Esterland with Maria Esterline.
In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Ryan and Howie welcome back to the show, Maria Esterline. Maria is a very passionate educator that has been in education for 20 years. She has worked in various roles but is always on the mission to better education for all stakeholders, especially our children. Currently, Maria is working for the University of Florida teaching a few online classes with a future in-person class that she developed for the spring. She is also a full-time teacher at Kanapaha Middle School in Gainsville Florida. At Kanapaha, she is teaching 6th-grade math and loving being back in the classroom.
In this episode, Maria catches us up on her educational journey and how she is bringing the magic of Esterland to life for her 6th-grade students. She shares with us the power of building trust and community in a classroom and how that has impacted her classroom both academically and behaviorally. Maria gives us some insight and tools to create this magical environment in our classroom like the one she has developed and named Esterland for her students. You will also hear Maria's passion and heart for her students and education in general, which drives her to be the best educator she can be. Maria models this passion for excellence by continuing her learning at the University of Florida in classes that help her develop her teaching toolbox. She models what it takes to be a life-long learner by sharing the challenges and successes she has in her classes with her students. We believe you will feel Maria's love for her students and the educational system in today's podcast and we know that Maria will inspire you as much as she inspires us!
We hope you enjoyed hearing from our friend and incredible educator, Maria Esterline today. She definitely represents all that is good in education today. Don't forget, if you haven't already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don't forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
In today's My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan discuss the upcoming Halloween season and how Disney and Universal help guests celebrate this spooky season. They also talk about how they celebrate the season personally and Ryan shares his experience with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. They wrap up by comparing the Disney Dress code with various school districts and their dress codes for teachers.
Ryan and Howie share what their experiences have been with dress codes at their schools and they also share some pretty outrageous teacher dress codes from districts across the country. These conversations also lead them to discuss and consider gender-specific dress and respecting students' and even teachers' personal gender decisions. While both of them admit to being fairly naive to these types of situations, they both express the need for inclusion for all students and teachers.
We hope you enjoyed the tips and practices shared in today's episode and we definitely hope you have a safe and treat-filled Halloween! Don't forget, if you haven't already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don't forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome back to the show Jeff Bradbury. Jeff Bradbury is an ISTE Award Winning (2021) and globally-recognized educator, educational broadcaster, public speaker, and entrepreneur whose powerful message has inspired thousands of educators through the TeacherCast Educational Network. Jeff Bradbury is a Technology Integration Specialist and the creator of the TeacherCast Educational Network. Jeff currently works in Norwalk Public Schools where he created and teaches a Broadcast Journalism and Technology curriculum that introduces students to marketing, app development, podcasting, and live broadcasting at West Rocks Middle School.
On this episode though, Jeff isn't here to just talk educational technology or even about his wonderful Teachercast Network. Instead Jeff is here to talk to us about the DAS program that he recently used on his family trip to WDW. The DAS program is designed for people that have a disability to ensure they have an equal opportunity to enjoy the parks just as much as someone without a disability can. Even though most of this episode is about DAS and Jeff's family trip, we are educators, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to talk a little educational shop with this incredible educator. So we ask Jeff to catch us up on what he's been up to in his educational life and we also talk a little innovation with him as well.
We hope you enjoyed catching up with Jeff as much as we did. If you would like to connect with Jeff, check out the link to his website in the show notes below. Also if you haven't already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don't forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss ways that they and their students stay in the creative idea zone! If you look up the definition of creativity, you will indeed find something that references using your imagination to create a new idea. Most of the time this creation is something artistic in nature. While this is true for artistic endeavors, a definition like that doesn't seem to do creativity justice to the actual broadness and scope that it entails. After all, creativity is found in far more places than on canvas, within the pages of a book, or across the keys of a piano. Creativity drives us to not only create but to innovate. Ultimately, that is what we do on a daily basis as educators and it's what we want our students to do as well.
In today's episode, Ryan and Howie will share some tips and practices that they use both on themselves and with their students. A lot of these practices are either taken from Imagineers that have shared them in various places and books or they are ideas that Howie and Ryan have come up with themselves that personally help them stay in the creative idea zone.
