Episode 58 - What Inspires You?

What inspries you? What makes your journey great? Sheila, Maria and Lisa and the folks in the chat room respond to the Guilding Stars poster by Peter Reynolds and share who and what inspires them. Sheila also talked about the Earthbridges echo events she did with her students. Audio and chat log are here.

Episode 57 - The Haves and Have Nots

 This week, we focused on the haves and have-nots of education and technology.  We discussed those who have technology vs. those who have very limited technology, as well as those that have supportive administration vs. those without.


Unfortunately, the chat was not archived.  Enjoy the audio here.

Episode 56 - It's Too Loud in Here

What happens when a homegrown webcaster has too many things going on during the same time period? She thinks that she already posted a show but realizes (finally) that she didn't. So here it is, the November 22, 2009 show. Sorry folks.

Lisa, Maria and Sheila discussed the issue of dealing with a very "chatty" classroom, where the noise level is high but productivity is good. Later in the show, Diana Laufenberg, from the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia joined the conversation and talked a bit about Educon2.2.

Audio and chat log here.

Episode 55 - Memories of School

Fall leaves - raking and playing in them - have made us nostalgic. So this week we focused on positive memories we have from our school days and asked ourselves what memories we are creating for our own students.

Chat and Audio can be found here.

Episode 54 - The Purpose of Education

This week, Lisa and Maria responding to a topic posted in Plurk by Beth Knittle - the purpose of education. Beth also posted a blog entry as well. Another blog post worth reading is from David Warlick, writtern in Jan. 2009. As always, we had a good conversation in the stream and the chat room. Of course we strayed a bit from the original topic and shared Mission statements from our schools and wondered where the mission statements came from, if staff were fully aware of what was said and how well did the school live up to their mission.

Audio and chat can be found here.

Episode 53 - Trust in Education

"We have to trust that human beings inherently want to help each other and so prove it their online actions." - @intrepidteacher

This week, our Conversation centered around a tweet conversation between @intrepidteacher and @courosa about online safety and trust. This article started it all. We moved into trust among educators, with parents, students, and each other. Feel free to continue the chat at our blogsite.

Audio and Chat can be found here.

Episode 51 - Teacher Morale, How's it Going?

Lisa, Sheila and Maria were joined this week by Peggy George and Paul Bogush to discuss teacher morale. Thank you Peggy and Paul for joining our conversation.

The audio and chat archives can be found here .

Episode 50 - Bucket Filling and Educon 2.2

Lisa and Maria enjoyed their 50th show. They discussed the Bucket Fillers program and Educon 2.2. Diana Laufenberg joined them for the conference discussion. Sheila was on vacation this week and will be back next week.

The chat and audio archive can be found here.

Episode 49 - Parental Permission and Educational Practices

This week, Lisa Parisi, Maria Knee and Sheila Adams talked about parents not allowing permission for their child's work on the internet. Why does this happen and what can we do to make permission more of the norm?

Audio and Chat are here.

Episode #48 Parent and Teacher Meetings

Today's Conversation with Maria and Lisa was about parent teacher conferences. Once again, Ginger Lewman joined us. She has been thinking about making changes to the approach her school takes to conferencing with parents. We hope to have Sheila back with us next week.

Audio and chat here.

Episode #47 President Obama's Back to School Message

The announcement of President Obama's speech to students caused many conversations across the US and that is the topic of conversation for today's show. Sheila was visiting relatives in Alabama. Her cousin Laura, a middle school teacher in Indiana joined Lisa, Maria and Sheila for today's show.

Audio and Chat Log for today's show.

Episode 46 - Professional Development Part 2

This week, Maria Knee, Sheila Adams, and Lisa Parisi were joined by Ginger Lewman and Erin Fitzpatrick to continue last week's discussion on what is and what isn't Professional Development. The conversation moved into how we get most of our professional development, what school districts provide for us, and what we can expect from teachers.

Audio and chat here.

Episode #45 How Do You Grow as a Professional?

This week Lisa and Maria were joined by Scott Carter to discuss such the topic of professional development. The discussion began with the question - How do you grow as a professional?

You will find the Audio and Chat Log here.

Episode 44 - Summer Vacation?

This week Maria Knee and Lisa Parisi discussed what summer vacation really means to educators. We also moved into a discussion about the first days of school in an elementary classroom. Sheila Adams was actually enjoying her vacation this week and did not join us for the show.

The audio and chat can be found here.

Episode 43 - Classroom Horror Stories

After a couple of shows with audio that was not good enough to post, we're back with a show with a great topic. During Conversations #43, Lisa, Sheila and Maria shared their classroom horror stories - the things that you wished never happened. They were joined by Jan Smith from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The folks in the chat room had plenty of stories to share as well.

Audio and Chat Log can be found here.

Episode 39 - Prioritizing Your Life

This week's conversation was started by a May 27 blog post by Lisa Thumann titled Coping with Distractions . As always, Lisa, Sheila and Maria found plenty to talk about with a bit of giggling as well. The chat room was busy too.

