Listen Now

Join Reilly and Renee on the eve of her first day of first grade! Reilly shares ideas for teachers, students, and caregivers for how to handle big emotions that are normal, (and expected), when you start a new school year! 

Join Reilly (and Renee) as they look back at her 6th year around the sun and look forward to her 7th year ahead! Reilly shares a few of her proud moments, new activiteis she tried as a 6 year old, a bit of her current reading life, and goals she's looking forward to taking on this year...and some sound advice to her (current) and future self.  Cheers to you Reilly! Happy 7th Birthday! 

Meet Reilly Kate. She's 6. She's a reader. She's a writer. She's a thinker.  In this episode, Reilly selects a few pages from Hey Ant! to discuss the importance of understanding characters in the books we read. She looks closely at a few pages, and then connects the ideas to Ivy and Bean, and (of course) Harry Potter. When we have a process for thinking about characters in books, we also have a process for thinking about others in the world around us...but perhaps more importantly - about ourselves. "Books help you realize who you are inside. Books help me understand who I am." - Reilly

Ready to get ahead of the curve? Ready to disrupt antiquated systems? In this episode I'm joined by Meg Seitz, founder and CEO of Toth Shop, a communications agency that centers your voice and your story for entrepreneurs at all stages of development. Together, we demystify a few core entrepreneurial core concepts - mission, vision, goals, and messaging and how they can set you and your school community up for success. Join us to level up your leadership in ways that ground the year ahead in forward thinking, innovative  frameworks for growth, joy, and success!  

There's a space between better and best...and that's where growth happens. Are you willing to hold space for the tension that inevitably accompanies growth? Change? Are you willing to muddy your clarity in the name of growth? Change? Brian Sepe joins the podcast and shares his vision for successful change agents - it's a willingness to suspend clarity, to get curious, to reflect, to live in the gray. Brian inspires us to bring our best every single day for kids. In our conversation, he explains that part of being our best is chasing progress one step at a time. 

Brooke Geller and Renee Houser discuss their "Systems Thinking" approach to supporting school communities and leadership. Together they discuss finding your professional learning network, wise resistance, saying yes & figuring things out later, the importance of listening,  distributive leadership, and taking it all in one nibble at a time.   We can all leverage leadership. Join Brooke and Renee as they share lessons they learned from running in Central Park, eating pancakes, and serving one another as thinking partners. 

I'm joined by Rachel Hatteberg Walt, the founder of Craftingood. Together, we discuss in this episode the importance of supporting the children in our lives to cultivate the spirit of gratitude which in return inspires a heart of generosity, compassion, and kindness. Rachel gives us the tools we can do this not only in the holiday season, but extend it throughout the entire year. We can use our talents and creativity to Craft Some Good for others! 

Whether you're a caregiver supporting at home learning, a teacher thinking through remote, hybrid, or brick & mortar teaching scenarios, Chase, Sophie and their pack of puppets have something to offer all of us! I'm joined by educators and artists Sophie Meuch and Chase Woolner who share simple puppeteering strategies that we can add to our everyday life work with children that bring joy, engagement, and support their social and emotional learning.  Let's together think through the possibilities that puppets give us as an incredible opportunity to leverage the joy in learning. Let's imagine a pivot with puppets! 

“How do you spell…” ever hear that question? Spelling is an interesting piece of the word study puzzle, and I’m grateful for educators like Pam who joins us on this episode! Pam Koutrakos is an educator, parent, consultant, and author of bestseller “Word Study that Sticks published by Corwin Literacy. Together, Pam and I think through practical, budget friendly, engaging, and fun experiences we can practice on a daily basis to foster and cultivate a curiosity of word awareness (and learning in general) for the children in our lives!

I'm joined by Bethanie Colwell who shares her story from teacher, to coach to edupreneur. Bethanie experienced a wake up call when a student she worked with took her life. This jolted Bethanie to ask us all, "What are we doing to support the children in our lives in ways that prevent the loss of life? What are we doing to support children so that that they can live out the fullness of their lives?" Bethanie urges us to consider designing learning, curriculum, and conversations that say - YOU MATTER! She's leading the way in a LOVE REVOLUTION...one inspired by beloved Fred Rogers who reminds us, "Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people." Let's design safe spaces for all children to thrive through human connection, kindness, and caring for ourselves, and one another. Viva la revolution! 

In this episode, my daughter, Reilly Kate joins me as my special guest. Reilly is a reader, writer, and thinker. In this episode she brings a stack of latest favorite books to read. We begin the episode (after a microphone test and exploration) with a discussion of Kelly Dipucchio's picture book: Gaston - a story about LOVE! Two puppies discover that family is less about appearances and more about love. Reilly shares with us several of her theories, ideas, questions, and wonderings about all things Princesses, the possibilities of a career at NASA, falling and getting back up. She's 4 soon to be turning 5. I'm 45. I'm biased, she's the best. I'm grateful that I get to be her mom! I can't wait to see what her 5th year around the sun will bring. Happy Birthday Reilly Kate! I love you! 

