Tag: connections

Appreciating Teachers

Barbara Gruener

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week 2025; how are you celebrating?

My Monday started out at Bales Intermediate, previewing my new book with Mrs. Dixon’s and Mrs. Thurman’s fifth-grade learners. I asked them to be my Focus Group, for feedback and input. Their former Art teacher is our illustrator, so that was a fun connection for them. More details to come; we hope to put it on the market this August.

When I was leaving, Mrs. Conn from across the hall asked if I could read to her class. So on Wednesday, I headed back to Bales to read Birdie & Mipps as we celebrate its one-year book birthday. When I get these amazing opportunities, I’m reminded how much I miss read-aloud time.

I left a copy for the class after our read-aloud; here we are, looking for Mipps’ given name, hidden within the text.

These curious learners had a lot of questions and connections, but my favorite reflection was a compliment: “Your voice is so good that you could actually read books on YouTube.” Is that not the sweetest thing? I thanked her and told her that back in 1979, when I won a State Forensics Storytelling competition, that one of the judges wrote, “You could make money with that voice,” and she agreed. “You could!”

Tomorrow my appreciation continues, when I Zoom to a classroom in PA, to read Mr. Quigley’s Keys. I sent them ’empa-KEYS ahead of time, so it’ll be fun to give those out from deep in the heart of Texas.

In the meantime, I’ve been sending these magnets to some energizing educators to remind them that they matter; this one made its way to Joe Beckman in Minnesota.

Dear Teachers,

YOU are appreciated. YOU are valued. YOU are loved, not only this week, but always, because YOU are showing up and doing the holy work, holding the hearts of our REAL national treasure, the children, our future.

Thank you, thank you.

Barbara

A #DaveBurgessShow Guest

Barbara Gruener

Today I’m excited and grateful to share that Wednesday I had the honor of connecting with the Pirate himself, Dave Burgess, and being a guest on his podcast, the Dave Burgess Show.

For almost a decade, I have been following Dave’s journey on Twitter, from the time his first book, Teach Like A Pirate, went viral until now, when he has published education titles too many to count. My all-time favorite challenge of his over the years is this:

Ten years a fan, so you can imagine how excited I was to connect via Zoom this week to talk about all things Birdie & Mipps, Mr. Quigley’s Keys, and being connectors on social media. After our chat, Dave posted this affirmation on Facebook and Insta:

Sigh. Be still my fan-girl heart.

So, what did we talk about besides my books? Reflection listening! Here’s a peek at my slide deck from that PALs session I got to lead on Tuesday.

At the risk of sounding corny, I’d just come back from harvesting season on the family farm, so yeah, I used two ears of corn to create intrigue.

It was so interesting to hear the teens share their ideas of the difference between the listening and hearing; I love this wisdom from Simon Sinek.

After a few role plays, we talked through these empathy reflections.

They each chose a few little antique keys to remember these key connecting statements.

Have a listen to podcast episode 61 to hEAR how I engaged them in that lesson. Could I have sold tickets to it? Not sure, but I left there with a spring in my step, for sure.

Happy harvesting, dear reader. 🌽🌽