Dr. Paul Darvasi is back for his annual episode on all things serious play and learning! In this episode, Paul explains his new role as the Executive Director of the Serious Play Conference and how innovation so often comes from utilizing ideas and techniques from one domain in a new or different context. We also delve into educators as learning experience designers, and how viewing an educator’s work from that lens has been transformative to his work with teachers and with his company, Gold Bug Interactive.

To learn more about the Serious Play Conference, visit https://seriousplayconf.com/

To learn more about Gold Bug Interactive, visit https://www.goldbuginteractive.com/

Paul recommends James Paul Gee’s What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

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In this episode, Superintendent Brian Rottinghaus, 4th Grade teacher Aeden Ghyra, and 5th Grade teacher Hadley Sejkora share Pawnee City School’s transformative approach to math education. Together with Tara Gossman of ESU 4, this great collection of educators detail the implementation and impact of Eureka Math, highlighting how it has not only accelerated learning but also enhanced students’ understanding and retention of math concepts. This group, with the support of NDE and Instruction Partners, illustrates how coherence led to a new standard for educational excellence in math in Pawnee City.

Visit the Pawnee City Public Schools Site: https://www.pawneecityschool.com/

Visit the Nebraska Dept of Education’s Math Page: https://www.education.ne.gov/math/

Visit the Eureka Math site: https://greatminds.org/math/eurekamath

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In this episode, Dr. Mike Dulaney and Kyle McGowan of the Nebraska Council of School Administrators and Dr. John Skretta, Administrator of ESU 6, discuss several education-related bills that will be heard during this year’s legislative session in Nebraska. Together, these leaders and education advocates provide context and details that are sure to support anyone interested in learning more about the prominent topics and themes in education in our state.

To learn more about NCSA, visit: News Stories | Nebraska Council of School Administrators (NCSA)

To stay up to date on the 2024 Legislative Session, visit: Nebraska Legislature – Home

To watch Nebraska’s Legislative Session live, visit: Watch Live | Nebraska Public Media

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In this first episode of 2024, we are joined by Seth Fleischauer of Banyan Global Learning for a conversation that spans an array of topics all related to teaching learners Digital Citizenship, whether that be in your own home or in the school environment. On the pod, Seth shares his passion for connecting with students and schools through a live virtual connection to make space for conversations that can help them to better navigate the digital world we live in.

To learn more about Banyan Global Learning, visit: Home – Banyan Global Learning

To listen to his podcast, Make It Mindful, visit: Make It Mindful: An Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts

To listen to his podcast, Why Distance Learning, visit: Why Distance Learning? on Apple Podcasts

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This episode features two return guests to our show, Dr. Dan Schnoes of ESU 3 and Dr. Larianne Polk of ESU 7. Dan and Larianne each serve their respective ESUs as the Chief Administrator, and this past October, they had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC to meet with Congressmen and women and advocate for Nebraska education. In this episode, they highlight the six main topics from those collective conversations.

To learn more about the national efforts and opportunities for service agency advocacy at the federal level, visit AESA’s page: Federal Advocacy – Association of Educational Service Agencies | AESA

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This week The Good Life EDU Podcast features the work of five Nebraska ESUs that received an Educator Pipeline Grant from the Nebraska Department of Education. John Skretta, Molly Aschoff, and Drew Harris join the pod to speak to the unique models that each ESU designed as a way to meet the specific local needs of the districts that they respectively serve. The conversation spans opportunities for education administrators, new-to-the-profession classroom practitioner support, Educator Rising pipeline efforts, fostering substitute teacher pools, and more.

For more information on the ESU in your area of Nebraska, visit our page: ESU Coordinating Council (ESUCC)

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Dr. Nicholas Ziegler, World Languages Coordinator at ESU 5, is back on the show this week to give an update on Distance Learning in Nebraska. On the pod, Dr. Ziegler also speaks specifically about the Distance Learning World Languages Program at ESU 5 and the tremendous successes that students are experiencing through those DL courses. Listeners can expect to learn about the content area of World Languages, Distance Education, and how 76 districts across the state are turning to distance learning as an effective avenue for staffing courses when an in-person instructor is not available.

To learn more about the ESU5 World Language Program, visit: Distance Learning | ESU 5 – Serving Educational Needs in Southeast Nebraska

To learn more about the Nebraska OER Commons, visit: Self-Evaluation Checklists | OER Commons

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