Podcasts for PD

In May my campus’s instructional coach, Kim Stroud, and I were talking about what our fall PD book study could be. She and I have been hosting book studies for four years together. We’ve uses titles such as Kids Deserve It by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome, Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess, The Wild Card by Wade and Hope King, Culturize by Jimmy Casas, Personal & Authentic by Thomas C. Murray, and Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth by Aaron Hogan. Teachers would read the book during a semester period and each week they would respond to question topics I created in Canvas/Google Classroom. They would give their own responses and then respond to a colleague to generate discussions. At the end of the book study we would meet in person and Kim would facilitate a discussion about the book, our takeaways, and goals moving forward. Teachers earn 9 hours of OCT (off contract time) of the 30 hours required each school year and get some great ideas through these books that deal with teacher issues, lesson planning, SEL, classroom management, etc. We’ve had great success with these books. In fact, after our first one (Kids Deserve It) the teachers who did the book study wanted to create a SPIRIT Committee for our campus to help generate more campus culture from the students to the staff. That committee is still active today and is run by Kim and myself. *If you’d like access to any of the book study questions or more information on titles and how we ran it, please message me!

However, in May when we were talking about the book studies, we worried they might be getting a bit stagnant. We weren’t finding books as easily, especially after a pandemic, that dealt with what teachers were experiencing in the classroom and beyond. Kim had the amazing idea to find podcast episodes instead of a book study. We liked the idea of podcasts because teachers can listen to them in car, while doing household chores, in their classrooms after school, etc. I posted a question box on my Instagram stories at the beginning of summer asking for podcast ideas that were about the education world or time management, SEL, mental health, etc. and my PLN delivered! I had a long list of podcasts to listen to and spent the summer going through various episodes and curating a playlist that covers a wide range of issues teachers might need advice about for 2022 such as social-emotional learning (SEL), mental health (their own and recognizing student issues), equity, creativity, inspirational, #edtech, how to reduce workload, student feedback, working with parents, self-pacing, goal setting and more. We wanted to provide a bit of everything and even have an option to choose two podcasts of their preference from The Mindful Kind so they have some choice in what they want to listen to.

How it’s going to work: Podcasts for PD will open in September. I have created this Google Form that teachers will fill out when they finish listening to a podcast. There are at least 21 on the list so they will do this 21 times after each one they listen to. They have until November 18 to listen to them all and provide feedback so they can take it at their own pace. Then on November 28 we will meet as a group after school for an hour to discuss takeaways, goals, etc. and Kim will run that session, as she’s way better at facilitating discussions than I am. At the end of the meeting all participants will receive 9 hours of OCT credit towards their goal of 30 for the year. We hope this is helpful and beneficial for our teachers in a multitude of ways: earning professional development credit, getting some tips and tricks to use in the classroom, and some goals for themselves and their students for the rest of the year. Book studies have been successful and we hope Podcasts for PD will be as well. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about our book studies/Podcasts for PD. Below is the current podcast playlist for our first semester. I’m sure it will change each semester as we get feedback and education changes. *If you have any suggestions for other podcasts, please share those as well!

This Teacher Life: Three Things You Have Permission To Do This Year 23 min, 3 Things We Should Do In Our Classrooms 18 min

The Creative Classroom with John Spencer: Creative Habits vs. Creative Momentum 20 min

Leading Equity: Equity vs. Equality 7 min

Self-Care for Educators: Squad Goals 7 min

The Mindful Kind: Pick 2 episodes to listen to that apply to where you are right now

Let’s K12 Better: Let’s Talk About Empowering Digital Leaders 46 min

Simon Sinek: The One With Brene Brown 53 min

Brene Brown: Masterpieces and Messes with Jason Reynolds 78 min *optional, Atlas of the Heart: A Sisters Book Club, Part 1 of 3 57 min 

Cult of Pedagogy: Goal Setting for Teachers 23 min, 6 EdTech Tools to Try in 2022 42 min

Truth for Teachers: Small Changes for Reduced Workload 20 min

Brave New Teaching: The Key to Classroom Management + 20 Favorite Strategies 41 min

The Shake Up Learning Show with Kasey Bell: Tips and Tools to Improve Parent-Teacher Communication 33 min

Easy EdTech Podcast with Monica Burns: Tech Savvy Teens 26 min

The Edugals Podcast: Descriptive Student Feedback 29 min

The House of #Edtech: The Canva Classroom, Increase Student Engagement 39 min 

Modern Classroom Project: Self Pacing in Secondary Education 58 min

522+ min total

Use: bit.ly/podcastsforpdform22 to complete after each podcast you listen to

I should get at least 21 reflection form submissions from teachers by November 18.

*Other podcasts to consider for the future: EduProtocols, Sharon Says So, EB Academics, Jen Hatmaker, SEL Five, Google Teacher Podcast, Sounds Good with Branden Harvey, Backhanded Optimism with Adam J. Kurtz, Happier by Gretchen Rubin, Daily Breath with Deepak Chopra, Dear Sugars, Good Life Project Podcast, The Daily, The Science of Happiness, Making Space with Hoda Kotb, That’s So Retrograde, Todd Nesloney.

New School Year Resolutions

Photo credit: https://www.theloophk.com/keep-your-new-years-resolutions/

I’m back! Took some time off this summer to focus on me and now it’s almost time to start the 2021-2022 school year. As I sat down to write my goals I started thinking about another time of year when we as a society make goals, plans, promises for the upcoming year and that is the dreaded, but usually required in the U.S., New Year’s Resolutions. It’s when the entire world reflects on the previous year and makes new goals for the upcoming 365 days. Teachers get to do this twice a year instead of once. I don’t think any other profession in the world makes resolutions two times a year other than those in education. In the field of teaching we are constantly growing, changing, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t from our previous school year. Last year was anything but normal for teachers. We had to adapt more than we ever had before in order to teach students remotely, in a hybrid model or face-to-face. COVID restrictions made it almost impossible to teach at the level we are used to and with the same norms and consistency we always had. However, almost every educator I know took this summer and at some point began thinking on what they want to do differently for the next year.

Some educators write their goals/resolutions down, others make it a part of their professional evaluation system for their evaluator to monitor throughout the year, some have them mentally while others jump in head first and start implementing change immediately. I’m a list maker. I have post its on the side of my computer at work, on my desk, on the Stickies app on my desktop, reminders in my calendar on my phone, etc. constantly nudging and prompting me of the goals I have set for myself. Some are whole year goals while others are ideas, lessons, clubs, library actions, etc. of what I want to do at some point in the year.

One goal I did not meet last year was to finish my Diversity Audit. With almost 10,000 titles in fiction alone it was a daunting task to try and complete, during this past year especially. However, I am only three genre sections away from completion (Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy) and while they are my biggest sections, I am going to make it my number one goal to finish that this year. I also got new shelving for my graphic novels so I plan on genrefying that section in itself such as: manga/anime, general graphic novels, nonfiction, superhero, etc. I am so excited to do this because when I got to this library six years ago there weren’t many graphic novels. Now I have tripled that section. Other goals I have: present more at the state and national level, be more active on Snapchat for my brand, continue with TikTok, IG and Twitter for my brand and PLN connections, bring my clubs back on campus, earn more #edtech badges, continue to blog, and above all else: connect with my students more now that restrictions won’t be so tight in the library.

What are your New School Year Resolutions?