We Teach Inspired!!

Rebekah Ozuna is a Pre-K teacher in San Antonio, Texas, who has an incredible passion for social and emotional learning. During our conversation with Rebekah she discussed how some students are not sheltered at home and they come to us in a very raw state. Rebekah beautifully lays out how we must first provide for the social and emotional needs of our students before we can address their academic needs. Rebekah says that even in the Pre-K setting how we model appropriate social and emotional skills goes a long way in teaching our students how to handle those situations. Rebekah is the head of the Aspen Institute's Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development where they are working to understand the needs of our students on all levels and she brings that experience to this powerful conversation. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Here's how you can learn more about and connect with Rebekah:

IG: @missozuna

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/national-commission-on-social-emotional-and-academic-development/

We were so lucky to have the opportunity to talk with Eric Crouch who we're so excited to meet this week at Teach Your Heart Out Las Vegas! As Eric said it was so fun to get to talk shop with one of the most dynamic educators we've met. During our conversation Eric talks about the pillars of his teaching-- collaborate, communicate, critically think. He uses these as the basis for most everything he does in the classroom and finds that they increase the student buy in. If you don't follow Eric on social media you should because not only is it funny and insightful, but much of what he puts out is made by students in his film editing club. Eric talks about "the vulnerability of video" and how he believes video is an asset that, "allow bulletin boards to come down and be replaced by windows." Eric strives with his students to give the choice and stake in the success of the classroom and it is something we can all benefit from learning more about. We hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and thank you so much for tuning in!

To follow connect with Eric:

Instagram: @adventureswithmrc and

https://www.youtube.com/user/manningexpress1

Erica Bristor is a Pre-K teacher in our beloved HTX and fellow lover of all the food Houston has to offer! During our conversation with Erica (IG: @missbristorsbusybees, TW: @ericabristor)she describes what the world of Pre-K is like to two guys who have very little knowledge of it. She emphasized for us that its not just coloring and recess, but that she strives to create habits with her kids the most important of which are developing their reading skills and social courtesies. Erica and Kyle share the experience of moving to Houston without knowing a soul and how proud they are of that choice. Erica also stated that although we have a long way to go in making our educational system what it should be we all must remember that we are making a difference. And she points out that no matter what goes on outside of our rooms we are always in control of what we do within our four walls and how we serve our students. Finish it up with her three favorite Houston restaurants and you have a recipe for a great podcast!

Thanks again for supporting the podcast! We will be making some big announcements in July so stay tuned to see what else we've been up to in 2018 and where we are going in 2019!

This was one of the most engaging and powerful conversations we've had on the podcast! It is very rare that we have guest that off the cuff goes into his spoken word poetry, discusses how teaching is a civil rights act, and explains how everyone is already a genius. But that is exactly what Ryan Parker did on this episode of the podcast! Ryan Parker (IG: peaceloveparker) teaches middle school reading and writing in New York along with being a performing artist and brand new dad. During our conversation about helping students find their creative voice Ryan discusses his belief that hip hop is the most pure form of pedagogy and how he incorporates all elements of the genre into his lessons. Ryan along with being an inspiring teacher is also the leader of the #openmicmovement and continues to find ways to engage his students on their creative level. Most of all we love Ryan for the passion, love, joy, and gratitude he brings to our profession. If you don't follow Ryan you are missing out!

Thank you for supporting educators and for supporting us on this journey. We have a goal to reach 100,000 downloads this year and we can do it with your help. Please feel free to follow us on social media and share any of our episodes with the teachers in your life!

Your paycheck is based on your time, not your value.

On this episode of the podcast we're thrilled to be rejoined by Wilkie who now has a bit more time away from his doctoral program with school being out. Our guest on this episode is Heather Planchon (IG: @theprimaryparty) who is a kindergarten teacher in Boston. During our conversation Heather about the importance of face to face communication with parents, how to merge with teachers who have different styles than our own, and the need for all teachers to "get real" about what is going on in their classrooms. As Heather says during the podcast, "teaching is much harder than it looks and their needs to be trust all around!" We loved having the chance to talk with Heather and we hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast.