We hope you enjoyed the tips and practices shared in today's episode. We hope that there is at least one or two that you will find useful for yourself or your students, maybe even both! Don't forget, if you haven't already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don't forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
Starting The Year The Edmagineering Way!
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome back our Disney partner in crime, Brian Collins! Brian has been on the podcast many times and for good reason. He is a former Imagineer, he is an educator, currently works in several fields bringing innovation to a multitude of problems, and well, he's our friend.
On today's show, Brian is here to give us some inspiration and ideas on how we can bring innovation
and creativity into our classroom this year. He not only gives us great ideas but does so in his typical Imagineering way, through fun and great stories!
We hope you enjoyed our visit with our favorite former Imagineer. We here at My Disney Class Podcast, wish all of you an incredible and wonderful school year and like always let us know if we can help make your year anymore wonderful, we love to help bring magic to education! Also if you haven't already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don't forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan reflect back on the summer and share three memories from that summer that stand out to them. They also look forward to the new season of My Disney Class Podcast, Season 8. So many good memories and more to come for sure!
As we start year 8 of the My Disney Class Podcast, we want to take a moment and thank all of you who are part of our listener community. Whether you started today with this episode or have been here since Season 1, Episode 1, we really appreciate you joining in and helping to strengthen this wonderful and supportive group. Also if you haven’t already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don’t forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!
In today's episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are again coming to you from Walt Disney World. Ryan, Howie, and Brian have wrapped up another successful P.D. Magic experiential learning trip with some incredible educators from all over the world. They spent five days visiting all four parks and doing a monorail edu. resort crawl with the group. They immersed themselves in the magic and discovered how to take that magic back to their districts, schools, and most importantly to their students.
In this final episode of season 7 of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are sharing with you their final thoughts on the trip, as well as sharing with you are participants' reflections from the last day. On our final day, the group has a farewell lunch to say our goodbyes, reflect, and share our final takeaways and inspirations that we are going to take back to our schools. These reflections were recorded during this time at Sauti's Canteen in Animal Kingdom, so please excuse the background noises.
We hope you enjoy today's show as we share the thoughts and reflections of our incredible educators that joined us on our 2022 P.D. Magic trip. If this sounds like something you or your teacher friends may be interested in doing next year, make sure to check back on our webpage for details starting in the fall. Also remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already fantastic community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
In today’s My Disney Class Podcast episode, Howie and Ryan welcome their good friend Brian Collins. As most of you know by now Brian works with us to help bring magic and pixie dust to the world of education. Some of you
might not know that Brian continues to branch out into many other areas of education and technology with several different companies and groups.
These groups with Brian are doing so many innovative things that we had to have him on to share all the exciting things coming down the pipe. One of those organizations Brian is working with is called the Enzo Institute and Brian and representatives from that company took a trip to Dubai recently to take part in a global conference called Expo 2020. Brian will discuss this trip in today’s episode and share what his takeaways were as well as share what
he feels is the future of education based on his global view. For those of you that don’t know Brian, come on what’s that matter with you, just kidding but here’s a quick background on Brian. Brian was a Disney cast member since the early 1990s and helped create magic daily as he worked both on the front line of customer service at the Contemporary Resort and as a Disney Imagineer. During his time at WDI, Brian was a show writer and worked on classic attractions like Jungle Cruise and The Great Movie Ride, just to name a few. This is Brian’s 5th time on the show, sixth if you count a Retro Replay of one of his earlier episodes, and if you are looking for more of his background story then you definitely want to check out episode 20 of season 2 or episode 12 of season 3.
We hope that you enjoy our conversation with Brian and if you have any questions or want to connect with any of us, including Brian, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie discuss what they are looking forward to this summer. To say that this school year has been a tough one is a major understatement and looking forward to reenergizing and filling the tank back up is not something that an educator should be bashful about. In fact, this time of year for educators is a vital part of helping them be the best educators they can be in the upcoming Fall.
