I realized that it's pretty difficult to schedule podcast interviews when you have a new baby in the house with a somewhat unpredictable nap schedule, and I decided I wasn't going to cut into family time. COURSES FOR TEACHERS I'VE BEEN CREATING During the times the little one napped, I decided to create a new course called Create Successful Videos for Distance Learning . It's a 1-hour self-paced course to help teachers who need to create video lessons but aren't sure where to start. Additionally...
Sep 07, 2020•10 min
I walk through six tips on how to ensure your summer is a time to recharge, including: strategies to wean yourself off of social media a bit what to think through when developing your evening routine to get more sleep how to start small when it comes to exercising each week where to start when it comes to preparing for the fall semester practical advice on how to structure your own professional development this summer ideas on creating connection with others , from those in your household, to yo...
Jun 12, 2020•29 min•Ep. 32
I got all these ideas from other educators on social media. In this episode, I take time to reflect on these three projects. I talk specifically about: how I had students create a TikTok as their final math summative grade my rubric for the TikTok project reflections on what I would do differently with the TikTok project if I did it again how I introduced the Rube Goldberg project for my robotics class how I incorporated Minecraft in the planning process for their Rube Goldberg project how we ut...
May 29, 2020•45 min•Ep. 31
I wanted to chat with someone about everything I had been reading online and seeing from schools around the world, some of which are beginning to open up after 3 months of remote learning. Carl Hooker was the first person to come to mind. Carl Hooker has been in education for 20+ years and is an Apple Distinguished educator, has served as a classroom teacher, instructional technologist, virtualization coordinator, director of innovation & digital learning, and founder of iPadpalooza, an educ...
May 15, 2020•53 min•Ep. 30
My guest today is a teacher-of-the-year recipient and educator of 20 years. Carolina Carner has been utilizing augmented reality in her classroom for several years in her middle school classroom. Additionally she's worked with Google for Edu as a product expert in Google Expeditions, AR, VR, and Tour Creator. She's THE AR/VR person to talk to when it comes to implementation in the classroom. It was a fun conversation as she walked me through a litany of augmented reality apps, showing me their c...
May 01, 2020•55 min•Ep. 29
I reached out to a handful of people on Twitter who had done distance learning for at least a couple of weeks already. Student engagement is one of the biggest challenges in distance learning. While I originally just asked for their best tip, I love that thoughts and guidance on how to increase student engagement was a part of each of their answers. In the episode, my guests are: Andrew Chiu | Hong Kong Middle-School Digital Design Teacher *just finished his 10th week of distance learning* CJ Re...
Apr 17, 2020•45 min•Ep. 28
My guest today is a passionate math educator who has sought to teach learners in this exploratory manner and in a way that the students feel they are capable of understanding mathematical concepts deeply. In my conversation with Kevin Moore, we explore: how one teacher helped him begin to view himself as a mathematician his journey from traditional education to the micro-school model how the physical space can foster the learning he hopes to see how it's MORE than just the physical space that he...
Apr 03, 2020•56 min•Ep. 27
Watch the video of this podcast - https://youtu.be/BpSlAy2nPd0 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Life with a newborn 6:11 - Daily schedule during quarantine 10:03 - Future podcasts 12:28 - Distance learning in the country 15:38 - New content for teachers (livestreams, courses) 18:42 - My distance learning plan so far 20:24 - Tips for making the most of self-quarantine time CONNECT W/ ME ON HOW THINGS ARE GOING thom@thomgibson.com Twitter | @gibsonedu YouTube | /gibsonedu...
Mar 19, 2020•25 min
In this Q&A show, we discuss: How do you support students & help them master content after they've scored low on a test? How do you find time to prep, grade, plan without using all of your free time outside of school if you don't have a prep period ? How do you correct students & stimulate competition in a robotics classroom? Any suggestions for a successful long-term subbing experience in 6th grade math? RESOURCES MENTIONED 10 Grading Time Hacks podcast episode Tips For New Teachers...
Feb 21, 2020•29 min•Ep. 26
Today I chat with two educators who are all about Skype in the classroom. Jeni Long & Salleé Clark (who go by the dynamic duo name of Jenallee) are two Microsoft Innovation Educators with over 36 years in education collectively. In our conversation, we discuss: how teachers are using Skype to supplement the work they're doing in their classes by Skyping in experts to speak with their classes or having their classes Skype with another classroom around the world. how to interact with schools a...
