This episodes special guest is Mortez L. Barnes. He's a sixth grade language arts teacher in the Mobile, AL area in his eighth year in education and seventh with Mobile County Public Schools. (see his impressive full bio below). He has a lot of very insightful views on a wide array of subjects he and Wesley discuss. Here's a sneak peak:

Being in a predominantly white school, do you pick up that the students, especially your students of color, can relate to you and that you being there is important to them?

How do they show you they appreciate you being there?

Do you share things about your personal hobbies, travel, or even just what you did over the weekend with your students? If so, in what ways do you see the benefits for both you and them to hear about your personal side and how does it affect your classroom?

If you had to diagnose it, what are the teachers who are having problems in the classroom doing or not doing that causes those problems to continue?

In your school, are there people in leadership positions who are doing the hiring?

If you had one, describe a black educator that had an impact on you.

Before the interview, Wesley dives into the issue of why there was and still is a lack of black educators across the nation. Here's a couple of articles he explores and urges everyone, black or white, to read:

https://educationpost.org/black-principals-matter/ (https://educationpost.org/black-principals-matter)

https://educationpost.org/the-discomfort-of-white-adults-should-never-take-priority-over-the-success-of-our-black-and-brown-students/ (https://educationpost.org/the-discomfort-of-white-adults-should-never-take-priority-over-the-success-of-our-black-and-brown-students)

A bit more about Mortez in his own words: My name is Mortez L. Barnes, and I am a sixth grade language arts teacher in the Mobile, AL area. This is my eighth year in education and my seventh with Mobile County Public Schools. I hold a Bachelor’s degree from Alabama AandM University in Secondary English Education, and I hold a Master’s degree in Instructional Leadership from the University of West Alabama. I’m currently aspiring to become an Assistant Principal and broaden the influence that I have on our youth.

Twitter: @TezBTeaching

LinkedIn: Mortez L. Barnes, M.Ed.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortez-l-barnes-m-ed-36362432 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortez-l-barnes-m-ed-36362432)

Visit our teachthisteacher website to find out how to earn money by teaching other teachers and how you can take courses taught by other teachers so you can strengthen and refine your knowledge base in any subject.

https://www.teachthisteacher.com/ (https://www.teachthisteacher.com)

Twitter: @teachthisteach

Instagram: teach_thisteacher

Wesley sits down with with award-winning author of middle grade fiction, Jake Burt. He's also a fifth grade teacher! Some of the main topics they discuss are:

How do you mesh your teaching career with your writing career?

What type of writing are your students most excited to do and what are the easiest and hardest types of writing to teach them?

Have you ever heard of or worked with the empowering writers narrative writing diamond?

What advice would you give to teachers to help them teach their reluctant writers?

If you had to convince someone to get your books for their students or their children at home, which one(s) would you choose and why?

Wesley also takes on the troubling question: why can't kids write? Make sure you check out the New York Times article he discusses. It's literally a must-read for everyone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/education/edlife/writing-education-grammar-students-children.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/education/edlife/writing-education-grammar-students-children.html)

Then, he tackles his "Tweet of the week".

Listen closely to find out how to get a free copy of Jake's book in your class library and answer the question of the week to get score some free coffee!

Email us the answer at [email protected] or Twitter the answer to us @teachthisteach

Interested in getting paid to teach a course to other teachers, or learn from other teachers? Go to www.teachthisteacher.com and find out all about it!

Here's some more information about Wesley's very special guest today:

Jake Burton is an award-winning author of middle grade fiction. He's also a fifth grade teacher. People often ask him how he has time to do both, but he's not really sure. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, daughter, and cat, and when he's not writing or teaching (or eating or sleeping), he tinkers on the banjo, enjoys disc sports of all sorts, and tries to find people to play board games with.

SOCIAL MEDIA/WEB LINKS:

Website: https://www.jburtbooks.com/ (https://www.jburtbooks.com)

Twitter: @jburtbooks

Instagram: jburtbooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakeburtbooks (Jake Burt - Author | Facebook)

Today, Wesley talks to his very special guest, Michael Rotando (Mr. Mike) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a professional who spends his days working as special education teacher for children with autism. His poetry collection called, ‘Turn off the Lights,’ is available on amazon. See the link below.

