Shows
Copy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Berit GordonBerit Gordon is an author and coach of teachers from across the country. Her book, The Joyful Teacher, is a collection of tried-and-true strategies that empower teachers and help them create an even greater impact in their classroom. Her other book, No More Fake Reading, offers solutions for boosting stamina, joy, and skills among adolescent readers. Whether running workshops, leading coaching sessions or working in classrooms, Berit strives to empower teachers so they can empower students. Her sincerity and passion for this endeavor are evident within the first few minutes of this interview.
2022-12-1856 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Jennie BrownJennie Brown has 800 students. Not in her lifetime, not in the last decade, right now, each and every week. Jennie teaches Elementary Music in Bluffdale, UT. She is a passionate teacher and learner, always looking for the next amazing thing to learn. Moving from the grade level classroom to the Music classroom has allowed Jennie to embrace Joy as a daily practice. Jennie uses team building activities, movement, singing, instruments, dance, and music games to consistently help students experience the joy of their childhoods and just listening to her talk about it will make you want to do the...
2022-12-1340 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Catherine BakerCatherine Baker, my heart warms up at the sound of her name. If you knew Catherine, you’d know exactly what I mean. She smiles and lights up the room with her goodness. She’s kind and sweet, thoughtful and smart, and when she talks with you her energy and her eyes make you feel like you might be the most important person in the world.
Catherine has seen heartache in recent years. While some might sour as a result, it seems she’s allowed herself to become even more tender, more empathetic, more in love with the wor...
2022-11-1240 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Kat McRitchieIf ever I had a kindred spirit, Kathryn McRitchie is it. We met in a class I was teaching at Stanford University one summer, Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching for Social Studies. She walked in with her “Moms Demand Action” tote bag and said good morning to me with her Tennessee accent; to say she had me at hello is just the truth. Since then we’ve remained in touch, developing a friendship grounded in the love of our kids (and of story corps, truth be told) and a deep passion for both the art and the science of teachi...
2022-11-0654 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Shauna Brown of Teach for the CultureI came to know Shauna through her instagram, Teach for the Culture. The first thing I ever saw was a tshirt that said, “Joy and Learning Must Co-exist,” something I’ve taken on as a bit of a mantra if you remember Peter’s episode earlier this season. Her merch was so cute I loved seeing new things as she added them every couple of weeks. What I found myself doing, however, was sticking around not for her merch, but for her message. Straight, unapologetic talk to teachers in service to our kids. It didn’t take long to know that...
2022-10-2642 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Carlos CabanaCarlos' joy does not run loud like Peter’s and Ashlei’s, it runs quiet like a strong current under still water. It’s the sparkle in his eyes, the turned up corner of his shy smile, the feeling you get when you walk into his classroom and feel ready to be brave because you know your teacher has created a space for you to thrive, as if it was your birthright.
And it is. It is your birthright to thrive.
Every day I worked with Carlos I was reminded by his actions, his words, and his...
2022-09-2533 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Ashlei MillerAshlei is lit from within with a joy that is pure goodness. Yes she will make you laugh. Yes she will lead the dance party. And, yes, she is good good good to the core. You can’t help but feel your vibration rise in her presence. If a rising tide lifts all boats, Ashlei’s energy lifts all spirits.
Don’t be fooled by the dinosaur costume or the spirit week gear. This woman is nobody’s fool. And she won’t let you be either. She is smart and driven and on a mission to lead a scho...
2022-09-1834 minCopy Room ConversationsNormalizing Joy - Peter MyersPeter Myers exudes a light that is so bright it can knock you off your feet. We shared an office and a classroom the year he was my student teacher and, when Peter arrived on my doorstep, he brought the spirit of joy along with him. Peter exemplifies what it means to normalize joy and invites all of us to find our own way to do the same.
2022-09-1142 min2022-09-0805 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Rise Tall Toward the Sun, Especially as you Head back to SchoolEach August is set aside dedicated to a book to help us get back into the thinking and doing of school. This season we look at pieces from my book, Nothing's Missing. Rather than share a story from the last chapter, "Rise Tall Toward the Sun," I am taking a few minutes to reflect and explore our role as teachers in this very complex time. How can we remember how to take action toward rising tall in our gifts as educators, so that others may do the same? I hope with my whole heart it will serve you well...
2022-08-2107 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Wildflowers Don’t Grow in RowsThe short season in August set aside for a book to help us get back into the thinking and doing of school continues with a story from Nothing's Missing and the chapter, Wildflowers Don't Grow in Rows. Each story was chosen because it offers some reflection on the chapter theme I think will serve you well as you head back to school in the coming days. This one explores what a life might be like without "should" but, instead, grounded in our instincts. Sometimes I think we, as teachers, have lost the ability to trust our instincts under the...
