Teachers Talk Live

Welcome everyone to Teachers Talk Live, the podcast for K12 solutions! On episode 18 we want to gear up upcoming teachers for the 2017-2018 school year. As educators, we know full well the challenge that faces a first year teacher for their entire first year. There's no sugarcoating it! It'll be tough! But the good news is that it gets easier after that!  On tonight's show our panelists and online chatters will provide essential resources that all first year teachers should have.  We have on the show Lee Araoz, Carrie Baughcum, Tandy Caraway, Carina Hilbert, Josie Mittleman and Scott Rosenkranz. We want to cover the best books you should read, the staff development you should seek out, the type of supports you should have in schools, in social media and at home. Here's a little more about our education experts: Lee Araoz is a K-12 instructional technology coordinator/coach, staff developer and teacher. He instills a love of learning in his students, while making positive connections and se

  On episode 17 we are talking ADHD in the classrooms. We want to help teachers, parents and community members gain a deep understanding of ADHD, how to manage it for the benefit of the students and current policy in 2016.  The four main questions I’d like to address with the panelists are the following: 1) What do ADHD accommodations look like at your school and what should they look like? 2) What should parents know about ADHD, its diagnosis and their child’s rights at school? 3) What are the biggest misconceptions of students suspected of having ADHD or students with the diagnosis? 5) How do students with an ADHD diagnosis qualify for 504 accommodations or special services? And what’s the difference? You may have more so chat us up or leave us a comment at TeachCow.com. We try to answer all questions if not during our live show, then later on at the site. Resources announced on the show are:   Stress Busting a student self-assessment workbook on stress management free when

Hi, this is Oscar Cielos Staton from Teachers Talk Live with our precast on ADHD in K12 Classrooms. Our upcoming show on ADHD will be our 17th episode of Teachers Talk Live and a special one that I hope helps teachers and parents further understand the needs of students with ADHD in our schools.   We want to inform the public more about what it is. How it is diagnosed and how certain behaviors from a child may be misconstrued as ADHD. What are the steps we take as parents?   These are the questions we want to address on the upcoming show. We will ask our panelists and members of our YouTube Live chat the following questions:   What do ADHD accommodations look like at your school and what should they look like?   What should parents know about ADHD, its diagnosis and their child’s rights at school?   What are the biggest misconceptions of students suspected of having ADHD or students with the diagnosis?     How do students with an ADHD diagnosis qualify for 504 acc

On Episode 16, we are talking about African American girls in K12 education and particularly the alarming findings by Kimberly Williams Crenshaw and associates in the study "Black Girls Matter" and what we can do to make their situation better…really so they can thrive in school. We took on this topic at Teachers Talk Live because, frankly, it isn’t something we have heard very much on a national level. We hear efforts being made to assist African American but the focus seems to be on the males. According to the research, black male students are most frequently suspended and likely to receive harsh punishments at school disproportionally. BUT there is a bigger disparity in punishment between black and white girls than the disparity between black and white boys. In fact, black girls are six times more likely to be suspended than white girls. Black boys, on the other hand, are three times more likely to be suspended than white boys. GUESTS:  Vashti Dubois, Camile Earle, Felicia Meado

Hi This is Oscar Cielos Staton with your precast on Educating African American Girls. Our talk on March 9th will provide more insight and a deeper perspective than this humble male Honduran immigrant can provide. But nonetheless it is my goal today to get you to start thinking more on this topic and preparing your questions for our upcoming talk. I ask what about black girls here because awareness (justifiably so) is growing on the racial disparities facing people of color in U.S. education and efforts are being made in some communities to lift up students of color BUT there is less awareness on girls of color specifically. Before I go on, let me just say that for the sake of brevity, I’m aware I’m throwing around simple terms like white and black, while there is more complexity than that in the definition.  I apologize in advance if it offends anyone as that is definitely NOT the goal here.  In addition, I’m focusing only on the African American plight here even though my His

On this talk, we have a topic on today’s show is one that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s a big part of why I decided to create the Teach Cow Network and our weekly panel of educators on Teachers Talk Live.  We are talking Teacher Empowerment!!! Teacher empowerment in my own terms is the right for a teacher to have input and participation in the goals and policies that govern their own classroom and dictate how and what they are going to teach. We have some accomplished educators here to discuss a positive approach to make a path for teacher longevity with professional success and satisfaction. We will discuss what teachers can do for themselves and colleagues, as well as their limitations. We will discuss what administrators can be doing to empower teachers more, as well as their own limitations.  Then I’d like for us to look at the bigger picture: The politics in education and how that impacts the overall discussion.  We all have a different but important story to te

