Value Adds Value!

We throw this Thursday's episode back to our interview with one of our favorite people Monica Genta! Not only did we get to have her on the podcast this year, but we also got to see her present and we danced the night away with her at Teach Your Heart Out! On this episode she talks her teaching experience and books 180 Days of Awesome and Game Changers! Check her out online and enjoy this episode! https://monicagenta.com/ Instagram: @monicagentaed --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode we're joined by the Teaching Texan himself Bryce Sizemore! We're so grateful to Bryce for taking time on a busy Saturday to have a conversation for our podcast about the way he sets his kids up for success with Project Based Learning, the importance of providing students opportunities to learn with their hands, and how he prioritizes social and emotional learning. If you'd like to learn more about Bryce or connect with him you can find him online at theteachingtexan.com or on Instagram @theteachingtexan! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode of the podcast we were joined by Sally Shah and Sarah McCarthy of Practically Positive Teaching! To sum it up we really want to be their friends!! We had the chance to talk with them about how their partnership was formed and they share a story very similar to ours in that they worked together and grew a friendship and collaboration from. We also got to hear why they believe teachers can be practically positive rather than perfectly positive. We hope that in this interview you'll find value in their strategies and stories to create a more positive environment for schools! Find them on Instagram @practicallypositiveteaching or their website https://practicallypositiveteaching.com/!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

Juan Gonzalez Jr. is a teacher and proud of it. We're proud to be able to call him a colleague and a friend. During this conversation with Kyle and Wil he talks about why our stories matter. Juan (IG: @teaching3rdwithmrg) has a love for reading that is infectious and passion for showing others the power that reading has to open up our world. "Reading is an insight into the world before they live it," according to Juan as he explains how we can shift students mindset to understand that books tell the same stories as TV and the internet. Juan strives to shine a positive light on education and urges teachers to let students know the why of everything that they do in order to establish the relevance of learning. And his most power piece of advice, "we don't know the impact we have on students." He stressed that we can show students that reading isn't a chore and that as teachers we are never alone in our struggles. And as an added bonus he discusses the Teach Your Heart Out Cruise in June of 2019!! So to get deta

On this episode Kyle has a conversation with Chris Ocampo who is a special education teacher in Massachusetts, food fanatic, and fellow lover of the bow tie! Originally there were a dozen questions laid out for this episode, but the conversation flowed so naturally that we didn't need them. Here are some of the things Chris talked about: - Growing up the son of Filipino Immigrants and the expectations that come with it. - How the diversity of his school and town are unlike most other places. - How food is a platform to learn about others allows us to more easily share our cultures. - How we are not limited to what society gives us and who we can be right in our experiences without someone else having to be wrong. - And how the diversity of our experiences helps us to understand different perspectives. - His book!! WE PROMISE TO HAVE CHRIS BACK ON TO TALK ABOUT HIS TEACHING EXPERIENCE AND WAYS TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS IN THE SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS! But until then go follow Chris on Instagram @feasting_

On this episode of the podcast we're joined by Chelsey Odgers who is a an artist, clipboard creator, anchor chart expert, and technology teacher! You may know Chelsey better as @hipsterartteacher on Instagram and by the amazing clipboards she decorates! We had a great conversation on how she uses her background in graphic design and art to teach her students in tecnology, STEAM, and Makers Space. When we asked Chelsey what the struggles are for art teachers she discussed how it can be challenging to help students overcome their self doubt. What struck us is the way she described how many students have been told they are not good at art and it makes them more reluctant to try and how it could be the story of any student in any class. She then talked about how she wants students to feel capable and valued as individuals and the ways in which she strives to do that in all her classes. Finish it off with some talk on anchor charts, Teach Your Heart Out, and how she uses Makers Spaces and this is an episode you

On this Throw Back Thursday we have our episode with Megan Forbes! If you follow Megan (IG: @toocoolformiddleschool) that she is an advocate for so many groups and causes. Whether it is equity in the classroom or fair trade businesses Megan shares her passions and speaks beautifully from her experiences. On this episode we talked about the value of teaching history and breaking the thought pattern that this job ever gets easier. It doesn't-- we just get better!! We hope you enjoy this throw back episode of the podcast and if you don't follow Megan check out her blog and social media!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode Kyle shares some of his thoughts on why it is important when setting expectations for students you seize the opportunity to grow the relationship. He talks about his personal experiences of having misguided expectations and how he would do it differently if given the chance. As the school year kicks off it is important to set expectations for not just your students, but for all your relationships. Just make sure that all parties involved are on the same page with what those expectations are! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode we're joined by Andrew Frey (IG: @so.fresh.so.fourth) who is a first year teacher in Illinois and the create of Firsthand Museum (firsthandmuseum.com). Firsthand Museum is a collection of primary artifacts that can be rented out to teachers and put into the hands of students. We were blown away by the maturity of Andrew who just began his first year teacher and the time he has spent curating the Firsthand Museum collection. During our conversation we talked about his advice for new teachers, his college experience in which he spent 700 hours in classrooms prior to student teaching, and how important it is for more men to become teachers. We hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and please send us recommendations for teachers you'd like us to interview!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

Thank You: To our families and friends To our teachers and colleagues To the people we've met To the friends we've made To all our guests AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TO EVERY TEACHER OUT THERE WHO MAKES THIS THE MOST IMPORTANT PROFESSION ON THE PLANET!! We look forward to what we have planned for the next 100! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

We love Lindsey to death and this episode could have gone on forever!! We brought her on to talk about empowering teachers, math and STEM and didn't get past the intro questions. So we promise we'll have her on again to talk about math and STEM, but please enjoy this conversation and why the teaching profession is so important and how we can empower the teachers around us to succeed!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