2022-08-1706 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Feel the Fear and Walk on ThroughThe short season in August set aside for a book to help us get back into the thinking and doing of school continues with a story from Nothing's Missing and the chapter, Feel the Fear and Walk on Through. Each story was chosen because it offers some reflection on the chapter theme I think will serve you well as you head back to school in the coming days. This one is a deeply personal leap brought on by finally, after a decade, trusting my instincts to do what was right for me even though it was so scary. Sometimes...
2022-08-1406 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Take ResponsibilityThe short season in August set aside for a book to help us get back into the thinking and doing of school continues with a story from Nothing's Missing and the chapter, Take Responsibility. Each story was chosen because it offers some reflection on the chapter theme I think will serve you well as you head back to school in the coming days.
2022-08-1006 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Set Your IntentionThe short season in August set aside for a book to help us get back into the thinking and doing of school continues with a story from Nothing's Missing and the chapter, Set Your Intention. Each story was chosen because it offers some reflection on the chapter theme I think will serve you well as you head back to school in the coming days.
2022-08-0710 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing: Hear the CallEach August we'll read a book and the episodes for the short summer season with excerpts from the book as well as solo episodes about the theme of that book. This year, we're reading a book I wrote, Nothing's Missing: A Year of Reckoning, Release, and Remembering who I am. Episode two features from a story from the chapter "Hear the Call," which offers a window into why I became a teacher and how the lesson offered to me in the 4th grade is one I still struggle to learn.
2022-08-0310 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing
We're interrupting the typical Copy Room Conversations with several short episodes released on Wednesdays and Sundays this August as we transition back into the thinking and doing of school. Each August we'll read a book and the episodes for the short summer season with excerpts from the book as well as solo episodes about the theme of that book. This year, we're reading a book I wrote, Nothing's Missing: A Year of Reckoning, Release, and Remembering who I am. Episode one features the introduction to the book, a call to action for anyone sick and tired of perfectionism and...
2022-08-0313 minCopy Room ConversationsNothing’s Missing - Season 3 TrailerWe're interrupting the typical Copy Room Conversations with several short episodes released on Wednesdays and Sundays this August as we transition back into the thinking and doing of school. Each August we'll read a book and the episodes for the short summer season with excerpts from the book as well as solo episodes about the theme of that book. This year, we're reading a book I wrote, Nothing's Missing: A Year of Reckoning, Release, and Remembering who I am.
2022-07-2704 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Mary ChaiThe last episode for our season on paying it forward drops on Sunday with my new friend, Mary Chai. I’ve long believed teaching to be a spiritual practice, one that stretches us as much as it saves us, one where we use every ounce of who we are in service to our kids, even the kids (especially the kids) who we wish some days were absent. Mary is the first guest I haven’t known and loved for years; in fact, the first day we met was the day we recorded this episode. Interestingly enough, this may be the...
2022-03-2748 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Julie and BrianaIn the last of our episodes featuring both the inspired and the inspiring, we listen in on Julie and Briana talk about teaching, friendship, and paying it forward. They belong to one another, and something tells me Julie will always be Briana's teacher, no matter how old we all get.
2022-03-2000 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Lisa and AnaIn our second of three duos this season, we meet Lisa and Ana. Ana was Lisa's student and, with Lisa, she found her voice. Now she uses that voice to do the same for her students. This conversation is a testament to what it means to be a teacher.
2022-03-1349 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Chris and Lynne DierWhen you're a teacher in large part because of a teacher you had, there is no greater gift you can give than to tell them so. In the next three episodes, you'll meet three teachers duos, one inspired, the other inspiring. Truth be told, in every case, the inspiration most definitely goes both ways. First up is history teacher, Tik-Tok-er (@cmdla), Stanford Hollyhock Fellow, and Louisiana State Teacher of the year, Chris Dier, who brought with him the teacher that most inspired him, his mom, Lynne Dier, now in her 45th year of teaching. Their mutual adoration will leave...
2022-03-0649 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Sam BradburyIf the last episode was personal, this one can only be characterized as *very* personal, as I interview my dearest friend and high school sweetheart, Samuel Bradbury. In many ways he paved my life's path; in some ways I may have paved his too. In this episode, we explore both as well as the deeply important role teachers play in the lives of our students who, for one reason or another, are lost and lonely and fear they may be unseen. These are our kids. They are all our kids. Because we belong to one another.
2022-02-2745 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Dr. Michael MatthewsThis episode is a personal one, where I talk with the teacher who, more than any other, helped me develop the identity of "student" which opened the door to the work of my life and heart. The conversation brings me full circle, a circle 35 years in the making.
