The Minimalist Educator Podcast
A podcast about paring down to focus on the purpose and priorities in our roles.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast
BONUS Season Six Preview: A Milestone Season with Christine and Tammy
Season 6 kicks off with momentum and purpose: a leaner, clearer way to teach and lead, plus a major milestone as we head toward our 100th episode. We map the journey ahead—from a January reset that honors how students grow over the break to a guest lineup that challenges the norms and champions practical change. Every conversation aims at the same target: simplify the work, sharpen the focus, and amplify the impact on student learning.
We start by revisiting the midyear reset with Nicole, exploring how to assess what students remember, what’s shifted socially and emotionally, and how to set small goals that deliver visible wins. From there, Sharon Skrtic brings a framework-first lens to professional learning, reminding us that any system we adopt should reduce noise and increase clarity about evidence of learning. With Pete Hall, we dive into reaching and teaching kids who don’t fit the box—rethinking labels, designing flexible supports, and using reflection to guide what we keep and what we cut.
The season widens with rich perspectives: Whitney Aragaki and Kirsten Milks on place-based science that roots inquiry in local context; Jessica Holloway and Carrie Bishop on teacher retention and making teaching irresistible; Casey Watt on aligning clarity, purpose, and systems; and returning guest Allie Rodman on productivity shifts and the evolving role of technology. We lighten the load with an episode on humor as a serious tool for building trust and memory, and we stir the pot with friends sharing unpopular opinions in education to challenge habits that no longer serve students or teachers. Plus, we’re rolling out select video episodes on YouTube so you can watch or listen your way.
As we approach episode 100, we stay grounded in the minimalist promise: teach less, impact more. If you value practical strategies, thoughtful guests, and honest conversations about what works, you’ll feel at home here. Follow along, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What should we simplify next?
Find our book The Minimalist Teacher and Your School Leadership Edit: A Minimalist Approach to Rethinking Your School's Ecosystem at the links!
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator podcast, where the focus is on a less is more approach to education. Join your hosts Christine Arnold and Tammy Musiowski, authors of The Minimalist Teacher and your school leadership edit, A Minimalist Approach to Rethinking Your School Ecosystem, each week as they explore practical ways to simplify your work, sharpen your focus, and amplify what matters most so you can teach and lead with greater clarity, purpose, and joy.
SPEAKER_01:Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Minimalist Educator Podcast. This episode is our preview for season six. Can you believe it, Tummy? Season six already.
SPEAKER_02:I really can't. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to this season and sharing it with our listeners.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. The big highlight of this season is we reach our 100th episode, don't we?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah, that is really exciting. It comes out in March. And so we have a couple of special things coming out for the 99th episode as well as the 100th. So I don't know. Do we want to tell people what that looks like or are we just going to keep it a secret?
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. That's a good question. It's a good question. Maybe we should leave it a little surprise. Yeah, surprise treat for people. But stay tuned anyway for episodes 99 and 100 should be very special for people to listen in with. But our very first episode with a guest is going to feature our good friend Nicole.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Yes. I think that kicking off the season with the conversation we had with her will feel, I want to say refreshing, but also like confirming, maybe. Um, because we talk about just kind of like a January reset where we're all coming back from a break, and kids are different when they come back from this break. They've grown. So it's a good time to see how kids have grown, what they remember. And it's a good time for teachers to take note of that and to realize that the kids that came in in the fall are not the same people that are coming to you in January. And usually that's it a positive way.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. And it's a really good time to, I know, you know, not everybody loves a New Year's goal or a new year's resolution, but I think it is a nice a moment of of reflection and to think about how you want to go on. So, you know, welcoming the kiddos back in and learning from the first part of the year that you've had together. And then how do we want to finish the year? You know, it's a really nice moment to do that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. That was a good conversation. Good, some great points came out of that one. Absolutely. For sure. We also talked with one of our former colleagues, Sharon Skurtik, who is just a she's like a bundle of joy. She's such a lovely woman and is doing such good work in the role that she's in, supporting schools with high-quality frameworks and getting them, you know, focused on student learning and the impact that their teaching has. And so it was really nice to chat with her and just see her again. You know, like we can see her in her role as an IB uh facilitator online, but it was nice to actually just chat with her and catch up a bit and listen to the work that she's been doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and just such a knowledgeable, articulate speaker when it comes to all things education, right? Like it's just, yeah, it's lovely to chat with her for sure.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We also had a nice conversation with Pete Hall about, well, about a few things, but with a focus on his new book, Reaching and Teaching Kids Who Don't Fit in the Box.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. Pete has done a lot of writing about things that you and I talk about a lot, like reflection and you know, what what are the kids really getting out of our teaching and all of the important things? But I really value his kind of out-of-the-box thinking when it comes to connecting with students and ensuring that everyone is getting what they need in classrooms. And so I like the out-of-the-box thinking. I think we both do, where we're just, you know, like, what uh what's something different that we need to try or do to make sure that we're reaching everyone? And just yeah, just thinking through some innovative ways to reach people, whether they're our students and even our teachers too.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I don't think we can continue to exist in a world that has changed so much just in our lifetime, but also feel like school needs to stay exactly the same. It doesn't it doesn't really make sense as the world is changing, so do our educational institutions, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it's it's bizarre how we really held on to things that don't work. And we know they don't work. We know they don't work, so why are we still doing them? I have no idea. But you know, it's just bizarre. But yeah, it was really good to see him again and just talk about what he's been up to. We have another couple of authors, actually, we have a few authors on the season list. We've got, we also talked to Whitney Aragaki and Kirsten Milk about their book, which came out in the fall, and that's about place-based teaching and science. So that was a fun conversation. We are going to be talking to Jessica Holloway and Carrie Bishop about their book on teacher retention, making teaching irresistible. And we have Casey Watt, who is in line with our thinking about clarity and purpose and system. So I'm excited to talk to her this season. Uh, we've got a returning author, Ellie Rodman, that we'll chat with as well. And we've got a new genre popping in, your friend Pete Turner, who is a writer, but he doesn't write education books.