What does it take to create cultural relevancy for students? If you were Naomi O'Brien growing up it was simply to have a teacher ask you about who you are and what you like. On this episode Naomi (Instagram: @readlikearockstar) talks about how her educational experience impact how she strives to connect with her early elementary students today. When asked what the one thing every student should be taught she responded with the ability to know what they need and how to ask for it. And she strives to do that with her kids and works with them on the language needed to ask for things. We also had the chance to chat how to put language to social justice issues for both students and teachers. Naomi says that we often don't talk about difficult issues because we don't have the language or don't know how to ask the right questions, so with her students she often focuses on what justice would 'look like' in certain fictional and literal situations. We wrapped up the conversation with practical ways to build bett

With next week marking our 100th episode with only thought it appropriate to release our very first episode as this weeks throw back Thursday! This episode was recorded in January of 2017 and in it we talk about what Lighthouse Educator Development is all about. So much has changed for both of us since this episode was recorded. Wilkie is now back in the classroom at a brand new school and Kyle is back home in Wisconsin pursuing this venture full time! We hope in this episode you hear our hearts and we prove to you that what we're saying now is what we've said all along! Thank you so much for supporting our podcast! To learn more about our podcast and our teacher mentoring program called The Lighthouse Educator Academy visit our website theledproject.com! Follow us on Instagram @valueaddsvalue and @its.wil.law.iii --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode of the podcast we have a conversation about what a more humanized classroom would look like with Paul France. Paul's first piece of advise, "You have to have a belief in other people's truth." Paul is an openly gay teacher and advocate for marginalized groups whose work we came across when he wrote an article about how white male teachers can be better allies (https://paulemerich.com/2018/08/06/how-can-white-male-teachers-be-better-allies-for-people-of-color/). This sparked a conversation about how people who have privilege can be better allies to people who do not and he started out by explaining how we must accept that other people have a different truth than our own, but we must understand that both truths are valid. To us this means we must as people refrain from trying to validate our own truths by undermining or discrediting the truths of others. Paul gives his 5 As for being a better ally to marginalized groups: Awareness, Acceptance, Amplification, Advocacy, Accountability And wh

We're so grateful for that James Lyas would come on the podcast and be so candid with us about his experiences as both a student and teacher dealing with anxiety and depression. We were honored to be able to listen to his story learn how we can better cope with our own depression and anxiety and what we can do to better serve our students who face these challenges. To learn more about James and his experiences you can find him on Instagram @bondwithjames and you can follow his journey on his Youtube page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClpHwmWkYdIA5wefDsaixeA --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

In honor of the new school year we're releasing our first #throwbackthursday episode to the one and only Joe Dombrowski!! We felt so fortunate to have Joe take time out his busy schedule to discuss what authenticity means to teachers and how we must all #embraceourweird!!! We hope you enjoy this throwback episode of the podcast and that the start of your year is magical!! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support

On this episode Liz Kleinrock returns to discuss her summer adventures and talks about what she has learned about education abroad. If you want to go back and listen to our first episode with Liz it is #44! We had a chance to catch up with Liz to hear the story of her summer trip to South Africa and what she has learned about education after the fall of Apartheid. Liz had the chance to tour several schools and listen to stories of both students and educators and how race has factored into education in South Africa. We also want to congratulate Liz for winning an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Southern Poverty Law Center and Teaching Tolerance. We heard about her time in Alabama this summer and what experiences were like tour the new Lynching Memorial in Montgomery. We were again blown away by the knowledge and perspective Liz shared with us and we're still wrestling with her ideas and how we can grow as educators. We hope you enjoy this episode of the podcast and to follow Liz click the links belo

Justin Campbell is an educator who founded The Urban Connection Project (theurbanconnectionproject.org) and is the author of the book CONFESSIONS OF AN INNER CITY TEACHER. Through his organization and book Justin and his wife strive to prepare new teachers for the challenges they will face teaching in inner city schools. During our conversation Justin talked about the need for teachers to be a stable force in our students lives because live in the reality of inconsistency. When teacher turnover is high and we know that it is in many urban areas it adds to the already unstable world that many of our students live in. During our time Justin describes how he strives to overcome the lack of hope that can be found in both students and teachers by striving to build cultural competency in teachers who are entering classrooms in our urban areas. Justin says the most important thing we can do as educators to build our cultural competency is to share our experiences and create shared experiences within our classroom

On this episode we talk to Tori Pattison about what it means to be both engaging and educating! This was such a fun conversation about heading back to school and how Tori uses purpose driven routines in order to set her students up for success. Tori spoke at length about how all of your routines must have a greater purpose in order for your students to take hold of them. To Tori this means that routines must work towards the greater purpose of helping students learn to respect ideas and feelings. This may seem like a hard concept for 1st graders to learn, but Tori proves that with high expectations students can learn anything! Our favorite routine that Tori has is that she calls all of her classroom jobs "the economy" and each student job is called an "internship". She gives examples of how students thrive in these "internships" as a sanitation specialist who sweeps up the room or a woodworker who sharpens pencils. We also got a chance to talk with Tori about what types of technology she uses in the class

It's not often that the universe comes around so amazingly as it did for this podcast. Dr. Irileria Muhammad grew up with and went to the same college and as Wilkie and it was such a joy all these later for us to be able to have her on the podcast! There were so good stories from Wil's past, but we'll save those for another time!! Things we talked about in this podcast: *Why teachers are the most powerful force for good in our country. *How we can maintain high expectations of our students even as expectations for them get lower in Texas. *How cancer and teaching abroad have changed her perspective. *How as teachers we need to understand the sociology of our students as well as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/valueaddsvalue/support