Teach Hustle Inspire: Classroom Management | Student Engagement | Educator Lifestyle

Summary In this episode we continue the discussion with Turnaround school specialist, Principal Shawn Hurt. If you have not already, be sure to check out Episode 15, which is the beginning of this conversation, so you can be fully caught up and ready to join in for Part II! Today's Guest Coming from the Detroit, MI area Principal Shawn Hurt, also known in these education streets at the Turnaround Specialist, tells us how his school averages year over year academic growth of 1.5 years, for the last 7 years! He trains schools all across this country how to do the same thing and has seen a great deal of success as a result. This episode is Part II of our discussion.  You'll Learn The best ways to help parents understand how they can help students at home. The importance of making sure your instruction matches the way your students understand the world around them. Specific strategies to help single mothers raising boys, in the inner-city. Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or Spotify so you

Summary As educators, we are tasked with getting our students from where they are to where they need to be, closing what is known as the Zone of Proximal Development. Often, there are a lot of challenges with this, especially in urban and inner city schools.  Today's Guest Coming from the Detroit, MI area Principal Shawn Hurt, also known in these education streets at the Turnaround Specialist, tells us how his school averages year over year academic growth of 1.5 years, for the last 7 years! He trains schools all across this country how to do the same thing and has seen a great deal of success as a result. This episode is Part I of our discussion.  You'll Learn How to use data to make informed decisionsHow the use of culturally relevant instruction translates to higher student achievementHow to begin to shift the narrative of what urban and inner city students are capable ofDon't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or Spotify so you don't miss anything! Join the conversation and fo

Summary Change in education has been an ongoing struggle and often those that want change feel alone in the fight. Today we’re talking about specific action steps that can be taken to garner change in underserved neighborhoods, schools, and communities. Today's Guest Straight out of Chicago, Ms. Tanesha Peeples is an education advocate and public servant for people in underserved communities. She is the Deputy Direction of the non-profit organization Education Post. Ms. Peeples also runs the Hope & Outrage column of Education Post, with the purpose of communicating and reaching out to communities of color, highlighting areas of concern as well as inspiration. You'll Learn How to start the conversation to initiate change in your local schools and communities What you can do in situations where you feel like you do not have a voice How to make sure your voice and concerns are heard Links In this episode we talked about Education Post. You can can logon to their website and get m

Summary: Today’s episode is all about parents! We spent time demystifying the idea that students’ parents don’t want to be engaged in what’s going on in the classroom. We broke down some of the obstacles that can limit parent involvement as well as some specific action steps teachers can take to get parents involved. Today's Guest: Ms. Whitney Henderson is the Navigator in Chief for Ed Navigator. A nonprofit organization that helps busy families and students achieve their educational dreams. She tells us how she got her start in education because of an absence of authors that reflected her culture and experience growing up. This led her to study and later teach English in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina. In her current role, she explains how Ed Navigator exists to break down the barriers between parents & their employers to help them be more involved in child’s schooling. This is done by meeting the parents where they are - which is usually work. This organization also helps parents understand what

Summary: Originally started as Facebook Group, Black Educators Rock, Inc. literally went from zero to one hundred….one hundred thousand that is! With the motto to encourage, empower and inspire, this educator professional network is like no other. As one of, if not the largest group of Black Educators on social media, Black Educators Rock, Inc. is paving the way to make a difference in classrooms across the country. One of the most common questions asked is “Why become a member when you can just participate in the Facebook group?”, and co-founder and CEO, Dr. Melissa Chester, addresses that question an more on this episode! Today's Guest: Dr. Melissa Noland Chester is the co-founder and CEO of Black Educators Rock, Inc. Dr. Chester and her team have coordinated a phenomenal teaching conference comprised of some of the most sought out educators, along with 30+ breakout sessions covering topics around instructional strategies and practices, classroom management, professional knowledge, as well as educational a

