In this episode, Techa and Jen had the honor of interviewing Todd Scholl, a 25-year educator and the founder of Teachers Aligned.  Teachers Aligned was born to address the public education system's misalignment and the suffering expressed by many teachers.  He wanted to connect educators in activism and contemplative practices. Through Todd’s work, he aims to support human flourishing and realign education systems to develop compassion and reduce suffering in both educators and students. As Todd says, teachers will find themselves in increasingly toxic environments until we address that core issue. As we have mentioned in past episodes, teachers are waking up to the reality that the current system isn’t serving their students or themselves. This episode will add fuel to your fire, inspire you to be the change, and think deeply about ways to get to the root of the problems we face in schools to find our wings to thrive. We hope this episode gives you some tools so that you can stop and listen to your voice and then go out and use it to transform our misaligned systems.

Todd spent 25 years in public education, retiring in 2020. He spent over fifteen years in the classroom and served as Coordinator of Communications and Program Development at South Carolina's Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA). 

Todd has led over 100 sessions on mindfulness in education to schools and businesses across the state. He has also helped facilitate three teacher retreats. He is the founder of Teachers Aligned to connect educators across the state interested in mindfulness, trauma-informed practices, restorative justice, social-emotional learning, yoga, neuroscience, psychology, and teacher wellness.

​Todd was born in Syracuse, NY. His father, Thomas, spent most of his career teaching special education. His mother, Nancy, was an elementary school teacher early in her career and later taught high school math. In 1986, Todd's family moved to Conway, SC, and graduated from Conway High School in 1989. Four years later, he graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Journalism. Todd worked in the radio industry through college and thought that would be his career path. He eventually decided to follow his parents' footsteps into education. Todd lives in Myrtle Beach with his wife, Anna, and three children, Madison (20), Colin (16), and Sophia (11).

Resources:

Dr. Rick Hanson   Neurodharma

Dr. Tish Jennings Mindfulness for Teachers

Podcasts 10% Happier

Judson Brewer Yale

Eckhart Tolle

[email protected]

http://mindfulnessretreat.weebly.com/

In this episode, Techa and Jen have the honor of interviewing Rosalynne Duff. Rosalynne is an educational activist, Ph. D student and all-around spiritual badass. Ros shares her wisdom on ideas of cultivating contemplative practices and reckoning with who you are from an equity lens. Her words are medicine, and her ideas are inspirational. Join Jen, Techa, and Ros for this mic drop worthy conversation around things that really matter and how to unveil yourself as an educator and human being.

Rosalynne Duff (She/ Her/ Hers) is an educator, leader, and healer with more than a decade of experience in urban education focusing on liberation and transformational pedagogy. In 2008, she launched her teaching career serving as a substitute teacher in Louisville, KY. In 2015, she migrated south to Atlanta, GA to serve as a Founding Teacher of Kindezi Old Fourth Ward in the Kindezi Charter Network. Following her passion for holistic education for students and teachers she transitioned into a leadership position as the Equity Coordinator of the CREATE Teacher Residency Program, a partner with Georgia State University. Rosalynne also holds a secular meditation certification in a cognitively-based compassion contemplative practice through Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics.

Nationally, she has studied the intersectionality of social and emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness, equity, and leadership with a focus on academics through the Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) program at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY. She is currently a facilitator-in-training with Millennium Forum. Internationally, she contributed knowledge to the creation of an innovative social and emotional curriculum with the SEE (Social, Emotional, and Ethical) Learning program. After the launch of the curriculum, she traveled to India to speak on the impact of SEE Learning in the classroom on a global teaching panel. Currently, she is a doctoral student at Georgia State University examining Teaching and Teacher Education while developing a framework for critical contemplative pedagogy, an integration of educational equity, SEL and academics.

Books Ros Recommends: 

Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own by Eddie Glaude Jr.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Dr. Bettina Love

Meditations of the Heart by Howard Thurman 

In this episode, Techa and Jen celebrate a year of the Namasteach Podcast and reflect on all of the happenings since the show's Inception. They discuss ways teachers and school staff continue to show up for their students amid the pandemic and the collective frustrations they hear from colleagues worldwide. Finally, they unpack the importance of rewriting stories and looking at things from a different lens. They listen to you; they see you, feel you, and are you; we are all in this together.

In this short episode, Techa brings us a few tidbits of wisdom. Reminding us of the meaning of EQUANIMITY.  These days many educators feel alone, isolated, and unimaginable amounts of stress and anxiety. Here at Namasteach, Techa and Jen always want you to know that we see you, we hear you, and we hold space for you. Techa offers a short mindfulness practice to help us return to a place of stillness and rest. Our minds and bodies need this to keep us healthy, well, grounded, and at ease in the coming days. 

In this brief episode Jen revisits appreciative inquiry, focusing on the principle of the language we use  and how it creates our reality. She invites us to reclaim and reframe our educational experiences by reflecting on the language we use and  suggests ways to re-dedicate the experience we want to have.

In today’s brief episode, Jen and Techa reflect on the times we are all living in and the upcoming holiday season. They are right there with listeners—not necessarily adding words of wisdom—but feeling the feels and the weight of teaching and living through what seems like a never ending pandemic and offering tools to help us remember and return to what matters most. In our current reality, many of us are experiencing many moments of stress and frustration,  Techa and Jen remind you that you can pause and find a sense of stillness n the middle of all the chaos. 

With all that's happening, we feel that we need to run away from the chaos.  But the practice of coming to the place of stillness will help us to see that the chaos is just movement, we can allow it, acknowledge it and be still in the midst of it.  Stillness can bring you to the place where you belong. Be still in the journey and in coming home. 

In this Episode, Techa reminds us how important it is to remember who we are and how not to allow the stress of the Pandemic to take us away from ourselves. She shares tidbits that serve as reminders about the things that can help to bring you back to YOU. 

Description: In this brief episode Jen reminds listeners to practice relentless self care and to focus on filtering our experiences teaching amid the Covid19 pandemic through the Appreciative Inquiry model.  She asks listeners how they are prioritizing their self care and what is working in their current reality?  What we appreciate appreciates and during this time of things "not working", it is crucial that we take an asset-based approach to our situation to empower us to move forward with the big picture of education.

The Myth of the Perfect Child

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1144486

Appreciative Inquiry Resources

https://positivepsychology.com/appreciative-inquiry/

Jen and Techa examine this next phase of the pandemic, the idea of reopening schools, and the anxiety that  educators are feeling. They provide helpful tips and strategies to support our healing and remind us the as educators, we are not alone and do not have to suffer in silence.

The Namasteach Podcast welcomes Harry and Rachel Cole, co founders of Bauhaus Montessori in New Orleans.  Harry and Rachel share their journey of creating their own school and navigating its inaugural year being set in the presence of a dual pandemic.  Their journey is inspiring, and their wisdom is enlightening as they remind us to design the lives we want and find educational settings that are in alignment with who we are and who we want to be.

Website to Nola Montessori https://nolamontessori.org/

Books: