A new podcast

As the director of public relations for PDK International, I wanted to amplify our work by promoting a diverse set of voices of educators. I'm being helped in this effort by the staff at PDK, alongside our PDK Distinguished Educators and PDK Emerging Leaders. Launching a podcast is a challenging affair, when one considers adding voices to an already crowded media landscape. When I first took on this novelty around 2004, I spent a lot of time teaching people how to create their own shows. There were questions about audio editing, how to publish the files, where to host them, etc. Educators—at least some—felt empowered by the ability to create their own podcasts. Many delved into it as part of their classroom practice, turning students onto becoming podcasters. We had a good run until podcasting seemed to lose some caché. Some of the original players disappeared—both content creators and the companies that had risen to support this new trend.

I often credit the Serial podcast as the impetus for a renaissance in podcasting. The true crime production left us hanging at each episode, just like the formula that makes a good mystery novel. It kept us wanting more. That was nearly a decade ago, and today podcasting, I think, is here to stay. Folks have figured out how to monetize the genre, either by advertising or by charging for access.

There's Power in Teaching is aimed at amplifying the voices of educators—both those in the field and those who are considering getting into the field. In our first episode, Dr. Lisa Rollins, herself an educator, and PDK's National Director of Outreach and Partnerships, talks with two seasoned teacher leaders who lead Educators Rising programs in their schools. Both Carla and Amy work with students, turning them on to how to teach others. Nurturing the future generation of teachers is important work. We tend to think it starts in a college somewhere, with professors, once a student declares their major in education. But through Educators Rising, that journey can start in high or even middle school. And in the case of these teachers, their work has real world results for their communities, when their former students join their ranks as new teachers.

Our second episode pivots to a personality that we featured in the September 2023 edition of Kappan magazine. Our CEO James Lane led this interview with Kareem Farah, of the Modern Classrooms Project. They talk about change culture, innovation, and Kareem's journey to making powerful change for the benefit of students.

There will be additional episodes hosted by Dr. Rollins and Dr. Lane soon, but in January we'll be pivoting to our PDK Fellows, who have each interviewed a student, for their perspectives on their own education and their potential future as an educator. In the end, these episodes are capturing the stories and insights of real people, who are committed to advancing the field of education. And in each, we hope to reveal what our title says, to showcase the awesome power that teachers have to change the world.

I hope you will join us on this new journey. You'll find our production on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Subscribe to get all our future episodes. And we're always open to hear about what you want to hear about. Drop us a line, or comment on this post.

https://pdkintl.org/podcasts/

Dr. John Hendron ([email protected])