Beyond the Roles: Voices in Education
Join host Ramira Alamilla as she connects with people who hold different roles in education, listening to their stories and perspectives, one voice at a time.
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Mary Chris Finnigan: Director of Academics for Student-Athletes at the University of Utah
02/22/2025
Mary Chris Finnigan: Director of Academics for Student-Athletes at the University of Utah
In the last episode we heard about the mental health needs of college athletes and how they are met at a Division I university. In this episode we hear about how their academic needs are met. An outstanding former high school and college student-athlete herself, Mary Chris Finnigan combines a love of the energy of sports with an extensive background in academic counseling. She played college basketball at the University of California Santa Barbara. She served as the head girls’ basketball coach for her former high school for eight years, where she also worked as a guidance counselor and served as the Director of the Counseling Center for eight of her thirteen years there. Since July 2018 Mary Chris has been the Director of Academics for the Athletics department at the University of Utah, a public research university in Salt Lake City. In this role she and her staff support the 500 student-athletes at the University in becoming independent learners, while also ensuring they have a positive student-athlete experience. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Mary Chris is the day-to-day academic advisor for the University’s baseball, golf, men’s basketball, volleyball and beach volleyball teams. In this episode, Mary Chris describes the many aspects of her work and its challenges and rewards. She shares insights into the needs of student athletes on many different levels and what it means to have a positive student-athlete experience; the pressures of timely tracking of NCAA eligibility, complicated by recent changes in NIL; and the importance of building relationships from recruitment through degree completion.
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Nic Collins: Counseling College Athletes and Advocating for Mental Health Awareness
02/08/2025
Nic Collins: Counseling College Athletes and Advocating for Mental Health Awareness
After 18 years working in corporate sales, Nic Collins decided to go back to school to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. He is now working in an internship for the athletics department at the University of South Carolina, where he is one of many resources on the Mental Health and Performance Team for student-athletes. Nic also advocates for mental health, writes, and is a talented musician, coach, and guest speaker. He is one of the two dynamic hosts of , which explores topics around personal growth and inspiration and how different people find them. In this episode, Nic shares about why he went back to school, why educating about mental health is important to him, how therapy is helpful for college athletes, and the challenges and rewards of his role offering one-on-one counseling for athletes at the University of South Carolina. Listen to Nic and Taylor’s The Constant Quest Podcast: Find out more about mental health advocacy through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Mental Health Awareness Month (May) at
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Sydney Parks: The Transformative Effects of the Flipped Classroom Model
01/25/2025
Sydney Parks: The Transformative Effects of the Flipped Classroom Model
Sydney Parks completed a Masters program in Ecological Economics with a Flipped Classroom model at the University of Edinburgh last year. Before completing this program in Scotland, Sydney had earned a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, and worked as a Synthetic Biology researcher in the biotechnology sector. In that work she encountered scientists who had an in-depth understanding of their subject area, confidence from that deep understanding, and fluidity in the way they could speak about it. She realized that the way she learned in school–taking in lectures with content determined by the teacher, memorizing facts, and competing and striving for good grades–a passive learning model, did not give her the same kind of confidence or fluency. When considering graduate programs, Sydney sought a more active learning experience, which led her to choose the University of Edinburgh's program because of its use of the flipped classroom. In this episode, Sydney shares how through this education model she unlearned former habits and beliefs about education and became a more inclusive and empathetic teacher and student with her peers. For more on the Flipped Classroom model: For more on Ecological Economics at the University of Edinburgh: For more on active learning:
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Dr. Bryan Hale: What's possible when looking at school culture through a wellness lens
01/11/2025
Dr. Bryan Hale: What's possible when looking at school culture through a wellness lens
In addition to hearing from people who are currently inside the classroom, I enjoy meeting, and hearing the stories of, people who are using their experiences and skills to try to make the educational system better in some way. Dr. Bryan Hale's career in the educational system spans over 25 years. He has been a high school math teacher in Ohio, an assistant principal in North Carolina, and a Principal of a K-8 school and then a charter high school in the Chicagoland area, where he considered becoming a superintendent. His doctoral research on Holistic Wellness in Education and the six domains of wellness eventually led him to shift direction. Now he uses his research and experience as an educator to support school communities. He works with school leaders on building school culture through a wellness lens. In this episode, Bryan shares about the challenges and rewards of his years in the educational system, as well as the student who was his inspiration to research the six domains of wellness: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental. He discusses how helpful it can be for the intellectual wellness of a school environment to identify areas of (un)wellness for students and how those can impact learning. In his work with schools, through qualitative and quantitative data, Bryan helps adults identify the driving forces behind student behaviors. This can lead to increased awareness of student and educator needs. For more information about Bryan’s work, or to schedule a call or zoom chat, he can be reached at .
