Host Chris Woods welcomes Mark French, Principal at Gatewood Elementary in the Hopkins Public Schools in Minnesota, to the show.  Principal French is enhancing his knowledge and skill in using technology to increase teachers’ confidence, student learning, and communication. Out of school he enjoys cooking on weekends, traveling, and reading.

You can also follow Mark on Twitter @PrincipalFrench.

Jayne Diaz shares her journey as an instructional leader in a widely diverse school district, helping teachers realize that stepping out of the structured and routine to try PBL is a move they're able to take. She shares both successes and mis-steps (and plans for correcting her route) with learning by doing, whether that be with makerspaces or Project/Problem/Passion Based Learning.

Jayne is a former district-level instructional coach for Dodge City Public Schools and currently works as Assistant Principal at Ross Elementary School in Dodge City, Kansas. Go Rhinos! (rawr!)

In this episode of the STEM Everyday podcast host, Chris Woods discusses how a simple thing like camping can add so much to a child's summer building relationships, leaving the distraction of social media and video games at home, and finding STEM in nature.

Chris talks about those connections in life that makes things special.  For Chris one of his connections is his birthday, it was on the seventh anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. 

Today, we're joined by 3 educators who have been practicing PBL for many years (remember, this isn't new, folks).  Monika King is the Principal, Steve Murdie is a Physics teacher, and Todd Miller is a Biology and A&P teacher at Maur Hill-Mount Academy, a college-prep international boarding school in Atchison, Kansas.  Teachers at MH-MA are acutely attuned to what colleges of all types are wanting from high school graduates.  Facing a real shift in expectations, they have been shifting what college-prep means for their students.  They are working with Flex-Mod Scheduling (http://www.redesignu.org/design-lab/mastery-learning/resource-bank/flexible-modular-scheduleflex-mod) to better prepare students for beyond-graduation college life.  They each share successes and challenges for themselves and their students and as Steve and Todd head back to class, Monika shares how she, as an administrator, has been able to move parent expectations beyond prepping for the ACT/SAT tests.

 Connect with Monika on Twitter: @ksedleader

Amy Storer is a curriculum coach in Montgomery ISD outside of Houston, Texas. In today's podcast, Amy shares
several stories about how she started practicing PBL -- or at least she thought she was, but on reflection, it was still
just a 'project.' She then talks about several successful and exciting examples. The overarching theme we keep
hearing from Amy is how she's a constant learner, reaching out to experts (she shares a piece of GOLD about local
experts and distant experts), colleagues, and uses social media to broaden her own expertise in teaching and learning
content.
Follow Amy's ups and downs on her blog, Converse in the Classroom, http://converseintheclassroom.blogspot.com/
where she regularly shares what she and her colleagues are doing, learning, and loving. It's a must-read!

Proud Principal at Gatewook Elementary in Hopkins School District in St. Paul Minnesota.  Interests are traveling, cooking, & learning new things! 

Christine’s work focuses on one key question: How can the teaching of engineering and science change so that it benefits and includes diverse populations?  Before launching EiE in 2003, she was director of engineering education research at Tufts University; she also directed the first national longitudinal study of the factors that help women persist in college engineering majors.  Her work has been honored with numerous awards, including an Outstanding Leadership Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.  Christine holds joint bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in science education from Cornell University.

Listen in as Jennifer tells us about her highly diverse, Title 1 classroom and the PBL that her students are doing.  She reflects on PBL in the elementary classroom, and the balance of direct instruction with PBL, specifically.  And she reveals she does NO direct instruction for her reading classes and yet her kids have made phenomenal growth this year.  

Today, we're talking with longtime friend, Cindy Sheets, a retired gifted ed teacher who taught K-6 students. Cindy shares 4 stories about "those kids," learners in all our classrooms who are sometimes difficult to engage in deeper learning. One student is a "feed me Seymour" girl who always wants to be reassured that she's on the right path. Another story is about a group of boys who are a bit lackadaisical and spend more time making excuses to get out of work than they do actually working. The third story is about a boy who struggled socially, who didn't have friends, and who no one in the class thought would be able to create a joyful masterpiece of learning -- that topped everyone else! The final story is about Cindy herself, and how one student helped her to pause and "listen longer" or not shut down a student's "silly" idea before it had a chance to fully bloom.

We all have these learners in their room. Come take a listen to see how these kids were impacted by Project Based

Learning!

It is that time of year school kids dream about, SUMMER BREAK!  Host Chris Woods gives some fun STEM ideas for the summer to keep kids mind in the swing of things. 

In this episode of the STEM Everyday Podcast we took four short takes from Chris's library to create this one episode of fun things to do in the classroom.

Chris interviews Tony Tatangelo from Iron Mountain Michigan.  Tony is adding things usually reserved for middle to high school activities to his kindergarten class. 

Chris talks with Daniel Mares.  Daniel is currently and Instructional Technology Coordinator and a Social Studies teacher in a K-12 school district.  Daniel has a wide ranging experience using and implementing technology into his lessons.  

