EP:5 - Allison Paradise

Links from the show

• 0:15 - Intros
• 1:48 - Something random or unique
  • Kneading Paradise
  • Her love of older VW Buses (art by lemorris.com)
  • Reindeer Antlers
• 3:16 - Information about her English Classes
  • "Making memorable moments."
    • Adulting Month - Things that seniors will need to do as they become adults
      • Mr. Dugan shoutout
    • Pilgrimmages - "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer
• 5:50 - Allison's "Why" of teaching.
  • How she masks her violent-ness :)
  • How a teacher reached out and help
  • Middle school teachers have a lot of patience.
  • How she found her place
• 7:41 - "30 Second Timeout"
  • What makes Ms. Paradise so great from some of her former students.
• 8:26 - Learning Space Discussion
  • How the physical things that she did as a student, helped her remember things better.
  • "I try to make learning a moving experience. "
  • Dowel Rod Fights
  • Cascade High School Gymnasium
    • Their are classrooms around the top of the gym and the hallways lead right to it.
    • For you sports lovers - The "Sweet Meat" in the concession stand is a crowd favorite.

• 10:27 - Students' thoughts on moving learning spaces
  • Benefits of small groups and how she connects with the quiet students
• 11:55 - Adobe Spark Discussion
  • Fun, creative, user-friendly, able to be used by teachers and students
  • "Makes very minimal effort look phenomenal."
  • 13:10 - Poetry Project Discussion
    • The process of learning and planning is more important.
    • Sparks segmented nature helps with Paul Harvey Poem
• 14:27 - NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month
  • Write 50,000 words of a new novel.
  • Student club met after school to write, as well.
• 16:35 - Ms. Paradise discusses her own NaNoWriMo novel.
  • The inspiration behind her novel.
  • She conducted 30 interviews with others before the novel.
  • Her emotional level after the interviews.
  • You are not alone in your struggles.
• 19:05 - How she weaves NaNoWriMo into her classroom.
  • Preptober
  • Are you a Pantster or a Planner?
  • How she uses her personal experiences of writing with her students.
• 20:15 - Blogging
  • Why she blogs about travel.
  • All the places that she has been. Whoa!
• 22:23 - How does Blogging impact you as a writer and a teacher?
  • Importance of editing and having someone else edit her writing.
  • The embarrassment of having a typo as an English teacher.
  • Emotional Vomiting - The good and the bad.
• 23:38 - Peer editing
  • Positives and Negatives of peer edits
  • It's essential. No one is perfect. Always need a second eye.
  • Helps with tone, inflection, etc.
  • "It's always good to have an outsider look at what you've written to make sure if makes sense."
• 25:00 - How do you remember your travels?
  • Obsessive journal-er
  • Power of being able to go back and look at them.
  • Her aunt recommended journaling when she was younger.
• 26:05 - What's one word of advice for teachers wanting to try something new?
  • Don't be afraid to allow the students to help you learn new things.
  • You don't have to be the master.
  • Embrace the students' knowledge.
  • Teachers are also learning.
  • Everyone must continue to learn.
• 27:29 - Where can people connect with Ms. Paradise?
  • Twitter - @MsPdise
  • Blog - RamblingsOfParadise.com
• 27:50 - School trips coming up -
  • One of the Rivieras haha -
  • New York-
  • Scotland-
  • Japan-
• 28:48 - Discussion of the benefits of going on these traveling school trips.
  • How amazing it is to see students outside of their school personalities.
  • The creepiness of seeing students at the Walmarts :)