powerED Up

powerED Up

By Ken EhrmannEducation
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powerED Up episodes

  • 116: Creativity and Mindfulness to Benefit Student Learning

    Sarah started her teaching career working with some of our youngest learners at the age of two and moved on to continue to work with middle school students. She utilized a maker space in her art classrooms to help foster and develop creativity. Sarah has transitioned into utilizing movement in learning; she is now a certified yoga instructor and finding ways to blend it into instruction.

    • Use a maker space to connect to curricular activities, such as developing an animal’s habitat to represent the information learned.

    • It’s important to have a clear objective for why you are using a maker space before you define what you are doing with the maker space.

    • Sarah shares some specific breathing strategies to help students self-regulate.

    • Utilizing the five senses to create a holistic approach to student attention and feelings.

    • Check out www.gonoddle.com for movement-based activities for students and great brain breaks.

    • Use the “Miss Bensko” playlist for your safe, appropriate school music, linked here.

    • Meet students where they are, and be mindful of the students you are working with each day and each year.

      • Book on Amazon: 

      Instagram: Sarahcare_ 

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      53 min
    • 115: Increasing Rigor and Engagement in Chemistry

      Ty White is the 2023 Arizona Teacher of the Year and was an amazing guest. He teaches Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2 to high school students.  The class is focused on experiences, phenomena, and observing the world around them.  He backs those experiences up with the math second. His approach is increasing retention and enrollment in Chemistry 2.

      • The perspective of Ty’s life experiences helps him focus his energy on not allowing students to slip through the cracks. He wants all students to have a chance to succeed. 

      • Use your background and stories to help connect with the students and build positive relationships.

      • The level of engagement and buy-in in his first year of Chemistry differs greatly from in his second year.  The first-year students must take his class, and the second-year students are electing more.  To increase engagement, he focuses on exploring phenomena first, then following up with math later.

      • The second-year students electing to take the class are ready for the math and higher-level concepts.

      • As teachers, we can connect classroom standards to the interactions of the real world, especially in the local communities.

      • There are ways to engage students to bring relevancy to the content and not create unnecessary pressure to turn this into a career.

      • Utilize the STEM mindset to capture real learning experiences in your classroom.

      • Ty launched a non-profit organization, Industry Simulation Education, where students have to create a habitat in another environment. https://www.insimeducation.com/general-8

        • Twitter:  @RoperCowboyinAZ

        Podcast Co-host of the Rural Scoop

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        1 hr 21 min
      • 114: The Science in Understanding Learning How to Learn

        Greg Goodhart is the learning coach. He is focused on empowering students and teachers to unlock the power of learning to impact their academic performance. He showcases how a performance-based subject showcases the ability of students to be at their best.

        • The whole purpose of learning is to be able to perform, not memorize, but perform.

        • Focus on retrieval practices to help students be more confident in future learning opportunities.

        • Listeners should check out the book Make it Stick

        • Learn how to learn before you can start learning

        • Students need to memorize basic information. We just need to do it right before we can elicit higher-level thinking questions.

        • Check out Gregg’s most recommended books, many of which he mentioned in this podcast: https://gregggoodhart.com/books/ 

          • Website: https://gregggoodhart.com/ 

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          1 hr 16 min
        • The Why of Technology Integration Before the What

          Mark has experience as a teacher, building administrator, and central office. This experience has given him the perspective always to do his best for students.

          • Working in a district office can help elevate teaching by constantly analyzing curriculum, technology, and best teaching practices.

          • Evaluating the integration of technology starts with the “why”.  What is the instructional impact? The second is planning professional development.  The professional development needs to be thorough and ongoing. Professional development should spiral into building the confidence and competency of teachers. The third is selecting the device.

          • Technology started as an excellent tool, but now we must evaluate its use and how it impacts teaching and learning.

          • Never pull the staff together for a meeting when the topic could be covered through an email.

            • Twitter: @MarkHess98

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            1 hr 11 min
          • Students Who Love to Read Will Learn How to Read

            Dr. Danny Brassell is America’s leading reading ambassador and is passionate about getting every child to love reading. The more we get kids excited about reading, the more they will love reading, and the more they will learn reading.

            If we spend so much time teaching students how to read, shouldn’t we teach them to love reading first?

            • Develop a love for reading, so they can read to learn.
            • A great book recommendation from Danny, Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
            • It’s important to get to know our students so we know how to connect with them
            • We can be the light or the darkness for a student each day.  Both take just as much effort, we just need to pay attention to our interactions.
            • It’s important we evaluate and understand where students are coming from and what home life looks like so we approach teaching and learning with empathy.
            • Create opportunities for students to experience the value of books without reading the entire book. Spark the interest in the content through the conversations and experiences of the classroom.