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Amanda Wolff: UHSAA Girls' Cross-Country Coach of the Year 2024
12/07/2024
Amanda Wolff: UHSAA Girls' Cross-Country Coach of the Year 2024
We’re ending Season 2 with insights from a statewide-recognized coach of the year. Amanda Wolff is an English teacher and the Head Coach of both the Girls’ and Boys’ Cross-Country and Track programs at Cyprus High School, a Title I school in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under her leadership over the past five years, the team has grown from 55 participating athletes to 130. The Girls’ Cross-Country team took Regionals last year, and the team placed 6th overall in the State. The Girls’ Track and Field team took Regionals for the first time since 1978! Amanda was named the Utah Track and Cross Country Association (UTCCA) 5A Coach of the Year, and was also recognized as the statewide Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) Girls’ Cross-Country Coach of the Year in 2024. In this episode, Amanda shares how it’s an ongoing process learning to balance full-time teaching and being a head coach. She describes how her athletes shifted their mindset, from feeling defined by the stereotypes they faced as a high school on the “west side,” to believing in themselves and becoming a team that can compete with any other team in the state. Though her roles take a lot of time, as a former high school and college athlete herself, with coaches that changed her life, Amanda appreciates the opportunity to be a trusted adult in her students’ lives, someone who guides and believes in them. “We’re a family,” she says about her program. Her philosophy of teaching and coaching is that relationship-building is key, so that kids feel safe and keep showing up, in order for learning to happen. She credits bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress for inspiring that philosophy.
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Rachel Bartholomew: Impacting Student Learning through Instructional Coaching for Educators
11/23/2024
Rachel Bartholomew: Impacting Student Learning through Instructional Coaching for Educators
Rachel Bartholomew is currently an instructional coach for both an elementary school and a Title I junior high school in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before that Rachel taught reading for 20 years in all three levels of school: elementary, middle school/junior high, and high school, and in three different states: North Carolina, Washington state, and Utah. Rachel also coached volleyball, basketball, and track and field at the junior high level for 10 years. In this episode, Rachel shares about what has kept her going through 20+ years as an educator. She discusses how instructional coaching differs from teaching, how we can benefit from a “culture of coaching” that can help us improve and grow, and the particular skill set that she brings to it from her own experiences as teacher and athletics coach. She describes how teaching has shifted in the last 20 years, and gives examples of how she has and has not been able to help various educators in her goal of making it easier for them so students know what they’re supposed to be doing and more learning can occur. Throughout the episode, Rachel addresses questions about the feedback cycle, evidence, growth, proficiency, resistance, and shares what she has found to be the most powerful question she can ask educators (and they can ask themselves). Ultimately, Rachel says, her work comes down to relationship, and connection is everything. Find about more about collective efficacy: Kids These Days Teachers These Days
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Jimmy D. Hart Presents the R.A.I. (Respect/Affirmation/Inclusion) Framework
11/09/2024
Jimmy D. Hart Presents the R.A.I. (Respect/Affirmation/Inclusion) Framework
Jimmy D. Hart, Chief Empowerment Officer of Hart Global Industries is an author, coach, speaker and trainer. He has been involved in education for 31 years, in roles ranging from teacher and coach, to site administrator, middle school and high school principal, and district administrator. Now he uses his extensive experience to help school districts put the R.A.I. framework, which stands for Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion, into practice. He offers leadership training and coaching for adults, and is committed to facilitating consistent and equitable access to resources and interventions for all students, regardless of their background or circumstances. In this episode, Jimmy discusses how the R.A.I. framework provides actionable words that give administrators, educators, and students alike the opportunity to self-reflect on unselfish practices–how they can use Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion to be better versions of themselves. They help school leaders ask, How are we serving the people within the organizations that we’re responsible for leading? Jimmy shares how Respect, Affirmation, and Inclusion put the emphasis on human capital, and provide an atmosphere for connectivity. At the heart of the framework is a sense of community and belonging because it helps us to consider, Who’s not at the table? Find out more about Jimmy and Hart Global Industries and subscribe to the email list at For more about the impact of the RAI framework for Tanque Verde Unified School District in Southern Arizona:
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Hailey Anderson: Providing and Fighting for Safe Spaces
10/26/2024
Hailey Anderson: Providing and Fighting for Safe Spaces
