Podcast Fun

For this week, I chose the episodes of 10 Minute Teacher Podcasts. My first one was "College Admissions Tips and How To’s For Parents and Teachers” with Vicki Davis. I chose it because I usually work with the Admission Office at Chapman and I find the process really fascinating. If I were able to be an admission counselor for a university, I’d take it because I love hearing student’s stories and what makes them special. The episode talked really heavily about finding the right fit college wise for students, even when students see the big name schools like Harvard or Yale, finding the right for for who they are is more important. Davis was talking about her middle daughter who struggled with math growing up. Even in 8th and 9th grade, she wasn’t clicking with it and her mother said “well what about art school?” And now she is at Savannah School of Art and Design and thriving. They hit the point home that every student had a space in a certain academic niche, and that may not be at the University of Michigan’s or USC’s of the world. The point is that is okay. For me personally, I tried going to a large school when I left high school and never fit, but now I’m at a liberal arts college and thriving. Finding the best place for how you learn and live is key with college.

The other episode I chose was with Vicki Davis again on the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast called “Educating Kids for Life not Tests.” They talked about the state of Virginia walking away from the standardized testing world and to a world of ore collaborative learning and teaching. They discussed how millennials have assisted the world of learning already and will be leaving classrooms as students and entering as teachers. Growing up, my life was filled with standardized tests and I hated it. I would watch the clock and wish it would end. The idea of navigating away from the torture of these exams makes me so much happier for future and current students. Millennials are truly going to reinvent the idea of education, and even Pam Moren, the superintendent being interviewed said we are in a renaissance for education, that everything is changing finally.