A special thank you to Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu, for joining me on the Season 3 premiere of Pondering Education. CLICK HERE to learn more about Councilor Wu’s campaign to become the next Mayor of Boston!
Pondering Education Podcast Season 3 Premiere: “Reopening Schools Safely”
Aug 17, 2020
A Conversation with Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu to discuss the reopening of Boston Public Schools.
Release Date: Sunday, August 16, 2020
On today’s episode of Pondering Education, Ryan speaks with Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu, about the upcoming reopening of Boston Public Schools.
Ryan also reveals his “EduBook Recommendation of the Week” as well as his “Educator to Follow” pick – two brand new segments to the show.
Be sure to check back to the show notes in the coming days for access to a transcript of the show!
Today’s Special Guest: Boston City Councilor, Michelle Wu
“When she was elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, Michelle became the first Asian-American woman to serve on the Council. In January 2016, she was elected President of the City Council by her colleagues in a unanimous vote, becoming the first woman of color to serve as Council President.
Her legislative work has focused on access to opportunity for residents of all backgrounds. Michelle was the lead sponsor of Boston’s Paid Parental Leave ordinance and Healthcare Equity ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity — both of which passed unanimously through the Council and were signed into law by Mayor Martin J. Walsh. She also authored Boston’s Communications Access ordinance, which guarantees translation, interpretation and assistive technology for access to city services regardless of English language proficiency or communications disability. To promote economic development, she also introduced a successful ordinance to end the city’s ban on BYOB for small neighborhood restaurants, and recently introduced the “Boston Unplugged” ordinance to eliminate all permits and fees for small businesses in commercial districts to host acoustic performances.
In 2016, Michelle was honored as one of Ten Outstanding Young Leaders by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as part of Marie Claire magazine’s New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in America. In 2017 she received the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s highest honor, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award. She is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, and lives in Roslindale with her husband Conor, her sons Blaise and Cass.”
Thank you all so much for listening! Be on the look out for a full transcript of today’s episode coming soon. I’ll be back with an all-new episode next Sunday evening!
Pondering Education – Special Edition: Unpacking a Teaching Tolerance Workshop
Aug 28, 2019
Pondering Education
SPECIAL SUMMER EPISODE!
Release Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Welcome to a special edition of Pondering Education! On tonight’s show, Ryan unpacks many of the lessons learned from an unbelievable Teaching Tolerance workshop last week.
Among the topics discussed tonight:
How to speak up against every prejudice, bias, and stereotypes.
Social Justice Standards
Essential Questions
Preparing for Difficult Conversations
What debate topics (if any) should be off limits in the classroom?
Be sure to visit Teaching Tolerance for an abundance of free resources to help ensure your classroom is safe, welcoming, and inclusive for all students!
Finally, Ryan’s book, LEAD from Day One, is now available through EduMatch Publishing!
That’ll do it for this episode of Pondering Education. Until next week, be sure to take care of yourself, take care of each other, and, of course, take care of your students.
Best,
Ryan
Pondering Education S2E13: EduChatting with Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton
Apr 08, 2019
“EduChatting with Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton”
On tonight’s episode of #PonderingEducation, Ryan goes educhatting with Starr Sackstein, NBCT and Connie Hamilton, Ed. S. from last month’s ASCD #Empower19 conference in Chicago!
To kick off tonight’s episode, Ryan discusses last week’s MCAS controversy and calls on the Massachusetts Department of Education to take drastic actions to rectify the mess caused by the inclusion of a racist question in the 10th grade ELA test.
Following a final word from our month-long sponsor, Studentreasures, Ryan speaks with Starr and Connie from Empower19!
***Note: Please excuse the background noise throughout the interview. The media room was hopping at the time!***
Racial equity. If you’re involved in education at some level, you’ve undoubtedly heard the call to action to bring about racial equity to our schools. But how do we go about ensuring equity for all students? Tonight’s episode of Pondering Education seeks to help us all understand the actions we can take to help close the opportunity gap.
“Supporting Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students”
Release Date: Sunday, March 24, 2019
Episode Overview
On tonight’s episode, Ryan speaks with Vanessa Ford and Becca Mui on how we can best support our transgender and gender non-conforming students in school. It’s a fantastic conversation that touches upon the benefits of establishing GSAs, understanding the importance of pronouns, and much, much more. You won’t want to miss this conversation that was recorded live in Chicago during last week’s ASCD Empower19 conference!
Also in the episode, Ryan touches upon the topic of supporting students with ADHD. He speaks with Tim Grivois-Shah and Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah on how schools can put plans in place to better meet the needs of students with ADHD!
Thank you to all for supporting Pondering Education! We are now on SPOTIFY! Please continue subscribing to the show, and, if you’re so inclined, a nice review would go a long, long way!
We will see you later in the week when Ryan speaks with Karmen Rouland and Nyla Bell as we discuss racial equity in education!
Take care,
Ryan
Pondering Education S2E10: A Conversation with Elizabeth Acevedo
Mar 01, 2019
Pondering Education: S2E9 – Super Sunday with Jon Harper
Feb 03, 2019
On Today’s Show
Welcome to Super Sunday!
On this special episode of Pondering Education, Ryan speaks with Kelly Gerstenberg, Director of Programming at ASCD! We’re on the Road to Empower19, and you’ll get an inside look into the planning of this incredible event.
Please help Pondering Education by subscribing to the show on your preferred podcast platform! The show is now available on iTunes, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and more!
FOLLOW PONDERING EDUCATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA:TWITTER and FACEBOOK
HELP SPREAD THE WORD! If you’re enjoying the show, be sure to recommend it to your colleagues, family, and friends!
Pondering Education: S2E7 – Time Management with PJ Caposey
Dec 28, 2018
On tonight’s episode, Ryan talks with Dr. Jill Harrison Berg, author of Leading in Sync, to discuss the effect of teacher leadership on student learning.
On tonight’s episode, Ryan checks in with Susan Jachymiak, founder of the hit Twitter chat, #newteacherjourney, to discuss her first year in the classroom!
Tonight’s special episode is the first in a series of seven to discuss Dana Goldstein’s book, The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession.
We begin our series with a discussion on the book’s introduction which beautifully sets the stage on what’s to come later in the text.
On tonight’s special episode of Pondering Education, Ryan reviews last week’s #MassCUE18 conference that was held at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The event was an amazing success. With the recent boom in the number of EDU-Conferences across the country, some are simply hit or miss. However, MassCUE put on a learning experience that proved beneficial to all education stakeholders.
Tonight’s Rundown:
Introduction
#MassCUE18
Segment 1: The Boom of EDU-Conferences and #MassCUE18
My name is Susan Jachymiak, and I will be beginning my first year of teaching this year. I graduated from Illinois State University this May, and I am blessed to be able to start this new chapter in my life as a 4th grade teacher. I am passionate about growth mindset and helping students achieve their full potential. My former teachers have inspired me in more ways than one, and due to having that earnest desire to want to make a difference in the world one student at a time, I knew that teaching was the perfect profession for me. I’m looking forward to getting to know the students and the community as a whole and documenting my journey via this podcast.
I joined Twitter last May, and I truly think that becoming a connected educator impacted my life in more ways than one. I started to blog, started #newteacherjourney which is a chat that is Sunday night at 8:30 pm CST, and have been asked to be a guest on multiple podcasts. As a first year teacher, I am blessed to have an amazing professional learning network who supports me and pushes me further than I could have ever imagined.
***Today’s episode is made possible by the amazing folks at Really Good Stuff! Be sure to use promo code RGSPONDER10 to 10% off your entire order! Hurry! Offer expires 8/31/18.***
Please be sure to subscribe to Pondering Education on iTunes or any preferred podcast station! If you have time, I’d appreciate your review on the site. Your support means more than you’ll ever know!
On the next episode of Pondering Education, I’ll be speaking with school leader, author, and education commentator, Amy Fast, Ed.D. (aka @fastcrayon on Twitter!)
Thanks so much everyone! Be sure to subscribe to site to stay up-to-date on updates and podcast releases!
Take care of yourselves. Take care of each other!
Talk soon,
Ryan
Pondering Education: Episode 2 – #KidsDeserveIt with Todd Nesloney
Feb 27, 2018
#KidsDeserveIt.
By now, you’ve most certainly heard of this educational phrase (and book) sweeping the nation.
On tonight’s program, I’ll chat with the book’s co-author, Todd Nesloney (@techninjatodd).
Show Rundown
Introduction
Discussion of selected chapters from Kids Deserve It.
Interview with Mr. Todd Nesloney
Wrap Up and Outro
Social Media
You can follow Pondering Education on Twitter and Instagram @pondereducation.
If you’re a Facebook user, “LIKE” our page at www.facebook.com/ponderingeducation.
Write for Us
If you’re an educator with a knack for writing, we’d love to have you join our team. While the job doesn’t pay well (or at all for that matter), you’ll ensure that you’re voice is heard throughout the field of education. For more information, email Ryan at pondereducation@gmail.com or send a message through Twitter or Instagram.
That’s it for tonight, folks! Thanks so much for tuning in. Thank you once again to Mr. Todd Nesloney for joining me on tonight’s program!
Take care of yourselves and each other!
All the Best,
Ryan
If you missed the first episode of Pondering Education featuring a conversation with Joe Dombrowski, click here to listen.
Pondering Education: Episode 1 – An Interview with Joe Dombrowski
Feb 25, 2018
Introduction
Hello, friends and welcome to the first episode of The Pondering Education Podcast. I’m your host, Ryan McHale, and it’s an honor to be here with all of you. On today’s show, I speak with MrDtimes3 himself, Joe Dombrowski. I’m sure you all remember him from his multiple appearances on The Ellen Show in response to his now-famous Spelling Test Prank – a video that has garnered over 2.5 million views on his personal youtube page alone! I had the pleasure of speaking with this amazing teacher whose passion for education is simply infectious.
Before we get to that, I’ll just tell you a little bit about myself…
About Me
I’m in the middle of my 8th year as an English Language Arts teacher in Milford, Massachusetts. Currently, I’m working with 8th graders in hopes of getting them academically and socially prepared for the challenges that await them in high school. In addition to fulfilling my role as a classroom teacher, I serve as the Curriculum Team Leader for the ELA/Reading Department, serve as an advisor to the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, and I’m currently working to earn my Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of New England.
On a personal note, I live in Milford with my wife and two young children. In my spare time, you’ll find me taking in a concert from bands such as Phish, Dead and Company, Dave Matthews Band, and Pearl Jam. I absolutely love living in the same area as my students as it’s helped forge tremendous relationships with families all across town.
My goal with this podcast and the blog posts found on ponderingeducation.com is a two-fold. I want to not only use this platform to help remind us all why we entered into the field of education as well as help pass along best practices from experts all around the country and the world for that matter. What you won’t find here is overly negative commentary. While constructive criticism is both helpful and necessary at times, we all know that this job isn’t an easy one. The last thing you need to is be reminded of the multitude of those roadblocks we encounter throughout a given school year. Instead, let’s accentuate the positive! Let’s work collaboratively to strengthen that intrinsic motivation that exists within all of us.
Let’s Get this Party Started!
So thank you again for joining me here on The Pondering Education Podcast. Without further adieu, here’s my interview with the great Joe Dombrowski. Enjoy!
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My name is Susan Jachymiak, and I will be beginning my first year of teaching this year. I graduated from Illinois State University this May, and I am blessed to be able to start this new chapter in my life as a 4th grade teacher. I am passionate about growth mindset and helping students achieve their full potential. My former teachers have inspired me in more ways than one, and due to having that earnest desire to want to make a difference in the world one student at a time, I knew that teaching was the perfect profession for me. I’m looking forward to getting to know the students and the community as a whole and documenting my journey via this podcast.
a. 
b. #CelebratED debuts THIS WEEK! 7/11 at 9:30pm!
