Kathy Keyes taught English for 36 years—at a rural high school, at an urban university, and at a college preparatory Catholic high school. A graduate of Purdue and Indiana University, Kathy recently stepped out
of the teaching profession for a “gap year” in order to reevaluate and process the joys and challenges of teaching. She served as co-chair of the English department where she mentored teachers. She taught AP Literature for 17 years, was an AP reader, and served on the AP Lit development committee from 2016-2019. During her gap year, she plans to conquer at last the reading pile that has accumulated in her living room and to enjoy mornings without an alarm clock.
Her Twitter handle is @kthkeyes
The post Kathy Keyes — Episode #98 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Kathy Keyes — Episode #98

This fall, Erik begins his 26th year of teaching, most of them at Ferris High School in Spokane. He loves working with passionate, intelligent, and innovative colleagues who are committed to helping students each day. Erik teaches English 10 and AP English Literature & Composition and has coached soccer, basketball, and track. In addition to his work at Ferris, Erik has served as a member of ASCD's Understanding by Design cadre, helping schools across the country implement backward design in their classes. He has also worked on several College Board committees over the years, mostly having to do with AP English. Currently, he is the co-chair of the AP English Literature & Composition Development Committee.
Outside of school, Erik loves spending time with his family, traveling, reading, and enjoying life.
The post Erik Powell — Episode #97 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Erik Powell — Episode #97

Originally from Greenup, Kentucky - a small town in Appalachia - Brandon now lives in Cincinnati with Angela, his wife, and their 2 sons, Hilton (9) and Dorian (6).  After high school, he attended Ashland Community College as a nursing major before transferring to the University of Kentucky.  He graduated in 2002 with degrees in English Education and Classics.  Since then, he has taught public school in a variety of settings - urban, rural, suburban - and worked with teachers and students at the local, state, and national levels.  While teaching, he has earned masters degrees in both English and Education and he has also earned an Education Specialist degree in administration.
Proud of where he comes from - and where his family still lives - he balks at stereotypes of people, especially those based on where they're from or how they talk.  He is a fierce advocate for the education of under-served and under-privileged groups and sees fair and equal access to education as a major way to overcome poverty and disadvantage.  Providing that education begins with teacher education and teacher support, which leads him to one of his favorite phrases, "do work with teachers, not to them."
In his spare time, he likes to read and play sports, though he does only one of them well and both of them slowly.  He also spends a lot of time with is family and likes to travel and be outdoors - including hiking, camping, and fishing.
The post Brandon Abdon — Episode #96 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Brandon Abdon — Episode #96

Roy F. Smith is the English Department Chair at Round Rock High School and teaches AP English Literature and Dual-Credit English.  Roy is an AP English Literature College Board Consultant. He is also a consultant for the National Math and Science Institute (NMSI). In 2015, he was named Round Rock High School and the Round Rock ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year.  In his spare time, he enjoys reading, running and playing with my grandsons, Lincoln and Harrison. 
The post Roy Smith — Episode #95 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Roy Smith — Episode #95

Donna Carpenter is committed to lifelong learning and student-centered teaching. She earned her Bachelors from Gettysburg College and her Masters from University of Pennsylvania. Following a successful career in publishing, Donna returned to the classroom at Kingsway High School in Southern New Jersey where she has taught ninth grade English, Film Studies and her greatest passion: AP English Literature and Composition. In 2010-2011, she was named Teacher of the Year in her district. While she is most at home in her classroom and interacting with students, she reaches beyond those four walls as English Department Chair, AP English Literature Table Leader, a member of the Pre-AP National Faculty, an AP Mentor, a fellow of the National Writing Project, Chair of her school’s AP Roundtable, and a Scoring Leader for the English PRAXIS. She spends her free time in conversations with other teachers discussing how to engage students and improve the craft of teaching. When she’s not reading student essays, she is out biking with her husband or reading, always anticipating the joy of opening the next book on her TBR stack.
The post Donna Carpenter — Episode #94 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Donna Carpenter — Episode #94

