The Minimalist Educator Podcast
A podcast about paring down to focus on the purpose and priorities in our roles.
Episodes
130 episodes
Ep 116 — What Zombie Tropes Teach Us About Calm Classrooms And Stronger Schools with Christine and Tammy
One hidden bite can take down the whole group and schools have their own version of that problem. We bring a surprisingly practical lens to teaching and school leadership by borrowing the most common zombie genre tropes and translating them int...
BONUS: Season 7 Preview!
Chronic absenteeism. Burnout. Students who shut down the moment things get hard. Math lessons that get buried under too many “must-dos.” We’re opening Season 7 with a preview of the conversations that kept us nodding along because they bring a ...
SUMMER SERIES EP 7 — Two-Hour Deadlines?
We tackle a question from an instructional coach who wants to know how to handle a complex problem when the deadline is only two hours away. We share a minimalist way to respond that protects your time, clarifies expectations, and challenges “e...
SUMMER SERIES EP 6 — Audit Your Programs
We answer a listener question about three new school platforms and the chaos that comes with stacked online programs. We share a practical way to audit edtech tools so decisions are based on purpose, impact, and time instead of gut feeling.&nbs...
SUMMER SERIES EP 5 — Say No Without Guilt
Everything feels important, and that is exactly why so many educators end up saying yes until they are overwhelmed. We talk through a simple but powerful idea that stops the spiral: just because you can do something does not mean you should. If...
SUMMER SERIES EP 4 — Planning Without The Panic
Planning can swallow an elementary teacher’s life, especially when you’re responsible for every subject and every minute feels accounted for. We tackle a question from Sarah, a literacy coach, about how to support teachers who are struggling wi...
SUMMER SERIES Ep 3 — Cutting Corners Without Cutting Learning
You’ve got a lesson to plan, a stack of curriculum guides, and a brain that just wants summer. Then comes the question every coach and teacher wrestles with: how do you cut corners without cutting learning? We take on that exact problem with a ...
SUMMER SERIES Ep 2 — Keeping Stuff Will Not Making Teaching Easier
Your classroom can be full and still feel empty of what you actually need: time, clarity, and space to think. We kick off our summer Q and A series with a listener question from James about minimalist principles and how to finally start letting...
SUMMER SERIES Ep 1 — Email Cleanup
Your teacher conference ends, you feel inspired, and then your inbox gets hit with a wave of vendor promos you never asked for. We hear you. We talk through a question from Jessica in Tennessee and get very specific about how those emails end u...
SUMMER BONUS SERIES — Micro Episodes!
You deserve a break that actually feels like a break and that is exactly why we built our first Summer Series around micro episodes. We keep things short, clear, and useful so you can listen in the time it takes to drink a coffee, sit poolside,...
Ep 115 — The Best Minimalist Teaching Tips From Season 6
One small shift can change your entire week as a teacher or school leader, but only if you can actually remember it when the day gets loud. That’s why we pulled together our Season Six highlights into one “mega” stream of pare-down pointers: th...
Ep 114 — What If The School Day Is Quietly Keeping You Well? with Christine & Tammy
Teaching can drain you and it can also quietly support your well-being. To close out Season 6, we focus on the parts of school life that are genuinely good for us, the benefits we forget when we’re tired, stressed, or deep in the messy middle o...
Ep 113 — How We Change the Conditions Matters Part 2 with Dr. Dan Keller
A classroom can feel like a pressure cooker or it can feel like a place where learning grows. We sit down again with Dr. Dan Keller to translate research on effective learning environments into ...
Ep 112 — Conditions, Not Programs Make a Better Learning Environment Part with Dr. Dan Keller
Adding one more program can feel like the responsible move, until you look up and realize the “support” is undermining the very learning environment you’re trying to improve. We sit down with Dr. Dan Keller, an educator and researcher with thre...
Ep 111 — Making Room for Picture Books with Sarah Cordova
Your literacy block is full, your to-do list is longer, and somehow the day still ends with the feeling that the most important work got squeezed out. We’re joined by nationally recognized literacy specialist and author,
Ep 110 — Leaving Spaces Intentionally Blank with Christine and Tammy
Your days are packed, your walls are packed, and even your questions can come packed with follow-ups. That “always full” feeling is common in schools, but it can quietly drain focus, creativity, and teacher wellness. We dig into a minimalist co...
Ep 109 — If You Add Something New, You Must Remove Something with Allison Rodman
More initiatives won’t fix burnout if the real problem is overload. We sit down with returning guest Allison Rodman, founder of The Learning Loop and author of
Ep 108 — Human-Centered Schools is a Minimalist Approach with Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss
Control is the quiet habit that shapes most school days, and it’s also the habit that drains joy, curiosity, and agency from both students and educators. We sit down with Dr. Randy Zeigenfuss, p...
Ep 107 — Keeping Good Teachers is Simple with co-authors Jessica Holloway and Carrie Bishop
Teacher retention gets blamed on pay, policies, and “kids these days” but the truth we keep hearing is simpler and harder: people stay where they feel trusted, heard, and valued. We sit down with
Ep 106 — Strip the Agenda: Fewer Words, Better Meetings with Chris Fenning
Meetings can quietly take over a school week and still leave everyone feeling behind. We bring back communication expert and author Chris Fenning for a practical conversation about effective meetings in e...
Ep 105 — Grammar, Pared Down: Teaching Less So Writing Sticks with Patty McGee
Grammar doesn’t fail because kids “just don’t get it.” It fails when we teach it like a scavenger hunt of labels and then hope it magically shows up in student writing the next day. We sit down with national literacy consultant and author Patty...
Ep 104 — The Minimal Leader: Clear Expectations, Zero Guesswork with Casey Watts
“We’ve told them the expectation” can be true and still leave a staff completely unsure what to do next. That gap is where frustration grows, where initiative fatigue sets in, and where leaders start calling normal uncertainty “resistance.” We ...
Ep 103 — Less Sacred, More Honest: Unpopular Opinions Part 2
We keep our unpopular opinions rolling with a hard line on what counts as real intervention, a critique of rigid pacing guides, and a push for repair after conflict instead of removal without follow-up. We argue for qualified support where it m...
Ep 102 — Clearing the Air: Unpopular Opinions in Education Part 1
Join past guests, Naomi Church, Sheila Kennedy, Krista Leh, and
Ep 101 — How Do Less Rescuing and Grow Resilient Students with Josephine Hunt
What if the kindest thing we can do for students is to stop rescuing them? We sit down with educational leader and mentor (and Plan Z Coach) Josephine Hunt to unpack how natural and logical consequences—not punishments, not prize boxes—grow rea...
