Glen Moulton

We finish out the remaining emails from our winter hiatus this week, including some of the most difficult questions we’ve ever received here at the Hotline. For example, what if you’re supposed to teach something that you oppose philosophically? Many of our questions in this episode have emotional issues intertwined, so we roll out our new segment in which Glen plays your personal teacher psychotherapist (without all of the legal liability of course) and we find the tough answers.

After a very busy holiday season, Mike and Glen have finally managed to make their way back to the studio for an all-new episode of the Hotline. After apologizing for their extended absence, they jump right back into listener emails. The first emailer asks how she should handle replacing a popular teacher who is going on maternity leave. We know a thing or two about extended leave (cough cough). The second email asks how to respond to the job interview questions concerning classroom management. Thanks for listening, and come visit our Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50443940609.

In this spooktacular episode of the Hotline, we discuss the very scary topic of teacher evaluations. What could be more frightening than losing your job in a struggling economy? I can only think of one thing...a listener email from Transylvania, Romania (really!) that asks about the differences are between teaching adults and teaching kids.

If you're a teacher, I hardly need remind you that the summer is over and a new school year has arrived. Whether you view the new year as a blessing and a time of unique wonder (like seeing a rare flower suddenly surface along a well-trod path) or a time of surprise and panic (like seeing a hungry puma surface from the deep end of your swimming pool) depends upon your preparation. In this episode, we talk about how prepared a new teacher should be at the beginning of the school year. We also dish out the tough love in our new "We Told You So" segment. Everyone loves being lectured to, don't they? It is our fist show back, so the episode shakes off a little rust with a handful of bloopers at the very end, and I ask you: is that a rogue cellist suddenly playing a single, haunting note at time stamp 15:18? Spooky! Speaking of spooky, look out for the Halloween episode of the New Teacher Hotline at the end of next month.

In this episode, we chat with Pamela Harman, the 2008 Alabama Teacher of the Year. One of the topics we discuss in depth is mentorship--how to get new teachers the help they need by partnering with experienced teachers in their schools. Luckily, we manage to finish the interview right before all the equipment goes haywire.

After an extended spring break, the New Teacher Hotline returns with all new episodes that will carry you through the entire hot and hazy summer. This week, it is our honor to host the 2008 Virginia Teacher of the Year, Tommy Smigiel. As you'll learn, Tommy endured a traumatic event as a high school student, but rather than let that event define him, he used it as an inspiration to one day return to that school as a teacher. He explains why resiliency may be the most important trait of a rookie teacher.

You've got questions. We've got answers, and sometimes we answer twice (listen to this episode to see what I mean). In this email roundup, we help you calm your nerves as you prepare for the first day of school. We also discuss some grittier subjects, including one emailer's frustrations in his student teaching experience and another teacher's trouble dealing with a student that loves to play the victim in class.

Our last few shows have been dedicated to interviews, so we decided to knock out some of the listener email that's been piling up in the interim. Today we hit some of the basics of Teaching 101, like how to write lesson plans. Join us as we broadcast from Glen's sprawling estate (specifically his living room). Here, I'll even pull up an extra chair for you.

If you thought last week's discussion on parent phone calls ended abruptly, you weren't imagining things. We got a bit long-winded and decided to split the conversation into two parts. This episode features the conclusion of our discussion. What sorts of things should you consider before you make a call home? How is a parent phone conference like a warranty claim on a faulty T.V.? These and other questions are asked and answered. Listener email comes from a new teacher whose employment started midway through the school year. How does she connect with a community that doesn't even know she's there?

If you don’t know how to conduct a successful phone conference with parents, you’ll end up dreading the time you spend on the phone almost as much as the lunches the cafeteria serves on “Not Quite Fish Patty” Fridays. In this episode, we start with the easy stuff: making positive phone calls home when students exceed your expectations. Then we move on to the less pleasant phone calls you’ll need to make. You know the ones I’m talking about, the “Your kid is driving me to an early grave” calls? Good times. Speaking of good times, our listener email is from someone who’s not having them. (Talk about an awkward segue.) He wants to know what to do if you slip up and accidentally curse in front of your students. Not just any curse word, mind you, but the Big One, the word that shares the same first letter as the word “fired.”