Here are some of the topics Wesley and Mr. Mike covered:

Did you choose to be in special education or did it pick you?

How does your special education system work in Canada vs USA?

How did you or are you meeting your students’ needs digitally during the lockdowns?

How do you encourage your students to achieve their goals despite their learning disabilities?

What is your book “Turn Off The Lights” about and what made you want to write it?

Are you going to move forward with starting your own podcast?

But first, Wesley explains his four tips that worked well for him in working with special education students and discusses an article that addresses how to improve special education: https://charterschoolcenter.ed.gov/sites/default/files/files/field_publication_attachment/cst-assessing-improving-special-education.pdf (https://charterschoolcenter.ed.gov/sites/default/files/files/field_publication_attachment/cst-assessing-improving-special-education.pdf)

Be sure to be the first to answer Wesley's quiz question about Mr. Mike that was mentioned during this episode and win a free hard copy of his book “Turn Out The Lights”.

Post your answer on Twitter @teachthisteach or email us [email protected] with the answer, feedback or recommendations about topics you'd like us to cover.

Check us out on our Teach This Teacher Youtube channel, where more and more bright minds are providing their insights about education every day. Many of the videos are only 5 minutes long, so join us and learn from the best.

www.Teachthisteacher.com - because teachers need teaching

More information about where to find Mr. Mike, as well as his book:

Instagram.com/mrmikeMTLpoetry

Twitter.com/mrmikeMTL

Turn off the Lights by Michael Rotondo https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099THCW4M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_01QQFP88ZCWX27GK17AK (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099THCW4M/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_01QQFP88ZCWX27GK17AK)

In this episode we talk about assessing without a traditional test. Why is this important? How is it possible? Listen to find out.

Then, in the "Education in the News" portion, we analyze how education is being impacted by the Great Resignation!

Show Notes:

Blog Post: https://www.teachthisteacher.com/post/how-to-assess-without-a-test-three-ways-to-change-your-testing-routine (How to Assess Without a Test)

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/news/great-resignation-hits-schools-across-all-positions-n1286565 (Great Resignation hits schools)

Join Wesley and his special guest, JT Kaltreider (Mister Kay). JT is an ambassador for Classdojo and he does a deep dive into how Classdojo enhances PBIS. Wesley dissects a study done by the Texas Journal of Literacy Education “Using Classdojo To Help With Class Management During The Pandemic”. And Wesley announces a new way to interact and participate in our podcasts' discussions. Email us at: [email protected]

An Extra Credit Episode! In extra credit episodes, there are no guest, so they will be short listens to enlighten you on something very current in education! We always keep it interesting with our fast moving format.

In this episode, Wesley talks about the importance of preparing for the possibility of going BACK to digital learning. How should we prepare, and how likely is the possibility. You can never be too prepared.

Links:

"Jump Right In" TtT Blog: https://www.teachthisteacher.com/post/going-back-to-virtual-learning-again (https://www.teachthisteacher.com/post/going-back-to-virtual-learning-again)

"Education in the News Article": https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/us/covid-schools.html?searchResultPosition=2 (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/21/us/covid-schools.html?searchResultPosition=2)

Always, email your questions or comments, and hear our response on the next episode to: [email protected]

Tweet us about this episode: @teachthisteach

The Superintendent of Bloomfield Hills School in Michigan, Pat Watson, joins host Wesley Glosson to discuss how Covid affected the school, and increasing violence across America both in and separately from schools.

Today's guest, Christina Calderon, teaches students in K-2nd grade in a low income school and specializes in learning behavior and Deaf or hard of hearing sign language classes.

In this episode we take a deep dive into what's missing from Black History. Much of the credit goes to Karen Sotiropoulos who wrote "Teaching Black History after Obama," and a little credit goes to me as I recount lessons I've learned in the past year of teaching Black History.

In this episode, we review scholarly articles related to student engagement. One is all about thinking about how we think about student engagement, and the other gives practical tools to improve student engagement through technology.

---

This episode is sponsored by

· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/app)