Teachers Talking Teaching

Tracey & Traci talk to Dawn from Refactored Media about the process and planning that goes into making the Teachers Talking Teaching podcast.

Tracey and Traci continue their conversation with Lisa Plank, high school history and government teacher, and dig into talk about teaching controversial, timely topics in today's high school classrooms. Lisa shares how she teaching media literacy and multiple perspectives in her classes in order to bring in current events. She is also researching and designing a new course about indigenous cultures involving literacy and history. Join us to hear from this dynamic educator!

Lisa Plank, high school social sciences and government teacher, joins Traci & Tracey today to talk about how she discovered her passion for history and teaching. Lisa shares how her life growing up overseas and a couple of years in the Peace Core led to her passion for other cultures and learning. She also talks with us about her journey private to public schools and from small town, rural school to urban/suburban, large school.

Brenden Gallagher, high school language arts, film and media teacher, continues his talk with Traci and Tracey today. Brenden helps us understand what project-based learning can be - how to allow for learning, failure, goal-setting and trust. We talk about the "messiness" of projects and how Brenden puts processes and structures in place to scaffold student learning. He also works to create authentic audiences for student film projects and build in a natural feedback and reflection loop. We also have an honest conversation about the mental health of teachers and how to do this job we love but find balance.

This week Traci & Tracey continue learning from Jason Tyler about his joy of working with students to produce a high school musical. Jason's program was selected to showcase their fall musical at a state thespian conference and he shares how that process worked out. He also talks about the process he goes through to put together a season of shows and learning experiences that will benefit students the most and also about how he works with administration to select performances. Jason shares the importance of teamwork in the theater world too.

Traci & Tracey had the joy of learning about high school language arts and film teacher Brenden Gallagher's origin story in today's episode of Teachers Talking Teaching. Join us to hear about how he worked in the film industry before deciding to become a teacher and educate kids about film writing, directing and producing. He shares his experiences learning to balance work and home and teaching the things you love and enjoy. We also chat about how to hook kids and teach them the art AND the craft of film and writing. Brenden also talks about the future of his program in his school as they merge the theater and film program for a new accreditation with benefits for students' career prep.

Traci & Tracey continue their conversation with Stacy Ruffer, high school English and Computer Science teacher, this week. Stacy shares how he keeps his own passion for English alive by being part of a teacher book club and continuing his own learning of computer science by challenging himself to learn a new coding language. The discussion explores motivating students with coding events, getting kids real-life, job-related experience, and building relationships with kids. We also dive into a conversation about ChatGPT's usefulness in the classroom as a tool in both the English and Computer Science classrooms.

Today Traci & Tracey talk to Jason Tyler, high school Language Arts, Theatre, and Film teacher. Hear about Jason's journey through college to find the right fit of majors and following an unconventional path to gaining a teaching license. Jason talks about how he explored his passions and grew a theatre program at his current high school.

Join us as we listen to Stacy Ruffer, English and Computer Science high school teacher, share about his journey to become a teacher and merge his love of these two subjects with his love of working with kids.

In today's episode, we return to the literacy conversations that we started earlier in this season with Amy Otteman-Freeman, a high school English teacher. Traci & Tracey talk with Amy about how she combines her love of history and literature in her high school English classes. Amy also shares her special love for British literature and how gets kids to be inspired by it too. Listen today to see how she works to make students better readers, better writers, and better humans.Sin & Syntax: How to Create Wicked Good Prose https://www.amazon.com/Sin-Syntax-Craft-Wicked-Prose/dp/0385346891/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2SD5WQW7ZWBW5&keywords=sin+and+syntax&qid=1675625234&sprefix=sin+and+syntax%2Caps%2C244&sr=8-1