The Promise Podcast: Recent Episodes
El Dorado School District
The Promise Podcast is the podcast by educators, for the community, highlighting education across our state.
Thanks for tuning in! In this episode, we get to hear from students in the Washington Middle School Competition Shake Class on their experience competing at the Amazing Shake Competition in Atlanta, Georgia, plus students share their goals for the upcoming school year.
Episode 3 of this season of the Promise Podcast features a lively discussion with students from Washington Middle School's Competition Shake Class. Host Scarlett Gully sits down with 13 enthusiastic students who share their recent learning experiences and insights from the class. They discuss fun projects, group activities, and the skills they've been developing, highlighting how these skills will be useful in the real world. The students also talk about their fundraising efforts for the upcoming Amazing Shake competition in Atlanta, Georgia.
In Episode 2 of the Promise Podcast, host Scarlett Gully engages in a heart-to-heart conversation with students from Washington Middle School who embarked on the thrilling journey of Competition Shake during Semester One. The students candidly share their experiences, providing a firsthand account of the challenges, triumphs, and personal growth they encountered throughout the semester.
Listeners gain valuable insights into the dynamic world of Competition Shake as these students reflect on their learning adventures, shedding light on the unique aspects that made their Semester One memorable. Beyond personal anecdotes, the episode resonates with encouragement as the students inspire others to enroll in the course.
Tune in to Episode 2 for an authentic and inspiring glimpse into the world of these Washington Middle School students, where each story contributes to the collective narrative of success within Competition Shake. Listen and be motivated to join the ranks of enthusiastic learners shaping their futures through this impactful program.
Embark on an exhilarating journey with the Promise Podcast, hosted by the El Dorado School District, as we present an exclusive preview to the upcoming months of excitement at Washington Middle School. This trailer episode serves as a sneak peek into the riveting world of the WMS's Shake Class as they gear up for competition in the spring.
In this episode, hear from the passionate teacher who is guiding them through this exhilarating course, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the preparation and anticipation building up to the big event.
This episode is just the beginning—stay tuned for a season filled with showcasing the hard work and the unwavering spirit of these talented students!
Today’s episode is all about new teachers. What are the biggest struggles they are facing in the classroom, are these struggles what they expected, what advice would they give to people considering this profession? I had so much interest in this episode that we decided to make it a three-part series. We started with our middle school teachers, today you’ll hear from our high school teachers, and lastly, you’ll hear from elementary teachers. If you are an elementary teacher and are interested in being a part of the show, please reach out to me at chelsey.turner@esd-15.org.
I was so interested to hear about the high school perspective and surprised by some of the things I heard, but also really encouraged, again, these teachers are working hard and doing a great job. I had a lot of fun talking with them and I can’t wait to share this conversation with you, so let’s go ahead and get started.
Today’s episode is all about new teachers. What are the biggest struggles they are facing in the classroom, are these struggles what they expected, what advice would they give to people considering this profession? I had so much interest in this episode that we decided to make it a three-part series. We are going to start with our middle school teachers, then next month you’ll hear from our high school teachers, and lastly, you’ll hear from elementary teachers. If you are an elementary teacher and are interested in being a part of the show, please reach out to me at chelsey.turner@esd-15.org.
Before we start this specific episode with our middle school teachers, I want to explain a few things that are talked about during the show. If you aren’t in the education world you may need a few acronyms explained- when we talk about RTI- that stands for Response to Intervention. It’s our way to make sure that every student is getting what they need and if they don’t understand a concept, how will we make sure they get there? At Washington Middle School, where I teach and where the teachers you are about to hear from teach, we do this in three ways. We first have classroom pause days, where teachers pause and use formative assessments to see where the class as a whole is lacking. Did everyone miss a concept? Does the teacher need to explain that in a different way, or do the students need more time to break down this idea? Or maybe, the teacher was planning on spending a lot more time on a topic that students have already grasped and they can move on. That is called tier 1 instruction. The next step is tier 2. Teachers have retaught a concept in a new way or given more time, but the students still haven’t mastered it. They need additional time or resources- Washington does this by what we call AO. This stands for Academic opportunity. This is a 30-minute block of intervention time. It’s new to us this year, and taking some time to get used to, as you’ll hear in the episode. The idea is that students are placed in various AO classes by their teachers. Maybe we had a test over main idea and you still aren’t getting it. As your literacy teacher, I may request that you come see me next week so I can work with you and the other students who are still struggling with that concept. We keep our intervention groups for AO at no more than 10. We have a lot of content groups that break up concepts that need to be covered and share kids. So maybe if I’m doing Main Idea next week, the other literacy teacher may be doing theme. This helps us get out of the mentality that they are “my” kids, and change to they are all “our” kids. If students have mastered a concept that’s being covered and no teachers need them for that day, they get to choose an enrichment class based on their interests. And just to finish this explanation, tier 3 would be students who are significantly below and need all three tiers, so they are maybe in a class that is covering concepts from previous grade levels, basics that the student is still struggling with. Anyway- all of that to explain our process here for RTI, because this is something you’ll hear new teachers discuss in this particular episode and I didn’t want you to be lost.
I was surprised by a lot of what I heard from our new teachers, but also really encouraged, they are working hard and doing a great job. I had a lot of fun talking with them and I can’t wait to share this conversation with you, so let’s get started.
Today’s episode is all about September 11th. We specifically focus on age-appropriate ways to facilitate discussion in our classrooms and share some of our favorite resources to use in the classroom to commemorate this day. To help me with this topic, I sat down with Anna Warriner, Teacher Center Coordinator from South Central Service Cooperative, and Jessica Brown, former high school history teacher and current Psychology instructor at Southark.
Resources Discussed:
102 Minutes Documentary
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/102-minutes-that-changed-america
Books:
Fireboat
https://www.amazon.com/Fireboat-Heroic-Adventures-Harvey-Picture/dp/0142403628
Towers Falling
http://jewellparkerrhodes.com/children/books/towers-falling/
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
https://www.amazon.com/Extremely-Incredibly-Close-Jonathan-Safran/dp/0618711651
This Very Tree
https://www.amazon.com/This-Very-Tree-Resilience-Regrowth/dp/1250788501
Ground Zero
https://www.amazon.com/Ground-Zero-Alan-Gratz/dp/1338245759
I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001
https://www.amazon.com/Survived-Attacks-September-11th-2001/dp/0545207002
I Survived the Attacks of September 11th, 2001 (Graphic Novel)
https://www.amazon.com/Survived-Attacks-September-Graphic-Novels/dp/133868048X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=I+Survived+the+Attacks+of+September+11th%2C+2001+graphic+novel&qid=1633613189&s=books&sr=1-1
Escape from the Towers
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/6456391-escape-from-the-towers
Today’s episode is all about the enneagram and we can use it in education. Specifically how parents and teachers can use it to better understand what motivates their children or students. To help me with this topic, I reached out to Holly Billings- you know and love her! She has been a guest many times and her expertise never ceases to amaze me! She brought along Katie Sandifer and Magen Olive to help get a parent’s perspective. We have a really great discussion about different types, how to find your time, how to recognize when you're in times of growth or stress, and even how to use the enneagram to help with student behavior. I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation, but we need to first start with a few basics. As you’ll hear today, there are 9 enneagram types. I’m going to very briefly describe each type so you’ll get the most out of this episode.
First, you have the one. The one is called the perfectionist and they are known as the Rational, Idealistic Type, they are principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and obviously perfectionistic.
The two is known as the helper. They are known as the caring, interpersonal type, they are demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and can be possessive.
The three is the achiever. They are known as the success-oriented, pragmatic type. They are adaptive, excelling, driven, and can be very image-conscious.
The Four is the individualist. They are known as the sensitive, withdrawn type. They tend to be expressive, dramatic, they can be self-absorbed, and sometimes temperamental.
The five is the investigator. They are the intense, cerebral type. They are perceptive, innovative, secretive, and can also be isolated.
The six is the loyalist. They are the committed, security-oriented type. They tend to be engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
The seven is the enthusiast. They are the busy, fun-loving type. They are spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and can be scattered.
The eight is the challenger. They are the powerful, dominating type. They tend to be self-confident, decisive, willful, and often pretty confrontational.
Lastly, we have the nine. They are the peacemaker. They are known for being the easygoing, self-effacing type. They are receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent.
I’m so excited to share this episode with you guys. It has been my absolute favorite episode to ever record. We had so much fun and became instant best friends. I can’t wait to for you to hear it. So, let’s get started!
Resources discussed on the show:
Our favorite websites
www.enneagraminstitute.com
www.yourenneagramcoach.com
Our favorite books
The Road Back to You
Becoming Us
Our favorite tests
Eclectic Energies
Truity (I say this wrong in the show)
Our favorite podcast
The Enneagram Journey
Today’s episode is all about our district’s move to an 8 period day. Our middle school and Jr. High moving from a 7 period day to an 8 period day. A lot of thought went into this change, and I know our community is excited about it. I sat down with middle school principal, Bethanie Hale, and Jr. High Principal, Mark Smith, to discuss why we’re moving in this direction. They had a lot of interesting insight that ranged from the PLC process to RTI, to added electives. I know you will want to hear all about this change and how it will benefit not only our students, but our community as well, so let’s get started!
Today’s episode is all about childhood trauma and how it affects the students we teach every day.Holly Billings, Behavior Support Specialist and Mental Health Coordinator for the El Dorado School District, has been on our show several times before. The first time we had her on, she discussed student behavior. I really see today’s episode like part II of that conversation. She goes in depth about childhood trauma and the research behind it. This directly relates to what we are seeing in our classrooms across the state of Arkansas. I am completely fascinated by this topic and I really can’t wait to share this interview with you, so let’s get started.
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Help for Billy- http://store.beyondconsequences.com/help-for-billy/
https://www.beyondconsequences.com/
Resilience Film- https://kpjrfilms.co/resilience/
Today’s episode is all about FACS- Family and Consumer Science. One of my dear friends Anna Reynolds teaches FACS at our local high school. I wanted to hear all about what this program is and what students get to do in this program. So, Anna agreed to sit down with me and tell me all about FACS! She has taught FACS classes for 11 years now. She majored in Family and Consumer Science Education (which I didn’t know was a thing) and she is currently teaching Culinary Arts at EHS. I can’t wait to share this interview with you, so let’s get started.
Today’s episode is all about one of our elementary schools here in El Dorado, Hugh Goodwin. We sat down with Raven Swint, Assistant Principal, Kathy Sixby, Literacy Instructional Facilitator, and Janice Riggs, Math Instructional Facilitator to hear about all the things going on at Hugh Goodwin Elementary School. I took away from this conversation that they just love to celebrate. I can’t wait to share our conversation with you guys, so let’s get started!
Today’s episode is all about implementing a house system at a middle school and teacher morale. We sat down with middle school principal Bethanie Hale and discussed how she plans to implement a house system similar to the Ron Clark Academy and why she chose to do this. She also discusses what she is doing at her school to help support teacher morale during such a difficult time in education. It’s a great conversation and I can’t wait to share it with you.
To learn more about the Ron Clark House system you can visit their website at: www.rcahousesystem.com
We also discuss how Bethanie used the Enneagram to help learn about her teacher’s personalities and how to best interact with them. If you want to learn more about the Enneagram you can visit one of many websites at: www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions
Or if you’re a reader like me, I highly recommend- The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
Today’s episode is all about poverty simulations, equity labs, and TESS (Teacher Excellence and Support System). I sat down with Kim Wright, public school program advisor for the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education in Arkansas. Kim is in the office of Educator Effectiveness and Licensure she’s also in the Educator support and Development Unit.
I learned so much about what our state can offer our districts and schools. I can’t wait to share this information with you!
Today’s episode is all about how educators have pivoted and continued using the skills they learned in March as we move into blended learning this school year. I sat down with Anna Warriner, Teacher Center Coordinator from South Central Service Cooperative, Leah Stinnett, South Central Cooperative Math Specialist, Jo Ann Womack, Technology Integrationist/ coordinator at South Central Service Cooperative, and Karen Kay McMahen, South Central Service Cooperative Director. They break down what teachers in our area (south central part of the state) as well as across the entire state of Arkansas are doing, what’s working, what’s not, and how we are moving forward. It was so fun to talk with everyone, and it’s so exciting to see where our profession is going.
Today's episode is all about getting families engaged in education. How can we as educator's get our families more involved in the work we do here at school? What does involvement look like during this crazy, Covid-19 school year? What success stories do we have from other schools around our state? Chelsey Moore, public school program manager from DESE is here to answer all these questions and more. I'm so excited to share are conversation with you, so let's get started!
You’re listening to the Promise Podcast. Produced by the El Dorado School District, created by educators for our community, to highlight education across our state. I’m your host and middle school librarian, Chelsey Turner. I’m also joined by my co-host Katie Sandifer.
Today’s episode is all about mental health. As we know this pandemic has taken an area that is already such a dire need in education to the next level. Today I sat down with Holly Billings, our Behavior Support Specialist and mental health coordinator for the district and Cliff Preston with integrity health. We discussed a really neat opportunity coming to our district and districts around the state and that’s Telehealth. Students and even staff can now receive mental health services remotely, which is really a game changer. I can’t wait for you to hear from Holly and Cliff about how this came about and what they’re doing to help our students and staff. It’s really very exciting.
Season 2 of The Promise Podcast is a wrap and we can’t wait to bring you Season 3, starting September 1st! Our third season will launch a new episode on the first of every month, just like last season. But don’t worry, if you missed any of the Season 1& 2 episodes, you’ve got time to catch up! Then tune in September 1st for the launch of Season 3 with an episode all about COVID and education. What can we do to serve our students best through virtual classrooms? We’ll sit down and talk with experts in the field to bring you everything you need to know. Stay tuned, you won’t want to miss it, and as always, thanks for listening!
Have you heard all of the Promise Podcast Episodes? You might have missed this one, and it's one of my favorites! Come alongside us as we take a back seat in several high school English classrooms to see what makes a truly good English teacher. What do these teachers have that others don't and how can we get it? Mrs. Jennifer Murphy (at the time our English Instructional Facilitator at EHS) later talks to us about what specifically these teachers do to create an atmosphere that really pushes students to be their very best!
This concludes our second season! Please reach out for topics and ideas you have of stories you want to hear on the Promise Podcast! Email Chelsey Turner at chelsey.turner@esd-15.org
Don't forget to rate and review our podcast!
Today’s episode is all about the PLC process. We have a special guest on this episode named Micheal Maffoni. He works with Solution Tree and has been working with our district this school year. I snagged him one afternoon after a training session at my school. The training this year has been life changing for my career as an educator. I’m so excited about this work! Let me tell you a little bit about Micheal, an educator since 1987, he has a diverse background that includes experience as a teacher, principal, and central administrator in a variety of districts in Colorado.
Michael is the former director of professional learning communities for Jeffco Public Schools in Golden, Colorado. During his tenure, he led PLC implementation in more than one hundred schools throughout the district. His collaborative leadership was instrumental in developing integrated PLC support systems, monitoring processes, and aligned professional learning. Three schools in Jeffco are nationally recognized model PLC schools.
Michael specializes in increasing education and student learning by developing agencies to coach and support collaborative teams. Additionally, he coaches leadership teams to scale PLC implementation in any size school system, both large and small.
He has presented at state and national events on topics related to continuous improvement for schools, teams, and individual educators. Michael has co-authored articles on increasing the effectiveness of collaborative teams and is a coauthor of Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work®. A great book I highly recommend if you’re interested in the true PLC process.
To learn more about Michael’s work, follow @mjmaffoni64 on Twitter.
Today’s episode is all how influential teachers are in our lives! During this unprecedented time I wanted to boost the morale of our teachers. Times are hard with distance learning, and our teachers are doing what they always do- getting it done. I’m so proud to be a part of this profession and I wanted to share a little love. I’ve been asking for our listeners to share stories of their favorite teachers. I’ve compiled a few to share with you today. All stories are anonymous. I hope that after hearing today’s episode you might want to share stories of your favorite teachers, and why they mean so much to you. We’d like to do another segment on this topic soon. I’m so excited to bring this episode to you today. I hope you love hearing these heartwarming stories as much as I enjoyed reading them for you!
Today’s episode is a follow up to our last episode. Basically we’re talking about the fact that education is hard! After talking with our local teachers, I reached out to a couple of my experienced teacher friends that live outside of our state. I was thinking about how hard being a teacher is and I thought- how can we help? How can we keep teachers in this profession and give them hope? I knew De Edra and Lori would be perfect to speak to this. They start the episode by answering the same questions as our local teachers. They had a little bit of a different take, so give it a listen! We move from there to the bigger idea of how to help teachers. I’m so excited to bring their perspectives on this topic to you today! I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did!
Today’s episode is all how education is hard! I will share at the beginning of the episode what exactly prompted this idea, but I started thinking about education and how we struggle to keep teachers in the profession. I wondered had it always been that way or is this a recent shift? And if it is recent, why? I discussed this topic with friends, colleagues and family members and heard really interesting results. I knew right then this is what I wanted our next episode to be about! I reached out to several teachers across our district with varying lengths of education experience. I’m so excited to bring their perspectives on this topic to you today! I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did!
Today’s episode is all about arts in education I sat down with Bethany Hale, principal of Retta Brown Elementary School, Mrs. Gay Bechtelheimer, Educational Manager for Murphy Arts District, and Sophia Meyers, Vanderbilt University Undergraduate student. They all had such an interesting take on the importance of the various arts in education. Mrs. Hale discusses how her school is an A+ certified school and how that impacts her educators and students. Mrs. Beck discusses her career as an art teacher and her new and exciting role in bringing art to the Southern Arkansas area. Lastly, Sophia shares her experience from the student perspective. She is now pursuing arts in higher education, and plans to even become a teacher once she graduates! I’m so excited to bring these stories to you today! I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I did!
Thea Foundation Facebook Link:
https://www.facebook.com/TheaFoundation/
Bethany Hale Contact Information:
bethanie.hale@esd-15.org
Today’s episode is all about social emotional learning. We’ve recently seen a shift in education moving towards understanding the social emotional aspect to learning. We sat down with Holly Billings, Behavior Support Specialist for the district, Nicole McAdams, 5th grade literacy teacher, and Megan Rainwater, 6th grade counselor. Holly has been a guest on the show before and she is so insightful when it comes to behavioral health and its role in education. Nicole and Megan are coworkers of mine at Washington Middle School. They worked this semester on creating a day where our school focused on social emotional learning. We called this day “Ride the Wave of Kindness Day” and they get into all the details of what this day looked like, how they came up with this idea, and the results they saw from it! We are so excited to discuss this trending topic in education today!
Today’s episode is all about charter, public, and private schools. What makes them different, how are they the same? I decided to speak to a few teachers that I know who teach in the central Arkansas area. Our first teacher is Samantha and our second teacher is Christen. Samantha shares her experience at both public and charter schools. Christen hilariously shares her experience at all three schools- seriously she is so knowledgeable and funny, don’t stop the episode before you hear her! Both teachers are dear friends and I so enjoyed getting to talk with them about this topic! However, after talking with my friends about their experiences in the different schools, I still had questions about charter schools and what made them so different from Public schools. So I reached out to Mr. Mike Poore, Little Rock School District Superintendent. He has a lot of experience with charter schools and shared a little bit of his expertise with us. In this episode you’ll first hear from Samantha, then Mr. Mike Poore, and lastly Christen.
Today’s episode is all about School Grades and their tie to poverty. Dr. Glen Fenter, superintendent from Marion School District, has published a paper titled, Deja Vu All Over Again where he discusses the direct correlation between school grades and poverty. It is linked below and I highly recommend that you check it out! He was joined by Dr. Bobby Hart, superintendent of the Hope School District, and our own Mr. Jim Tucker, superintendent of the El Dorado School District. This was a very eye opening experience, I’m so excited to share it with you today.
Deja Vu All Over Again- https://arktimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/pdf-dejavu.pdf
Washington Post Article mentioned in the podcast- https://wapo.st/2V8hKvr?tid=ss_mail
Today’s episode is all about college readiness. I sat down with Alejandra Munoz, Early College coordinator at South Ark Community College, Andy Turner and April Malone, college and career coaches for South Ark, currently stationed at EHS in El Dorado. We discussed so many topics- how to prepare you students for college or a potential career, how to help find their passion, and all the amazing things our local community college is doing to support students as they move into college or prepare for it at the high school level. I really enjoyed preparing this episode for you! I hope you like it! For more information about our local EHS college and career coaches follow them on social media!
Facebook & Instagram: EHS College and Career Coaches
and checkout their website at ehscollegeandcareer.weebly.com
Today’s episode is all about RISE. I know a lot of educators have heard this term and maybe panicked a little. Maybe your an educator and you’ve never even heard of this term and now your wondering- should I be panicked?
Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered either way! I sat down with Mrs. Jeannie Strother, our El Dorado School District Literacy Specialist, Mollie Thomas, the South Central Cooperative Literacy Specialist, and two amazing teachers from our district, Mrs. Ashley Johnson and Mrs. Jennifer Duncan. Mrs. Johnson teaches elementary STEM and Mrs. Duncan is now the new literacy instructional facilitator at one of our elementary schools. I learned so much about RISE and where/ why it started, what the state expects of us- as far as training, and results they expect to see with this new initiative in place.
I later sat down with Kelly Reyes. We teach summer school together and I noticed she was putting her RISE training into real action right after she attended the workshop at the end of the school year. I wanted to hear her perspective on how a teacher can really implement this training and what that looks like. I’m so excited to share this episode with you! I hope it clears things up about what RISE is, and what’s expected of you, as an educator, parent, or student. For more information follow the link below.
Season 1 of The Promise Podcast is a wrap and we can’t wait to bring you Season 2, starting September 1st! Our second season will launch a new episode on the first of every month. But don’t worry, if you missed any of the Season 1 episodes, you’ve got time to catch up! Then tune in September 1st for the launch of Season 2 with an episode all about RISE- the Reading Initiative for Student Excellence and the Science of Reading. As you might have heard RISE is taking over Arkansas and we are talking with an ADE Representative to tell you all you need to know.
While you’re waiting, check out some of our past episodes. Here are a few of my person favorites-
Preparing students for a successful future is the primary goal for every educator, but sometimes students in rural schools don’t have a clear picture of all that is available to them for college or career. In Season 1 of The Promise Podcast, we explored college opportunities for rural school students in Episode 3. If you missed it, listen today!
Standards Based Reporting is becoming a widely used method for grading in schools. If you missed it, check out Season 1, episodes 1 & 2, where we take a look at SBR from a variety of perspectives.
Have you ever wondered what it’s really like in your high school student’s classroom? Go into the classroom in The Promise Podcast, Season 1, Episode 7: Literacy Part 2, where you’ll observe first hand the teaching styles of three different English teachers.
Today’s episode is all about Special Education. We were so lucky to have Dr. Kohler and Dr. Calhoon in town doing a professional development at one of our schools. They are from the Mashburn Center at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Dr. Koehler is a professor at UCA and Director of the UCA Mashburn Center for Learning. Dr. Calhoon is an adjunct professor and director of the Arkansas SIM- or Strategic Instruction Model, which you’ll hear more about in the episode. This was so fun to do! I really enjoyed getting to sit down and talk with Dr. Kohler and Dr. Calhoon. They were just so incredibly knowledgeable and I could have picked their brains for days! You could tell that Special Education was near and dear to their hearts as we talked. I think the bottom line of our conversation was build a relationship with your kids. Isn’t that funny that that seems to be a reoccurring theme for us? I hope you are as inspired by Patty and Rene as I was!
Starting this month the Promise Podcast will release one episode a month, airing the first Monday of that month.
Today’s episode is all about Arkansas Teacher of the Year! We sat down with Meghan Ables, coordinator of the Arkansas teacher of the year program, and Randi House, the current Arkansas Teacher of the Year. We discussed when this program started, how teachers are chosen, and what amazing things they get see across our state. Meghan and Randi were so inspiring! I hope you feel encouraged and motivated after you listen to this episode.
Don’t forget! Arkansas Teacher of the Year applications are due June 20th! Follow the link for more information.
http://www.arkansased.gov/divisions/communications/teacher-of-the-year
Remember to rate and review our podcast, and don’t forget to reach out with stories from your classroom too!
We want to hear them and create another episode of stories soon! We’d also love to hear from you! What topics would you like to hear addressed on the Promise Podcast? Visit our website http://www.eldoradopublicschools.org/ and shoot me an email! We want to work hard to bring you content that is relevant to you!
Today’s episode is about a four time international awarding winning STEAM school. Washington Middle School, I feel so blessed to work at WMS for so many reasons! I absolutely am obsessed with our STEAM focus! It makes learning so much fun for our students and it makes teaching so much fun for our staff! Today we are going to hear from Jody Vines, Principal at Washington, Katherine Kozubski, 6th grade social studies teacher from WMS, Cecile Cerisier a current student at WMS, and Mrs. Nicole Obiozo a parent of several students who have gone through WMS and one who is coming through soon. I hope this gives the entire picture of what’s happening at Washington so that you can incorporate it into your school or classroom too!
Today’s episode is about financial literacy. Katie and I first sat down with Kathleen Lawson, Executive Director at Economics Arkansas, and Marsha Masters, associate director at Economics Arkansas. We discussed the importance of economics in education along with some startling statistics. We then talked with Gayle Norman, a former educator who taught economics and financial literacy in her middle school classroom. I loved talking with Gayle because I think so many educators can relate to her reluctance to teach economics. I know I sure can! We then headed to a couple of people within our own district to tell us some ways they are incorporating financial literacy and economic skills into our classrooms. We sat down with Bethanie Hale, Principal at one of our elementary schools- she discussed how they use “Retta Bucks” to teach students about spending and saving, and we also talked with Kaci Travis who is a teacher at our Jr. High. she rocks the stock market game with her students. I’m so excited for you to hear from everyone!
Today’s episode is about school grades and ESSA. Katie and I sat down with Barton Jr. High Principal, Mrs. Sherry Hill, and Deborah Coffman, Assistant commissioner and public school accountability. We first discussed school grades- when and how they started, how grades for each school is figured and more. We then switched our conversation over to ESSA, the Every Student Successes Act. We talked about how it's different from its predecessor, No child left behind, and what ESSA means for our district, schools, and our classroom teachers. I feel this information is so important for anyone involved in education. We then are going to switch over to a little segment we like to call, “Stories from my classroom”. For this segment we asked teachers across our district to share funny or heartfelt stories that have happened in their classrooms. Our goal for this segment is to hear stories from classrooms across our entire state. If you have a story to share, or one of our stories here inspire you, reach out to us through our website eldoradopublicschools.org/promise-podcast. We’d LOVE to hear from you!! We hope to eventually have enough stories to create an entire episode! I hope these stories make you laugh, brighten your day, or warm your heart!
Today's episode is all about school security. I sat down with Mr. Jay Vines, School Security Director for the El Dorado School District, Mr. Jim Tucker, El Dorado School District Superintendent, and Captain Holt, retired from the El Dorado Police Department. We discussed how the police department works with the district to keep teachers, staff, and students safe. We also talked about an incident that happened at our middle school last year, as well as, the idea of arming teachers. I learned so much in this episode, I think it is so relevant to what is happening in society today, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Today’s episode is near and dear to my heart. Today we are discussing school libraries and the dramatic change they’ve undergone in the last decade. Libraries should be much different than they use to be. Our students have changed, the needs have changed, and our world has changed. To help me with this topic I reached out to my dear friend Vanda Terrell. She is an associate Professor and the Program Director for Library Media and Information Specialist at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. Vanda guided me through the program when I went about 3 years ago. Whenever I have any type of library question, she is my go to girl! I was so excited to sit down with her and talk about libraries and how they’ve changed. I also asked her who I should interview that is really doing what a true teacher librarian should do. She gave me Chrystal Burkes name. I had seen her on social media and knew she was in the finals last year for Arkansas Teacher of the Year. I followed her journey and loved seeing videos of her library! I reached out and just had a blast talking with her! I can’t wait for you guys to hear from Vanda and Chrystal! I hope it encourages you, especially if you are in a library media center!
This episode is a continuation of our Literacy Part 1 episode. This time we dive deeper into the classroom. We will get to hear from three amazing teachers as they teach their high school students how to analyze literature. We then have our instructional facilitator sit down and point out what those teachers do that make them so great at their craft! This episode is my favorite one so far! We can't wait for everyone to hear it! We hope it helps inspire you in your classroom regardless of what content you teach!
Today's episode is all about literacy strategies from kindergarten to 12th grade. We'll hear from Anna Wairner, the literacy specialist at the South Central Coop, a group of literacy instructional facilitators from several of our elementary schools, and Mr. Tate Aldrich who has publish an article in the English Journal regarding a protocol he invented that promotes cultural responsiveness and diverse perspectives in his literacy classroom. We hope this episode inspires you to incorporate literacy strategies in your class, regardless of your grade or content.
Today's episode is all about Educational Technology. I work in a school and a district that embrace technology and it's use in education. It's one of my most favorite things about my job. I think its changed the landscape of education and it isn't going away in our society, so our students need to know about it! However, there are disadvantages and we want to discuss those as well. Today we'll hear from Jo Ann Womack, Jody Vines, Jigish Patel, and Dr. David McGehee. We will explore the positives and negatives of using technology in education and will end with some tips for parents and teachers to combat screen time for students.
This episode is all about student behavior. We talk with Holly Billings, a behavior support specialist, which is a new position in our district. We also talk with a classroom teacher regarding student behavior and how we as educators can address problems in our classrooms and schools.
Rural schools across the state of Arkansas often struggle with population declines and recent data shows that less than 50%* of Arkansas high school students go on to attend college. El Dorado Schools were given a unique opportunity through the El Dorado Promise Scholarship, the namesake of our podcast, to transform our schools. In this episode, we’ll talk to El Dorado Promise Director, Sylvia Thompson, along with a recipient of the Promise who came back to our district to teach, and a parent will tell us how the Promise scholarship impacted her children’s college opportunities. We’ll also talk to two teachers who saw the challenges rural school students face in pursuing colleges outside the state, so they took a group of students to Boston to visit 10 colleges and talk about other scholarship opportunities.
*Source: https://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2018/07/27/the-college-going-rate-in-arkansas-is-declining-anyone-who-says-otherwise-needs-remedial-math
In this episode we continue our look into Standards Based Report Cards. We start by hearing from several classroom teachers about what this practice actually looks like in their classrooms. Lastly, we'll hear from Jeannie Strother, the El Dorado School District literacy chair. She will wrap up this series for us!
In this episode Mr. Tom Simmons, math chair for the El Dorado School District, gives a basic breakdown of what Standards Based Report Cards are and why our district chose to move in this direction. We will hear from two instructional facilitators who give us more insight into how the actual standards are chosen, recorded, and shared with parents. Lastly, two other Arkansas school districts that have implemented Standards Based Report Cards into their schools share about their experience.