Hailey Anderson is a registered nurse at the University of Utah hospital. She is a parent of three kids in the Salt Lake City School District and a fierce advocate for their human rights. I reached out to Rainbow Club of SLC after hearing about it from an educator at Bonneville Elementary School in the Salt Lake City School District. Hailey helped start an Equity Committee at Bonneville about four years ago, and then, in partnership with one of the elementary teachers, helped start Rainbow Club of SLC there. As described on their website, Rainbow Club “is a safe supportive space for young people of all identities to celebrate, connect, learn, and grow.” The Club meets once a month and their activities include: reading diverse books, creating art, connecting with peers, and learning LGBTQ+ History. In this episode Hailey describes her role in getting Rainbow Club started, how parents in the community responded, the challenges and rewards of the work, and where things stand now after a few years. "My spot in this was to fight with and for them so they didn't have to do it alone." She shares her perspective on safe spaces and how important it is to be proactive in age-appropriate ways with children at early ages. For more about Rainbow Club SLC: Helpful Resources from their website Age-appropriate book lists from their website GLSEN, a national organization that focuses on making schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. See National School Climate Surveys at Under the Umbrella Bookstore: The Trevor Project’s most recent survey on the 2024 National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People: The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ+ Mental Health in Utah specifically:
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Coach Dru Jones: "It's about the love that you give to another person"
10/12/2024
Coach Dru Jones: "It's about the love that you give to another person"
Coach Dru Jones is a special education teacher in English and biology, the Head football coach, and the Head Unified Sports Coach at Viewmont High School in the Davis School District in Utah. He has been teaching since 2008 and was recognized recently as the Davis School District’s Teacher of the Year. He was also named one of the finalists for the 2025 Utah Teacher of the Year. In this episode Coach Dru shares about the challenges he faced throughout his own education, and how that motivated him to break the cycle and be the first on his father’s side to graduate from high school and college. He credits the “family” of coaches, teachers, and principals who guided and supported him and knows he couldn’t have done it without those relationships. Now he tries to do the same for his students, through supporting their dreams and goals, with patience, modeling community-building, sharing life lessons, and practicing gratitude. - Theodore Roosevelt
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Carrie Miller: From Meeting Resistance to Building Relationships and the Challenges and Rewards of Educational Consulting
09/28/2024
Carrie Miller: From Meeting Resistance to Building Relationships and the Challenges and Rewards of Educational Consulting
Find out more about the role of an educational consultant through this conversation with Carrie Miller, who is a Vice President for MGT of America in their Education Solutions Group, on the team for Academic Transformation. Carrie was an educator in a number of roles for 12 years, from an English and French teacher, to a Dean of Students, to a Director of Admissions, at various school settings, including rural, urban, Title I, and independent schools in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado. Since 2015 she has been working in management consulting. In 2022 she earned her doctorate of education (EdD) from Johns Hopkins University, where she explored how teachers can engage in collaborative lesson study to improve graduation rates for students who identify Navajo. In this episode Carrie describes the ins and outs of educational consulting, what motivates her, how she defines student outcomes, and the challenges and rewards of the work. She conveys a deep respect for educators, students, and all of the people she works alongside, with an emphasis on collaboration and building relationships.
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Courtney Hattan: Supporting Students' Needs through Research on Reading
09/14/2024
Courtney Hattan: Supporting Students' Needs through Research on Reading
Dr. Courtney Hattan is an assistant professor in the science of reading with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s School of Education. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Maryland and her reading specialist degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has seen many facets of the educational system, having started out as a language arts and social studies teacher at the elementary and middle school levels. Hattan’s work centers on equitable and evidence-based instruction that supports students in activating and building their background knowledge during reading. She was the 2019 recipient of the Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award and was named a Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholars Fellow. Her research is published in outlets such as Review of Educational Research, Reading Research Quarterly, and Journal of Educational Psychology. In this episode, Courtney provides insights into the life of a tenure-track professor at a top research university. She shares how her teaching experiences with the KWL chart informed her dissertation research. She describes how she combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods to form a fuller picture of the whole story. Courtney also shares about the research she is conducting in partnership with certain rural schools in North Carolina and Illinois to help bridge the gap between research and evidence-based practices that educators can use. She is committed to telling the full story on literacy assessment in particular, in order to best support students’ needs. Find out more about Courtney’s education, areas of expertise, background, and research at And you can read Courtney’s dissertation study at Hattan, C. (2019). Prompting rural students’ use of background knowledge and experience to support comprehension of unfamiliar content. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(4), 451-455.
