Podcasts about blanket music

Rentenaar Road is just a flood-prone, gravel road through blackberry briars on the east side the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area. It does not look particularly special or inviting. But it is. It's a portal to the kingdom of birds that have come to this island every winter for time immemorial. And, unless you're there to hunt, it's as close as you can get to the large flocks of Snow Geese, Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes and various ducks and coots.The sound of these large flocks is visceral. A tradeoff of coming here though, for the uninitiated, is the manifold shotgun rifle reports that distract from the enjoyment of the natural soundscape. (I'm sure for the hunter it's an exciting sound, like the chime of a slot machine for a gambler. Tomato, tomawto.) The island is also under a commercial flight corridor; the noise of which is inescapable. Here's a tip: Check the hunting season calendar to visit on an off day, or come in February, when there's still lots of birds and the duck hunting season is concluded. Any reports you hear should be distant and less frequent. And, maybe bring some galoshes. I came on a gray February day and walked down the lane, until I came to the flooded area, and I just stood there with water all around me, soaking up the wildlife sound until a rain shower came. You know, I often feel like my soundwalks are kind of like Tootsie Pops; the sweetest part encased inside. You have to spend some time to get to it. That's the way I feel about the end of Rentenaar Road Soundwalk. I just love the sound of the gentle rain starting, falling on the pond-like puddle; the way the rain seems to calm the thousands of birds nearby. I quietly take off my recording hat, and hold it close to the puddle surface. It's an entrancing sizzle that concludes the piece. I hope you can spend some time with it. Rentenaar Road Soundwalk is available on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Amazon, YouTube…) tomorrow, Friday, October 18th.Two more things: * Yesterday I offered an amuse-bouche alternate of this walk with galoshes on. Check out Rentenaar Wade Soundwalk here:* Also this Friday, Nov. 1st, Cultural Norms (20th Anniversary Edition) by my old indie pop band Blanket Music will be released. It features several bonus tracks, with parallels and through-lines to the state of the nation today. Hear it on all streaming platforms. (Spotify, Apple, Tidal, Amazon, and YouTube…) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chadcrouch.substack.com/subscribe

On Making Peace Visible we usually focus on stories -- narratives about peace and conflict that are told in the news, on social media, and shared in our collective zeitgeist. We've seen examples of how storytelling can both stoke the fire of war and encourage peaceful dialogue. In this episode, we look at a different, but related way of creating space for peace: design. Our guest Cynthia Smith is the Curator for Socially Responsible Design at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City. She spent five years creating the remarkable exhibition Designing Peace, which includes 40 design proposals, initiatives and interventions from 25 countries, including maps, images, textiles, video games and film.From a teeter-totter installed on the US-Mexico border fence to a crowd-sourced reimagining of war-damaged Damascus, the works in Designing Peace coupled with Smith's vision present a world of possibility. Designing Peace is on view at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco through February 4, 2024. Explore the virtual exhibit here. Purchase the beautiful companion book here. RATE AND REVIEW: In Apple Podcasts on iPhone Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageScroll down to the "Ratings and Reviews" sectionTo leave a rating only, tap on the starsTo leave a review, tap "Write a Review"In Spotify(Note: Spotify ratings are currently only available on mobile.)Tap on the show name (Making Peace Visible) to navigate to the main podcast pageTap on the star icon under the podcast description to rate the showIn Podcast Addict(Note: you may need to sign in before leaving a review.)From the episode page: On the top left above the show description, click "Post review."From the main podcast pageTap "Reviews" on the top left.On the Reviews page,  tap the icon of a pen and paper in the top right corner of the screen.ABOUT THE SHOWMaking Peace Visible is produced by Andrea Muraskin and hosted by Jamil Simon. Faith McClure writes our newsletter and designs our website. Creative direction by Peter Agoos. Music in this episode by Xylo-Ziko, Doyeq, and Blanket Music. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when episodes come out and learn more about our guests: warstoriespeacestories.org/contact. You can get in touch with us at jsimon@warstoriespeacestories.org, or on X @warstoriespeace. We're also on LinkedIn. 

