1-833-933-4TFD Teachers
Freedom Over Fear by Laura McDonell
Listen The Freedom That Comes From Having the Courage to Take Risks I never lose. I either win, or I learn. (Nelson Mandela) Take Risks The previous two words come up a lot in conversation about growth and education. Often educators, when asked about different topics, will add ¨take risks¨...
I AM Poetry? by: Laura McDonell
Listen The Possibility of Being a Natural Poet You Are A Poet I have had several identities throughout my life. There are several things I belong to. However, when I heard that I was a poet, I was surprised. I have never thought of myself as someone who writes poetry....
Take the LEAP Creating A Classroom Of Courageous and Empowered Learners By: Laura McDonell
Listen Having courage means doing something when the answer of how it will turn out is unknown. It is Not Always Easy to Be Courageous Courage is not something that comes naturally to everyone. And even when it is a familiar value, it is not always easy to practice courage...
I Never Thought About That What If My Assumptions were Wrong By: Laura McDonell
Listen The Student Perspective Seeing things from the student’s perspective is challenging. After watching one of Dr. Kevin Leichtman’s videos, I realized that there might be a few things regarding education that I have never thought about. Understanding motivations behind student actions is a priority. The Perfect Ten offered me...
Add More Music How the Pepper Effect Taps into the Magic of Creativity, Collaboration and Innovation by: Laura McDonell
Listen Where words fail, music speaks. (Hans Christian Anderson) A Must Read A few weeks ago, I read The Pepper Effect by Sean Gaillard. After reading Gaillard’s book, I gained a new perspective on how I can do things differently to achieve the impossible. The book helped me to think...
The Guts to be Not Good by: Laura McDonell
Listen How Starting Before your Ready is the Key to Success Three years ago, my middle son Luke decided that he wanted to play hockey. He taught himself how to skate on our pond and was determined to try a new sport. Luke decided he was willing to start at...
Seeing My Students by: Laura McDonell
Listen Looking and seeing are two different things. (John Paul Caponigro) Allowing someone the opportunity to be seen and noticed is a gift. When I think about how many times I have quickly glanced around the classroom to “see” that my students are present and what they are working on,...
Find the Ones Who Haven’t Given Up by: Laura McDonell
Listen One of my favorite movie scenes is the final scene in the movie Tomorrowland. The movie stars scientist Frank Walker, played by George Clooney, who at the end instructs Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), as well as several other kids in Tomorrowland, to go out and find the people who...
Create More Space by Laura McDonnell
Discovering Ways to Empower and Connect in the Classroom What is the best way to set up your classroom? What is the best use of space in the classroom? And, how can we continue creating spaces for students to thrive? Because each teacher is different, each makeup of students is...
Space for Not Yet - by Laura McDonnell
Listen A delay is not a denial. (Vernon Wright) Embrace the Not Yet Space One of the most challenging things is not being where we want to be. It is difficult to realize that there is space between where we are and where we want to go. I choose to...
The Comparison Trap by Laura McDonell
Listen It doesn’t happen all at once. But you notice it all at once. Little by little, changes take place. One minute you are ecstatic about your students’ work, and cannot believe the creativity and risks you have taken over the past year. And then, after only a few weeks...
It’s Not Just About Books by Laura McDonell
Listen Understanding What’s Involved in Learning What if someone who had a lot of professional knowledge in an area said something you disagreed with? What if the path you were on was ready to take a turn, and you had not seen it coming? A Life-Changing Podcast Last week I...
“Fine” is A Terrible Word by Laura McDonell
Being Honest Does Not Necessarily Mean You are Negative It is okay, to be honest. It is okay, to be honest, but it is not okay, to be honest and unwilling to look for a way to move forward. While it is true that the more positive we are, the...
Remembering What it is Like to be a Student by Laura Mcdonell
Listen How learning how to play chess made me a better teacher. There is No Limit to What We Can Learn. I choose to believe in a growth mindset and have confidence that I can learn almost anything. Learning does not come without challenges, and there are times when...
Making Memories for Students by Hollie Hamaker
Listen "Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teachers, not methods, and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system." -Sidney Hook Think of your favorite teacher from when you were in school. What do you remember from them? I doubt it was taking notes or listening to...
What does it Mean to Seek The Next Level? by Laura McDonell
Listen How Observation and Choosing the Struggle Allow us to Become Fearless Identifying the Next Level What does the next level look like? Our family loves to play Pacman. My sons and my husband are very good at playing the game, so their next levels look quite different from mine....
We Might Want It To Be Over… by Laura McDonell
Listen But...2020 Is still Worth Processing What did you love? And what do you want to be different next year? No Doubt A Challenging Year The past year has been a challenging one for many reasons. One of the tough things is that it was unpredictable. This year was unlike...
