Have a Life Teaching

In this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast. we welcome Dr. Carmen Bell Ross—founder and CEO of SP Grace—and her daughter, Sierra Ross, a Harvard University student, for a powerful mother-daughter conversation on helping students not just get into college but thrive once they’re there.

Dr. Carmen shares the origins and pillars of her College Smarter Method, a framework that helps students identify their authentic strengths, ...

John talks with Mickey Evans and Erin Sanchez about place-based learning, a pedagogy of connectedness that roots instruction in students’ local communities, cultures, and environments.

They share design principles for creating authentic, equitable learning experiences and examples from tribal, rural, and urban schools—showing how community partnerships, storytelling, and student voice transform learning.

The episode also explores h...

In this episode, Dr. John Schembari speaks with Nicholas Bradford - Founder at National Center for Restorative Justice - about how restorative justice can transform school culture by balancing accountability, relationship building, and community repair.

Together, they unpack what restorative practices look like in real classrooms and explore how schools can move from punitive discipline models to ones focused on learning, empathy, ...

Guest:
Dr. Tim Shanahan, literacy researcher, author of Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives, and founder of the UIC Center for Literacy.

Episode Summary:
Dr. Shanahan joins John to discuss why students must engage with grade-level, complex texts—and how teachers can scaffold instruction instead of lowering text difficulty. He explains practical ways to support struggling readers while maintaining rigor and motivation.

Key Takeaw...

“If students can’t read to learn, they can’t learn through reading.”

In this episode of the podcast, I talk with Gwen Pauloski, author of Making Deep Sense of Informational Text: A Framework for Strengthening Comprehension in Grades 6–12.

We dig into why every teacher—not just ELA—needs to see themselves as a literacy teacher.

Gwen shares her four pillars for helping adolescents make sense of complex texts: 1️⃣ Rebuilding confidence ...

In this inaugural episode, education podcasters sit down to reflect on the art and purpose of podcasting in education. From the challenges of balancing storytelling with scholarship to the power of teacher voice in shaping public dialogue, the panel explores what happens when educators turn the mic on themselves.

Key Themes:

• The rise of podcasting as professional learning for educators

• Building authentic conversations in K–12 ...

In this episode of The Have a Life Teaching Podcast, host Dr. John Schembari talks with Illinois educators Paige Timmerman and Courtney Hake, co-authors of Their Stories, Their Voices. Together, they explore how teachers can use personal narrative writing to help students find and share their authentic voices—while meeting academic standards and preparing for real-world writing.

Paige and Courtney discuss how narrative writing b...

In this episode of the Have a Life Teaching Podcast, I had the privilege of sitting down with David Richards, CEO of Changemaker Education, to discuss the revolutionary world of micro schools.

As a leader in the micro school movement, David shared his personal journey from traditional education to launching micro schools, emphasizing the importance of personalized learning, project-based learning (PBL), and social-emotional learnin...

Poetry isn’t just “beautiful prose” — it’s a doorway into critical thinking, voice, and perspective.

In this episode, I sit down with Jewellyn Forrest, national writing consultant and co-founder of Autonomy Learning, to explore how poetry — and especially figurative language — can:

✔️ Help students “read between the lines”

✔️ Unlock reluctant writers

✔️ Build community and celebrate student voice

✔️ Offer an equity lens by honoring ...

Too often, I see learning objectives on the board that say “Students will think about…” — but how do we actually know what students are thinking?

This week on the Podcast, I sit down with returning guest Alice Vigors, author of The Thinking Classroom and her brand-new book The Learning Classroom.

We dig into how teachers can make thinking visible by:

- Clarifying learning intentions & success criteria

- Embedding real-ti...

When Teachers Believe—in Themselves and Each Other—Students Thrive

This week on the podcast, we sit down with Jenni Donohoo and Glenn Forbes to discuss their new book, Collective Impact: Overcoming the Twelve Enemies of Teacher Efficacy.

We explore how collective efficacy—educators’ shared belief in their power to impact student learning—creates school cultures where both teachers and students flourish.

Just as we encourage students t...

In this episode, we are joined by Shannon McLeod from Thrive with Outdoor Learning for an inspiring and insightful conversation about the power of taking learning outside the classroom.

We cover the how, why, when, and what of outdoor learning—from practical strategies to deeper reflections on its benefits for students' well-being, engagement, and development.

Shannon shares her journey into outdoor education, the philosophy behind ...

Our kids are drowning in math failure — and it starts shockingly early. By grade 3, too many students already believe: “I’m just not a math person.”

The culprit?

Timed tests that reward speed over thinking, worksheets that kill curiosity, and assessments that feel like traps, not opportunities.

We’re creating a generation terrified of math.

The SNAP Solution flips the script:

- Math becomes a puzzle full of wonder

- Students show thinki...

Are we grading what really matters? In most cases, no.

In this episode, we sit-down with Karin Hess, Jonathan Vander Els and Brian Stack - authors of the book Elevating Competency-Based Learning in a PLC at Work - to discuss how competency-based learning and grading can help educators provide students with a clear pathway in learning both standards based academic content while developing higher order life skills.

We discuss, in par...

In this episode, I talk with educator and author Susan Midlarsky about her book The Art of Learning Math: A Manual for Success.

We explore how math can be more than numbers—how it can help students see patterns in life, solve problems creatively, and rebuild confidence after math-related stress or trauma.

Susan shares:

• How recognizing relationships and patterns helps students make sense of math and the world

• Ways to address math a...

In this episode of the podcast, we chat with a pioneer in the AI space - Dr. Ken Kahn.

Ken walks us through the amazing ways we can increase student creativity through the use of high-powered AI chat bots, not reduce it.

We discuss how students can create games and simulations to demonstrate their knowledge of concepts in all core content areas, without needing to know code, as well as ways to create multimodal resources for studen...

Drama critic George Jean-Nathan once said that "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." Although 47% of all young people eligible to cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election did so, 53% did not.

How did we get here? Professor Lindsey Cormack, author of the book "How to Raise a Citizen" believes that this situation, overall, is the result of a lack of youth awareness of the political and democratic proces...

In this episode of the podcast, we speak with authors Jenn David-Lang, the Main Idea, and Kim Marshall, the Marshall Memo, about their work in curating the "best of" resources available to educators - particularly leaders working with new teachers as well as new teachers interested in self-growth.

New teachers need certain supports beyond what David-Lang calls the boiler plate "where are the keys" training all teachers get at the b...