In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome back one of their partners in mouse crime and good friend Brian Collins! 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 3rd time on the show, fourth 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.
In today's show, Brian talks about how Himself, Howie, and Ryan all met and how that meeting has led us all to the place where we are now which is joined together in the pursuit of bringing pixie dust to the educational world. Each part of this trio shares some of their favorite memories from their learning escapades together and they share future pursuits as well. Towards the end of today’s show, the topic moves to ideas to help yourself and students stay engaged and creative during the recent stay at home orders we are all living through.
We hope you enjoy today’s show as much as we did making it and if you haven’t checked out Brian Collins and his work, what are you waiting for! Go, run, and look him up, you won’t be sorry.
Like always, please give us a rating and review on Apple Music. We so appreciate the feedback and love to hear from our incredible community. Also do forget to check us out on all our social media outlets, especially Educators Who Love Disney on Facebook.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are discussing the very shocking and difficult new normal that most of our educational institutions have been thrown into because of COVID-19. As Howie and Ryan have always been huge fans of all the wonderful educators out there and have been honored to have had a small number of them on the show to highlight their stories, we are especially proud of all the educators today as they have tackled this situation with grace, selflessness, and determination to help bring a level of normalcy and continuing learning to all their wonderful students. While we know that there is no replacement for the magical learning environment and community you have created for your students and there is no way to replicate the learning experiences that they get when they are with you and able to collaborate with you and their peers, we wanted to at least share some of our thoughts, plans, and resources with you. This is no way a complete list and we don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we feel that by sharing and working together, we can all get through this.
We hope that all our listeners are safe and healthy and that you are getting the support you need for not only continuing the learning for our students, but also getting the support you need for your own health and mental wellness. Please feel free, like always, to reach out to us if there is anything we can do to help support you. Also, if you have not already done so, please consider joining our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney. There is already a good group of educators on there ready to embrace you and help support each other and we would love to have you join the group.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are pleased to have Micheal Corbert on the show. For some time now, countries and regions around the world have adopted various initiatives to encourage and support the use of computers in their educational systems. These initiatives have taken many different forms in different countries, some focusing on strategic support for hardware and software-related programs, some on strategies more directly focused on curricular and instructional aspects of computers, some on strategies for the school manager, and others on different approaches to teacher education and support. Regardless of the focus or scope of the initiative, one aspect has become crystal clear and reoccurs in all the studies and that is that the teacher is the key figure in the eventual success of any technology-driven educational initiative
Micheal Corbert is one of those teachers that is pushing his district’s educational technology initiative forward. He has been doing this for 31 years working in the computer lab of his school and teaching such classes as Introduction to computer programming and Digital Literacy. He has even developed his own curriculum involving creative coding and wouldn’t you know as a long time Disney fan, he even finds ways to incorporate his love of Disney in his lessons.
We know you are going to enjoy hearing Micheal’s story and also be encouraged to start using technology in your classroom if you are not already doing so. Like always if you have any thoughts or suggestions about this show or future shows, make sure to reach out to us on social media or email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com. Also if you enjoy the show, please write a review and rate us on iTunes as this helps other educators find our show.
Cruising into Spring
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are cruising into spring by discussing Howie’s recent cruise on the Disney Wonder. Howie is quite the cruising expert, a matter of fact, we could and should start calling him Captain Howie! Though he’s taken many cruises from Princess to river cruises in Europe, Disney cruises are his favorite. I don’t think that’s much of a shocker and with this being his 10th Disney cruise, we thought it would be a great time to discuss why he loves them so much and how we can take advantage of all the great educational opportunities that await us on the seas.
In this show then, Howie captains us through the deep waters of cruising and helps make sense of all the many activities that are available to someone going on a cruise. We will look at onboard activities like live shows, fine dining opportunities, parties, and different youth clubs. We look even further into one of these opportunities that’s just for kids and is packed with educational gems, if you are like Ryan and Howie, you will be wishing you were a kid again just to get the chance to explore!
