The Balance, by Dr. Catlin Tucker

Mindset Shifts and Empowered Teaching with Angela Watson

What steps can you take to minimize stress and manage your workload to avoid burnout? What do we mean when we say human-centered teaching?  On this episode of Dr. Catlin Tucker’s podcast, The Balance, she invites Angela Watson, a productivity and mindset specialist with 11 years of classroom experience, to offer clarity around these themes and questions. Listen now.

Teacher Resilience with Elena Aguilar

How do we understand and engage with the overwhelming emotions we experience as educators—as humans? “I saw an incredible number of beautiful, passionate, committed teachers burn out and leave the profession,” says Elena Aguilar. So, she wrote a guidebook for teachers called Onward to help them build resilience. In this episode, she shares her own resilience journey as an educator with Dr. Catlin Tucker and gives advice on how to begin yours. Listen now.

Universal Design for Learning with Dr. Katie Novak

How can you create inclusive classrooms, design for learner variability, and remove barriers to learning? Dr. Catlin Tucker talks with Dr. Katie Novak, author and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a solution to the wide variety of student needs in a class. They discuss the belief system behind UDL, why it works well with blended learning, and how you can develop a framework that will drive your career until you retire. Dr. Tucker also announces she has authored an upcoming book with Dr. Novak on the intersection of blended learning and UDL. Listen now.

Designing Learning with Jay McTighe

Educators are often overwhelmed by the pressure to “cover it all” when it comes to content and curriculum. In this episode, Dr. Catlin Tucker talks with Jay McTighe about designing learning experiences for transfer—focusing on how students will apply their learning instead. By reframing and choosing specific long-term goals, teachers can let go of “covering it all” and make time for exploration of essential questions and performance-tasks. “What if we mapped out the curriculum,” says Jay, “not around input or content to be covered, but around rich, authentic tasks that reflect what we want students to be able to do with learning.” Listen now.

Project-Based Learning with Dr. Jennifer Pieratt

How can we reimagine project-based learning (PBL) for this moment in time? In this episode of The Balance, Dr. Catlin Tucker talks with PBL international expert and founder of CraftED Curriculum, Dr. Jennifer Pieratt about how project-based learning can increase student agency and engagement in online and hybrid classrooms. Dr. Pieratt dives into what is essential about PBL and what tweaks can be made during the pandemic to ensure student success with the model.  “The world is our curriculum,” says Dr. Pieratt. “It’s easy for teachers to shy away from the mess right now but the world is so ripe for kids to be finding solutions for the problems that are going on.” Listen now.

Leadership with Dr. Ivy Ewell-Eldridge

The pandemic is changing education. How will teacher preparation programs need to shift in response? How can administrators lead their communities at this time? Why doesn't society value the important work educators do? Dr. Ivy Ewell-Eldridge, current school site administrator in Southern California and Supervisor of Teacher Education and lecturer for UC Riverside's Graduate School of Education, tackles these questions and more with Dr. Catlin Tucker in this latest episode of The Balance. You can follow Dr. Eldridge on Twitter: @IEwellEldridge.

Linwood Paul on Facing Change

The global pandemic and reckoning around racial justice are creating immediate and sometimes overwhelming changes to the education system. As a result, the daily lives of teachers and educators across the nation look drastically different today than they did last year. Dr. Catlin Tucker invited Linwood Paul, expert executive coach and facilitator with over thirty years of rich and varied experience in individual development, team, and organizational change, to talk about what’s happening. Linwood provides advice for leaders and teachers on how to create Subtle Distinctions that adjust your mindset to create true contentment in your life. Linwood also provides practical advice for the new work-from-home lifestyle teachers find themselves in today.

Back to School by Design

As educators prepare for an uncertain back-to-school, Dr. Catlin Tucker encourages teachers to take control of what they CAN: the design of their courses. The teacher’s role as a designer of an online or blended learning course is a critical part of the teaching presence in an online or blended community. “We get to create a clear, more manageable roadmap,” says Catlin, “figure out what those most important pieces are, and start from that point.” She encourages teachers to look at their curriculum with fresh eyes when mapping out their year. Listen now.

Jon Corippo on Centering Students

In episode 12 of The Balance, Dr. Catlin Tucker talks with Jon Corippo, Chief Learning Officer at CUE (Computer Using Educators), where he directs CUE’s onsite, online, social media, and conference planning. Jon and Catlin discuss reprioritizing students and putting them at the center of learning. “We are doing the same thing we’ve always done,” says Jon, “and we’re expecting it to work better. And the same thing we’ve always done leaves out the number one core which is: the human child.” Jon continues by pointing out that the human connection, or rapport between the student and teacher, is key to learning. “Ever heard of School of Rock? Stand and Deliver? Every great Hollywood teacher goes and understands that if I don’t have a relationship with the child, they will reject me.” Listen now to Jon and Catlin's entire conversation—sponsored by StudySync.

Self-Care with Dr. Maria Hersey

Teachers are often asked to incorporate social and emotional learning into their instruction, but what about their own well-being? In episode 11 of The Balance, Catlin Tucker talks with Dr. Maria Hersey, founder and CEO of Global Education Advisors, about how educators can prioritize their own self-care and, in turn, better support student social and emotional learning (SEL). Dr. Hersey’s background as both as an educator and a former director at MindUP (the signature mindfulness program of the Hawn Foundation) allows her to speak both in researched data and personal experience. Catlin and Dr. Hersey discuss best mindfulness practices for teachers themselves and then extend those ideas to SEL strategies in the classroom.