How to Partner with Parents During Pandemic Learning
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Release Date: 03/09/2021
Molecule Builder: How a Teen Coded a Free Chemistry App
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
His class didn't have the chemistry tools they needed. So, Ky'lin Spears built them. He's a student and has built a free molecule builder, periodic table, and chemistry simulations. His tool is free in any browser and collects no student information. So today's Wonderful Classroom Wednesday is featuring a student. Every school has them. The quiet students who figure things out. As you listen to Ky'lin, ask yourself - how can we nourish and encourage students to solve problems in classroom subjects that interest them? Ky'lin taught himself to code from YouTube videos. If you teach chemistry,...
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Reflective Teaching: How Video and AI Help Teachers Improve
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Reflective teaching matters. As teachers and professionals, we need to ask ourselves: how are we reflecting and improving? The times I've videoed myself teaching have been hard to watch, but I've learned so much. As you listen to the innovations happening in the teacher education program at Valdosta State University, think about how reflection can improve your teaching. Dr. Karen Terry has spent more than 30 years in education as a teacher, administrator, district leader, and now a professor preparing future teachers. Her goal is for the teachers from her program to still be happy in the...
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Student Belonging: A Principal of the Year's Plan
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
When a principal and her school achieve amazing results, I find one thing stands out: the focus on helping students belong and grow. Student belonging is the first thing Sonia Ruiz builds. She is the 2026 National Middle Level Principal of the Year in the US. Incredibly but not surprisingly, her school's English learners and students with IEPs are making gains. Sonia says she didn't feel like school was built for her, but now she leads Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The school has earned the state's Exemplary status three years in a row. For her, love and high expectations...
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Bridge in the Classroom: A Screen-Free Math Game
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Going screen-free is an emphasis right now, as is building emotional intelligence. Perhaps that is why bridge is really attractive to some kids. You can also teach math, focus, and teamwork, and you don't have to know how to play. Hall of Famer Patty Tucker created JumpStart Bridge, a free curriculum that has reached more than 12,000 students. It comes with scripts, videos, supplies, and a stipend for teachers who have never dealt a hand. In this episode, you'll learn: The one rule of bridge that teaches kids not to quit The grade levels Patty calls the sweet spot for starting What a teacher...
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Screen Value, Not Screen Time: Leading Schools in the AI Age
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
ISTE+ASCD 2026 Board President Dr. Jeremy Owoh explains how his district runs toward AI instead of away from it. He also shares why AI can never replace a good teacher and his approach to encouraging innovation in the classroom. So many teachers are tired of playing "AI whack-a-mole," but it is so helpful to hear how Jeremy helps his district make decisions that bring everyone on board. He says that schools should learn together and set clear expectations. He started as an English teacher in Little Rock, served as an assistant commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education, and now leads...
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Grief in the Classroom When Teachers Are Grieving Too
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Sometimes we need to talk about hard things, like grief in the classroom. Because real life is hard, and real life is in our classroom every day. Our students and we as teachers — we all deal with death. I had to this past school year, and it was hard. It still is. And not everyone experiences it the same way. There's no one-size-fits-all. On this show, first-grade teacher Haleigh Bresnan and school psychologist Rebecca Brigner share how to help grieving kids and yourself. Their precious children's book about grief, If You're Lucky Enough to Know a Unicorn, honors Kennedy, a baby girl who...
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Using AI? Keep Teachers in the Driver's Seat
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Dr. Patricia Dickenson, author of Smart Teaching in the Age of AI, shows how teachers can use AI to plan and differentiate without losing the heart of teaching. Relationship is still one of the top factors driving student success. Part of using AI is knowing when to use it and when to put it away. Patricia has a third option for every teacher torn between using AI for everything and banning it altogether: let AI carry some of the planning load, so you have more time for what only you can do, which is connecting with your students. She spent more than 18 years in Los Angeles classrooms and now...
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A Blind Teacher on Truly Seeing Your Students
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Kathy Nimmer is the 2026 Helen Keller Achievement Award winner. Her story is so heartwarming that, to celebrate episode 1001, we're airing an extended episode focused on the heart of teaching. The story of her first year teaching is incredible and one we should all hear. If you've been there, you know how quickly a first-year teacher's confidence can shatter. For Kathy Nimmer, a blind high school English teacher, a classroom window shattered too, and it changed how she taught. Kathy tells how a chaotic first year taught her to bring her authentic self to the classroom, how being blind helped...
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Celebrating 1,000 Episodes: My Son Turns the Tables on Me!
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Thank you so much! It was February 2017 when I took a day off school to "figure out" how to publish this podcast. I started by telling the story of "" and I had no idea what I was doing. I only knew that a 5-day-a-week podcast where teachers, administrators, and those who love kids could get a quick idea every day could be a really good service to education. There are so many amazing stories of teachers, and most of them are too busy or just not called to have a podcast. I didn't want another "talking head" show, as I just wanted to interview people! So, this episode is not only a thank you,...
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Productive Struggle: When to Help and When to Hold Back
10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher
Productive struggle is the sweet spot between too easy and too hard. Dr. Barbara Blackburn, author of more than 40 books on rigor and motivation, explains when to help a struggling student and when to hold back, so kids can wrestle with hard work without drowning. On this Thought Leader Thursday, Barbara shares her structured definition of productive struggle, why students read too-easy work as a sign the teacher doesn't respect them, and the simple "count to 20" habit that keeps teachers from rescuing too soon. She walks through an upper elementary science task where students build the...
info_outlineSome schools need to reset their relationships with parents. Others want to make it stronger as they transition to a different form of learning. At the forefront of all of this is the psychological health of students during this time. JT Taylor is helping schools connect with parents and support them and today he gives advice to schools and teachers who are ready to move to better relationships with parents.
Check out the show notes and links at www.coolcatteacher.com/e727
Jahkari "JT" Taylor - Bio as Submitted
Jahkari “JT” Taylor is an award-winning educator, author, researcher, and passionate speaker. JT is a 2016 Iota Phi Lambda Emerald Educator, the 2016 Teacher of the Year for Oscar F. Smith High School, and the 2017 Overall City-Wide Teacher of the Year for Chesapeake Public Schools. JT has presented at numerous K-12 schools, colleges/universities, and professional conferences across the nation. He has been featured in a WHRO commercial titled, “The Teaching Profession,” and he was recently selected as a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader.
With three earned degrees and over 12 years of experience working as a Special Education Teacher, a Title I Instructional Coach, and an Educational Consultant, JT brings a unique perspective to the field of education. As the CEO of Purpose Pushers LLC, JT serves as the Chief Equity Officer. He provides consulting services, job-embedded coaching, and staff development in the areas of social-emotional learning (SEL), culturally responsive teaching practices, special education, and best instructional practices for reaching all learners.
JT’s motto is simple: “Know Your Why!”
Learn more at www.purposepushers.com
Dr. Alexander's Twitter: @purposepushers