Howie also takes us through off-board excursions. These are the opportunities, some of them at an additional cost, that happen while the ship is in port. There are many many choices and they do depend on where you are cruising to but no matter what your destination is, we are sure you are going to find opportunities to explore culture, foods, nature and much much more.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode and we hope that it has encouraged you to look at taking your next cruise keeping the educational opportunities in mind. Though you won’t see Ryan out on the seas anytime soon, you never know, you may just run into Captain Howie!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcasts, Howie and Ryan welcome Dan Zehr, teacher, and host of the extremely popular Star Wars podcast called Coffee With Kenobi. Howie and Ryan have known about Dan’s work for some time and have been really interested in learning more and then after Ryan met him at the Disney Indy Meet, they learned that not only was he an incredibly genuine guy but the amount of projects and impact he’s having in both the educational and Star Wars Fandom circles is incredible! So Dan may not be a droid but he’s definitely the guy you’re looking for if you want to be inspired to bring your content to life in meaningful and engaging ways.
Not only is Dan the host of Coffee With Kenobi, a podcast that seeks to examine the Star Wars universe through a critical lens but he is also an English teacher at the high school level. He finds critical thinking in mythology and storytelling fascinating, as it helps us to understand more about our culture and ourselves. Dan has a Master’s in Teaching and Learning and loves film, as well as literature. He is also a member of The Rogues ( as Blue Leader ), a network of educators from Star Wars in the Classroom. Dan lives and teaches in central Illinois with his wife and three boys.
On the show today you will hear all about how Dan inspires students in his classrooms to make their learning meaningful and personal to them. He shares several of his classroom projects and philosophies that are sure to inspire you to stretch your teaching and practices hopefully will encourage your students to reach for the stars. We will also hear about Dan’s podcast, his passion for Star Wars, and some of his side projects like STEAM into Star Wars and a commercial he did for Target. After listening to this episode we feel strongly that you will agree that the force is strong with this master of teaching, Jedi Dan Z!
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcasts, Howie and Ryan are talking about Howie’s recent trip down to Miami for the FETC conference. The Future of Education Technology Conference head to the shores of Miami Beach to soak up some sun and valuable education technology solutions. FETC is turning 40, so what a great way for them to celebrate this birthday than down in the electric city of Miami.
This conference is also an awesome way to network with a community of thousands of educators who share common challenges and have the opportunity to present unique solutions. FETC seeks to maximize the potential of educational technology by providing attendees with more than 600 sessions, workshops, and diverse learning opportunities.
Howie was gracious enough to head all the way down south of Walt Disney World to share a whopping 5 sessions! His sessions and workshops included dealing with apps in the classroom and how to evaluate them. Howie also discussed one of his most trusted workshops called Edmagineering Classrooms which he takes his participants through a brainstorming process that allows them to take their ideas for theme park attractions and turn it into a pitch for their fellow educators. Howie’s next session was 20 Disney projects for your classroom that were each based on the ISTE standards. In this session, he took participants through many of these lessons and how they can be implemented in the classroom. Howie’s session titled STEAM, STEM and the magic of Disney movies and the one he did on podcasts were also big hits.
We hope you enjoy today’s show recapping FETC and the incredible presentations and participants that Howie was able to interact with at FETC in Miami. Please keep the ratings and comments coming, they help us be better and help to grow our wonderful "My Disney Class" community.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcasts, Howie and Ryan welcome back a friend, a Disney expert, an author, and an all-around great guy, Mr. Jeff Dixon. Jeff is the author of the Key to the Kingdom series, which is a fictional series of four books that follows the adventures of Grayson Hawkes as he attempts to solve a complicated series of puzzles laid out by none other than the man himself, Walt Disney. If you want to know more about Jeff and hear the discussion about one of his other books not in this series called The Disney Driven Life, go back and have a listen to Episode 18 from season 2.
For most of this episode, Ryan and Howie are discussing Jeff’s latest book in the Kingdom series titled, Kingdom Chaos. Jeff describes the characters and the plot of the story where a controversial President Tyler Pride and his family board a monorail at the Transportation and Ticket Center for a trip to the Epcot Resort. When the monorail arrives at Epcot, the president and his family are gone. A national crisis instantly explodes across the Disney resort. The president has been kidnapped. And if the president is missing at Walt Disney World, who better to find him than the man who knows Walt Disney World better than anyone who has ever lived, Grayson Hawkes?
Kingdom Chaos is definitely a political and ideological thriller, an action-adventure, mystery, and, also, a story of how faith and politics sometimes clash. Like Dixon's past novels, Kingdom Chaos can best be described as "faction," a weaving of fact and fiction set in the Walt Disney World Resort in Central Florida. The places and locations are real, and the novel builds on events from the life of Walt Disney and the history of the Walt Disney World Resort. The sights, the sounds, and the secrets of the themed resort all become a part of solving the mystery and trying to save the president of the United States.
