Episodes
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Jessica Hawk (@myteacherface) has been in the profession for more than thirty years and has recently retired this past WEEK! On this episode, Jessica and I discuss her future as a cat cuddler, choosing to not have children, how the nightmares from her first year of teaching still haunt her, how teachers guilt one another, cutting down the mental load on her students, setting boundaries with her school, GoGuardian, how to retain teachers, and, much more.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Daniele Boleli is a History Professor based out of Los Angeles, California and is the host of the History on Fire Podcast. Daniele has also made several appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience and has worked closely with esteemed historical podcaster Dan Carlin. On top of that, he is also the holder of the greatest accent of all time. On this episode, Daniele and I discuss the oddities of personally connecting to history, the silliness of cultural rivalries, how he formulates his history podcast, Taoism, learning not to go down too many rabbit holes while lecturing, how to not take it personally when people are not listening to you teach, how historians become numb to horrible events, how to become a better storyteller, surprising facts about Theodore Roosevelt, being authentic in telling the stories of other cultures, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Missing episodes?
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Mandy Grass is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst and hosts the popular social media parenting page @thefamilybehaviorist on Instagram. On this episode, Mandy and I discuss wholeheartedly supporting rewards for kids, the symptoms of ADHD in undiagnosed adults, the importance of tiered interventions, visual schedules and reinforcement systems for children with ADHD, the disconnect between teachers and parents over creating consistency at home and in the classroom and how to handle the awkward conversations, replacement behaviours, how parenting is fundamentally calibrating your own response to your child’s behaviour, analyzing validation-seeking behaviour in your kids, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the show!
You can find more about Mandy's work on her website: https://www.thefamilybehaviorist.com/Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Daryl Davis is a Musician and is commonly known for his efforts combatting racism by engaging members of the Ku Klux Klan and inadvertently convincing hundreds of members to leave and denounce the organization as well as other forms of political and racial extremism. On the episode, Daryl and I discuss his pursuit to answer how people are able to hate people they do not know, his initial experiences learning what racism, fostering harmony in society, how some members he would sit with had never even spoken to a person of a different race, interviewing KKK members for his book and the mixed reactions he would get, what things KKK members have in common with the average person, how highly prominent members of the US government were members of the KKK, the ‘latent gene’ theory, what is misunderstood about the Confederate Flag, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Andrea Caspari Spears (@caspariland) is a Teacher and Stand-Up Comedian who has been in the profession for more than twenty years and is a regular on the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour. On the episode, Andrea and I discuss the horrors of corporate gigs and doing comedy for people eating cookies and drinking orange juice, getting involved with Bored Teachers, believing you can be funny, crushing on Robin Williams, performing in front of five thousand teachers, the public hunger for live entertainment and the opportunities available, teacher resume fluffing, getting an unexpected laugh, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Jason Hamilton is currently in his first year in the profession and he is currently teaching Jr. High Social Studies and is one of the main coaches for the hockey program at his school. On this episode, Jason and I discuss reading our dad’s energy which contributed to our chill personas, not wanting to do labor jobs, his experience working as a labourer and thinking hell no, the trade of passion for pay in some jobs, not really wanting to hang out with your work friends after seeing them all day every day, how his mentor helped him believe he had the skills for teaching, relating to the kids, how I admired Jason’s dusty dangles back in the day, what sports provide for kids, living away from home to play sports, his experience as a new coach, coaching sports you have never played, realizing if you actually are an imposter and needing to quit certain things, what different coaches bring, avoiding confrontation, not drinking coffee, our social battery, and, much more.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Cathryn van Kassel is an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies at Texas Christian University. Her research focuses on how different conceptualizations of evil function in the context of education within and beyond the classroom, with a keen interest in youth conceptualizations as well as a variety of understandings from philosophy, psychology, and social theory. She is particularly enthusiastic about interpretations of evil that implicate ordinary people to uplift pursuits of justice. On this episode, Cathryn and I discuss the misconceptions of evil in the Social Studies Classroom and beyond, our assumptions of what evil looks like, when people think they are doing good but things that are actually evil, examples along the spectrum of evil, Worldview Threat, Terror Management Theory, the “Social Aquarium,” the subtlety of worldview challenges, Alain Badiou, bear territory, how standardized testing shapes our idea of what education means, how standardized testing is of high educational quality in certain contexts.