Teacher Tales

Teacher Tales

By Spirit of TeachingSociety & CultureEducationPhilosophyPersonal JournalsLanguage Learning
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Teacher Tales episodes

  • TT57 - Identity, deep culture and deeper connections in learning: Edgar, Mexican, elementary educator and founder of The Bilingual Spark.
    In this episode, we have the pleasure of hearing from Edgar, a native-born Mexican who has spent the past 35 years in this country educating young children and even adults to the concept that Mexico is more than Frida Kahlo, Cinco de mayo and Día de los muertos. Edgar says that teaching deep culture and making deeper human connections have to be the driving force for teaching a language. Teaching is not about a checklist, not about a unit, not about a month, not about a recipe card or flag or bulletin board. It is about a lived experience, personal meaning…
    34 min
  • TT56 - Travel as education, teacher impact and filling our cups: Beth, French teacher, world traveler and global education ambassador
    In this episode, we are thrilled and honored to welcome Beth, a French teacher who travels the world with her students both in and out of the classroom. Beth is the quintessential teacher who understands the important role teachers play in the education of children and that the lifelong impact the relationships and experiences we have with our students can change them and guide them forever! She says that, as teachers, “we mentor our students into situations and had them through the learning journey to make life connections and grow their experiences and memories and life skills.” To her, this is…
    31 min
  • TT55 - Teaching our own children, traveling with students and creating student advocates and ambassadors for our programs: Nathan, ACTFL National T.O.Y. and super-star advocate for WL programs
    In this episode, we are all privileged to hear from Nathan, a National Teacher of the Year for world languages. More importantly, however, we are inspired by Nathan’s passion, dedication and stories about being a dad, advocate, colleague, friend and teacher. Nathan and I share so many things in common… from being passionate advocates… to having our own children as our students in class… to traveling with students all over the world during the summer…to advocating for better opportunities in education for our students on the local, state and national levels.  Nathan says, “student success is our advocacy”, which is why…
    31 min
  • TT54 - Teaching students the bigger picture and connecting content to humanity: Jennifer, teacher of ELA, ELL, Spanish in MS and HS
    In this episode, our guest teacher from North Caroline, Jennifer, goes big and deep into making connections to humanity through what we teach students. We touch on all the important C’s – curriculum, content, celebrations, communication, conversations, conferences, community, cross-curricular, cross-cutlural, and most of all, connections! As Jennifer showed participants at a recent conference, these big C’s are like strands of thread that should be woven into a lesson in order to help them see a bigger “tapestry” of life and to greater appreciate the humanity that connects us all. Jennifer shares that her goal in every lesson is to…
    33 min
  • TT53 - Shifts, pivots and adjustments in teaching: Alexandra, international teacher and world traveler
    In this episode, we meet an international teacher, Alexandra, who started out teaching in the USA, but has now taught in China, Viet Nam and Saudi Arabia. Through these experiences, she has learned to shift, pivot and adjust not only what she teaches, but how, where and who she teaches. Alexandra is a fabulous example of how much the teaching profession expects and relies on teachers to be able to be flexible, “multi-dimensional” and skilled enough to be able to teach whatever subject and levels are needed, to create and develop their own curriculum, to find their own resources, AND…
    29 min
  • TT#52 - Rural school needs, making real world connections and investing in our future: Shannon, rural school French teacher, Founder of non-profit STaRLT
    In this episode, we gain new perspectives and insights to the needs of our rural schools from Shannon, a rural school teacher in Georgia who founded the non-profit STaRLT. Shannon moved from an urban school to a rural school and realized that she nor her students had the same resources or support in a rural school setting that were available in an urban setting. These resources and support are critical to not only the success of the teacher, but more importantly, to that of the student! So, Shannon created the Small Town and Rural Language Teachers (STaRLT) non-profit in order…
    32 min
  • Teacher Tales #51 - Professional Learning, finding our strengths and team building: Michelle, professional learning provider, guide and wayfinder
    In this episode, we have the great pleasure of meeting Michelle, a dear friend and teacher guide on the side for so many. Michelle shares her very interesting story of how she became a teacher and how she has been a wayfinder her entire life and career. She reminds us that our path in life is a winding one and that we are always finding our way on that path. There is no “one size fits all” professional learning that can happen in an hour or even a day. It is more a journey of small shifts in small ways…
    31 min
  • Teacher Tales #50 - SEL, Impact and the Power of Read Alouds: Christine, elementary teacher and children’s book author
    In this episode, we have a delightful chat with Christine about her love of animals, reading and the impact her life experiences had on becoming the teacher, and now author, she is for children. Like many children we have in our classrooms, Christine was shy as a child and did not feel comfortable being “in the spotlight”.  So, as a teacher, she decided to do “Read Alouds” with her students in which every student had a choice to join in or not. She understood the impact that giving students choice to experience real world, personalized and meaningful connections were to…
    30 min
  • Teacher Tales #49 – Authentic learning, immigrant family needs and community connections: Stephanie: regional T.O.Y., DLI teacher and reading advocate

    In this episode, we meet Stephanie who was just named the SCOLT regional teacher of the year. Stephanie’s story of being a first generation American born to immigrant parents from Argentina, of being a struggling reader and also, not following a traditional path to become a teacher will inspire all our listeners. What is especially interesting about Stephanie is how she has taken her family connections to the equine industry from Argentina to Kentucky and related it to her community and industry there. Stephanie has a real passion and dedication to creating authentic learning experiences for her students, which is even more important in the classroom today than ever before. As students become more and more connected to their devices and less connected to the real world around them and even more disconnected, more reluctant and more “bored” with traditional learning in the classroom, Stephanie makes great points and shares wonderful examples and inspiration to advocate for teachers to create authentic and more meaningful learning experiences for their students. She is a part of the national “Knowledge Matters Campaign” and has a lot of data and research to share with listeners about reading and the impact it has on our student confidence, competence and success. You can check out more about Stephanie on her website “Teaching, Stitches and Fixes”. 

    33 min
  • Teacher Tales #48 – Sound, transitions and developing student executive function skills: Hayes, teacher, award-winning jazz musician and founder of Creative Sound Play

    In this episode, we will meet Hayes, a fascinating man of many talents…and sounds! As a jazz musician and film composer, Hayes understands the power that sound has on humans…and we are not talking music, but sound. Having worked as a teacher with young people in all kinds of capacities since the early 90s, Hayes is now using his love of the art of sound to help teachers in the classroom. He is about to release a new book, Creative Sound Play for Young Learners: A Teacher’s Guide to Enhancing Transition Times, Classroom Communities, SEL, and Executive Function Skills (Routledge, Eye on Education Series, June 6, 2024). Hayes shares with us the 3 primary elements of sound and how they can help you as a teacher during transition times to focus and engage student learning. He also explains how using his techniques help develop student executive function skills, addresses student social emotional learning and is especially powerful when used with students with a language delay, students with special needs and those students on the spectrum. Additional info can be found at https://www.creativesoundplay.com/  and https://www.hayesgreenfield.com/

    34 min

About Teacher Tales

From the publisher's feed

Teacher stories… from their hearts… to our hearts… on a journey to celebrate the true spirit of teaching. In each episode, we will get curious, explore, discover and learn more through each story what…