Stepping Into my Students’ Shoes by Laura McDonell
How Running 100 miles in Six Days makes me a Better Teacher Step into my shoes and walk the life I am living, and if you get as far as I am, maybe you will see how strong I am. (Anonymous) As a teacher, I often think about how to...
Change the Behavior, Change the Class (Part Three) by Hollie Hamaker
Listen When I think of the word "mentorship," I think of some ideal mentors. Professor Dumbledore and Gandalf are some of the first mentors that come to my mind. However, I should start putting my fellow teachers on that list. In the final installment of "Change the Behavior, Change the...
The Best Choices are Right in Front of You by Laura McDonell
Listen Rearrange the ¨Furniture¨ and Discover a New Perspective Growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to rearrange my bedroom. I loved the opportunity to have my bed facing a new direction, a chance to slide the dresser into a new location and enjoy seeing things from...
The Stay-at-Home Gratitude Scavenger Hunt by Laura McDonell
Listen Re-Discovering the Blessings that Surround Us “No duty is more urgent than giving thanks.” (James Allen) Being grateful is not automatic. Practicing gratitude is one of the quickest ways to lift your spirits and lift the spirits of people around you. How do People Respond? When asked what they...
Dear First Year Teacher by Hollie Hamaker
Listen Dear First Year Teacher, Let me start by thanking you for joining the teaching profession. I am sure many have tried to scare you away. But you chose to become a teacher anyway. Although the statistics vary, roughly 20 to 30 percent of teachers quit in their first...
Is It Worth The Time? Finding a way to Stretch the Hours in a School Year by Laura McDonell
Listen Stretching the Dollar If anyone can stretch a dollar, it is my Mom. A stay at home Mom who put her career on hold to raise four children, my Mom had to find a way to stretch one income. She was a master coupon clipper, sales shopper, and had...
Dealing with New Technology by Hollie Hamaker
Listen For many teachers, virtual teaching is a four-letter word. The idea of having to use technology to teach can fill some with dread. Some teachers have even quit or retired, so they do not have to deal with technology's ever-changing world. It seems that virtual teaching might not...
A New Way To Improve: What it Looks Like to Get 1% Better Each Day By Laura McDonell
Listen Last weekend I was inspired by a story. Chris Nikic became the first person with down syndrome to complete an Ironman triathlon (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run completed in under 17 hours). Completing an Ironman Triathlon requires grit, determination, perseverance and stamina that most people only...
Change the Behavior, Change the Class (Part Two) by Hollie Hamaker
Listen In the second installment about changing behavior, we will talk about how rewards can impact your classroom. I highly recommend reading the first article before reading this one, as I reference it at one point a few paragraphs below. Some days, it seems impossible to create an atmosphere in...
Show Students What’s Inside Your Head: Make Your Thinking Visible By Laura McDonell
Listen I can still remember Algebra class in high school. This class was different from other math classes. It was as if I went from being taught in a foreign language to entering a classroom where English was spoken. I could not believe that I understood what the teacher was...
Listening
Listen For teachers, this has become a year of “windows”. We’ve spoken to our students through the window of a computer screen, whether through pre-recorded lessons or live classes. The screen recorder counts down and then we’re going through the details of the instruction, or watching the squares as they...
Reformation: Attitudes About Student Learning Ability
Listen We’ve all heard the idea that every student can learn, but believing that takes on a whole new level of faith when you’re in the trenches with struggling students. Our gut instinct is to get out of the situation and hand that student over to someone “more qualified” to...
Reformation: Content Delivery
Listen Lecture is incredibly difficult to get away from, isn’t it? Even in the earlier grades, it’s often difficult to let go and let discover rather than presenting all the information known to mankind in the areas in which we are certified experts. Science tells us that lecture is ineffective...
The Schoolhouse, Your House
Listen This year, we’ve all been lifted out of the familiar spaces we’ve enjoyed teaching for so long and are having to set up a home office that works well for both recorded lessons and live instruction. All the while, many of us have to think of the most important...
The Most Important Piece of the Virtual Classroom Puzzle: Re-Engagement - Laura McDonell
Listen Imagine this. You are a 10th grader. Week one, you are coming off summer break to find out that your parents signed you up for virtual learning. Frustration is an understatement as you beg and beg to go to school in person. In an effort to show...
Book Review: The Distance Learning Playbook
Listen I was mowing the yard, listening to some education podcasts a couple of weeks ago, and listened to two different podcasters interview the authors of The Distance Learning Playbook: Teaching for Engagement & Impact in Any Setting. First, it was Justin Baeder of Principal Center Radio interviewing Douglas Fisher....
