You can find PJ on most social media platforms as MCUSDSupe.

How do we teach critical thinking when reason, evidence, and logic are increasingly displaced with an unwillingness to examine facts that conflict with our strongly-held beliefs.

Follow on Twitter: @msdarasavage @riordan_meg @brownpatrick8 @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork, @Jonharper70bd

Dara Laws Savage is a 26-year educator from the great state of Delaware. She has served on numerous local, regional, and state committees, and has been Teacher of the Year in two different districts. She is an Emeritus national faculty member of PBLWorks, and is presently the English 9 teacher and Instructional Coach at the Early College High School at Delaware State University while working on her doctorate. Dara is a proud Board of Education member for the Seaford School District (alumna) and the owner of Savage Educational Consulting. Meg Riordan, Ph.D. is the Chief Learning Officer for The Possible Project, entrepreneurship and work-based learning program that works to advance economic equity by supporting young people to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, skills, and networks to launch successful careers. She has been in the field of education for almost 30 years as a middle and high school teacher, ELL instructor, college professor, Regional Director of NYC Outward Bound Schools, and Director of External Research with EL Education. She was a Deeper Learning Equity Fellow and her research focuses on teacher professional learning, equity, experiential learning, and scaling-up school designs. Patrick Brown is executive director of STEM for the Fort Zumwalt School District and author of the National Science Teaching Association best-selling book series Instructional Sequence Matters.

Join us for a discussion about how to make primary sources more engaging and relevant starting with a list of dos and don’ts.

Follow on Twitter: @sarahjcooper01 @larryferlazzo @jonHarper70bd @cmurcray @shellthief @bamradionetwork @dlshrum65

Sarah Cooper teaches eighth-grade U.S. history and is Dean of Studies at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Canada. She is the author of Making History Mine. Kevin Thomas Smith is an award-winning Social Studies teacher at Ridgeview High School in Clay County, Florida; an AP Reader for the College Board; and the author of Teaching With DBQs: Helping Students Analyze Nonfiction and Visual Texts. Donna L. Shrum is an educator, researcher, and freelance writer in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

The ranks of English language learners will likely expand under the new administration in Washington D.C. In this episode, we explore in-person and remote strategies for teaching newcomers to the country and our classrooms.

Follow on Twitter: @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork @Love4ELs @irina_mcgrath @jonHarper70bd @michelleshory

Luiza Palacio has been a Spanish and an ESL teacher for 19 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Languages: English-French and an MA in TESOL from Greensboro College. I believe it is a priority to reach students’ hearts because once this is accomplished, learning can successfully start. She is currently the K-12 ESL/MEP Lead Teacher in Northampton County Schools. Irina McGrath is an ESL expert and English Language Learner herself. She serves Jefferson County Public Schools as an Education Recovery Specialist. She is a co-director of the Louisville Writing Project (LWP) and a University of Louisville & Indiana University Southeast adjunct who teaches ESL/ENL Instruction as well as Assessment, Literature, and Cultural and Linguistic Diversity courses. Irina was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. Michelle Shory is a veteran language educator with 24 years of experience in five states. She is currently a district ESL instructional coach in Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville, KY. She is passionate about literacy and high quality (and engaging) professional learning. Michelle helped establish Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Louisville.

Recalling information from memory when needed is a form of retrieval practice. Join us for a discussion on how retrieval practice helps enhance and boosts learning and strategies for using retrieval practice in your classroom.

Luiza Mureseanu is an instructional resource teacher-K-12, for ESL/ELD programs, in Peel District School Board, Ontario, with over 17 years of teaching middle and high school students in Canada and Romania. She believes that all English-learners will be successful in schools that cultivate culturally and linguistically responsive practices.Vivian Micolta Simmons was born in Cali, Colombia, but relocated to the United States in 2013. She has been a teacher for 15 years (EFL, ESL, and Dual Immersion) and currently working as an ESL/DLI Lead Teacher for Iredell-Statesville Schools in NC. She holds a Masters in TESOL from Greensboro College and currently working on my Masters in School Administration with UNC Charlotte. Blake Harvard teaches AP Psychology at James Clemens High School in Madison, Alabama. He has been teaching for 14 years and received a B. S. And M. Ed. from the University of Montevallo. He has a particular affinity for all things cognition and psychology; especially when those areas are paired with education and learning. Blog www.effortfuleducator.com.

In this episode, we look at what we've learned from pandemic teaching and learning that we will take forward and incorporate into our classroom practices when we return to normal.