Think about your favorite teacher. What were they like? What made them your favorite? Now, imagine if your favorite teacher quit their job before you had them in your life. What would you have lost? Think about what future generations of students will lose if more teachers leave because teachers don't feel valued or trusted or fairly compensated. If things don't change, more teachers will leave because they are realizing that they can. In this episode, we hear from former teachers who left education and are happier for it.   Music:  Theme Song By Julian Saporiti  “Don't You Leave” by Crowander is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Happening for Lulu” by Kraus   is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Soldier's Story” by Blanket Music  is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Be Nice” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. “Fireworks” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. “Faster, Sons of Vengeance, Faster!” by Doctor Turtle is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Changing Moment (ID 1651)” by Lobo Loco is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Transcript: A quick warning, this episode discusses sexual abuse. During the quarantine, I received an anonymous letter from a former student that had since graduated. After pleasantries, the note says “I'm writing you now to thank you for things that you never knew you did when I was your student.”  And then they go on to explain that though I would not have known this, they had been sexually abused by their father, and they had just found the strength to tell someone, cut ties, and start the healing process. They said that my class was a space that made them feel safe, heard, and respected. They wrote that I helped them quote “understand that there are good men, ones that deserve to be fathers.” end quote They were intentional in saying that they didn't know if I would figure out who they were, but regardless, they wanted to thank me and let me know that I played a part in helping them get through the abuse.  Every time I read this letter, it breaks me. I hate that this student had to go through this. I hate their father. I am humbled by the fact that I could be a source of support for this student, and I hope so badly that they can heal.  No kid should ever have to experience this, but they do, and because they do, they need adults, teachers, in their lives that can support them, even if those adults are unaware of that support. We need teachers who are themselves supported and happy and in a space that values them, so that they can be as wholly present as possible for students. But at this moment in time, many teachers, so of the people that students need most, don't want to teach anymore. And that fact is devastating. We're at the end of this series. We've explored a variety of things contributing to teachers leaving the profession - feelings of being devalued, a lack of autonomy, struggles with mental health. We've looked at why teachers might be treated the way they have been, from pop-cultural stereotypes to an odd historical inheritance …to having unclear expectations of what education is for. And we've even looked at some solutions and where they come from. All of this to make sense of why teachers might be leaving, and to draw attention to the fact that without authentic and relevant change that is not the burden of teachers, teachers will keep leaving.  Today, we will hear teachers who left education explain how their lives are now, and  we will explore some resources available to teachers who are looking to leave education. And from what I've heard through interviews and people reaching out to me because of this podcast, a vast majority of teachers that have left the classroom are much happier. So, if nothing from this season has convinced you that we need to do something to keep teachers in education and something real, maybe this episode will. I am not saying this as a threat, but from the perspective of a realist. Think of it as a natural consequence. Refuse to address and take genuine action to keep teachers, or they will find their way out of education because they can. And in this present moment, they will likely be happier for it.  This is the finale to Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 7: “Those Who Can't Teach Anymore” Camile Lofters reached out to me in the early stages of this project. Camile was a high school English and journalism teacher in south Florida. She left teaching after 15 years in the classroom , and she was one of those people that felt destined to be in the classroom. Camile Lofters: I feel like teaching was in my blood.  My mom was an early childhood education major and taught preschool, and, you know, lower elementary school. So I mean, I grew up watching her, and wanting to emulate her. So I would line up my stuffed animals and like, I had a little pointer, and I would teach them things. And when I graduated, I was so excited to start teaching that it was like everything to me. But like most of the people that shared their stories throughout this podcast, Camile left. And even though she is from Florida and most of the other folks I've spoken with are from Wyoming and the west, Camile's reasons for leaving were the same. She pointed to not being trusted or seen as an expert, to politicians that oversteps their role in education, to low pay, to being undervalued, and the list goes on. And like the other teachers, Camile still values education. Camile Lofters: Even though I did leave the profession, I still love teaching, and I still think it's one of the greatest professions. But as we all know, in our country, education system is a little broken, maybe it's a lot broken is a better way to say it. So, I feel like when the pandemic happened, it sort of broke everything wide open forever for a lot of people. I mean, it's not like it's just me.  We haven't addressed the pandemic much throughout this series. Not because the pandemic didn't have a significant impact on teachers deciding to leave, but because the reasons teachers are leaving didn't start with the pandemic.The pandemic forced teachers to reflect on what they're willing or not willing to accept. Camile reflected on whether she could teach for another two decades. Camile Lofters: And the answer used to be yes, I'm going to teach until I'm 60. And when it started to become like I don't know, and then it was like, definitely not. And I was like, this means I need to do something else. You know, if I'm feeling that way, it's not fair to myself, my family, but also I think to the students. They deserve to have teachers that are really excited to be there. And yes, I am a good teacher and I could go back and still I think do a good job, but I just feel like mentally I would be falling apart and that's not that's not really fair to anybody. You've heard this throughout the series. Many teachers are leaving because they know that they aren't doing their job as well as they want to, so they leave. The pandemic contributed to this. More teachers thought about what they could and couldn't do anymore. The pandemic made the job more difficult. Skepticism of teachers rose, student and parent behaviors became worse, everyone's mental health seemed to get worse, and more expectations were placed on teachers. Teachers know this, but when more is put on a teacher's plate, it's usually not taken off.  Camile felt this, and she also had a daughter in the middle of it all.  Camile Lofters: That 2020-2021 school year was just really, really difficult. And so then by the time my daughter was born, you know, in June 2021, I was like, No, this is this, I gotta find something else. So she started the process of looking for something that she could transition into. And she was looking for something that  would allow for more financial opportunities. On top of having a daughter, feeling all of the frustrations and stressors of teaching and the impact of the pandemic, Camile wanted to be paid better. Camile Lofters: Pay was a big part of it. It's really disheartening to work so hard for so long and never see an increase in your salary. I graduated from college with all my friends, we were all making about the same amount of money. And now most of them are making double, if not triple you. You know what I'm making. I worked really hard to be a good teacher and constantly doing professional development and looking for new strategies. And so I think it's disheartening to not have that come with any sort of raise and compensation. So I will say that that was definitely a factor when I realized that if you account for inflation, I had basically never gotten a raise, like ever. And her only prospect for a raise was to become an administrator, despite all of the extra work she'd done like designing curriculums.  Camile Lofters: And I hate when people say, “Well, you didn't go into teaching for the money.” Well, of course I didn't, but I'm a human being that needs to survive, I have a family and I would like to be able to provide for them. Pay matters, so Camile left teaching and transitioned into a new career where she feels better about the pay.  Camile Lofters: So, I've been making a little bit more money, not a ton, but a little bit, and it does matter to me, because there is the potential for me to make more money. In my job, I have the potential to earn more, And there's a lot of room for growth. And so that was very appealing to me, to actually be in a position where there could be more upward movement in my salary.  Camile acknowledges that she now has to pay her own health insurance which means her take home pay is about equal to what she was making as a teacher, but that doesn't matter to her.  Camile Lofters: I'm so much happier that it feels different. It feels like I'm making more money. And her transition out of education allows her to continue working with kids, which is something many teachers point to when deciding whether or not they will leave.  Camile Lofters:  I am the photography manager and sales representative for a school photography company, I was a yearbook teacher for eight years. So the company I work for, actually, I used to be like, a customer of theirs, like I was the teacher, and they were my photography company. And her transition to her new job has been pretty smooth.  Camile Lofters: And I love it. It's a great job for me. I use a lot of skills that I already had as a teacher. I already knew part of the business because I was a customer, so I already know the customers want, what they need, that sort of thing. Part of what made her transition smooth was her willingness to learn. The people that I have talked with that successfully left education did so with humility, knowing that they had a lot of great skills, but that they also had a lot to learn.  Camile Lofters: So learning the business side of things, I am literally always just sitting in my boss's office whenever possible, just like listening to him talk about the business, because it's just mind blowing to learn. Camile Lofters: And I'm still learning because obviously our company's since it's a school photography company, we follow the school year, and each phase of the school year brings something different. But yeah, I'm really excited about it. I think it's cool to always be learning something new.  So Camile left teaching, but she still gets to take part in the things that she enjoyed about teaching.  Camile Lofters: And I get to work with teenagers all day long at a really exciting time in their lives. They're doing, you know, they're seeing your pictures and their, or their school pictures. And they're usually pretty excited about that. So just making them feel good. You know, like, establishing a rapport with a teenager is hard for a lot of people. It's not hard for me. It's something I did all day long. So it's been really cool to use my teaching skills in a new way. But the things that are different about education are well worth it.  Camile Lofters: I have just a lot better work life balance, now. So my schedule is flexible. If I need to leave early one day, I can just schedule to have an early day or come later or you know, be closer or farther away from home. So that's really nice. I also get to actually speak to adults during the day, which is great. That's always nice. You know, really silly things like I can use the bathroom whenever I want to.    And the common rebuttal for why teachers shouldn't complain about their jobs, you know, summers off, Camile doesn't mind not having her summers off. Camile Lofters: There have been several people still to this day, who are like, “Oh, well, don't you miss having the summer off?” and different kinds of things like that. And I think at the end of the day, having a summer off is great, but if you feel like you're only living your life in those two months of summer vacation, and then the rest of the year, you're miserable, then like, what good is that? She has more financial opportunities and she feels happier. And contrary to any stereotypes, her leaving education doesn't mean that she hates kids or that she is anti-education. She has this to say to teachers who are struggling with that aspect of leaving education.  Camile Lofters: So I would just say that and that, if you are thinking about leaving the classroom, that doesn't make you a bad teacher. That it's normal to have those thoughts, and that's okay. Camile advocates for teachers as much as she can, and she feels like being outside of the classroom gives her some opportunities to be a little more vocal - especially in Florida where teachers have been egregiously attacked through politically charged legislation like the don't say gay bill, the stop woke act, the overall rejection of AP African American history, and sadly the list goes on.  She uses her social media platform to share her voice. Camile's sense of relief and happiness upon leaving education is not unique. This shouldn't be the case. And teachers aren't quitting to sit around, they are going into other careers, which may make it very difficult to lure them back to the classroom. If we want teachers to stay in education, education needs to be more appealing than the other options available to them. Jaye Wacker, who we heard from in the first episode, left teaching after being in the classroom for three decades. He is now a Senior Public Information Officer at the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information. Like Camile, Wacker feels like life is better.  Jaye Wacker: I work for a director, who is one of the themes in Administration and Information that she keeps hammering is work life balance. And I don't feel like teachers have work-life balance in the slightest. Well, yeah, it's balanced, but it's balanced one way you know it. And that's tragic. That's no way to live. It's no way to draw great people into the profession. There has to be a balance. There has to be a…there's something more than the paycheck. Wacker uses the portrait of a single day to explain how his life is different since he left teaching.  Jaye Wacker: Sundays, I was the worst person to be around, hard to be around. And whether I was working on my lesson plans for the week or trying to devise something, or even just putting it off, because I didn't want to deal with it. Waiting until Hannah was in bed Sunday night, and then sitting right there at the end of that dining room table, with my books, holding back the curtains and trying to figure out what's the best way to reach and meet the GVC.  As a reminder, the GVC, or Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum, is the effort to standardize education, and acts like a middle-man to the Common Core Standards. So, for Jaye, his quality of life on Sundays is better because he isn't having to use Sundays to prepare for the week. He doesn't get those Sunday Scaries anymore.  Jaye Wacker: I can do whatever, and then just go to work the next day. I go to work, and the sun's up. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've sat in the room and watch the sunrise.  And like Camile, losing out on summers wasn't a big deal, contrary to the cultural stereotype that teachers only work for the summer.  Jaye Wacker: I'm a firm believer that June, July and August are not the three best reasons to be a teacher. In fact, they're probably the three worst because people who think they're the three best, they're miserable nine months out of the year. And so I really kind of stressed about how am I going to deal with summer. And last year, I didn't even notice. I didn't even notice. And this year, the only thing I know is that, oh, my daughter's not in school anymore. And I just go to work and it's chill, and I work with good people. And I used to say teachers worked 12 months and nine. It's more.  Wacker misses some of the people, he misses the kids, he misses the conversations, he misses the books, but he doesn't miss how he felt. He still has some leftover traces of being a teacher ingrained in him. Jaye Wacker: If somebody's in my office, and we're just having a conversation. I feel a little bit of panic. I literally do. Because I have that feeling like I need to be doing something else. I don't miss the pressure. It is and it's gotten geometrically more pressurized in the last few years. I don't miss that a bit. I and that's part of what I couldn't take any more. I couldn't take the pressure anymore The pressure and stress Wacker was feeling was keeping him from the people that matter most to him. Now he gets to spend more quality time with them. Another aspect of why teachers left teaching was being trusted. For Stephanie Reese, the opportunity to make more money and  to feel  respected was huge in why she changed careers. We've heard from Stephanie several times over the course of this podcast. She was a PE teacher and she left teaching after eight years. She is now the general manager at Black Tooth Brewing Company in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Stephanie Reese: I have a fantastic boss, but I'm basically my own boss, because I'm here in Cheyenne. And they're up in Sheridan. So I'm trusted to make decisions. And I don't have anybody breathing down my back. And, you know, I think the trust is the biggest thing.   With that trust, comes a feeling of being valued, which equates to getting paid better.  Stephanie Reese: When my boss offered me stock in the company, like having a part of something, being a part of something because you earned it, and being promoted like that was definitely like, Oh, this is not education. And yeah, I mean, I'm definitely surprised each day. I'm like, wow, this is so much better than each day because you're just not enduring the shit that goes along with everything, like you can actually do your job. Right? So many more distractions when you teach or, like expectations, or having to juggle this, this and this, or do all of this without any support. And you're expected to do this. And so with this job, like, I can just do my job. It's a really good feeling. And if this isn't clear, Stephanie's quality of life is much better. Not only does she feel satisfied in her work, she is making more money than she did as a teacher. This has been a theme, many of the people that talk about a pay increase also express a feeling of being valued more in their new jobs. Stephanie explains that her job is not without stress, but it feels different.  Stephanie Reese:  I can tell, okay, all this work I'm putting in the stress is worth it, because we're making money. And so I love that aspect of it. Teaching in a lot of ways is you give and give and give and give and give and give a whole lot more. And then, oh, here's a $5 gift card to Starbucks. Thank you so much for all of what you do. Like that, to me in a nutshell is teaching.  There's no appreciation for it. Really, maybe superficial, but not individualized. Stephanie was adamant that teachers that are suffering and not enjoying their work need to reflect on what they want out of their life because change is possible, and it might not be worth waiting for the system to change around them.  Stephanie Reese: Life is too short, to waste time or thinking about, well, if this happens, then I'll be happy. You've had to figure that out now, because it's just way more important. The positive is driving it, especially me quitting it, it definitely was driven by wanting more positive in my life rather than negative, and it is worth it to change. So if you're scared, or if you feel like you need more help, there's so much out there so many people, especially nowadays who have been through the same thing. And as you've heard, people are transitioning into a variety of different careers - all resulting in better qualities of life. They transitioned into careers that fit them best. Stephanie manages a bar, Wacker works for the state, Camile works for an education adjacent company, and Ron Ruckman, who we heard from a few episodes back left teaching after 23 years to work in construction.  Ron Ruckman: My mental state has always been that way in the summer, like any mental state is so much better. I'm so much happier and so much less stressed. Because I go to work and we have fun and we joke around and we do our thing and we all we kind of work together and everybody respects each other and we know that each other can do the job, but I go to school and I always kind of feel like, there's always somebody watching me thinking like somebody is constantly evaluating every second of everything I do, which they're probably doing construction, but it doesn't feel like that for some reason. Why, I don't know?  Ron is happy not to have to manage the emotional baggage of teaching. He doesn't have to manage other people's emotional wellbeing in construction.  Ron Ruckman: It just builds. I don't have that with construction. You know? If so and so wacks their thumb, you're like, Well, that was dumb, move on, you know, or whatever. Or they got a rough family life, that's your deal, dude. We're gonna get back to work. Yeah, we got things to do. It's hard to make non-educators understand the level of relief people feel when they leave the profession. For Ron, it was the ability to not feel so emotionally overdrawn.  For my wife Jennie, who left teaching after 7 years to pursue her MBA and Pharmacy degrees, it's a matter of feeling valued and being fairly compensated for the work she does.  Jennica Fournier: When I told people, I just I can't do education anymore. I can't do the parents. I can't do the administrators and everything. People said, well, you know, patients can be really rude to pharmacists. And pharmacists don't have it easy either. And they work really long hours, and they're on their feet all day. And I just thought, yeah, that is all the same things that I'm going through, but I will get paid two to three times more than I would as a teacher. And that's significantly different. And I feel compensated, but not just like a monetary compensation. I would also get respect in the community. People would respect my opinions more. You know, if I ran for office as a pharmacist, I think that I would get respected more than running for office as a teacher. So I think you get more reward than you do. I guess you get more benefit compared to your risk. This goes back to the need to value educators. That means seeing them as human beings, not martyrs, not saints, not slobs. It's not allowing stereotypes to dictate how teachers are treated or viewed. For Jennie, she felt a clear difference in how she was treated outside of education.   Jennica Fournier: So some of the MBA events, just the networking that happened and the high level conversations that you were able to have with other people that didn't focus around children. I suppose the first time that I was at a networking event. I felt very much like respected and I felt interesting. That was kind of the moment where I was like, Wow, I'm outside of this upstanding member of society realm. I mean, as of as a pharmacist, do I still have to be a professional and live my life? In a, in a good way? Yes.  Jennie is happy to be away from the unrealistic expectations of being a teacher. These are the stereotypes that we discussed in an earlier episode.  Jennica Fournier: To be a good teacher, it means that like, I'm pure, and I'm thoughtful, and I'm helping and I'm a martyr. It's not like she's teaching to the highest level of her degree, and she has all the best training to be a teacher. I don't really feel like that's what people think of when they think of a teacher. Like she's teaching the top notch science, the highest level science that she can and the newest things. That's not what people remark about with their high school teachers. They remark about how friendly are they? And this shift out of education has done wonders for how she feels about herself.  Jennica Fournier: My self-esteem is incredibly higher than it was before. I get a lot of positive affirmation, and I get it from my peers and my teachers in this setting, and I feel very accomplished here.  I want to pause here for a moment. You might be thinking, Charles, this is starting to sound kind of repetitive. Well that's because it is, because I cannot stress enough that teachers are leaving their jobs, and when they leave, many of them are happier. When I asked former teachers what it would take for them to return to education, a few said they would consider returning if their new career didn't work out and education had tremendous reform. One said a quarter of a million dollar salary. And most said they would NEVER consider returning.  Shane Atkinson is one of the people who is much happier after quitting teaching. He is now working in government and he feels like he's valued and trusted. Shane is the person in the first episode that explained how education was like an abusive relationship. Being in a new career only highlights how glad he is to be out of teaching.  Shane Atkinson: Every morning, I start work at 9am. If I drive to work, it takes me three minutes. I ride my bike almost every single day. Takes me 20 minutes to ride my bike. So quality of life wise, I've been sleeping better than I have, in my entire adult life. I sleep so well, I wake up feeling refreshed, I wake up at the time that I would have had to be at work before. And I sit around, I read the news, I listen to some music, I drink coffee, just have these nice, leisurely mornings. For example, Shane compares what it's like being late at his new job versus what it was like to be late as a teacher.  Shane Atkinson: I was five minutes late, one day, probably two weeks into starting at this office. And I did not have a sense of doom. I didn't feel like my boss was there and you know, walk in and she's like, Hey, how's it going? No, no big deal whatsoever. I remember multiple times administration would be sitting by the door where teachers come in, basically keeping notes who's here two minutes late.  And in this new career, he feels like he is receiving what he needs to feel sustained and supported.  Shane Atkinson: The other thing where I work now is just incredibly supportive. My boss, my immediate supervisor, my head boss, they actually seem to value you as a human being. It's crazy, I didn't even realize that was a thing. And I'm sure it's probably not everywhere. But I just feel absolutely valued.  If I said, I had a really hard day today, and we have those hard days. And I just need some time. Great Take, take tomorrow, take a mental health day you've earned it, you know, would be the narrative. If I get off a very tough call, or a rough meeting, right, we deal with some pretty sensitive things, sometimes people even more so than education, but I can hang up for that call. And I can go for a while. I'm not ruled by the bell schedule. So, all of these former teachers left education, and are happy with their new careers. And I know this is a small sample of teachers - 5 teachers don't represent all teachers, but their stories and their experiences cover the gamut of what I've heard from teachers across the country. Based on my experience, a majority of teachers that have left education are happier. If we want to keep good teachers in education, teaching has to be more appealing than alternatives. Because right now, folks are willing to go back to school, jump into completely different fields, work in the service industry, work constructions, lose out on the retirement plans and insurance plans, in order to get away from being a teacher.  And those that don't like their work but remain in education, may have a variety of reasons for doing so. Shane speculates on why folks stay when they don't want to be there. Shane Atkinson:  I'm here because I have to be here because I need my health insurance. I'm here because I need a steady paycheck. I'm here because this is a big one. What else am I going to do? Who else? What experience? Do I have to go out and do something else? Right? And it's, it's actually really difficult. I read a lot about this when I left, because I had no clue what I was going to do.  That last piece of what Shane is getting at, the “I don't know what else I can do” is a big hurdle for lots of people. Many teachers have spent every year of their lives in school either as a student or as a teacher. Many don't know anything else, so transitioning might be terrifying. They may have also bought into the rhetoric that teachers aren't able to do anything else, “Those who can't do, teach,” which I think we've established is a ridiculous saying that should go the way of the dodo. And if you are among the folks that think teachers are only able to teach, and nothing else, you are gravely mistaken. And that assumption is tied to why teachers are treated poorly. The assumption that teachers are stuck could be contributing to why teachers aren't being valued. To make sense of this, here is a quick example. One of my favorite poems by Wallace Stevens has this line, “Death is the mother of beauty.” So without death, we might not recognize beauty. Now, when thinking about teachers, without the threat of teachers leaving, teachers might not be valued like they should be. It's a catch-22. When teachers quit, they are valued, but teachers are quitting because they aren't valued.  So, in order for teachers to be valued, it might require more teachers to leave the profession. And for folks who want to leave, but don't know how to make the transition, there are people who help teachers figure out how to transition out of education. Meet Daphne Gomez. Daphne is the Founder and CEO of the Teacher Career Coach, a company that helps teachers transition out of the classroom. Daphne Gomez: So if they don't make changes to how much we ask of teachers, how much we pay teachers, it's gonna continue to get worse. It's not worth it for people to be in a position where they're being beaten up. Daphne helps teachers leave education. She is not the reason teachers want to leave education. She is not responsible for teachers that are overworked, payed poorly, treated poorly, and devalued. She is someone who tells teachers that it's okay if they want better for themselves. Teachers are not limited with what they can do. And from what Daphne has seen, folks that are leaving are doing well.  Daphne Gomez: We have to lower class sizes, we have to be able to improve our funding for teachers salary, we have to make changes as far as that goes, because right now teachers are hearing stories of people who are leaving. I can say 85% of over 300 teachers that I surveyed just last week, have either matched their salary or increased their salary with whatever position they took after leaving the classroom following my resources.  Teachers have a lot of skills that can translate into new careers. This is a reality that non-educators need to be aware of. And teacher attrition will only get worse because teachers are seeing their former colleagues leave, make more money, and feel happier in their lives.  Teachers are tired of being beaten up, so they are leaving teaching because they are realizing that they can. I don't blame them. And there are times when I envy them - when I hear how happy they are or when another bad piece of legislation or policy is voted in, I think, “I could do something else” and feel pretty good about it.  As a former teacher, Daphne is well aware of the difficulty of being a teacher and the struggles of trying to leave the profession. Daphne Gomez: For me, when I started thinking about leaving the classroom, I was breaking down, sobbing on the way to work. I was going into the hospital, not every day or anything. But there are about three different times that I went to the doctor and he said, these are weird, stress related illnesses, it does something to your body.   But something about it did not work for me anymore. And when I started to tell my coworkers I am not going to a different school district, I'm just gonna find a different job and see if that helps me heal, everybody's first sentence out of their mouth was, “You can't leave. You're a good teacher. Children need good teachers.”  The people that said this to Daphne were not bad people.  I heard this when I stopped coaching. It's not that people are trying to guilt teachers into staying - it's that they want good teachers to stay, but they have nothing to offer except “you're good at this.” It goes back to that stereotype that a teacher should just continue the job because they are doing a good thing, but again, teachers should be treated like martyrs. And being good at something isn't enough of a reason to continue doing it. Daphne wants to change this view of leaving education.  Daphne Gomez: There's really never been that discussion of it's okay to walk away from it. Even if you're good. Even if you're happy. You can be the best teacher in the world and very, very happy. And then someone offers you something that's $10,000 more, and you absolutely can leave for it. But we've never had those discussions.  Daphne Gomez: I think that there is a system of emotional blackmail and gaslighting that's been going on in the education system for a really long time. And I think that they know that they can hold children above teachers' heads. They can use that year over year over year.  But as we heard from the teachers earlier in the episode, many of them left even though they liked to teach or they enjoyed the kids. None of them left and said, “I hate kids.” This is an easy way for people to demonize anyone that thinks of leaving and to guilt teachers into staying. This isn't a healthy way to keep teachers in education. This is that abusive relationship that Shane pointed out at the start of the series. Part of what has allowed this rhetoric and guilt to work for so long is the fact that teachers didn't think they had a choice. But they do have a choice. Part of what set Daphne on the path to create The Teacher Career Coach was to address the problems she had with leaving education. She reflected on her own experience in order to help others. She started by asking questions about her experience.  Daphne Gomez: Why was that so hard on me? Why did I feel this need to stay in a career where I was truly breaking down? And why was it such a hard decision for me to actually leave? And how can I help other people who are struggling with that? For Daphne, some of this starts with addressing the guilt teachers have when trying to decide to walk away.  Daphne Gomez: I've seen the guilt, where people are offered positions, and they've said, I can't do it. I want to stay one more year because my grade level team and I have a lot of work. And I think where a lot of this comes from is because we went into this position because we want to help others. Every single thing that you do in teaching impacts children that impact students, it is something that you're super passionate about. So every time that you sacrifice three hours of your own personal life after you're done working, that students leave, you're done working, quote unquote, done working, and then you sit down and you do something for three more hours.  Teachers care about their students, and so much is put on teachers' shoulders that it can be hard for them to make self-serving decisions. But being selfless is not often sustainable nor healthy.   Daphne Gomez: But then at some point, you reach this breaking point of I have to put myself first and that is not something that you have done in this position. I've heard of teachers, you know, staying in very extreme situations or the guilt getting so bad that they talked to therapists for five years and the therapists really were begging them you are not doing well mentally in this role. You have to leave and they would just push back and push back and say I can't leave. The students need me. I can't leave.  But they can, and they are, and for many of them, the decision is better for their mental health. Still, that doesn't make leaving easy.  Daphne Gomez: We're going to hurt our coworkers, we're going to potentially hurt students. And for people with huge hearts that go into this, to help other people that is, you know, the biggest hurdle to get over is knowing that your ACT may be selfish people may think of you differently, everything that you've done as a teacher for, let's say, you were in the classroom for 10 years, the second you decide you want to leave and become a project manager, everybody's gonna say, Oh, she's selfish. And that's hard for us to really deal with mentally. The ability to leave education might be getting easier though. The rhetoric around leaving this “forever career” is being challenged and teachers are calling out the stereotypes. More teachers are leaving because more teachers are realizing that they can leave. This means that the guilt of ‘doing it for the kids' isn't enough to keep teachers in. Culturally, we need to recognize that guilt is not a good teacher retention plan. Teachers are seeing successful examples of people leaving education all around them.  Daphne Gomez: The correlation between how people are talking about teaching, and that it's okay to leave teaching, and people actually leaving teaching in mass quantities cannot be ignored. I think that it was something that was supposed to be your forever career. The second you go into teaching, you are there for 30 years, there's not a career trajectory. And besides becoming an admin, This is going to be like what you do until you are retired. With the language around leaving education changing, mass amounts of teachers are hearing that it's okay to leave an unhealthy work environment and find work that will better serve their well-being. So there will be more openings and less teachers to fill those openings, which means that education will suffer. And hopefully nobody wants that, but that's where we are headed. Teachers are realizing that the burden of staying in education isn't theirs alone, and if education suffers, it is because of a larger failing of the community and government to value education and the those who work in education  So until the burden of keeping teachers in education gets picked up by non-educators, this will continue. And Daphne is trying to make it easier for folks to see their options, not by just challenging the rhetoric around leaving education, but by providing resources and services to help teachers leave. Daphne's company has created a variety of resources to help teachers adjust and market their skills for outside of education. They have developed a Podcast, Courses, and even a jobs board to help teachers find a good fit for a new career.  There is so much her company does to support teachers, and I asked her, based on her experience helping teachers transition out of education, what she has noticed teachers struggling with.  Daphne Gomez: It's not a valid one, but the self doubt, and even the lack of career preparedness isn't the right word for it. But I would say, the lack of experience with writing resumes and interviewing this is somewhat unique to teachers. They don't have the experience of working in corporations. So there's a lot of upskilling that needs to happen. Daphne wants teachers to have a growth mindset. There will be a learning curve in this transition, and she encourages teachers to remain humble. Yes, teaching is a difficult job, and teachers have a lot of skills that will translate well into other careers, but there will still need to be some learning, as Camile pointed out earlier in the episode. Daphne doesn't sugarcoat the reality that leaving education can be stressful but it's important to be honest and express a willingness to learn while highlighting how teaching translates into the role they're interviewing for.  The voices from earlier in this episode all had pretty clear paths to new careers. But there are teachers that just want out. Daphne warns against flailing and reaching for any opportunity, but she does emphasize that  this transition doesn't have to be a forever career.  Daphne Gomez: And then once you get your foot in the door at a company, if it's a large enough company, or something that you're really passionate about, after a few years, you can always use that as a stepping stone to pivot into a different department and get an internal promotion. It's so much more common outside of the classroom than people realize. They think that whatever this next career is, is going to be, you know, the end for them. But you're not picking your next forever career. You're picking your next starting point. When thinking about the former teachers we heard from at the start of this episode, many of them relied on some of the skills they had as teachers, but some of them leaned into the skills and interests that they had outside of education because they are dynamic human beings. Ron went into construction. Jennie leaned into her love of science, but the soft skills she developed as an educator has helped her tremendously with interacting with and explaining things to patients.  Like Daphne pointed out, the thought of leaving education leaves me with a sense of guilt. The thought of working in a different career feels a little intimidating, but I know that what I'm doing now is not sustainable.  It's been close to a year since I wrote the grant to start on this podcast, and in the development of the series people suggested that my conclusion should include a big reveal, like my declaration to leave education. That sounds cinematic, and if we've learned anything, it's that education is not a movie. I don't have any insight into what my future of teaching will look like. All I know is that I am hopeful that education can get better, but I know that unless something changes, what I'm doing now can't last.  So instead of a reveal or a declaration, I'll leave you with my advice if you want to keep people like me in the teaching profession. We need good teachers to want to stay in education, and it is not their sole responsibility to make education a place they want to stay. We need a cultural shift that values education and values educators. So, talk to teachers. Let them know you appreciate them. Listen to their stories and experiences, and don't rely on unrealistic stereotypes.  Push back on the anti-intellectualism that Ray Bradbury warned us of 75 years ago. Listen to experts. Make informed decisions based on facts and evidence. Come to terms with the fact that education should serve a diverse population of people, and if you are not okay with that, find an alternative to public education. And lastly, Vote for people who value education. Speak out against legislation that does not serve all students. And if that sounds too difficult, then know that more teachers will quit. Teaching vacancies will mount, class sizes will grow, the teachers that remain will get stretched even thinner, and rushed solutions will put unqualified people in front of your children. The diverse population of students in our country will lose out on opportunities and the education they deserve. And public education, as it was established in the US, to create a well informed populace so that we may have a thriving democracy, will suffer, which means democracy will suffer because it's far easier to take advantage of an uninformed, poorly educated populace than one that is well informed and willing to challenge and question and speak up. And it will happen not out of spite or teachers trying to prove a point. It will happen because it's a natural consequence of the current conditions people are in. So be an active part of the solution, not the problem. If need be, start small. Think about my motto from the road trip class from a few episodes back: Just try to not be an asshole. As always, thank you so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. Word of mouth has done wonders for getting this podcast to people who need to hear it. You can also follow us on instagram at those who cant teach anymore.  This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Jennica Fournier. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Camile Lofters, Jaye Wacker, Shane Atkinson, Jennica Fournier, Stephanie Reese, Ron Ruckman, and Daphne Gomez for sitting down to chat with me. If you want to follow Camile Lofters on instagram, you can find her at in literal color. If you are interested in Daphne Gomez's podcast or any of her resources, check out teacher career coach dot com. And As the season is coming to a close, I want to give a special thanks to my brother Cody and my nephews Finn and Ollie for traveling around Wyoming with me to collect interviews. To the Josie family for letting Jennie and I stay with them for a month and for setting up an office for me in their basement. To my Uncle Richard and Aunt Pattie who let me set up a workspace to produce the 4th episode while we stayed with them over the holidays. To Jennie for coming up with the name and logo for the podcast and for always being my sounding board. And to Fund for Teachers for providing me with the fellowship that got this project rolling.  Again - thank you for listening, and don't be afraid to advocate for teachers so that we can keep brilliant teachers in education.  