SPEAKER_01:No, he does not, but he does work in in higher education. So there's gonna be lots of different things we can learn from him. But yes, he works in film, specifically the horror genre. So that will be a great conversation for people to tune into. How that's connected to minimalism and in education and uh what we can learn from his research in in that world, for sure. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. That'll be super interesting. Yeah, we've we've had some some great conversations as well. I loved our chat about using humor in our schools. That was a really a good one that's gonna be early on in the season. Yeah. And I think it's it's just such a good little reminder or introduction maybe even, but a little reminder about how we don't need to take ourselves too seriously all the time, and that actually using humor is is quite powerful. So I hope people enjoy that conversation. And I'm also really excited for people to listen to a later episode in the or maybe in about the middle of the season, about unpopular opinions in education. That's that's gonna be a fun one for people to join in with as well.
SPEAKER_02:I think so too. Yeah, and we'll have a few friends on with us for that episode. So we'll be hearing from different pockets of whatever people's niches. And yeah, I'm excited for that one to see what people bring to that episode. I'm gonna have to dig through and think about my opinions and pick out what I'm gonna present as well. But yeah, that'll be a good one.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. How unpopular do our opinions get?
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Oh dear.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. We do have this is a our January through June season, it's usually pretty long. So we have a lot of episodes coming out and some new faces. It's also nice to have some a couple of guests coming back to to talk with us, like we did last season too. We started having some some guests that have come back. So it's always nice to have a refreshed conversation with those folks who we talk to, like maybe in season one or two, and hear from them where they're at. Like Ali Rodman, we talked to her. She was one of our very first guests in season one. And we're gonna talk to her later, or her recording will come come out later this season. But it'll be good to hear just, you know, a couple years have gone past and what is coming up for her in terms of like changing systems and productivity and things that have changed in that amount of time, because we know that two years in like, especially technology, is just like kind of mind-blowing to think of just some of the the shifts that have changed and you know, things that I've ditched personally and have been like, oh, this is better, or this actually consolidates what I do, and that kind of thing. So it'll be fun to talk to her because she's always up on all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. But as we said earlier, that hundredth episode will be coming out in this season. And of course, we're gonna finish the season with our highlights, our compilation of Pair Down Pointers, which continues to prove to be some of our most popular episodes of the podcast. So we will make sure that we have that ready to go for you all come June.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, that sounds great. It's gonna be a good season. And well, yeah, I mean, we're not even halfway recorded yet, which is fine, but the list of guests is long and our conversations list is long. So, you know, we just but exciting, long, but exciting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Christine, I'm excited to kick off the season with our first video as well for people to view, and we have a few more coming out this season with different guests, so people can still listen to the audio in all the same places, but also view the video on YouTube.
unknown:Awesome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right, thanks everybody. We hope you enjoy season six. This episode is sponsored by Plan Z Education Services, supporting educators with forward-thinking professional learning that puts both student impact and teacher wellness at the center. Driven by a vision to teach less, impact more, they help educators find purpose, prioritize what matters, and simplify their practice. Learn more at planzeducation.com.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Minimalist Educator Podcast. Join Christine and Tammy and guests again next time for more conversations about how to simplify and clarify the responsibilities and tasks in your role. If today's episode helped you rethink, reimagine, reduce, or realign something in your practice, share it in a comment or with a colleague. For resources and updates, visit planzeducation.com and subscribe to receive weekly emails. Until next time, keep it simple and stay intentional.