Howie and Ryan end the episode discussing one of Jeff’s many other projects which happens to be something all three of us are passionate about and that’s improving and advancing education. Jeff gives us the details on a brand new Charter school that he helped to visualize and develop and he now sits on the board of as board president. The school is called “Creative Inspiration Journey”, School and you are going to want to hear what Jeff says about their mission and vision for the future of education!
As always, we hope you enjoy this episode and we encourage you to drop us an email if you have any comments or questions. Also, please head over to iTunes/ Apple Music and gives us a rating and review. Your reviews help us improve the show and help get the message out that our show exists. Thank you.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie discuss Disney+ and streaming services and their role in the classroom. Disney+ is an on-demand, ad-free streaming service that Disney fans have been waiting for. On the first day of its launch, November 12, 2019, more than 10 million people signed up. Disney+ has tons of movies and shows available to stream from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, and 20th Century Fox. This content includes new original programming exclusively to Disney Plus, like The Mandalorian!
Whether or not you are as crazy for Disney+ as Howie and Ryan are, you still will want to hear how teachers are using streaming services to enhance learning. Ryan and Howie also address copyright and how free use applies and where it doesn’t apply and how to follow copyright when using streaming services in an educational setting. We hope you enjoy today’s episode and find ways you can bring your lessons to life with a few of these resources we mentioned. Please share with us the resources we didn’t mention or ways you used the ones we did over on our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney.
Today on the show, Howie and Ryan welcome a wonderful educator that harnesses his passion for Disney into incredible classroom projects that ignite the creativity in his students. Our guest is Mr. Tim VanSwol, Tim began his teaching career in 1994 at Manteno Middle School and has been there ever since. His first classroom assignment was 8th grade Science which he did for six years. In the year 2000, he made the move to teaching 6th grade Social Studies in addition to Science. After a few years, his school population grew to a point he needed to become a full-time Social Studies teacher. This was a great move for him as he is a history enthusiast and enjoys the challenge of bringing history to life for his students.
In addition to teaching, Mr. VanSwol has embraced his love for sports as a coach and as the Middle School Athletic Director over the years. He has coached girls and boys basketball at various grade levels as well as coaching Middle school track and field. Tim is also a lover of music and enjoys volunteering his time as a supporter of Manteno Bands, Chorus, and Show Choirs. During his free time, he enjoys reading, traveling, and researching topics for the DubDeeDub Revue podcast as an amateur Disney historian.
You’re going to love hearing about Tim’s passion for Disney and how he has taken that passion and developed several Disney themed projects that have inspired his students to plunge into the magic of History and ELA. Tim discusses three of his best projects and talks us through what inspired them. He also walks us through how he implemented them into his course work and how they deliver the content to his students in a highly impactful way. Today’s show is just another example of the incredible educators out there and how Disney is helping them to bring magic to their classrooms.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie discuss the theming of some of our favorite places to eat on Walt Disney World property and how they can inspire us to learn. Who doesn’t like to eat at places like Casey’s Corner and Columbia Harbor House but did you know that there are more than hotdogs and fish to enjoy in these establishments? When you stop and take a break from the hustle and bustle, you can find the little details and story that the Imagineers have diligently and purposely placed there for you to find. When you do find these details that help tell the story, the story will often envolve the history of our wonderful country or other cultures from around the world. It is these artifacts that will lead educators to a brand new world of learning.
Howie and Ryan will show that when you take inspiration from these artifacts, you will find yourself inspired to bring some wonderful lesson planning back to your students. Ryan and Howie will also share how they looked at the theming of some of the restaurants and then how they found resources online to help support bring that inspiration back into the classroom. So grab a snack, turn on the podcast, and then find some inspiration in some of the magical eateries that we love at WDW!
Today on the show, Ryan and Howie welcome a Motivating, Engaging, Technology guru, and Connected educator to the show, Jonathon Lee from EducationPlus, METC, and St. Louis RPDC (Regional Professional Development Center). Jonathon is a Google Certified Trainer currently traveling all over the state of Missouri providing training on how to integrate technology tools into instruction. Jonathon has presented at METC, Innovation Institute of Springdale, KySTE, MAESP, and ISTE. He is an ISTE certified trainer and educator and previously taught in the Brentwood School District as a 5th-grade teacher within a 1 to 1 Chromebook classroom. Jonathon is also host and creator of three educational podcasts. METC podcast, Podsquad, and METC minipod, all bring quality educational technology training to your ears on either weekly or monthly schedules.