Feb 14, 2020•35 min•Ep. 25
During my semester as a sub before becoming a full-time teacher, I had many a days of little to no sub plans. I also had a good handful of days of detailed and thorough sub plans. Days with the full set of sub plans were far better both for me and for the students and I've sought to provide subs in my own classroom with the same direction. In today's episode I discuss: exactly the level of detail I put into my plans (I read out a section of my own plans) how I format my plan s so they're more re...
Feb 07, 2020•27 min•Ep. 24
My guest today is Roberto Germán, director of middle school and creator of the educational consulting group 'The Multicultural Classroom.' In today's episode we explore: the differences between multiculturalism vs. a multicultural classroom vs. social justice Roberto's journey from an extremely poor and under-performing school in Lawrence, MA to one of the wealthiest private boarding schools in the nation and how that experience inspired the work he does now what a multicultural classroom experi...
Jan 31, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 23
Class jobs in and of themselves have tremendous value in creating a positive classroom culture, building responsibility in students, and saving YOU time as the teacher. My classroom jobs are part of a larger classroom economy system. If you want to dive into how I do that, check out the course I created for teachers linked below: 'How to Teach Kids About Money' course - www.thomgibson.com/classroomeconomy 20% off coupon code - MONEY The full list of jobs can be found in Module 1, and all of Modu...
Jan 24, 2020•27 min•Ep. 22
It's good to be doing the podcast again after some time off over the holidays! When I got back to school, I led a PD session for my colleagues on how to save time grading and thought it'd make for a valuable podcast. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro 3:47 - Update on the podcast 6:17 - Why grading takes so long 7:28 - Hack 1 | Grade fewer things 10:23 - Hack 2 | Have shorter assessments 11:52 - Hack 3 | Skip written feedback 14:55 - Hack 4 | Batch your grading 16:58 - Hack 6 | Take assessment yourself (by...
Jan 17, 2020•34 min•Ep. 21
In this Q&A show, we discuss: What are the top three books that guide you in building a self-sustaining classroom culture? As a first year robotics teacher, do you compare one class with another as a way to motivate students? In Brazil, if one class is falling behind another, it's common to say 'the other class is already on the next topic.' Does this motivate students? If you're in a noisy classroom, how do you make sure you are heard without screaming? How do you deal with students that re...
Oct 28, 2019•32 min•Ep. 20
A conversation on Facebook with my friend Jake led me to ponder the nature of teaching kids how to do creative work. Jake Ritter is a broadcast journalism teacher and John Mulvany is an artist and art teacher of 26 years. In this episode we chat about: what the schools of thought when it comes to teaching creativity are what the most challenging aspects of teaching creativity are how to help kids who just don't know where to start how to structure creative assignments the balance between teachin...
Sep 28, 2019•51 min•Ep. 19
Chris Nesi and Jeff Bradbury are two of the biggest names in educational podcasting. Chris is the creator of the House of Ed Tech podcast as well as the Education Podcast Network, which is a community of educational podcasters that includes the likes of The Cult of Pedagogy with Jennifer Gonzalez and The Google Teacher Tribe. Jeff Bradbury from TeacherCast is the creator and host of NINE different educational podcasts, including Educational Podcasting Today which is a podcasts all about educator...
Aug 28, 2019•51 min•Ep. 18
Join me as I sit in on Chalimar Chieza's 9th grade World Geography class as they dive into a socratic seminar. Hear students form hypotheses around the question**"why do people around the world have different skin tones?"** as well as my discussion with Chalimar on how she structures the socratic seminar so all students have a voice. We discuss the following: her role as facilitator how the socratic method shapes the socratic seminar the roles of the 'inner circle' and 'outter circle' during the...
Jul 28, 2019•52 min•Ep. 17
Michael Hernandez & Don Wettrick are two educators that are actually assigning students social media homework; tweet at least three times a week, connect with an influencer on LinkedIn, discuss how the new Instagram updates will change your content strategy. They're not utilizing social media for it's own sake, but to leverage the greater work of students telling stories and directing their own learning. In this episode, we discuss: how Michael defines digital storytelling opportunities stud...
Jul 01, 2019•48 min•Ep. 16
CJ Reynolds is a high-school teacher in West Philadelphia with an active YouTube and Instagram channel where he documents the meaningful learning experiences in his classroom with the goal to inspire, engage, and motivate new and veteran teachers to be the teacher they always wanted to be. Reynolds uses "real rap" to share teaching tips and strategies and to give an authentic look at what it means to be a teacher in inner city Philadelphia. In this episode, we discuss: how being on social media ...