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Donda Hartsfield: Facilitating our Connection with Nature
08/31/2024
Donda Hartsfield: Facilitating our Connection with Nature
Donda Hartsfield has been an outdoor specialist for a Montessori school in Salt Lake City for the last 16 years. She has worked with children ages 3 through 12, and over the years has developed an outdoor curriculum for each age grouping (3-6, 6-9, 9-12). In recent years she has expanded her outreach and has facilitated a connection with nature for high school students and adults as well, through her work with Tree Utah and through her own nature journaling on her website: . In this episode Donda discusses the many hats she wears, the challenges and rewards of her work, and the primary motivation and philosophy for why she does what she does. She shares examples from her outdoor curriculum for each age level, from developing a sense of awe with invertebrate insects to field work in the various ecosystems in our state (wetlands, desert, forests). She also shares how her work with TreeUtah, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness and plants trees throughout Utah, has led to nature journaling opportunities for the greater community at their EcoGarden, and to educational outreach with students at the charter high school, Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE). Donda is an inspiring example for anyone who would like to create more of a connection with nature for themselves and/or the young people in their lives. Find out more about: Donda and her reflections: Biomimicry: TreeUtah: And their EcoGarden: Brief overview of Montessori education:
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Rebekah Cummings: From Librarian to Running for State Office and Living the "Antidote to Despair"
08/10/2024
Rebekah Cummings: From Librarian to Running for State Office and Living the "Antidote to Despair"
Rebekah Cummings is a candidate for Lt. Governor of Utah, running on Brian King’s ticket for Governor in November. She brings a unique perspective to another facet of the educational system through her experiences as a librarian, educator, and advocate. In this episode, Rebekah shares about the progression of her involvement in local advocacy to state politics, and the rewards and challenges of advocacy work. She provides an insider perspective of the history of book banning legislation in the state of Utah. She describes the value of assuming good intentions in other people, and the importance of “communicating across the aisle” in the State legislature. She and Ramira discuss what we lose when we limit the stories we read, and how finding an issue you care about and feel you can make a difference in can be an “antidote to despair” in politics. Rebekah offers suggestions for how we can get involved in the school library book ban issue, through organizations like , or how we can support libraries in general, through organizations like . Rebekah has been a librarian for 15 years, for the last 11 at the University of Utah Marriott Library, where she is the Director of Digital Matters, a lab that provides resources to students and educators in how to use technology with a humanities approach. Rebekah served as the President of the Utah Library Association (ULA) in 2018-2019, which led her to build ties between the Association and the Utah legislature. She is currently Chair of the Utah State Library Board, Co-Chair of the Advocacy Committee of the ULA, and a founding member of the Let Utah Read Coalition. Rebekah views libraries as democratic institutions that serve our youngest populations all the way through to our eldest, invaluable resources, and community centers. K-12 school librarians have a vital role in connecting readers with books they will love, helping young readers gain literacy skills, and showing students how to research. At the college level, that work continues as librarians educate both students and educators on data management, information literacy, research, and technological issues. Find out more about Brian King and Rebekah at their campaign website: Support Rebekah with the "Readers for Rebekah" virtual fundraiser on Thursday, 8/29, from 6-7pm. Here is the where you can donate to attend. Since this episode was recorded on the 16th of July, there has been news coverage on how Utah is implementing the new law Rebekah talks about, HB29:
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Irene Gardea: Continuing to Inspire Students after 15 Years of Teaching, and What Keeps Her Coming Back
07/27/2024
Irene Gardea: Continuing to Inspire Students after 15 Years of Teaching, and What Keeps Her Coming Back
Irene Gardea is a Speech and Debate teacher at Horizon High School in the outskirts of El Paso, Texas. This is her 16th year in education and her 4th year at Horizon, a public school in the Clint School District. She is also the Speech and Debate Coach and the team brought home its 5th consecutive 1st place team award this year. The team also went to the National Debate Tournament this summer, where some placed in the top 60 in their events. Irene was nominated by her students and recognized as a National High School Speech and Debate Coach of the Year in 2020, and in 2024 received the Peter Piper Pizza Best Teacher of the Year award, again after being nominated by a student. Irene also leads the Horizon HS program for students who want to be teachers, a 4-year program called the Scorpion Teaching Academy. The program began three years ago with 8 in the first and second cohorts, and has grown to 25 joining for the third cohort this year. In this episode Irene discusses the challenges and rewards of teaching, both as a profession and for her personally. She shares her perspective on the opportunities that result from “doing extra"; the “way of the teacher"; the importance of “establishing your why"; and the benefits that can come with allowing ourselves to be pushed out of our comfort zones. Through sharing what inspires her to keep coming back to teaching year after year, we get a sense of how she inspires her students and why they nominate her for well-deserved recognition.
