WarriorEDU

By MCHS Warriors

A podcast for Warriors who want to do more for their kids and the colleagues who work with those kids.... more

· Education

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FAQs about WarriorEDU:

How many episodes does WarriorEDU have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.

WarriorEDU episodes:

April 11, 2021 Coach Niemic & Warrior Football
Join Leah and Jeff as we talk football during a pandemic with Coach Jon Niemic and the Student Captains of MCHS Football.
...more
21min
April 04, 2021 "Why Still Teach French? with Andy Hillier
Welcome to Warrior EDU, Episode 13 with Andy Hiller, MCHS French Teacher & Theatre Director
Andy’s Teacher Story
Always wanted to be a teacher
Loved the big steps on the bus - synonymous with being in the school environment
Foreign language in HS, knew he wanted to teach French
Doing music at the same time
Went to France, stayed for a year
Went back to ISU and got his degree -
France - elementary school
Libertyville Middle School
Gets along with stricter teachers
Open up the idea of possibility
Explore after high school!
Leah’s Wedding Dress
Sewing - out of the blue told Leah that if she needed someone to make her wedding dress for her, he would do it.
Almost ruined it attaching the ribbon by hand - pricked his finger, got blood on the ribbon, had to re-do the ribbon!
Theatre
Always enjoyed productions and theatre, studied a lot of opera
Staging of productions
Worked with a theatre group in France, staged productions
Applied here knowing that he could do theatre
Very difficult to do, so much to do
Working with students on a monologue
Challenge Faced in the Trenches
Why still teach French?
Language education is not an extra, shouldn’t be an elective
Opens your mind to see what jobs are out there and possible
We should all experience this as human beings
Break down the barrier of “core vs. elective”
They all have a place at the table
HOPEFUL
Right now - COVID related.
Long Term - A change in education, a broadening of perspectives.

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
28min
March 15, 2021 "What's on Your Playlist?" with Tri-M Music Honor Society
Join Leah & Jeff as we chat with Ashley Burger and her FANTASTIC group of Tri-M Honor Society members!
MCHS Educators! Share the Tri-M application with your young musicians!

...more
50min
March 04, 2021 "Got Ink?" with Matt Connor
Join Leah & Jeff as we chat with MCHS Graphic Instructor, Matt Connor!
Matt’s Teacher Story
Graphics when he went to HS
Difficult upbringing, lots of family tragedy at a young age
Graphics teacher saw he was going down the wrong path; teacher was also his wrestling coach. Started hanging out in the Graphics lab
Wrestled D3 - never actually wrestled due to injury
Job utilizing graphics skills for Fortune 500 companies during college
Stopped school 8 credits shy, went to work
Former Graphics teacher encouraged him to go into teaching (PE), loved coaching, went back to school - NIU for 4 years
Graphics Lab
Predecessors before him grew the program to where it is today
Design, layout, printing, large format printing - cars, doors, etc.
2nd school in nation (?) with auto screen press
Learning how to be a part of the Graphics business
Soft skills are so critical! Sending email, dealing with customers, etc.
Challenge Faced in the Trenches
Dealing with understanding both sides (teaching & admin)
How do we bridge the gap?
Understanding the “Why” isn’t always clear at first - sometimes we have to have faith
Dealing with controversial things kids say
HOPEFUL:
Setting a good path for (my) kids.
Seeing their dad doing something worthwhile
Graphics Industry - wanting to get a handle on where the graphics field is going in order to move in a unified

GUEST CONTACT INFO:
www.mchswarriorsinc.com
Email: [email protected]

HOST CONTACT INFO:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
52min
February 09, 2021 "Anti-Band?" with Spencer Hile
Join Leah and Jeff as we chat with MCHS Band Teacher, Spencer Hile!
Spencer’s Teacher Story
Parents both music teachers,
Grew up at high school football games, basketball games, etc.
Parents wanted him to be an engineer
All of his mother’s families are engineers
Anti-Band
Doing sports and being mean was cool at the time
Parents are biggest mentors as former teachers

Having a Student Teacher during COVID
Understanding the day-to-day pace and rhythm,
Teaching her what the classroom is like

Challenge Faced in the Trenches
Work & Home balance
Air mattress in the car just in case
2-3am - late nights during his first or second year
Changing culture of the Band program

HOPEFUL:
That the pandemic will give people a bigger appreciation for school; deeper appreciation for each moment together.
Teaching us to be humans. This before content.
“COVID Cuts” - what have you cut out of your life as a result of COVID, or just in general? What have you taken off of your plate so that you can be more in the moment?