Elizabeth Matheny has taught for Maryland Public Schools for thirteen years. She currently teaches English 9 and AP Language and Composition. When she’s not teaching, she’s usually hiking or exploring independent bookstores with her husband and son. You can find her and what’s happening in her classroom on Twitter @matheeli.
The post Elizabeth Matheny — Episode #93 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Elizabeth Matheny — Episode #93

 
Megan is an English Teacher and Department Coordinator at Cuyahoga Heights High School. She has been teaching English language arts to high school students near Cleveland, Ohio since 2004, earning her master's degree from Kent State University in 2007 and achieving National Board Certification in 2013. She has ventured beyond her own classroom to work with urban youth through the Akron based organization Alchemy, Inc. and has also traveled to Istanbul, Turkey to work with teachers and students on developing constructivist practices.
Her poems have appeared in English Journal, Belt Magazine, Whiskey Island, Into the Void, and elsewhere. She tweets @MegNev. Poet Jose Olivarez said of her new chapbook, Rust Belt Love Song, “Megan Neville’s poems are unflinching in their observations of cruelty and tenderness alike. Rust Belt Love Song is still music, and Neville is a worthy artist—stretching ordinary moments to show all of the wonder, pain, and yes, love that exists just under the surface.”
 
The post Megan Neville — Episode #92 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Megan Neville — Episode #92

Dave Stuart Jr. is a husband and dad who teaches high schoolers in a small town. He is animated by a simple belief: all students and teachers should flourish. Every article he write, every lesson he teaches, and book he reads is driven by the certainty that that can, and must, happen.
He is the author of These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most (Corwin Literacy), he shares his work on his blog, www.davestuartjr.com, and reaches teachers through his newsletter.
 
In this episode you will learn about:
	his teaching mentors
	his fundamental beliefs about reading
	how he creates genuine connections with students
	how he develops teacher credibility
	how he creates great classroom discussion
	how he creates his pop-up debates
	why he writes books and what his goals are with his blog
	 the people that have influenced his teaching
	the common habits of master teachers
	how to create an Everest statement
 
 
The post Dave Stuart Jr. — Episode #91 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Dave Stuart Jr. — Episode #91

Fifteen years ago, Alex Kajitani was a struggling new teacher in one of California’s poorest neighborhoods. He’d left a potentially lucrative career in restaurant management to pursue his teaching dream, and now his inner-city middle school students were unmotivated, unengaged and uninterested in the math he was teaching. Demoralized and desperate, he set out on a journey to turn his class, and his life, around.
Today, Alex holds the title of California Teacher of the Year and a Top-4 Finalist for National Teacher of the Year, 2009, and is lauded for his innovation and “real talk” as a teaching and leadership speaker and trainer nationwide.
Follow Alex on Twitter: @AlexKajitani
website: www.alexkajitani.com
The post Alex Kajitani: Episode #90 appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Alex Kajitani: Episode #90

Jim Burke is the author of numerous bestselling books, including the English Teacher’s Companion and What’s the Big Idea? The question he’s always tried to answer is “How can we teach our students better?” He seeks these answers daily through his work in his own classroom at Burlingame High School in California where he still teaches after twenty years.
Jim has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award, the NCTE Conference on English Leadership Award, and the California Reading Association Hall of Fame Award. He served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee on Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts Standards.
He founded the English Companion Ning, described by Education Week as “the world’s largest English department” and winner of several Edublog Awards for Best Social Network for Education. In addition to the EC Ning, Jim offers a steady stream of recommended resources through his website (www.englishcompanion.com) and Twitter (@englishcomp) where he is ranked in the top 100 educators to follow at the top within the online English teacher community.
The post #89 Jim Burke of the English Companion appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

