Episode 57 features returning guest, Tina Wiggins Sykes and podcast guest debut of Gloria McGinty. Tina Sykes and Gloria McGinty are Arizona based Early Childhood Professionals, ECE Coaches, Trainers, College Instructors, Equity Specialists amongst their past or current roles. They are also long-time friends and colleagues of host, Marissa Calderón. All are involved in equity work both personally and professionally and lend some powerful insights to this subject matter. In this episode, host Mar...
Dec 17, 2020•40 min•Season 3Ep. 57
Episode 56 features a Kindergarten Virtual Zoom Chat that was converted to an audio podcast with light editing for clarity. Guests, Lauren Degregorio is a K-1 teacher in New Mexico, previously a Kindergarten Teacher in Arizona. Catherine Norwood is an Arizona Instructional Coach for an Arizona school district. Both Educators are connected thru AZ's The Kindergarten Experience past grant work with podcast host Marissa Calderón. Discussion related to tips and strategies on how to meet the online k...
Aug 15, 2020•50 min•Season 3Ep. 56
In Episode 55, Carla Rivera-Cruz is back on the podcast to talk about current events involving the oppressive policies and systems in the classroom and at the school board level. The conversation includes the reference of the video, The Four I's of Oppression and how it connects to her work in Education. Carla is a former classroom teacher and school board member as well as the co-host of #LatinasInED with host Marissa. Carla does not hold back discussing the oppressive Arizona education policie...
Jul 19, 2020•26 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Episode 54 is with advocate and outspoken champion for BIPOC, Lark Sontag from the Will Start Small Collective. Lark's points include a very honest and uncomfortable array of topics regarding the current injustices of COVID, how child care is rooted in oppressive policies and how much of the programming in early childhood is for the benefit of white populations that hold power. Take a deep breath in this hard-hitting episode and be ready to advocate for child care teachers. More about Lark Sonta...
Jul 14, 2020•39 min•Season 3Ep. 54
Episode 53 is with guest and Arizona early childhood education colleague, Tina Sykes. Tina Sykes is a social justice advocate, a poet a wife and parent to three children. Our conversations about the recent murder of #GeorgeFloyd online sparked an opportunity to have a candid conversation on the podcast about racism, white centric views in early childhood and the connection of social emotional development in social justice work. This topic was HEAVY. A call for deep reflection along with some web...
Jun 05, 2020•31 min•Season 3Ep. 53
Season 3 debuts and podcast host, Marissa Calderón updates everyone on being on hiatus and launches the new season addressing homeschool during COVID19 with past guest and K-6 Instructional Coach in Arizona, Catherine Norwood. Catherine and Marissa discuss what the focus should be for teachers during the last weeks of virtual school, what parents can do to help their children get thru the summer and the urgent need to build children's social and emotional skills during these stressful and anxiet...
May 13, 2020•33 min•Season 3Ep. 52
Episode 51 of the podcast with host Marissa Calderón and guest, Diana Brown Certified Instructor from Conscious Discipline. Diana shares a bit of her background as a classroom teacher and how she began to train for Dr. Becky Baileys, Conscious Discipline philosophy. Conscious Discipline is a "Transformational Social-Emotional Learning and Classroom Management" system. Many tips and strategies are also shared that easily supplement any current boxed behavioral management curriculum used by school...
Apr 22, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 51
Episode 50 marks a milestone of the podcast! Join host, Marissa chat with the Executive Director of the Arizona Educational Foundation, Kim Graham. Kim shares all of the resources and mentorship programs and initiatives available for incoming teachers and seasoned educators overall. AEF believes that "amazing things happen in schools every day. Their mission is to identify, support and celebrate excellence in Pre-K-12th grade Arizona public education through business and community partnerships."...
Apr 09, 2019•14 min•Season 2Ep. 50
Episode 49 is with the newly elected Superintendent of Arizona's Department of Education, Kathy Hoffman. With her historic electoral win, Marissa and Kathy discuss some of the past campaign rhetoric and the current legislative progress for education she's helped with. We get some additional information on the current education policy focus and what we may expect in the coming year. Superintendent Hoffman's personal background is also inspiring. Did you know Kathy's first job out of college was w...
Mar 24, 2019•21 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Episode 48, host Marissa Calderón chats with Denisse Hernandez de Ortiz, Senior Program Manager for United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. United Way of Tucson has an array of services including an Early Childhood Component and grant initiatives for the region. Denisse is not only a parent of a Kindergartner but her background in supporting early childhood practitioners and parents provides listeners some insights on these types of roles in the community and their significance. Take a listen...
