The Out of the Trenches Podcast

Episode #371: Dr. John Almarode

John is a Professor of Education in the College of Education at James Madison University. In 2015, John was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship. In 2021, John was honored with an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia. Most recently, he was named a Madison Scholar in the College of Education and awarded the Madison Vision Teaching Award.

At James Madison University, he continues to work with pre service teachers and graduate students, as well as actively pursues his research interests including the science of learning and the design and measurement of classroom environments that promote the greatest gains in student learning. John works closely with John Hattie’s Visible Learning research, The Visible Learning® research base represents more than 2,103 meta-analyses comprising more than 132,000 studies involving more than 300 million students around the world. The Visible Learning research has identified more than 350 factors that influence student achievement.

Find John online: X, FB, website www.johnalmarode.com you can send him an email there. Look him up at JMU website.

Episode # 370: Jill Handley & Lara Donnelly

Jill Handley & Lara Donnelly are the authors of "What Can I Take Off Your Plate? A Structural—and Sustainable—Approach to Countering Teacher Burnout"

Lara Donnelly, EdD, is a veteran teacher and school counselor in Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky). She is an education consultant, speaker, and author supporting schools and administrators with burnout, family engagement, and multilingual learners with trauma and mental health concerns. Donnelly has been featured in podcasts, news articles, and televised interviews for her expertise in supporting mental health. In addition, she has presented at numerous national conferences, including ASCD, ESEA, and the Whole School REACH conference.

Jill Handley, EdD, is the assistant superintendent of multilingual learners in Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky). Prior to this role, she was the award-winning principal of Kenwood Elementary. During her 16-year tenure as principal, she led her school to be recognized for several achievements, including National School of Character, National Distinguished ESEA School, and the first Family Friendly Certified school in the state of Kentucky.

 

Episode # 369: Casey Watts

Casey Watts is the founder of Casey Watts Coaching & Consulting, LLC, and a Team Leadership Expert. She has over 20 years of experience in education as a classroom teacher, adjunct professor, academic coordinator, and district instructional specialist. She is passionate about empowering teams to move beyond silos and transform into cohesive, vision- driven powerhouses. Through strategic guidance and practical tools, Casey helps leaders cultivate clarity, collaboration, and a collective purpose that drives meaningful results.

Find Casey online: get from her website www.catchingupwithcasey.com @catchupwithcasey on LinkedIn

Episode # 368: Dr. John Chanaca

Dr. John Chanaca is the founder of MJChanacapublishing LLC, a family-owned publishing company dedicated to creating heartwarming, educational stories that emphasize positive family values and parenting. He is the author of several children's books, including The Keymaker, Annie's Flutterflies, Color Your Own Story Books, and the Humor & Heart collection, which earned a Silver Medal in the Global Book Awards 2024. Dr. Chanaca has devoted his career to inspiring and educating both young readers and parents through literature. A Licensed Professional Family Counselor since 1985, Dr. Chanaca has supported countless families and individuals in navigating life’s challenges. This experience led him to author the three-part series A Survival Guide for Parents: Nurturing Super Students in a Modern World, with a follow-up book, Power Parenting: Nurturing Successful Students in the Modern World, soon to be released.

find you online: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089699787125

https://twitter.com/mjchanacapubish

https://www.youtube.com/@mjchanacapublishing/videos

https://www.instagram.com/mjchanacapublishing/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-chanaca-04b7a7175/

www.mjchanacapublishing.com

Free e-book In Canva style:  https://www.canva.com/design/DAFo1cW4Qno/uwNG2Rx_PUjzDOexhQx6kw/edit?utm_content=DAFo1cW4Qno&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Survival Guide Part 1

https://mjchanacapublishingllc.aiinteractivebooks.com/book-view/1794 

 

Episode #367: Jessica Lee Haxhi

Jessica Haxhi has been the Supervisor of World Languages for New Haven Public Schools in Connecticut since 2013, overseeing 85 teachers of Arabic, ASL, Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Pashto, and Spanish. She also teaches one Japanese class at James Hillhouse High School.

Jessica was President of ACTFL in 2021 and is a past President of the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. She served on the Northeast Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Board from 2006-2010, the ACTFL-NCSSFL Can-Do Statements Committee, and the original National Standards Committee for Japanese.

Previously, Jessica taught Japanese for 20 years in a PreK-5 program and has taught world language methods as an adjunct instructor at local universities in CT. She has received the Milken Family Foundation National Teacher Award (2002), the U.S.-Japan Foundation Elgin Heinz Outstanding Japanese Teacher Award (2008), and the International Women’s Day New Haven Award for Outstanding Public Service (2019).