The first step to solving the problem of teacher attrition is to admit that there is a problem. Some groups have already taken this step, and they are listening to teachers in order to create solutions that will retain teachers. These programs make a big difference, but their approach isn't the norm. In this episode, we hear about successful efforts to keep teachers in education, and we'll ask the question: Who should have the responsibility of keeping teachers in education?  Music:  Theme Song By Julian Saporiti  “Sunlight” by Nul Tiel Records is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “I'm Fat” by Blanket Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Keep The Prices Down” by Blanket Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Kaptan Hayvanlar Alemi” by Hayvanlar Alemi  is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Grab a Bargain” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a CC  BY license. “Place on my Bonfire” by Lobo Loco is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Your Paradigm Dial” by Origami Repetika  is licensed under a CC  BY license.  Transcipt My third grade teacher had a phone booth in his classroom. It was a full size, glass booth that was mostly sound-proof. The phone booth was the choice place to spend any indoor recess, but during class, it was used as the equivalent of a time-out. Our teacher was a mustachioed man who called his facial hair his “cookie duster” and wore tinted-glasses and thick collared polyester shirts,  If a student was misbehaving, he would point that student to the phone booth, and that's where the student would remain for the rest of the lesson.  Discipline reigned in his class. I'm not sure if this is a quality of 3rd grade teachers in general, but both of the 3rd grade teachers at my school at the time were strict, and my parents loved it. I appreciate  some of it now, but at the time I thought it was downright oppressive - especially disciplining groups of kids together, which I'm still not a fan of.  There was a week-stretch in particular where our class lost out on several recesses because a core group of kids were acting out. I don't remember what they were doing, but I remember the sinking feeling of losing out on the chance to play tetherball or football or to climb on those tractor tires that were half buried in the ground and always had a faint smell of urine. We were stuck indoors.  I complained to my dad about the injustice when he picked me up from school. I ranted about inequity and being punished for something I didn't do. And I remember his response clearly. He asked me if I was part of the problem or part of the solution. He had to explain what “solution”meant, and then he told me that I needed to think about whether I was helping or hurting the situation.  I realized that even if I wasn't doing anything wrong, I still might not be part of the solution. Like a whole gaggle of my parents' other truisms that I didn't want to hear at the time, this has stuck with me. We've spent the last 5 episodes looking at what factors, what problems, might be contributing to teachers leaving education. Over half of all teachers are considering leaving the profession, but there are teachers who are staying, some of them stay thanks to efforts made by organizations to convince teachers to remain in education. So, today, we're going to think about solutions that keep brilliant teachers in education, but we'll also ask the question, whose responsibility is it to keep teachers in education? This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 6: “Those Who Stay” Elizabeth Smith: I brought mimosas. I hope you don't mind. I met Elizabeth on the back patio of the Middle Fork restaurant in Lander, Wyoming. If her voice sounds familiar, it's because we heard from her earlier in the series. She wore a blue dress with flower print and she carried a binder and a tote bag. The binder had a copy of her research thesis about retention of teachers on reservations and from the bag she pulled two flute champagne glasses, a jug of orange juice, and a bottle of champagne. Elizabeth is a veteran teacher, she loves teaching, and part of why she loves it might have to do some with her background. As we drank mimosas under the shade of a tree, she told me about her unique upbringing. Elizabeth Smith: I have a very, very crazy back story. I was raised in a cult. And I dropped out of school in seventh grade. And I never went to high school. And we were raised in a situation in which we didn't have television or outside influence. So I was very isolated and programmed to believe a certain way. And so I got my GED when I was 19, the same year, I got my driver's license, I ran away from home twice, and was successfully out of the house and the religion, the high control, the second time that I left, and so my understanding of educators is completely different.   A quality of early American education that we learned about in the second episode was the idea that teachers would be taught in the education system themselves and so the education hierarchy would be ingrained into them – it was almost a pre-teacher training. Elizabeth didn't go to public school, so some of these stereotypical expectations aren't perpetuated in her teaching practice, which might contribute to why she loves it. Elizabeth Smith: I love what I do. I love teaching, I have high respect for myself, in the work that I do. I know the mistakes that I make, in reflection, for the most part, I'm sure there's some that I'm unaware of, but I enjoy helping people understand themselves, you know, because it's been a huge chore of mine to be able to get to the point where I have undone all the programming that I have experienced in life. And because of her youth, she was drawn to a sense of spirituality she found in teaching. Elizabeth Smith: Coming from a really hardcore, high control, religious background. I feel like I suffered spiritual abuse. And so disconnected me from myself, in a lot of ways. And so my whole life, like I told you has been spent trying to figure out who I am. And one of the things in teaching that you'll, especially if you read my research, you'll see that the spiritual connection with making relationships with other people and knowing that what you're doing is valued is a big part of spirituality. The research Elizabeth points to was tied to her Masters Thesis. She focused on why teachers stay, especially non-native teachers, in reservation schools. What Elizabeth found is that those who stay feel a sense of acceptance, a sense of appreciation that what they bring to a community is valuable. And this is why Elizabeth stays too. She feels like what she does matters. She feels a connection to her students and, for the most part, she feels valued as a teacher.  Elizabeth Smith: I've only taught on reservation schools. So I've only taught in Indian country and there is a cultural perception from Native communities that really value teachers. So that's one of the reasons why non-native teachers decided to stay and have such longevity in reservation country because there is an old school respect for teachers.  I want to be transparent here. Elizabeth isn't totally satisfied with her job - we're drinking mimosas because she just finished up the school day and wanted to wind down. During our conversation, Elizabeth pointed out her frustrations, which echo many of the frustrations that we've heard in this podcast. She explained situations where she felt devalued or not listened to or stretched thin. She admitted that after teaching for 20 years, the thought of leaving education has crossed her mind, but she said that as long as this year feels like things are getting better, she plans on staying in education. And this is worth pointing out - even teachers that are staying in education by choice have frustrations. I say by choice because there are the teachers that feel stuck because they are close to retirement, need the insurance, or need the immediate income. Part of what's keeping Elizabeth, even when she has frustrations, is the fact that she feels like what she does matters and that she feels valued in her community.  Those things might seem small, but we're at a point where many teachers are frustrated and feel neither value nor purpose.  I have felt that. The past few years especially - it didn't feel like anything I did in my classroom mattered, and too often when I met someone new and told them I was a teacher, they'd tell me a story about how bad their kid's teachers were or how they had chewed out some teacher for something that, when they explained it to me, was just a terrible reason. They acted righteous and I felt devalued by association.  What picked me up was this project - the one that you're listening to right now. A podcast that explores why teachers were leaving education was a thought I have talked with my wife about since she left teaching, but I never pursued it. Not until I saw and applied for a Fund for Teachers Fellowship, which is a grant for teachers who want to create their own form of professional development. This seems small, but it's kind of mind-blowing and has made a world of difference for me. Stephanie Ascherl:  Teachers don't usually get a lot of choice. Professional development is determined for them, it's very top down.  This is Stephanie Ascherl, she is the Chief of Staff at Fund for Teachers, and she's worked for the organization going on 18 years.  Stephanie Ascherl: What's unique about Fund For Teachers is that we empower the teacher to tell us, no one at Fund for Teachers will ever tell you what you should do to be a better teacher because we really trust that you know yourself and your students better than anybody. Stephanie was not a teacher herself though she wanted to be a teacher when she was younger.   Stephanie Ascherl: I wanted to be a teacher until I was in high school. As you can tell I'm soft spoken. And I had a teacher who just was like, You're gonna have to learn how to talk a little bit louder, or find another way to give back.  When she started with Fund for Teachers, she really loved it, and I can see why. What stands out about Fund for Teachers as an organization is that they listen to teachers. Even though Stephanie wasn't a teacher herself, she does exactly what we asked of legislators last episode, she, and the rest of her organization trust educators.  Stephanie Ascherl: I think, you know, here in Houston, we see think tanks, you know, may have a conversation with a group of teachers that then they take what they think they heard to the state legislator who then makes policy change, but why can't the teacher just talk directly to the legislature, like there's, we don't need all these middlemen, we need to invite teachers to the conversation and to participate actively in and with the people who are making decisions, and maybe how we're choosing the people who make decisions also needs to be looked at. Fund for Teachers is not a government organization. They are a non-profit, and Stephanie acknowledges they can't be the saviors of the American Educational system all on their own, but she knows that they are at least making a difference.  Stephanie Ascherl: I'm not naive, I know, there's bigger problems that we don't have control over. But I do hope that the, you know, we award about 350 to 400 teachers a year that those 300 to 400, people feel like they can do it another year, that they can keep moving forward, not just for their students, because that's what we hear so often is I don't want to leave the kids but that we really make them feel like they can do this for themselves. And that there are people that care, there are people that are invested.  I felt this tremendously. This fellowship did so much to make me feel valued, that there was someone out there who was rooting for teachers, and it makes a difference in teachers wanting to continue teaching - even if it's just for one more year.  Stephanie Ascherl: In a very small study we did regionally that teachers who received Fund for Teachers, fellowships are more likely to stay in the classroom than their counterparts who did not receive a fellowship. And this study is incomplete. But it also showed that teachers who just applied so people who could feel like there is opportunity, there is hope. And even just thinking about their practice, maybe in a different way. That even they stayed a little bit longer.  Even with their positive impact, Stephanie pointed out that people in academics or other educational bodies have been somewhat dismissive of what Fund for Teachers is doing for educators.  Stephanie Ascherl: Somebody referred to us, like as a warm hug once and I was like, You know what, I don't even care because we are a hug, and people need a hug. And people need that encouragement. And that's not going to make everyone happy. But I care about those three or 400 people I interact with a year, and that's really my priority.  For a teacher feeling burned out and devalued, a hug is pretty dang nice. I needed that acknowledgement that I am a professional and enough of an expert to recognize what I need to be happy and successful in the classroom for another year. Policymakers, School Boards, Districts! Take note! When trying to solve the problem of teacher attrition, think WWFFTD. What would Fund for Teachers Do? Start by listening to teachers, let them decide what they need, and be encouraging and supportive - teachers need both a metaphorical and literal hug right now.  Acknowledgement is validating, and it gets at the heart of what Fund for Teachers wants to do despite how teachers are being treated across the country. As we've heard before, teachers haven't been treated like professionals. Stephanie thinks it is in part because non-educators don't want to think about it.  Stephanie Ascherl: I just think that, generally, as a society, we choose not to understand what happens in schools.  Stephanie Ascherl: People put their blinders on. And they don't want to acknowledge that there is an issue that needs to be solved. And they don't want to know any different because then you'd have to take action. When there's this kind of like, monolithic, almost problem. It's almost like you just don't know where to begin to help. And so you don't know what to do. And then you're almost frozen to inaction.  For Stephanie, for Fund for Teachers, this shift towards action and treating teachers as professionals to be valued begins with valuing education, which means inviting teachers to the table when decisions about education are being made. They are doing this by awarding grants for projects that are created by teachers. To get teachers feeling invested, they need to be involved, they need to be invested in.  Stephanie Ascherl: Fund For Teachers, invests in teachers, and we invest in their self designed professional development. Why should we treat teachers any different than any other professional. If I want to go learn more about marketing, or how to engage my board or things like that, I can do that. And why would we deprive teachers of that opportunity? And districts aren't meeting that need? And that's where fund for teachers kind of comes in? Along with giving teachers the resources and freedom to design professional development that is individualized, Fund For Teachers also puts a lot of faith in what teachers get out of the fellowship. Remember a few episodes back when we talked about authentic experiences feeling superficial once they are measured? A part of why Fund for Teachers helps keep teachers in education and excited about learning is because they remove the barriers that teachers typically run into: like a lack of autonomy, feeling devalued, and being held to inauthentic standards Stephanie Ascherl: We're not really into data. So we're not some we're not, we're very different from a lot of organizations that, you know, while we're trying to get there, it's never really been about improving test scores. It's really about what your problem is today, and how we can help you solve it. And so when we talk about impact, it can come in many forms is a teacher feeling renewed, and recognized for their efforts, and they want to stay in the classroom for another year. That then it kind of morphs into students seeing what could happen if I had my own agency, if I took control of my learning, what kind of change could I make in my community or my, just my school or my life. So it has this this wide like spectrum of benefits. And they're really dependent on the teacher themselves in the project that they did. In simpler terms, Stephanie said their organization wants teachers to feel good about themselves, which is an absolute need for teachers at the moment.  Stephanie Ascherl: But I think holistically as an organization, we want teachers to walk away feeling trusted, respected, and encouraged because we know they're not getting that.  I'm proof - this approach works. But again, they're a small non-profit organization. What Fund for Teachers is doing, is not a national solution to teacher attrition on their own, but it could serve as a model. And Stephanie hopes that's what happens. Stephanie Ascherl:  I really look forward to the day that Fund for Teachers doesn't have to exist, because that would mean that teachers are getting the resources they need. And professional development that is meaningful and authentic is just happening. It's not this really unique thing, because Fund for Teachers is the only organization in the country that allows teachers to design their own professional development.  But until schools have the funding and willingness to give teachers the freedom for authentic teacher-driven professional development, Fund For Teachers will be here, and they can be a spark or a lifeline for teachers that want to stay. And even if they're that warm hug for teachers, they're a warm hug that offers resources too. Here's what Stephanie has to say to teachers that might need that something extra to keep their morale up and to keep their interest in teaching. Stephanie Ascherl: We're offering you up to $5,000 an individual to do something during the summer that you know is going to make you a better teacher. And that's going to have a great the greatest impact on your students and school community. And we'd really encourage you to take advantage of that. Not only for yourself, but for your students.  As Stephanie pointed out, the fellowship gives teachers a ton of freedom - more than I've ever experienced as a high school teacher. I got to choose what I wanted to do. So, I focused on research, writing, and activism through podcasting, so that I could create authentic units tied to each of those things back to my classroom. And it has been an amazing experience. It feels so good to be trusted as an expert and a professional. So much so, that I got emotional when I told Stephanie this. The start of this year was the best I have felt coming back to school in several years. I had a sense of confidence and purpose that are a direct result of this fellowship.  Other teachers who have received their own fellowships reported similar reactions. They were thrilled to be treated like professionals. And these kinds of experiences can translate to effectiveness in the classroom when teachers are trusted to apply what they've learned into the classroom. When teachers feel confident and trusted and excited about what they do, that has a direct result on the experiences of students.  Lindsey Freeman, a former High School Agriculture Teacher, has a great example of the impact teachers can have on students when they feel good about what they are doing. Lindsey Freeman: And when you're traveling with students, you've got to make sure that they're fed and watered and taken care of, and it's a little ag pun Ag can provide those unique opportunities for lots of adventures, field trips, and activities because they are often associated with the Future Farmers of America, or FFA, which is a club that has events and competitions that kids can take part in.  Lindsey Freeman: So that's a lot of pressure for the teacher to make sure that not only they have their basic needs taken care of, but they're having the experience that maybe I had when I was in their shoes. And so we went on a trip one time, and I had some students with me, and I can remember I'm driving the suburban, and I'm just thinking, like, we're listening to music here. But these kids aren't really talking to each other. Are they having a good time? I don't know if I'm doing my job, right. And then so we go, and we do our thing. And then we come back, and we're on our way back. And this kid is sitting in the passenger seat, and he says, This has been the best week of my life.  This has stuck with Lindsey as a highlight of her teaching career. And for this student to have had the best week of his life, he needed a teacher like Lindsey who felt supported in her role and who had the resources to take her students on an adventure.  Lindsey liked teaching high school, but she took advantage of an opportunity to work at the University of Wyoming on a whim. She is still active in Wyoming education, and when I sat down with her, she had just been hired on as the Ag Program Director at Laramie County Community College. We sat in her new classroom surrounded by Cow Anatomy Flip Charts and diagrams explaining different pork and beef cuts, and Lindsey pointed out that as we work towards change that will help keep teachers, it can't just be policy-based. Lindsey Freeman: I think policy can go a long ways to help do some things, but it can only go so far. And so I think we have to think beyond policy to try to find, and because there's many factors to the problem, there's probably many solutions to the problem.  As we heard multiple teachers point out throughout this series, there isn't a single factor that is pushing teachers out of education - it's a layering of factors. So, Lindsey thinks there needs to be a multitude of solutions. Lindsey Freeman: I don't think you can pinpoint one thing. And I think that maybe we're kind of spinning our wheels where we're trying to combat this teacher shortage, is we're trying to pinpoint the one thing, or the handful of things. But there are a few things that would help. Lindsey kept coming back to one thing that could do a lot to help teachers want to become teachers and to stay once they are teachers.  Lindsey Freeman:  I hate to say that it's all about the money. But it's hard even to recruit young people to enter the teaching profession, when they could go with the same set of skills and competencies and make a lot more money. I don't think teachers go into teaching to get rich, but they have to they have to be able to maintain a decent lifestyle, or they're gonna go do something else. And then and then they can so I don't think it's, I don't think it's realistic to expect teachers to, you know, live in poverty and continue to do this job.  Every time the call to pay teachers more comes up, we hear the rebuttal, “Well, where will that money come from?” and Lindsey acknowledges that that is a problem that needs to be solved. Lindsey Freeman: Because like, where does that extra funding come from, to, you know, support, teacher salaries. But I totally understand that, that if there was an easy solution, we would have probably found it by now. With this said, there are efforts to raise the wages of teachers at a national level. Most recently, Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson introduced the American Teacher Act, which would raise the minimum starting teacher salary to $60,000 and adjust for inflation. To put this into perspective, the United States' average starting  teacher salary, according to the National Education Association in the 2020-2021 school year, was just below $42,000. This Act, if passed, would help. Lindsey pointed to one more adjustment that needs to occur as we recruit and train teachers.  Lindsey Freeman: We have to do a better job of showing young people how hard teaching is, and still encouraging them to pursue teaching as a profession in spite of that, because it's not going to be easy. And I think maybe that's part of the reason why we lose so many teachers early on, is because they're, we didn't we were upfront with them and honest with them about how hard it actually is because, like, personally, for me, I'm afraid that they're going to not want to teach after like I, you know, tell them and this is hard, this is hard.  People go into education with misconceptions about what teaching is going to be. Like we talked about in an earlier episode, teaching isn't a movie. Lindsey wants to have a system that helps people recognize just how difficult teaching will be and to support and help teachers through the difficulties of teaching. Lindsey has been working with a group of people trying to address these difficulties in teaching.  Lindsey Freeman: Yeah, so I've been working at the University of Wyoming, with a group of faculty and well, a large group, actually, that they're developing a Wyoming Educator Mentor Corps. And so there's a lot of work going into mentoring. And hopefully, that can eventually and we might have to be patient, but hopefully, that can eventually trickle down into helping early and mid career teachers. Not just survive, you know, but actually be successful in like their job.  The Wyoming Teacher-Mentor Corps is  a program designed by the University of Wyoming to, quote, “foster teacher excellence and provide expert support for emerging teachers.”  The idea behind the program is that teachers, especially new teachers, need support, and veteran teachers often want to take a new step in their career. Currently, if a veteran teacher wants to progress their career that usually means becoming an administrator. This program hopes to give veteran teachers some agency and purpose by helping other teachers.  To learn more about the Teacher-Mentor Corps, I met up with Colby Gull, who is the Managing Director for the trustees education initiative in the College of Education at the University of Wyoming, and is a part of the Mentor Corps. Colby Gull: So really, the idea behind the Mentor Corps is we want teachers to be happy in their job.  Colby has five kids, and he explained that he wants his kids to be with teachers who are happy and who love them. Colby Gull: If they get teachers who are unhappy and feel unsupported and don't love their jobs, and don't love the kids, because they don't love the work, then that's not a that's not a good place for anybody. And so we hope that the Mentor Corps can help provide that support, so that teachers do feel supported and loved, and they do have a place to get additional support. And they can so that we will build a community of teachers who can support each other, whether you're in the same school or the same district or the same state. We want to have that support system built and structured. Colby was a high school teacher, a principal, and a superintendent. He has a good idea of what it feels like to be an educator, and he wants a system that would have supported someone like him who felt overwhelmed when he got into the classroom.  Colby Gull: And then I got in the classroom, and it wasn't what I expected. And the kids weren't all eager to learn and excited for me to be there, they did not love me and think I was amazing. And I would just, I would get home, I'd wrap up the school day and just feel downtrodden.  Because teaching is hard. This is a theme. Colby emphasizes the difficulty of education because it isn't something that seems to get a lot of legitimate attention. For Colby, we can help prevent teachers from leaving education by starting in teacher preparation programs, which might need a little adjustment themselves.  Colby Gull: In teacher prep programs, our faculty are like, they went through a teacher prep program, they were classroom teachers, and this is how it's been done. So somebody's probably gonna get mad at me. But we've always had this same mindset of this is how it's done. But I think fear, I think, discomfort on students part on teachers part on parents part. Well, that's not how we did it. This, that's not how I've ever done my classroom, why would I change now. And the legislature wants a little more control over things than that. And it's easy, it's easy to measure, seat time, it's a little harder to measure some of the other things that we're trying to measure. So Colby wants to see a shift in what we value, maybe this would mean a shift towards the joy of learning, like Chris Rothfuss said last episode. This is where the Mentor Corps will help. Colby Gull: I think that when we're new in a position, we don't know what we don't know. So we don't know what questions to ask. And having somebody that has some experience that has some training in mentoring. We will be helpful to just preemptively say, here's something that's coming up. When I spoke with Colby this summer, they were just getting ready to train a cohort of teachers to be mentors. In many of these episodes, we've discussed the value of expertise. When thinking about what teachers need, it's worth speaking with teachers. With this said, in order to train mentors to help other teachers, the Mentor Corps has sought the expertise of entities outside of education to address some of the issues educators are having within education.  Colby Gull:  And we're not focusing on any K-12 skills that you would technically think about as K-12 . But we're going to focus on how to communicate effectively how to talk to somebody, and how to listen to somebody so that when you're sitting with your mentor and mentee having a conversation, it's meaningful, and there's good feedback going both ways, which is another skill we're going to work on is, is giving and receiving feedback.  Along with better communication, the program will help train mentors, with the help of Leadership Wyoming, to find a better work-life balance, which is a major struggle for teachers. Colby Gull: We get out of balance really easily. And I think to a large measure that is to the detriment of our mental emotional health. And so we have, we have a strand on work life balance. And so we'll get introduced into that. And then we'll do a little piece about friendships and building relationships and having a trusting relationship, and confidentiality so that when they walk away, they'll have an introduction, all of those skills. And that's what we'll focus on over the 18 months are those skills and how they develop them.  So mentors will work through the mentorship program over the course of 18 months.  Colby Gull: And that's what our funding is for is for those three cohorts of mentors. So by the end, we'll have trained 60 mentors, 60 or so mentors. And then we'll develop a model of how that gets spread down through the state. So we can have a bigger impact than just 60. Because there are 350, some odd teacher opening jobs in Wyoming. So we need to have enough mentors to support all of those new teachers. The goal of the Teaching-Mentor Corps is to help teachers support teachers. They want to give teachers some agency and help construct a support system that will hopefully help both new and veteran teachers stay in education. This is a noble goal. Fund for Teachers and the Teaching-Mentor Corps won't solve teacher attrition on their own, but they will help keep some teachers in education. But as Lindsey pointed out, we still need solutions that result in valuing teachers, which means paying teachers better. When I asked Colby if the mentors participating in the Teacher-Mentor program will be paid for their mentorship of other teachers, he said no, not at this time. The program is a pilot and they could only get enough funding to pay for the training for the mentors. This is no fault of Colby or the program. I think this program is wonderful, and I would encourage anyone in Wyoming interested to apply to become a mentor.  But I do want to pause and draw attention at the larger reality this points to. When it comes to keeping teachers in education, the burden often lands right back on teachers.  The solutions to keeping teachers often requires more work, more time, and more stress, all for minimal to no compensation. Whether this is mentoring other teachers, going to legislative sessions or school board meetings, being on committees or task forces, writing for grants or fellowships, or making a podcast, it all takes time and almost all of it is done during a teacher's “free time.” When will the burden of keeping teachers in education fall to non-educators? Will it be when enough teachers leave? Will it be when teacher attrition gets to a point that becomes inconvenient for non-educators? I honestly don't know that we'll get to this point because people that teach care so much - that might be their tragic flaw. Several of the teachers that I spoke with over the course of this project were working on their own projects or going back to school to try to be part of the solution. And they do it because they care. These are people like Gary Martin who taught on the Wind River Reservation and went back to school for education. His dissertation is looking at how student trauma is being transferred to teachers and contributing to their attrition rate.  Gary Martin: Well, the attrition is crazy, because it's like, there's no stability, like teachers are staying like one or two years. And then next, you know, they're going to another district and I don't know about a lot of the students in, in other areas of state, but it's just like, students in general need, like stability. I mean, it's, the stability factor is lacking, especially when teacher that attrition is so high.  He knows that teachers leaving is hurting kids, but the onus should not be placed on teachers to stay so that kids aren't hurt. That rhetoric is used often, and it's tremendously manipulative. The programs that are trying to support teachers need to be funded and supported, and the burden of keeping teachers can't be placed solely on teachers. Meanwhile teachers are realizing that they have a lot of really great skills that can be applied in other careers - contrary to the thought that those who can't do, teach. So if we want to keep teachers from leaving education, it might mean shaking up the way things have been done and taking some notes from groups like Fund for Teachers or the Teacher Mentor Corps who are actively trying to help teachers by asking teachers what they need, so that maybe we can have a system where teachers want to stay. Or, teachers will keep leaving because they can. Next time, we will be hearing from teachers who have left teaching, how they left, and how their lives are now.   That will be next time, in the conclusion of Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. With only one episode left, we want to hear from you. We want to hear your reactions to the podcast, or personal stories about education.  If you are interested, please record a voice message that includes your name, background, and message, and send your recording to those who can't teach anymore at gmail.com for the chance to be included in a bonus episode. As always, thank you so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. Word of mouth has done wonders for getting this podcast to people who need to hear it.  This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Jennica Fournier. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Stephanie Ascherl, Lindsey Freeman, Colby Gull, Elizabeth Smith, and Gary Martin for taking time to sit down and chat with me. If you are interested in applying for a Fund for Teachers Fellowship you can find their website at fund for teachers dot org. If you are interested in learning more about the Wyoming Teacher-Mentor Corps, there is a link in the transcript to this episode, and I will provide a link on our instagram page @thosewhocantteachanymore.  This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship.  