May 28, 2019•40 min•Ep. 15
I spoke with several people that are on the front lines of where esports and education intersect. We discuss: What exactly are esports What types of esports scholarships and programs are available at the college level How an esports program is so much more than just playing video games Why educators need to consider starting an esports program at their school Where to go for gaming PCs when your school doesn't have the funds for them Resources for getting an esports club started at your school R...
Apr 26, 2019•56 min•Ep. 14
A few months ago I didn't know that storytelling competitions were a thing. Then I heard Matthew Dicks on a podcast and he shared what makes for good storytelling. I thought it was interesting but it wasn't until he told a short 5-minute story that I was convinced of his mastery of the craft and I wanted to learn more. I found out Matthew Dicks was not only a champion storyteller but also a classroom teacher and that he had a podcast with his wife Elysha where they listened to stories told from ...
Mar 28, 2019•55 min•Ep. 13
In this short episode, I share a little bit of why I started this podcast, why I changed the name, and the vision going forward. Hope you like the new podcast art! Connect with me: Thom Gibson www.thomgibson.com twitter.com/gibsonedu youtube.com/gibsonedu instagram.com/booksandbeefjerky gibsonedu@gmail.com...
Feb 27, 2019•4 min
In this episode: I speak with mindfulness specialist James Butler to discuss best practices surrounding how to get started with mindfulness in the classroom. I interview psychologist Dr. Tori Olds about the deeper happenings in the mind when mindfulness is being practiced. I chat with educator Jaclyn Mann about her experience in leading mindfulness activities in her classroom. You'll hear a couple in-class sessions of both Jaclyn Mann and myself leading mindfulness practices in our classes Resou...
Jan 28, 2019•42 min•Ep. 12
Epic Rap Battles of History is one of my favorite YouTube channels. I knew that giving students opportunities to write songs about content was a good assessment, but I never thought of utilizing raps / slam poetry specifically. So much opportunity for students to show what they know in this creative assessment. Chalimar Chieza has been doing rap battles in her history classes for years. In this episode we talk about: Why she started utilizing raps / slam poems What the 'battle' element could loo...
Dec 26, 2018•15 min•Ep. 11
I got the chance to go into Mike Franz's high school gov & econ class when they were playing YOLO, a year-long game where one week of school represents one year of life. The first week of the game the students are 18 years old, the last week of the game they are near retirement age. What will they make of their society, of their economy, of their investments, of their world? We explore the following: what the game looks like from beginning to middle to end how Mike utilizes class jobs to sta...
Nov 28, 2018•47 min•Ep. 10
Currently working on a couple Thom Gibson Podcast episodes that aren't quite done yet but I did want to get an episode out this month. In this, I pulled a review that I did for my #bookstagram Instagram account. It was a review of Carla Shalaby's 'Troublemakers' which is a book on what we can learn from kids who we generally deem as 'troublemakers' and how can we love and honor them as members or our learning community. I agree with the general premise of the book (work harder to love kids that ...
Oct 28, 2018•8 min•Ep. 9
With the start of the school year upon us, I've been thinking a lot about the first day of school. Is it the most important day? How do you balance the need for rules & procedures with getting kids stoked about being in your class? How do you ensure students have a voice and feel seen & heard on the first day? How do you not only begin to develop a positive relationship with students but also help them begin to develop positive relationships with each other and with the content you're te...
Sep 30, 2018•36 min•Ep. 8
Think of your Kindergarten teacher. How do you think your educational experience would have been different if that teacher continued to be your teacher for every year until you graduated high school? In today's podcast I chat with Mark Rogers, who will be starting a 13-year experiment this year. The practice is called 'looping' where a teacher sticks with a group of students for more than one year. We discuss the following: •how he got into looping with students •why he's embarking on this 13-ye...
Jun 27, 2018•35 min•Ep. 7
In Kindergarten, students are bursting with curiosity; why are doorknobs round, what is carpet made out of, why are my fingers little? Unfortunately, as students progress through their education, they tend to become less curious about the world around them and settle for just asking the questions that will get them the answers to pass the tests that determine their future. In todays episode, I chat with two-time Teacher-of-the-Year science teacher Kelley Janes who takes time out of every class t...
May 24, 2018•18 min•Ep. 6