Summary: This is the time to celebrate the most important profession on the face of this earth - teachers! It is teacher appreciation week, and in this episode we discuss 3 ways to do teacher appreciation the right way! Whether you teach elementary school, middle school or high school. Whether you are a current teacher, paraprofessional, instructional coach, or even an aspiring educator, what you do is important and this episode is all about celebrating YOU! #TeacherAppreciationWeek You'll Learn: What teacher appreciation is all about 3 ways to do teacher appreciation right How to win yourself a Target gift card! Links: Don't forget to subscribe to the show so you don't miss anything! Join the conversation and follow me here: Facebook - Twitter - Instagram Shaun Woodly, Ph.D. In the words of the great Randy Watson, “I believe the children are our future” and simply put we have to teach them well! As a college professor, I've given my students, from all across this country, the tools they need to tr

Summary: Sometimes, when we have things on our mind that impact our emotions it makes it very difficult to concentrate, let alone get things done. And just like us, kids have emotions too. Many times, student emotions can impact what can be accomplished in the classroom. Today, we’re discussing how to recognize and redirect students to help them deal with their emotions to promote achievement in the classroom. Today's Guest: Dr. Rikesha Fry Brown is a certified psychologist who at the time of the recording of this episode was teaching at Clark Atlanta University, but has since elevated to the Director of the Honors College at Hampton University. Dr. Fry Brown gives us the rundown on how to effectively handle our students’ as well as our own emotions in the classroom. You'll Learn: How to help students navigate their emotions How social media can impact student emotions and behavior in school How to determine what’s really going on when undesirable behavior finds it way into your classroom What it is

Summary: In this episode of The Urban & Educating Podcast, our guest Mr. Mike Brown takes us on a his educational journey, discussing in detail his methods and strategies to transform a severely underperforming school to a school that was rated to exceed expectations and standards in only a year’s time. Through intentional efforts to foster a school-wide sense of community, both inside and outside the walls of his building, Mr. Brown tells how this helped to shape his extraordinary success as a classroom educator and school leader. Today's Guest: From his days as an educator literally writing lesson plans on Post-It notes, Mr. Mike Brown came into education with a heart to serve and make a difference - and he did just that! Understanding the power of relationships early in his career helped catapult him to success that would soon be called upon to help other educators and serve on a larger platfor

  Summary: If you’ve ever tried to teach a student, with whom you do not have an established relationship, you already know it’s next to impossible. However, we know that student relationships are a critical factor in not just classroom management, but overall student achievement. The challenge here is that this is not always as easy as it may seem, even with our best efforts. Today's Guest: Ms. Kate Jones is a master educator out of Atlanta, GA. Her intent going into college was to be an oral surgeon, but she quickly realized she was not passionate about science...at all! With some awesome advice from her mother, she quickly began to realize her calling was the classroom and she hasn’t looked back since! Ms. Jones is a teacher who loves what she does, has immense success with student achievement and classroom management, which all starts with her intent focus on building the best possible student relationships. She masterfully gets her students to recognize and embrace their worth, igniting them with the des

  Summary: Something as simple as walking through your classroom to establish presence - you may have seen teachers who are masters at this seemingly simple action. Their simple presence is enough to create an environment that breeds learning and engagement. How is this done? And what do you do when you’ve learned the techniques from the textbooks to have effective classroom management, but you’re still not getting the results you had hoped for?  How do you break through that barrier when you truly have the best intentions, but it’s just not working? Today's Guest: Using his skills in social and emotional intelligence to become very strong and effective in classroom management,  Mr. Fredrick Salyers walks us through a dynamic trifecta of taxonomy, relationship-building, and rigor to generate effective classroom management! This information is pure gold and immediately useful for anyone in the classroom! You'll Learn: The key ingredients to next-level classroom management How to improve your teacher prese

  Summary: You probably know, or have heard of educators taking their talents overseas to teach, but how can one do this? What are the differences? Do I have to learn another language? The cultural differences are indeed an adjustment, but today’s guest really shows us how she quickly adjusted and was able to thrive in Dubai as an educator. She talks about several classroom management and student engagement ideas that will help to position you for maximum success! Today's Guest: Hailing from Columbus, OH, Dr. Tamarah Davis knew from her days of playing with dolls she wanted to be an educator. She gives us some actionable steps to take advantage of the opportunity to teach overseas and fills us in on how she was able to be successful, approaching teaching with her culturally different audience in mind. You'll Learn: How you can teach overseas in Dubai What incentives are involved to teach overseas The differences between teaching in Dubai and the U.S. Some of the pros and cons to consider for an overs

