Does anyone else out there have a fear of contacting parents or families? Not sure why it seems so scary especially when the vast majority of parents are super supportive of their students. I know for me I sometimes get caught up with the feeling that parent contacts are just one more thing I need to check off my list rather than something that helps me create another connection to my students. I talk about that a little bit on thi...

As we return from spring break and start the race to the finish line of the school year it can be easy to feel a sense of urgency. We have both felt that fear that we will run out of time, so we try to get in as much as possible. The problem with this is that it can cloud our judgement on what is important versus what is urgent. The shorter our time gets with our students the more we need to lean into the things that are important ...

Welcome to Value Adds Value! We are thrilled to introduce the newest season of the podcast in which we will be focusing exclusively on relationships. In this episode we discuss why discourse is required for relationships and how it seems to be more challenging than ever.  Let's define it.

Discourse- a formal discussion of a topic in speech or writing

We focused on the word formal for our discussion and how formalities are lacki...

Hey Teacher... YOU ARE ENOUGH!!

Hey Teacher... YOU ARE ENOUGH!!

Hey Teacher... YOU ARE ENOUGH!!

This is a podcast we dropped in the fall, but we think it is an important message for y'all to hear again!! We love you!

And to prove it we'll give you some reasons why on this episode of Value Adds Value!

Follow us on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/valueaddsvalue/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/itskylekrueger/?hl=...

As we round in to the fourth quarter of the year. As we make the turn down the home stretch. As we  round third and head for home. Or whatever other cheesy sports metaphor you can think of we want to be aware of our mindset. We have both made the mistake in our career of counting down the days we have until the year is over and we will be able to wash our hands of the school year. What we have learned the hard way because of that i...

What is good fam?! Kyle here again. I wanted to drop my thoughts on the first week back to school after a year of virtual learning. Although it has been amazing to be back in the classroom I find myself with a lot of things on my mind. I am working hard not to try to process the past year all at once, but I am asking myself a lot of questions.

How has the past year changed my perspective?

How do I give both my in person and virtual...

We are so pumped to be recording a new podcast with Liz Kleinrock this coming week that we wanted to throw it back to our first podcast with her. We hope that our Wikipedia page some day says that our podcast was the first one she ever did! We are so proud to call her a friend and admire her authenticity in fighting for the causes she believes in. Make sure you go follow her on Instagram @teachandtransform!!

Follow us on Insta...

Hey Fam it's Kyle... today for the first time in 367 days I will be teaching in a classroom. I thought I would put my thoughts down on audio before I get back and reflect on what the last 367 have meant for myself and others. I am committed to a reflection podcast once a week for the rest of the school year to ensure that I am learning the lessons this year wants to teach me. Thanks for listening.

Follow us on Instagram:

https:...

For the first time in a year both of us will be back in the classroom for in person learning. Wilkie has been back since the fall and for the first time in a year Kyle will be back next week. We thought it would be a good time for us to look back at where we were when distance learning started. We are doing our best to reflect on this experience in real time and we hope that you are doing the same as an educator. We are doing every...

We recorded the first 14 episodes for 2021 of Value Adds Value during our winter break, and boy has a lot happened since then. The Capital Riots, a new president was sworn in, and Texas plunged itself into a deep freeze that caused millions of people to lose power, heat and water. So we decided to give an update on Wil's situation in Houston and talk a little bit about Kyle's return to the classroom after a year of virtual ...

We are back with part 2 of our conversation with Brandy Arnold from Project Wayfinder. This year more than ever we are looking for ways to bring Social and Emotional Learning into our classrooms, but Wayfinder really goes beyond just SEL to give students the opportunity to explore themselves and their future. 

On this episode we discussed not just the Wayfinder programs, but how we as teachers can show up for the conversations ours...

As schools reopen for in person learning and we work to make our schools a safe place again, we are all looking for ways to support the Social and Emotional needs of our kids. This has been a year unlike any other and many of us are also relearning our place within the school. So we brought Brandy Arnold from PROJECT WAYFINDER on the podcast to talk about the work they do in helping students find belonging and purpose. During the f...

We have often asked the question 'what is the most important thing you have to teach kids' we often find ourselves coming back to the idea of teaching them how gather information and form their own opinions. We want them to gather facts and decide for themselves how they see the world and the things that happen in it. When we take in new information our beliefs and opinions can often change. This happens to us quite natural...

In the world we currently occupy it can seem like we can't have conversations with people who have views that are different than ours. In this description we had originally called them OPPOSING viewpoints, but that would add to the problem we already have. The problem being anyone who has a different viewpoint than ours is the opposition. 

Does it really have to be this way? 

Can we have conversations with people who don't ...

We are back with part 2 of our conversation with Mark Rivard (@rivardart @doradthingsco @stageculinary) talking about how he creates really stakes for the students who work in his programs and how that creates real investment from them. Mark was telling the story of his Sharpie campaign in 2011 when he was a brand ambassador for Sharpie for a full year because of his skateboard art. The conversation led us to talk about...

Mark Rivard is a professional fine artist, writer, educator, and entrepreneur.  Working out of Minneapolis, MN, Rivard runs the highly regarded arts educational platform Do Rad Things- A Skateboard Art Education, STAGE Culinary, as well as his managing his own brand of products and creative services.  He has shown his work globally and been involved in internationally recognized projects.

As we work to bring teachers early in their...

Welcome back to VALUE ADDS VALUE! This is the conclusion to our conversation with Jen and Mira from Teaching Is Intellectual. To be honest we could send an entire weekend listening to their perspective on teacher prep and higher ed., but we had to limit this conversation to just short of 2 hours. As we wrapped up the conversation we asked them what they think teacher prep will look like as we hopefully come out the back side of the...

We are back with part two of our three part conversation with Jen Newton and Mira Williams from TEACHING IS INTELLECTUAL! In part one we got an update on how their school years had been going and the impact it is having on their teacher candidates. On this episode we dive into the changes they are seeing in the teacher development space, building teachers to be lifelong learners, and avoiding the 'flashy new things' that co...