The Passionate Educator

Is MTSS just a thing you have to do? Do you think time consuming when you think of MTSS meetings? Are you frustrated, feeling like these meetings are more a hindrance to getting things done than a help? When you think about students who need supports, do you think that MTSS is getting in the way of students getting what they need, especially when you think the student needs special education services? Maybe you think of MTSS meetings as a pain in the neck with hoops, massive paperwork that is all just a waste of time that just stresses you out. If this is how you view MTSS, then this episode if for you! Let’s talk about your vision for MTSS and what it could or should look like in your school today! Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

Does your school offer tiered supports? I’m not talking about just setting aside intervention time and asking teachers to provide interventions. I’m talking about having a plan for different levels of supports available as students need it. That includes a plan to provide training to teachers on programs that meet specific needs, or provide materials for those programs to teachers as their students need them. So, back to my questions….does your school offer tiered supports? Today, let’s talk about what this really means and why it is vital to a successfully progressing school culture. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

Let’s be honest, new teachers are in need of so much professional development when they start out. Most of it needs to be on the school processes and how to survive the first few months of school. One of the things that needs to be introduced is response to intervention within the MTSS process. It is tricky to introduce another new topic to new teachers because they are so overwhelmed, yet at the same time there are processes and procedures that need to be followed. So, let’s talk about how to introduce RTI to new teachers in a way that supports them in their work as they navigate their first year of teaching. Adding another training, another “thing” to their plates is almost cruel….but new teachers DO understand that students are different and need various levels of support and different kinds of instruction to be most successful. By training new teachers on how MTSS and RTI can help them better meet the needs of their students, we help them to learn valuable tools that they can use their entire careers. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

New teachers have a great deal thrown at them throughout the school year, but no more so than at the beginning of the school year when everything is new. Actually, with all of the “new” things coming down, the changes to procedures, curriculum, standards, safety measures…all teachers get a great deal thrown at them at the beginning of the school year. When you add in trying to introduce progress monitoring, data collection, and interventions…it can overwhelm even the most established teachers. Yet, if the students and teachers are going to be successful, this system does need to be introduced early so that both groups can benefit from the interventions. There are so many students needing extra support to get and stay on grade level, so getting the year started strong with interventions and data collection has to be a priority. What is the best way to introduce this system to new teachers (or teachers who may be established but need to more fully participate in the system)? Let’s discuss that today! Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

As the new school year gets in full swing, we know that there are a lot of new teachers who are navigating the first month of school right now, and that is not easy! Last week we talked about why the teaching profession has historically been pretty bad…even horrible….about how they introduce new teachers to the profession. We all know that the first year is the worst, and we know that these teachers need us to support them if they are going to be successful. This is even more true for the new teachers who are joining us through the non-traditional routes….such as second career teachers. So, this week I’m going to give you 5 things that schools can do to help these new teachers get off to a good start and move into a successful year, no matter what their previous experience may be. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

The last few weeks, we’ve talked about what tiered supports are, and the value they have, and I had planned to talk today about why every school needs to provide them for all students. But, then a few days ago, I went in to my son’s school for Meet the Teacher and my plans changed….drastically. You see, in speaking with his teacher and another teacher who came to visit, I realized that almost half of the teachers in the building had taught one or fewer years. The teachers I spoke with commented on the number of new faces, and how the dynamic of the grade levels had changed so much. Obviously the teacher shortage and turnover rate is an issue, so we need to talk about what we can do to support all of these new teachers, to prevent an even bigger problem next year. So, instead of tiered supports for students, today, we are going to talk about what exactly we have been doing wrong when it comes to welcoming new teachers to the profession. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

Does your school see MTSS as the way to get a student into special education? An awful lot of schools and districts see MTSS as the vehicle that they must use to get a student into special education. Some teachers think that the only students who should be included in this system are the ones who are so far below grade level that they will probably need special education services to be successful. This is an unfortunate view of a system which can and should be used to help teachers and students at all levels. Today, on The Passionate Educator Podcast, Episode 7, we are going to talk about the Slip-N-Slide to special education. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