Howie and Ryan will both share their top 5 things, plus or minus, that they are looking forward to and hoping to accomplish this summer. You will of course hear about their upcoming Disney trips, P.D. Magic, as well as things other than Disney that they do to help them unwind. They even share a few hopes they have to learn a few new things to better themselves and grow in their time off.
We hope you enjoy today’s show about Ryan and Howie’s hopes and dreams for this summer and we hope that you too will find time to relax and unwind. We all know you deserve it and need it! Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already fantastic community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Devan Lewis to the show. Devan is a middle school STEM teacher at McFarland School that really strives to foster the principles and passions found in most Disney Imagineers.
Devan shares with us where her passion for Disney and specifically Disney Imagineers comes from and shares why she feels this passion is key to create a classroom of creatives. Devan also shares the story of how and why her Principal allowed her to actually create a whole class and curriculum based on Disney Imagineering and how that class has grow and developed into several classes now.
Devan also shares with us several of her projects that she’s done with her students including a visual storytelling project that ends with the students creating a diorama that tells the story completely about a character by only using the visuals in the diorama. This is a really awesome project and wait until you hear about one little girls project and the details she used to tell her story. Devan also shares a few other projects she’s done or is planning on doing. We are sure you will find them as inspiring as we do and maybe you too will be encouraged to bring some Imagineering into your classroom.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode and as always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Lisa Funke to the show. Lisa is currently working for the Glenview Public School District as the LRC Director. LRC Directors are in charge of planning, organizing, and directing all activities for the Learning Resource Center at schools. This is the evolution of what we used to call libraries at schools but now offer our students so much more than books! Lisa works specifically at Glen Grove School which is a 3 through 5th-grade intermediate school. One of Lisa’s favorite parts of her job is getting to create and facilitate lessons about various topics for students.
On today’s show, Lisa will share with us her journey in education which includes starting at a Community College for two years before transferring to Bradley University which led her to her educational learning home National Louis University. Lisa also shares with us where she developed her passion for Disney and how she utilizes what she loves about Disney to help enrich her students’ learning.
Lisa is also joining Howie, Ryan, and Brian at P.D. Magic this summer and she shares why she needed to go and what she is looking forward to. She shares what her biggest hopes are for the trip as well as what she plans to do with the inspiration she gains the following school year. We can’t wait to have Lisa back to share with our listeners what she’s learned and what she’s doing with all the learning she gained from the trip. Look for her return in Season 8 with all the details!
We hope you enjoy today’s show and find Lisa as amazing as we do! Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
Putting the F back in education
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are discussing how to put the FUN back in education! This is no April fools joke, these last couple of years have been really tough in the educational world, tougher than are normal challenging years. This is why Howie and Ryan thought on this April fools day it was fitting to discuss the importance of having fun in school for both the students and the teachers. They also share ways and techniques that can help educators create a fun environment as well as fun activities and strategies that can be used.
Ryan and Howie are pretty sure we can all agree that the Disney parks are extremely fun. They are wildly immersive and for the most part, all the attractions tell a great story that can live on in our lives long after the thrills of the rides have faded from our memories. Further, Disney seeks to entertain and educate, so not only do guests get these amazing experiences they remember for a lifetime but after they leave there is almost always something about their visit that inspires them. We hope that this show can also act as an inspiration for you and be that spark that helps you continue to create fun and engaging lessons for your students and staff.
We hope you enjoy today’s show about some of the different ways you can bring the magic of fun into your classroom or buildings. Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie is turning the tables on his partner in crime, Ryan. Ryan Boeckman, who started this wild ride of an adventure with Howie almost 8 years ago, is a middle school science teacher in St. Louis Missouri. He has been recognized as an outstanding science and mathematics teacher by the St. Louis Science Center and has been teaching in public schools for a little over 20 years. Obviously, he loves Disney and has been working most of his 20 plus years in education incorporating what he has learned from studying the Walt Disney Company and the man Walt Disney himself, into his classroom practices.
