We Teach Inspired!!

What does it take to create cultural relevancy for students? If you were Naomi O'Brien growing up it was simply to have a teacher ask you about who you are and what you like.

On this episode Naomi (Instagram: @readlikearockstar) talks about how her educational experience impact how she strives to connect with her early elementary students today. When asked what the one thing every student should be taught she responded with the ability to know what they need and how to ask for it. And she strives to do that with her kids and works with them on the language needed to ask for things.

We also had the chance to chat how to put language to social justice issues for both students and teachers. Naomi says that we often don't talk about difficult issues because we don't have the language or don't know how to ask the right questions, so with her students she often focuses on what justice would 'look like' in certain fictional and literal situations.

We wrapped up the conversation with practical ways to build better relationships with parents like sending newsletters home in their native languages and better relationships with colleagues like venturing to other parts of the building to see people.

We're so grateful to Naomi for sharing her story and wisdom and we hope you enjoy this episode!

These are just some of my thoughts on why I haven't put my own voice out there more on our podcast and why we choose to do very little editing and post production of our show!

Thanks for listening!

Kyle

What exactly does it mean to teach on tables?! Lucky for you Katie (@teachingontables) joined us on the podcast to describe her unique brand of art, theater, and taking that has become her calling card!

During this conversation Katie tells the story of how a theater major at Notre Dame turned into her engaging style of teaching with help from the folks over at The Ron Clark Academy. Katie shares our belief that as teachers we are the #1 determinants of our students success and future opportunities and although her presentation may be over the top her practice is rooted in a simple principle--listen.

Katie has developed her own voice as a teacher and gives you the advice that she used to do so during this episode. Although her dancing and singing may seem like a novelty they are far from it. The central tenant of her teaching lies in the idea that students expect the unexpected in her class. Not only does this allow for her to take risks in her teaching, but it provides the space kids need to develop their own voice as well.

If you don't already follow Katie please do so because it will give you a visual of all the things she spoke of in this episode and thank you to Katie for coming on the show and providing such value to teachers!

Vanessa Cronin is the host of the Empowered Teaching Podcast, yoga guru, and a Bilingual Teacher! We loved getting to talk with Vanessa about her journey as an immigrant and educator, how she learned English, and her belief that everyone on the planet should do yoga. She is doing great work on her podcast as well as on Instagram, so if you don't follow her or haven't subscribed to her podcast go do that now!!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/empowered-teaching/id1434059025?mt=2

When our friends at The Wright Stuff Chics and Teach Your Heart Out decided to help a school in Bay County Florida after they had lost everything in a hurricane we weren't surprised, but we were blown away by the donation by Hand 2 Mind of $700,000 worth of materials to help those students and teachers get back on their feet!

On this episode we catch up with Brandi Brown of Hand 2 Mind to talk about that particular donation, why in a technological world hands on learning still matters, and how to get more resources in the hands of more teachers and students!

If you'd like to learn more about Hand 2 Mind you can go to their website or find them on Facebook and Instagram:

IG and TW: @etahand2mind

Facebook: ETA Hand 2 Mind

https://www.hand2mind.com/

John Rodney is a teacher in Burbank who lives in L.A. and is just a good dude! We were fortunate to connect with John on Instagram (@teachertoteacher) and he agreed to have a chat with us for the podcast. He told the story of how being a summer bar tender in Maine got him connected to a principal in L.A. which turned into a teaching job and he has now been there for over a year. John also gave us good advice on how to get to know your community and the impact that can have on your students. He teaches in a community with a large Armenian population and he discusses how he learned to give examples that are culturally relevant to them. We can say for certain that John will be back on the podcast soon!

If you'd like to support us you can subscribe and leave a review and if you'd like to learn more head over to theledproject.com!

These ladies are our people! If you don't follow @practicallypositiveteaching on Instagram you're missing out on a daily dose of inspiration and motivation for teachers! Whether it is dancing in the car rider line or creating their chalkboard videos Sally and Sarah are go to educators for us whether we need some positivity or advice. On this episode we talk about how to embrace our uniqueness without having to compare it to others and how we can be positive about education without ignoring the realities of our situations. For more great content from these two check out their website!

https://practicallypositiveteaching.com/

Are you an educator with a spouse that is also an educator?! Nita and Mike Creekmore are that and it was so fun to get a chance to have them on the podcast together. We had the chance to talk about how the dynamics have changed between them as they have gone through their careers and how they find balance in their work and family lives. It was incredible to hear how they interacted with one another and set the other up for success. We hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast!!

Ryan Giffen may not be a teacher, but he is deeply involved with the education community. A man who comes from a long line of teachers he now works connecting schools and conferences to some of the greatest teachers and leaders in the business. He provides teachers with many of the incredible speakers and trainers we see in our schools and conferences. He is a part of the education space, but we enjoyed the conversation on education from a different perspective. If you want to connect with him you can find him on Twitter and Instagram @ryangiffen!

https://premierespeakers.com/staff_directory/ryan_giffen

This is the audio of our session from The New Year Teachers Reboot Conference put on by Educators 2 Educators! We talked about how our actions as teachers tell a story and if we're not intentional in how we tell that story the stories our students tell about us will not be ones were proud of. If you want to check out more on the Reboot Conference click the link below!!

https://educators2educators.com/conference/