#89 Jim Burke of the English Companion

Shanna Peeples, is now a graduate student at the Harvard School of Education. She was a high school English teacher from Amarillo, Texas, and was named the 2015 National Teacher of the Year.  Peeples taught AP English at Palo Duro High School, where she served as the English department chair as well as an instructional coach for other teachers.
In this Talks with Teachers episode you will learn:
	How Shanna took a circuitous route to the classroom. She worked as a disc jockey, medical assistant, pet sitter and journalist before teaching
	Shanna's education background. How she earned an Associate’s degree from Amarillo College, a Bachelor of Arts from West Texas A&M University and a Master of Education from the University of Texas at Arlington.
	The way in which Shanna connected literature to her students' lives. While at Palo Duro High School, Peeples' students came from many different backgrounds. Amarillo is one of several cities in the United States that helps refugees find new paths in life and gain access to critical resources. As a result, Peeples worked with many students who speak English as a second language or recently entered the United States from another country.
	How Jim Carey influenced Shanna's career trajectory and how she incorporated this lesson into the classroom
	The way in which Shanna incorporate reading into her daily life.
	How she planned her units and developed her lesson plans.
	The influence Sherman Alexie had on her teaching.
	The book she recommends to teachers:
The post Shanna Peeples: 2015 National Teacher of the Year appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Shanna Peeples: 2015 National Teacher of the Year

David Miller -- Episode #87
An insightful thinker, an incredible scholar and well-respected English teacher at Mississippi College for more than two decades, David Miller received accolades as MC’s Distinguished Professor of the Year in 2013.
Miller graduated summa cum laude graduate at 3,400-student Nyack College that’s known as New York’s Christian college. Founded in 1882 in New York City as a training school for missionaries, the school bills itself as the first Bible college in North America. The Mississippi resident also received a master’s degree and doctorate from Baylor University in Waco, Texas.David also serves as the Chief Reader for the AP Literature and Composition exam.
You can follow  on Twitter @Miller_DG
	David has taught at Mississippi College for 26 years
	graduate school is when he realized that the classroom is where he belonged
	David recognizes the two types of mentors -- those we choose and those that are formally assigned to us
	He admires the adaptability of high school teachers in comparison to higher ed
	What David did when his students did not do the reading
	How David puts himself out there and places him in situations to interact with students
	Why it is so important to take risks
	How texts are tools not entities in and of themselves
	Why literature is a verb, not a noun
	The goals of the AP Literature and Composition exam
	How David plans a unit or a novel
	What happens in the process of reading a complex text
	Two books that teachers should read are:
	Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
	Kylene Beers and Robert Probst's Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters
The post David Miller: AP Literature Chief Reader appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

David Miller: AP Literature Chief Reader

Episode #86
Christopher Bronke has been teaching English for 13 years and is in his 5th year as English Department Chair at Downers Grove North. In this role he teaches 9th-grade honors, evaluates teachers, oversees the literacy coaching program, plans and implements PD, and works with other district leaders on CCSS integration/implementation and common assessments and rubrics. He has presented nationally on CCSS integration across all subject areas, creating a teacher brand, blogging to empower teacher voice, collaborative leadership, teacher blogging, teacher leadership, literacy leadership, as well as social media in the classroom. Christopher’s work with social media has been featured in the Atlantic, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on EduTalk Radio, and on the social media platforms MightyBell and Celebrate Teaching.
	How he empowers his students to do more while he does less
	How Chris Bronke redesigned his assessments to better serve his students
	How he shifted the purpose of his class away from content and toward skill development
	What were the deciding factors that enabled him to switch schools mid-career
	Why he co-founded The National Blogging Collabotative
	Why he is a firm believe in the book, Falling in Love with Close Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts--and Life
 
The post Chris Bronke appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Chris Bronke

Dr. Monica Burns is a Curriculum and EdTech Consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator and Founder of ClassTechTips.com. As an educator, Monica was part of her school’s Federal Magnet Funding leadership team and was a vocal advocate for bringing 1:1 technology into her 5th grade classroom. During her tenure as a classroom teacher, Monica used iPads to create engaging, differentiated learning experience to meet the unique needs of her students. Realizing the power of tech tools in the classroom, Monica started ClassTechTips.com to provide a resource for educators and administrators on implementing EdTech in the classroom.
Since starting ClassTechTips.com, Monica has presented to teachers, administrators and tech enthusiasts at numerous national and international conferences including SXSWedu, ISTE, and EduTECH. She is a webinar host for SimpleK12 and a regular contributor to Edutopia and Channel One News.  Monica is the author of Deeper Learning with QR Codes and Augmented Reality: A Scannable Solution for Your Classroom (Corwin Press, 2016) and #FormativeTech: Meaningful, Sustainable, and Scannable Formative Assessment with Technology (Corwin Press, 2017).
In this episode you will learn:
	How Monica leads professional development for teachers around the country
	Why instructional coaches should listen as much as their share
	How to transition from the classroom to instructional coach
	How to develop quality interactions with technology
	How to personalize tech professional development for teachers
	How to use technology to aid in assessment
	How to grow a teacher blog
	Why Harry Wong's The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher should be required reading
	Why webinars are the future of PD
	How virtual reality can transform education
Follow Monica on Twitter at ClassTechTips or read her blog, Class Tech Tips
The post Monica Burns: Class Tech Tips (Episode #85) appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Monica Burns: Class Tech Tips (Episode #85)