On today’s show, Howie will be asking all the questions and Ryan is answering them, all about his past, education path, love of Disney, and how he met Howie and started this crazy dream of helping education as a whole by bringing the magic! Though this episode hits a lot of the high points and interesting markers of Ryan’s career, there is obviously a lot more to his story. On today’s show, we just scratch the surface in hopes that this will help you our listeners, some long time and some brand new, get to know one of the hosts just a little bit better.
We do really hope that you enjoy hearing a little bit more in-depth background on Ryan and of course remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are discussing various lessons that Howie has created for our P.D. Magic experiential field trip. These lessons were developed to help our participants familiarize themselves with the Disney terminology and some of the systems that Disney uses. This familiarity allows them to get comfortable with the concepts and educational ties that we will be using on-site at Walt Disney World. We then take that foundation and start to develop our participants' ability to see the world of education through a different lens.
Howie and Ryan spend the majority of this show going through different lessons topics and sharing how they would approach answering and using this information in their educational lives. They also share a lot of their favorite hidden details and magic that Walt Disney Imagineers have hidden in plain sight. They really love to share the Disney secrets that they have discovered and you will definitely pick up on that in this episode as they dive deep into some of these awesome details you can find in the various parks!
We hope you enjoy today’s show about some of the different lessons and details that the online classes for P.D. Magic cover. Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
Design, Disney, and Library Anthropology with Sarah Beals Sager
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Sarah Beals Sager to the show. Ryan met Sarah through a mutual Disney friend, Dr. Cody Havard, a couple of years ago. They both sat on a panel that discussed Marvel and fandom for Dr. Harvard’s University of Memphis class. After hearing Sarah talk about her fandom for Marvel, her passion for Disney, and the work she does as a library anthropologist, Ryan knew he had to ask her to come on the My Disney Class Podcasts. Today she graciously made time in her busy schedule to talk with us. Speaking of her busy schedule, listen to this! Sarah recently completed two masters’ degrees at the same time from the University of Denver. One in library and informational services and the other in anthropology. Sarah already has nine years of creative branding and marketing experience that she roots firmly in research. She originally was trained as a digital artist and has a passion, that she admits to having adopted from her dad, for the importance of organization. Sarah has worked for Disney, at Walt Disney World, twice. Once through the college program and then later she came back to work in custodial and in cosmetology. She currently is an entrepreneur and is currently being contracted out by Disney to work her library anthropology magic!
On today’s show, Sarah will share with us her passion for Disney and wanting to work in the creative side of theme parks as well as her journey from the Disney college program to working as an independent contractor for Disney. She will also discuss the importance of choice in creating learning environments both in museums, theme parks, and classrooms. Sarah will also discuss how she does and would use her background to help make theme parks more engaging!
We believe you are going to love hearing Sarah’s unique journey and perspective on learning environments, organization, engagement, and fun! Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
Play Me Some Disney Music!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie continue where they left off spotlighting the importance of music to tell and drive a story. Remember educators are master storytellers and the great ones are able to excite and utilize all the audiences’ senses. Music can be very motivating and emotional for audiences and educators can use that to their advantage just like Walt Disney and the Walt Disney company do in their movies, t.v. shows, attractions, and pretty much everything it puts out.
On today’s show, Howie and Ryan will cover the music in the two other main Disney parks down in Orlando Florida, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. They will both share what some of their favorite music tracks are from these two parks and also share some hidden Disney magic that you can find with these songs as well.
They wrap up this two-part series, sharing ways that you can utilize Disney music or any type of music in your classroom to help engage and teach your students. Remember music is a big part of driving the story for Disney and music can be a big part of driving your storyline in the classroom!
We hope you enjoy today’s show about the power of music and find a few ways that you can utilize that power in your classroom. Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
Remembering a GREAT Interview with a REPEAT of Lee Cockerell Interview
Today on the show, Ryan and Howie welcome an extraordinary guest to the show, Lee Cockerell. Lee is the former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort. As the Senior Operating Executive for then years Lee led a team of 40,000 cast members and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a shipping and entertainment village and the ESPN sports and recreation complex in addition to the ancillary operations which supported the number one vacation destination in the world.
