Ryan and Howie welcome a phenomenal teacher and innovator, Chantell Mason.  Chantell is currently a 6th grade Science teacher at Steger 6th grade center in the Webster Groves school district.  We discovered Chantell because she is just received the ISTE “Making It Happen” award and was honored at METC. She not only won this award but has also been recognized by METC as a Spotlight Educator and Outstanding Young Educator.  She is also recognized by PBS as a Digital Innovator and she is a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator. While this list is really impressive, we think as you listen to the show, you will find what is really impressive is Chantell’s passion for her students.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Chantell as she discusses her work with students and how she focuses on creating a classroom environment that fosters an empathetic global community.  Her implementation of project-based learning with an emphasis on empathy and global awareness really helps her students become invested in their content and will definitely foster a deeper learning that her students will not soon forget.  Chantell really does a great job of sharing how she delivers these lessons and will give you, like she did me, several tips and resources for creating PBL magic in your classroom.

Ryan and Howie are taking a look at play in education.  With the opening of Toy Story Land being announced for this June 30th at Walt Disney World, Howie and Ryan have been wondering about how important play is in education. Listen today as they discuss four fundamental questions surrounding play in education: 1) What is play in education?  2) What does research say about play in education?  3)  Can learning through play really help teachers to achieve their formal lesson goals?  4) What strategies can educators use to implement play in education?

Howie and Ryan, do their best to try to tackle these questions as they share what they have found in their research as well as what they have learned through their own experiences.  We hope you enjoy this episode on play and we hope that it may have inspired you to be more like Andy and create a classroom more like Andy’s room.  ANDY IS COMING…. (silence)