We are pleased to have Jonathon on the show as he discusses some of the latest technology training he is doing. What the challenges are for those looking to help facilitate change in our schools and the challenges for those that are working to change their practices. Jonathon gives us some great insights on how we can move the change needle just a little bit each day and avoid some common pitfalls of technology integration. Jonathan has a great perspective as a result of all his travels to vastly different districts throughout the state of Missouri and we think you will agree that this is extremely valuable for all of us to hear and to consider as we look at the big-picture issues and successes in education as a whole. We know you will enjoy today’s episode as Jonathon shares his educational story and current journey in motivating, engaging, and connecting educators with and through technology.
Service Learning with Pixie Dust
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss service-learning. As the temperatures dip and the leaves begin to change color, we often find ourselves becoming more and more reflective of our service to others. Though we strive to have service at the top of our priorities throughout the whole year, it doesn’t hurt to use this time around Thanksgiving to take some inventory on, not only our personal service but also on how we develop this reflective practice in our students.
Service-learning is an important part of education and is grounded in experiential learning, it’s learning by doing. Service-learning differs from “pure” experiential learning in two ways. First, the goal of service-learning is to direct the learners into practical settings where the primary motivation is service and the second is that the learning takes place in two ways. As the students take part in the experience and as they reflect upon what happened during the experience and as a result of it. Howie and Ryan discuss both these ways that they experienced this with students, teachers, and Disney. For example, Parkway’s Food pantry, Howie’s church and Disney’s steps to service-learning.
We hope you enjoy today’s episode as we reflect on service learning as a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen our school and local communities.
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.
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan discuss Howie’s recent European trip and how travel can be used to broaden student’s perspectives. Howie will give all the wonderful details of his recent cruise and inland excursions to some of the most historic and beautiful places on Earth. We will learn interesting details and tips that Howie has learned on his many travels and what we can expect as we potentially travel abroad.
Though Ryan has never traveled outside the country, he shares what he knows about one of Walt’s most famous trips called “Walt Disney’s grand tour.” Listen to why Walt was persuaded by his brother Roy to take this vacation and what many things were found to be inspirational by Walt that he would later use in the development of many of the characters and stories we love. For Walt, this vacation was relaxing, inspirational, timely, and also an opportunity to conduct the business of the company in Europe.
We conclude our show today by looking at how broadening our students’ perspectives can be vital to their growth in an ever-changing and global society. What ways do you challenge and stretch your students? We loved to hear from you on anyone of social media outlets or drop us an email at mydisneyclass@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode and come back for more fun, education, and magic!
Today on the show, Howie and Ryan welcome a friend and wonderful educator, Diane Trout. Diane is currently teaching 2nd grade at HEART academy at Julian Newman in Athens Alabama and is a Disney enthusiast, to say the least. She graduated from Athens State University with her B.S. in Elementary Education and a minor in Educational Technology. Diane has worked as a Title 1 coach and as a kindergarten teacher. In 2016 she was awarded “Outstanding Educator of the Year” from Athens State University and has shared her expertise, presenting at conferences like FETC, AETC, NATC, Athens State University’s TEACH conference, and several local EdCamps. Diane is also a Seesaw ambassador and Nearpod Certified Educator.
Diane has said, “I believe students have a genuine passion to learn and it is up to teachers to help develop those passions.” In today’s episode, you will hear from Diane how she goes about continuing her development as an educator and how she turns that development into the engaging lessons and activities that grow those passions in her students. One of the many professional development opportunities that she took advantage of was our P.D. Magic course and the culminating experiential learning field trip. Diane shares her expectations, experiences, and wonderful contributions to the course and then gives us some examples of how she is currently implementing these ideas into her classroom.
We know you are going to love listening to Diane and we know that you will know immediately through her passion that she is a true advocate for the student. Providing a creative, rich, and engaging magical classroom for all who come to her happy place.
Podcasts, Podcasts Everywhere!
In this episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are discussing what podcasts they listen to and why you may want to consider adding podcasts to your professional development repertoire. Podcasts are awesome if we do say ourselves! You can stream them, download them, listen on your computer or even your smartphone. Plus, they cover just about every topic you can think of. Though this may be considered a negative because of all the choices. Luckily, Ryan and Howie are here to help! They are sharing some of their favorite podcasts that cover everything from Disney, to animation, to education and everything in between.