Lee has written four books, Creating Magic, The Customer Rules, Time Management Magic, and Creating Career Magic. All of which are packed full of golden nuggets that will be sure to inspire and encourage you to develop habits that will lead to a vast growth in your teaching or educational field. They can also be great sources for your students as they grow into their roles of leadership and future paths. One of Lee’s major and lasting legacies was the creation of Disney Great Leader Strategies which was used to train and develop the 7000 leaders at Walt Disney World. Many of these strategies are shared in Lee’s books mentioned above but today we are lucky enough to have him on the show and sharing his wisdom with us and how these strategies can help educators and students both achieve the greatness we are all capable of.
We know you are going to love today’s show as we hear stories and lessons that Lee has learned over his wonderful career in customer service and leadership roles. Lee is a marvelous storyteller, would you expect anything else from a Disney rockstar, and very passionate about making a positive impact on the world he lives in. Lee is a man that does what he says he’s going to do and shows time after time again that he lives by the advice he gives.
Let’s all sing like the birdies sing!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan spotlight the importance of music to tell and drive a story. Remember educators are master storytellers and the great ones are able to excite and utilize all the audiences’ senses. Music can be very motivating and emotional for audiences and educators can use that to our advantage just like Walt Disney and the Walt Disney company do in their movies, t.v. shows, attractions, and pretty much everything it puts out.
On today’s show, Ryan and Howie will take you through a few innovative ways to use music in your classroom to help provoke images and feelings in your students that will hopefully help them move the concepts you are teaching from their brain to their heart, where it will stay forever. Howie and Ryan also will go through two of the four parks in this episode, discussing their favorite ways Disney has used music in their attractions. In this episode, they only get through Magic Kingdom and E.P.C.O.T. but promise to come back next month and finish the other two parks off.
We hope you enjoy today’s show about the power of music and find a few ways that you can utilize that power in your classroom. Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
If you would like the PDF of “This is my story-This is my song”….email Howie@frontier.net and he will email you the PDF FILE
Happy Teacher with Erin King
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Erin King to the show. Erin is currently fulfilling the role of Program analyst for continuous improvement in the Fulton County School District. Fulton County School District is in Atlanta GA and serves approximately 94,000 students that attend classes in 58 elementary schools, 19 middle schools, 15 high schools, and seven charter schools. Erin also supports teachers with inspiration via her InspirED blog at inspirededucation.info, the podcast Teacher’s Pep Rally, and a workshop series called The Happy Teacher.
On today’s show, Erin shares with us how and when her passion for Disney started and how she turned that passion into an incredible teacher workshop themed after the Seven Dwarfs, hence the name Happy Teacher! Erin’s workshops, which are on location down at Walt Disney World, help teachers reignite their passion for education and the profession of teaching. She explains how she capitalizes on being so close to the Most Magical Place on Earth to inspire, recharge, and encourage her participating teachers to start having fun again in their classrooms.
Erin also discusses on the show her work in the Fulton County Schools and how she brings a little bit of the Magic with her into each building she enters. She also shares with us how she has and has seen Disney being used in classrooms that will definitely make you Happy. Erin is an incredible educator and we are sure you will enjoy hearing about her passion and Disney fandom as she continues to inspire and make us all a little less Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and a little more Happy and a lot more like the Doc’s of Education we all know we are.
We hope you enjoy today’s show and find Erin as rejuvenating and uplifting as we do! Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!
I’m Dreaming of a Disney Christmas
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss their Disney dreams this holiday season. This includes several recent D23 Destination D announcements about upcoming attractions and events at Walt Disney World and the other Disney theme parks. Ryan and Howie really are excited for the future of the Disney Parks and both can’t wait to get back and experience all the new adventures Disney is creating for all of us. They definitely can’t wait to find all the connections these new attractions will create for the world of education and our students!