Imagine that you are hiring a new English teacher. None of the people who apply have any of the qualifications to teach English. No teaching degree. No English degree. No experience in the classroom. Would you hire any of them? Probably not. Now here is the irony. Many of the people making curricular and legislative decisions about education don't have the qualifications to be hired within education. This is a problem. In this episode, we hear how standardization, high-stakes testing, and policy decisions made by non-educators may be contributing to teachers' decisions to leave education. Music:  Theme Song By Julian Saporiti  “So Stark (You're a Skyscraper” by Matt LeGroulx is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Cat and Mouse” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a CC  BY license. “Space (Outro)” by Andy Cohen is licensed under a CC  BY license.   “Home Fire” by Nul Tiel Records is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Press Conference” by Blanket Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Things Change” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain.  “Living Life” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a CC BY-NC license. “Boulevard St Germain” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license.  “Hungaria” by Latche Swing is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license. “Business Getaway ” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a CC  BY license. Transcript: I used to listen to the Dixie Chicks's song “Wide Open Spaces” before wrestling matches because I would get too wound up. It helped me slow down my breathing and relax.  In junior high and high school, I was fixated on winning and losing. I'd get a pit in my stomach, psyche myself up and out, all to my detriment. I was terrified of failing, of being a disappointment or an embarrassment.  Then I went to college. I walked-on to the University of Wyoming's wrestling team. During my meeting with Steve Suder, the head coach, he told me, “You know, you'll be walking into a room with a bunch of state champs. Are you worried about that?” I told him, “No, I'm not” because those were the guys  that I wanted to be wrestling against. I was a two-time state placer and I had nothing to lose. Suder said, “Good,” and then told me that he never won state either, but he ended up being an All-American for the University of Wyoming, so there was hope for me.  During our conversation, in between adjusting this chewed up yellow cushion he used as a back support, he told me that I was like the pretty girl's funny friend at a party. I'm not someone he noticed right off the bat, but once he got to know me, he was happy to have me around. He meant this in the best way possible, and I didn't mind.  I made the team, worked my butt off, won some matches, and lost more than I won. And I hate losing, but it felt different. I was excited to be wrestling, not nervous. Suder made it clear that his expectations were low, but he was happy to have me. I focused on gaining experience and the process and growing as a wrestler and a person. And I got to wrestle a guy named Brent Metcalf, who is the only person I wrestled that had a documentary made about him. When someone asked Metcalf why he didn't celebrate wins, he said, “I don't want to give my opponent the satisfaction of watching me celebrate, which would make it look like a big deal that I beat him.” This dude is a monster.  It was an extraordinarily humbling match. I had no control of my own body - his fingers were in my mouth at one point, but I learned what it was like to wrestle the best. It was eye-opening.  My tenure as a collegiate wrestler only lasted that year,but I remained in contact with Coach Suder off and on until his passing in 2019. And I had changed. My priorities shifted from valuing product to process.    When I became an assistant high school wrestling coach, the head coach had also wrestled for Coach Suder, and so we continued his tradition of emphasizing process. And what I noticed is that the wrestlers felt less pressure. They only tried being better today than they were yesterday. And when they have that mindset, success, though not guaranteed, is more likely. They are wrestling to compete and to score points. And even if they don't have success, they do the best they can do at that moment, and that's always worth being proud of.  In education, we focus on the product, on assessment. There is an obsession with passing or failing and we seem to have forgotten the value of process, which is where many teachers live. So today, we are going to look at how a structure of education that values standardized assessments could be contributing to teachers deciding to leave the profession, and because some of the frustrations with standardized assessment is a federal issue, which is too much to address here, we'll explore a possible solution to the high stakes assessment issue in Wyoming, which would hopefully keep teachers in education.  This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 5: “Education has a Tourist Problem” Mark Perkins: I do think that for a lot of teachers who are leaving, and this is speculative, but I think it's reasonable to assume that if you alleviated some of the assessment requirements within their schools, their satisfaction would increase. I don't think that that's a jump.  This is Mark Perkins, he is an Assistant Professor of Education Research Methods at the University of Wyoming and he is talking about the survey results he gathered about teacher attrition in Wyoming. So many teachers, both teachers leaving and teachers staying, reported that they were not happy with assessments. As we've heard from teachers that left teaching, there wasn't one thing that pushed them out of teaching. It was the layering of factors. And if we want to keep more teachers from leaving, it would be worth trying to address some of the most consistent factors. Aside from overall well-being and feeling supported, assessment is one the most consistent teacher frustrations. Now before we get into what specifically teachers don't like about assessment, I think it's important to think about why education currently has assessments, and this goes back to what we talked about last episode: the purpose of education and needing to be able to measure success for whatever that purpose is. Simply put, we need to reflect on what we want kids to know and how we can measure what they know. Mark explains. Mark Perkins: And so what does school success really look like? That sounds like an interesting, easy question. It's like, Well, kids know how to do math. Well, okay. What does that look like? Well, they can add, subtract, divide. All right. So what? When you start drilling into the actual requirements to exist and inhabit the world, the factors become much more latent than what we measure. But we fixated ourselves purely on content. During our conversation, Mark explained that there are a ton of other things that we want for students: self-awareness, identity development, civic consciousness, the ability to have some gumption and as Mark phrased it, drag a horse through the mud. But none of those qualities are easy to measure, which means it's more difficult to measure a teacher's overall effectiveness. This brings us back to the focus on content.  Mark Perkins: But all of the focus has been on reading math, science and somewhat government. How does a teacher who navigates let's call it the multivariate universe of being an educator. How do you evaluate teaching for the holistic aspects of the job? While we don't?  It would be difficult to assess students and teachers in the Multivariate Universe of education, as Mark puts it, so we assess a few content areas, and only a few things in those content areas. Many mission statements want to acknowledge the whole student, but we only assess a fraction of the student.  For example, I have a grant application unit for my sophomores. They do research and write a grant to receive hypothetical funding that they can use to address a real problem within our community. I don't limit students on what kinds of problems they want to address, so students have looked at drug use or homelessness or access to sports or social justice issues.  When students submit their grant applications, we go through a selection process. Students read each other's grants anonymously and identify ones that meet all of the grant requirements and would, in their minds, best serve our community. By the end of the process, all of my classes vote on the one grant that should receive the hypothetical funding. Every year I've done this, the grants that make the final vote, the ones that all of my students have pushed forward, are philanthropic and genuinely kind. And I tell my students this, usually as I tear up, that this project gives me hope for the future because through their research, writing, discussions, and voting, they prove that they are empathetic humans. I learn much more about what my students can do through this project than any standardized assessment that I've been required to administer. And this is a frustration echoed by teacher after teacher. If the thing that is used to reflect a district's success is a bubble-sheet test, that can feel pretty disheartening. Because from the teachers' perspective, the results of those tests, the results that are reported in the paper and raise community questions like, “What are they even teaching kids in school?” those tests lack validity. They're not the best way to measure whether the kids are alright, and Mark has questions about how well these tests show what kids know and how well they predict the future success of students, which is often how standardized tests are used. Several teachers pointed to the frustration that rather than getting students ready for life beyond high school or to be a life-long learner, they are forced to think that the be-all-end-all was the ACT or SAT.  So engaging and authentic instruction gets replaced with teaching to a test. From Mark's research and work in assessment, he sees that those assessments might not be worth the time we are putting towards them. Mark Perkins: And I have a suspicion that the predictive validity of these tests is not that good. And my suspicion comes from a very large body of literature that has looked at ACT/SAT versus high school grade point average and college level English math and general college grade point average. And yet, we invest an amount of time, pressure and money on these measures. What this means is that a grade point average, though imperfect in its own right, is a better predictor of future student success, whether they are college or career bound, than a standardized assessment. So what a teacher measures in their classroom is a better indicator of future success than what a standardized assessment shows.  And if this isn't enough, the amount students are tested is tremendous. This saps their energy and the energy of teachers who have to say, “I know this is the 573rd test, but you've got this.”  Mark Perkins: We need to simplify and make assessment parsimonious. We do need to assess, but we certainly only need to take our temperature one time and evening, maybe two, when we have a cold because we know that it's going to say the same number every time. Measuring is not teaching. I want to reiterate what Mark just said - measuring is not teaching. I also want to clarify something about assessment. Teachers use informal assessments all of the time. And these are different than the high-stakes standardized assessments.  Good teaching makes use of valid and authentic assessments often. When I was writing this episode, I got talking with my wife, Jennie,  about assessment, because this is what you do when you marry another teacher. When she taught Advanced Biology, she created these elaborate group tests that students would get excited about. She used assessment as a learning tool. Her thought is that you don't know what you know until you need to apply your knowledge.  This is why I like the writing process because it's an act of creating and synthesizing. It's a great form of learning.  So the right assessment can be an informative learning tool, but the high stakes, fill-in-the-bubble, standardized assessments that teachers are frustrated with are not that. Mark explains that in order for those standardized assessments to be more valid, there should be some adjustments.  Mark Perkins: I think that we could more wisely use measurement, and education. I think one of the first problems with high stakes testing, is the fact that the majority of these tests have no impact on students. Now. You don't have to be draconian about it .But we make intelligent decisions based off of test scores. And we provide students with logical and rational incentives.  From the teacher's perspective, it's hard to convince students that the tests matter because students don't see how they are relevant to their lives. I try to give students some perspective before tests, like “No it doesn't impact your grade, but  if you go through and randomly click answers to finish early, the people who care about these tests will think you're not learning anything, and then they will change curriculum and make you guys only learn from a textbook. Do you want that?” They usually shake their heads no, but that doesn't mean they care any more about the test. Many teachers struggle to care about the tests as well. They don't like the kind of standardization the tests force that does not allow for freedom in the classroom. Shane Atkinson, who we heard from in the first episode, left teaching after 13 years, and part of his decision to leave had to do with a lack of autonomy, some of which is tied to standardization. He pointed out that there are some districts that are so standardized, their days are mapped out in a binder. Shane Atkinson: This is what you do, then you do this, here's the question you should ask, have them fill out this worksheet. Day two… I think that's been done under the guise of equity. You don't want a kid in this classroom at this school to get a much different or better education than a teacher in the classroom next door. And I get that. So the idea is, well, to keep it equitable, they should be doing the same thing in both of those classrooms during that period of their US History class. Again, you're making decisions based on a minority and applying them to everybody, even if you're doing good work. That does everybody a disservice.  The hope is that every kid will receive the same quality of education, so teachers are expected to stick to a curriculum, and in some instances, stick to a script. Much of the push towards national standardization came from the George W Bush Administration's, 2001, No Child Left Behind Act. Jaye Wacker, whose voice we heard in the first episode and who quit teaching after 31 years, felt like the No Child Left Behind Act did a lot to undermine public trust in education. And it did it through standards.  Jaye Wacker: No Child Left Behind set impossible targets. And basically year after year after year, it undermined public confidence in education. So then we needed the standards we needed to prove that we're doing something and yeah, I get it and I agree with it. You know, let's prove what we're doing. But this homogenization that we've talked about _____ High School in their curriculum, the most diverse curriculum in the state, and their kids are outperforming all these homogenized curriculums.  Part of the impossible targets from the No Child Left Behind Act included a 100% proficiency rate for all students by 2014 - this meant that all students would be able to perform at grade level by 2014. This sounds nice, it is great rhetoric because of course no one wants to leave any kids behind, but this goal disregards so many variables. Many students are below grade level because of severe physical and or learning disabilities, and some will never make it to grade level. This doesn't mean an effort to get all students to proficient is a bad goal, it's a great goal, but not reaching this goal made it look like schools were failing. But the Act made it so schools were destined to fail. Though this Act has since been replaced, along with the unrealistic proficiency rates, its negative impact on the view of education is still present. Wacker also pointed to the reality that homogenized education doesn't necessarily produce the best results. This is a pretty common view of standards. A teacher who wanted to remain anonymous said. "On a societal level, I think standards are the worst thing about education, and that's a wide-open race... In my opinion, standards have lead to a homogenization that is stunting our growth, and solve problems that don't exist. I don't want education to be the same everywhere; I want to be a local restaurant, not a McDonald's." For a more scientific point of view, my wife, Jennie, who left teaching after 7 years compares standardization to evolution. Jennica Fournier: So I think that standards homogenize things. So I don't know if your high school teacher was too afraid to teach you about evolution. But in general, we evolve best as a species if we have a really diverse gene pool. Basically if our education system was a gene pool, we'd be fucked.   So from an evolutionary perspective, species that are standardized or homogenous, don't survive adversity very well. Diversity is necessary for survival, and this includes diversity of curriculum. Jennie explained that we might struggle as a country to solve problems when everyone has been exposed to the same standardized curriculums. Jennie points out that there would be benefits to having students prioritize local issues. Jennica Fournier: So essentially we need kids to have a set of skills that match their environment at a local level in order to solve problems at their local level versus everyone in the US only knowing how to solve a generic set of problems. So many teachers see standards as an impossible bar to be reached that stifles their ability to be creative in their classrooms. Another part to the frustration with standardization and standardized assessments comes from the preparation required to take them and the pressure associated with the results. This is preparation and pressure that Mark, who discussed assessment earlier in this episode, says might be unnecessary. Molly Waterworth, who we heard from in a previous episode and who left teaching after 8 years, explains how frustrating that process of preparation was.  Molly Waterworth: ACT/SAT prep, hated that. Totally hated it. And I never really figured out a way to do it super meaningfully. It just felt really meaningless because I just couldn't connect it to anything relevant. I just have to say to the kids, “I'm doing this so that you know the format of the test, and that's why we're doing this.” It's not fun. There's no way to have a discussion about whether or not somebody answered the correct question on ACT/SAT practice. My biggest motivator and the thing that brought me the most joy in teaching English was discussion and parsing through complexity and finding our collective way through something big and doing ACT/SAT prep just didn't ring that bell. Having to teach towards a test that doesn't seem valuable, or to work towards standards for the sake of standards can leave teachers feeling powerless. I don't know that anyone likes to feel powerless, to feel like their hands are tied behind their backs. Several teachers decided to leave education for jobs that gave them more autonomy, where they didn't feel like they were jumping through hoops.   I personally have never been a fan of doing things just because. If I am required to give a test, I want to know that it matters. I do the same for my students, I want all of their work to feel relevant beyond the classroom. Most teachers are the same. They want to know that what they are doing is relevant, and many don't feel like the layers of standardized tests are relevant.Students, like most other humans, want to feel like what they do matters.  At least that's what Anjel Garcia wanted from her education.  Anjel Garcia: Kids just don't have any respect or like reason to care about school, and I think that connects back to they don't know what they are doing there.  Anjel took my college-level English class and graduated last year. She is a phenomenal artist - I have one of her paintings hanging in my classroom - and she is going to college for art. For Anjel, she thinks school should help students find a direction for their lives.  Anjel Garcia: I think it's to find a passion and to find something that you want to pursue in life. But we're at the point where you're only doing it so that you can cram and learn that information, and then forget it the day after the test. They're not actually doing it in a way that's teaching kids how to find interests. Which is something that many teachers enjoy. Engaging students in the joy of learning to find their interests is such a gratifying part of the job. And helping students identify interests means teachers would be able to individualize education for students. As we heard last episode, this is what many students want in their education - individualization. So a shift in the mission and a deprioritization of standardized assessment could create a structure that ends up valuing individualization. If we don't make this shift, we will continue with a structure that devalues individualization and does not promote the joy of learning. This is what that feels like to Anjel. Anjel Garcia: It's kind of extreme…with the prison system, they treat everyone the same way. They treat them like animals. They aren't treated in a way that rehabilitates them to be better people or to be prepared in the world, and I think that sort of connects to school.  Students shouldn't feel like this, and teachers often feel powerless when it comes to assessment. To ease student pushback they rely on the district, state, or national mandate. The “Sorry guys, we have to do this.” So a shift to prioritizing the joy of learning will be a positive shift not only for keeping teachers but for making education something that students find joy and value in.  Still, despite teacher frustrations and the possible lack of validity of standardization and standardized tests, they are present because there has been a historic problem with equity in education in the United States. This is why Marguerite Herman sees value in standardization. Marguerite has a master's degree in education, has some experience teaching, and served two terms as a School Board Trustee. And she agrees that there are some downsides to the standards, but she was pretty adamant that they are necessary.  Marguerite Herman: To standardize things, you lose a lot, but you also have these assurances that again… I use the term bean counter. I don't want to be dismissive of that responsibility - bean counters have to answer themselves to others. I've known Marguerite since I was in Kindergarden - she used to help with religious ed when I was little, and I went to high school with her kids. When she was on the school board, I could always count on her to attend events I put on for my students - author visits or student projects. Marguerite is involved and someone I knew would be well-informed and honest with me about her role on the School Board and about education policy.  When I told her that teachers are frustrated with standardization and assessments, she acknowledged teacher frustration but defended assessments because they offer quality assurance and a way to make educational funding decisions, even if the standardized assessments are imperfect.   Marguerite Herman: You know, with funding comes accountability. And to some extent, people want a number, especially legislators who are not educators. They want to know, what's your competence here, what's whatever you're proficient in. Anytime you index a number, there's just a lot of data that's lost because you're reducing, you're obscuring, a lot of nuance. You don't get any nuance, frankly. It's imperfect, but you need something, and I'm not challenging that.  Marguerite explains that something is needed to ensure that all students are benefiting from their public education. And her job as a Trustee on the School Board was to ensure that.  Marguerite Herman: Well, once again, the statute kind of lays it out. At the school board, we are elected as trustees, and let me just dwell a moment on the word trustee, which is that you have undivided loyalty to a beneficiary. That word was picked. It's not like a delegate and something like a representative. You don't represent a sub constituency. You represent every child in this district - they are the beneficiaries. So everything you do, you should have in your mind, “I am using all the possessions, the assets of our district, to provide for the educational benefit of every child.”  I want to pause on this definition for a moment because there has been some divisiveness on school boards across the country. Marguerite's definition is succinct -  Trustees serve their beneficiaries, so Board Members serve kids. This means the tribalism that has moved into school boards across the country should get left at the door. School boards serve students and no one else. And when I say students, I mean all students across the religious, racial, sexual, gendered, intellectual, and political spectrums. This is no small feat to serve such a diverse spectrum of students, but that should be the goal despite what interest groups think or who is in the capital. And this is why Marguerite is adamant that even if our current system is imperfect, we need something. I agree, we need something, but I don't think what we have currently is that something. And Marguerite explains that the data  that the legislators  want don't come from what a teacher sees.  Marguerite Herman: The feds want their numbers, and the legislature wants its numbers. “This is the teacher's honest opinion of the learning that went on” and said, “Yeah, that's fine. But you know, show me the test score, show me the performance I want to see”. And so, you know, we dance to a lot of different bean counters.  So the people that want to track progress, as Mark pointed out earlier in this episode and Marguerite reiterates here, don't necessarily want to hear what a teacher has to say about a student's success - even though a teacher is an expert and is highly aware of their students' capabilities. And even though, as we heard Mark explain earlier, a student's gpa, made up of teacher grades, is often a better indicator of a student's future success than the results of a standardized assessment. But teachers aren't trusted. The feds, the legislature, whoever it is that is running quality assurance wants an easily read progress report that covers a few content areas.  