Hello everyone and welcome to Teach Me, Teacher's SUMMER BLAST of inspiration! I cannot express how excited, pumped, and inspired I am right now for next year, and I want you to join me and my AMAZING guests in our quest to bring some positivity into the teaching world. It is my absolute pleasure to bring you one of my favorite people in the world, Nicole Marte, otherwise known as @MarteintheMiddle on Instagram, and today we are having an honest reflection on Nicole's year in middle school. As we reflect with one another, we touch on: Classroom management The good and the bad about being "the cool teacher" Having great lessons What the future holds for Nicole in August ...and much much more! You will laugh and think a lot in this one. Nicole is a gift to the world with her kindness and support for the teacher community. Enjoy! PS: SHARE THIS EPISODE (and tag me) and get entered in to win a copy of THE JOYFUL TEACHER!!! This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara K. Ahmed. Topics such as race, gender, politics, religion, and sexuality are part of students' lives, but sometimes it's hard to know how to respond as teachers when these subjects come up at school. You probably have stories of your own about situations or conversations that caught you off guard or made you feel uncomfortable. Being the Change is based on the idea that people can develop skills and habits to help them in the comprehension of social issues. Sara provides clear lessons to help teach about important social comprehension concepts. You can create a socially minded classroom where you explore identity and diversity, build listening skills, understand and address bias, become better informed, and more… first with yourself and your peers, and then with students. Being the Change is available as a book, ebook, and audiobook. To learn more visit Heinemann.com.