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Dr. Lori Desautels: the Applied Educational Neuroscience Framework
07/13/2024
Dr. Lori Desautels: the Applied Educational Neuroscience Framework
Dr. Lori Desautels joins Beyond the Roles to discuss the Tier I framework she created that integrates neuroscience, our understanding of the nervous system and its states, trauma, self-regulation, connection, and co-regulation within the context of education. Applied Educational Neuroscience (AEN) is applicable and potentially life-changing for every individual in the educational system, including children, adolescents, educators, administrators, and parents. In episode 9 we heard about the application of AEN at a TItle I elementary school in the Salt Lake City school district. Jenn Haak shared how she provided a workshop for interested teachers throughout the year after COVID. Their increased understanding of their own nervous systems and those of their students had a number of unanticipated outcomes, including a sharp decrease in suspensions, and a change in status for the school. They came out of a Comprehensive School Improvement status for the first time in 10 years. And they moved to #2 in the district for overall growth, out of 17 Title I schools. In this episode, Dr. Lori Desautels, an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Butler University, a former special education teacher, a parent of three, an author of many books, and an engaging global speaker, discusses the rewards and challenges of the work she does. She explains how the AEN framework evolved, how it differs from a typical Social and Emotional Learning curriculum (SEL), and how it utilizes what we know about how our brains develop and how our nervous systems work. The AEN framework can be applied by adults for better understanding of themselves and their students or children, and by children themselves, with easy to implement practices that we can incorporate into our daily routines. On her website, , Dr. Desautels offers over a hundred focused attention practices that offer ways we can tune in to sensations, which make up the language of our nervous systems, and process them in ways that can impact our feelings and behaviors. Dr. Desautels’ book offers a new lens for discipline that "benefits all students by reaching for sustainable behavioral changes through brain state awareness rather than compliance and obedience." The follow-up book, , provides a message of resilience and hope, explaining how we can move from nervous system states of protection to those of growth. Both of those books and the upcoming manual, , can be found at her website, . Throughout the episode, Dr. Desautels also references: , (What Happened to You?) , by Polyvagal Theory by
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Themes and Questions Emerging from Season 1
06/29/2024
Themes and Questions Emerging from Season 1
Beyond the Roles host Ramira Alamilla revisits the goals of the podcast, which are to get a sense of the needs of various individuals within the educational system while providing a forum where those individuals can share their stories and experiences. The first season presents an array of varied perspectives of the educational system, revealing awe-inspiring everyday people who are making a difference with their unique combinations of skills, strengths and motivations. In this episode, Ramira shares some patterns and questions that have emerged for her from their stories. The connections made with each guest have been the most rewarding and unexpected outcome of these conversations. Thank you to each one, for sharing and having the courage to appear on a podcast for the first time. And thank you to all who kept the momentum of these conversations going, through a ripple effect of making recommendations of other guests, as well as learning from those who contributed here. Most of all, a huge thanks to all those who are listening.
