Paul Emerich France is a National Board Certified Teacher, instructional coach, keynote speaker, and adjunct professor with over a decade of experience in the classroom, teaching grades transitional kindergarten through fifth grade. He is the author of Reclaiming Personalized Learning: A Pedagogy for Restoring Equity and Humanity in Our Classrooms …

Carissa McCray is a member of Research, Advocacy, Collaboration, and Empowerment Mentoring program, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the American Educational Research Association. She has presented across the United States on topics ranging from implementing social-emotional strategies in the classroom to culturally r…

Fabiola "Fabi" Torres is an online Ethnic Studies professor and Certified Faculty Developer at Glendale Community College. During the pandemic, she has led nationwide workshops and courses on applying equity-minded methods such as culturally responsive teaching in the online environment, humanizing online teaching and learning as well as ungrading …

Jesse Stommel is a faculty member in the Writing Program at University of Denver. He is also co-founder of Hybrid Pedagogy: the journal of critical digital pedagogy and Digital Pedagogy Lab. He has a PhD from University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-author of An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy. Jesse is a documentary film…

Mike Flanagan is the CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a growing group of high schools creating a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student—from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools—to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebr…

Alex Shevrin Venet is an educator, author, and professional development facilitator based in Vermont. She teaches community college and graduate teacher education. Previously, she was a teacher and leader at an alternative therapeutic school. She is the co-founder of the Nurturing the Nurturers collective, a healing community for educators. Her fir…

Nate Bowling teaches Social Studies at a US Embassy School in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. He is a past Washington State Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year Finalist. He and his wife blog about living and teaching overseas at BowlingsAbroad.com and he is the host of the Nerd Farmer Podcast on the Channel 253 Podcast Netwo…

Dr. Juuso Nieminen is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong and a Banting Fellow at Ontario Tech University, Canada. He studies the social, cultural, and political aspects of assessment. Why do we assess the way we do? Dr. Nieminen’s research focuses on the student perspective in assessment. He is particularly …

Vanessa Ellis is an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Veterans Memorial Middle School in Columbus, Georgia. In 2017, Vanessa was named a Georgia Economics Teacher of the Year, and in 2018, she was selected as a Harvard Fellow to study research-based practices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2022, she was honored as Teacher of the Year for her sch…

TG2 team member, Michelle Cottrell-Williams, interviews Jan McArthur, Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, UK. Jan’s research focuses on the nature and purposes of higher education and how these relate to practices of teaching, learning, and assessment. Jan McArthur coautho…

Liz Norell is passionate about great teaching and student success. As a political scientist (well, really, a political psychologist), she's motivated to understand how/why we develop the political beliefs we do...and how to have more productive dialogue across differences. As a faculty member and mentor, she loves brainstorming ways to make classro…

Mike Rutherford is a lifelong teacher and learner. Eight years ago, he returned to the classroom as a middle school English and Social Studies teacher after many years in the education private sector with Blackboard and Just ASK Publications & Professional Development. Prior to his time in the private sector, Mike was a middle school teacher and te…

Because ungrading is essentially an emancipatory practice, it cannot be held to one formula or singular standard. Instead, ungrading relies on a robust community of educators to circulate, celebrate, and elevate the practice in its various forms. Lisa Wennerth, welcomes four trailblazing educators—Liz Leininger, Rita Shah, Firas Moosvi, and Taylor …

Miriam Plotinsky is an author and instructional specialist who addresses challenges in both teaching and leading across schools with a wide range of differentiated needs. A strong advocate for student-centered learning, she provides coaching and professional development for teachers and administrators. She is the author of Teach More, Hover Less: H…

Jay Percell, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning at Illinois State University, an author of several academic essays, and a TEDx presenter. Michelle Cottrell-Williams hosts as Jay shares his reasons for moving away from traditional grades and toward a classroom where learning, improvement, and growth is the focus.Resources:Jay's…

In this episode of Teacher Prep with Dr. D, Denis Mathew joins the show to share how he brings social-emotional learning into his practice. Dennis has been an elementary school speech pathologist for more than a decade in urban public schools. Since 2019, he has been a children's author and songwriter. He has three books and one music album publish…

