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Teaching Elementary School takes a certain personality, patience and understanding of children. Doing all of that during a pandemic....? I don't know how these teachers do it!

On this weeks episode, I speak with Princess Marfil from the London Catholic District School Board and Mariel Barahona, from the Calgary School Board of Education. We chat about online learning, challenges and success stories over the last 10 months of schooling

Feel free to follow their incredible work on Instagram and Twitter

Mariel Barahona - @sra_barahona
Princess Marfil - @mspmarfil

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This episode is part 2 of our episode from last week on "Should I get a Ph.D in Education?".

We round out the conversation by chatting with Kathy Hibbert, the Associate Dean of Western University's Teacher Education program.

 We chat about:

• Why did she transition into academia after 18 years in the classroom?
• Online learning
• Costs and lifestyle of pursuing a Ph.D
• How to teach at a Teachers College (with and without a PhD) 

And so much more! If you are interested in learning more about Western's graduate program in education, you can visit their website for more information.

You can follow Kathy Hibbert on Twitter at @khibbert

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Have you ever thought about getting a Ph.D in education? Have you ever wondered the following:

• How much will it costs? Can I afford it?
• Should I do it part time or full time?
• Why have other teachers gotten their Ph.Ds?
• What can I do with the degree?
• I want teach a teachers college one day. Do I need a Ph.D? 

This is actually a two part episode. In part 1, we speak to Celeste Kirsh and Dr. Sarah Morrison.

Celeste is a middle school teacher in Toronto and is about to start her Ph.D at OISE in the fall. We talk to her about the thought process and decision making that went involved behind this major life decision! If you love listening to Celeste, you can hear more of her on her own education podcast called "Teaching Tomorrow". You find can that podcast on Apple, Spotify, and all streaming services. 

Dr. Sarah Morrison is a music teacher and she completed her Ph.D at OISE. We talk to her about what she spent four years studying, why she got the degree, and her role as an adjunct professor at Queens University.

In part 2 of this series, we will speak to Kathy Hibbert, the Associate Dean at Western University's Teachers College program. You can listen to that episode on Monday June 7th.

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Wow - I have my first celebrity on the podcast! Does this mean my podcast is finally blowing up?

On this episode, I chat with Chris Patterson, the Upper School Director and English Teacher at Appleby College.  However, in the evenings, he is also one member of the iconic Canadian musical comedy group, 'The Arrogant Worms'!

In our conversations we talk about balancing our teaching careers with our life passions - music and comedy. So many young teachers struggle with balancing their life due to the immense amount of lesson planning out of school. Add that on with a possible family, kids, marriage, relationship, or friends, how are we supposed to find time for ourselves?

On this episode we talk about:

1. Who are The Arrogant Worms?
2. Is it possible to have a passion outside of teaching?
3. How do we balance the classroom and our passions?
4.  Creative writing - how do musicians write their music? How do comics test their jokes?

Chris is a hilarious, entertaining and great individual. You won't want to miss out on his stories of teaching and touring on the road!

Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and leave a review and rating if you are on Apple Podcasts!

Notes

• Visit chrispatterson.ca for all of Chris's children music 
• Visit arrogantworms.com for all up to date music and touring dates
• You can also follow the group on Facebook or Instagram and listen to their music on Apple or Spotify and other streaming services 

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It's been a while since I stepped foot in a public school! This episode, I chat with Ed Ponikvar, a high school Accounting Teacher at Mount Carmel Secondary School, in the Dufferin Peel Catholic School Board in Mississauga, ON. 

He gives me a dose of reality of what things are like in the public system. We talk about:

1. What it's like teaching online in the public system?
2. The difficulties of transferring school boards and seniority 
3. What incentives teachers to run after school curricular?
4. What is it like to deal with parents in the public sector?
5. How do you teach students with a wide range of academic abilities in the same classroom?

This one is a bit of a longer one! But I had so many questions and Ed had so many good stories!

Hit that subscribe button, and leave a rating and review! It would help a lot!

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Have you ever thought, are we wasting our times as teachers? Are students actually learning anything valuable in our class? Are they actually going to use any of this stuff in the real world?

Students are craving practical knowledge. Students want to be prepared to tackle the real world! Sometimes teachers get caught up in curriculum and what the ministry says we should be teaching. Have these people even stepped foot in a classroom? The Ministry Business Curriculum hasn't been updated since 2006!!

Today, we speak with Benji Copeland, a former student of mine. Benji did not attend post-secondary school and instead wanted to start his own business at the young age of 20 years old! Today we have an honest conversation about if Benji felt his high school education prepared him to tackle the real world. What can schools do differently to equip students with the necessary skills for those who don't want to attend post-secondary education. 

Check out Benji's podcast, 'The Power of 3' on Apple Podcast!

Its a fun episode. Don't forget to leave a rating and review on Apple!

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I just got vaccinated! Got the Pfizer juice running through my veins! 

So are you craving a bud light? Dying to eat some nachos on a patio with some friends? Want to go back to work and teach in a real classroom? 

 Ya me too! I want all of those things (except teaching in Pj's is kind of nice...). On this episode, I chat with Dr. Mariah Hughes, an Infectious Disease Fellow, training at the University of Toronto. We chat everything related to covid and schools, including:

1. When will this all be over? When can we go back to work?
2. When will be achieve herd immunity? Will we need booster shots?
3. Should pregnant teachers be confident to go back into the classroom?
4. Understanding vaccine hesitancy 
5. New variants and how that will effect September

And much more! Check it out! Lets go get vaccinated! Only few more weeks of school! 

Note: 

• This episode was recorded before Ontario paused all rollouts of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
• Dr. Mariah Hughes does not speak on behalf of the University of Toronto, and all thoughts and opinions are her expressed on her behalf.

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It's okay not to be okay...

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. We have to help ourselves, before we can help our students. On this episode, we bring in Arunie Saldhi, who is a consultant for First Sessions. This company tries to help people find the right therapist that can support their needs. She is also currently perusing her Masters in Counselling Psychology at Yorkville University, and she has her B.A in Psychology at the University of Waterloo.

We talk about:

1. Whats the difference between a Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist, Counsellors, and Therapist?
2. Whats the difference between anxiety and depression? 
3. Does medication actually help with mental health? What are the side effects?
4. What are some alternatives to traditional medication for our mental health?
5. How do we get help?

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On this episode, we have Stephanie O'Mahoney as our special guest. Stephanie is a proud graduate of Queens University, with a BA in Economics. She spent her early career as an Investment Advisor at RBC, and is now currently at WealthSimple serving as a Wealth Advisor.

With Stephanie we discuss the following:

• What is a stock brokerage?
• Should I invest with a bank or an independent broker?
• What are the fees?
• What is robo-advising? Is that for me?
• How can teachers get started? 

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Do you want to become a better public speaker in the classroom? Then you have to check out this episode! We have Eric Silverberg, co-founder of Speaker Labs and we chat about how we can become better speakers in the classroom. We discuss:

• Can we become more engaging on Zoom classes?
• Are teachers obligated to be entertainers?
• What makes elite public speakers so great?

And much more! Come check out this episode! 

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