Remember the idealism about the purpose of education from last episode - it often fizzles at the feet of a standardized structure that takes the word of a test over that of a teacher, the human who actually knows the kid. Idealism and authentic learning and genuine human growth are harder to measure than the few content areas that can be measured on a bubble sheet. Still,  I know Marguerite is right - the assessments and the standards are a way to document, in an easily measurable way, that an effort is being made to assure an equitable education for all. That does not mean the way we assess nor the assessments themselves are valid, good for kids, or good for teachers. So let's change them! Let's make our purpose of education, our assessments, our measurements good for kids and good for teachers! Right? It should be easy! We know that kids want to feel like what they do matters, that they want curriculums that are more individualized. Right? So we need to talk with someone who understands how these things work, and how changes could be made to the current system. Here's Chris Rothfuss. Chris has been a college professor, he has run a college summer program for high school students, and he is the father of kids in the public school system. He is also the Senate Minority Floor Leader in the Wyoming State Senate and a member of the Joint Education Committee. Chris was one of two Wyoming legislators to get back to me, and the only one who agreed to meet with me.  Chris Rothfuss: The intent of that Accountability Act, as it ended up looking, was to figure out which districts and specifically which schools were struggling, and then provide them with the resources, a system of supports, to build them up and make them better.  The Wyoming Accountability in Education Act was adopted in 2013. It took over federal accountability requirements established by the No Child Left Behind Act and preceded by the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA. ESSA requires states to give annual statewide tests in reading/language arts and math to every student in third through eighth grade and once when they are in high school, and in science at least once in each of grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. So the Wyoming Accountability Act, through the Legislature and Wyoming Department of Education, interprets federal requirements and sets goals for student and school achievement. So what assessments are used, how students are assessed, and how many assessments are given beyond the federal requirement is dictated by the state. And Chris acknowledges that there might be an issue with assessments.  Chris Rothfuss: We may be overtesting. If there were a way that we could do sampled testing if we could be a little more thoughtful about how we're doing it, if we're not using it as a direct educational instrument, then we don't need every student tested, we really just need a statistical representative sample.  But at this point, testing for a statistical representative sample is not how assessments are being used. Federally we have to test every student in most grades at least once a year, but many students are tested much more than this. Even so, I like the idea of shifting to a statistical representation especially if it means less tests. Statistical representative sample testing is already used at the federal level by the National Center for Educational Statistics - an entity of the US Department of Education. The National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP tests, also known as the Nation's Report Card, are given every two years to randomly selected fourth and eighth graders to test English and Math. So we already have a model for using these statistical representative sample tests, and it might be worth seriously considering how to do this - to quit overtesting. Chris calls the amount of tests part of the unintended consequences of standardization.  Chris Rothfuss: So we in Wyoming adopted some world class standards. The unintended consequence, though, as you set that as your mission, teach all of these students all of these standards, is that you've only got so much time in a day. And you've got more standards than you're capable of teaching in a school year. So when that becomes your priority, and you know, you're going to be tested on your knowledge of those standards, and you know, you're expected to improve your knowledge of those standards. As you're thinking through our well, what are we going to do with each of our days, you don't think head to the mountains? I think about heading to the mountains on a daily basis, but that doesn't mean we get to go to them. These unintended consequences of standards and assessments are a reality. The individualization of instruction and the exploration that teachers talked about last episode are often a casualty of an overwhelming amount of standards that must be covered. But a move towards individualization, and less emphasis on standardized assessments is possible. But it will require a legislature that is informed and understands what adjustments should be made in education. Chris Rothfuss: I don't think there's necessarily a misconception that the folks that are making decisions about education, don't understand education. That's regrettably probably accurate. Chris points out that many of the people with the power to make policy decisions about education think they are qualified to make decisions about education because they once went through the education system. Many of these people want to run education like a business, like a factory. They use words like stakeholders and incentivize, and they want annual progress reports. These are people that don't necessarily acknowledge or make decisions about education based on best practices. Chris Rothfuss: I spent the first I don't know how many years of my time in the legislature trying to ensure that our Wyoming education model did not utilize that pay for teacher performance. Because the literature makes it very clear that that is the wrong approach. Best Practices make it very clear that that's the wrong approach. But policymakers so often choose that approach because they don't take the time to really understand why it's an awful approach.  Folks like legislators disregarding best practice or research-based practice is a foundational aspect of why teachers are leaving education. Teachers are experts in their field, but education has a tourist problem. You know, those people who are close enough to education to feel like they are a part of the system, but the actual educators, the educational locals if you will, don't see it the same way.  And  teachers are tired of being dismissed or treated like they aren't experts. The educational tourists assume that their time as students makes them an expert in education - policy is put into motion by folks who aren't informed enough about education to be making decisions.  This is so frustrating as an educator. Nothing irritates me more than a non-educator, upon finding out I'm a teacher, starts telling me how I should do things. It's almost as bad as sitting next to an arm-chair quarterback trying to explain how Josh Allen should be throwing the ball differently.  Chris is aware of this frustration of having unqualified people making decisions about education, and he is at a loss as well. Chris Rothfuss: Education is certainly not a business. But at the same time, imagine you were a business and you were hiring for the job. Instead of electing for the job, you would immediately eliminate the entire slate. And this would be true of so many of the things so many of the positions, so many elected officials. If it were a list of applicants and you were the hiring officer, you'd just be like not qualified, not qualified, not qualified. How did we get to the point where our elected officials And the folks that we put in charge could never even get a job at the institution they're being put in charge of. Think about that. Many of the people in positions to make policy decisions about education do not have the qualifications to be hired within the education system. Why do we accept this?  When the people in charge of the institution aren't involved in the institution, they aren't informed enough to be making decisions that are in the best interest of those people, the students and teachers and administrators, that are in that institution daily. This results in bad policy or policy fueled by animosity towards education or animosity towards any federal institution.  Chris Rothfuss: We've moved away from having a supportive team of pro-education legislators on the education committee that was struggling and working to do what was best for K-12 public education and really working hard to now over the last few years, embracing this mentality that our public schools are failing, and that somehow, for profit, religious charter schools from out of state will solve our problems, or decreasing funding will solve our problems, or belittling teachers and calling them out. Maybe holding them responsible for tiny actions or making them post everything that they're doing every single day online for parents to nitpick is somehow going to help. We haven't really in the legislature seen anything that I would call a strong positive pro education proposal in probably the last four years, But what we have seen are policies that attack educators or education as a whole, and this is exhausting as a teacher. For many this adds to the feeling of being disrespected. If our elected officials, people who are seen as community leaders, are attacking education from an uninformed platform, it perpetuates a devaluing of education, thus a devaluing of teachers. And teachers are tired of it, and it's contributing to why they are quitting.   Chris Rothfuss: We have some of the least informed policy makers shouting the loudest about their beliefs in education, that they're entirely unqualified to bring forward and promote. And yet, by being the loudest voice in the room and an angry voice, it's just easy to generate a mob mentality of support behind you, and to advance what is effectively bad policy and bad legislation, so we're seeing that.  And what's scary is that these poorly informed policymakers are in positions to make policy change, to make lasting impacts on education that will further ostracize teachers, hurt students, and likely make more teachers leave the profession.  Marguerite gave an example of a policymaker putting a footnote in a budget bill that tried to reject teaching Next Generation Science standards, which, as Marguerite put it Marguerite Herman: Which is like modern science. We hear about evolution, you know? I think we kind of got that one settled. Let's question gravity, shall we? Okay. I'm making fun of it, but it was, teachers had no idea it was awful. That's what happens when the legislature, which is politics, let's face it, folks, gets into the curriculum, they do not have the expertise. And then Pollock's politics doesn't always produce the greatest results, let's just say. Chris had examples of bad bills too. Chris Rothfuss: Teachers Not in Legislature In fact, when we hear when we when we bring legislation when we got some horrible bill that's coming before us in the legislature, like the horrible bill we had last year that would have required everything that teachers were doing, be posted on the web. Awful bill, bad premise, and certainly awful motivation. As far as I can tell, the only motivation is, you know, we don't know which books to burn if we don't have a full list.  So that awful bill, we didn't have a lot of teachers come up and provide public testimony against that bill, you think the whole classroom would be full, right up until you realize that no, all of those teachers were teaching at that moment in time, and would have had to take time off from teaching to come provide testimony against that lousy bill. So we don't hear the chorus of voices from the expert educators, we hear the chorus of voices from the folks that have the free time to come and yell at us. This is a great irony. Teachers who would have strong opinions about such a bill and who would be impacted by the bill, are not able to advocate in person because they are doing their jobs. And at a moment when substitutes are in short supply, leaving school to attend the legislative session is even more difficult.   Still, teacher advocacy was something that both Chris and Marguerite pointed to in terms of making a difference in policy. Policy includes curriculum choices and assessment choices. But for a teacher to speak up about assessment or curriculum requires a level of vulnerability that many teachers don't feel comfortable with.  Chris Rothfuss: Well, it's certainly understandable that when the teaching community has its strong supportive views for diversity of educational materials that are and that view is effectively contrary to a school board that again, is usually not expert, or particularly proficient in pedagogy or or education. It's going to be disconcerting for the teachers to step up and advocate because again, they're in fear for the protection and preservation of their job, and it's a flaw with our system.  I have felt this constantly over the last eight months as I've interviewed folks, researched, written, and produced this podcast. I don't know who I might offend or upset - Wyoming has a mighty small population And I don't know what impact this series could have on my job. It's a risk, but dammit, I'm tired of seeing teachers at the end of their tethers. I'm tired of being a teacher at the end of my tether. Something has to change. We need to fix this.  We need to listen to the experts, to teachers who know what they're doing, who know what good assessment looks like, who know what engagement looks like, who know the power of relationships, and who know that teachers are stretched thin. And Chris says, teacher voices could make an impact.  Chris Rothfuss: And public testimony does make a difference. And believe me if those 250 educators were able to show up and weren't obligated to be teaching at that point in time. That'd be very compelling. Beyond speaking up in legislative sessions, part of the solution to retaining teachers, might require some reflection on the roles of everyone in the multivariate universe of education. So my question to both Chris and Marguerite was if teachers should have more of a role on school boards. I asked this because many teachers point to the reality that school boards are made up of non-teachers. Not many other professional boards are run by people outside of the particular field. Marguerite was adamant that teachers should not be on school boards - she explained that's not how the statute is written. And Chris worked through the question in a very diplomatic manner, but he acknowledges a problem with people getting on school boards who are there for the wrong reasons.  Chris Rothfuss: This gets back to the question of who should govern whom and how. You'll have some people on an average school board, typical school board, that know something about education, hopefully. And then you've got people that are just mad about education. And then you've got people that are pointedly trying to slant education towards specific interest groups interests, that might be fully counter to K-12. Chris sees value in teacher expertise, but like Marguerite, he points to the possible conflict of interest with having teachers on the board.   Chris Rothfuss: It is hard to have someone on a governing body that is in the role that the body is governing as a voting member, although that can be dealt with, you can have some votes that they're there for, like the policy decisions they are included in, but maybe not the personnel decisions, there's a lot of possibilities there. So I'm one that certainly is concerned that we do not have anywhere near enough expertise on our school boards. There's no obligations for qualifications. So a lot of the problems we have stem from that lack of expertise. And ideally you want to balance.  Having some balance is a step towards a system that will retain teachers. In order to keep teachers in education, it will be important that teachers have a voice in education policy and decision making. Teachers shouldn't be a scapegoat when things go wrong, nor should they be excluded or put in positions where they exclude themselves from decision making positions because they fear retaliation or because they are so busy that they can't make room for something else.  We need to reimagine and consider the roles of everyone tied to the education process because right now, the teachers working with kids and engaging in the education process are often left out of the conversation. Dylan Bear, a teacher we heard from a few episodes ago, had the best analogy for how we should think about everyone's role in education.  Dylan Bear: Imagine, a fence, you know, like a round pen for a horse. The respect has to come from all angles for someone to learn. And you have to have the community showing respect of the education system, you have to have parents showing respect, you have to have the students show respect to the teacher showing respect for that. And so this ring of respect has to be there, of the education system. Or else if one of those falls out, like have a parent, dad or mom say, I'm not dealing with my kid at school, I call the principals and then once that happened, that kid got out of the pen because now he goes the path of least resistance to leave the education system.  The key image that Dylan is presenting here is the ring of respect that requires everyone associated with education to have a role, and trusting each other to cover their role. And for Dylan, even though he points to an analogy of a horse pen, he says this could take place anywhere.   Dylan Bear: And it doesn't have to be four walls and bricks and the fence at the school. I think that's such a weird way to learn. I love going to the mountains and going on trails where now you're vulnerable, and you want people to respect you and trust you. You look at the different environments for education, so different. But yeah, trying to get what needs to change to me is you have to have communities that value teachers that don't want to use that negative language. You have to have kids who value it. So education has to be a collective of support with and around kids. To gain that support and trust and collectivity we need to have a clear purpose of education - this echoes last episode. Right now, we base the purpose of education on how we evaluate students or how we can cover a tremendous amount of material. An unintended consequence of having so much material to cover is that education might feel like a grind to students. A grind without a sense of purpose makes it difficult for students to care. So to shift what is happening in the classroom and to create a structure in which roles are clear and supportive of one another in education, Chris thinks legislators should start by listening to teacher concerns. Chris Rothfuss: So when we hear from our teachers, what their real concerns are right now, and when they come back to me as a legislator and say, mental health is the problem for both students and teachers. We should listen. And we should adjust because at the end of the day we're not these rulers that are supposed to be at a distance and making proclamations. Our job is to listen and to learn from folks that know what they're talking about. And then try to put in place policies that affect change that enable everyone to do what they want to do and are trying to accomplish. And particularly in the public education system, we have that constitutional obligation to provide this high quality education for all.  For Chris, the role of legislators is to seek out experts to inform their decisions about policy that will impact those experts. So, for policy about education, legislators ought to speak to educators. And to do so in a way that is welcoming and doesn't just put more work on teacher plates. Chris also pointed out that to help mental health, which would contribute to keeping teachers, he thinks there should be a push to shift our priorities away from developing workers, which ideally means a shift away from high stakes assessment.   Chris Rothfuss: Honestly, if our first priority was joy in learning. As job number one, just imagine how much more we would learn. And that's the message that comes if we want to set it at the legislative level, we want to set it at the school district level. It does come from the policy leaders setting what is the mission? And right now our mission is develop workers. Chris explained that the role of legislators is to set the education mission, which could be seen as a purpose of education. And he thinks, especially at this present moment of teacher attrition and teachers and students both struggling with mental health, that the mission should prioritize the joy of learning. And if that mission is set, evaluative practices and accountability models can be adjusted. This will then dictate how school boards will work to achieve the new mission's objectives. It's a top-down shift, but if the top (legislators) consult the bottom (teachers and students) then it's more of a down-top-down shift? Whatever it is, it might help. Chris said that he would even be willing to take a drop in proficiency if we have happy kids and happy teachers.  Chris Rothfuss: My absolute ideal is to heavily prioritize joy in the classroom, and to focus our efforts, our resources, our activities, and our prioritization towards building joy in the classroom, with the expectation that with that joy, you would be addressing mental health issues, both for the teachers and for the students. And I'd love to see where that takes us. And what that means is ratcheting back this prioritization to build robots and the prioritization of score high on tests. And I'll take a 10% less proficient happy group. I will. At the end of the day, they can learn a little more math later. And if they're happy about education, then I think they'll have an opportunity to learn a little more about math later.  This mission would also shift the roles of us, the collective us, parents, teachers, administrators, legislators, community members, everyone, to not think of our K-12 experience as the only time we should be learning. If there was an assumption that learning was a lifelong process, Chris believes that we might have a cultural shift that results in valuing and enjoying learning, which would have a major impact on how teachers are viewed.  Chris Rothfuss: We think that you have an education phase in life. We've built a system around the idea that you have an education phase, phase one. Phase two and beyond never get any more education. Avoid, if possible. I would love a system where everyone just kind of keeps going back to school.  The move towards life-long learners that Chris is proposing would be a conceptual shift, but it could be supported concretely by a move away from overtesting or overemphasis on testing. Because our current system requires testing, this might mean we reimagine what testing looks like all together. Could it be a conversation? Something more authentic than a bubble sheet? Federal regulations have some flexibility there. Either way, the amount of attention given to Summative or End of Course testing is focusing on a product and not the process. Focusing only on the product is not creating a culture that loves learning - it's kind of the opposite. It's creating anxiety and pressure around learning. So if we can lessen the stress by drastically cutting back the amount and pressure of assessments, maybe we can focus on process and create a joy of learning.  So, by shifting priorities away from high stakes testing, we can stop structuring education in a way that prepares only for tests. This might mean loosening the grip on what curriculum can look like or what courses can be offered. For example, I once taught a course at the University of Wyoming called the history of Swing Dancing. We looked at the correlation of historic events and their impact on popular culture. When the class ended, a group of girls continued their final project and created a club on campus called Real Women Real Bodies. This class encouraged students to continue learning beyond the restrictions of the semester.  When I proposed to create this class for the high school setting in my district, it was declined because it didn't fit within the Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum. So a shift might allow us to create new, novel courses that might inspire students to continue learning and growing well beyond the course. Such a shift will likely reinvigorate teachers who almost all have unique expertise and would love to incorporate such things into a course.  So, as Chris pointed out, to adopt a new educational direction, it must start with a shift in mission at the legislative level - hopefully fueled by teacher input. And I think it can happen, especially in a state like Wyoming that wants to be a national leader in education - it even says so in the Wyoming Accountability Act.   So creating a mission that prioritizes the joy of learning by focusing on process over product could happen.  Then how the decision is implemented should trickle down. Hopefully, this would result in teachers wanting to stay in education. And if all of this happens, if we can make that allegorical ring of respect and support that Dylan mentioned,  just imagine how much better the education will be for our students. Students will ideally feel that joy of learning and feel like what they do in school has purpose because that's what many of them want from school.  This is idealistic. But when making changes, we need to strive for idealism and not be guided by fear. Because what we have now is not working. Many people are aware of this and are already taking steps to make changes that will hopefully make education better and help keep teachers in education. Next episode, we're going to take a look at what people are doing to help keep teachers in education. This includes Task Forces, Mentoring Programs, Fellowships, and more. That will be next time on Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Jennica Fournier. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Anjel Garcia, Mark Perkins, Shane Atkinson, Jaye Wacker, Jennica Fournier, Marguerite Herman, Chris Rothfuss, and Dylan Bear for taking time to sit down and chat with me. If you are interested in seeing Mark Perkins' full report, “Teacher Attrition in Wyoming: Factors to Consider” you can find the link in the transcript for this episode and on our instagram page @thosewhocantteachanymore.  This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship.