Ginger is back telling the success stories of PBL being used in the classroom.  Her guest today is Ginny Ogden.  Ginny is a foreign language teacher at Jefferson Forrest High School in Lynchburg, Virginia.  They talk about an exciting new opportunity Ginny in the school.  She is on a pilot team using a flexible schedule and more PBL to change the way students learn.

NASA, green screens, overhead projectors, super heroes, Latin, jumbotrons, The Walking Dead, Hollywood Georgia?...could Chris and Mary Ann Rogers Lamberth from the STEM Academy in Savannah Georgia add anything else into their chat this week on the STEM Everyday podcast.   

Chris shares thought of using calculators in the classroom along with calculator apps. 

Chris takes a few minutes to reflect on when he what triggered hm to decide to become a teacher.

Chris talks with CEO and Co-Founder of Makkajai about Monster Math.  A game available on either iPad or iPhone which uses story lines to engage students and help them practice and learn over forty skills in math.  The game is fully customizable to suit your student's aptitude and you can choose between basic and advanced skills with a simple toggle.  

Fresh off of attending and presenting at the 2017 MACUL conference Chris shares his experiences about conferences.  

Chris talks with Maureen Marcoux from Ardusat about their programs. 

This week on the STEM Everyday podcast Chris talks with Allison Bischoff.  Allison along with Jessica Gordon started the Rozzy Learning Company.  Beyond Rozzy’s children’s books and curricula, Jessica and Allison are dedicated to empowering teachers to build their own curricula and providing them with the tools to do so. Together, Jessica and Allison have designed tool kits and trainings to aid teachers in curriculum writing and development.

Glenn gives you information about Newsela, Google Expoditions, Smithsonian Learning Lab, DOCSTeach from the National Archives, Arizona Geographic Alliance, Chronicling America from the Library of Congress, and World Digital Library.  

This week on the STEM Everyday podcast, Chris chats with Jeff Bush from Kent Innovation High in Grand Rapids, MI.

Chris talks with Amy Farkas about science, teaching, having students reinvent the box, and use a bunch of really cool science terms.

Chris introduces ways to add STEM to your Valentine's day classroom with ideas for experiments and projects.

Super Simple Valentine's Day STEM for Your Sweethearts from Scholastic https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/lindsey-petlak/super-simple-valentines-day-stem-your-sweethearts/

How It's Made Valentie's Day Edition - https://youtu.be/j6FtdPygxxQ

Chris connects with Osman Rashid, an engineer who thought outside the box to make science more engaging in this digital age.  Learn along the way as you take an adventure in an animated world aligned with NGSS standards.

Part 2 of Glenn's conversation with Ashley and Darren of the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

Glenn interviews Ashley Naranjo, Learning Initiatives Specialist, and Darren Milligan, Senior Digital Strategist, from the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access about what the Smithsonian Learning Lab. 

Chris talks with Teri Bauerly.  Teri teaches 6-8 grade STEM and Ed Tech classes at Spearfish Middle School in South Dakota. She is the 2015-2016 Spearfish Middle School Teacher of the Year!  Teri is a Level 1 Google Certified Educator has her K-12 Gifted endorsement, K-12 English as a New Language endorsement, and 6-8 Engineering endorsement.  Teri is happily married and has 2 awesome dogs. 

Teri Bauerly

Twitter:  @mrstbauerly                                                                               

Blog:  https://teachingeyes.wordpress.com/ 

Teacher of the year article:                        http://www.bhpioneer.com/local_news/teri-bauerly-named-teacher-of-the-year/article_5df6afce-f1d6-11e5-b7de-ef2bea60a358.html

URL for Tynker Game her student created:                     https://www.tynker.com/play?p=569514e7436e6933758b457f

Tynker: https://www.tynker.com

Chris Woods on Twitter:  @dailystem 

Teresa Gonczy is an entrepreneurial leader and enthusiastic educator, who is passionate about building communities where kids and adults feel capable of creating their lives and changing the world.  She has a special affinity for young children, and seeks to understand how our early experiences shape our lives.  Her research interests are in the large-scale improvement of adult-child interaction quality - parents, early childhood teachers, or other caregivers - using intervention design and evaluation with an understanding of how learning happens for young children, how behavior change happens for adults, and how continuous improvement and radical change happens for organizations.  Teresa is focused on bringing early learning research into innovative policies and practice, including capacity building and workforce development.  

Teresa’s website

http://www.teresaeg.com/

Links for Teresa

https://twitter.com/teresaeg

https://twitter.com/EarlyMath

www.linkedin.com/in/teresagonczy/

You can always reach Chris Woods at:
Twitter:@dailystem
Email: cwoods@clkschools.org

On today’s podcast, we will here from Barnett Berry.  Barnett Berry is Founder, Partner, and CEO at the Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), a national nonprofit organization that focuses on teachers transforming teachingfor the benefit of all students.  Barnett helped launch the nation's first virtual network of teacher leaders--the CTQ Collaboratory which now welcomes teachers (and all who support teachers as leaders) to connect, learn, and collaborate to drive change. Barnett is a former classroom teacher, think tank analyst, and university professor. Collaborating with twelve accomplished teachers, he outlined a bold vision for the profession's future in book titled TEACHING 2030: What We Must Do for Our Students and Our Public Schools... Now and in the Future. His second book, Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead but Don't Leave was published in August 2013.  Barnett shares his thoughts on how to encourage teacher leadership through writing.

