In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Ryan and Howie talk about the future of Disney now that Iger is back and making changes in the new year! We all make resolutions this time of year and Disney is no different. Howie and Ryan discuss some of these future predictions for the Disney company in 2023 and talk about why these may happen and what caused the need for the possible change. On this show, Ryan and Howie dive deep into the articles that have been recently written and published about...
Jan 01, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 8Ep. 11
In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Ryan and Howie welcome back our favorite former Imagineer and education disruptor, Brian Collins! Brian was a Disney cast member since the early 1990s and helped create magic daily as he worked both on the front line of customer service at the Contemporary Resort and as a Disney Imagineer. During his time at WDI, Brian was a show writer and worked on classic attractions like Jungle Cruise and The Great Movie Ride, to name a few. This is Brian's 6th tim...
Dec 16, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 8Ep. 10
Iger With Your Nose So Bright! In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan discuss the recent return of Bob Iger in his role as CEO of the Walt Disney CO. Bob Iger returned to The Walt Disney Company as Chief Executive Officer on November 20, 2022, shocking most all of us. He previously served as CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to 2020, then Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board through 2021. Over Mr. Iger's 15 years leading Disney, he was the steward ...
Nov 29, 2022•56 min
Nov 15, 2022•52 min
In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan compare two of their recent trips. Howie went to Universal Studios in Orlando, yes you heard us right, Howie went to that place that shouldn't be mentioned! Just kidding, we love Universal too and as you will find out in this episode, Howie is warming up as well. On the other hand, Ryan traveled to Wisconsin to visit two schools that are implementing personalized learning with their middle school students and are doing quite innovative t...
Nov 01, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 8Ep. 7
Esterland with Maria Esterline. In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Ryan and Howie welcome back to the show, Maria Esterline. Maria is a very passionate educator that has been in education for 20 years. She has worked in various roles but is always on the mission to better education for all stakeholders, especially our children. Currently, Maria is working for the University of Florida teaching a few online classes with a future in-person class that she developed for the spring. She is a...
Oct 15, 2022•2 hr•Season 8Ep. 6
In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan discuss the upcoming Halloween season and how Disney and Universal help guests celebrate this spooky season. They also talk about how they celebrate the season personally and Ryan shares his experience with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. They wrap up by comparing the Disney Dress code with various school districts and their dress codes for teachers. Ryan and Howie share what their experiences have been with dress codes at their s...
Oct 01, 2022•59 min•Season 8Ep. 5
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome back to the show Jeff Bradbury. Jeff Bradbury is an ISTE Award Winning (2021) and globally-recognized educator, educational broadcaster, public speaker, and entrepreneur whose powerful message has inspired thousands of educators through the TeacherCast Educational Network. Jeff Bradbury is a Technology Integration Specialist and the creator of the TeacherCast Educational Network. Jeff currently works in Norwalk Public Schools ...
Sep 15, 2022•51 min•Season 8Ep. 4
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss ways that they and their students stay in the creative idea zone! If you look up the definition of creativity, you will indeed find something that references using your imagination to create a new idea. Most of the time this creation is something artistic in nature. While this is true for artistic endeavors, a definition like that doesn't seem to do creativity justice to the actual broadness and scope that it entails. After al...
Sep 01, 2022•59 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Starting The Year The Edmagineering Way! In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome back our Disney partner in crime, Brian Collins! Brian has been on the podcast many times and for good reason. He is a former Imagineer, he is an educator, currently works in several fields bringing innovation to a multitude of problems, and well, he's our friend. On today's show, Brian is here to give us some inspiration and ideas on how we can bring innovation and creativity into our ...
Aug 15, 2022•55 min•Season 8Ep. 2
Aug 08, 2022•1 hr 15 min
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are again coming to you from Walt Disney World. Ryan, Howie, and Brian have wrapped up another successful P.D. Magic experiential learning trip with some incredible educators from all over the world. They spent five days visiting all four parks and doing a monorail edu. resort crawl with the group. They immersed themselves in the magic and discovered how to take that magic back to their districts, schools, and most importantly to thei...
Jul 15, 2022•53 min•Season 7Ep. 24
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are coming to you live, well not really live, but they record this episode on location at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. About halfway through PD Magic, Howie and Ryan ask Brian Collins and Daniel McComb to join them after their third day in the parks and do a round table discussion about the day's events. The table will share some of their favorite moments from our PD Magic tour of the Magic Kingdom and they will also talk a...
Jul 01, 2022•43 min
In today’s My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan welcome their good friend Brian Collins. As most of you know by now Brian works with us to help bring magic and pixie dust to the world of education. Some of you might not know that Brian continues to branch out into many other areas of education and technology with several different companies and groups. These groups with Brian are doing so many innovative things that we had to have him on to share all the exciting things coming down th...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 22
Looking Forward To Summer Magic! In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie discuss what they are looking forward to this summer. To say that this school year has been a tough one is a major understatement and looking forward to reenergizing and filling the tank back up is not something that an educator should be bashful about. In fact, this time of year for educators is a vital part of helping them be the best educators they can be in the upcoming Fall. Howie and Ryan will bo...
