Didactic Cafe

  Follow my new podcast, Culture Cuts with Chad Lehrmann at all the same sites!

We separate our lives into so many parts.  Work and home life, church and public life, online and reality.  I've done it, too.  I used to manage two podcasts- one for education, one for urban legends analysis.  It got so tiring trying to maintain those two distinct sites, so I decided to merge them.  Maybe it's time we merge our lives again.  Make who we are online the same as who we are in person.  Get rid of our 'voices' we adopt to convey a sense of power and just speak as we naturally do. 

This is the first episode of my new podcast which will share some of the older podcasts over educational issues alongside my "Urban Legends Unmasked" series and this Didactic Cafe podcast.  Look for that classic content along with all new podcasts coming at you weekly!

A friend shared a quote with me the other day:

2022 taught me to stop aspiring to sit at tables where I have to bring my own chair, squeeze in between folks, and repeatedly convince others why I should be there.  I learned to build a new table.

As educators, we sometimes find ourselves among peers and on campuses that keep denying us a seat at the table.  We can choose to keep forcing our way in where we are not wanted, or we can build our own table.  We can leave toxic cultures, or we can stay and build fellowships with like-minded teachers who want to hear our voice, and want to make space for us.

So what do you say, shall we learn to build our own table?

I spent the last week working with my school's production of Puffs, a parody of that magical school with the Potter kid. As a teacher, I got to literally peek behind the curtain of a unique classroom- one that deserves a lot more attention and a standing ovation.  Music education is talked about often, but less so do we sing the praises of theatre and art.  On this episode, I share what I learned about the class of the stage, and share some of the insight I gleaned from other the directors, the students, and just the general amazingness that is the student-led theatre.

I sometimes feel invisible as an educator.

Not from my students, or my family, but from my community.  From my fellow educators.

And I am not alone.  

I don't know that I have answers for those of us who feel invisible, other than we need to start letting people know how we feel.  Too many amazing teachers leave because their concerns, their needs, and they fears go unseen by fellow teachers and administrators.  We cannot keep "sucking it up," we need to let people know we want to be acknowledged.  

And when we can, we need to make sure we are shining a light on the invisible teachers among us.

Teachers try every day to do the impossible- teach diverse learners meaningful lessons that lead to deeper understanding.  Occasionally, we craft a lesson that truly captures lightning in a bottle- a learning experience that not only creates understanding, it creates a lasting memory that students will talk about for the rest of their lives.  

Jonathan Brady is an English and History teacher that I have the pleasure of calling a colleague and a friend.  He has created many lighting in a bottle moments, but on today's episode, we will chat about one in particular that he goes above and beyond on- 1984.  Not only does it help students get immersed in the book, it teaches relevant life lessons and is generally, a lot of fun.

Teachers like Jonathan are doing this every day- pouring their lives into students and their profession.  This is the first in what I hope to be a continuing, if intermittent, series of interviews with amazing educators.  

I often see posts on social media lamenting that schools don't teach kids how to argue, how to keep a checkbook, or how to do basic human life skills.

These posts are inherently wrong and demonstrate a misunderstanding of what IS done and taught in Public Schools.

On this episode, we will look at five common requests people have for things that should be taught- finance, debate, manners/common sense, Religion, and "Civics."  We will also talk about how each of these either ARE taught, or cannot be taught because it would be unconstitutional- or just wouldn't make common sense.  (See what I did there?)

Oh, and if you want to know what schools are legally required to teach, check the link below.



https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.ViewTAC?tac_view=3&ti=19&pt=2

One Friday at a public high school, a huge fight breaks out.  The next Friday, a concert breaks out when there is a lightning delay of a football game.

One was covered in the media and shared relentlessly on social media.  The other was the concert.  And outside of parents and educators and students that were there, very little was shared.  

A tale of two Fridays is that we as a society seem to prefer sharing the bad to the good.  And that every day in  America's public schools is a tale of two worlds- probably more.  Educators are trying to reach kids who have everything, kids who have nothing, kids with good parental influence, kids with none, kids with goals and kids whose goal is simply survival.  

Which story are you going to share?

Talking about my writing journey- how I went from a  poetry writing 3rd Grader to the multiple book selling not-at-all phenom I am today!

Educators are leaving their profession at alarming rates.  We write it off as pandemic fatigue, or low pay- and that is part of it.  But teachers are tired of playing the role of villain in story being told by some legislators, influencers, and school choice agenda setters.  This is the voice of a teacher who wants you to know the state of education today.