Staff Loungin' Podcast and the Zombie EDpocalypse

By:David Pluscauskas

Hi, I'm Dave Pluscauskas, I'm a teacher from Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. I'm also the founder of the Staff Loungin' podcast and I am very excited to be sharing my podcast with The Educator's Room.

Staff Loungin', the podcast where teachers talk about teaching and eat their lunches while they do it, was born of my frustration at how teachers are shut out education reform. Many "reformers" neither seek nor value our opinions. It occurred to me that people might respect teachers' opinions more if they actually heard them, so I determined that, somehow, I would make my voice heard.

This was a fine idea, but like any fine idea, it required time, and like any educator there, I had none. Still, I did have to eat lunch, and I could easily talk while I ate. So I grabbed a microphone and a few friends (who also had to eat lunch) and the Staff Loungin' Podcast was born.

We've been going for amost a year now, and it is not hyperbole to say that, as an educator of almost 20 years, podcasting has been the most transfomative experience of my teaching career. Now, I must warn you, the podcast is quite irrevernt, and prone to long moments of not getting to the point, but when we do get to the point, it impacts what I do in the classroom.

I hope that from time to time it may do the same for you.

And it is with that in mind that I bring you all three parts of our Zombie EDpocalypse Trilogy:

The Zombie EDpocalypse trilogy started from a discussion of what was essential to education. If we were starting from scratch, what would we keep and what would be the educational chaff? It did not take long for the zombie apocalypse to creep in to the discussion (probably because zombies are an obsession of mine). So, for three episodes we embarked upon a raucous thought experiment: it is five years after the zombie apocalypse and we are the directors of the Woodbury District School Board; we are safe, we have food, energy, even the internet, but no schools, what are we going to need to do to educate our children?

Staff Loungin' 46: What will school look like?
WARNING:it takes us 22 min to get to the topic, but my mother does assure me that we are very funny;-)

Listen here and tell us what you would school look like for you -- the Blog Entry is here.

Staff Loungin' 47: Identifying student needs and the accompanying blog entry.

Staff Loungin' 48: Supporting student learning and the accompanying blog entry.

I hope you enjoy our take on the Zombie EDpocalypse. If you have anything to ask or add please comment here or shout out to us on Twitter @staffloungin