Mar 06, 2019•20 min•Season 2Ep. 48
Episode 47 is the first of a series of Kindergarten Readiness Tips and Insight episodes! Joined by Sierra Vista Unified School District in Arizona, Kindergarten Teacher, Julie Decuir. Podcast host, Marissa and Julie chat about the true skills future kindergartners need vs what some parents may think their child needs to master for school. Julie has been a Kindergarten teacher for 17 years and she shares her tips and insights for parents during this busy time of year of kindergarten registration....
Feb 11, 2019•13 min•Season 2Ep. 47
Episode 46 is with a very special guest. Podcast host, Marissa chats with her own daughter, Salma, who is a High School Senior. Salma shares her confessions about her destain feelings on homework packets, math and other high school frustrations. She can't wait for graduation and shares her plans for the future. A connection with Early Childhood and a candid conversation every parent of a teenager can relate to with added insights for the High School teacher too. Connect with host, Marissa and th...
Jan 29, 2019•17 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Episode 45 is with Kristen L. Orton! Kristen is a Kindergarten teacher at Vernon Elementary School in Vernon Arizona. Vernon is a very rural community in Apache County, in the White Mountains area of Northern Arizona. She was recently hired last year to teach Kindergarten and if she wasn't busy enough finishing her Masters, she had the vision that the K-8 school she was just hired at, also needed a preschool classroom. After a in-depth proposal, several school board meetings and community buy in...
Jan 14, 2019•26 min•Season 2Ep. 45
Episode 44 with Arizona Educational Foundations 2019 Teacher of the Year , Kareem Neal and three of the four Ambassadors for Excellence, Jonathan Perrone, Sheri Loyd and Lee Ann Howell sit down with host, Marissa Calderón. The interview took place at the Highway 85 Creative podcast studio in Peoria Arizona and they chat about their journey in receiving the recognition and how the community can support their work in the classroom. This episode is marked as "explicit language" due to the use of us...
Dec 31, 2018•31 min•Season 2Ep. 44
Episode 43 with Tina Martin from Southwest Human Development, Services for Children with Disabilities. Tina has been with Southwest Human Development since 1997 and is now the Assistant Director for this department. She provides us with her story on how she came across the Early Intervention field as well as a tour of the Birth to Five ADAPT Shop. This shop focuses on changing lives — identifying, modifying and building customized equipment that give children with disabilities hope and opportuni...
Dec 17, 2018•24 min•Season 2Ep. 43
Episode 42 is with comic book artist and creator of Jetpulse Comics , Led Bradshaw. Led is also dad to his 8 year old son, Jake who is on the autism spectrum and the inspiration of his phenomenal comic book hero Jake Jetpulse. In this conversation with host, Marissa Calderón, they discuss parenting, how his son Jake created the initial character of the comics through his drawings and how dad Led created superhero flashcards and later comic book stories to encouraged his son to improve his engage...
Dec 03, 2018•31 min•Season 2Ep. 42
Episode 41 with host Marissa Calderón reflecting on an upcoming blog post, soon to be released on the Mexican art of Alebrijes. She provides some guides on how to connect students interest authentically while incorporating 21st Century Skills in the classroom. For the full blog post on lesson guides for Alebrijes & 21st Century Skills in the Early Childhood classroom and to learn more, visit the website at, earlychildhoodjourneys.com . Intro and Outro Music track is called Lemon Tea from GYV...
Nov 19, 2018•9 min•Season 2Ep. 41
Ep. 40 with Ana Arbel from Arizona's Southwest Human Development, Birth to Five Helpline . Ana talks about the toll-free hotline for parents of children birth to five, describing it as having a professional friend... who is well-informed and trained in all things Child Development and keeps your conversation confidential! The hotline is toll-free AND multilingual including in Spanish. Ana is the Bilingual Senior Program Manager of the program and provides host Marissa with valuable advice for pa...
Nov 05, 2018•22 min•Season 2Ep. 40
Ep. 39 is with Marissa Flores from the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation Community, Education Division's Early Childhood department. Marissa is a parent educator and Home Visiting Specialist, serving families on the FMYN. Host, Marissa Calderón chats with Marissa Flores about her role on the nation, living with her 8 siblings, being raised by her mom and starting the position of supporting parents with children birth to 3 years old. Learn more about the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and community serv...
Oct 22, 2018•19 min•Season 2Ep. 39
Episode 38 with Legislative District 30 Arizona Candidate, Raquel Terán chats with host and past colleague, Marissa. Raquel shares her foundation in early education when she first started years ago in the classroom, then to roles in the early childhood sector and now at Planned Parenthood in Arizona. As a wife, a mom of a toddler and now a local candidate for Arizona's House of Representatives, she passionately shares about her journey as a vocal advocate for Arizona families including our Latin...