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Megan Lopez: How We Can Leverage Data to Improve What We Do in Schools for Better Outcomes for Students
06/15/2024
Megan Lopez: How We Can Leverage Data to Improve What We Do in Schools for Better Outcomes for Students
Megan Lopez was a Language Arts and English Language Learner (ELL) teacher for 13 years and for the past 7 years has worn many hats at the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) in the Assessment and Accountability department. In her roles, she oversees the development of all the state tests for Secondary Language Arts (6th - 10th grades). In the state’s English Language Proficiency assessments she oversees screeners identifying English learners, and their growth and proficiency testing, and recently collaborated with colleagues in rewriting Utah's Title III law (for immigrants, refugees, and multilingual learners) to better do that. Her Professional Learning Community (PLC) involves collaborating and sharing resources with people in her roles from other states and participating in various committees in the WIDA consortium, which covers testing for ML students. Utah is unique in developing its own assessments and other states often want to purchase them because of their validity and reliability. Finally, Megan plays an important role in bridging the gap between data and positive outcomes for students, as one of the program managers for Assessment to Achievement (A2A), a publicly funded program that works to effect systemic change, in which schools and LEAs (Local Education Agencies) can voluntarily participate. In this episode Megan discusses the crucial role accountability plays in ensuring that students are getting the education they have a right to. She explains how data can tell a story, and how we can become more "assessment literate," through a deep dive from a 30,000 foot level view of generalized data into a CSI-type investigative approach in the ways we can look at, understand, digest, and implement action plans from data. It helps to ask, what type of data should I be looking at, at what time, and for what purpose? Support is available, through team teaching, the use of coaches, and resources from the State. She encourages educators and administrators to be open to: collaboration for "collective efficacy," evidence-based decisions, and opportunities for growth. She emphasizes how USBE is there to help. Thank you, Megan, for sharing your invaluable perspective on this facet of the educational system! For more on Assessment to Achievement (A2A), go to . Find out more about A2A's resources for LEAs in an . Check out USBE's assessment literacy online self-paced course , under "Assessment Literacy."
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Hayes Greenfield: The Inspiration Behind the Creative Sound Play Curriculum
06/01/2024
Hayes Greenfield: The Inspiration Behind the Creative Sound Play Curriculum
Hayes Greenfield, an award-winning jazz musician, notable film composer, and innovative educator joins the podcast to discuss his background and his latest sound curriculum. Hayes began working as a teaching artist in public and private K-12 schools. Over the last 30 years, he has created and implemented various curricula for K-12 students and professional development workshops for New York City teachers of children with disabilities. He developed a pre-K program for PNC Bank’s “Grow Up Great Initiative,” has consulted with Head Start programs, and started the Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz school assembly program that has reached over 300,000 young people. His upcoming book, Creative Sound Play, is an entirely play-based educational tool and resource for teachers that offers techniques and ideas that reach every child, including those who are verbal, nonverbal, or have disabilities. The guide invites teachers to use sound-making as a collaborative, play-based practice in the early childhood classroom, first to transform tricky transition times and ultimately to support children's development of executive function skills and social-emotional learning. In this episode, Hayes shares about how growing up with dyslexia impacted who he is as a musician and led to his interest in educating through sound and silence. He points out the difference between sound and music, and urges us to stop being “sound asleep.” He shares how you never know what will inspire a student, and how the children he worked with throughout the years inspired him to find ways of reaching them through the curriculum he has developed and shared in the book, Creative Sound Play. Learn more about Creative Sound Play . Find out more about Hayes Greenfield at his . Find out more about the Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz program .
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Jenn Haak: Focusing on Teacher and Student Needs with the Science of the Brain, the Nervous System, and the Impact of Trauma
05/11/2024
Jenn Haak: Focusing on Teacher and Student Needs with the Science of the Brain, the Nervous System, and the Impact of Trauma
Jennifer Haak is a school counselor at Meadowlark Elementary, a Title I school in the Salt Lake City School District here in Utah. She has a graduate certification in Applied Educational Neuroscience (AEN) and is currently working towards a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership. Learning to ask the question, "What experiences does this individual (colleague/student) need?" through the AEN framework empowered Jenn to understand and heal from her own traumatic encounter with a student in fight or flight that resulted in multiple injuries for Jenn and in her hospitalization, before moving to Utah. After the year of COVID closures and hybrid teaching, Jenn again applied that question, this time in support of her colleagues at Meadowlark. In this episode, Jenn shares about that experience and about the AEN framework. Through optional monthly professional development meetings, the participants learned about how the brain is impacted by trauma and how the nervous system works, about touch points that can lead to meaningful relationships, and co-regulation. They learned to consider their own needs, and gained self-efficacy in asking for what they needed, and a greater consideration of their students' needs. They practiced embodied experiences, and focused attention and energizing practices they could use for themselves and with their students. Combined with a few other initiatives and the systemic support of the administration, the changes in staff morale and student outcomes by the end of the 2021-2022 school year surpassed expectations. Among other powerful data Jenn shares here, Meadowlark moved out of a CSI (Comprehensive School Improvement) designation for the first time in over a decade. And they moved to #2 in the district for overall growth, out of 17 Title I schools. For more about Intentional Neuroplasticity, AEN, and other resources from Dr. Lori Desautels: Where you can find the digital books Jenn mentions, giving focused attention practices and resources for “building the nest”: For more on restorative justice:
