Joy can feel a little soft, or a little touchy-feely, but helping people find joy is a catalyst for positive change. This week’s guest is all about helping teachers and educators with professional development that focuses not on a list of things to do, but rather helps them re-discover their joy and passion for teaching and learning. The best part? This episode applies to anyone who is making a difference, pushing for change, and looking for joy.
About Darcy:
Darcy is the Founder of The Educators' Lab USA and a board member of The Educators’ Lab Global. After more than a decade in the classroom teaching English and theatre, Darcy now creates the type of PD she always wanted, driving change in education and empowering teachers as changemakers. Through her work, teachers reconnect with their purpose, rekindle their spark for teaching, and reignite the JOY of teaching and learning. She specializes in professional development design and implementation, interactive strategies for the classroom, meaningful tech integration, and building relationships with students. Darcy holds a Master’s of Secondary Education, is an ISTE Certified Educator, an experienced international presenter, and believer in the power of education. She lives in Fargo, ND with her husband Jeff, and triplets, Kurt, Ben, and Cora.
In this episode, we cover:
The inspiration for the Joy Lab
Why AI isn’t going to replace teachers
How helping teachers find JOY is so important
Why competition and “good enough” can be antithetical to positive change
Links and Resources Mentioned:
Small Town Shout-Out!
This week we’re shouting out Julia McCray and The Market Village in Tionesta, Pennsylvania. The Market Village is a seasonal shopping pop-up “village” that has become an incubator for new small businesses, made even better by being made “cute af,” in Julia’s words. It’s a creative solution to several problems, is prettier and more interesting than a vacant lot, and serves the community well. We love it!
New Segment Alert!
We think some of the best parts about radio shows and podcasts are listener call-ins, so we’ve decided to make those a part of the Growing Small Towns Podcast. We really, really want to hear from you! We’re introducing two new parts to the show:
“Small town humblebrags”: Call in and tell us about something amazing you did in your small town so we can celebrate with you. No win is too small—we want to hear it all, and we will be excessively enthusiastic about whatever it is! You can call in for your friends, too, because giving shout-outs is one of our favorite things.
“Solving Your Small-Town People Challenges”: Have a tough issue in your community? We want to help. Call in and tell us about your problem, and we’ll solve it on an episode of the podcast. Want to remain anonymous? Totally cool, we can be all secretive and stuff. We’re suave like that.
If you’ve got a humblebrag or a tricky people problem, call 701-203-3337 and leave a message with the deets. We really can’t wait to hear from you!
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