Real Teacher Talk

Hey there. I wanna thank you for being such a loyal listener to The Real Teacher Talk podcast. We're going on a brief hiatus, but I'd still love to connect with you. The best way to do that is over on Instagram at Easy Teaching Tools, our website, EasyTeachingTools.com, or by Email. And the bonus of that is when you sign up, you'll get tips to get organized with your lesson planning by going to EasyTeachingTools.com/LessonPlanningPodI can't wait to continue collaborating on those three differ...

Are you ready to get your life back?As we look forward to all things 2023, This week we decided to drop back to our very first interview on Real Teacher Talk, I sat down with Sabrena Brooks, a busy teacher and mama to talk about how she balances school with her life and the tools she uses to make it happen.Sabrena Brooks is a mom of two active boys with a baby girl on the way. She is a lover of camping and music, and wife to a special education para-educator by day and chef by night. Her teac...

Some people call them the Sunday blues. Some people call them the Sunday Scaries. Others just flat-out say, “I am dreading going to work tomorrow.”Whatever you call it, if you’ve had this experience, you aren’t alone! All sorts of people, teachers included, can feel this way on Sunday evenings.Although this feeling is normal, I am passionate about helping teachers enjoy their lives both inside and outside of the classroom! In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I’m chatting about three simple ...

If the thought of student loan debt makes you want to crawl into a hole and hide, this episode is for you!Student loan debt is overwhelming for anyone, but especially for chronically-underpaid teachers. If you’re in the boat of feeling overwhelmed, you are not alone. In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I sat down with student loan expert, Meagan Landress McGuire to discuss how to get started tackling this daunting topic. We chat about how to navigate between your different loan ...

Last week we chatted about how to handle it when you’re struggling with one specific coworker or team member.Today, we’re going to go a little bit deeper and discuss what to do if the environment you’re in becomes too toxic. Maybe it’s too much negativity, or maybe your environment is swinging the other way to toxic positivity!Cattiness, bullying, gossiping, and retaliation are the kinds of things I’m referring to in this episode.In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I’m sharing five tips for...

Do you have a coworker at your school that just really irritates or bothers you? I’m not talking about the coworkers that are outright mean or offensive, but the sort of coworker that just gets under your skin.I bet you have at least one person coming to your mind! We all have them. It can definitely be a challenge working with someone who you struggle to get along with, but many times we have to!In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I’m sharing six things you can do to help you deal with tho...

I’m doing things a bit differently this episode, and I’m opening up about the hardest teaching year I’ve had so far in my career. I explain the different factors that worked together to make it a perfect storm, and why I want to go back to the classroom with a refreshed and new perspective.In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I get vulnerable and share things that went on my last year of teaching (so far) both in my personal life and my professional life that contributed to it being a terrib...

We aaaaaaaall have them in our classes. THOSE parents. You know exactly which parents I’m talking about.The ones who email you at all hours of the day and night, the ones who question every single decision you make, the ones displeased with every paper sent home. Dealing with sassy parents and guardians can be super stressful. But, it doesn’t have to be!In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I dive into this topic and discuss where this behavior might be coming from, how to see these par...

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by parents or caregivers offering to volunteer in your classroom?I know that lots of schools don’t have parent volunteers, but for those that do, it can become a lot of work to prepare for them! If you don’t know where to start, this is the perfect episode for you.In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I chat about how to make parent volunteers work for you! I discuss how to utilize parent volunteers, how to include parents who want to volunteer but can’t come in...

As a teacher, have you ever asked (or been tempted to ask) WHY are we doing this?!If so, you aren’t alone. Collecting and analyzing data in the classroom can give us answers to why we’re doing certain things and give us a road map for what to do next. In this episode of Real Teacher Talk, I sat down with Dr. Matthew Courtney to discuss all things data! We chat about how to use data to solve problems in our classrooms, how to use the data you’re already collecting, and the mindset shift t...