Sara Medalen is a TItle 1 Reading and Math Interventionist (grades k-5) at Sunnyside Elementary in Minot and has nearly 30 years of classroom experience. Sara was a finalist for the 2019 North Dakota Teacher of the Year and is widely known for her Books & Braids and Dudes and ‘Dos before and after school programs. She believes students must feel loved, respected and understood.

Sara focuses on relationship building to reach the best of what’s inside each child. In this podcast, she offers her thoughts on her Girl Power Project, how her students are helping other students in Haiti, and her focus on improving literacy.

She also offers advice on taking risks, especially when it comes to investing time with students before and after school

Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com
http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd
@smedalen
@sunnyside_mps

I (along with a team of educators) am involved in innovative education! It's an outdoor learning opportunity for fifth-grade students. We would love to get our adventure in education noticed throughout the state. I would suggest interviewing us as a group. We are partnered with Fish and Wildlife and our outdoor opportunities are at Sullys Hill National Wildlife Refuge. Thursday we have conferences in the afternoon.

Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged


Twitter:

@thecuttinged

@NDDPI

@tdintersmith

@bistom

@PrairiePublicEd

Dr. Andi Dulski-Bucholz is the Dean and Chair of the Division of Education at Mayville State University. In this episode, Dr. Dulski-Bucholz is joined by Dr. Kelli Odden, Professor of Early Childhood Education at Mayville State. They’re teaming up to talk about how they’re training our next generation of teachers, more commonly referred to as pre-service teaching training. We discuss challenges and opportunities in preparing teachers, whether it’s talking about how teachers factor into a world of online learning, a shift from teaching content to teaching skills, and what’s being done to prepare teachers for working with the many social and emotional issues impacting our children.

Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com
http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd
@kelliodden
@mayvillestate

In this episode, I talk to Nikki Doll and two of her students—Teegan Henke and Shelby Meckle—about service learning.

You’ll hear about how service learning impacts the community and students—and how it sets a foundation for building 21st Century skills. The students find needs in the community—or world—and look to fill the voids through projects, teamwork and collaboration.

Resources:

http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

https://www.facebook.com/CenterFfa/

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd
@NikkiFideldy

In this episode, I visit with Williston High School’s Director of Bands-Eric Rooke.
Eric focuses on building relationships to bring the best out of his students.

He says, ”Education happens at its finest when we get to know our kids and our kids get to know us as human beings.

Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com
http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd

Beatrice Hill is in her fifth year at West Fargo high school teaching English language arts. During her first year, she was approached by students who wanted to begin a literary magazine. Hill allows the students to take the lead on every aspect of the magazine, from providing content and page design to seeking out fundraising sources and including advertising. Hill says she serves as an advisor and says when the students run into problems they develop the skills to problem solve.

Hill says she comes from a long line of teachers and that education has been really valued within my family. She says she not only comes from a line of exceptional teachers, but she’s also had the privilege of being taught by exceptional teachers. She believes that every teacher she’s had along the way has inspired her in some capacity and has influenced her to help her get where she is today.


Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd

In this episode, I talk to Rolla agriculture instructor William Fritz. Fritz uses inquiry based learning to teach 12 different semester classes throughout the school year. The classes range from agriculture business to livestock production, and everything in between. He wants the students to experience agriculture. He says a lot of students still believe agriculture education is just for farm kids. Fritz teaches agriculture processing, the sales side of agriculture, natural resources, veterinarian science, and horticulture with focus on Floriculture. He also requires all of my students to have an agri-science project and supervised agriculture experience project.

In 2018, he was fortunate to become an National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador. The program only takes 20 agriculture teachers each year into the program. He spent five intense days learning how to incorporate inquiry base learning into the classrooms/labs/shops. One of his responsibilities as an ambassador is teaching others about inquiry base learning through workshops.


Resources:

http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

https://www.facebook.com/RollaFfa/


Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd

In this episode I visit with Anne Kelsch, Ryan Zerr and Melissa Gjellstad from the University or North Dakota. We’ll talk about the importance of general education and why it’s critical in helping students develop 21st Century skills.

The three offer advice on what current high school students—looking ahead to college—should know—including the thought that the career they study for may be much different when they enter the workforce.

Resources:

http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Association of American Colleges & Universities: https://www.aacu.org/

UND College of Arts & Sciences: https://arts-sciences.und.edu/

A “Value of Essential Studies” which is a compilation of curated resources linked from within the page: https://und.edu/academics/essential-studies/value.html


Twitter:

@thecuttinged

@NDDPI

@tdintersmith

@bistom

@PrairiePublicEd

This podcast is designed for teachers, students, parents and others interested in education in North Dakota. I’m your host Tom Gerhardt. In this episode I visit with Solen Cannon Ball Supt. Justin Fryer and Title 1 Math Teacher Vanessa Peach.

A switch to trimester schedules a couple of years back has lead to increased student engagement and graduation rates.

Resources:

http://www.teddintersmith.com

http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:

@thecuttinged

@NDDPI@tdintersmith

@bistom

@PrairiePublicEd

This weeks podcast is with Lynnae Liese—the Personalized Learning Coordinator at New Rockford-Sheyenne.

The school recently started a Personalized Learning Academy—empowering students and giving them voice and choice in their learning. Lies says its an opt-in program where students choose three or four courses they want to study. An instructor is there one period of the day acting as a coach—allowing the students to take on their own learning choosing what they want to learn and when they want to learn. Lies says collaboration is a huge part of the learning environment.

Liese will talk about how and why the program began and offer advice for other districts who may want to look into a similar program.

Resources:
http://www.teddintersmith.com
http://www.ndunited.org/thecuttinged

Twitter:
@thecuttinged
@NDDPI
@tdintersmith
@bistom
@PrairiePublicEd