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A Fireside Chat on Digital Scholarship. In this episode we present the audio from our discussion held at the kick-off session of Digital Scholarship Institute 2022. https://brockdsl.github.io/DSI_2022/ Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

A return to form. After a few months hiatus we are back with technology old and new, cheese, NFTs, walk talkies and introducing Lily. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

2021 was Laurie Maher's first time at Plein Air Easton, where she was awarded Best New Artist by judge Daniel Weiss.  Tim and Marie talk with Laurie about her experience at the competition and her approach to each work.   Follow Laurie Maher: Official Site Instagram   Follow Plein Air Easton: Official SiteFacebookInstagramYouTube   To inquire about being a guest or sponsoring the Plein Air Easton Podcast, send us an email at info@pleinaireaston.com.   This episode is sponsored by JFM Enterprises, providing distinctive ready-made and custom frames & mouldings to the trade since 1974.   Music in this episode was generously provided by Blue Dot Sessions and Blanket Music.

What's that? A BONUS episode! Yes, it's true.  Season 1 might be over, but we're still feeling inspired by all of the artists and creative people who shared their time with us and engaged in super enlightening and wisdom-filled conversations. In this bonus episode, we take clips from each of the 22 episodes in season 1 that highlight the conversations that we had with the artists to whom we talked. Then, we provide brief commentaries about what we think are the biggest takeaways and elaborate to connect the through-lines that tie all of these amazing conversations together. Of course, these 30 second or 1 minute clips do not fully encapsulate all of the incredible things these artists or creative people had to share, but we think they'll give you a pretty good idea! Thank you SO much again to Judith Lemmens, Alex Garant, Autumnalwood, Peter Nevins, Allison Filice, Andy J. Pizza, Beau Stanton, Jessica Hische, Lilly Maetzig, Charles Clary, Aaron Draplin, Julia Rothman, Hollie Chastain, Demas Rusli, Benjamin Lee, Steve Jaworski, Dan Berry, Ben Eine, Emily Ward, Daria Hlazatova, Kate Davis, Sage Perrot, and Meghan Hildebrand for sharing your experiences, knowledge, and wisdom with us. Because of your artistic kindness, we will surely all be much better artists and people! And, thank YOU for listening! If some of the highlights in this bonus episode pique your creative interests, don't forget to go back to that episode afterwards and listen to the whole thing! You will not be sorry! Keep your eyes open for new episodes for next season in the future by following us on Instagram @SCHSvisualart. If you have any questions or artist suggestions for next season, email us at schsvisualart@gmail.com. Thank you! ---------- Background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #21 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! This episode is special for many reasons. The first reason is that we are talking with the amazing painter Meghan Hildebrand. Another reason is that it is the last episode for season 1 of this podcast! We will be taking a break for a little bit, which will give you plenty of time to catch up on episodes you may have missed. In our chat with painter Meghan Hildebrand, we talk about finding your visual language, the complexities of pricing your work, and why producing tons of work is so essential as a creative person. Meghan shared so much insight into whats she does, and it was an amazing conversation. Thank you so much to Meghan for talking with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @meghanhildebrand or online at meghanhildebrand.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) Thank you so much to all of the amazing artists who have talked with us this season. We are so fortunate to have you! Don't forget to go back and listen to any episodes you may have missed, and look out for new episodes for next season in the future by following us on Instagram @SCHSvisualart. Thank you! ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #21 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with printmaker Sage Perrot, AKA Haypeep, about the versatility of printmaking, getting comfortable with talking about your work, and gold printed ceramic whoopee cushions. Sage had a lot of knowledge and wisdom that she was so willing to share, and we learned a lot! Thank you so much to Sage for talking with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @haypeep or online at haypeep.com. You can also get shirts, beach towels, phone cases, skateboards, and more with sage's designs at haypeep.threadless.com! (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

We debrief DSI 2021 (https://brockdsl.github.io/DSI2021/) In this episode Tim has a discussion with Cal Murgu, fellow Librarian at Brock: awkward poetry, collaborations, Hypothesi.is, Collection Builder, Wu-Tang, and all dimensions of DSI. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

Welcome to episode #20 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we have our very first conversation with a musician and songwriter. We talk to Kate Davis about the Venn diagram of music and visual art, the importance of what you have to say in your work, and taking the leap from the rigid jazz music scene to writing songs of her own. We really appreciate Kate being so honest with us, and giving us a lot of advice on creativity that was so applicable to visual art.. Thank you so much to Kate for talking with us! Please check out her music wherever music can be found. You can listen to her 2019 album Trophy and her 2021 cover album Strange Boy now! You can also find Kate on Instagram @katedavismusic or online at katedavismusic.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music "rbbts" by Kate Davis from her 2019 album Trophy.