While they don’t discuss every podcast they listen to, they do cover quite a few and that they think are some of the best. Many of the podcasts they share can bring you hours of entertainment and enjoyment. Others can bring you enjoyment through the knowledge they deliver and though the excitement you get from learning new things. Many of these podcasts are a great way to supplement your professional development.
So whether you are looking for podcasts that you can just listen to escape and enjoy, maybe find a little bit of Disney Magic, or you are looking for an opportunity to learn something new, we hope you enjoy some of our suggestions. We definitely know you already have great taste in a podcast!
Today on the show, Ryan and Howie welcomes a true Space Ranger, Denise Wright. Denise is a Science teacher at Ocean Bay middle school and has been in education for 22 years. She loves teaching Science and has a passion for STEM, robotics, NASA and of course, Disney. Denise is also a Tynker Blue Ribbon educator. Tynker Blue Ribbon educators are dedicated to making computer programming and coding an integrated part of students’ everyday lives. She is also a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador (SSA). Solar System Ambassadors work across the nation to share NASA science and mission discoveries through a variety of events that inspire students and communities. Denise also sits on the NSTA tech advisory board and was the 2015 teacher of the year.
Denise has a passion for astronomy and has worked to incorporate her passion into her daily lessons. She was a piloting teacher for the Distance Learning Program at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, South Carolina. In this program, she was one of the first teachers to pilot a historic Alvan Clarke Telescope to be used in a classroom distance learning environment. Denise also has attended Astronomy Camp at the University of Arizona and the NASA Space Science Teacher’s Institute at the University of Colorado.
So it’s safe to say that in today’s episode you are going to get a lot of Space talk, which is fine with Ryan! We know you are going to enjoy hearing Denise talk about all these great things she is doing to inspire students and she also shares a ton of resources that you can use in your classrooms to help inspire the world’s next Buzz or Sally Ride.
Today on My Disney Class Podcasts, Ryan and Howie are celebrating the start of their 5th year of the My Disney Class Podcast! They say time flies when you're having fun and that seems to be true for this podcast crew. Howie and Ryan have enjoyed countless wonderful guests that are Disney fans and incredible educators. The conversations are often fun and inspiring and they are always informative. Ryan and Howie are extremely appreciative of all the support they have received from all their listeners and friends.
On today’s show, Howie and Ryan are starting the new schools year off by sharing their summer reading lists. They share some of their favorite reads that cover Disney history, what we can learn from Disney and other educational favorites. We hope you enjoy this list and finds a couple of new books that you can dive into and enjoy.
Traveling through History with Savannah Sanders
In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome the wonderful and well-traveled history teacher, Savannah Sanders. Savannah is multifaceted and does so much with passion and fun. Her teaching experience consists of nine years of teaching American History, 20th Century History, American Government, and Geography. She also has taught Freshmen and Sophomore English. She describes her teaching style as a combination of learning styles. In her classroom, she uses photos, videos, maps, and display slides showcasing the main points of her lectures. She encourages students to write, observe, critique, analyze, discuss, and connect past events with current events. Savannah believes in keeping it simple yet meaningful.
Savannah also has a passion for Disney and when she’s not visiting our favorite magical playground, she is writing for some great Disney blogs. One of them being Touring Plans which is a great resource for all us Disney planners and speaking of planning, Savannah can help you with that too! She not only plans her own vacations but as a certified travel agent that works for Destinations in Florida.
We hope you enjoy our conversation with Savannah as she shares how she makes her History lessons engaging as she harnesses the magic of Disney into her classroom. By the way, if you are looking for some lesson ideas, she has some on her Teachers Pay Teachers page, find the link to her page in the show notes as well as all her contact info. We hope you find some magic in looking to the past to help transform the future as Savannah does for her students!
Intentional Magic!
In this episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are reflecting back on the past P.D. Magic class and some of the comments that the participants made about Disney and intentionality. This word continually came up during the conversations about how Disney intentionally does certain things to help create magic or maybe even to make safety or logistic improvements. During our P.D. Magic conversations, the talk would shift to how we can be more intentional in education. How can we as educators take the idea about Disney intentionally lowering the window ledges on Main Street or how they purposefully guide guests into different lands with “weenies,” and then apply it to our profession.
On the show today, Ryan and Howie will look at a few of their favorite ways Disney is intentional and how they feel intentionality can be beneficial in education. Looking at answering some of the following questions to help guide the exploration of intentionality; Is the goal clearly defined? Is the activity appropriately challenging? Will the activity promote growth? Is there appropriate scaffolding for all levels? Is the activity interactive, meaningful, and thought-provoking? What kind of plans are there for differentiation? These questions and main other ideas are discussed in this episode as we explore intentionality that is inspired by the work being done at Disney.