Audio and chat log can be found here.

Episode 38 - Open Mic

This week was open mic week. Maria Knee, Sheila Adams, and Lisa Parisi were joined by Lucy Gray and Sue Roseman to discuss many topics such as: twitter issues, NECC 2009, and making changes top down vs. bottom up.

Chat and audio can be found here.

Episode 36 - Dealing with Multitasking

This week, Lisa Parisi, Sheila Adams, and Maria Knee led a conversation about dealing with multitasking. They discussed an article from Educational Leadership March 2009 Issue. They were joined in the Skype call by Sue Roseman.

Audio and Chat can be found here.

Episode 35 Baby Steps or Just Jump In?

Lisa and Maria were joined by Maureen Tumenas to talk about how to help teachers make changes in their approach to curriculum. The discussion centered around how can teachers begin to change the way they have always taught their curriculum so it can be more collaborative, interactive and engaging for students. Should teachers be taking "baby steps" towards using technology or should they be expected to "jump in" with both feet? As usual, there were lots of opinions expressed in this Conversation.

Audio and Chat Log here

Episode 34 - Breaking Down the Walls of the Classroom

This week Lisa, Maria, and Sheila are joined by Brian Crosby for a discussion on taking simple lessons and using them to break down the walls of the classroom.

You can find the chat and audio here.

Episode 31 - Handiwork

Maria shared a conference she attended regarding creating with ones hands and then evaluating those creations. This led to a lively discussion about different ways to evaluate students.

Audio and chat can be found here.

Episode 30 Is Merit Pay the Way?

Today's conversation came from the recent talk of improving education by bringing merit pay into the schools. Maria asked the question, Is Merit Pay the Way? and Sheila identified an essential question, What would be a good 'no-cost' reward to push people to do better or retain the good teachers? Lisa Thumann joined us in the skype call. The chat room was hopping, so be sure to check the chat and listen to the audio.

We hope to share this podcast with both President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Listen to audio and read the chat here.

Episode 29 - How Much Time Do We Spend On Schoolwork Outside of the School Day?

This week's show focused on the amount of time educators spend on schoolwork outside of the school day. We talked about professional development time, student connection time, and planning time, as well as time spent on "assignments" given us by the district. Lisa Parisi, Maria Knee, and Sheila Adams were joined by Kathleen Casterline and Deven Black.

The audio and chat can be found here.

Video streaming by Ustream

Episode 28 - Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Lisa recently returned from the Celebration of Teaching and Learning Conference in NYC. She shared her impressions and was joined by Karen Janowski who also attended the conference. The conversation continued in a discussion about creativity and how it is addressed in schools. Do schools kill creativity? Listen to the show to hear the conversation. As always, the chat room was rocking! A special thanks to enigami for joining us in the chat room. Looking forward to seeing you again.

Listen to the audio and view the chat here

Episode 27

This week's show began with the question, "Why do we spend our year preparing our students for the following year?" and continued to be a discussion about how to reorganize schools to better facillitate learning for all students. Ginger Lewman joined Lisa and Maria. Sheila Adams was in her return flight from Belize.

Listen to the audio file and read the chat here.

Episode 26 - Constructivist Learning

This week Maria Knee, Sheila Adams, and Lisa Parisi were joined by Gary Stager in a discussion about the Constructivist theory of learning.

Listen to the audio and view the chat here.

Episode 25 - Reflections

Lisa Parisi and Maria Knee reflect on EduCon2.1 this week. Sheila Adams talks about the UNH Belize program and the plans for her upcoming trip to Belize.

Listen to the audio and view the chat here.

Episode 24 - Personal Learning Networks

This week, the conversation centered around Personal Learning Networks. Is there a difference between a face to face network and an online network? How difficult is it to develop a face to face network? The listeners in the chat room had much to say and some interesting links to share so be sure to check it out.

Sheila Adams was officially recognized as a co-host of the show this week. She is our Ustream expert and a great conversationalist. Welcome, Sheila.

Audio and chat are here.

Episode 23 - Differentiating Instruction for ALL Students

What began as an open mike idea, quickly developed into a conversation about the necessity to differentiate instruction for ALL students, not just those with IEPs or 504s. Maria Knee and Lisa Parisi were joined by Amanda Marrinan, all the way from Brisbane, Alice Mercer, from California, and Sheila Adams, in New Hampshire. Sheila also ran our UStream so the show was heard through that venue this week.

Here is the audio and chat archive.

Here is the UStream audio.

Episode 22 - Goals for 2009

This week, Lisa and Maria talked about their goal setting and resolutions for 2009. Dave Cormier, from EdTechTalk and Worldbridges joined them for part of the show.

At the end of the show, Lisa shared the news of a fund for the Michael Richards' family. Michael and his family were involved in a car accident 2 days after Christmas. Michael's initial plurk is here. If you would like to contribute to the fund, use Paypal and send the payment to traderfjp@yahoo.com

If you would like to help with another project for Michael, please check out the lighthouse wiki.

Audio and chat are here.