Episode #83 of the Talks with Teachers podcast
Allison Marchetti  (Co-Founder of Moving Writers) currently teaches English 8 and Reading Writing Workshop 9 at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia. Previously, she taught English 9, 10, Creative Writing, and AP Language at James River High School in Midlothian, Virginia. Allison earned her B.A. in English with a Poetry Writing Emphasis and her Master of Teaching from the University of Virginia. Allison is a professional development provider with Heinemann PD.  You can connect with her via email atallisonmarchetti@trinityes.org or Twitter @allisonmarchett.
Rebekah O’Dell (Co-Founder of Moving Writers) currently teaches Reading Writing Workshop 9 and 12th gradeInternational Baccalaureate students at Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia.  Rebekah previously taught English 9-12 at Atlee High School in Hanover County, Virginia. As a member of Virginia Commonwealth University’s clinical faculty, Rebekah also has extensive experience teaching and mentoring pre-service teachers. Rebekah earned her B.A. in English and  her Master of Teaching from the University of Virginia. Rebekah is a professional development provider with Heinemann PD. You can connect with her via email at rebekahodell@trinityes.org or Twitter @RebekahOdell1.
In this episode you will learn:
 How Allison and Rebekah define the term mentor text
Why there was a need in the curriculum to create a mentor text unit
Where you can go online to find good mentor texts
What is the first step you should take to develop a mentor text unit
What students gain from using mentor texts
How Rebekah and Allison developed their book, Writing with Mentors
If you enjoy the interview, I highly recommend Writing with Mentors: How to Reach Every Writer in the Room. 
The post Mentor Texts with Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Mentor Texts with Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell

Sean Gaillard is Principal of John F. Kennedy High School in North Carolina. He founded#EdBeat and #CelebrateMonday, and is a#Read4Fun co-founder. He is also a co-organizer for EdCamp Global.
Natalie Krayenvenger is the sherpa of learning to some amazing 4th graders in Maryland.  She is a reader, blogger, positive warrior, presenter for Kahoot! and #Buncee Ambassador.
In this episode you will learn:
	The power of being a connected educator
	How to get started on Twitter
	How you can incorporate ideas found on Twitter into your own classroom
	The value of going to ISTE
	The ways in which you can encourage other educators to become connected
	How to ditch the desks in your classroom
	Why Buncee is such a valuable e-portfolio platform
The post #83 Sean Gaillard and Natalie Krayenvenger appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

