This is kind of a bittersweet episode for me. I was blessed to get the job of my dreams, and I couldn’t be happier, but it means I’ll be wrapping things up for this podcast. After 4 amazing years, this will be my last new episode. I’m going to give everyone a chance to catch up by rereleasing older episodes. But this is the last new one.

In this episode, my guest, Crystal Frommert, and I have a great conversation about something that challenges new and veteran teachers alike: How to have better conversations with our students’ parents and/or guardians in order to make connections and ensure collaboration that will really enhance our work with their kids

After a long, tough school year, I figured we could all use a good laugh. In this encore interview in Episode 45 from April of 2021, I interview the one and only Mr. D, Joe Dombrowski the educator and comedian who performs around the country and whose videos have gone viral. We talk about the importance of using humor when teaching, and how to do it, even if you don’t think you’re funny. I also share a taste of how I recently used humor to connect with students.

What happens when a veteran teacher working as a professional learning consultant during the last 4 years returns to the classroom? What’s happening in the classroom now that was different than a few years ago? Spoiler: A lot.

After 2 more philosophical looks at AI in education, I wanted to bring in some super practical ways to incorporate ChatGPT and other AI sites into your lessons and schools as a whole.

My guest is super prolific author and columnist Stephen Marche. He is a font of information and a lot of fun to talk with. Among many other aspects, we discussed some great things we can do with AI in our lessons, along with other potential benefits.

In September of 2022, Fauxsie awards were given out at a fake, but very fun awards ceremony honoring the talented people who have helped me create the commercial parodies - fauxmercials - that come at the beginning of each episode. As a little gift this holiday season, I present some of the award-winning performances that listeners voted on.

Today, I’m continuing a hot topic in education right now -homework. My guests in this episode are incredible educators Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton who co-authored the excellent book, Hacking Homework. We have a great conversation that explores homework issues including giving practical ideas for how to do it right, if you have to do it all. And we also have a lot of fun!

Overthrowing Education’s 3 anniversary is this month, and one way I wanted to celebrate was by replaying an early interview I loved with incredible educator and award-winning storyteller, Micaela Blei. She joined me for a great conversation about how to use story frames to bring learning alive, engage students and provide deeper learning.

My guest is a fellow edupodster. Christopher J. Nesi is from House of Ed Tech, among others, and he’s an ed tech tool maven. In this episode, you’ll hear all about the awesome things he does in our discussion, which ranges from why podcasting is great for teachers and students to sharing some great tech tools and how to use them, and to giving some bold predictions of the future of tech education, as well as technology in general.

Can games actually have an impact on bigger changes in education? And if so, how? Jessica Fuller of RESCHOOL and I discuss all of these questions, among other important issues. Find out about games and tools that transform education.