The Teacher Think-Aloud Podcast

Not much represents a culture better than its stories. In this episode, Anna and Shey chat with Dustin from Sandman Stories Presents about storytelling, teaching, and cross-cultural understanding.  Listen and travel the world through folklore! 🕯️

🎧 Listen to Sandman Stories Presents on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

🌍 On this episode: Episode 133: Ghana–Morning Sunrise, Honourable Minu, Why The Moon and The Stars Receive Their Light From The Sun (W.H. Barker 1917).

💙 Follow @StoriesSandman on Twitter for more storytelling ideas!

Stories for kids:

Stories for adults:

Free literature online:

Questions for reflection:

Are you a helicopter teacher or a hover-free teacher? In this episode, Shey and Anna chat with author Miriam Plotinsky about her book Teach more, hover less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom, and explore ways to implement an approach to teaching that is truly student-centered.

Further listening:

Explore strategies for augmenting student talk time: E2 - Shut up and let them talk!

For an exploration of efficient lesson planning: E8 - Sometimes you plan, sometimes you don’t

For a discussion around increasing collaboration and learner accountability with peer review activities: E19 - The why and how of peer review

For a discussion about project-based learning and its use in increasing learner autonomy: E27 - Why we <3 project-based learning

To see how you can better support students dealing with trauma: E34 - Trauma-sensitive teaching (with Sherry MacKay)

Mentioned in the episode:

Funds of Knowledge, L. Moll (2015)

Teach more, hover less: How to Stop Micromanaging Your Secondary Classroom, M. Plotinsky (2022).

Lead like a Teacher: How to Elevate Expertise in Your School, M. Plotinsky (2023).

Reflection Questions:

Share your thoughts and get featured on a future episode! Email us at [email protected], or connect with us via social media. 

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E 41- Media Literacy 102: Disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracies... oh my!

Further listening:

E39- Media Literacy 101: Bias and perspective-taking

Resources:

⭐ 10 Activities to Boost Media Literacy (downloadable resource) ⭐

Above the Noise, PBS

Disinformation Nation

News Literacy Project

Project Look Sharp

Fact-checking websites:

On social media bubbles:

Mentioned in the episode:

What are your favorite strategies for introducing media literacy in your classroom?

Share your thoughts and get featured on our follow-up episode! Email us at [email protected], or connect with us via social media. 

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We had such a wonderful time at TESOL 2023 in Portland and enjoyed meeting new and old friends there. Like last year, we wanted to bring a small piece of the conference to you. In this video episode, Anna and Shey share their reactions to the 2023 TESOL Convention, integrating ideas from a variety of other conference attendees and friends they encountered at the conference. Listen and (re)live the experience! ⭐

We want to hear from you! For our upcoming episode on professional development in the post-pandemic world, we’re looking for your ideas on how PD has changed for you. Where are you on your professional development journey? How has your PD evolved since the pandemic started? 🎙️To be featured, submit your responses via voice memo or written text at bit.ly/pod_friends, or by commenting on social media. 

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Further listening:

Media literacy is an essential skill in our world today. 📰 But how can we tackle it in the English language classroom? 🎯In this episode, Anna and Shey chat about strategies they’ve used to develop learners’ critical thinking about the media—from an exploration of self-identity and personal lenses to perspective-taking exercises, role play, and analyzing biased language in headlines and on TikTok. 👓

What are your favorite strategies for introducing media literacy in your classroom? Share your thoughts and get featured on our follow-up episode! Email us at [email protected], or connect with us via social media.

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Further listening:

E25 - Handling conflict in the classroom (with Joe Voigts)

⭐ See you at TESOL 2023! We’re super psyched to go to TESOL in Portland, Oregon this year! As usual, we’ll have a strong presence there, and we’d love to connect with you at one of our sessions or for an informal chat. We hope you’ll join for one or both of our sessions:

E 38 - Incorporating music in ELT (with Heather and Ece of English as a Singing Language)

In this episode, Anna and Shey speak with Heather McNaught and Ece Ulus (of the podcast English as a Singing Language) about why teachers should consider incorporating music into language instruction. 🤗

Further listening:

English as a Singing Language

References & resources

Sing Out Loud Word Play, American English

Temperley, David (2022). “Music and Language.” Annual Review of Linguistics 8, 153–70.

Questions for Reflection:

We’re back!!! In this special episode, Anna and Shey discuss and react to contributions from some of our Friends of the Podcast. Listen and join the conversation about teaching contexts around the world. 🌎🌍🌏 Many thanks to all of our friends who contributed to this episode. 🙏

On the episode:

Further listening:

Questions for Reflection:

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We are still (blooper) reeling from 2022... See what we did there?! 😆 Have a laugh at our expense as you ring in the New Year with our 2022 Bloopies! (Warning: This episode contains explicit language.)

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We are thankful for all of the wonderful support we’ve received from listeners this year, and wish you the best in 2023!

We’ve talking about assessment design and rubrics…but what about equity in assessment? In this episode, Anna and Shey speak with Albert Shaheen about his dive into equitable assessment and grading practices. 🤗

Further listening:

Listen to the first two episodes in this mini-series:

References & resources

Blum, Sarah (2020). “Ungrading in a Pandemic - And the Rest of the Time Too.” Podcast Episode.

Blum, Sarah (2020). Ungrading: Why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead). West Virginia University Press.

Feldman, Joe (2018). Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms. Corwin.

Hammond, Zaretta (2014). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Corwin.

Stommel, Jesse. https://www.jessestommel.com/

Questions for Reflection:

The pandemic was a challenging time not just for teachers, but also for administrators. In this episode, Shey and Anna speak with Lina Jurkunas about the challenges she faced in taking on her new role as IEP director during the pandemic and the lessons she’s learned about leadership along the way. 🦸🏼‍♀️

💜 Friends of the Podcast! 💜 We’re working on a new, exciting episode format where we integrate the voices of our listeners from around the world! 🎙️Would you like to be featured? Check out our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages to learn how, and submit your responses at bit.ly/pod_friends.

Further listening:

For our conversation focused on teachers’ pandemic experiences, listen to Episode 6 - Teaching & PD through the pandemic.

Questions for Reflection: