Teacher Talk: Recent Episodes
Johanna Russell
Laugh and learn with Johanna and Jared as they discuss how to be a successful life-long teacher while still having a life.
Tired of spending your teaching salary on your classroom? It is time for you to learn how to hay while the sun shines.
With so many school districts using a teacher screening test do you know how to fly by with flying colors? Or is your application not even opened because you didn't pass the test?
Do you know the most effective way to introduce flipped instruction into your class so that it is a win-win for students and teachers?
Wondering how to make yourself stand out during the interview process? Johanna has a simple and essential solution.
So, how does one talk to parents about parenting? Talk about walking into a minefield, for sure, and yet done correctly a teacher can be a parent's best ally.
When it comes to getting yelled at, Johanna's model is not the one to follow so this time Jared is the one to guide and share solutions.
Are you a terrible sleeper? What if that is the reason you find teaching so challenging? Time to learn some teacher-specific tricks on how to get a good night's sleep.
Is your teaching job taking over all of your time and energy? This simple process will allow you to make time for you while still being a good and effective teacher.
Testing anxiety for students and teachers can have a grand impact on test results. This week we dive into simple tricks to create a perfect testing environment that reduces stress and improves scores.
Johanna is Dyslexic and has two children who are dyslexic. In this episode, she shares what worked for her and her family to create successful readers.
http://www.decodingdyslexia.net/ (find your State for specifics and resources in your area)
Signs and Symptoms
https://www.decodingdyslexiaiowa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Dyslexia-Signs-and-Symptoms.pdf
The tutoring resources our kids used:
https://www.dys-add.com/
Your classroom in need of a behavior reset? Johanna and Jared discuss how to turn around behaviors in your classroom any time during the year.
And, as promised: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KSryJXDpZo
Johanna says, as a teacher, if you need help you should ask for it but what if your administration is awful?
Teachers might not like it, but subbing is a part of the teaching experience even if you have a full-time classroom. Time to take the anxiety out of subbing.
Are you going to school to be a teacher or do you know someone who is? This podcast shares the real secrets to having a successful first year and it all starts by action done now.
Sometimes our teaching world slips away from us and we find ourselves stuck in a pit making us this think will be our last year. It is time to enjoy teaching again and here is how.
As a dyslexic (IEP) learner, years behind her peers, Johanna didn't have the grit or the skills needed to survive school (let alone consistently attend). Until she had a teacher who used this motivation system. Want to motivate the impossible? Here is how.
As promised in the episode:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lhQP5CsH5r5f2kstkiBIaSa9Irtyk8tHxRJ3VZOmG4Y/edit?usp=sharing
Jared quizzes Johanna on how to tell if your incentive system is broken and how to fix it so that over time the act of learning becomes the reward.
Johanna shares some simple supplies that when added to your classroom can make learning and teaching more fun. These tricks work really well for times where there is just a lot of content that needs to be remembered/ understood.
Teaching is hard enough, but how do we do it when all the students are constantly distracted by their cellphone?
So, your school issues or requires every student to have technology in the classroom and now how do you manage this school created behavior situation?
Newness in teams can be very challenging in teaching because there is no soft start. You have to jump in and instantly learn how to survive, together. Johanna and Jared discuss tricks for creating a positive experience with this process.
The start of the year is full of anxiety for teachers and students alike. Johanna and Jared share how to make lemonade out of this lemon of an emotion.
Johanna and Jared address the top asked listener questions/ comments in this last episode for season 1.
Stop the Grading Grid:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s1-ep34-stop-the-grading-grind/id1430846141?i=1000433880384
Get Rid of Your Teacher Desk:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s1-ep-24-get-rid-of-your-teacher-desk/id1430846141?i=1000428112993
So... You Are Going Back to Teaching.... the contract is signed. The Deal is Done, but you are wondering, "What if I made a big mistake."
Feeling the pressure to go back to your classroom? Learn what effective teacher's do instead.
What if the exhaustion from teaching day in and day out thas nothing to do with the students and everything to do with what we do during our time off the clock?
Johanna shares how she proactively avoids the "teacher pit" by doing this over the summer.
What if the secret to your teaching happiness rests on what you do at the start of summer?
Johanna and Jared dive into ways to prevent the end of year drama that happens as summer approaches.
Whether as a teacher or as a parent it is important to know how to gauge the quality of a school. How do you do that from the outside looking in?
How do we make sure that test retakes don't turn A's into the new participation ribbon?
Everyone has opinions on whether you should or should not got into teaching. Johanna shares a surprisedly easy way to tell whether teaching is the right fit for you.
Johanna shares how teaching students specific habits prevents baggage from outside of the classroom influencing learning inside the classroom.
A teacher doesn't have to lose their sanity to help students who act like they are above the learning expectations.
Jared finds joy in Bull Durham references. "Sometimes you just have to throw the fastball and announce your presence with authority." Johanna brings us back to reality and shares when and how to do this in the classroom.
Johanna shares that she is not a doctor. She does, however, have the secrets for preventing the gift that keeps on giving: Head Lice.
Per Jared's request: Link to Terminator Lice Comb
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HIBPV8/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_XXxGCb6E9V
Magically influence student behaviors with music however elementary versus secondary need drastically different approaches.
Johanna and Jared share how to transform your teaching experience by removing and replacing your teacher desk with a system that works better to decrease behaviors and increase student learning.
Johanna and Jared discuss action steps parents can take to give their kid a leg up so that students get the most possible out of their K-12 education.
It is possible to be an excellent teacher and only work 8 hours a day. Johanna and Jared discuss some of the keys elements needed to create success.
Johanna and Jared discuss how to make Parent-Teacher conferences simple and, yet, very effective.
Johanna and Jared continue their conversation on mentoring where Jared learns that Johanna is a genius.
What if the best part of your day could be helping other teachers to become their dream "teacher-self?"
Teaching is Hard. This podcast shares the secrets for creating a positive situation even when everything around you feels negative.
Let's dive into the most energy efficient, yet effective, ways to communicate with parents.
What if you knew how to make super effective, yet simple sub plans, quickly?
Secondary Sub Plan Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhPuZ3EKtXo
Elementary Sub Plan Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inm677lChRg&
Johanna and Jared dive into the weeds of goal setting and how to create authentic motivation in students.
Part 2: Johanna and Jared continue to share practical and efficient methods for how to manage secondary classroom behaviors.
Johanna and Jared unlock how to create a successful behavior management plan for the secondary classroom. One where the teacher is able to spend their time teaching, rather than managing behaviors.
Johanna and Jared explore the hidden secrets of a successful behavior management plan for elementary.
Johanna and Jared explore the hidden secrets of a successful behavior management plan for elementary.
Johanna and Jared share solutions for those rare times when the first 5 minutes of the first day are a total train wreck.
Johanna and Jared discuss how to create success with "that" student. The one that has the ability to control the mood and the tone of the whole classroom.
Explore with Johanna and Jared the tricks to creating the effect of a second teacher in the room through specifically taught routines and procedures.
Johanna goes through her secrets on how to get the biggest bang for your buck of the most important day of school, the student's first day.
Laugh and Learn with Johanna and Jared as they discuss how to have a successful first day at Teacher PD.