#406 Rest in Peace, Cyanna Boone
Teach Me, Teacher
Hello everyone. What we do as educators has meaning, and the lives that we interact with and that affect us are just as powerful as what we offer them. Unfortunately, one of my previous students in the last few weeks, and I wanted to take the time to give my respects, solid her impact, and share her wonder with the audience.
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#405 Education Needs to Evolve with Dr. Anindya Kundu (pt.2)
Teach Me, Teacher
I am thrilled to welcome back sociologist and education thought-leader Dr. Anindya Kundu for a powerful conversation about what it truly takes to lead schools and communities toward meaningful change. You may remember Anindya from our earlier discussions on . In this return visit, we go deeper into why traditional models of leadership no longer serve our schools — and how we must evolve our approaches to meet the challenges of today’s educational landscape. Anindya’s new book, , offers a compelling roadmap for rethinking leadership in education by elevating the voices and...
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#404 Who's to Blame for the State of Education? with Dr. Anindya Kundu (pt.1)
Teach Me, Teacher
I am thrilled to welcome back sociologist and education thought-leader Dr. Anindya Kundu for a powerful conversation about what it truly takes to lead schools and communities toward meaningful change. You may remember Anindya from our earlier discussions on . In this return visit, we go deeper into why traditional models of leadership no longer serve our schools — and how we must evolve our approaches to meet the challenges of today’s educational landscape. Anindya’s new book, , offers a compelling roadmap for rethinking leadership in education by elevating the voices and experiences of...
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#403 The Digital Delusion with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.2)
Teach Me, Teacher
On this week’s Teach Me, Teacher we sit down with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath — neuroscientist, educator, and author — to dive deep into one of the most urgent debates in education today: the role of technology in schools. All of the discussion items in this episode are inspired by and directed by Jared’s latest book: The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again — In this powerful conversation, Jared breaks down the myth of educational technology. His new book takes a rigorous, research-grounded view of why digital...
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#402 How Ed Tech is Harming Our Kids with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath (pt.1)
Teach Me, Teacher
On this week’s Teach Me, Teacher we sit down with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath — neuroscientist, educator, and author — to dive deep into one of the most urgent debates in education today: the role of technology in schools. All of the discussion items in this episode are inspired by and directed by Jared's latest book: The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning — And How To Help Them Thrive Again — In this powerful conversation, Jared breaks down the myth of educational technology. His new book takes a rigorous, research-grounded view of why digital...
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#401 Resolutions for Teachers in 2026
Teach Me, Teacher
Hello everyone! In this episode of the podcast, we go over what resolutions teachers should embrace this coming year. The last several years have been difficult in the profession and for Jacob Chastain personally, but times change, we grow and we move on. The resolutions featured here are inspired by both personal and professional needs and hopefully provide a focus for the coming year. Resolutions in this episode include: Show people the true nature of what we do Advocate for yourself and your teams Change it up and experiment Be the teacher you needed as a kid If you have...
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The Tool to Finally Engage Students in Writing (Redux)
Teach Me, Teacher
Hello everyone! Writefully Empowered is HERE! It’s my second book, all about creating a writing workshop that empowers young people to be their best and write pieces they care about. In this episode, I talk with my co-host of (my paused second podcast) about her experience with reading the book, what her takeaways are, and what other educators might find useful in it too. This episode previously aired when the book was released. .
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Empowering Inclusion with Melinda Arnost (Greatest Hits)
Teach Me, Teacher
Hello everyone! If you have listened to the podcast for a significant amount of time, you have probably heard me talk about how my son is autistic. It has been a journey, for sure, but something that has been helpful along the way has been all of the great educators who have supported him and his needs. With that said, I couldn’t be more excited to bring my talk with Melinda Arnost to you. She is the author of the upcoming book, Empowering Inclusion, and a passionate educator. Melinda is exactly the kind of educator we love to have on Teach Me, Teacher: passionate, innovative, and deeply in...
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#400 How Technology Can Support Literacy (Tinsley Galyean pt.2)
Teach Me, Teacher
In this episode, we sit down with Tinsley Galyean—co-founder of Curious Learning and author of the forthcoming book —to challenge everything we think we know about technology, kids, and learning. As debates rage over screen time, AI, and the impact of digital tools on child development, Galyean offers a powerful counter-narrative: what if technology, used intentionally, could become one of the most transformative forces in global childhood literacy? Drawing on fieldwork across Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, and beyond, Tinsley reveals how low-cost smartphones and child-driven...
