Join us for Teaching With Integrity and Heart in Difficult Times, an inspiring discussion on the critical role educators play in shaping students’ lives and fostering a love for learning. In this episode, colleagues Regie Routman and Megan Drayton share their passion for teaching and social justice, delving into their experiences in the classroom. 

Megan, a veteran 5th-grade teacher from South Carolina, has spent 14 years teaching in high-poverty schools, working with students to use literacy as a tool for transformation. 

The conversation explores the power of professional learning communities, mentorship, and the core beliefs that drive Megan’s teaching practice. Megan emphasizes the importance of student empowerment, respect, and literacy as a vehicle for positive change. She also shares a transformative story of a former student, highlighting how building relationships and recognizing students’ potential can lead to profound, lifelong impact. Megan and Regie also discuss the significance of community in the classroom, coping with mandates, and being intentional about our teaching. “It’s always about the kids.” 

In this insightful conversation, which we've titled Reading and Reason, I speak with Dorsey Hammond and Denise Nessel, authors of The Comprehension Experience: Engaging Readers Through Effective Inquiry and Discussion. We emphasize the importance of a reasonable approach to teaching reading that integrates phonics, comprehension, and meaningful engagement from the start. In addition, we stress the significance of integrating reading and writing, using real literature, and fostering a joy of reading through diverse, culturally responsive materials. This conversation underscores that comprehension should be taught from day one and that an overemphasis on phonics can detract from developing a deeper understanding and love of reading.

In this video interview and conversation, lifelong educator, coach, and author Matt Renwick and I discuss the importance of building trusting relationships schoolwide, the role of coaching in professional learning, using instructional walks to highlight students’ and teachers’ strengths and efforts, collaborating with students and the school librarian to build a school library where students are empowered to set the budget, order books, and make decisions about how the library works best, and growing professionally and personally—to name some topics we discuss.