This podcasts explores what it is like to be an educator who writes for the government.  Our guest is Suzy Meyers--a long time teacher who now works and writes for her state’s Department of Education as a literacy and writing consultant. She helps oversee the training of tens of thousands of teachers when it comes to literacy standards and reading and writing instruction and assessment. Suzy shares tips for communicating through writing with clarity.

In this podcast, we visit with educator, blogger, and podcaster Brian Sztabnik. Brian produces the popular podcast--Talks with Teachers.  Brian shares his insights on the potential for teachers to regularly engage in reflective practice through their own writing.

In this podcast, we explore writing in education and an interesting phenomenon called writer identity crisis.  Our guest is Christopher Goering, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas and is the Director of the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project.  He has authored or co-authored several articles and book chapters and is a National Board Certified Teacher. He co-founded EduSanity, a blog dedicated to promoting civil discourse in education. He also founded www.LitTunes.com…an open access educational outreach initiative designed to develop adolescents' literacies through popular music and music lyrics.

Just what is the most difficult writing that we engage in as teachers?No…it isn’t a masters thesis or doctoral dissertation.  It isn’t getting a someone to publish an article or book you have written.  The most challenging writing in education might just well be the National Board certification process.

It takes many months to demonstrate to the National Board and its reviewers of teacher portfolios that you are committed to student learning, that you know you subjects and how to teach those subjects to students, that you can manage and monitor student learning, that you think systematically about your practice, and that you engage as a professional in learning and in learning communities. 

Just look at a state like California.  According to the data available, over 2,000 teachers have attended information sessions to learn what it takes to become nationally board certified.  After hearing about the process, more than half of them 'jump ship' either immediately or throughout the process. In fact, only 900 have actually completed their portfolios. Of those, only 773 made it through the process….many of them only after multiple attempts.  So, in this podcast, we hear about reflective, analytical writing from the National Board itself.  

This podcast explores writing in education with our guest--Justin Minkel.  Justin is an elementary school teacher and was recently named the Arkansas Teacher of the Year.  He was also given the Milken Educator award.  He teaches in a high-achieving public elementary school where 97% of the students live in poverty and 85% are English Learners. Minkel previously taught 4^th grade in Harlem, New York City.  His writing and commentary have been featured in the Washington Post, Education Week, and a bunch of other places.   I recently had the opportunity to have lunch with Justin at restaurant downtown and fortunate to be able to ask him a few questions.  The food was excellent…and so was insight.

In this podcast, we visit with Glenn Weibe.  He is an educator, social studies guru, and blogger on the widely populary website History Tech.  Glenn shares his thoughts on the need for teachers to regularly write alongside their students.  

In this podcast, we visit with educator, author, podcaster, and blogger Jennifer Gonzalez.  She hosts the widely popular website Cult of Pedagogy that provides teachers with teaching resources, tricks, and tips.  In many ways, her writing helps elevate the discussion of pedagogy to somewhat of an art form.  Jennifer shares her suggestions and insights on writing for a diverse group of educators.

Just what is the link between our writing ability and our ability to think critically? Writing itself a process in which we have to go slow…in order to go fast.  We have consider a prompt or topic, and audience, and angle.  We have to brainstorm, make claims, and back it up with evidence..…all before we are able to put pencil to paper…or fingers to a keyboard…whatever the case may be.  Then as we write, we work constantly and conscientiously to revise our thoughts so they are clear, concise, cogent.  Does that sound a lot like critical thinking?  In this podcast, we examine the research and possible link between writing and critical thinking.  Our guest is Dr. Kay Ann Taylor.  She is an associate professor of at Kansas State University and has studied the historical and modern aspects of poverty, including its relationship with education. Her research is known for its in-depth understanding; her writing and thinking can be summarized with a single statement…

"There are no simple answers.”

This podcasts provides new teachers with a few tips and tricks in research and academic writing writing.  Our guest is Dr. Janet Stramel.  She was born and raised in Oklahoma, and has taught middle school mathematics in Oklahoma and Kansas.  She has authored a number of academic articles and is now the Department of Teacher Education Chair and Director of Assessment and Accreditation for the University where she now works. 

It is one thing to help teachers to find the time to write.  It is quite another to give them the tools they need to be able to write better.  In this podcast Sarah Brown Wessling--the National Teacher of the year--shares tips for doing both.  

One the most challenging aspects of being an educator is getting those outside of the profession to take you seriously.  Unless, of course you are Lori Rice. Not only did her opinion catch the attention of her legislature, it also ended up in the Washhington Post. In this podcast, we hear from Lori about her experiences in the media and in the classroom.