Season 2
Jan. 9, 2023
035 Who's Indoctrinating Whom?
According to Merriam-Webster , the word indoctrinate originated in the 17th century. It meant "to teach," as it comes from docēre, the Latin word for teaching. But by the 19th century, the meaning shifted to signify teachin…
Oct. 30, 2022
034 Is Your Child's School Successful? How do you know?
What comes to mind when someone says, "Oh, that's a really good school?" Is it students all sitting in their seats, diligently taking notes? Is it passing along students who can read and do math on grade level? Or is it grad…
Aug. 14, 2022
032 Teachers MIA? The Where, the Why, and What to Do to Solve the Teacher Shortage.
Don't be surprised if you find someone named "TBA" teaching your child's class. There will apparently be A LOT of TBAs in charge of classes this fall. School districts across the country report record numbers of unfilled pos…
Aug. 1, 2022
031 Back to School Blues (and what to do about them)
Hey, it’s Anne. Welcome to another episode of Transparency in Teaching. As summer vacation is ending, I was wondering if you are beginning to get a nervous tick when you hear, “Back to School Sale?” Or do you find yourself t…
Jan. 3, 2022
029 You're Not the Boss of Me...or Are You? Parent Power's influence in the classroom.
Happy 2022! Let's hope this year makes up for the last two! It's always good to be hopeful. And on that note, I hope public education survives. Last year brought educators and their curriculum under the microscope in a way I…
Aug. 16, 2021
026 When Did Public Schools become Public Enemy #1?
Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become the latest way to demonize public schools. I admit when I first heard CRT I thought it was some medical test for the heart. Now it has become the fear-raising focus of concern among many…
July 29, 2021
025 (Rebroadcast) Tricks for Cost-Free Travel (or almost free) – With Jackie Sills-Dellegrazie
My husfriend and I just got back from a trip to Hawaii. It was his birthday gift to me. Nice huh! We had to jump through a few hoops to get there. Our vaccination cards made it possible to avoid a 10-day hotel quarantine. (G…
July 4, 2021
024 What Makes an Effective Teacher Effective?
What makes an effective teacher effective? That's a pretty subjective question, isn't it? I'm beginning to believe that so much of what people think makes education good is subjective. Like, who decides what kids need to kno…
June 12, 2021
023 New Teachers, This One's for You!
This school year is FINALLY ending (thank god for small favors) and we are packing up our minimally used classrooms. For many teachers, this will be their last time having to do this. Covid caused many to throw in the eraser…
April 26, 2021
022 What does a Teaching Credential Really Prove?
The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in the 2017-18 school year there were 3.3 million full and part-time traditional public school teachers. That is the most recent count available. That's a lot of col…
April 14, 2021
021 Minimum Day #4 : Back in the Classroom
Here's how the school year progressed. It started as "We won't likely be returning to campus this year." Then it changed to "I doubt it will happen." Which changed to, "Maybe it will happen." Then to, "It's happening," and …
April 2, 2021
020. Tackling Teacher Tenure
In 2005 then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to make changes to California's teacher tenure, increasing the time to achieve tenure from 2 to 5 years. He also proposed that teacher pay be based on merit, not length of t…
March 6, 2021
019 Going Back to School (for real this time)
We are rapidly approaching the end of our 3rd quarter and it looks like a pretty done deal that after spring break, we will be going back to school for real this time! So what does that really mean? We've been polling our s…
Nov. 22, 2020
016 Bye Bye Betsy - Who Will Be Biden's Pick for Secretary of Education?
So the election is over (or is at least supposed to be over...) and Biden has a lot of work to do to help put the country back together. Of course, being teachers, we're rather focused on Mrs. DeVos's replacement. In this ep…
Nov. 1, 2020
015 The Value of Teacher Evaluations
Hello Faithful Listeners! So, yeah, this episode is a bit late, (or a bit early if you want to pretend last week didn’t happen). Here’s why:
The end of our first quarter of distance learning has just come to a close. If you’…
Oct. 5, 2020
014 Minimum Day #3 with Angel
Our guest co-host, fellow co-worker and single parent, Angel, joins us today to share her unique (or not so unique, depending on your family dynamic) situation of juggling two elementary school aged children during distance …