3 Ps in a Pod: An Education Podcast

Brianna Winiesdorffer returns to 3Ps in a Pod to talk with hosts Danielle and Kathleen about her first year of teaching as she nears the end of the school year.

3Ps in a Pod first featured Winiesdorffer in March 2020 as she neared her graduation from Northern Arizona University. Danielle and Kathleen then caught up with “Ms. Winnie” a few months into her teaching career last December. We’ve also been sharing about Winiesdorffer’s journey through her first year as a teacher in a collection of blog posts.

Now just weeks from the end of her first year as a teacher, Winiesdorffer shares with Danielle and Kathleen about the highlights, the challenges, and what she’s learned through the past year. She reflects on what she had expected and what she actually experienced as a new teacher. Winiesdorffer also talks about how she plans to use her summer break to both relax and plan for her next year when she’ll be teaching geometry instead of algebra, which she taught this year.

Winiesdorffer is a part of the Arizona Teachers Academy, which provides funding to support teachers throughout their career. This program’s initiatives include helping cover expenses at the pre-service level, providing mentoring and professional development for beginning teachers, and supporting teachers in pursuing National Board Certification. You can hear more about the multifaceted Arizona Teachers Academy in this 3Ps episode from earlier last fall.

All Arizona beginning teachers (those who will be in their first, second, or third year of teaching this fall) are invited to attend the Beginning Teacher Institute this June. The three-day, online event will feature several outstanding educators including Sarah Brown Wessling, the 2010 National Teacher of the Year; Cornelius Minor, a Brooklyn educator who established The Minor Collective, a community-based movement designed to foster sustainable change in schools; Julie Causton, founder and CEO of Inclusive Schooling; and Michelle Doherty, the 2017 Arizona Teacher of the Year.

Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

What does it mean to lead with inquiry? And what does that actually look like in a classroom or when working with other adults? Today, we begin a four-part series exploring those questions and more about leading with inquiry. 3Ps host Paula Watkins and Jessica Vance, the author of Leading With a Lens of Inquiry, will lead us through this exploration, setting the stage in our first episodes about what inquiry is and how to integrate it into leadership. In the final two episodes, you’ll hear Jessica and Paula engage in an inquiry-focused coaching conversation as an example of how others can use a lens of inquiry in their coaching and leading.

In this first episode of this series, Jessica shares about her background and current work as an inquiry leader. She makes clear that being an inquiry leader is not exclusionary of being a managerial leader but that leaders can use both approaches in tandem and when most appropriate.

Jessica details the need for inquiry leaders to understand their values and for a critical friend to help keep your inquiry leadership focused. She also suggests having the sentence frames “What would happen if...” and “How may/can I...” ready to use in an inquiry process.

Throughout the episode, Jessica and Paula reference the work of Trevor MacKenzie, who you can listen to in previous 3Ps in a Pod episodes on “Cultivating Inquiry,” “Creating a Culture of Inquiry with Kass Minor and Trevor MacKenzie,” and “Diving into Inquiry.” Jessica also mentions these additional resources:

• “ The Inquiry Leader” sketchnote, “Managerial Leader, Inquiry Leader” sketchnote, and “The Ripple Effect” sketchnote can be found at leadingwithinquiry.com/sketchnotes
• Elena Aguilar’s work with the core values of leaders, such as “ How Core Values Foster Resilience in Educators,” and other resources available at brightmorningteam.com
• Brene Brown and her Daring Leadership Assessment at brenebrown.com/hubs/dare-to-lead/
• Kimberly Mitchell’s book Experience Inquiry and other resources at inquirypartners.com
• Jessica Vance’s website at leadingwithinquiry.com
• Jessica Vance’s Instagram at instagram.com/jess_vanceedu
• Jessica Vance’s Twitter at twitter.com/jess_vanceedu

Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

Elama Dzanic joins Angelia and Mary to continue the conversation around school safety. Elma champions the idea that the level of connectedness our students feel to our school communities, both emotionally and socially, is just as important as a student’s academic success. She emphasizes that it is the the authentic relationships created among and between students and adults in a school community that develops safety and security. Elma calls upon us to assess our own biases and to hold space for challenging topics in our classrooms. Listen in to hear some of Elma’s experiences as she provides us knowledge and expertise on how to bring about the dialogue that every child needs to feel safe and secure within their school community.

Links Mentioned:

• Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates
• Consciousness | Healing | Relationships by Elma Dzanic
• Don’t Say Nothing: Silence speaks volumes. Our Students are listening by Jamilah Pitts
• Discussing “The Mental Health Issue” After Parkland by Julia Delacroix

How do you build classroom community, even while teaching remotely?

In this PD in 30 segment, Hannah Jones, NBCT, assistant technology specialist in Madison School District, and Leah Clark, English language arts teacher in Glendale Union High School District, dive into how to create an inclusive classroom community and what that can look like right now as schools are closed because of COVID-19.

PD in 30 segments are exactly what they sound like: professional development sessions in 30 minutes or less. PD in 30 is most beneficial if you’re able to listen with a pencil and paper in hand and can easily hit the pause and play buttons on your listening device.

Here are also links to several resources mentioned in this episode:

• Ideas for back-to-back drawing pictures
• www.kaganonline.com
• www.polleverywhere.com
• Flipgrid.com
• www.peardeck.com

Learn more about the Arizona K12 Center at azk12.org.

It’s been an exciting last few months for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Today, 3Ps in a Pod host Juliana Urtubey talks with CEO Peggy Brookins about recent National Board news and conversations.

Peggy shares about the vision and work of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the benefits of National Board Certification for educators and their students. She also reflects on how both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate introduced resolutions in January 2024 that recognize “the importance and contributions of National Board Certified Teachers” (NBCTs) and reflects.

More than 3,500 educators certified as NBCTs in December 2023, more than 700 than the previous year. Peggy talks about some of the dynamics that have led to that increase, including expanding the process to newer teachers and incentives at the state and district levels.

Peggy also talks about the need to better retain quality teachers and how National Board Certification can be a part of addressing that need. She speaks to how networks of NBCTs across the country are helping both advance National Board Certification and also lead in addressing the current challenges in education.

In this episode, Peggy references the Learning Policy Institute’s research and tool that calculates the cost of teacher turnover in a school or district.

If you’re interested in starting your National Board Certification journey, visit azk12.org.