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Kelli Brown: The Disconnect Between the Idea of Teaching and the Reality for New Teachers
04/27/2024
Kelli Brown: The Disconnect Between the Idea of Teaching and the Reality for New Teachers
Through sharing her experiences in teaching, Kelli Brown provides valuable insights into why some teachers may be leaving the profession. Right after college and the completion of her teacher certification, Kelli became an assistant and then an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher at an inner city public high school in Columbia, South Carolina. Only two and a half years later, she felt overwhelmed and burned out, and was relieved to leave the profession to start a family, which did not seem possible while teaching. She is one of a third of new teachers who quit their jobs within the first five years. In this episode, Kelli vividly describes the overwhelming expectations, the eye-opening disparity in access to facilities and resources, the pressures from the administration without enough support or autonomy, and how much she juggled as a 23-year-old ESOL teacher with 5 sections of seniors and 1 section of juniors and varsity girls’ soccer coach, with very little compensation. Her experience raises the question, "What more could we be doing for teachers?" As you will hear from her stories, there are many factors that contributed to her burnout, and no easy answers. Ultimately, however, Kelli credits the experience with developing her sense of empathy for students (“you never know what somebody has going on”) and teachers (“I think people’s minds would be blown to hear the ins and outs of what each teacher goes through on a daily basis”). Now she makes sure her kids know that “You can learn something from everyone…if you will give them the opportunity to teach you.” (Cult of Pedagogy Blog and Podcast)
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Kellen Akiyama: Making Connections with Students and History
04/13/2024
Kellen Akiyama: Making Connections with Students and History
Kellen Akiyama is a high school English and history teacher in Southern Oregon who proposed and implemented an African-American Studies course for history credit at his school a few years ago and was recently nominated for Oregon Teacher of the Year by the Oregon Department of Education. In this episode he shares the story of getting the course approved in a historically conservative town, some historical context of that town, and his own philosophy about teaching and connecting history to the lives of his students. He talks about his influences and motivations, the importance of relationships in teaching, and his views on the changes in education over the last 20 years and the reconciliation period he sees us in now. Don't miss a great interview with "Aki" and a couple of his students about their perspectives on his class and how they have connected with it, and the experience of studying Black history in a rural small town, in this episode with Zachary Stocks on , a podcast version of the magazine, . (NPR)
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Cindy Parks: The Vision of a Neurodivergent Educator
03/30/2024
Cindy Parks: The Vision of a Neurodivergent Educator
"Who I am as a human really informs my practice as an educator...and my path to education." Cindy Parks is a neurodivergent learner, a scholar, researcher, parent, advanced stage breast care survivor, and community advocate for inclusion and executive function skills education. After many years of working in preschools and as an advocate for her children, she went back to school for an early childhood credential at the age of 35, which she finished up while battling advanced stage breast cancer. Soon after, she decided to extend her reach and influence by enrolling in the Master's/Ph.D. program for Learning & Mind Sciences at the University of California Davis. Cindy currently teaches a self-regulation class to adults with intellectual disabilities at UC Davis, does extensive research in the Collaborative Autism Research in Education (CARE) lab at UC Davis while working on her Master's degree and soon her dissertation, promotes the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles with educators in the area, and volunteers with the non-profit organization, Common Ground Society, which provides support to families who receive life changing diagnoses for their children--all while actively supporting her own children and family. In this episode we hear about what lies at the heart of Cindy's determination and motivation to balance so much, and her vision for connecting research, policy, and practice. An Introduction to
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Yevgeny Pevzner: Never Assume
03/16/2024
Yevgeny Pevzner: Never Assume