Hi this is Oscar Cielos Staton with the precast for Episode 15 on teacher empowerment. Here I will present some ideas and talking points that will be expanded in the next episode with a roundtable of panelists on this very topic.  Bolin, referenced in the show notes, wrote that “teacher empowerment is defined as investing teachers with the right to participate in the determination of school goals and policies and to exercise professional judgment about what and how to teach” (p. 82) To empower a teacher, all that’s required is some sense of participation in the goals and policies that affect what and how they teach.  For the purpose of this precast I will make a clear distinction between self empowerment and teacher empowerment by others. Let’s talk about teacher empowerment by others first. Under this category, it can come either from the higher up administrators OR it can come from fellow teachers. So, the administration at the site, most would agree, is crucial in set

On this talk, we are discussing Effective Teacher-Parent communication in our schools and how we can promote it.  On the panel, we have accomplished educators on this very subject.  They highlight specific strategies and tools to foster strong communication between teachers and parents. The panelists are experts in innovation.  Two of them have even published a book on the subject titled Your School Rocks... So Tell People! Passionately Pitch and Promote the Positives Happening on Your Campus  Where does effective teacher-parent communication rank in importance to you? We encourage your questions/comments/feedback and to get in touch with our panelists willing to help with your school's initiatives! GUESTS: Zack Clancy teaches middles school Special Education at the Bruce Randolph School in Denver, Colorado. He has worked in education for 13 years.  In addition to being a doctoral candidate in educational studies at the University of Northern Colorado, Zack also hosts the po

Educator/Podcaster Zack Clancy from Teacher Talk with Zack Clancy takes over the precast to highlights some of the current findings in effective teacher-parent communication research.  The evidence on community diversity vs. diversity in educators is eye opening. This episode is a must in preparing you for the conversation on February 10, 2016 as we go live to have a formal talk with several amazing panelists on this topic.   Tune in at TeachCow.com/live or catch Episode 14 on iTunes or Stitcher! Follow @TeacherTalkWZC to learn more about Teacher Talk with Zack Clancy!

On this talk, we will have expert panelists discussing how to establish and nurture the most productive Coach-Teacher relationships for maximum productivity and growth.  We will examine best practices for coaches and teachers on how best to interact and collaborate. We will discuss the benefits to a teacher teaming up with a teacher coach and the great outcomes we can see in the students.  We will also tackle concerns or hesitations a teacher may have into entering this type of collaboration and then find ways to ease that concern.   We discuss the role of the instructional coach in depth as we have some experienced, on the ground coaches with us that can speak to the challenges and solutions faced by coaches, teachers and districts in implementing instructional coaches within schools. GUESTS: Lee Araoz is an Instructional Technology Coordinator/Coach, staff developer and teacher with 27 years experience in the classroom.  He is a proponent of passion based learning for students

This is the Teachers Talk Live precast for our episode 13: Maximizing Coach – Teacher relationships. I’m Oscar Cielos Staton. @TeachCow What we hope to achieve through our upcoming program is to provide tips and ideas for teachers, coaches and their administrations on how to foster healthy and collaborative relationships as these two roles interface. We asked for online input and we received some wonderful responses from teachers and coaches alike. Building trust seemed to be an important component along with transparency and organization. One of my favorite responses comes from Gretchen Schultek @GSchultek who said “Realize that you both have something to offer to the relationship so it’s a give and take…not a tell and do.”   I really appreciate the insight that a coach may have just as much to learn from a teacher. Karly Moura @KarlyMoura makes the important point that a coach must listen or as she says “Really listen” to the teacher before giving a

In this episode we discuss ways to maximize collaboration between teachers and parents. Particularly, we delve into the culture and nuances that all teachers should know to make sure they have a productive relationship with Hispanic parents at school. We will discover they can be quite and asset and ally in making sure students are producing for the classroom.   Our panelists are experienced educators with a unique perspective on how to nurture these particular teacher-parent relationships and as they admit themselves:  there are many variations!  When we discuss Hispanic parents here, we speak from experiences and observations made from our schools in Florida, Texas and California.   Our guests for this episode recorded on January 27, 2016 are: Roberts Christie.  He is an English teacher, Leadership, Site Coordinator Apex Learning, Collaboration works, #GAFE, Google Educator, Husband, Father. He is making hope happen in San Bernadino, California.  Follow him on Twitter

The purpose of this Teachers Talk Live Precast is to highlight some best practices on how to work most effectively with Hispanic families as an educator.   My name is Oscar Cielos Staton, host of Teachers Talk Live and CEO of the TeachCow Network. More at TeachCow.com First and foremost, keep in mind that recommendations made here are generalizations that although based on research and experience, can vary due to individualities such as socioeconomic status, nationality and more. Hispanic parents are very diverse and come from many countries with varied cultures. With that qualifier out of the way, one of the key points to keep in mind is that Hispanic families dislike impersonal and formal. Simply sending out newsletters and notes home is not the most productive route. It’s recommended that you connect one on one with them before you get into the business of their child’s education. You need to establish that personal trust to get the most cooperation. Once you have established that personal

When a teacher has to be absent, at times it can seem like it will just become a babysitting day in the classroom. This doesn't have to be the case if there is always a strong substitute lesson plan ready to go in the classroom.  Teachers can achieve the inner peace knowing their students will be in good capable hands. With the tips provided in this episode, we are well on our way to establishing a substitute plan that will minimize the typical problems teachers may have in preparing.  

