Podcast: The Best of Teachers in America Season 5

On Teachers in America, we celebrate teachers and their lasting impact on students' learning journeys and lives.

This past year, we had a chance to connect with award-wining educators and notable education leaders to hear their inspiring stories and discuss important topics in education like social and emotional learning, multilingualism, and more.

We've complied some of our favorite moments and memorable words of wisdom from our season five guests. Listen and view the best of this season! 

A full transcript of the episode appears below; it has been edited for clarity.

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of the guest and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

Noelle Morris: Every day, teachers shape the future right within the four walls of their classrooms. On Teachers in America, we've made it our mission to share inspiring stories that often go unheard from educators around the country.  

This year, we had a chance to spotlight award-winning educators and notable leaders to explore important topics including accessible education, and more.   

Autumn Rivera: Luckily, the river is really close to our school, and we're able to take all of our students. And when I say all, I mean all of our students. We had two students a couple years ago who were in wheelchairs and the rafting company we used at the time had special seats that we could put those students in. And so, even they were able to feel the Colorado River on their face.  

Rachael Cunningham: Our students were having a really hard time setting goals around reading, because they have had so many challenges with reading for so long and seeing themselves as fluent and successful readers.  

Just getting them to the point where they could imagine that happening and then helping to get there, it's priceless. It's amazing.   

Toney Jackson: I'm always having my kids find the patterns in songs, whether it's the beats, whether it's the lyrics. We do the same thing with when we're doing addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. We're always searching for patterns constantly. It doesn't just live on the page; it doesn't just live in these problems. You see it everywhere.   

Leah Carper: There are only so many hours in a day, and only so much we can do. But I promise you that if you look for ways to connect with students using their language, using the things that [are in] their pop culture, they recognize that you're trying, and they trust that there will be a connection every day.   

Teresa Meredith: If students know where you're trying to take them, they're a lot more apt to come along. And they may not be able to name every single skill you're going to try to equip them with by the end, but they will be inspired and they will connect. I truly believe these learning experiences that I'm giving my students are making memories.  

Kayla Dyer: The biggest piece of being a teacher is that pivot, because you need to be able to say, “Oh, this isn’t going that well, and now we need to take a little turn this way.” Reading the temperature of the room, I feel that's something that I definitely do.  

Blanca Hernandez: We are a family. We value help and learn from each other in English, Spanish, or Spanglish.  

Eric Cavalli: Since I’m doing adapted physical education, the bigger part of the job that you would normally think of is the physical side, the skills. But the social-emotional has been a really big part of it for me as well, and I’ve noticed you can’t really work on skills with a student if they’re not socially, emotionally feeling safe.  

Secretary Cardona: And to the teachers that are out there, you continue to inspire us. You're lifting our country, and we see you; we hear you, and we appreciate you. Thank you.  

Noelle: There are still millions of other teachers around the U.S. who are making lasting impacts and have amazing stories to tell. Every season on Teachers in America, we have the honor to tell a few more.  

If you or someone you know would like to be a guest on the Teachers in America podcast, please email us at shaped@hmhco.com. Be the first to hear new episodes of  Teachers in America, by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoyed today's show, please rate, review, and share it with your network. You can find the transcript of this episode on our Shaped blog by visiting hmhco.com/shaped.

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