Jun 01, 2022•56 min•Season 7Ep. 21
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Devan Lewis to the show. Devan is a middle school STEM teacher at McFarland School that really strives to foster the principles and passions found in most Disney Imagineers. Devan shares with us where her passion for Disney and specifically Disney Imagineers comes from and shares why she feels this passion is key to create a classroom of creatives. Devan also shares the story of how and why her Principal allowed her to actuall...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 15 min•Season 7Ep. 20
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Lisa Funke to the show. Lisa is currently working for the Glenview Public School District as the LRC Director. LRC Directors are in charge of planning, organizing, and directing all activities for the Learning Resource Center at schools. This is the evolution of what we used to call libraries at schools but now offer our students so much more than books! Lisa works specifically at Glen Grove School which is a 3 through 5th-gra...
Apr 15, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 7Ep. 22
Putting the F back in education In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are discussing how to put the FUN back in education! This is no April fools joke, these last couple of years have been really tough in the educational world, tougher than are normal challenging years. This is why Howie and Ryan thought on this April fools day it was fitting to discuss the importance of having fun in school for both the students and the teachers. They also share ways and techniques that ...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 7Ep. 17
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie is turning the tables on his partner in crime, Ryan. Ryan Boeckman, who started this wild ride of an adventure with Howie almost 8 years ago, is a middle school science teacher in St. Louis Missouri. He has been recognized as an outstanding science and mathematics teacher by the St. Louis Science Center and has been teaching in public schools for a little over 20 years. Obviously, he loves Disney and has been working most of his 20 plus years ...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 7Ep. 16
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are discussing various lessons that Howie has created for our P.D. Magic experiential field trip. These lessons were developed to help our participants familiarize themselves with the Disney terminology and some of the systems that Disney uses. This familiarity allows them to get comfortable with the concepts and educational ties that we will be using on-site at Walt Disney World. We then take that foundation and start to develop our ...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 15
Design, Disney, and Library Anthropology with Sarah Beals Sager In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Sarah Beals Sager to the show. Ryan met Sarah through a mutual Disney friend, Dr. Cody Havard, a couple of years ago. They both sat on a panel that discussed Marvel and fandom for Dr. Harvard’s University of Memphis class. After hearing Sarah talk about her fandom for Marvel, her passion for Disney, and the work she does as a library anthropologist, Ryan knew he h...
Feb 15, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 7Ep. 14
Play Me Some Disney Music! In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie continue where they left off spotlighting the importance of music to tell and drive a story. Remember educators are master storytellers and the great ones are able to excite and utilize all the audiences’ senses. Music can be very motivating and emotional for audiences and educators can use that to their advantage just like Walt Disney and the Walt Disney company do in their movies, t.v. shows, attractions, ...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 13
Remembering a GREAT Interview with a REPEAT of Lee Cockerell Interview Today on the show, Ryan and Howie welcome an extraordinary guest to the show, Lee Cockerell. Lee is the former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort. As the Senior Operating Executive for then years Lee led a team of 40,000 cast members and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shipping and entertainment village and the ESPN sports and recreat...
Jan 15, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Season 7Ep. 12
Let’s all sing like the birdies sing! In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan spotlight the importance of music to tell and drive a story. Remember educators are master storytellers and the great ones are able to excite and utilize all the audiences’ senses. Music can be very motivating and emotional for audiences and educators can use that to our advantage just like Walt Disney and the Walt Disney company do in their movies, t.v. shows, attractions, and pretty much everyth...
Jan 01, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 7Ep. 11
Happy Teacher with Erin King In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Erin King to the show. Erin is currently fulfilling the role of Program analyst for continuous improvement in the Fulton County School District. Fulton County School District is in Atlanta GA and serves approximately 94,000 students that attend classes in 58 elementary schools, 19 middle schools, 15 high schools, and seven charter schools. Erin also supports teachers with inspiration via her Inspir...
Dec 15, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 7Ep. 10
I’m Dreaming of a Disney Christmas In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss their Disney dreams this holiday season. This includes several recent D23 Destination D announcements about upcoming attractions and events at Walt Disney World and the other Disney theme parks. Ryan and Howie really are excited for the future of the Disney Parks and both can’t wait to get back and experience all the new adventures Disney is creating for all of us. They definitely can’t wait ...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Season 7Ep. 9
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Emily Gathman. Emily is a 6th grade Science teacher at Bussey Middle School in Garland Texas. She loves to inspire her students to be creative problem-solvers as they tackle real-world Science and engineering problems in her classroom. In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Emily Gathman. Emily is a 6th grade Science teacher at Bussey Middle School in Garland Texas. She loves to inspire her stude...
Nov 15, 2021•59 min
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie pick up where they left off a month ago when they were discussing Walt’s original Florida Project and plan to make E.P.C.O.T. the heart of everything that was going to go on in central Florida. In this episode, Howie and Ryan start at the solemn point of Walt’s death and how the company and Roy had to decide on what to do next. Do they continue with Walt’s vision for E.P.C.O.T. or do they try to do something more familiar that they al...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Getting Primed with Michael Crawford In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome Michael Crawford to the show. Michael is currently a show writer at the Walt Disney Company and has also written for The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Disney Archives, Imagineering, and D23! In this episode, he will guide us through how his passion for Disney started for him and how that led to him creating a very popular blog called Progress City, USA. This blog is what would eventually f...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 6
Planning for the Community of Tomorrow! In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie take a deep dive into Walt Disney’s plans for the Experimental, Prototype, Community of Tomorrow (E.P.C.O.T) or what later would be labeled as Progress City. This was an unfinished concept for a planned community developed by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises in the 1960s. Its purpose was to be a “real city that would never cease to be a living blueprint of the future,” building on the...
Oct 01, 2021•1 hr 2 min