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Mindy Francis is the definition of Jane of all trades and is currently working in her 23rd job as an Educational Assistant. More importantly, she is the mother of five wonderful children of whom I have had the pleasure of teaching a few. On this episode, we discuss her starting her own podcast Site Wife, cultivating a close family, student mental health and how being in Education helps her understand her own kids better, leaving the Mormon church and the challenges that came with it, how she wanted her children to be raised in relation to her own upbringing, the legalistic nature of Mormonism and its hierarchy in heaven, growing together with her husband after getting married very young, placing boundaries with your kids, Vampire Diaries, avoiding drama, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Dr. Elizabeth Washington is a Professor of Social Studies Education at the University of Florida College of Education. On this episode, Elizabeth and I discuss what it means to live in a democratic society and how to teach it our students, the main issues teachers face in attempting to facilitate difficult conversations, handling when students ‘go off the rails’ while discussing a heavy topic, the importance of relationships in facilitating difficult discussion, modelling citizenship in the classroom, handling general opposition to existence of social studies as a discipline, how Social Studies does not exist in many jurisdictions in the United States at the Elementary level, challenges to academic freedom in the US & Canada, the lecture/project balance, and, much more.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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On this episode, Ben and I discuss the Keyano Huskies recent National Championship with the ACAC and my equivalent run in the fifth grade with the Sister Mary Phillips Saints, overcoming the Kryptonite of SAIT this year, the jump for athletes from the ACAC to the CIS, me helping one his teammates with their essays, his experience playing with York University, opportunities for basketball overseas, how development in European basketball differs from American basketball, if he is better than his brother, his experience with his mom getting sick and how that contributed to his text anxiety at a very young age, and, much more.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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On Part one of our episode, both Ben and I discuss our experience losing our parents to cancer at a young age. Ben lost his mom to cancer and I lost my father to cancer in our early 20s. Ben and I discuss processing the initial diagnosis, how his mom had it for more than fifteen years, getting used to the cancer process, results weekends, how things worsened toward the end and how we are both very open about it, how discussing them is a way of keeping them alive, how people guilt themselves on things they could have done differently before their family member pass, the coincidence of how the two times I drove them to the hospital we received the diagnosis, how you replay the narrative of what happened over and over, receiving the final diagnosis the day we found out they were going to pass, how our parents actually passed away on December 19th and 20th and what the first Christmas was like, the moment we watched them pass, and the moments afterward. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show.
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Cabrina (@cabrinascreativeclassroom) is a teacher in Virginia and is currently in her sixth year in the profession. On this episode, Sabrina and I discuss the specialization process of Special Education, Multi-Sensory Reading Instruction, gamifying her classroom, teaching in the ‘armpit’ of her school, academic regressions from her students after Covid, teaching parents to teach during Covid, tactics she uses to change up the classroom, how we rarely have a class in the same grade who are actually at the same grade level, the recent uptick in people hiring Educational Advocates and their presence in schools, the training (or lack thereof) for inclusive Education for handling practical scenarios, how Cabrina would map out a university course for Inclusive Education, how she can no longer ‘hang’ on vacations with the levels of teacher tired, the importance of returning respect for teachers, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Tany Yao is currently the MLA of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and also holds the role of Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health. On this episode, Tany and I discuss his move into provincial politics and his hilarious harassment of Brian Jean in 2015, his time as an Emergency Responder, the issues Fort McMurray has had with expanding its housing over the past ten years, the pitch of getting people to move to Fort McMurray, politician orientation, how the conservatives got wiped in 2015 and how they adjusted to being in opposition, what Danielle Smith has that Jason Kenny does not, the future of the NDP without Rachel Notley, safe consumption sites, dealing with the politician label, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Faith McPeek (@mcpeekteaches) is an elementary teacher based out of Illinois. On this episode, Faith and I discuss how adults are actually the most difficult part of teaching, how the teacher legacy continues after parents, kids vaping, the importance of student-centred learning, weirdness of standardization in elementary schools, how kids do not know how to athletically engage their body, the trials of moving across the country