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#399 Reframing Tech and Literacy with Tinsley Galyean (pt.1)
Teach Me, Teacher
In this episode, we sit down with Tinsley Galyean—co-founder of Curious Learning and author of the forthcoming book —to challenge everything we think we know about technology, kids, and learning. As debates rage over screen time, AI, and the impact of digital tools on child development, Galyean offers a powerful counter-narrative: what if technology, used intentionally, could become one of the most transformative forces in global childhood literacy? Drawing on fieldwork across Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, South Africa, and beyond, Tinsley reveals how low-cost smartphones and child-driven...
info_outlineHello everyone! 2024 is here and I hear you all... There is no tired like TEACHER TIRED. It feels like the work is piling up. It feels like there is always something new to do or focus on—or worse—attempt to survive. Personal lives are taking a hit. Your sanity...
But you still love what you do. You just need some refocus.
So... ALL WEEK LONG, the Teach Me, Teacher podcast is releasing every resolutions episode made. Take a trip through remembering our focus as a community and why we do what we do. Use these days as reminders about what got us excited to go to work, and how we may rekindle that excitement to be the change we want to see in our work and lives.
To begin this week, we are jumping back in time to the end of 2019. Tomorrow, the end of 2020. The next day... well... you get it.
Enjoy, and thank you for starting the year with the show.
FROM THE ORIGINAL EPISODE:
We did it… we made it to the last Monday of 2019, and it is kind of unreal. It’s time to look ahead, plan for what we want to achieve, and begin the new decade with energy and positivity.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I love new beginnings. I love Sunday, because of what Monday has in store, and I love the end of the year because of what the new year has in store. There is just TOO MUCH possibility to NOT get excited.
So with that, I set out to detail what I believe the most important resolutions for teachers will be in 2020. They are as follows:
- Find your own way. Think critically and question everything. Do not just accept what you hear. Try it, apply it, research it. Test it.
- Help others in a way that matters. Just giving others materials or strategies isn’t enough. Help by being a thinker, questioner, and encourager.
- Have the tough conversations. Teaching is hard and detailed work. None of us get better by catering to one another’s biases or sensitivities. We have to be able to have critical discussions that lead with resect and end with results.
- Do not blame others—especially students or yourself—for the problems in your class. You are in charge of your room when that door closes, but that does not always mean you are 100% ready for your challenges. If you are struggling, either reach out for help, or keep analyzing your practice and classroom until you fix it. It is ON YOU. Blame wastes time, and it justifies having a class that isn’t amazing.
- Read professional books and research. You are a practitioner. If you want to be treated like a professional, you have to have the knowledge of one.
- Put in the work for the results you want. Do not feel guilty for taking breaks and having no work brought home, or no work weekends, or no work holidays…. IF you are getting the results you want in your classes. If you are comfortable, then enjoy. But if you are trying to push to the next level, if you are wanting more for your career, more for your students, and more for yourself, PUSH. Work-life balance isn’t about doing what EVERYONE is telling you to do. Work-life balance is about doing what balances YOU.
- Ignore the haters. As you push to get better, people will try to hold you back. They will tell you to stop. They will encourage you to take the easy way or the way everyone has always taken. The people that try to pull you down are the people who will not use themselves. People that cannot push themselves to get to the next level hate seeing others do it, and they will hold you down. Many times, this will be friends and family. Ignore them, and keep pushing.
- THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE WORLD wants you to be average, because most people are. But I’m here to tell you to push, hold yourself to a higher standard, respect those who’ve done it before you and use them as mentors. Leave behind those who don’t want to see you succeed and find those who will push you to be better. The job of teaching is impossibly challenging, but you will get from it what you put in. If you’re fine with seeing teaching as just your job, and that make you happy, then I’m happy for you. But if you feel called to do more, to BE more for yourself, your students, and your community, then I hope you face 2020 with a drive to push. It will be difficult, and too many will try to stop you, but you can do it. You can be more for yourself and those around you. You can reach new heights.
Let’s reach them together.
Enjoy!