2022-02-2041 minCopy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Dr. Micia MoselyDr. Micia Mosely is the Founder and Director of the Black Teacher Project. She's also an academic, a comedian, a storyteller, and a teacher. In this episode we talk about the importance of communities of belonging as well as the fuel of love and legacy; her story serves as the perfect bridge between seasons one and two and it was my honor to spend an hour talking to her about the work of our lives work that honors those who came before us in service to those who come after.
2022-02-131h 03Copy Room ConversationsPaying it Forward - Season Two IntroductionWelcome to Season 2 of Copy Room Conversations. This season we focus on paying it forward, honoring the legacy of those who came before us by serving those who come after us. In this season you'll meet educators I've known and loved for decades, and another who I met IRL the day we recorded our episode. My intention with this season is to remind you just how important your work is, including the opportunity to consider how you are both the result of and the catalyst for greatness.
2022-02-0607 minCopy Room ConversationsSeason One BONUS Episode - Lydia McClanahan and Responsive ReadsLydia McClanahan is a decades long teacher, instructional coach, and librarian who specializes in culturally authentic texts. Because we teachers LOVE to talk about great practical tools in the copy room, Lydia will be joining us in our copy room for the last episode of every season. In these episodes you get to listen on us chatting like we do, and learn along with me about a culturally authentic text that goes with the theme of the season. This episode features the book, Harbor Me, by Jacqueline Woodson, about a group of sixth graders and their quest to belong.
2022-01-1443 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Mary Milton, The One Who ServesMary Milton, the name conjures up a vision of joy and curiosity, love and support, and a relentless desire to serve. In this episode Mary and I talk about where that desire to serve comes from and how she's used it to care for and empower our kids, our colleagues, and our community.
2022-01-0958 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Sheryl Cambra - The One Who ReachesFor all the pressures our teachers are under right now, we must also remember our principals are arguably under even more. I often wonder what a Sheryl Cambra principalship would look like in this season, as I long for leaders like her in a time like this. She has retired now, leaving it all on the field, as they say, with no regrets. Learning from her all these years was such a gift; interviewing her for this episode was no different.
2022-01-0242 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Stephanie and Sharon, The Ones Who PartnerThe School Spouse, the School Bestie, the School Neighbor...the luckiest among us have all of these because school is a microcosm of our larger lives. How we do one thing is how we do everything and Stephanie and Sharon remind us of that very fact. Consummate partners to others in all areas of their lives, in school they were each other's. Listen in to our conversation to be inspired to thank those who walk this journey with us and remind us on the daily that we belong to one another.
2021-12-2656 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Glenna Wurm Hayenga -The One Who CheersWho among us does not need a cheerleader right now? I'm sharing my dear friend and consummate cheerleader with you because now, more than ever, we need someone who puts the wind at our backs. Glenna will pick you up and carry you over the finish line herself if you can't, she's that dedicated to making sure everyone in her care knows how valuable they are and how much potential their future holds. Glenna lives and breathes the fact there is no such thing as other people's children, and that we belong to one another.
2021-12-1947 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Tovi Scruggs-Hussein - The One who Dares to LeadIn a time when we need our community more than ever, many of us are retreating, taking cover for the sake of surviving what is the most difficult year of our teaching careers. Teacher friends are the best friends, and Tovi is and has been both of these things to me for more than 25 years. Let's listen as she reminds us - through story and laughter and a few tears - just how deeply we belong to one another.
2021-12-1250 minCopy Room ConversationsBelonging - Pamela Wilson, the 3F MentorI'm sharing my mentors with you this season with the intention of sharing their gifts with you, in this most unprecedented time of challenge in our profession. Pamela Wilson is my 3F mentor: First, Favorite, and Forever. Listen in as she shares her wisdom with all of us.
2021-12-0544 minCopy Room ConversationsSeason 1 - BelongingWelcome to Season 1 of Copy Room Conversations. This season we focus on belonging, and you'll meet the women who gave me a seat at their table and sustained me through a 20-year teaching career and beyond. My intention with this season is to share these extraordinary women with you as a form of nourishment and a reminder that we belong to one another. Look out for the bonus episode that launches our collaboration with Responsive Reads.
2021-11-2812 minCopy Room ConversationsWhat is the Copy Room?What is the "Copy Room?" Listen for a quick introduction into the what and why behind Copy Room Conversations.
2021-11-2405 minCopy Room ConversationsYour Invitation to the Copy RoomTeaching is a series of invitations. Here is your invitation to join us in the Copy Room.
2021-11-1102 min