In this episode of Going Deep, we mark the beginning of the minor league baseball season this week with an episode that looks at the growing differences between the minors and college baseball. Our guests include the manager of the Asheville Tourists Nate Shaver, and the head baseball coach at UNC Asheville Scott Friedholm. And for the first time, we take questions from our listeners! (Music featured includes I'm Fat by Blanket Music and Elmore Heights by Blue Dot Sessions)

Welcome to episode #19 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with Illustrator and more Daria Hlazatova about finding your style, not feeling impressive enough, and the magic of the stars. It was an incredible and enlightening conversation. Thank you so much to Daria for talking with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @dariahlazatova. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #18 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with interior designer Emily Ward, co-founder and co-owner of the interior design firm Pierce & Ward. Emily is joined by two of her design colleagues, Carmen-Jean Cluttey and Caitlin McCallum. In our talk, we covered what it's like to work in the interior design world, mood and inspiration boards for clients, and why listening to your gut is essential as a creative person. Emily, Carmen-Jean, and Caitlin were amazing resources and shared so much about what it's like to be an interior designer. Thank you so much to Emily, Carmen-Jean, and Cailtin for talking with us! Please check their work out on Instagram @pierceandward or online at pierceandward.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #17 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with Letterform/Street Artist Ben Eine about being inspired by graffiti, how one day artists will be one of the most valued professions, and being old and still doing street art. It was a lot of fun to talk to him, and we appreciate the time he gave us to chat. Thank you so much to Ben for talking with us! Please check his work out on Instagram @einsigns or online at beneine.co.uk. If you'd like to see the work he did with Banksy and other street artists, go to www.picturesonwalls.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #16 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with comics artist/cartoonist Dan Berry about planning drawings for a book, how he makes money as a person who draws things, and Space Goblins. He is such a fun person to talk to, and he has so much to share about what he does. Thank you so much to Dan for talking with us! Please check his work out on Instagram @thingsbydan or online at thingsbydan.co.uk. You can also check out his amazing podcast Make It Then Tell Everybody by searching anywhere podcasts are found or by going to makeitthentelleverybody.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #15 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with Animator and Compositor Steve Jaworski about piecing elements together seamlessly, what it is like to work creatively on a team, and Noodle the Golden Doodle™. He was so kind to simplify such a complex process in a way that was not only interesting, but also extremely fun. Thank you so much to Steve for talking with us! You can check out a list of some of the projects he has worked on here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1514717/ (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #14 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with photographers Demas Rusli and Benjamin Lee about what it's like to be a freelance creator, photography basics, and walking shoes. We were so lucky that they opened up so much about their process and shared a lot of insight into what they do. Thank you so much to Demas and Ben for chatting with us! Please check out their work! Demas can be found on Instagram and TikTok @Demas, and online at demasrusli.com. You can also find his Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj9r3VS9Tuy9FRI87HrXgow. Benjamin Lee can be found on Instagram and TikTok @Itchban, and online at itchban.com. You can find his Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4miiLGKuA_EkSErd3BlhSA. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #13 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with collage and mixed media artist Hollie Chastain about all things collage and mixed-media, finding materials in everything, and yep you guessed it: ghosts. She showed a lot of work and talked about the inspiration and process behind it, which was really fun and informative. Thank you so much to Hollie for talking with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @holliechastain or online at holliechastain.com.You can also find her book, "If you can Cut, You can Collage" here: https://www.holliechastain.com/shop/signed-copy-of-if-you-can-cut-you-can-collage (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #12 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode we chat with Illustrator and surface designer Julia Rothman about drawing things from your life, what design school was like for her, and faucets. She was so open with us about her process, and we really learned a lot. Thank you so much to Julia for talking with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @juliarothman or online at juliarothman.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #11 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! We talk to graphic designer and all-around fun creative guy Aaron Draplin about letting your "life" become your "job," finding supportive people around you as an artist, and Blue Light Specials™! He just likes to have a good time and create things he wants to create, and he shared a lot of wisdom from his years of experience. Thank you so much to Aaron for chatting with us! Please check his work out on Instagram @draplin or online at draplin.com. ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

An interview with DASA. In this episode Daniel sits down with Ashal & Noah from DASA (Goodman Data Analytics Student Association) to talk favourite classes and to recap a successful year of collaborations. Check out DASA at: https://www.instagram.com/goodmandasa/ Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

Welcome to episode #10 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with the ever-intriguing handcut paper artist Charles Clary about finding your influences, the process of getting work in a gallery, and all you can eat "ism" buffets. He's such an amazing person, and creates work that is so unique and inspiring. Thank you so much to Charles for talking with us! Please check his work out on Instagram @charlesclary or online at charlesclary.com. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #9 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we have a chat with functional ceramic artist Lilly Maetzig (aka Mae Ceramics) about putting love into your work, building an art business, and cats. Not only does she make amazing and beautiful work, but she was so kind and offered an amazing perspective into the world of art-making and ceramics. Thank you so much to Lilly for chatting with us! Please check her work out on Instagram @mae.ceramics or online at maeceramics.com. ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #8 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Lettering artist, Logotype designer, and Author Jessica Hische about the differences between Type, figuring out what you want your days to look like, and how much more fun we were to talk to than Olivia Wilde (her words) (completely joking). She was so nice, and so transparent about her process. Thank you so much to Jessica for chatting with us. Please check her work out on Instagram @jessicahische or online at jessicahische.is . She also has classes on Skillshare that are definitely worth your time if you're interested in her work, logotype design, or Illustrated Lettering. (Note: This was recorded live with one of our advanced art classes, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #7 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with muralist and painter Beau Stanton about his process as a muralist, conversations about controversial art, and farming metaphors. Thank you so much to Beau for talking with us. Please check his work out on Instagram @beaustanton or online at beaustanton.com. ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #6 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Illustrator, Podcaster, and Public Speaker Andy Miller (AKA Andy J. Pizza) about how to find yourself so that you can put yourself in your work, being a chaos-muppet, and how most of our wardrobe consists of plaid . He is such an inspiration, and was so inspiring in our chat. Thank you so much to Andy for chatting with us. Please check his work out on Instagram @andyjpizza or online at andyjpizza.com Here is a short list of some of the things Andy mentions in the chat that you might want to check out: --Andy’s Theme Music - “January Twenty Something” by the band WHY? -Danielle Kryssa (The artist that uses pink) - Skillshare artists that Andy mentions - Aaron Draplin, Mary Kate McDevitt, Holley Kholi-Murchison, Tom Froes, Chris Piascik (Note: This was recorded live with an advanced art class, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #5 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Illustrator Allison Filice about taking the leap into your creative journey, finding your identity through your art process, and the dream of being a freelance Ice-cream-eater. Thank you so much to Allison for chatting with us. Please check her work out on Instagram @allisonfilice or online at allisonfilice.com. She also has an amazing podcast, The Friendly Unknown. You can listen and learn more here: thefriendlyunknown.com. ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #4 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Printmaker Peter Nevins about his process as a woodcut artist and printmaker, the beauty of imperfections in analog artwork, and how your plans can and probably should get lost in your process. He even walked through the process of drawing, carving, and printing from start to finish while talking with us! Thank you so much to Peter for chatting with us. Please check his work out on Instagram @theepeternevins or online at peternevins.com Here is a short list of some of the things Peter mentions in the chat that you might want to check out: Felix Vallotton (Printmaker) Alphonse Mucha (Painter) Albrecht Dürer (Printmaker) Botanical Prints by Henry Evans (book) McClain's Printmaking Supplies (printmaking supply shop) (Note: This was recorded live with an advanced art class, which is why the audio quality changes throughout the episode) ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #3 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Illustrator Autumnalwood about her process as an illustrator who uses traditional and digital media, processing your emotions through your art, and being up a creek (or something...) without a paddle. Thank you so much to Autumn for chatting with us. Please check her work out on Instagram @autumnalwood. If you love her work and would like to support her and/or receive exclusive content from her, find her on Patreon at patreon.com/autumnalwood. Here is a link to the Pomme "Grandiose" music video that Autumn mentions in the chat: https://youtu.be/jIqA5sg5gZM ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to episode #2 of the SCHS Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Figurative Op Artist Alex Garant about her process as an "analog glitch painter", finding your identity, and the importance of hoarding your cardboard. Thank you so much to Alex for giving us her time. Please check out her amazing work on Intsagram @alexgarantart, or online at alexgarant.com! ---------- Intro music by Tucker Webb Other background music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

Welcome to the first ever episode of the Stewarts Creek High School Visual Arts Podcast! In this episode, one of our advanced art classes talk with Ceramic Artist Judith Lemmens about what it's like to be a working ceramicist, surface design, and how much people enjoy photos of handmade juicers. Our chat took place virtually on December 4th, 2020. Thank you so much to Judith for giving us her time. Please check out her amazing work on Intsagram @julemsceramics, or online at julems.com! ---------- Music is "Backdrop" by Blanket Music

2020 a year in review. in this episode: games games games, top 5s, humblebrags (https://twitter.com/brock_dsl/status/1220066096813891590, and https://libraryjuiceacademy.com/shop/course/270-python-for-librarians) podcast stats quiz explosion. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

One green shirt. One sixth grader. One Friday night at Chili's. This is Rearview Episode 3. Rearview is an anonymous storytelling project created, hosted, and produced by Claudia Schatz and co-produced by Eliza Wilkins. Head to our Facebook to see what's new and our Instagram to enjoy some artwork! If you like what we're making, please share, like, comment, rate and review us, tell a friend, talk about us, bake us a Rearview cake. Theme music by Julia Mitchell; this episode’s music was Insurrection by Blanket Music. Visuals by Sara Pinsonault and Fig. This story was formerly released as an episode of the podcast Westories. We love you!

Podcast Inside Baseball In this episode, an interview with Alison Innes. We look at puns, why you so popular, insta, podcast as medium, hints and plugs. Check out Alison's projects: Foreword (https://brocku.ca/humanities/foreword/) and MythTake (https://mythtake.blog/) Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music.

Our international audience In this episode; Norwegian Confection, International participants, time zones and strategies, keeping the online workshop train running. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

What's been happening in the Makerspace? In this episode, a chat with Tab from the Makerspace, Carefree times, then it happened, PPE, Name dropping, Next Semester Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Recipe For Success In this episode: Pork, Cheese, and Ramen, Workshops Redux Plus special guest Sharon J. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

The time has come to fight. Delilah, Samuel, Ghâshbúrz and Isteth team up with their new warlock friends to face an army of a threat. It certainly won't be easy, but our heroes are fighting for freedom.. What could go wrong? Music: Canada by Pictures of the Floating World, Unsilenced by Ketsa, Night Attack by Rafael Krux, Smoldering by Kai Engel, Funeral Battle by Damiano Baldoni, Sky Pirates by Damiano Baldoni, What it is by Blanket Music, Novus Initium by Alexander Nakarada, A day at the park by Pictures of the Floating World, Devastation and Revenge by Kevin MacLeod. Don't forget to check out DnDice.co.uk for 10% off with the code MISADVENTURE

Training Montage In this episode: Captain & Victor; Platforms, we got platforms; Workshops, we got Workshops; 20/20 time. Plus a special guest interview with Sharon J. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Computer Origami In this episode: Bread & Furniture, Virus as Egyptology, Folding @ Home For Brock University: https://brockdsl.github.io/Brock-University-Folders/ Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: An interview with Brock Archivist David Sharron, pie talk, distant hugs, and poems. Please check out the Niagara Covid Archive: https://exhibits.library.brocku.ca/s/COVID-Niagara/ and contribute a memory of this whole experience. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: Scholarship in the Times of COVID-19, HoCo, walks for well-being, depressing books, one way stores. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: Sidekicks and summer tricks. Brief with Tropy, favourite sidekicks, sidekick or not, summertime fun time Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Today we say goodbye, we celebrate the Day of Days', and here's your readings for today's class: https://kalender-365.de/international-days.php, https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/ Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: Acquaintance Fight, Electric Boogaloo, Survey Sez, Tools. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: Lost in Space, Student Powered, & Project Management. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: we are haunted by ghosts of scholarship past, lessons for the next gen, and collaboration celebration. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: moving, movin' movin'. LSPs and shout outs to the MakerSpace. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode: a twitter state of affairs, a decade is made of 10 years, old mad Ribaric talks about the library, Napping. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

We talk about training! Donnie Darko, Half Life, Running up the steps, Fixing paper & Dream School. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Our tribute to milestones, peanut butter and onions, owning the earth, marathons, In the year 2020... Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

19, Unofficial soundtrack of the episode, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRJFvtvTGEk, Nostalgia for school, Waiting in Line, Prime or no? Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

The Black Water of Death, IRN BRU,Our 'Pet' Research Project, Measuring and maximizing PLI Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

This time we're joined by Tabitha from the MakerSpace https://brocku.ca/library/makerspace/, International Friendship Day, (Conchords sing 'bout Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVoCJJFuS60), Learning Experiences, Team! Work! With! Friends! Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Dog days of summer, Time is on my side, One bad bit. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Being well, Smelly things, Bright things, Coffee Runs, Help!, Adjustments Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Telling Stories with Pictures, Humanizing Data via: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/can-data-be-human-the-work-of-giorgia-lupi, Flavours of Millennials, Telling Stories with our Tools Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

We look at jobs. An interview with Martin, 911 & parks, 9 year olds, dream jobs Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Adjusting your technique, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Curling Feet, Spasgetti, Business Folk, Grade School hijinx. Buzz Marketing: "The Computer Science Actvity Book" (https://nostarch.com/csactivities) Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Sharing, Pipe Cleaners, Networking like a Boss, Open, The Internet's Own Boy (https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaronSwartz) Schol Comm from Elizabeth Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

More School(?!), Most useful person in the room, Gorillas, Tyson, & Good Byes. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Loose Tigers. Cool hats. Infinite Money. #nopockets. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Are Pods Fads? With special Guest. Lydia Zvyagintseva Includes: Beanie Babies, Slap Braclets, Crazy Bones, Pogs, Bananas, a man a plan a canal Panama, Why even Pod? Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

"Are We There Yet" Includes: Travel Locales, Hipster Northern Lights, Back Seat Drivers, Talking about helping Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

"Finding Our Place in the World" Includes: Narration, ASMR (Mug style), All Things GIS, Interview with Sharon. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Includes: I scream, you scream. Game show time. ASMR. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Starting 2019 on the right foot. Topics: Werking it. Welcome to Erin! Laughing Historically Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In the 80’s kids were traumatized by threats of an possible impending nuclear missile, by the threat of being kidnapped, or by not being close to a pay phone.  So why not add to the trauma with an anti-drug campaign that was as uninformative as it was terrifying.    All songs from the http://freemusicarchive.org Neogrotesque by Tortue Super Sonic Space Love Attack by UltraCat July.#4 by arizono kazuhiro I'm Fat by Blanket Music

Just in time for the holidays. Topics include: Fav Books, Marketing and Social Media, and the "Viz Biz". Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

Episode 2 of the podcast. Sections include: Favourite Task, Pie Talk, Fearing Fear itself. Music "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

The first episode of the podcast series. Sections include: Questions from Tim, One Thing, and Upcoming Events. Intro "Digital Pedestrians" by Blanket Music

In this episode, we take you inside the backbone of The Fly Tapes—Writers on the Fly. This episode features a recent reading in Seattle at the new Patagonia Work Wear store in Ballard.  Part one features readings from Dylan Tomine, author of Closer to the Ground, and Jason Rolfe, founder and host of Writers on the Fly and The Fly Tapes. We'll also hear from Casey Underwood, who was the featured artist for the evening.  In the second half, we've got Jeff Galbraith and Steve Duda. Jeff is the publisher of The Flyfisher Journal, and Steve is editor of the same.  Music: "Anniversary Song" by Blanket Music, from Free Music Archive under CC by NC. 