Oct 07, 2018•27 min•Season 2Ep. 38
Episode 37 is in celebration of a fellow Latina Educator for Hispanic & Latin American Heritage Month, Erika Argueta. Erika is a Bilingual Arizona Department of Education Early Childhood Unit's Program Specialist for Yuma, La Paz and Mohave County, and a bit of Maricopa County too! Erika talks about the work that the Early Childhood Unit does, her role in Arizona as well as her early childhood journey as a migrant farm worker before she started in the early childhood field. Arizona has a gro...
Sep 24, 2018•27 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Ep. 36 host Marissa Calderón has a conversation with Jessica Hipskind, a newly found foster care mom to her young 7 year old sister after a tragic death occurs in their family. Get ready to be inspired, meet a new hero, and grab some tissue for some possible tears too! Excerpt: "Take your whole family to the special needs classes...so that your whole family gets well versed into this new life with special needs..." For more about Raising Special Kids visit their website here. To connect with Jes...
Sep 11, 2018•28 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Episode 35 pre-recorded LIVE from the AZ First Things First Early Childhood Summit at the Phoenix Convention Center with participants Elsa Bonilla and daughter Stefany Paredes. Host Marissa Calderón chats with them after the conference for their summit reflections including how they will use the content in their practice. Connect with Elsa Bonilla, a ECE COP Coordinator and FTF Regional Partner Council Member from the the Tohono O'odham Community College at: www.ece4tocc.org and email at ebonill...
Aug 30, 2018•15 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Ep. 34 host, Marissa Calderón chats with Christopher Lawrence from Teaching Strategies, a curriculum for Early Childhood Educators for Birth through 3rd grade. Christopher and Marissa chat about his practice, family and the importance of the male early childhood teacher including the common misconceptions about their role in the classroom. Connect with Christopher via email at: [email protected] Learn more about Teaching Strategies here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...
Aug 26, 2018•27 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Bonus Episode with host Marissa Calderón and Carla Rivera-Cruz from the EDphiphany Podcast. Carla and Marissa chat about the #LatinasInED upcoming twitter chat, being Latina Educators and lack of representation of classroom teachers in the K-12 space over some bomb-ass Tequila in the beautiful Studio 85 Podcast Studios in Peoria, AZ. Warning: curse words are said in this episode! To book a FREE podcast session at the Studio 85 studios, connect with Joe Anderson here. To learn more about Carla Ri...
Aug 18, 2018•32 min
Episode 33 of Season 2! Podcast Host, Marissa Calderón is joined by Treasures 4 Teachers Tucson Director Adrienne Ledford. They chat about this 100% volunteer run non-profit teacher resource and how they also provide a high-school volunteer job program for Special Ed youth. More about all the good things this Tucson gem provides visit their website at: T4Teachers.org Check them out on Facebook and on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Aug 07, 2018•12 min•Season 2Ep. 33
Episode 32 with Developmental Pre-K Educator Elena Estrada. This episode was recorded at Los Reyes de La Torta in Tempe, AZ so you'll hear some background audio from the location. Elena works as an Educator with Isaac School District in Phoenix AZ where she supervises and supports preschool children and their families who have a preschool age child with special needs. Many insights on what this looks like for teachers in the classroom as well as for the community on the importance of having thes...
Jul 16, 2018•21 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Ep. 30 with Al Pajak from STEM Nation, a former Vertebrate Paleontologist AKA a working scientist...Al shares his experience as a past classroom teacher and his new journey as a PH.D student in the science field. Al also provides STEM workshops and trainings for K-12 grade classrooms and stresses the importance of student-driven learning and trusting your students! Connect with Al Pajak via email at: [email protected] Al Pajak on Twitter More about the Virtual Curation Laboratory blogpost h...
Jun 28, 2018•21 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Podcast host, Marissa Calderón chats with Bilingual ELL Kindergarten Teacher Deb Guerrero from Yuma, AZ. Discussion includes the typical summer time teacher prep work, teacher wellness and teacher self care tips for incoming new teachers. Great info for parents and those not familiar with background work teachers complete to prepare themselves and for their students. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 07, 2018•22 min
Ep. 29: Host Marissa Calderón is joined by Lauren Harness, Kindergarten Teacher for Mesa Public Schools on her experience and reflections during the #RedforEd movement in Arizona. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 03, 2018•15 min•Season 2Ep. 29
