Monday, April 29, 2019

Episode 18 - High School Students Mentor Elementary Students

Episode Link
19 min. 17 sec.

Why have high school students mentor elementary school students? How does it benefit the high school student? How does it benefit the elementary student? And how would a school go about setting up a program where elementary school students are mentored by high school students?

All of these questions are answered in this episode, where John and Kelly welcome Agora High School Instructional Coach, Rebecca Adams, and Agora Elementary School MTSS Coordinator, Lauren Wilson, who established a mentoring program.

We also welcome Agora Kindergarten teacher, Amy Lutz who has a high school mentor in her classroom.

And we welcome our very first student guest, Erica M., who mentors Amy's Kindergarten students.

Monday, April 22, 2019

Episode 17 - Differentiation in Cyber Schools

Episode Link
33 min. 48 sec.

The four hosts of the Cyber PD Podcast, Katie, Kelly, Steve, and John, are reunited in this episode to discuss differentiation in cyber schools. They define the term, discuss its importance, the philosophy behind it, and some strategies that could be used to incorporate differentiation into your classroom.

This was a listener requested episode. If you would like to request an episode, please do so in the comments section of  our blog.


Monday, April 8, 2019

Episode 15 - Trauma Informed Part 2

Episode Link
31 min. 22 sec.

In this episode, Katie and Steve take a closer look at being trauma informed and trauma sensitive with guests, Maegan Bregenser and Mike Scheirer. They discuss signs of trauma that cyber school teachers can see when they are on the other side of a computer, how teachers should respond when seeing signs of trauma, research about the importance of building relationships with students affected by trauma, and more.

Instructional Strategies mentioned during the episode include:


  • Routines
  • Modeling Stress Management
  • Music
  • Wait Time
  • Brain Breaks
  • Apologize 


Resources






Monday, April 1, 2019

Episode 14 - Trauma Informed Part 1


23:06

Jennifer Barrios and Gina Sczepkowski join Katie and Steve to discuss being trauma informed and trauma sensitive. They briefly discuss how trauma affects the brain, and why language, empathy, listening to students, and recognizing that “one-size-fits-one” is critical to student learning. They also discuss the unique situation Agora Cyber Charter is in for addressing the needs of students who have suffered through traumatic experiences.

Episode Resources