The Beautiful Struggle

By F.R.E.D.

I struggle as a father, husband, educator, GenXer and more, all the while trying to live life more fully.

Join me as I figure out what it means to be a modern father using the 4P's of parenting.... more

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FAQs about The Beautiful Struggle:

How many episodes does The Beautiful Struggle have?

The podcast currently has 250 episodes available.

The Beautiful Struggle episodes:

March 28, 2017 108: We're Moving!
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13min
March 19, 2017 107: SXSW for Teachers??
Imagine a festival that has great food, music, movies and designed for teachers. What am I talking about?

Last week, during March 5-9th, 2017, Fred attended SXSWEdu that as you can tell, is for teachers. Set in amazing Austin, TX, Fred, along with his colleague, attended SXSWEdu to not only check out the latest good things happening in the world of education but to also had a mission to see how it would be to send our faculty to go in the future.

Fred breaks down his experience at SXSWEdu with Sharon, who was stuck at home with sick kids. Did Fred like it? Well, let’s just say he struggled with it a bit. Find out why in this episode

Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com
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36min
March 12, 2017 106: It Doesn't Take An Einstein To Make A Difference with TpT Author Lessia Bonn
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47min
March 12, 2017 106: It Doesn’t Take An Einstein To Make Difference with TpT Author Lessia Bonn

Lessia Bonn started playing piano at 5 years old as she comes from a family of classical musicians. By the time she was 10 years old, she was soloing with symphonies! She uses her classical background to write songs for kids and sees herself as not only a counselor but a teacher as well. Her songs help kids build confidence, give them strategies to deal with bullying and being mindful. Retta London, a TpT author, reached out to Lessia to co-create a year-long ELA program with her songs.
When Lessia lived in Santa Barbara (my alma mater is UCSB!), she formed an informal choir called “Lessia’s Crew” where her students would bring her their problems and as a result, Lessia wrote songs for them. Later on, she moved to Sonoma, CA and started Bullyproof. She had so many songs and no crew anymore, so a Santa Barbara teacher suggested that she put her songs up on Teachers Pay Teachers!
Her teaching tip is to have a sense of humor and she struggles with staying disciplined as she works from home. Vegas Pro and Powerpoint are her favorite tools to create her songs and products and she loves the TpT forums as well. She loves collaborating with people from all over the world and has a guest blog on Edutopia- “Teens, Song and the Language of Connection”.
Listen to a sample of her song, “Einstein”- It doesn’t take an Einstein to make a difference and notice the cool line: I don’t think so! She writes multilayered songs with spunkiness so they can last throughout the years. She suggests books about human nature and psychology and gives her insight to the difference between teaching boys and girls.
To save you time, she suggests that teacher authors find the time of day that you work best so that you are the most efficient and clear. Be your authentic best self before you worry about your products and if they sell. Being a TpT author has helped her gain deep respect for teachers. Find out why she didn’t sign a music contract and how her Crew was approached by Hollywood! Finally, listen to the passion in her voice and check out her products in her TpT store! Enjoy!
I Am Bullyproof TpT Store
I Am Bullyproof Website

Music By The Passion HiFi

www.thepassionhifi.com
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47min
March 01, 2017 105: Who's your favorite student at Hogwarts?
This is a fun episode where we figure out who would be our favorite student to teach at Hogwarts and why. You may not expect who we pick!

This subject was inspired by this Playbuzz article and John Spencer's podcast as well.

Music By The Passion HiFi

www.thepassionhifi.com
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24min
March 01, 2017 105: Who’s Your Favorite Student at Hogwarts?

This is a fun episode where we figure out who would be our favorite student to teach at Hogwarts and why. You may not expect who we pick!
Check out our latest resource at TpT! Animate & Code with Scratch the Easy Way!

This subject was inspired by this Playbuzz article and John Spencer’s podcast as well.

Music By The Passion HiFi

www.thepassionhifi.com
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24min
February 22, 2017 104: I'm In Receive Mode: Our Thoughts on Education Secretary DeVos
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28min
February 22, 2017 104: I’m In Receive Mode: Our Thoughts on Education Secretary DeVos

Our new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has so far come with a lot of controversy and protests. She supports charter schools, wants to get rid of the public school system and let’s not forget, does not have experience in the public schools! I am now flashing back to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act signed by President George W. Bush in 2002 and how the scripted teacher guides and test-score driven culture made teaching, for me, very difficult.
Read this article: DeVos Criticized Teachers at D.C. School She Visited- and They Are Not Having It by the Washington Post, where DeVos said that teachers seemed to be in “receive mode”. We are confused as to how DeVos was confirmed as she does not have public school experience, so listen to my construction worker analogy!
Well, we can vent all day, but let’s turn this situation into a positive one and take action by reading Betsy DeVos Is Our Education Secretary. Here’s What To Do Next by Upworthy. The article wants us to not lose hope, donate to libraries, support the arts, donate to Donors Choose (listen to Episode 16 about how I use Donors Choose to get funding!), think local, and fight for more affordable or free higher education, etc. So, what will YOU do now?

This show is brought to you by Rhoda Design Studios’ Teachers Pay Teachers Store. She has task cards, clip art, brag tags, language arts, math and classroom management products that are low prep to no prep for 2nd-5th grade teachers.
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28min
February 20, 2017 103: How Subbing Helped Me Become A Better Teacher

Before I started teaching, I substituted around the SFUSD to get a feel for the schools before I applied for a job in the fall. I vaguely remember subbing in many elementary schools around the city while trying to develop myself as a teacher. Then, once I started teaching in my own classrooms, I had very few opportunities to observe other teachers (besides casually dropping into my colleagues’ rooms for a quick questions). Fast forward fifteen years until this past year when i decided to take the year off. I decided to sub at Convent & Stuart Hall to help me gain more income. And of course, you all know, my Math Specialist position fell into my lap and I am so grateful to be doing that one day a week and subbing on the other days!
Yes, subbing helped with my income, but what I didn’t realize was how much I would learn when I stepped into those classrooms! I loved observing the classroom management techniques (my passion!), classroom layouts and various work flow systems! There is so much to learn and subbing has opened my eyes to even better ways of teaching. While I thought I would never teach middle school, I may consider it in the future. As compared to my early subbing experience and now that I have fifteen years of teaching experience under my belt, I feel that I was definitely ready for any classroom and any age level. This is great professional development and has got me thinking about how I might change my classroom for the new school year!

This show is brought to you by Rhoda Design Studios’ Teachers Pay Teachers Store. She has task cards, clip art, brag tags, language arts, math and classroom management products that are low prep to no prep for 2nd-5th grade teachers. Save time and check out Rhoda Design Studios!
Music By The Passion HiFi
www.thepassionhifi.com
...more
18min
February 19, 2017 103 How Subbing Helped Me Become A Better Teacher
Music By The Passion HiFi
www.thepassionhifi.com
...more
18min

FAQs about The Beautiful Struggle:

How many episodes does The Beautiful Struggle have?

The podcast currently has 250 episodes available.