PS. Sorry for the poor sound quality at times. Between our nasal breathing and the bad connection we know parts are hard to listen to. But what Heather has to say is to valuable to let those things keep us from sharing her story with you.

To connect with us:

Email us at [email protected]

Find us on Twitter and Instagram @valueaddsvalue and on Facebook as Lighthouse Educator Development.

On this episode we were joined by a fellow Northern who relocated to teach in Houston Brittney Blair. Brittney (IG: @brittneyblair_) is a middle school math teacher in Houston who is also a lover a country music, so we shared many things in common. During our conversation Brittney talks about her belief that being creative and good at math are not mutually exclusive skills, the importance of truly seeing the best in each of our kids, and how we can't be afraid to let our kids fail. As a bonus there was also talk on the best places to eat in Houston and what is and isn't real country music! We had such a good time talking with Brittney and we hope you find value in her words and story.

We'd love to hear from you on what we can do to improve the podcast! If you have suggestion on topics or guests please reach out.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter and Instagram: @valueaddsvalue

Facebook: Lighthouse Educator Development

On this episode of the podcast we were joined by Sarah Forst who is the creator of The Teacher Care Crate and the TPT store The Designer Teacher. We had a conversation with Sarah about her experiences with the Teach For America program and teaching in Chicago Public Schools. We were floored by the situation she described working in CPS, but we admire her attitude and work ethic to serve her students in the best way she could. During our conversation she talked about what it is like to be a teacher dealing with anxiety and how she learned to value self care. To finish up we talked about how she created The Teacher Care Crate subscription box and what teachers can expect each month. We hope you're as inspire by this conversation as we were!

Here's how you can learn more about Sarah's TPT resources and The Teacher Care Crate:

https://www.teachercarecrate.com/

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Designer-Teacher

http://www.thedesignerteacher.com/

Trevor Muir is a teacher, leader, trainer, speaker, and author of THE EPIC CLASSROOM. We love this conversation with Trevor and we're so pumped to hear his keynote at Teach Your Heart Out Las Vegas. During our conversation Trevor outlines how we are all on a 'hero's journey' a reference to the concept from Joseph Campbell's book The Power of Myth. Trevor explains how we are all on a journey that takes us through the struggles and challenges, but in the end brings us back to where we were, but only we have an incredible gift to share because of our triumphs. Trevor also talks about his book THE EPIC CLASSROOM and how he strives to turn any lesson into a story and help students shape their experiences into stories. He sums up his philosophy as a teacher with the mantra-- the traditional classroom can't be all there is. And after you listen to Trevor you'll understand why!

Here is how you can connect with Trevor:

On social media you can find him as THE EPIC CLASSROOM or go to his website trevormuir.com!

On this episode Kyle was joined by Julie Salcido for a conversation on the value of relationships, how to create a team atmosphere in the classroom, and how to teach and learn with joy! Julie teaches 4th grade in Arizona and we had a chance to talk what it is like to teach the current educational climate there. She admits that it is challenging to teach in a place that is underfunded, but talks about the need for us to remember our purpose as educators and the impact that we have. To Julie teaching is very personal and she knows that the energy she brings to the classroom will be reflected in her students. That is why if you follow her on Instagram (@teachwithsparkle) you'll see her standing on tables and dancing around the room! Julie is a powerhouse and we were honored to have her on the show. As Julie says, "Do what you love!!" On this episode you'll hear how Julie brings joy and love to everything in her classroom! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

As always thank you for supporting our podcast! We're excited to launch our first set of t-shirts to support our podcast and nonprofit. Go to the link below to check it out!!

https://the-led-project-shop.myshopify.com/

Here's how you can connect with us:

Instagram: @valueaddsvalue

Facebook: Lighthouse Educator Development

Email: [email protected]