Todays episode was recorded while Howie and Ryan were actually in Walt Disney World.
Discover the power of professional development that is immersive, custom, and the most magical kind of development our hearts desire. We like to call it P.D. Magic!
Hear recordings taken from various parts of our first P.D. Magic cohort. You will hear their hopes for this course, their immersive learning that occurred on W.D.W. properties, and then finally their reflections of what magic they will bring back to their districts.
Ryan and Howie discuss some of the hidden educational gems in Future World at E.P.C.O.T. Student inquiry is an active learning process that allows students to investigate central, essential questions linked to curriculum standards and specific teaching objectives. We know that this form of instructions is effective and leads to a high level of engagement of our students, but do we as educators allow ourselves to learn in this way?
In this episode, Ryan and Howie will engage in this highly valuable form of learning as they try to ask questions and seek answers to those questions through the inspiration of Futureworld.
We think you will find something in our journey that will inspire you to create an engaging lesson or maybe spark a change in your educational repertoire. Travel with us around the different attractions in Futureworld as we discuss each one and how Howie and Ryan found hidden gems that they can use to help inspire educational magic!
Join us for a repeat performance of “A Magical Day with Brian Collins”
Ryan and Howie are honored to have former Imagineer Brian Collins here to discuss his story. Brian has been a Disney cast member since the early 1990’s and helped create magic daily as he worked both on the front line of customer service at the Contemporary front desk and as a Disney Imagineer. Listen to his story as he shares how he started at the ground level and worked his way up to the magical dream job at WDI.
Listening to today’s show, we know that you will hear the passion and humor that Brian brings to any task he tackles. There are few places that equal that of Disney when it comes to creativity, innovation, storytelling, and magic, but we all know that it’s the people that really make the magic. Brian Collins is one of those people and what’s even more magical is that he hasn’t stopped spreading the magic beyond the mouse. We hope you enjoy today’s episode as Brian shares with us how to think like an Imagineer!
We look at how music can inspire us and inspire lessons that our students will love. Walt was quoted as saying,” I think a good study of music would be indispensable to the animators - a realization on their part of how primitive music is, how natural it is for people to want to go to music - a study of rhythm, the dance - the various rhythms enter into our lives every day.” Ryan and Howie also believe that educators can learn a lot from music as well!
Howie and Ryan both share ideas they have either used or have found other teachers using that implements music into lessons that range from Communication Arts, Science, Math, etc. They quickly share a little about each lesson idea and give resources to help you implement music in your classroom. Whether your favorite Disney song is “Let it Go,” “You Got a Friend in Me,” or Walt and Ryan’s favorite “ Feed the Birds.” We think you will enjoy this episode that just scratches the surface of using Disney music in the classroom to set a song track to your teaching magic!
Ryan and Howie take a walk on the weird side and try to recapture their shadows! On today’s show, we welcome CJ Casciotta author of Get Weird. Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference and creator of Ringbeller.
CJ is a writer and self-proclaimed serial media maker that has a passion for encouraging people to find or reconnect with their inner weird. As a writer and communicator, he’s traveled all over the world, inspiring communities like Lululemon, The Salvation Army, TEDx, and Charity: Water. As a media director and producer, he’s collaborated on projects with MGM Studios, The United Nations Foundation, and more. He created the popular podcast, Sounds Like a Movement and has been featured by MTV, RELEVANT, Catalyst, and Q.
We hope you enjoy our conversation with CJ as we talk about how we can encourage ourselves as educators to tap into our inner weird and how that can benefit our students. We also talk about valuing our student’s inner weird and what we can do to encourage it. Ringbeller was created by CJ and can definitely be one tool we can use to help in this endeavor. Ringbell is a series of video lessons that help teach kids creativity and kindness through interviews conducted by children. These children interview adult professionals about how they use creativity and innovation in their daily work lives. The premise is that aliens have recruited these students to help them learn about our planet, but what we all learn is how unique all of us are and how tapping into what is special about us will help us to find our true passions and best life. CJ has called Ringbeller “TED meets Mr. Rogers” for the modern classroom.
We think you will enjoy finding your inner weird with us today and be inspired by CJ like we were to value the individual traits in us that make us unique, special and helps us create the magic in our classrooms.