  Summary: Life outside of the classroom is just as important as life inside of the classroom. For that reason, this episode is about fantasy football! Many educators enjoy this activity, and use this as a tool to build camaraderie with fellow educators. It’s such an interesting game, and there are so many ways you can play and really enjoy this challenge! Today's Guest: Justin Tinsley is a culture and sports writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated. He firmly believes “Cash Money Records takin’ ova for da ’99 and da 2000” is the single-most impactful statement of his generation! In this episode, Justin shares with us the story of his humble beginnings at ESPN, and how he was able to capitalize off of an opportunity to achieve his dreams. He then goes into detail, using his expertise as a sports connoisseur to offer some solid tips on how we, as educators, can win at fantasy football. You'll Learn: How to win a fantasy football Tips for a successful fantasy football draft and week-to-week play How to use fanta

  Summary: You might be saying to yourself “No way! Absolutely not!” But I’m here to tell you that it is possible! Not 50%, not 60%, not even 75%, but a 100% standardized test pass-rate in math, and 71% pass-rate in reading, up from 40%. What’s more amazing is that this was all done in one school year! How you say? Well I’m glad you asked! Today's Guest: Ms. Shanika Freeman is a stellar educator out of Georgia who walks us through exactly what she did to get the highest pass-rate in consecutive school-years, which was 100% in math and 71% in reading. She does this with the use of well-planned centers, regular feedback for her students, and an emotionally safe environment that breeds achievement like no other! You'll Learn: How to use centers effectively Ways to promote emotional safety that breeds greater learning How to plan lessons in ways to reach all of your students Links: In this episode we talked about a fantastic math program called Prodigy, a very popular web app called Edmodo, as well as a n

  Summary: If you’ve ever stepped foot inside the classroom, you are very aware that building relationships with students is important. However, a successful relationship with your students can be very difficult to achieve. So much hinders on the relationships we have with our students; from their academic performance, to behavior inside and outside of the classroom. It is no secret, that those educators with the best relationships with their students find their situations so much better because they can leverage that relationship in ways that promote better student performance and overall learning environment. Yes, we hear this often “build relationships with your students…”, “build relationships with your students…”. But how is that done? Today's Guest: Award-winning educator, Ms. Lauren Watler walks us through a program she calls “The Power of 3-to-8” and how she leverages this, with the help of her colleagues, to foster some dynamic relationships with her students. These relationships that she builds tra

  Summary: Mastering the art of classroom management and student engagement to become an effective teacher entails a lot of trial and error. But what if a lot of that can be avoided? What if you can get the information ahead of time and avoid the mistakes others have made to keep from repeating history? What exactly can you do right now to take your teaching to the next level? These are questions that need answers, and fortunately there is good news... The answer is yes, yes you can! I would have paid any amount of money to have had this information when I began teaching! Even as I began to gain experience, there was a lot that I learned, but over a long period of time. The lessons and knowledge that are shared in this episode are truly game-changing, and if applied and truly fast-track your growth in the classroom! Today's Guest: A dynamic educator out of Washington D.C., Mr. Jason McNeil walks us, step-by-step, on his journey to accept his calling to change lives. It was undoubtedly not an easy journey, a

  Summary: You know how you get into your classroom at the beginning of the year, and all of your students are right at the level they need to be? Everyone’s on grade-level, student engagement is a breeze, and of course everyone loves to read, right?! Right… That’s in a perfect world, and we are far from a perfect world. In actually, when we get into the classroom we find that our students and their specific abilities vary greatly, to say the least! We go to college, study hard for 4 years or more, and walk into the classroom with this fire in our eyes ready to change the world because we believe the children are our future, and we have to teach them well.  But we get into the classroom and find that we have to face challenges around classroom management and student engagement that are far more difficult than we realized. Especially when it comes to topics such as reading; some are at grade-level, some are ahead, and some just need Jesus. This is a tough situation to deal with because beyond getting your