What is the history of Billingual Education in our country and how does policy and practice influence second language acquisition. In this episode Dr. Clara Amador-Lankster shares insight into the evolution of billingual education and how the changing landscape of schools and policy around language acquisition is bringing back programs and the need…

Jasmine A. Stirling is the debut author of A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, a picture book biography of Jane Austen about persistence and creative mastery. Jasmine lives on a cheerful street in San Francisco with her husband, two daughters, and their dog. From a young age, she loved to write poems and stories and worked her…

In this episode, explore the notion of going gradeless in your teaching practice to foster creativity, harness soft skills and support students in fostering a love of learning, rather than a fear of assessment. Batsheva Frankel, MAT, the producer, and host of the podcast, Overthrowing Education, is a veteran educator of over 25 years and the founde…

Interview with Jesika Silva-Zabajnik (LMFT) and Cindy Klinecki (LCSW) about the impact of Covid 19 on children and teachers' mental health. Hear best practices for supporting your students while working remotely and self-care during this time of trauma. Resources: Suicide Prevention Life Line: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/how-we-can-all-pr…

Chelsea Robberson launched Lealyn Growth to support schools and organizations transform education and reach their goals. Chelsea has been in education since 2005 and has worked both nationally and internationally as a school leader, director, and classroom teacher. Her mission is to move education forward and disrupt the status-quo. www.lealyngrowt…

In this episode with Dr. Dickenson, she shares strategies to reflect on this year and set new goals for 2021. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/message

In this episode of Teacher Prep with Dr. D, author Chris Luzniak shares his work of classroom debates as part of his mathematics routine. Find out why Math Debates can bring the Standards of Mathematical Practice to a whole new level and how you can use this approach in both an online and traditional classroom. Check out this episode on Youtube: ht…

In this episode of Teacher Prep hear from two teachers whose passion for teaching and learning has turned into a lucrative side hustle that is supporting other teachers from around the world. Greg Williams from Amped Up Learning is a Social Studies Instructional Coach in Texas. He created Freck playing cards to master Social Studies curriculum and …

How can we be intentional when planning instruction so that students are both engaged, motivated and supported in our classroom? In this episode Drs. McConnell and Conrad, authors of Lesson Planning with Purpose share 5 models for designing instruction through the lens of perceptive teaching: the belief that teachers must know themselves and their …

Sarah M. Zerwin teaches Senior Language Arts and AP Lit at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, and author of the book Point-Less: An English Teacher’s Guide to More. You can follow her blog The Paper Graders and on twitter at @SarahMZerwin Topics include: What led to the idea that points get in the way of learning. How to identify learning t…

In this interview with Dr. Tracey Benson, he shares the research and framework for his book, Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism, which was released with Harvard Education Press in August 2019. Dr. Benson and his co-author Sarah Fiarman wrote this book as a roadmap for school and district leaders who s…

In this episode of Teacher Prep, listen to three teachers share their successes and challenges in the first few weeks of teaching remotely. Three educators share their best practices, advice for teachers and how they use technology and a growth mindset to develop the skills to teach their students remotely. Joining us in the discussion: Brett McMah…

In this episode of Teacher Prep we interview four parents about their experiences in the spring during remote teaching and what they hope for during the upcoming school year. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/message

Kristen Miller is an high school mathematics, Avid, and Career Technical Education teacher who also served as a middle school Vice Principal. Her book "These Kids are Driving Me Crazy" consolidates impactful techniques for managing challenging behaviors which can be replicated with her Empower method. Learn about how to start the school year feelin…

Want to know best practices for bringing parents into the virtual world of co-teaching with you? Join me and KinderRockets founder Ben Cogswell as he shares his secrets for building purposeful partnerships with parents. Ben Cogswell is a CUE Member, Kindergarten teacher and 2019 CUE BOLD teacher of the year. He shares his awesome mindset of blendin…

Brendon Jobs is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Haverford School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a James Madison Fellow, Lehrman Fellow, a National Constitution Center Annenberg Fellow, an Education Pioneer with the SEED Foundation in Washington D.C., and an active member of Philadelphia’s teacher leader community via wo…