GUEST CONTACT INFO:
[email protected]

HOST CONTACT INFO:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
35min
December 04, 2020 Being a Grad Student & 1st Year Teacher (in a Pandemic) with Leah Nolan
Join Leah and Jeff as we chat with ANOTHER Leah... Leah Nolan, MCHS 1st Year English Teacher, who also happens to be a grad school student. All during a pandemic.
More from Leah:
-Being a new teacher in a pandemic
-School spirit!
-Finding your teacher identity and battling self-doubt
-Student choice and building rapport
-Creating a teacher space. (decorating my classroom, even though the students are not here to see it. I think having a workspace that makes you happy is so important)
Leah’s Educational Journey
New teacher, “pandemic” teacher
Great HS experience;
KNEW she wanted to be an educator
Went to community college
Went to ISU
School counseling kept coming up;
Graduate student and FT teacher at same time
Knew how to be a “Zoom Student”
Aspirations: “it’s okay that my journey includes being a teacher”
Let life be what it may
Battling Self-Doubt as a Teacher:
Comparing herself to others
“I should have thought of that”
Compare yourself to you YESTERDAY
The teacher IS the environment this year
Decorating the classroom shapes the environment
Challenges in education & how you dug yourself out of the trenches:
Setting boundaries for myself
Can’t run on empty
Can’t pour from an empty cup
NOT doing anything on Saturday
HOPEFUL:
I hope students come back with a new-found love for school
I hope we see school spirit
High-Fives in the hallways

GUEST CONTACT INFORMATION:
Leah's Twitter

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
34min
November 20, 2020 "You're Not Just Here to Get a Credit" with Dane Erbach
Join Leah and I as we chat with MCHS English Teacher & Newspaper Advisor, Dane Erbach!
Dane’s Educational Journey
Not from a “teacher family”
Punk Rock kid in HS; “art nerd”
Lake Forest College, started doing more writing and “art stuff”
“Daydreaming about what I would do if I were the teacher”
Stumbled into this field where it all made sense - stumbled upon a passion - didn’t know what he would do
Teacher prep prepared him for diverse learners
Lake Forest College - NOT diverse at all
Taught at Highland Park HS
Newspaper Advisor Role - Yearbook was developed into an award-winning publication
“Make it a student publication”
“Inspiring them to create”
Want it to be something sacred, not a place to go to get a credit
Goal is for them NOT to need me
“Through a little bit of encouragement, and the push from a teacher”

Challenges in education & how you dug yourself out of the trenches:
“Challenge was not the students - challenge was the grownups”
“You are not an entertainer, you are a teacher” - professor mentioned this
Had a terrible year last year with newspaper;
Played the middle role between admin and student writing.
Empowering students - challenging values - hold truth to power

HOPEFUL:
Watching my students walk into the classroom for the first time this year. It will be genuine, not much need for hyping it up.
If not this year, eventually there will be kids here.
I will not take them for granted.
I’ll be thinking about my job differently.

GUEST CONTACT INFORMATION
Twitter: Dane Erbach

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
57min
November 13, 2020 "What a Wonderful Opportunity We Have" with Heidie Dunn
Join Leah & Jeff as we chat with MCHS English Teacher and Former Theatre Director, Heidie Dunn!
"My dad was heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 60's and was a professor at UW Milwaukee. He actually left his job in protest over a decision to not hire a perfectly qualified woman of color in the history dept. about a month before I was born. We ended up living in his childhood home in northern Wis after his father died, in a century-old farmhouse without running water, phone or television. That upbringing taught me a lot about essentials and luxury and how to carve my own educational path."

Heidie’s Education Story -
Mom was an elementary teacher; dad a history professor at UW Milwaukee, quit his job in protest; bought the family farm, became a farmer; graduated with 88 kids in his class from a small, rural HS; reading Thoreau at 12 because of her father.
Dad active in the Civil Rights movement; history dept. Hired someone from a phone interview; Dept. decided they didn’t want to go in that direction once they found out she was African-American.
Grew up with no running water, electricity run with a generator, all through elem and high school.