Tips for Virtual Teaching for Lower Elementary
Listen Introduction Teaching elementary students online is a difficult prospect, but a necessary one given the circumstances of the world today. There are naysayers who will say that teaching online at this age is impossible, that the difficulties and barriers make virtual teaching ineffective.This is not true, but it is...
Reformation: Adjusting Responsibilities of Learning and Control
Listen In the past, both the responsibility for learning and classroom control rested squarely on the shoulders of the teacher. If your students were loud and misbehaving, or if they failed a standardized test, you were not only held responsible for it in a figurative sense. Instead, you could lose...
Reformation: Identifying Sources of Inspiration
Listen One of the purposes of this series of articles was to talk about schools, leaders, administrators, philosophers of education, technologists, architects, and teachers who were visibly succeeding in education and making an impact. But our eleven schools are notably only a small sampling. Since beginning this series, we’ve heard...
Reformation: Creating or Redefining Your Purpose Statements
Listen In our last article, we shared some of the mission statements, vision statements, and value lists for some of the top schools in the world. As we looked through these statements, we were really inspired to work on our own statements. Many, if not all, schools and districts have...
Reformation: Defining Your Purpose
Listen Have you ever asked a student, “Why are you here?” when they seem to be floundering in school? We want them to find a reason for attending school that is their own, something that will drive them forward when they are worn out or have lost their will to...
Technology and Education in the 21st Century By Debbie Thoreson
Listen As a teacher, I have often thought, “Seriously, why does this student think I’ll believe this is hard for him?” After all, I begin with the same historical texts as I have for nearly a decade; yet I notice each year there are more...
Student Reflections on Virtual and Hybrid Learning
Listen There is no question that this has been a very challenging year for teachers and administrators (OK, understatement doesn’t even begin to describe that statement). But, our students are facing these challenges without the benefit of maturity, life experience, or a college degree! Let’s not forget that...
Reformation: Embracing the Outdoors
Listen In this article, we’ll take a step away from our eleven leaders and reach a bit further out, because there are many schools around the world who have used the opportunity the pandemic has provided to be outdoors more. Pre-pandemic, many schools and districts in the U.S. added more...
Part 2: Reformation: Indoor Learning Environments
Listen In our last article, we discussed how the Ron Clark Academy, Wooranna Park Primary, and Fuji Yochien embrace and have designed environments that are used to fulfill their mission statements and pedagogy. Here are a few more leaders in this area. International School of Hellerup in Copenhagen The International...
Checking in on Mental Health
Listen We have written a lot about mental health in the last 6 months since the world seems to have gotten turned upside down, but that’s just how important of a topic it is! While most of this seems to have started with the COVID-19 pandemic back in March, the...
Reformation: Technology
Listen Perhaps the first and most obvious way schools are changing right now is in the area of technology. We are using it in ways we definitely never could have predicted!And that is very frustrating for so many teachers and students. However, when the pandemic dies down and we find...
The Reformation Age of Education
Listen We’ve known for some time that education was in need of a major overhaul. Many teachers and administrators have been ready for it for a long time. Some districts, a few states, and the occasional national leader have stepped up and championed the cause for change. But largely, our...
Answering "Why" in Professional Development
Listen Years ago, I was in a professional development meeting that tackled the topic of adding “essential questions” to each of our planned lessons. There was instruction on the language we should use, the structure of the questions themselves, and how to tie each question to state standards. Yet I...
Elementary Focus: Dolls for SEL and Social Studies
Listen There are few adults who spend any time with kids who haven’t heard of the “Toy Story” franchise. In one of the movies, the toys gather around a new playmate, Forky, created by the child who is the center of their world.The child in the movie makes this “doll”...
Education Podcasts, Part 2: What We Have Learned from Them
Listen We wanted to share some of what we have learned recently from the education podcasts we have been listening to. Principal Center Radio Douglas Fisher - The Distance Learning Playbook (Jul 31) Douglas Fisher’s has some great, practical tips on distance learning! He suggests that teachers should integrate synchronous...
Practical Lessons from Innovative Schools
Listen We’ve seen the videos of young teachers rapping multiplication facts in high heels from desktops. We all know about Ron Clark academy and being Slide Certified. There are many ingenious schools and teachers and methods that get tremendous results. How do we take the things we see working in...
The New Hope of New London
Listen 2020… right?!? What a bizarre year. We thought now would be a good moment to ponder some amazing schools, districts, and communities that have lived through their share of trying times and come out on the other side in a way that can provide some inspiration for us as...