Yevgeny Pevzner is a science and STEM teacher at Kearns Junior High in the Granite School District in Salt Lake City, Utah. In this episode, Yev shares some of the biggest challenges he faces now after 26 years of teaching. Last fall he was featured on our local FOX News station in a story about his commitment to making sure his students have snacks in the classroom if they are hungry, which also explains why he was dubbed the “Pop Tart King” by one of his former students. His own educational background both in the Soviet Union and in Utah after his family immigrated here shaped the kind of teacher he wants to be for his students. He explains how he tries to treat each student as unique, how he employs different hands-on activities, why he has stayed at the Title I junior high where he has worked for 23 years, and why he feels that “every child should have an equal opportunity, regardless what backgrounds they come from.” (FOX News story) (NYT) "I can't assume if they had food or not...I can never assume if they had lunch." (11:40) "I will never give up on any kid. I believe that every kid has the opportunity to be successful." (22:38) "I don't believe there's [such] a thing as smart kids.... Every kid is smart in their own way.... We all have different skills. And our education system should provide equal opportunity for all those kids, regardless of backgrounds, regardless if they had a meal or not, we should be equal to them." (24:07)
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Bobbi Morgan: The Web of Support for Children's Mental Health through School Social Work
03/02/2024
Bobbi Morgan: The Web of Support for Children's Mental Health through School Social Work
Ever wondered what our current school system is doing to meet the mental health needs of young students? Find out what school-based mental health looks like. In this conversation, Bobbi Morgan, a school social worker in the Salt Lake City School District in Utah, describes the tools teachers, counselors and social workers use in school settings in order to provide students with a web of support for trauma and its impacts, helping students develop coping skills and increased well being. Tier I Interventions: Classroom and Schoolwide presentations description and Tier 3 Intervention: Individual Therapy (6:55) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) estimates between 70-75% of children who receive any kind of mental health services receive those services in their schools (9:20) Description of child-centered play therapy at the elementary level (10:39) Description of sand tray therapy at the middle school level (17:15) Examples of (Big T) Trauma and (little t) trauma and their varying effects on students in the classroom (20:16) Integrated approach of weekly well-being team meetings (26:27) How Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are used (28:10) Different types of Social Emotional Learning programs (SELs) that schools can choose from for their populations (29:40) The role teachers play in the integrated approach to students' mental health (33:27)
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Jeremy Chatterton: Using Data and Coaching to Improve High School Reading Test Scores
02/17/2024
Jeremy Chatterton: Using Data and Coaching to Improve High School Reading Test Scores
Jeremy Chatterton is the principal of a large public high school in the Salt Lake City school district here in Utah. He brings what he's learned from his experiences as a basketball coach, middle school and high school math teacher, assistant principal, and elementary school principal to his vision for setting the tone and a positive culture as a high school principal. His persistence in the face of setbacks and his drive to continually improve have shaped his approach to his current role. He shares some great insights about how important it is to support teachers, the usefulness of data, like test scores, for a variety of purposes, and how he has used test scores and professional teaching coaches to help teachers and students bridge gaps in reading proficiency, which they have done successfully at his school in the last few years. "The best decision we can make for kids is to put the best teachers in front of them." (11:27) "How do we help kids find some success so they can start to build more success?" (14:10) Invidual students who were reading at 3rd-4th grade level as 9th and 10th graders are now reading at a 9th-10th grade level as 11th and 12th graders. We're talking 4-5 years of reading development in 2 years. (16:57) "PD" = Professional Development "PLC" = Professional Learning Community (from ACSD - Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) Title I School: The Title I, Part A program provides financial assistance each year to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all students have equitable opportunities to meet challenging state academic standards. Funds are used to provide supplemental educational services and resources to meet the needs of economically and educationally disadvantaged students. (From ) Thanks for listening! If you have any thoughts or questions that you'd like to share, I would love to hear them at . If you have current experiences in the educational system and an interest in sharing your story on the podcast, please reach out!
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Kristin Allred: Why Some Teachers Stay
02/04/2024
Kristin Allred: Why Some Teachers Stay
Kristin Allred is a first-grade teacher in the Salt Lake City School District in Utah with over 20 years of experience. In this episode Kristin shares some of the challenges facing teachers today, why she considered leaving after the pandemic as many teachers have, and why she chose to stay. She also talks about the rewards of teaching and why she loves teaching first grade. She gives an invaluable long-term perspective on how the teaching profession and students have changed over the last 20+ years, and how much her school district is doing right now to support the evolving needs of its students. Article Kristin referenced about teacher shortage in Utah: Articles about nationwide teacher shortages: Thanks for listening! If you have any thoughts or questions that you'd like to share, I would love to hear them at . If you have current experiences in the educational system and an interest in being featured on the podcast, please reach out!
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Introducing Beyond the Roles: Voices in Education
02/03/2024
Introducing Beyond the Roles: Voices in Education
Host Ramira Alamilla introduces the podcast and shares her own perspective and intentions for the podcast before opening up future episodes to hear the stories and voices of people in different roles in the educational system: teachers, counselors, administrators, and eventually students and parents.
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