Dos hermanas y la madrastra que pretende separarlas: una historia japonesa que conocemos bien en occidente, con toques orientales divertidos. Este es un cuento recopilado por Kayoko Takagi en su libro “El espíritu del agua, cuentos tradicionales japoneses” de Alianza Editorial, a la que agradecemos por permitirnos narrarlo para ustedes. La autora comentó lo siguiente al respecto del mismo: Este tipo de historias que narra el maltrato de la madrastra para con la hija adoptiva, ha sido uno de los temas mundialmente preferidos en los cuentos. Sin ir más lejos, La Cenicienta representa un ejemplo claro en el escenario occidental. Sin embargo, el origen se atribuye al oriente y en la literatura clásica japonesa encontramo una novela justamente anterior a la historia de Genji (Murasaki Shikibu, 1007) titulada Ochikubo Monogatari (Historia de la habitación baja, Anónimo, finales del siglo X), con las mismas características de la protagonista, que tiene que trabajar cubierta de cenizas y que finalmente consigue casarse con un príncipe. Agradecemos también a la banda Komiku por permitirnos usar sus piezas: Escena Infantil, Cómo escapar de un sitio sin paredes, Un desierto, Caminando hacia el horizonte, Inmundo, Soñando contigo para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Sylvia Agudelo, Ana Sofía Cedeño Pérez, Ana Margarita Naranjo Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Sara Gabriela Cedeño Pérez. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustan nuestros cuentos deja un comentario favorable en ITunes para que otras personas consigan el podcast. Suscríbete en Itunes o Goggle Play aquí: http://bit.ly/querreapple http://bit.ly/querregoogle

La historia del rey, un ministro envidioso y un campesino que no sabe mentir. Esta es una historia tradicional europea que forma parte del libro “Cuentos Populares Italianos (Volumen II) de Italo Calvino, traducido por Carlos Gardini y publicado por Ediciones Librerías Fausto, a la que agradecemos por permitirnos leérselas a ustedes. También queremos darle las gracias a Kevin MacLeod por el uso de sus piezas Nu Flute, Pippin el jorobado y Preguntas sin respuesta en la narración; y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza Sólo nosotros en los créditos. Narrado por Sylvia Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustan nuestros cuentos deja un comentario favorable en ITunes para que otras personas consigan el podcast. Querre Cuentos en iTunes: http://bit.ly/querreapple Querre Cuentos en Google Play http://bit.ly/querregoogle

Una niña emprende un viaje maravilloso y osado buscando aquello que brilla en el cielo. Margarita, es un poema de Rubén Darío, narrado por Sylvia Elena Agudelo e ilustrado por Ana Margarita Naranjo. Muchas gracias a Lee Maddeford y Les Gauchers Orchestra por su pieza, El Pequeño Jardín, y a la banda Yatch por su instrumental Toca la campana, ambas grabaciones fueron utilizadas para musicalizar el capítulo.También queremos agradecer a la banda Blanket Music por su pieza Sólo nosotros, utilizada en los créditos. Edición de Sonido de Gabriel Naranjo. Este poema puedes conseguirlo en una bella edición de Ediciones Ekaré Gracias a Marisela Valero por sus sugerencias en cuanto a la edición de sonido de Querre Cuentos. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Querre Cuentos de Gabriel Naranjo en iTunes: http://bit.ly/querreapple Querre Cuentos en Google Play http://bit.ly/querregoogle

La verdad puede olvidarse ante la gravedad de las injusticias, pero siempre permanece allí, dentro de todos nosotros. “La obra no es un recetario de los cuentos de hadas, sino un instrumento para quien cree que es necesario que la imaginación tenga su lugar en la educación, para quien confía en la imaginación infantil, para quien conoce el poder de liberación que puede tener la palabra”. Gianni Rodari. Jaime de Cristal es sólo una de los 58 historias en el maravilloso “Cuentos por teléfono”, publicado por la Editorial Juventud a la que damos gracias por permitirnos su lectura. También agradecemos a Gabriela Montero y a Warner Music por el uso de la pieza Handel Largo del disco Barroco para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Sylvia Agudelo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Este cuento es parte del libro La Sayona y otros cuentos de espanto de Mercedes Franco, publicado por Ediciones Ekaré, un maravilloso compendio de las mejores historias de fantasmas y espantos venezolanos que no debes dejar de leer. Nuestro agradecimiento tanto a la autora como a la editorial por permitirnos compartir este cuento con ustedes. Agradecemos también a Luis Julio Toro por el uso de su pieza Chacona de la Partita II- BMV 1004 en la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la pieza “Sólo nosotros”, utilizada en los créditos. Narrado por Gabriel Naranjo, ilustrado por Isabella Flores Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustan nuestros cuentos deja un comentario favorable en ITunes o Google Play para que otras personas consigan el podcast.

Del padre que escucha el destino de su hijo antes de que nazca y la suerte de este. Mito que da pie a la celebración del día del niño en Japón. Este es un cuento recopilado por Kayoko Takagi en su libro “El espíritu del agua, cuentos tradicionales japoneses” de Alianza Editorial, a la que agradecemos por permitirnos narrarlo para ustedes. La autora comentó lo siguiente al respecto del mismo: El kashiwamochi es un dulce japonés que se come tradicionalmente el 5 de mayo, que es el día del niño en ese país. Se trata de una golosina hecha de judías pintas dulces envueltas en pasta de arroz y todo ello en una hoja de roble. En el día del niño se colocan carpas de tela atadas a un palo alto para que ondeen al viento. El paisaje de los peces de colores hinchados por el aire que entra por la boca y les hace volar como nadando en el aire es típico del mes e mayo en Japón. Dentro de casa se pondrían también muñecos con personajes destacados, como Momotarō o Kintarō (otro niño fuerte del mundo de los cuentos), un yelmo y una espada, que pueden simbolizar el vigor de un niño. Por otra parte, es costumbre también arreglar flores de iris porque sus hojas son muy erguidas con puntas agudas y recuerdan las espadas de los samuráis. A propósito de la criatura llamada Kappa, merece la pena comentar que es una mezcla de anfibio y chico joven, algo cómico pero igualmente peligroso, que ha dado multitud de cuentos y leyendas por todo el territorio japonés. Suele aparecer cerca de un río o estanque, y reta a los hombres a luchar el sumō con él. Cuando se trata de un niño o un joven, se habla de que corre el peligro de ser tirado al agua. Las desapariciones misteriosas de niños y jóvenes pueden haber dado pié a la creación de las kappa. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) escribió una obra titulada Kappa en 1927 inspirándose en esta criatura imaginaria. Agradecemos también a Daniel Heikalo por permitirnos usar su pieza Porcelana rota, para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado e ilustrado pro Gabriel Naranjo, Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustan nuestros cuentos deja un comentario favorable en ITunes o Google Play para que otras personas consigan el podcast.

Cuando tu Mala Suerte te persigue, es mejor que la atiendas antes que te cambie el nombre Esta hermosa y extraña historia forma parte de “Cuentos Populares Italianos (Volumen II) de Italo Calvino, traducida por Carlos Gardini y publicada por Ediciones Librerías Fausto. A continuación las notas del autor sobre este cuento: “Infortunio (Sfortuna): de Pitrè 86, Sfurtuna, Palermo, contado por Agatuzza Messia. Uno de los más conmovedores cuentos meridionales es este de la muchacha perseguida por su mala suerte, que acarrea el infortunio a sí misma y a los demás. Contra la costumbre de tratar con hostilidad a la persona que provoca desgracias, aquí se la ve con profunda piedad, en el cuadro de un culto individual de la Suerte, a quien se tributan ofrendas votivas y se piden gracias. La caprichosa psicología de las Suertes tiene a los hombres bajo su poder: la Messia brinda una magistral descripción lateral del carácter de la Suerte malévola y arbitraria de la protagonista. Pero los personajes más atractivos de la Messia surgen de tipos como la lavandera caritativa, maestra del culto de las Suertes, vista con indudable simpatía. (Si oculta al rey la existencia de Infortunio, sin duda lo hace para protegerla de las insidias, no porque la quiera mal). Nótese cómo la vaguedad habitual en los cuentos de hadas es reemplazada por la precisión lingüística y técnica cuando la Messia habla del trabajo de la lavandera. Queremos agradecer a Ediciones Librerías Fausto. por permitirnos narrarles este cuento, a Luis Julio Toro por el uso de sus piezas Sarabande y Allemande en la narración; y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Margarita Naranjo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Sylvia Agudelo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustan nuestros cuentos deja un comentario favorable en ITunes para que otras personas consigan el podcast. Para suscribirte Itunes https://bit.ly/querreapple Para suscribirte en GooglePLay https://bit.ly/querregoogle

Conoce la extraña ave nocturna que habita en los cementerios venezolanos. “El Ches” es uno de los mitos venezolanos sobre aparecidos escrito por Mercedes Franco en su libro Animales Fantasmas, para la Fundación Banco Provincial. Narrado por Gabriel Naranjo e Ilustrado por Ana Margarita Naranjo. Música del capítulo: Nocturna Opus 15 No 3, compuesta por Frédéric Chopin e interpretada por Chad Crouch como Podington Bear. Música de los créditos: Sólo nosotros, de la banda Blanket Music. Edición de Sonido de Gabriel Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

La divertida venganza de los hijos del cangrejo que sembró el caqui. Este es un cuento recopilado por Kayoko Takagi en su libro “El espíritu del agua, cuentos tradicionales japoneses” de Alianza Editorial. La traductora comentó lo siguiente al respecto del mismo: La batalla del mono con el cangrejo es uno de los cuentos antiguos más famosos del Japón. Llaman la atención en primer lugar las amenazas del cangrejo al árbol de caqui para acelerar su crecimiento. Esta manera de acosar a las plantas verbalmente como si fueran personas se conserva en los ritos de la siembra aún hoy en Japón. Se considera que viene de la antigua creencia en la magia de las palabras llamada Kotodama, o espíritu de las palabras. Agradecemos a Alianza Editorial por permitirnos narrarles este cuento, a Daniel Heikalo y a Kevin Mc Leod por permitirnos usar sus piezas Tres movimientos en Sol menor y Tikopia, para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Margarita Naranjo, Sylvia Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Margarita Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Una niña pequeñita y traviesa, su abuelito que casi no puede verla y las aventuras que viven en el mundo gigante. Esta viñeta que nos lleva a cambiar la perspectiva desde la que miramos el mundo, es una de los 58 historias en el maravilloso “Cuentos por teléfono” de Gianni Rodari, publicado por la Editorial Juventud a la que damos gracias por permitirnos su lectura. También agradecemos a Kevin MacLeod, por su pieza "Tarantela Bushwick", con la que musicalizamos la narración del cuento, y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Margarita Naranjo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Un hombre cansado de no tener nada que contar decide irse a recorrer el mundo en busca de historias emocionantes. El mito de Ulises y Polifemo ingresa en la tradición oral italiana narrado por pastores sicilianos y abruceses, que lo difunden como la historia de Ojo en la frente. Esta es una transposición de esta historia, recogida en la ciudad de Pisa. El héroe es un florentino anónimo, seducido por la fascinación que experimenta al oír relatos fantásticos se cansa de ser espectador pasivo y parte para descubrir las maravillas que encierra el mundo, sólo para poder fascinar a los demás relatándoselas. Luego de enfrentar al Gigante (que en esta versión tiene dos ojos, aunque uno está completamente tuerto) , vuelve a la aldea con un dedo menos y también con menos ilusiones. Calvino acentuó la descripción del carácter de este Úlises y agregó la frase final. La versión fuer recogida en Toscana Esas son las interesantes notas de pie de página que al final de este cuento, colocó la traductora Eva Luisa Fajardo, en el libro cuentos tradicionales italianos de Italo Calvino “El pájaro belverde” de Ediciones Librerías Fausto. Agradecemos a Chad crouch por sus piezas ”El mete la pata”, “Tiene chispa” y “Juguete de cuerda”, las cuales usamos para musicalizar la narración y a Blanket Music por su pieza Sólo Nosotros, que usamos en los créditos Narración, edición e ilustración de Gabriel Naranjo Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en Itunes o Google Play para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Si te gustó el cuento, reséñalo en Itunes: en verdad nos ayudarías mucho al hacerlo.

Un niño recibe un regalo maravilloso escondido en un objeto ordinario. Érase una vez... una niña cuyo padre tenía que estar de viaje seis días a la semana. Esta niña no podía dormirse sin que le contaran un cuento. Y cada noche, su padre la llamaba por teléfono y le narraba un cuento. Dicen que los cuentos eran tan buenos que hasta las señoritas de la telefónica suspendían todas las llamadas para escucharlos. Y este es el libro de estos cuentos. Así comienza el maravilloso “Cuentos por teléfono” de Gianni Rodari, publicado por la Editorial Juventud a la que damos gracias por permitirnos su lectura. Ya en su edición número 27, este libro se ha convertido en un clásico de la literatura infantil que vale la pena tener. También agradecemos a Podington Bear, por su pieza Osprey, y a la banda Yatch, por su instrumental “Toca la campana”, ambos utilizados durante la narración del cuento, y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Margarita Naranjo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Una ciudad bajo el luto de la maldición de los brujos y el héroe que le cambió la cara con una inusual espada.Este es un cuento en blanco y negro: el blanco de las montañas de donde es originario, el negro del humo macabro que lo recorre —Calvino anota haberlo acentuado— y que alude a los grandes motivos medievales: el Destino, la Muerte, el Más Allá. Todo ello nucleado por ese número 3 cabalístico, que abarca a los vivos y a los muertos, a los soldados y a los civiles, a las apariciones y a las desapariciones. Sorprendementemente, luego de una panorámica que enfoca un auténtico pueblo de esta tierra, el final: en esplendoroso tecnicolor, con banderas que flamean al viento para saludar al joven héroe montañes. El rey, para la ocasión, lleva puesta una corona que es también una algarabía de colores. Narrado originariamente en idioma alemán, fue recogido en el trentino.Esas son las notas que al final de este maravilloso cuento, colocó la traductora Eva Luisa Fajardo, en el libro cuentos tradicionales italianos de Italo Calvino “El pájaro belverde” de Ediciones Librerías Fausto.Queremos agradecer a DaXun Zhang, y su grabación cuatro piezas cortas para el bajo doble y a Kevin MacLeod por su pieza Master of the feast, por permitirnos usar ambas para musicalizar esta narración. También le damos las gracias a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos.Narrado por Margarita Naranjo, Sylvia Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo.Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

En una casita, aislada en el campo, mora una viejita, que le teme a todo.Este cuento de la escritora María de la Luz Uribe, editado por primera vez por Ekare en 1981, es uno de nuestros cuentos favoritos. Llenas de humor y ternura por el personaje, las ilustraciones de Fernando Krahn y su diseño le dan una rítmica especial a los textos de la autora. “Doña Piñones” fue reeditado en 2006, con nuevas ilustraciones a color: vale la pena tenerlo en tu bliblioteca.Valga la presente para agradecer especialmente a Ediciones Ekaré por permitirnos compartir este cuento con ustedes, a Gabriela Montero por el uso de la pieza Vivaldi:Invierno del su disco Barroco para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos.Narrado por Margarita Naranjo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Isabella Flores Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo.Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Este es un cuento recopilado por Kayoko Takagi en su libro “El espítiru del agua, cuentos tradicionales japoneses” de Alianza Editorial. La traductora comentó lo siguiente al respecto del mismo: (Este es) Uno de los cuentos que escogió el escritor y dramaturgo Junji Kinoshita (1914-2004) para la colección con el mismo nombre de este cuento en japonés, Warashibe chõja. Originalmente debía ser un relato de tipo religioso para contar el milagro del Buda en la figura de Kan’nom, pero, como cuento popular, posee el interés de las sorpresas inesperadas para el enriquecimiento de un pobre hombre, que, empezando con una paja y un moscardón, consigue poseer al final huertas y hasta su propia casa. Se expresa el genuino deseo de cualquier menesteroso que de repente un día puede tener suerte y llegar a vivir bien. Agradecemos a Daniel Heikalo por la permitirnos usar su pieza Atardecer Pentatónico para la musicalización de la narración y a la banda Blanket Music por la utilización de su pieza “Sólo nosotros” en los créditos. Narrado por Margarita Naranjo, Sylvia Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Ignacio Flores Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Si se te ocurre caminar por Maracaibo de noche es mejor que llegues temprano a tu casa. “El perro de la noche” es uno de los mitos venezolanos sobre aparecidos escrito por Mercedes Franco en su libro Animales Fantasmas, para la Fundación Banco Provincial. Nuestro agradecimiento a la autora por permitirnos compartir este cuento con ustedes. Agradecemos también a Kevin McLeod por la utilización de su pieza Impacto (preludio) y a Fran Monroy por interpretar a Praxíteles. Los créditos fueron musicalizados con la pieza “Sólo nosotros”, de la banda Blanket Music. Narrado por Sylvia Agudelo y Gabriel Naranjo. Ilustrado por Cristian Mohamad Naranjo y Gabriel Naranjo. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Tigres y enormes culebras de agua con cara de gente: que no te agarre la noche en medio de la jungla de la Gran Sabana. Escucha nuestra narración de “Mawadi”. Este cuento es parte del libro La Sayona y otros cuentos de espanto de Mercedes Franco, publicado por Ediciones Ekaré, un maravilloso compendio de las mejores historias de fantasmas y espantos venezolanos que no deben dejar de leer. Nuestro agradecimiento tanto a la autora como a la editorial por permitirnos compartir este cuento con ustedes. Agradecemos también a la banda Dogon, conformada por Paul Godwin y Miguel Noya, por permitirnos usar par de piezas de su disco doble Dogon http://www.dogonsound.com/redunjusta-1/ como música del capítulo: Húmedo y Flesh Frogs. Los créditos fueron musicalizados con la pieza “Sólo nosotros”, de la banda Blanket Music. Ilustrado, narrado y editado por Gabriel Naranjo. Muchas gracias por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Si caminas de noche por las calles oscuras de este pueblo, es mejor que dejes a los animales en paz. Este es uno de los mitos venezolanos sobre aparecidos escrito por Mercedes Franco en su libro Animales Fantasmas, para la Fundación Banco Provincial. Música del capítulo: - El ático y Goo Gtr, interpretadas por Lee Rosevere. Musica de los créditos - “Sólo nosotros”, de la banda Blanket Music. Edición de sonido de Valentina Armas Naranjo. Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos. Narrado e lustrado por Gabriel Naranjo.

En un viaje para rescatar a una princesa de un horrible monstruo, se distingue por su valor el marinero menos importante de la tripulación. Este es un cuento recopilado por Italo Calvino en su libro “Cuentos Populares Italianos ” de Ediciones Librerías Fausto. Según las notas del autor, este es una historia escrita en francés originalmente, que traslada a un insólito escenario un esquema muy difundido en toda Europa: el del hermano menor arrojado al pozo para liberar a la princesa y luego abandonado. Calvino reinterpretó la narración, cambiando al dragón por un pulpo y ajustando el nombre del protagonista, de manera de hacerlo más italiano. Narrado e ilustrado por Gabriel Naranjo. Música del capítulo: - “Nocturna Opus 48 Nº 2”, compuesta por Frédéric Chopin e interpretada por Chad Crouch, de Podington Bear. - Musica de los créditos - “Sólo nosotros”, de la banda Blanket Music. Edición de Sonido de Gabriel Naranjo Muchas gracias a ti por escucharnos, recuerda suscribirte a nuestro podcast en tu aplicación favorita para recibir los nuevos cuentos que publicaremos.

Lucky episode 103 of Low Elo: The League of Legends Podcast welcomes Regi back to mid, talks about the upcoming Lee Sin retune, our new pal Vel'Koz and a playbook on experimentation! We've also got Rin back for an episode so put on your lab coats, this is gonna taste like science! This week's game: Which champions will be completely overpowered when Riot changes League of Legends to a first person shooter game for season 5? Send the answer and all of your other glorious mail to team@lowelo.com. The hosts can be reached on Twitter as @EatGamer, @LowEloDave, @belsaas and @RinTheYordle. This episode's soundtrack is I'm Fat by Blanket Music.