to teach and the guilt of leaving your school, especially your teacher besties, the onset of kids playing fortnite, how we would use pictochat on DS back in the day, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Sam (@samsleeves) is a Substitute Teacher by day and Stand-up Comedian by night and is based out of Los Angeles, California. He is also a Co-Host of the CallBacksPod. On this episode, Sam and I discuss how teaching through Covid inspired him to go into stand-up, the surprising things students say to him, his experience coaching college basketball, how it is weird being in charge of people’s children, how comedy parallels teaching in some ways, the negativity bias of how people typically only hear about the negatives of teaching from people who do not want to teach anymore, new slang, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Megan DuVarney Forbes (@toocoolformiddleschool) is a Social Studies teacher and has been in the profession for more than a decade. On this episode, Megan and I discuss the range of differences in the age range through junior high, the meaning of Social Studies and how we relay its message to our students, the importance of the ‘hook,’ tricking your junior high students into learning by accident, tips for speeding up the research process in humanities projects, not needing everything to be life changing for students to learn from it, how historical re-enactments go way too far, the story of Rothschild Francis in the Virgin Islands and the crafting of her Masters Thesis, Plato’s Cave, how this era’s history will be taught, her unexpected TpT best-seller, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Jennifer Keigher (@eastnash.teacher) is currently teaching in Nashville, TN, and has been in the profession for more than a decade. On this episode, Jenn and I discuss a natural path to teaching, the unexpected reality of teaching, being naturally sarcastic people, how teaching has become too much and how post-covid education is almost like the wild west, how we have many concerns about the future of education, the challenges of making more money as a teacher and developing her own business while teaching, the implicit judgement from her colleagues after taking a step back, the strange idiosyncrasies of professional evaluations, the difference in perception of Canadian versus American universities and how they really are not that different, my brother doing crazy things on vacation causing us to learn about the American health care system, how every male teacher can subtly get away with the ‘fake gym teacher’ persona, how fun it is going into observe other teachers in their classroom, how you can even learn from teachers who suck, how long it takes to establish yourself in a school, what type of ’student-parent’ she wants to be, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Gaspare (@standuprandazzo) is a Teacher and Stand-up Comedian based out of New York, NY. He is also a Co-Host on The Social Studies Podcast with Joe Dombrowski. On this episode, we discuss his appearance on the Netflix reality gameshow The Trust, the intense process required to land a spot on the show, how they did not know anything about the show until they were on the cliff at the beginning, how the show managed to get secrets from the guests without them even realizing, how he had to quit his teaching job to participate in the show, what surprised him about his experience on the show, how people get their hair cut on isolated reality shows, if you are also on the mic when you are on the toilet, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Jay Yoder (@jayyodercomedy) is Teacher, Comedian, and Podcast Host. He is currently a Co-Host on the Teacher Off Duty Podcast, and is one of the headliners on the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour. On this episode, Jay and I discuss his transition into comedy, being scared to start teaching and the pit stains that came with it, how he would bring an extra shirt to work each day, the importance of having other passions, being raised in “witness protection” by lesbian mothers and feeling like he needed to hide it, adjusting his vision of fatherhood in raising his daughter with autism, how dinner time was “like going to war,” food therapy, being trolled by other teachers, weird first-year teacher fears, how his students have responded to his increased social media presence, and, much more. Thank you all for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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Shannon Dube is currently the President of the ATA Local 48 and is also the Elementary Numeracy Coordinator for the Fort McMurray Public School Division. On part two of our conversation, Shannon and I discuss building relationships and being less awkward, the ‘excited to see you’ tool, setting boundaries, how things “grate on you” over time, what the most stressful part of teaching is, how parents have become more demanding, how it is hard to ‘on’ all the time, how students do still have a good side, teaching high school as a young teacher and handling the smaller age gap, the emotional labour of defending both your career choice and subject choice, how you are thrown into teaching overnight after university, irrational crying, how teachers end up teaching subjects nothing close to what they originally studied, the difficulties of making humanities courses hands-on, deciding on a masters program, how being an administrator seems as fun as stepping on rusty nails, helping teachers stand up for themselves, and, much more. Thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show!
Thoughts shared on the podcast are purely our own and do not represent the views of the Fort McMurray Public School Division or the relevant jurisdictions associated with my guests.
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