Episodes

Time with Anthony Swann, is time well spent. He is incredibly knowledgeable in the field of best teaching, and leads with an open heart. He is passionate about giving up control and giving ownership to the students. It requires us to trust them whole-heartedly. Anthony unapologetically will always do what is best for students. He teaches from the heart and trusts his students to perform. In This Episode We Cover When students transition from learning school to learning content. The idea of Ma...

He's BACK! We had the opportunity to have Anthony Wiggins, Matt's student teacher, back on the show to talk about his first few weeks of experience in the classroom. Anthony is coming into his own as a teacher. Learning through experience, wisdom of others, and making his own mistakes. Anthony is more reflective, more confident, and brings a new energy. He also asks thought provoking questions to Matt and Ken to learn more. In This Episode We Cover Get involved in the school community so stude...

Mike Azzalina is a centered, calm, and inspirational leader for teachers to learn from and grow with. Mike is all in on growing the teachers in his building, empowering them as instructional leaders, and sharing the fire throughout his staff. Mike is always aligning systems to create opportunities for his teachers and his students. In This Episode We Cover Strategies to grow your own leadership and leadership opportunities in your own building, while you are still a teacher as you prepare to m...

Ken and Matt reconnect after a long break from recording together over the summer. The journey of Ken's new studio continues with a twist! It is a new school year and a new opportunity to set professional goals for ourselves and our classrooms. We need to create goals, to create purpose, to create action. This is what can create change and growth in ourselves and our classrooms. In This Episode We Cover Matt's 2022-2023 goals for his students, and mentoring his student teacher. Involving stud...

Autumn Rivera is the Colorado 2022 Teacher of the Year and finalist for National Teacher of the Year. She is a middle school science teacher and part-time adjunct educator. She loves to create and engaging environment where students are hands on. She empowers her students to see how they have the ability to make changes now and see those changes. In This Episode We Cover Creating hands-on real world experiences connected to the local community. Supporting her students to raise money for a loc...

Theresa Maughan is the New Jersey 2022 Teacher of the Year and a forty-year veteran. The insight, wisdom, and guidance she shared is priceless for any educator. We learn how her experience teaching 6th grade prior to moving into high school had a large impact on her instructional practices today. She is a strong focus on how relationships in the classroom will have a direct impact on the content delivery of her classroom. In This Episode We Cover: Her first moment of standing in front of stude...

We had the pleasure of speaking with the 2022 Tennessee Teacher of the Year Morgan Rankin. She offers honest insight and reflects on her own upcoming transition from third grade to second grade. She creates an atmosphere where students feel empowered and encouraged to participate in valuable and effective conversations. Her strategies for encouraging student voice are easy to follow and aspirational to achieve. In This Episode We Cover A comparison of self-contained versus departmentalized ele...

It was a pleasure to speak with Terry Wetzel in this show, with-in just a few weeks of Terry officially retiring from public education. Terry was a teacher, technology coordinator, and administrator. The knowledge, wisdom, and authentic insight he offers is very special for our audience. We can have a direct impact on the way we view our experience as teachers a s well as a direct impact on our colleagues. In This Episode We Cover Students today are not any different than students twenty-eight...

Time to set our mindset in the right direction as we prepare for the launch of the 2022-2023 school year. We thought of no better guest than bringing back Christopher Albrecht to help us out. The beginning of the year we don't need to have a big song and dance. We should focus on the values of the classroom that we want to perpetuate throughout the year. It's important we listen to the students and adjust our approach based on the students we have in front of us. It's our job to create an inspir...

We have the special honor of adding to additional guest co-hosts two this show, Mike Creed and Lee Carlson. They are both masters of developing positive relationships and classroom communities. Mike has experience with teaching students K-5 and Lee has experience teaching middle school and high school. The insight they offer is incredible, and amazingly correlates between secondary and elementary. It is a balancing act between our efforts in the community and pushing the students to make their e...

Stacie Lawler is the 2020 Idaho Teacher of the Year and is dedicated to supporting students' and teachers' mental health. We have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of our students. We need to dedicate time to think about our values and build our life around it. Beyond mental health, we dive into the conversation of social and emotional learning and how that fits into the classroom. In This Episode We Cover: Self-care is much more than "getting a manicure". It is creating sustaina...

When students are leading the learning community, they have to have a passion for learning. We can fuel that passion through a high-quality culture of learning. In this third and final part of the series Teach Like a CEO, we learn the frameworks and systems for developing a holistic approach to student centered learning. Part three focuses on the O in the acronym, Operations for Classroom Management. This is the foundation of the CEO framework because it is what empowers students to become effec...