While Howie and Ryan, have done shows like this in the past and have echoed the following statement before, they feel that it’s worth repeating today that their best holiday gift this season is the wonderful My Disney Class community that has been blessed with all the great educators, like yourself, that continue to create classroom magic every day. Ryan and Howie do share other gifts that they are looking forward to, and even some classroom tools that may be worth exploring that could make your teaching life a little easier.
We hope you enjoy this holiday-themed episode but more than that we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy some time off from school or work. Thank you again for making My Disney Class such a positive learning community and we look forward to growing even more in the new year
As always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Emily Gathman. Emily is a 6th grade Science teacher at Bussey Middle School in Garland Texas. She loves to inspire her students to be creative problem-solvers as they tackle real-world Science and engineering problems in her classroom.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Emily Gathman. Emily is a 6th grade Science teacher at Bussey Middle School in Garland Texas. She loves to inspire her students to be creative problem-solvers as they tackle real-world Science and engineering problems in her classroom. Emily was recognized in 2021 as the Bussey Middle School's, Teacher of the year which as you will see in this episode is truly well deserved!
On the show, Emily will share with us how she has incorporated the lessons that she has learned from Disney as well as what brings her inspiration from Disney into her classroom for her students. This ranges from how she has designed physical things in her classroom to how she uses inspirational quotes. For example, Emily helps her students handle failures they encounter in her class by using the quote,” Failure is not an endpoint but a jumping-off point.” She combines this quote with stories about how Walt Disney himself overcame many failures. We think you will agree as you listen to Emily describe her classroom that she is definitely inspiring her students to be innovators, just like Uncle Walt!
We hope you enjoy today’s episode and as always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie pick up where they left off a month ago when they were discussing Walt’s original Florida Project and plan to make E.P.C.O.T. the heart of everything that was going to go on in central Florida. In this episode, Howie and Ryan start at the solemn point of Walt’s death and how the company and Roy had to decide on what to do next. Do they continue with Walt’s vision for E.P.C.O.T. or do they try to do something more familiar that they already have a blueprint for?
Howie and Ryan will then look at what E.P.C.O.T. turned into and the attractions available on opening day. They will discuss what can be learned from this path the company took and how education, creativity, innovation, and discovery were and maybe will be again the heart of the park E.P.C.O.T. Furthermore, they will discuss what the future has been promised to look like by Disney for this park and what their hopes are for what this special park will become.
We hope you enjoy this exploration of why the vision and plan for E.P.C.O.T. changed and what the future of E.P.C.O.T. looks like. We hope you also gleaned some of the parallel connections between Walt’s vision, what E.P.C.O.T. has become and how we can apply that to our schools and classrooms. E.P.C.O.T. has always been a very inspirational place and we know here at My Disney Class that there are tons of mini E.P.C.O.T. classrooms all over that are inspiring the next Walt Disney to grow and develop and dream! Keep up the great work and remember that even if the path has to change, keep what’s important, our students, at the heart of everything we do as educators.
As always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.
Getting Primed with Michael Crawford
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome Michael Crawford to the show. Michael is currently a show writer at the Walt Disney Company and has also written for The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Disney Archives, Imagineering, and D23! In this episode, he will guide us through how his passion for Disney started for him and how that led to him creating a very popular blog called Progress City, USA. This blog is what would eventually find its way to Diane Disney Miller and help him make other contacts and connections that led to Michael writing and working for all those incredible Disney groups listed above.
Michael has also written a book called, The Progress City Primer. His book is filled with a cornucopia of Disney stories that span topics like Walt’s life, the wonderfully weird stories of Disney, and the Disney that never was. On the show, Michael shares with us some of his favorite stories from his book and the details behind them and even how he did his research to gather all these great stories.
Michael also has a podcast that he does with his brother that is bi-monthly called Progress City Radio Hour and if you enjoyed hearing Michael’s stories on our podcasts, and I know you did, then you should go check out his podcast as well as he shares even more stories and deeper dives into the wonderful world of Disney!
We hope you enjoy today’s episode and as always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.