Follow on Twitter: @KaylaSolinsky @MrsSaid17 @ccpsesolteam @olgareber 

Kayla Solinsky is Head of School at Macbeth Academy, a virtual K12 school. Kayla has been an educator for eleven years, and is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Pittsburgh. She is fascinated by all things education, technology, and nonprofit leadership. Sarah Said has spent years overseeing ELL programming in schools in Illinois.  In addition to her current role as a Director of Language and Equity programs, she is also a contributor for ELL Confianza. She is also a course writer for English Learner portal. Pamela Mesta's experience includes district-level administration, ESOL, bilingual, elementary, early childhood, educational technology, professional development, interpretation/translation and higher education.  She works as an ESOL supervisor in a public school district. Olga Reber's experience includes ESOL, EFL, professional development, interpretation/translation and higher education. She works as an ESOL Resource Teacher in a public school district. Pamela and Olga are also the authors of the book: The Classroom Teacher's Guide to Supporting English Language Learners.

Most discussions about culturally responsive teaching are rarely discussed in the context of teaching science.  In this episode, we talk about how to apply the instructional model in science classrooms.

@TaraCDale @teachanTravel1  @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork, @Jonharper70bd

Autumn Kelley is a professional educator here in the Washington, DC metro area. and has 20 years of experience in the field of education and absolutely love what I do. She has experience as a teacher, school administrator, author, curriculum development and publication, speaking engagements at national conferences and consultation for executive boards at private schools. Tara Dale, a Nationally Board-Certified teacher (NBCT), has taught science and social studies in the 7-12 setting for 14 years.  She earned her B.S. in Psychology and another in Biology from Arizona State University and her Masters in Secondary Education from the University of Phoenix. She is an instructional coach and sits on the Board of Directions for the AZ NBCT Network. She is the co-author of The Science Teacher’s Toolbox.

Our guest shares the strategies her school uses to encourage students to own their learning. Join us as we look at strategies for encouraging risk-taking, flexibility, and creativity to achieve higher levels of student engagement.

Follow on Twitter: @janicewyattross @larryferlazzo @jonHarper70bd @bamradionetwork

Dr. Wyatt-Ross has a Bachelor's in Special Education from the University of Central Arkansas, a Master's in Special Education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Doctorate in Urban Educational Leadership from the University of Cincinnati. Presently she is employed as the Program Director for Success Academy of Fayette County Public Schools.

Join us for a discussion about racism in the classroom and how educators can help. Our guests offer books, blogs, podcasts, resources, recommendations, and specific actions we can take.

Follow on Twitter: @klrembert @HarrisLeads @larryferlazzo @jonHarper70bd @bamradionetwork

Keisha Rembert is a passionate learner and fierce equity advocate. She was an award-winning middle school ELA and United States History teacher who now instructs preservice teachers. She hopes to change our world one student at a time. Dr. Denita Harris is a Curriculum Coordinator for the MSD of Wayne Township, Indianapolis, Indiana. She has over 20 years of experience as a teacher, assistant principal, and district-level administrator. She is the recipient of the 2019 INTESOL (Indiana Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Best of the Best in K-12 Education. Tameka Porter, Ph.D., is a Managing Consultant at McREL International. Dr. Porter serves as the State Co-Lead for Nebraska at the Region 11 Comprehensive Center and for Kansas at the Region 12 Comprehensive Center. She supervises projects that support state and local education agencies as they apply equity-driven data approaches to improve student achievement outcomes, establish evidence-based practices and policies for measuring continuous school improvement, and examine school redesign processes.

Data-driven? data-informed? data analysis? Join us as we unpack our thinking and use of data in education to separate what works from what does not.

Follow on Twitter: @DeedyCamarena, @Lnifong0320 @CindyGarciaTX @larryferlazzo @bamradionetwork, @Jonharper70bd

Cindy Garcia serves as the district-wide instructional specialist for Bilingual/ESL Mathematics PK-6 in Pasadena ISD. Cindy previously served as campus mathematics coach and bilingual third-grade teachers in PISD. Cindy writes a monthly blog about ways to support English Learners at www.teachingelementaryels.weebly.com Lauren Nifong is an instructional coach in Greenville, South Carolina. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, a Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision, and is currently a member of South Carolina ASCD’s 2020 Class of Emerging Leaders. Deedy Camarena is the Coordinator for English Language Development (ELD), Dual and World Languages in the Multilingual & Humanities Education Department at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. She has worked closely with principals, teachers, and other stakeholders to assess student and staff needs and execute the necessary services in areas regarding ELD and Dual Language instruction and programming.