How Teachers Can Be Leaders. Episode 6 of the Book Love Foundation Podcast

The Book Love Foundation Podcast

Welcome to Episode 6 of The Book Love Foundation Podcast! And thank you for joining us in this celebration of teaching and the joy of learning.

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Episode 6 Show notes

We re going to talk about leadership in teaching, but maybe not in the way you think.

In the words of Sadie Nardini, Becoming a master takes stubbornness, dedication, and focus. And it starts right now. Transformation was, is, and always will be a DIY–a do-it-yourself process.

I was struck by how much that mirrors teacher professional development. We can t wait for someone else to develop us–we are in charge of how we grow. Teaching is always a draft–always an approximation–but just like with the young writers we teach, we want each draft to show evidence of revision and improvement.

After 31 years of teaching, I m always hoping next year I will be a better teacher–next week, even.

As Lolly Daskal, President and CEO of Lead from Within says, Leading is about striving to become better than we are, and helping everything and everyone around us to become better too.

And in this episode, we explore what that means for teachers.

If you want to know more about the Book Love Foundation, please visit booklovefoundation.org. We are currently reading applications and struggling to decide which classrooms we will fund this year. We could sure use your help. Any contribution will help us. 100% of donations go to teachers we know will put books into kids hands. Thank you for believing how important that work is.

• Penny

CONVERSATION SEGMENT

The Interviews

Beth Hughes teaches high school English at Massachusetts’ Wakefield Memorial High School. You can find her on Twitter @MsBethHughes, read about her musings on lifelong learning at msbethhughes.org and her passion to reintroduce her students to reading at fortheloveofreading.org, or email her at [e-mail].

Rebekah Hess is a high school teacher at Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia and is a teacher consultant for the Shenandoah Valley Writing Project. When she isn t teaching English, she is choreographing for the Rock Ridge Performing Arts musical productions. She can be reached on Twitter @MissHessEnglish or through email at [e-mail]

Jennifer Brinkmeyer teaches Reading Strategies and English 9 at Iowa City High School and serves as language arts curriculum coordinator for the district. In 2014, she received UChicago s Outstanding Educator Award. She regularly presents at Iowa Council Teachers of English conferences. You can also follow her on Twitter @jjbrinkmeyer and email: [e-mail]

Erica Beaton currently teaches history and English at Cedar Springs High School in west Michigan. She blogs at EricaLeeBeaton.com and can be reached on Twitter at @EricaLeeBeaton.

Melissa Sawyer is a high school English teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Career Campus in Cleveland, Ohio. She can be reached at [e-mail] or on Twitter at @MelSaw013.

Kevin English currently teaches English at Wayne Memorial High School in southeast Michigan and is a teacher consultant for the Eastern Michigan Writing Project. He can be reached on Twitter at @kevinmenglish or by email at [e-mail].

Julie Jarriel is currently in her third year teaching ninth grade English at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville, South Carolina. She can be reached by email at [e-mail].
Other Resources

Write Beside Them, by Penny Kittle

Book Love, by Penny Kittle

The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

International Literacy Association (ILA)

National Writing Project (NWP)

Lolly Daskal of Lead from Within is @LollyDaskal

Sadie Nardini is @sadienardini

BOOK TALK

Here are the books from this episode s book talk, courtesy of Kristinia Haney:

We Were Here, by Matt de la Pena

Mexican White Boy, by Matt de la Pena

Matt de la Pena s web site: http://mattdelapena.com/

Matt s recent essay for NPR: Sometimes The ‘Tough Teen’ Is Quietly Writing Stories

Matt on Twitter: @mattdelapena

STUDENT STORY

This episode s student story was from Serena Kessler.

The books mentioned in her story were:

Lightning Thief and the Percy Jackson series, by Rick Riordan

I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb

Serena Kessler is a high school English teacher at Romulus High School in Romulus, Michigan. She blogs at wholechildren.wordpress.com and can be reached by email at [e-mail].

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