#83 Sean Gaillard and Natalie Krayenvenger

Les Burns is an Associate Professor of Literacy at the University of Kentucky and a former high school English language arts teacher in rural and suburban Kansas. He is the Program Chair of English Education for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Les served as the chief curriculum consultant for the state of Kentucky’s P-12 Model Curriculum Framework for all content areas and grade levels, which was awarded the John I. Wilson National Award for Innovation in Education in 2010. He is a winner of the Edward B. Fry Book Award for Empowering Struggling Readers in 2011 for the advancement of knowledge, research, and intellectual risk-taking in the field of literacy, and served as the Higher Education Representative for English language arts in Kentucky’s Teacher Leader Network, which developed the standards and learning targets for teaching P-12 language arts in classrooms throughout Kentucky.
"What can we do as teachers to be responsive to who our students are, what they want, and what they will do in their futures?"
In this episode you will learn about Les Burns, responsive teaching, and so much more.
Les shares:
	How he transformed his students into readers on the high-school level
	Why co-collaboration and co-construction of the curriculum with students is so important
	Why getting to know who you students are is the best data you can collect
	What he did to help his students read 27 books in a year
	How responsive teaching can change your classroom and activate learning
	How to manage a responsive classroom and create, what Les calls, primary knowers
	How to develop student relationships by "embracing the cheese"
	What Les did to go from no classroom library to a 1,500 volume library
	How to go from triage teaching to responsive teaching
	The 6 steps you can take to incorporate responsive teaching into your classroom
	Why being a voracious reader is essential to good teaching
	The way in which handwriting is so important to student development
Get your copy of Les' new book, Teach on Purpose! Responsive Teaching for Student Success.
Follow Les on Twitter.
The post Les Burns: Responsive Teaching appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Les Burns: Responsive Teaching

 
Jodi Rice teaches AP Language and Composition, a social science course online, administers the online courses at The Bishop Strachan School. She also works on the AP Language and Composition Test Development Committee and coaches the Public Speaking and Debate team. In this episode you will learn:
-- How Jodi incorporate more nonfiction into a Literature-based course
-- How to understand the construction of arguments, whether implied or explicit
-- Why English teachers should read Everything's an Argument
-- The ways in which online learning can be effective
-- What technology has yet to solve to make online learning truly effective
-- How Jodi prepares for a new course
-- What her lesson plans look like on a weekly basis
-- What goes into making a standardized test like the AP Language and Composition exam
-- The amazing amount of work that goes into to development of each question on the AP Language exam
-- Jodi recommends all English teachers read is Thank You For Arguing, Revised and Updated Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, And Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. It is the summer reading assignment for her students, along with Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-- Why your students should read their work out loud and how that can impact their writing
-- What Google apps for education can do for teachers
-- Why Jodi is proud to be a part of the AP Language community
The post Episode #81 — Jodi Rice appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Episode #81 — Jodi Rice

Listen to all episodes of the Talks with Teachers podcast on
 
 
 
Anita Jordan is a skilled, caring professional to work with educational professionals building effective programs and strategies for Advanced Placement English.
In this episode you will learn:
	how she knew she was best suited for teaching high school instead of middle school
	why middle school kids are neither fish nor fowl
	how she was able to get her students to think for themselves
	why a teacher should not answer questions but provide more questions
	how to do a cold reading in class and why that is so important
	what a think aloud is and how to do it with your students
	how to get students to read with all their faculties
	why every class she taught was different
Anita's daughter, Hillary Jordan, is an acclaimed novelist. If you have not read Mudbound
I encouraged you to do so. It is one of the best novels I have read in the past five years.
 
The post Episode #80 with Anita Jordan appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

Episode #80 with Anita Jordan

Dan Tricarico is The Zen Teacher. He has been a member of the West Hills High School English Department for over twenty years.  He is author of The Zen Teacher: Creating Focus, Simplicity, and Tranquility in the Classroom and the teaching methods text You're a Teacher. . .So Act Like One!  Improving Your Stage Presence in the Classroom (Writer's Club Press 2002). Additionally, he spent a full year as columnist for the writing website Scribophile.
In his spare time, he enjoys writing fiction, listening to music (especially Roots Rock and The Blues), reading mystery novels, staring out of windows, and watching movies.  One of Dan's first loves is writing poetry, and he has published many poems both in print and on-line.
In this episode you will learn:
	How his background in drama influenced him as an English teacher
	The way in which Jane Schaffer trained him to be a better teacher
	How an entire department can overcome teacher isolation
	What works well when teaching poetry and novels
	Why spontaneity is so important in the classroom
	What true teaching means, and how that is different from what many teachers have been told
	Why the best professional development costs very little and why everyone should read Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life
	How Weebly makes it easy to start a teacher blog
	The way in which The Zen Teacher can help educators avoid burnout and focus on well-being.
Follow Dan on Twitter @thezenteacher and read The Zen Teacher blog
The post #79 Dan Tricarico — The Zen Teacher appeared first on Talks with Teachers.

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