School culture is a nebulous concept that can be very difficult to define or even describe. But, when a school has a bad culture, everyone knows it! School culture is a really big factor in student progress, teacher job satisfaction (and retention), as well as community involvement. If your school is struggling with any of these issues, it may well be a school culture issue. So, what can administrators or teachers do to improve school culture? That is what we are going to talk about today! Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

We have been talking about achievement gaps for decades. The discussion about what achievement gaps are, and what causes them has gotten heated many times over the last few decades. Unfortunately, the conversation has mostly focused on what they are and what causes them, not on what we can do to close them. Yes, there are a bunch of curriculums out there that proclaim to close achievement gaps, but let’s be honest, none of them do all that they claim to do. Today, we are going to discuss what achievement gaps are, and of course some of the plethora of things which cause them. But then, we are going to talk about what we can do in education to actually make progress in closing these gaps for our students. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

If you are in any way involved in education today…and I mean working in schools with kids, you are well aware that students are exhibiting some very big learning gaps right now. This past school year was a lesson in how important consistent, quality education is for all learners. But, the fact is, students missed learning time, a great deal of learning time actually due to COVID shut-downs and online learning. We can’t go back in time and prevent the learning loss. What we need to do is look forward to what we can do to close those learning gaps as quickly and efficiently as possible. Today, on the Passionate Educator Podcast, episode 4, we are going to talk about how we can do just that. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

Does your school or district “do” MTSS, but you're not quite sure what it even is? Don’t be discouraged, believe me, you are not the only one! Chances are, if you’re not too sure about what it means in your school or district, others are in the same boat. Today on The Passionate Educator Podcast, we are going to talk about what MTSS is and what it isn’t. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

I don’t care what you think, teachers are superheroes. Through the course of a school year, teachers provide a supportive environment where students learn so much more than just reading, writing and math. Students learn more about themselves, how to interact with peers and adults, and so much more about where they fit in the world. Teachers help students navigate social situations, emotional issues, trauma, and also academics. Students come in strangers, and leave another one of the many kids loved by that teacher. They create a short-term family inside the classroom so that students feel safe and confident enough to risk embarrassment while they learn and grow. All of this is on top of teaching, testing, managing behaviors, collecting data, serving on data chat and other teams, as well as planning, implementing, and often creating their own resources for students. Over the last few decades, teachers have taken even more of a beating every year from many sides because of the frustration our society feels at what we view as student under-performance. Decades ago, a report came out that said that school systems in the US were under-performing compared to those of other countries. And, teachers have taken the brunt of the blame for this. Now, after years of teaching through a pandemic, many teachers are leaving the profession, and so few are entering that we are faced with a critical teacher shortage. There weren’t enough teachers before, and it looks like there will not nearly be enough to keep the system afloat if we don’t do something to change what is happening. Today, on Episode 2 of The Passionate Educator Podcast, we are going to talk about the Superheroes we call Teachers and what we can do to encourage more to stay, and add more to the profession. Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/

Hello, welcome to the first episode of The Passionate Educator Podcast. This podcast has been a long time in the making. I’ve been in education in many different roles for a long time in several states, and every year I become more passionate about how important education is. This podcast is dedicated to discussion about the current state of education for everyone involved and how we can use simple strategies to empower more students to meet their goals. Why am I recording this podcast? There are a lot of reasons for it, some of which I’m going to share today. Today, I’m going to get uncomfortable and share my why for what I do and exactly what brought me here today. I hope you stick around for this journey, because not only will it be thought-provoking (I hope) but entertaining as well! Subscribe & Review in iTunes Are you subscribed to my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I’m adding a bunch of bonus episodes to the mix and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here for iTunes. Now if you’re feeling extra loving, I would be really grateful if you left me a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find my podcast and they’re also fun for me to go in and read. Click here to leave a review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Links Mentioned in the Show: https://jessicacurtisconsulting.com/