When students are leading the learning community, they have to have a passion for learning. We can fuel that passion through a high-quality culture of learning. In this second of a three part series all about Teach Like a CEO, we learn the frameworks and systems for developing a holistic approach to student centered learning. Part two focuses on the E in the acronym, "Empowering Experiences". As we develop structures for student-centered learning, the actual lessons have to be more engaging and ...

When students are leading the learning community, they have to have a passion for learning. We can fuel that passion through a high-quality culture of learning. In this first of a three part series all about Teach Like a CEO, we learn the frameworks and systems for developing a holistic approach to student centered learning. Part one focus on the C in the acronym, "Culture for Learning". If we want and expect students to navigate content independently, they have to become a part of a classroom c...

Creating meaningful, real world experiences for students can be a huge undertaking. Our guest co-host Laura Boyd showcases amazing ways to facilitate these experiences involving the local community. We break down the strategies needed to start these experiences from the ground up. We also share the impact it can have on the way students approach learning in the classroom and the academic progress it promotes. In This Episode We Cover: Examples of experiences for students involving local commun...

There is a whole world out there for students to learn from, and it is our job to break down the four walls of our classroom. Dr. Rhett Oldham has amazing stories and resources for making all of this possible. It can seem like an overwhelming experience, but we can take small actionable steps to work towards grand goals of worldly connections. We can create memories that will last forever for students, and those connections can drill down directly to the standards. In This Episode We Cover: Cr...

Summer time is for rest, relaxation, and recharging our batteries at teachers. However, summer is also a great time to reflect, set goals, and think outside the box. Matt and Ken breakdown their goal setting strategies and how it has made major impacts on their teaching over the years. It is the perfect time to think with a clear head and let the creative juices flow! In This Episode We Cover: Goal setting strategies for the summer. Appropriate ways to free yourself of all thoughts of teachin...

Summer is here and we couldn't be more excited! The show will continue and we are bringing a new product to our audience this year. We can't wait to enjoy our summer vacations and launch our summer PD series. We are bringing back amazing guests and diving deep into specific topics that will help teachers grow and set goals for the upcoming school year. In This Episode We Cover: Thank you's to our guests, our listeners, and ourselves. Reflect on the amazing conversations we've had. Reflect on...

Justin Belt is a driven, compassionate, well-rounded educators dedicated to improving the student experience. His passions all circle back to maximizing the student experiences and relationships. He isn't afraid to tell his stories about his past to impact his students for the future. In This Episode We Cover: Justin began his career in human resources and pulled away many learning experiences that impact his classroom on a daily basis. The feeling of tossing your curriculum to the side to pr...

Joshua Stamper is an assistant principal focused on creating a better experience for students in school after his own experiences as a child. Josh was able to leverage his own personal experiences with trauma-informed training to become a better leader for students. Josh's leadership team and the teachers have created systems to facilitate more student ownership and agreements. He has partnered with his teachers to create systems to involve everyone in the relationship-building process with stud...

Rose Griffin is dedicated to supporting students in learning speech skills and language development. Her professionalism is shown through her work with students, her collaboration with colleagues, and her thriving business. Rose is committed to being an advocate for her students to find a path of confidence and success. Her programs and resources at ABA Speech are now impacting parents and children from all over that need the best support possible. In This Episode We Cover: Understanding what ...

Lee Perez is the 2022 Nebraska Teacher of the Year, and he is the first-ever ESL teacher to win the award in his state. Lee provides unbelievable information on EL students and strategies all teachers can use to support their success. It takes seven to ten years for a person to learn a language to fluency. Can you imagine going to another country and being expected to pass a standardized test two weeks later? Lee is using his newfound platform as Teacher of the Year to change what we think, beli...

Jessica Saum is a passionate, empathetic, inspirational teacher. It is quite obvious why she is the 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. There is nothing typical about a typical day in her classroom. She is creating an environment where students will feel empowered, challenged, and supported to succeed. Jessica prioritizes providing her students the experience to participate in general education classrooms as well as real-world experiences. She shares what inclusion should truly look like, not jus...

Jimmy Casas is an experienced, passionate, honest educator focused on making a difference in the culture of classrooms and schools. After spending over 25 years as an administrator, he is now focused on coaching others. The culture of a school starts with every individual working towards a similar set of values and goals. The way he addresses individuals showcases why he does what he does. He wants every person to live their excellence, and do it as best as they possibly can. The greatest gift w...