Meghan Ryan shares with us her personal journey of dealing with her soul gunk. We've all got soul gunk! Soul gunk prevents us from seeing our privilege, our bias, our whiteness, our blind-spots, our racism. When we deal with our soul gunk, we're able to feel more fully ourselves. When we are fully present, we're able to see those around us. Meghan shares with us what she learned through her own journey and how it has helped her in over two decades of her clinical work of supporting adolescent and young adults navigate and manage their emotional literacy, advocate for themselves, and for one another.  Follow Meghan on Instagram @MeghanRyan 

We are known by the stories we tell, so...are we telling them? How are we telling them? Why are we telling them? In this episode, we're joined by special guest Antonio Sacre. Antonio is a performing artist, author, and consultant to educators. He supports educators in thinking (of the many ways) how story fits into curriculum.  Now more than every, our stories matter. Whether we're teaching in brick and mortar classrooms, distance learning platforms, or at home learning...telling stories helps us to connect, focus, dream, and imagine the possibilities.  Thank you for joining Antonio and me as we together, think through the magic of story in our everyday lives. You matter, your voice matters, and therefore, your story matters...so tell it!  

How do we shift our teaching from a basal to a balanced literacy approach? When I moved to Los Angeles, CA in 2010 it was a big question I had. As the second largest school district in the United States, most of the teachers followed a manual that scripted lessons with little to no support to teachers in understanding the art of teaching reading, how to design student centered curriculum, how to teach readers to choose their own books, & how to teach reading in a book that you’ve never read? In this episode you’ll hear the story of Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School in Watts, CA where Dr. Long spearheaded a team of educators who were ready to embrace the challenge. Inspired by Dr. Long’s love of learning, listen to Joyner’s turn around story. In 2012 Dr. Long (eligible for retirement) arrived at Joyner, surrounded by 5 public housing projects, 100% free and reduced lunch, 60% English Learners, 40% Standard English Learners, and a team of educators who embraced the idea of creating a community of professional practitioners. A case study for urban education scholars? Yes. A case study for unlocking the potential in a low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhood? Absolutely.  Dr. Long guided teachers to embrace the study of teaching through the Turnaround Arts Foundation, Guided Language Acquisition Design, glued together through a balanced approach to teaching literacy in all academic areas. With her vision, she led educators, students, and families, to believe that they in fact deserved the very best that teaching has to offer - that literacy, is in fact, a civil right. Today, retired from the Los Angeles Unified School District, a professor at the University of La Verne, she reflects on her work at Joyner, and continues to support educators in equity, arts integration, and mindfulness.

How do we plan for instruction at home and in school that leads to great happiness for all kids? In this episode, my friend and colleague Katie Cunningham inspires us to consider the intersection of happiness and learning. When we're learning - we're experiencing jolts of joy, so let's make sure we're not missing out on joyful learning experiences in our everyday lives!  To learn more about Katie's work visit her at: https://katieegancunningham.com Check out her new book from Stenhouse Publishers: Start with Joy: Designing Literacy Learning for Student Happiness https://www.stenhouse.com/content/start-joy

It's not actually a graduation requirement to accumulate massive post college debt! In this episode, Brook Wolcott, college admissions counselor, decodes a bit of the college admissions process puzzle in ways that remind us that debt can have a significant impact on life after college...so why not think strategically about the admissions process from the start? Brook sets us up to think in ways that can significantly reduce the weight that debt can play post college for so many of us. If we consider (and prioritize) cost, (social) fit, (academic) prestige, we can think through the college admissions process in fluent and comprehensive ways...that make sense for you and your family. 

In this episode I'm joined by parent, family, and teacher coach extraordinaire, Joshua Castillo (AKA Ask the Child Whisperer).  Joshua supports us to see opportunities everyday to learn from the children in our lives. She helps to silence the world around us so that we can find our inner voice, listen to it, and trust our gut instincts.  Joshua encourages us by helping us have many little conversations that lead to big understandings and growth for both adults and children.   Follow Joshua on Instagram Join the discussion on Facebook Surviving Children's Birthday Parties available on Amazon

You've heard it before - kids are like sponges, soaking up what's all around them. If that's the case - you're teaching constantly. Are we being mindful, and intentional about what we are teaching? In this podcast Brook and I share a handful of ideas we've been thinking about and learning as parents...and parents who teach. How can we be fully present and attentive around the children in our lives? What would happen if we put our screens aside and played a game? Read a book? Made some playdough? How are we provoking learning in the lives of children we interact with? Let us know what works for you and the children in your lives. Let us know questions you are thinking about so we can join you in that conversation on a future episode! 

In honor of World Read Aloud Day listen to a few ideas to think about when reading aloud to the children in your lives. When we read aloud we model the process of thinking through texts as proficient readers. We also discuss considerations for organizing books, thinking about books, and talking about books. We hope that every day is read aloud day! Let us know how it goes...happy reading! 

Let's start with why we're doing this? In this episode I start by sharing a bit of my story. When I was a kid, I loved to read, I loved to write...and I hated school! I've spent most of my entire life since then trying to figure out ways to make learning engaging...interesting...a just right fit for all children! What can we do together, to help support the children in our lives to being readers, writers, and thinkers?  What's your why?