More from Heidie:
Who you are “Has a lot to do with who you are inside”
It's what have you gained, not what you have lost
The Silver Lining - the ability to take advantage of things...
Challenges in education & how you dug yourself out of the trenches: Time & Balance
Never feeling there is enough time
Balance of time
Not saying YES every time, but coming to yes EVENTUALLY

Adoption Story - her son Braden:
Former theatre student who was engaged to a young woman, wanted to have a baby for Heidie and her husband;
“The Gifts students give”

Advice for New Teachers:
It is SO worth it.
You still have the ability to do all the things you were trained to do
What we are creating are students who become independent learners more so than EVER before;

HOPEFUL:
When we see the other side of a dark tunnel, we are better people.
What a wonderful opportunity we have.
Opportunity gives me hope.

GUEST CONTACT INFO:
Twitter: Heidie Dunn

HOST CONTACT INFO:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
44min
November 04, 2020 Guidance vs. Counseling with Curtis Menke
Join Leah & Jeff as we chat with MCHS Counselor, LINK Advisor, Comics Fan & Staff Infection Band Member, Curtis Menke!
Listen in as we chat about School “Guidance” vs. School “Counseling” - what’s the difference? and MUCH more:
GUIDANCE: It’s about the role and what that person does
Guidance is antithetical to the word counseling
51% Social-Emotional / 49% Educator
Guiding is reactive (guidance is telling someone what to do, “better than”)
Curtis’s Philosophy - “If I’m guiding them, I know where the end is”
Partnering with teachers and other professionals - what a good counselor should be doing
Manager vs. Leader
Middle-Manager
Curtis’s Education Story -
Settled on school counseling because his counselor was “less than,” and was also his Driver’s Ed teacher
From Grant Park, IL - one of those little “Blink and you miss it” towns
Graduated from a 31 student class in high school
WIU - College
Transferred to Olivet (Psychology)
Just clicked when he was there
Grad School - Northern IL U
Entire career here
Has worked at both MCHS campuses
Challenges in education & how you dug yourself out of the trenches:
COVID - trying to develop rapport and connection in the age of Zoom
Advice for New Teachers/Counselors
Embrace silliness
Permission to put their guard down, and mistakes more
Social barriers to protect themselves
HOPEFUL:
Short term - return safely
Long term - Overall roles of MCHS employees focusing on developmental needs of kids as we merge campuses; content is enhanced when students have post-secondary goals

GUEST CONTACT INFO:
Twitter: Curtis Menke

HOST CONTACT INFO:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
43min
October 09, 2020 "Why Not Come on Stage?" with Mitch Stengel
Join Jeff & Leah as we chat with 2nd year teacher, soccer coach and Yearbook Advisor: Mitch Stengel!

Mitch’s Teacher Story:
High School at Prairie Ridge
University - Illinois State U.
Broadcasting was his first love
At one point thought... “Why not come on stage”
Was hired right out of college here at MCHS
Start of 2nd year - teaching during a pandemic
Mitch talks about tech apps that can make learning happen
You HAVE to have the connections with students
Favorite Quote: "Students don't learn from teachers they don't like"
This is a unique opportunity - going from “1st year teacher” to “1st year teacher”
Classroom Story:
Has had a few Humbling experiences
Personable vs. Driven-by-Content
Trying to finish a yearbook
THEME: You Can’t Stop Us - student empowerment
Election
Pandemic
Excited about the Broadcast Center at the new HS extension
Opportunity to get at that “Top Tier”
“Why can’t it be us?”
“A lot of times you have to go and get those opportunities”
Pet Peeve - when teachers fight the modem kids are using
Why not live in their world? In the present? If we’re going to prepare them for the future
Challenges in education & how you dug yourself out of the trenches:
Kids who don’t want to learn
Ask: “How are you?”
Help kids dig out of their mental trenches
Advice for New Teachers:
The content will come. Relationships First.
Try not to get flooded by too much information.
Build a Network
HOPEFUL FOR:
Light at the end of the tunnel
Find the Light, the Bright Spots
Keep Moving Forward

GUEST CONTACT INFORMATION:
Twitter: Mitch Stengel

HOST CONTACT INFORMATION:
INSTAGRAM
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
TWITTER
Dr. Jeff Prickett
Leah Pelletier
...more
48min

FAQs about WarriorEDU:

How many episodes does WarriorEDU have?

The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.