Inspired Teaching Made Easy: How to Teach with Your Mind AND Your Heart
Do you listen to podcasts? I’ve been listening to them off and on for a few years, but it wasn’t until recently that I became a podcast fanatic. My addiction started last fall when my husband and I were renovating a older home. He was working on the exterior, and I was responsible for most of the interior which meant hours of spackling, sanding, and the walls and ceilings. So my hands were busy, but I was bored out of my mind!
Out of desperation, I opened the podcast app on my phone to search for something that would help pass the time. Within minutes, I discovered dozens of FREE podcasts on fascinating topics, and I created a playlist with several hours worth of episodes. I hit the play button on the first one, and the time just flew by! Before long I found myself listening to podcasts while running errands, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, and exercising.
But as much as I love listening to podcasts, I never considered starting my own until a few weeks ago. My daughter Amy knows how much I love talking about teaching, so she suggested that I create my own podcast for teachers. I agreed, and within a few weeks I had recorded my first episode of Inspired Teaching Made Easy!
As I reflected on my 30 years of classroom experience, I realized that I felt most inspired when I used my heart AND my mind to guide my teaching practice. Building a caring classroom community is just as important as teaching academic skills, and this theme runs through all of my teaching resources. That’s why I’m excited to be able to have another opportunity to share teaching strategies and classroom management tips that will make it easier to find inspiration in the classroom.
I’ve already recorded 7 episodes, and you can find them all by clicking on the Podcasts link at the top of my site. From the main Podcasts page, browse the titles and episode numbers to find the show notes pages where I’ve organized the freebies and resources mentioned in each episode.
Where to Find Inspired Teaching Made Easy
If you haven’t listened to any of the episodes, the best place to start is with Episode 1 which is an introduction to Inspired Teaching Made Easy. You can listen with the embedded podcast player below or with an app like Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Overcast.
One of the best reasons to listen on a podcast app is that you can get new episodes automatically when you subscribe to them. Apple Podcasts and Google Play are two of the most popular apps, but there are many other apps with features that you might like better. I personally like Overcast because it allows me to create multiple playlists, and it also allows me to “star” my favorite episodes so I can listen to them again later.
Join the Inspired Teaching Conversation
When I started this podcast, my intention was for each episode to seem like a conversation between teachers rather than a formal presentation. With that in mind, I created a private Facebook group called Inspired Teaching Podcast Conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, I hope you’ll join the group to discuss your thoughts and insights about each episode with other educators. To join the group, click the link above to find it on Facebook, and then click the Join link at the top of the group. It’s a closed group, so you’ll have to answer three questions and then wait for an administrator to approve your membership. I look forward to connecting with you there!
