Confessions of a PYP Teacher

Confessions of a PYP Teacher

This podcast is for any teacher who is seeking for ways to enrich the learning in their classroom without breaking the bank. We will explore the simple steps on how to turn the traditional learning experience into one founded on practices of the PYP in 10 to 20 minute episodes. The PYP is part of the International Baccalaureate program, which focuses on developing the whole child by allowing students to create their own meaning from learning. If you’re not a PYP teacher, don’t worry. We’ll be sharing ideas that can be applied to your learning setting, because good practice can be used anywhere. https://thinkchat2020.weebly.com/podcast

Episodes

June 27, 2025 33 mins

Send us a text

Welcome back, my friends, to Confession 153. 

This episode is framed by this quote by Mo Gawdat, "Worrying is praying for what you don’t want."

Mo frames worry as a form of negative visualization. Rather than focusing our energy on what we want to grow, worry channels our attention toward fear and imagined threats. When we do this consistently, we reinforce anxiety. We lose our sense of clarity. We b...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome back, my friends, to Confession 152.


Today’s episode marks the beginning of a brand-new series on something that’s been quietly knocking at the door of my consciousness for a while now: well-being.


If I’m honest, I used to push that topic aside. It just didn’t feel academic enough; too soft, too personal, too invisible in our talk about developing unit planners and learner agency. But some recent event...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Hello my PYP family, this is Lu Gerlach from thinkchat.  Welcome back to Confessions of a PYP Teacher as we explore confession number 151, which is a challenge for our essential specialist and supporting teachers. 

Over the past episodes in our specialist and supporting teacher series, we have explored some power topics, including

  • The learner profile attributes
  • International mindedness
  • Conceptual understanding

Now...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Hi friends, it’s Lu Gerlach from thinkchat, and today is a BIG one.

Episode 150. One hundred and fifty episodes.  It's the longest episode to date.

Can you believe it? Because honestly, I’m sitting here with a cup of tea and a full heart wondering how we got here.

What started as a passion project for me with a microphone and a head full of ideas has become a place of connection. This learner-centered community has ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Hey friends. Welcome back.

It’s been a minute or two since we last connected, but here we are—episode twelve of our specialist and supporting teachers series. And this one? It’s a big one. Today, we’re diving into what I believe is the beating heart of deep learning in the IB: conceptual understanding—and more importantly, how it shows up in your space.

 This is the question I hear all the time:

 "Lu, I’m a PE teach...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the eleventh episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  Today, we are focusing on how we can further explore international mindedness in our practice.  This requires some deeper thinking and collaboration to make it happen.

In the last episode, we explored how to unpack international mindedness through local and global contexts and projecting across time.  I am hoping that this epi...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the tenth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  Today, we are focusing on bringing about more international mindedness in your classrooms with authenticity. 

There are so many possibilities of exploration with the focus of international mindedness.  One of the most common might be to embody an international mindset by exploring new ideas, meeting new people, being open to new e...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the ninth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  I’m super excited to talk more about the learner profile attributes.  This is one of the most underused tools alongside the approaches to learning in the IB programmes.  This is a bold statement to say, I know.

I’m just tired of people using the learner profile attributes as character traits.  They are SKILLS required to create a...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the eighth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series.  We are going to spend our time unpacking the learner profile in a new way.  Oftentimes, the learner profile are reduced as a way to connect with behavior and they are much more than that.   

As specialist and supporting teachers you have a possibility to use the learner profile as a set of skills that create a learning dispositio...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to our seventh episode in our series for specialist and supporting teachers.  This has been a passion project that has been frequently delayed with my return to the classroom, a school-wide adventure camp, International day, the IB global conference, a trip to London (my favorite city in the world like so many others), and a workshop in Dubin, Ireland with the Nord Anglia school.  As I go through this list, I ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our sixth
episode leaning into inquiry for our supporting teachers, particularly the inclusion specialist. 

In specified roles that support learning and behavioral development, the challenge is there isn’t a set curriculum you are following.  This is how the PYP can help you the most, because it’s full of approaches to help bring abo...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome back to our specialist and supporting teachers series!  This is our fifth episode zooming into inquiry for you fabulous teachers. 

In this episode, we will explore how we might infuse more inquiry into our practice through think, chat, create, particularly in the PE classroom.  This will be a fun exploration of how we might ask some thought provoking questions to bring about more local and global inq...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the fourth episode of our specialist and supporting teachers series. 

We are continuing our journey with agency through the lens of the specialist teacher, in particular the librarian.  All other specialist and supporting teachers should be able to find ways to modify the strategies over the two episodes to help their practice.  It's about look at practices and our content through a different...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the third episode in our specialist and supporting teachers series. If you haven’t listened to the series so far, consider going back to the beginning, because we are getting into the nitty gritty about your roles in each part of the PYP.

Agency is a huge push in the PYP, but I rarely hear it being discussed in the role of the specialist and supporting teacher role.  It may have to do with your he...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to the second episode of my new series to support specialist and supporting teachers.  I just want to let you know that in this space you are so valued.  The work you do makes the rest of the school more complete.  Never forget this my friends as you try to navigate your role within the PYP framework. 

Before we begin, I want to honor the contributions of my friend Yuni Santosa who gave me so many id...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome to our new series about specialist and supporting teachers.  I have been thinking a lot about this series over the past couple months, especially during a visit to Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii.  I had a candid chat with the specialist team and it made me think that other specialist and supporting teachers might appreciate the same guidance.

This episode, we will review some of the common...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

I can’t believe that we are almost done with Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond.  This book has reaffirmed that some things I am doing are reflective of cultural responsiveness and that there are many ways that I can still grow.  As we talked about in the last episode, it’s all about having a balanced academic mindset.  We know that tasks may be challenging, but with time and practice, we ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

This is the final week of our exploration of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will explore how to build more intellective capacity with Zaretta Hammond.  At my age, I feel like this capacity is waning, so I hope to pick up some tips!

The chapter begins with a quote by Benjamin R. Barber, a political theorist. He states, “I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Welcome back my friends to another episode of Confessions of a PYP Teacher.  This episode speaks directly to my heart and I hope it will resonate with you too.  Zaretta Hammond focuses on building deep alliances with our learners in chapter 6 of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain.  We will uncover some parts, but it’s not possible to unpack all of the ideas.  Have fun reading and finding your own nuggets of ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

Something I’ve been thinking about has been learner relationships and why they are not the primary focus in many elementary classrooms.  Usually within the first month of school, teachers are building systems and routines of how the classroom will operate, but do they really take the time to get to know their learners personally?  Zaretta Hammond points out, “Too often though, we ignore the quality of our interactions...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    24/7 News: The Latest

    The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.