How can you make sure your day is productive when you're away as a teacher?  What do you need from a substitute and what do they need from you?  In this episode we show you strategies to maximize effectiveness in the substitute school day and how to best prepare for positive outcomes.

As teachers, how do we manage all our classroom to dos including grading, school data management, campus responsibilities, communications, behavior management, etc while maximizing our teaching without  breaking down or running out of juice?  How do we keep good teachers from burning out and leaving the profession while helping others figure out a way forward when they've truly searched their soul and found teaching may not be their calling?  Join our panelists by chatting with us live at TeachCow.com and let's find solutions! Our panelists this time around are: Chasity Strawder has been an educator for over 10 years. She was formerly an elementary teacher in Michigan, and now she is pursuing a future career as a school administrator. Chasity is also an author and a motivational speaker. Dan Van Der Vieren (@RTBCoaching) is a second-year math teacher who teaches in rural Colorado. He lives in Fort Morgan, CO with his wife and son. He is finishing his Master's degre

Stress management at work and anxiety can build up beyond a point of no return. If you're a teacher out there who is stressed out, we hear you! We're one of you. We hope you find comraderie in our conversation that goes live at TeachCow.com on November 18, 2015.  Hello my name is Oscar Cielos Staton, host of Teachers Talk Live and this is our Teacher Stress PreCast in anticipation of our November 18th live show! I’ve been lucky to be part of the US public education system now since 1998. Since then my travels have exposed me to the ways of Texas teaching, California, some North Carolina and now Massachussetts. I taught in Texas until 2012 and then went on to teach in California until 2014. I can tell you from self experience teacher stress is alive and real! I gotta tell you though: admitting you’re stressed doesn’t mean you’re less effective or less powerful in what you do. It doesn’t mean this at all. If we’re realistic about this…. the job is intense and it&r

How do we maintain innovation at our schools? How do we get our school teachers to collaborate and raise everyone's game? In episode 9 of Teachers Talk Live, we discuss innovative ways of creating a community of collaboration with every education profession in your campus even when you think your personal differences could get in the way. We explore how to establish a strong collaborative community of learners within the teachers, students and community at large. We explore informal social meetings, empowering teachers and supporting their confidence and creating safe spaces for all to feel free to share. Sharing is caring! Our panelists and chatters at TeachCow.com will contribute the latest and greatest in innovation.  You will hear from Meg Flanagan, Carina Hilbert and Sherbet Miller-Payton.  Below you may learn about them and how to make contact on Twitter!    Meg Flanagan is a teacher and education blogger who thrives on collaborative teaching and learning. She holds an M.Ed in S

How do we empower our students struggling in the higher grades and beyond? How do we minimize harmful cyberbullying? How do we encourage tolerance and teach empathy?  What about actual teacher bullying and the bullying of LGBT students? What role do the schools have in all this? If you'd like to see the video version and all the resources, head over to TeachCow.com and click Teachers Talk Live! Our panelists are: Dan Blanchard the Award Winning Author, Speaker, Educator two-time Junior Olympian Wrestler, and two-time Junior Olympian Wrestling Coach grew up as a student-athlete. However, Dan admits that as a youth he was more of an athlete than a student. Dan has now successfully completed fourteen years of college and has earned seven degrees. He teaches Special Education in Connecticut’s largest inner-city high school where he was chosen by the AFT-CT as the face and voice of educational reform. Dan was with the team that put forth Connecticut’s new Social Studies Frameworks and is also

Let's explore learning styles and how they are used in the classroom. How do we maximize the benefits from this knowledge? Are there limitations to learning styles as has been debated by well respected educators and researchers? Let's explore the research and become better equipped for our 21st century students. Our panelists Carrie Baughcum, Mario Stamegna and Zack Clancy do a fantastic job of immersing us in this important topic!  Learn more about them below: Carrie Baughcum - @heckawesome   -   Momma. Wife. Mismatch Sock Wearer. Doodler. Special Education Teacher. Learning Enthusiast. Inspiration Junkie...I think life, learning and doodling are HECK AWESOME! Mario Stamegna   -   @mrstamegna has been teaching for over 6 years with the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Teaching is a second career and before he went into teaching, he held a variety of positions from restaurant entrepreneur to professional musician. He is currently working towards his Teacher Level I Go