The CharacterStrong Podcast

Monte Syrie is a high school ELA teacher at Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington. A 25 year veteran in the classroom, Monte is committed to finding the better in education and contributing to the humanization of students' experiences in classrooms around the globe. You can join his journey on his daily blog at www.letschangeeducation.com and on Twitter: @montesyrie

Susy is an Oregon gal, born and bred. After her schooling at the University of Oregon and Linfield University, she was hired at McMinnville High School (her alma mater) in 2012 and began advising the ASB Leadership program in 2014; her position at MHS is now split between ASB and 9th/10th grade AVID. Susy was recognized as McMinnville's Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2017. Outside of school, Susy is also one of the Administration & Programming Directors for the Oregon Association of Student Councils. Through OASC, she has served as a board member for six years and a high school camp director for three. Susy also serves as a McMinnville TEDx speaker coach, on the Linfield University Education Consortium Board, and as a team member for the R. Stuart & Co. Winery. When she's not immersed in school and OASC, you can find her backpacking or hiking off grid, tending to her home jungle, or reading and writing with a cup of coffee in hand. Connect with Susy: Twitter & Instagram: @missayles Email: ssayles@msd.k12.or.us

Alicia has been a secondary administrator for 13 years at both the middle and high school levels. She has had the privilege of holding nearly every administrative position at a secondary site including, Vice Principal of Activities, Vice Principal of Student Support, Assistant Principal of Curriculum and Instruction and finally a Principal. To say Alicia loves what she does would be an understatement. Working with teenagers is her calling and she wouldn't change it for the world. She believes in transparency in leadership and leading from within your team. Alicia firmly believes in the statement, "If you are going to ask staff to move mountains, you'd better be willing to buy them a shovel and help them dig"

Ms. Barton was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX and graduated from Texas Wesleyan University. Her 21 years of teaching have all been with Crowley ISD where she was named "Teacher of the Year" in 2008 and was chosen as the Crowley ISD Heartbeat Award winner (district employee of the month) in 2015. Over the course of 21 years, she taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades before accepting a new position this year as the campus music teacher. Ms. Barton also dedicates her time to the Dallas Stars Foundation as an active volunteer often working with kids in the community.

Daphne uses books as though they are EpiPens and every student who walks into her room has a mouth full of shrimp. The more books she can get inside of a student the more apt they are to fight the apathetic trap that snares so many of their peers. Daphne spent seventeen years teaching with class sets of Hatchet and Esperanza Rising until 2007 when a friend told her to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 584 pages later she began teaching as though books save lives and has never wavered from her mission.

Ebone Kimber is a licensed Master's level social worker who has been working in child welfare for over 13 years. She received her Bachelor's degree in Social Work at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and her Masters at The University of Alabama. She spent her early years in the field on the front lines offering case management and basic living skills to children in foster care and their foster families. She also provided similar services, including individual counseling to families working to keep their families together through family preservation services. Ebone has also served as a therapist at a residential facility and worked as Program Director for advocacy and education programs for youth in foster care for over 5 years, planning and implementing events for older youth in foster care to educate and prepare them for life after foster care to ensure they avoided the negative statistics of adulthood. Ebone most recently shifted in her career path and is now a School Social Worker and Habits of Success Coach at an elementary school. She teaches SEL to all grades kindergarten through 3rd and provides individual sessions with students as requested by families, teachers and/or administration and provides support to Guides for classroom challenges. She has been the CEO and founder of Professional Development with Ebone Kimber since 2016, where she operates in her gift of educating helping professionals on how to think outside the box in their practices while keeping in the forefront of their minds the important factor of doing no harm to those they serve. She strives to advocate for vulnerable populations and educate others on how to stand up for and assist others in their community. Ebone has created several training series' including Pitfalls of a Petty Professional, Supportive Adult Series and is working on a curriculum to assist professionals in utilizing trauma informed practices to better support at risk youth in all areas, including schools, hospitals, and counselors on the streets of our communities. Ebone lives in Alabama with her husband, John, an audio producer and their son Nehemiah.

Each day this week we are counting down the Top 5 episodes of 2020! #1: Season 2 Ep. 56 - CharacterStrong Co-Founder John Norlin shares a recent experience from a training, and talks about why we can't wait to infuse social emotional learning and character development into the daily fabric of our schools.

Each day this week we are counting down the Top 5 episodes of 2020! #3: Season 3 Ep. 11 - We talk with Dr. Bikowsky about her work with educators helping students reframe thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and some practical strategies that staff can use while teaching virtually.

Each day this week we are counting down the Top 5 episodes of 2020! #4: Season 3 Ep. 18 - We talk to Angelica Rodriguez about how we can put a focus on taking care of ourselves as teachers, the importance of self care & mental health especially in this season, and she shares some simple strategies that can positively impact our classrooms.

Each day this week we are counting down the Top 5 episodes of 2020! #5: Season 2 Ep. 108 - We talk with Maddie Bogart about virtual student engagement, how she used one of her weekly meetings to focus on relationships, and she shares some of the creative ideas that she did with students.