This episode is the continuation of my conversation with college educators Maha Bali, Jesse Stommel, and Asao B. Inoue (you can listen to the first half here). As college institutions struggle with the implications of COVID-19, it’s important for them to place equity and access at the center of considerations about ways in which college can resume.…

In this episode, I sit down with three college educators known for their commitment to creating inclusive, humane educational spaces—both in the classroom and online. All three of them have experimented with different forms of going gradeless as part of this commitment. All three have given considerable thought about teaching under the current pand…

Sheldon L. Eakins, Ph.D. is the founder of the Leading Equity Center and host of the Leading Equity Podcast. With over 11 years in education, he has served as a teacher, principal, and Director of Special Education. Dr. Eakins has a passion for helping educators accomplish equitable practices in their schools. You can follow him on Twitter at @shel…

Discover what it takes to build fact fluency with your students through the use of running records. Ann Elise Record joins Dr. D to discuss the importance of computational fluency and what strategies and scaffolds you can provide with intentional math practices. Level up your math practice and your students math fluency through strategies, choice, …

As the school year draws to a close and final grades are calculated, it is becoming clear that traditional grading is inequitable. Some students are able to remain engaged while others, for various reasons, cannot. Schools need to provide some form of summative reporting. The question is, “How can we move forward?” Jay Percell, Ed.D. is an Assistan…

This episode explores "Do No Harm" grading as a response to distance learning in the midst of COVID-19. Educators across the country are experiencing first hand how online distance learning exacerbates inequities in education. Students are struggling with more than access to proper technology and internet connectivity. There are inequities in suppo…

Rusty May joins Dr. D to talk about what teachers should consider for creating a safe space in a time of distance learning and how to prepare for a new year school year that may become distant learning. Join us as we share insight and research about what you should consider for promoting Social Emotional Learning in today's distance learning classr…

Joe Feldman is the author of Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms (Corwin). Joe has worked in education as a teacher, principal, district administrator, and is now founder of Crescendo Education Group, which since 2013 has supported schools in adopting assessment, grading, and reporting pra…

Nate Bowling an AP social studies teacher and emigrant to the United Arab Emirates. In his teaching, writing, and advocacy, Nate challenges the politics and policies that impact his students, his classroom, and society at large. Topics include: What prompted Nate to leave Tacoma and take up teaching in the UAE Why the job of teaching and learning i…

In today's podcast Dr. Dickenson interviews Chris Hill a high school teacher and instructor at The Heritage Institute about his experiences in distance learning. Chris shares his reflections of lessons learned in first three weeks of online learning for high school students. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teach…

Learn best tips and strategies for making distance education work for you and your learners. Sam Fecich author of EduMagic and Edushine joins Dr. Dickenson in this conversation about how teachers can go the distance with distance education. https://www.sfecich.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/mes…

Quick tips and strategies to build an online learning platform for all students across the grade span. Dr. Cynthia Sistek-Chandler has been teaching online since 1999 and will share her best practices for creating an online space where all students can flourish. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/messag…

In this interview with district Math coach Louanne Myers you will hear assessment strategies to support K12 students and teachers in planning and teaching. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/message

Our world is increasingly digitally and globally connected. Students need digital and global literacies to participate, collaborate and thrive in 21st century. In order to teach digital/global/new literacies, teachers must have a framework for understanding and teaching strategies to use. Learn best practices and research in digital literacy with D…

In this episode the topic of teacher identity is explored in the context of being an urban educator. Dr. Cheryl Matias author of Feeling White: Whiteness, Emotionality, and Education earned the 2017 Honorable Mention for the Society of Professors of Education shares her research and expertise in this area. Her second book, Surviving Becky(s): Pedag…

When it comes to higher order thinking and problem solving skills think outside the box and include computer science for real life application. In this interview with Megan Brannon she shares her experiences as a Computer Science teacher for K5 --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teacherprep/message…

When it comes to math instruction consider your learners and how you can engage them with instruction that is context-embedded and relevant to their lives. In this interview with Dr. Natalie Pough we will discuss how teachers can create math tasks that meets students where they are at and not where the textbook tells them they should be. --- Send i…

Want to know what to look for in an effective reading program, or how to ensure students are making adequate progress in developing reading skills? In this episode we speak to a reading coach and expert on best practices for student success and what to look for when students are struggling. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.co…