              • Website: www.dannybrassell.com/

              Twitter: @DannyBrassell

              www.Freegiftfromdanny.com

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              1 hr 24 min
            • Engaging Students with Classroom Community and Conversations

              Kelly Shrein is the 2022 Alaska Teacher of the Year. She has embraced her community in Anchorage, Alaska to create a more meaningful, authentic, and engaging curriculum. Students are constantly engaged in learning objectives that can have a direct impact on the local community.  The authenticity of learning expands into her classroom conversations.  The third-grade students are well-versed and able to participate in mature discussions.

              • The community and culture of Anchorage, Alaska, create a unique teaching and learning experience for Kelly and her students.
              • The seasonal shifts of the sun in the winter and summer have a significant impact on the mental health of students and it’s something teachers have to consider and help with students.
              • Creating opportunities for safe failure and helping build resilience.  When a level of trust is established, it creates a foundation of relationships.
              • She is involving the community in hands-on experiences, such as dissecting salmon.
              • Creating opportunities for students to engage in conversations with each other. It’s essential for them to learn from each other and establish their own positive relationships.
              • Purposefully plan your lessons to incorporate student experiences and communication.
              • Model the listening and respect skills we teach to our students.
              • Connect with other students from around the country on Facebook,  “Mrs. Letcher’s Postcard Exchange”, “teachers ask teachers”, and teachers searching for other teachers.

                • Twitter: @KellyShrein

                1 hr 14 min
              • Matt in the Hot Corner

                A last-minute guest cancellation led to Ken and Matt pivoting on the spot with a new idea.  It turned into a part 2 of 2 episodes with each host in the hot corner.  In this show, Matt reflects on his frustrations with assessments.

                In This Episode:

                • The value of assessments
                • Involving students into the conversation
                • Formative versus summative
                  • 43 min
                • Ken in the Hot Corner

                  A last-minute guest cancellation led to Ken and Matt pivoting on the spot with a new idea.  It turned into a part 1 of 2 episodes with each host in the hot corner.  In this show, Ken reflects on his experiences as a teacher and a new perspective as a young parent.

                  In This Episode:

                  • Effective parent communication from the parent's perspective
                  • Strategies for maximizing contact with families
                  • Back to school night
                  • The teacher-parent partnership

                    • Join us back from 110 to hear Matt's take on the hot corner.

                    40 min
                  • Focused on High Quality Professional Learning

                    Jackie Wynkoop is a fantastic educator. She is passionate and fired up whenever she can talk about teaching, learning, and instruction.  She is solely focused on supporting teachers to feel confident, empowered, and impactful. She is incredibly passionate about professional learning, so much so that she started her own podcast the PL Playbook.

                    • Jackie has had an amazing journey in her career through many positions including fourth grade, fifth grade, instructional coach, director of gifted, vice principal, and back to instructional coach.
                    • Creating trust in the classroom is essential, without this, everything else will be more challenging.
                    • Using hexagonal thinking to facilitate creative brainstorming.
                    • Empower teachers to facilitate professional learning to support their colleagues.
                    • Reach out to teachers in other districts and at events to make connections to help support you in the future.
                    • Teaching can not just be a job, it has to be something you love.
                    • Destination Imagination is a fantastic program to incorporate STEM into your school community.

                      • Website: https://t.co/f37ngGWvzm

                      Twitter: @LitCoachJackieW

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                      1 hr 27 min
                    • The Science of Motivating Students

                      Don Berg brought a new perspective to the podcast, and we are so grateful for his time and this episode. We broke the script with educator guests and talked with a psychologist.  We dive deep into student motivation and how we can best foster that learning environment for students.  The harsh reality is, we cannot motivate a person.  We need to create opportunities for students to create their own motivation.

                      • Don Berg is a psychological researcher and has focused on student motivation.
                      • Dive into the science of motivation and engagement in classrooms.
                      • The harsh reality is that students only learn what they want. If they don’t want to, they won’t.
                      • You cannot motivate someone; they can only motivate themselves. We can create opportunities to tap into the three necessary components of motivation:
                        • Autonomy
                        Relatedness
                        Competency
                      • It’s not just about the relationships between one student to the teacher, but students as a whole.  Those relationships across the classroom are key to supporting successful learning.
                      • Collective illusions are a disparity between the individual opinion and the perceived opinion of society as a whole. There is a notion that our society demands results from standardized tests, yet everyone on a personal level agrees people do not value standardized tests.
                      • Creating classroom autonomy is key and cannot just be based on giving choices.
                        • 1 hr 12 min

                      About powerED Up

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                      We are powering education up by empowering you! Join us to talk about everything education with the hosts and weekly interviews. We will interview teachers to find out what makes great teachers and…