Today’s show is all about Claudio Enriquez, a teacher of 30 years who keeps up with all the new things education brings and a single dad of two boys, hence his branding name “Two Boys and a Dad Productions”.  He’s been a mentor teacher, a bilingual resource teacher, a literacy coach, taught at the university level, taught grades 1-4 and is currently a 3rd grade teacher! Phew! What a variety of experiences!  He’s always learning and trying new things and thinks teachers should do the same to keep up in their careers.

His school district provided him with a Chromebook cart to integrate technology into his classroom and as a Mac user, he was eager and motivated to figure it all out.  Due to this change, he has products on Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) such as Google Slides and has been working on converting his current products to Google Slides, under the “Google Apps Ready” category on his TpT store.  He also offers others products such as: math, graphic organizers, bilingual Spanish, back to school, English Lang. Arts, interactive digital notebooks, science, social studies and vocabulary.

While it’s hard to find time to work on TpT as a single dad and teacher, listen in as he provides some time saving tips and advice for new teacher-authors.  Find out how he stands out amongst the numerous TpT sellers! And what does he mean by “your students don’t have to like you, you’re the teacher and you’re not there to be their friend.”?  He recommends Pinterest to teachers and teacher authors as there are so many wonderful ideas to share with others! Enjoy!

Find Claudio at these places:

Claudio’s Teachers Pay Teachers Store- Two Boys and a Dad Productions

Two Boys and a Dad-Teacher Blog

Pinterest

Instagram

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We want to THANK YOU for bringing us with you to the gym, errands, and/or your commute!  We are so humbled by teachers that have reached out to us to help them get into or back into teaching.  Also, we hope that our teacher interviews have sparked ideas or reenergized your teaching career!  There is much to be grateful for in 2016 and we’ve been loving helping you with teaching ideas and tips.  However, in 2017, we want to take your teacher lifestyle to the next level by helping you on a bigger scale.  How do I stay healthy and not burnt out?  How do I supplement my income without taking time away from my family?  Where do I turn to if I have questions about my retirement? To that end, we are thinking of interviewing experts in different realms to help you all the way around, ie- yoga teacher, public speaking skills, etc! So, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends and all the best in the new year!

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Contrary to typical sit and get curriculum PD’s that go in one ear and out the other, the Big Ideas Fest is my favorite PD yet!  It’s life-changing and the founder and CEO of ISKME, Lisa Petrides and her team, carefully and intentionally curated amazing speakers who are making positive changes in our world.  Weaved in between speakers is where I engaged in the Action Collab process in a small group setting.  Action Collabs are the design thinking process for educators in which you brainstorm any and all ideas in order to solve a problem without worrying about failing.  See picture below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We engaged in improv exercises to get our brains thinking beyond our comfort zone.  The Action Collab process is definitely a great way to generate solutions to problems in both my personal and professional life!

I recommend this conference to not only educators but anyone looking to be inspired!  I met so many teachers from all over the country and am blown away by all of the positive energy and inspiration within a matter of 3 days!  I can’t wait to take this back to the classroom to find ways to solve problems. Thanks to Howard Levin, Angela Taylor, Liana O’Brien, my colleagues, Megan Simmons of ISKME and all of the people I met at BIF 2016, you are awesome!

Speakers and links mentioned:

Ashanti Branch– Founder of The Ever Forward Club, The Mask You Live In documentary (trailer)

Lena Alfi– Director of Strategic Partnerships, MECI (Middle East Children’s Institute)

Lesley Chilcott– Producer & Director of Code Girl

Jitu Brown– National Director, Journey for Justice Alliance- “Knowing what and why you wake up for every morning.”

Read about other great speakers!

Listen to Episode #63: Sharon’s First Time at Stanford’s d.school to hear about her design thinking experience.

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As a former elementary school teacher, math coach and now vice principal, Jon Harper hosts his own podcast show called “My Bad”.  It’s part of the BAM Radio Network and it’s the show about how and what extraordinary educators learn by sharing their mistakes.  Listen to how he empowered a student to mentor younger students, which ultimately transformed that one student into an upstanding individual.  Discover how he uses Voxer to personally communicate with his teachers and educators at large!  Try out his cool classroom management technique that instantly grabs the attention of not only students, but adults as well. What does he mean when he says: “Maybe i’m not so bad after all”?  Get ready for a treat!

You can connect with him in these ways: [email protected], @Jonharper70bd on Twitter, website/podcast.

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A first year teacher reaching out for help on a teacher forum:

“I love teaching. But I am a first year teacher and I am always feel like I am drowning! Between meetings, paper work, planning, prepping, contacting parents, and managing a VERY difficult class… I feel like I can never catch up. I have a great team and a great support system at home and work but sometimes that’s not enough.  I feel as if I’m not being the best teacher that I know I can be. Will this feeling go away? And is it normal to feel this way??”

We offer our own advice in dealing with teacher overwhelm and being a newbie!  It’s important to be reflective, take care of yourself (as mentioned in our 6th Episode: Burnt Out on Teacher Burnout), and prioritizing in order to work efficiently.  You don’t know what you’re doing for a few years, but eventually, you will figure it out!  Experience does NOT match your teaching credential program!  Be sure to network with other teachers at your school and join our private Teaching Bites Facebook Community Group to share ideas and stay fresh.  We also recommend that veteran teachers reach out to the new teachers at your school and offer support and help- it can go a long way!  So, to the first year teachers out there, take those deep breaths and keep it up!  You can do it!

Links mentioned:

* book: Joy on Demand by Chade-Meng Tan

* listen to the podcast, Note to Self: Mindfulness on Demand with Chade-Meng Tan

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