The Real Life Learning Podcast

I sit down with Bilal Zaidi, the host of one of the best new podcasts out there today CreatorLab.fm. We learn his amazing life story from hustling as a kid in London, to working at Google and now building his own brand and learning from the world's best entrepreneurs. I do my best to try and identify the life skills he's learned along the way and we discover how curiosity, hustle, self-teaching and even the fear of failure can all serve as stepping stones to success.

It's been our goal to have more youth involved with the show and this episode got us off to a great start. I brought in 12 year old comic book expert Jojo to talk all things superheroes. How do the movies connect to the canon of their comic book sources and how do you define and identify easter eggs on screen? And what better place to talk comics than the home of Kevin Smith's Comic Book Men on AMC, also known as Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, NJ. This is also our first video podcast as well, the video version will be up on our Youtube channel youtube.com/nuskoolofficial. Check it out, he's a cutie and you might notice a resemblance. (Hint, Hint)

This was the definitive music episode of the RLL Podcast. We nerd out with music experts Jason King and Terrance Thomas to discuss Prince and what students can learn from his legacy. Prince's genius is deconstructed and we explore whether Kanye, Bieber or Hamilton's Lin Manuel fit the mold. Beyonce got us slow sippin' Lemonade and we look for hints of vulnerability and self-expression or plain old marketing genius. And what has Hamilton taught us about history, theatre culture and masculinity? Jason King is a musician, journalist, radio host and professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. Terrance Thomas provides creative direction and artist development for many recording artists today and lived a former life performing on Broadway and around the country.

How do we encourage young people to become leaders in the age of cyberbullying and social media bashing? How do Beyonce, Kendrick and Kanye walk the thin line between Black Genius and madness? And how has Drake redefined young men's idea of masculinity? We tackle all of these difficult questions with our amazing guests - motivational speaker, poet and educator MrJeffDess (@MrJeffDess), founder of TrillorNotTrill.com and Lakisha Odlum (@MzUrbanEducator), 7th grade English Teacher at Eagle Academy Queens and pre-service instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Abe and Tharaha are joined by special guests, New York Times notable Author Daniel Jose Older and Teacher extraordinaire Maeve Gavagan to discuss storytelling in the 21st century. We explore the advances in storytelling through different mediums such as print, television, film, video games, virtual reality, social media and even live theatrical experiences. Tharaha lets us know about the newly featured content on NuSkool.com including the teachable moments found in the Deadpool and Star Wars films.

In this episode, Abe sits down with Tharaha Richards to discuss the latest lessons exploring the true scary science in Jessica Jones and the newest additions to our 'Teaching Star Wars' series. Our special guest for this week is EdTech expert Kristine Scharaldi, who is best known for her work as a dynamic workshop presenter with over 20 years of experience providing customized professional development and training for educators. Abe and Kristine break down the 5 ways to make a classroom more student-centered.

Host Abran Maldonado discusses the history behind NuSkool's evolution and the years of work in both entertainment and education that led to the platform's creation. The Real Life Learning podcast will take an in depth look at the learning resources published on the NuSkool platform and will speak with thought leaders about important issues in education and pop culture.