Find Jessica online: @jhaxhi on Bluesky, X, LinkedIn and via her district website: https://sites.google.com/a/nhps.net/nhpswl/home

Episode #366: Kurtis Hewson

As Lead Leader and Co-Founder of Jigsaw Learning, Kurtis has championed the call for collaborative structures in schools to ensure success for all students and enhance the collective efficacy of those dedicated educators working in classrooms. Kurtis works to establish responsive relationships with districts and system level leaders to design collaborative frameworks for educators and develop leadership capacity at all levels. He has over 25 years of experience in the classroom, including over a decade as an award-winning school administrator. An engaging speaker and facilitator, Kurtis interacts with thousands of educators and educational stakeholders annually to ensure Collaborative Response is foundational to how schools work together to ensure success for all students. Find Kurtis online: http://jigsawlearning.ca/

 https://www.facebook.com/JigsawLearningAB/

https://www.twitter.com/Jigsaw_Learning

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3U_RKp7yxQhckpKaQur7ow

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jigsaw-learning-inc/?viewAsMember=true

https://www.instagram.com/jigsawlearningab/

Episode # 365: Starr Sackstein

Starr Sackstein is a recovering perfectionist who is an assessment reforming enthusiast. Starr just started her role as Massachusetts State Coordinator for Educators Rising and is the COO of Mastery Portfolio, an Edtech Startup committed to helping schools move to Standard-Based communication. Additionally, she works with teacher teams to engage students in the learning process, advocate for personal growth, and effectively use student data to drive instruction. She was a high school English and journalism teacher for 16 years, a lead Humanities learner for 2 years, a publisher and developmental editor, and social media manager. Starr is an author, blogger, and speaker committed to changing the way we do assessment nationally and globally. You can learn more about her work on her website MsSackstein.com. When Starr isn’t advocating for students and educators, she is a mom and partner looking for the next adventure.

Find Starr online: @Starrsackstein LinkedIn, Bluesky

website: www.mrssackstein.com

Episode #364: Jennifer Ozgur

Jennifer Ozgur is an Organizational Development & Change Management Consultant, Professional Development Designer & Facilitator, Appreciative Inquiry Practitioner, Certified Trauma-Informed & Brain-Based Coach, Parenting Programming Creator, Columnist and Author. ​Jennifer has combined her years of classroom experience with evidence-based practices to create informational and transformational experiences that uplift and inspire any workplace culture. ​From crafting a collective vision, celebrating core values and strengths, to co-creating a dynamic inclusive plan everyone can embrace, your team will be energized around a shared purpose that achieves sustainable results.

In 2000, After completing her BSED, Jennifer began her career as a middle and high school English teacher for the Pennsylvania public school system. While in the classroom, she built positive relationships with her students so that they might be challenged and feel supported.

In 2022, Due to heavy interest in her strengths-based design and facilitation skills, Jennifer stepped away from the classroom for 2 years to pursue consulting with corporations and larger educational organizations like the Southern Oregon Education Service District, the Arizona Bureau of Indian Education. She teaches senior English.

Find Jennifer online: jennfer@jenformation.com She's not much on social media but you can DM her on FB. She's re-launching Trail of Conversations private group on FB.

Episode #363: Dr. Jen Mott

Dr. Jen Mott is a school administrator at one of the largest middle schools in Ohio and a professor at Xavier University in the Educational Administration Graduate program. Outside of serving the students and staff there, she is a professional juggler, stilt-walker, balloon artist and fire performer who merges her passions for entertainment + education through keynote speaking for schools and organizations. Her TEDx Talk on “Juggling Career & Passion” gives more context about this journey. Dr. Mott is also the author of two books. One is a nonfiction book based on her dissertation research on teacher perseverance called "Teacherverance" which encourages teachers and school leaders by capturing reasons for why teachers stay in such a challenging profession. The other book is a picture book companion called "Why Teaching?" created to inspire students who might still want to be teachers and teachers at any point in their career.

Find Jen online: www.drjenmott.com IG/FB: @jenmott

Episode #369: Dr. Joshua Ray

Special Episode: Finding Your Balance for School Leaders Joshua Ray, EdD, is an educational speaker and author who has led the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work® process at the elementary, secondary, and district level. He is passionate about building healthy school cultures, the work of collaborative teams, systems of support, and educator well-being.

Find Joshua online: IG @joshray_consulting, X @joshray711, LinkedIn @joshuaray Reach him via Solution Tree website: https://www.solutiontree.com/our-solutions/plc-at-work