Teachers Aid

We’re all gearing up to bring our best selves to school so we can bring out the best in our students. In this episode, we talk about balancing relentless positivity with the need to respond authentically and realistically to those challenging and frustrating moments.

Follow Twitter: @AnnettePonnock @Glennr1809@5Silber@Jonharper70bd @bamradionetwork

Annette Ponnock, PhD is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Yale Center Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Ponnock’s research focuses on teacher motivation and well-being, with an emphasis on urban schools. She received her PhD in Educational Psychology from Temple University and her MA in Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

Breanna Taylor is licensed to teach K-12 Special Education. She graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello with a Bachelor of Arts P-4 Early Childhood Education, a Master of Education Degree.

Sara Silber is an award-winning elementary school teacher and a lead mentor with 30 years of classroom experience. Sara has written two blogposts, for BehaviorFlip’s Blog-“Social Emotional Growth Maps” and “A Teacher’s Journey Through Hacking School Discipline.” More recently, she authored a chapter in the inspiring book Thank You, Teacher. Sara enjoys working with her students and helping them grow and become independent learners. When she is not teaching or planning she is finding ways to support her colleagues. She loves to share her expertise,funny stories and other things that happen in the life of a teacher.

Taren Nance is the high school principal at Urbana School District.

Glenn Robbins is the proud Superintendent of the Brigantine Public School District in Brigantine, New Jersey. His passion is harnessing a school culture that thrives on design thinking, futurism, innovative digital spaces, technology integration, Social Emotional Learning Zen Dens, and Maker cultures. In addition, Glenn encourages all students to have a voice, not only in building a school culture but also in designing student-led entrepreneur opportunities. Glenn is a New Jersey representative for the AASA Aspiring Superintendent Mentor Program, AASA Governing Board, CoSN Empowered Superintendent Panel, NJ Innovative Superintendent Award, NASSP National Digital Principal of the Year, the co-chair for the NJASA Technology Committee in New Jersey, and has received numerous state and national leadership distinctions during his career.

For those of us who are still winding down the school year, we look at strategies for managing the final days when students have had enough and so have we.

Follow on Twitter: @sgthomas1973@ToddWhitaker @bamradionetwork @jonharper70bd

Dr. Todd Whitaker has been fortunate to be able to blend his passion with his career. Recognized as a leading presenter in the field of education, his message about the importance of teaching has resonated with hundreds of thousands of educators around the world. Todd is a professor of educational leadership at the University of Missouri and professor emeritus at Indiana State University. Todd has written over 50 books including the national best seller, What Great Teachers Do Differently. Other titles include: Dealing With Difficult Teachers, Ten-Minute Inservice, Your First Year, What Great Principals Do Differently, Motivating & Inspiring Teachers, and Dealing With Difficult Parents.

Marjo Burk, Fayetteville Public Schools, 5th Grade Teacher 2021-2022 marks her 20th year teaching public school. Engaging students in learning by building background knowledge and a culture of literacy in an environment of positivity has always been her top priority. Teaching for 20 years has given her the opportunity to teach biology and environmental science in the high school setting, English language arts, social studies, and math in the upper elementary and middle school settings. She is also 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year supporting 13 schools across the Fayetteville Public School district.

Shawn Thomas is in her 20th year of teaching in the largest county in Georgia. She has taught Kindergarten, Second and Third Grade, and ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) K-5.

In this episode, we take a close look at a quality that is so counterintuitive that many of us misinterpret it as selfishness. But our guests flip our thinking on its head and show how this single quality can positively impact our students, our peers, and our school climate.

Follow on Twitter: @jonHarper70bd @bamradionetwork @HelenRiessMD @MrJosephHamer

Get the books: Brain Awakes | The Empathy Effect

Helen Riess, M.D. is the author of The #Empathy Effect and a psychiatrist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She directs the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. She has devoted her career to the art and science of healing relationships. Her research has been published in leading medical journals and has won many awards. Dr. Riess’s TEDx talk "The power of Empathy TEDX" has been viewed by more than 500,000 viewers. Her new book, The Empathy Effect has been licensed in nine foreign countries. In 2012, Dr. Riess co-founded Empathetics.com an organization that provides evidence-based empathy and communication skills training for healthcare and education. Dr. Riess and her teams are dedicated to transforming healthcare systems into compassionate care systems. Joseph Hamer is a second and third-grade combination teacher in Wichita, Kansas. He's passionate about empowering children to explore their greatest potential through the liberty found in social-emotional learning. Joseph co-authored the brand-new activity book called Brain Awakes: Empowering Children Through Breath, Balance, and Reflection. Additionally, he hosts the “Cup of Joe” podcast where he interviews inspiring educators to discuss how we can cultivate a more connected and compassionate community of learners.

Most agree that teachers have risen to meet the needs and demands of teaching during the pandemic. But do any of us really understand what teachers need during these unprecedented times?

Follow on Twitter: @TchrBreakroom @drchriscip @turnerhj @Jonharper70bd @bamradionetwork

Monica Swift, M.Ed., is an educator with 20+ years varied experience in the field of education. She currently serves as an intermediate literacy instructional coach and an elementary classroom teacher. Throughout her years in the profession, Monica has served in private, public, and post-secondary education as teacher, coach, consultant, trainer, researcher, education systems strategist, and more. Christina Cipriano, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center and Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (YCEI). Dr. Cipriano’s research focuses on the systematic examination of social and emotional learning (SEL) to promote pathways to optimal developmental outcomes for traditionally marginalized student and teacher populations. Henry Turner is the principal of Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, an advisor to Future Ready Schools, and a national speaker on race in schools, technology in education, and creating change to narrow racial and economic opportunity gaps. K-12 Dive recently named Henry its 2020 Principal of the Year. You can sign up for his monthly newsletter on Social Justice Leadership https://bit.ly/SocialJusticeLead

Discussions about race and injustice will be coming to schools this year whether we are ready for them or not. Students are seeing what’s transpiring in the nation, and they are talking with each other. In this episode, we aim to determine the age at which it’s appropriate to discuss issues of race and injustice in our classrooms.

@MattRKay @PrincipalKafele @TirrellCorbin@jonHarper70bd @froehlichm @bamradionetwork

Matthew R. Kay is a proud product of Philadelphia’s public schools and a founding teacher at Science Leadership Academy (SLA). He is a graduate of West Chester University and holds a Masters in Educational Leadership with a Principals’ Certificate from the California University of Pennsylvania. At SLA, he teaches an innovative inquiry-driven, project-based curriculum. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of Philly Slam League (PSL). Award-winning educator Baruti Kafele is a leading keynote speaker and best-selling author. His books include Is My School Better a Better School BECAUSE I Lead It?, The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, and The Teacher 50: Critical Questions for Inspiring Classroom Excellence. Christy Tirrell-Corbin, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention and the Director of the Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education program at the University of Maryland. She has worked extensively with Title I schools to increase family engagement and raise awareness of teacher beliefs and practices relative to race, culture and socioeconomic status. She has also taught courses on culture and community, as well as studied teacher candidates’ beliefs and practices around race and culturally responsive and respectful pedagogy.