Wholehearted Teaching with Adrian Del Monte
29 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago -In the podcast, we hope to inspire educators to bring their whole selves into their classroom everyday. Through powerful conversations, we will explore how teachers can see their classrooms and students as extensions of who they are as people. We will help you embrace your calling as educators, teaching from authenticity, vulnerability and the power of the heart.
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Episodes
A Full Heart with TCDSB Director of Education Brendan Browne
June 08, 2021 09:00 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MBAt the end of a very difficult year I went into this conversation with TCDSB Director of Education Brendan Browne looking for something: I was looking for the heart in what he would say. I knew there would be limits to how much I could ask my boss (on air!), but that's not what I wanted to hear. As you listen, I encourage you to ask yourself this question: are you heartened by the work of education this year? You’ll hear Director Browne talk about his desire to build trust in the community...
A Year of Grief and a Year of Joy with my Wife, Amy Del Monte
May 25, 2021 09:00 - 40 minutes - 27.7 MBIn this week's conversation, my wife Amy and I sit down to discuss what was an extraordinary year. We hope that our story might help other parents and teachers process theirs. We reflect on the joys of the year-- our neighbourhood coming back to life, sharing laughter around the dinner table and becoming a reading family-- as well as the challenges-- wrestling with our own privilege, trying to support our sons in French Immersion, and watching so many of our friends leave the city. Amy h...
How Marriage Shapes Our Teaching with Educators and Spouses Dan and Rachel Vigliatore
May 11, 2021 09:00 - 58 minutes - 39.9 MBIf you're a teacher who is a parent or a spouse, this is a wonderful conversation for you! Today's guests are Dan and Rachel Vigliatore, a wholehearted husband and wife who both teach in the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Dan is an elementary PHE teacher and Rachel is a secondary Guidance Department Head. They are also the parents to two lovely girls. Together, we talk about the many many parallels between teaching and parenting and even marriage. This conversation shows just how ...
Building to Last with Educator, Champion and Advocate Skye Bowen
April 27, 2021 09:00 - 52 minutes - 36.2 MBIn this week’s conversation I’m talking to one of the most wholehearted educators I’ve ever met: Skye Bowen. Skye is an activist, a community builder, a champion, and is working actively to dismantle systems that oppress racialized students. This conversation will give you confidence to engage in those conversations that can shift thinking and change systems. One by one, Skye addresses some common reactions and objections we hear when we really push for anti-racism classrooms: 1. "You can...
Empowering Students to Tell Their Stories with Best Selling Author Jael Richardson
April 06, 2021 09:00 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MBHow often do we let our students (and our own children) just tell their story? That is the question I'm discussing today with Jael Richardson, author and Executive Director for The Festival of Literary Diversity. So often as teachers and parents we have certain expectations of what "learning" ought to look like. I hope that today's conversation will help you see the power of letting go and letting our students free to find themselves in the stories they consume. In particular, we talk ab...
Celebrating a Changing School Board with TCDSB Superintendent of Education Kimberly Dixon
March 30, 2021 09:00 - 43 minutes - 29.6 MBWhen I first reached out to Kimberly Dixon, Superintendent in the Toronto Catholic DSB, I was hoping we would talk about intersectionality for much of the conversation. I assumed that because Kimberly is only the second black, female superintendent in the TCDSB, her story would be full of examples of how she had to rise above obstacles in what has been called the "dinosaur" of education systems. But this conversation turned into more than I expected. Kimberly's story is one that celebr...
What's in Your Heart of Hearts? with Vice-Principal and Documentary Filmmaker Anthony Perrotta
March 16, 2021 09:00 - 58 minutes - 40.1 MBToday's episode is the story of one teacher's journey to allyship. We speak with Anthony Perrotta, a Vice Principal and a documentary filmmaker. Like many first or second generation European immigrants, Anthony grew up up in a white, suburban neighborhood where, as he says, “white was normalized” Anthony was never really pushed to become self aware. But when he travelled to one of the most ethnically diverse neighbourhoods in Toronto he began to unlearn, learn and then re-learn what he ...
Dear White Teachers: No One Said it Would Easy with Asante Haughton
March 02, 2021 10:00 - 48 minutes - 33.3 MBToday's episode is all about how hard it is to build anti-racist classroom. It's not just hard for our racialized students, but it's also hard for white teachers (myself included) doing the hard work of examining whatever biases we hold. But we have to do it. In this episode, Asante Haughton tells us his own story of becoming a father, a mental health advocate, a 2XTed Talk speaker and an inspirational human being. Yet, as a poor, black man he had to endure more than many of us ever will...
This is a Love Story with Teacher, Author and Advocate Penny Kittle
February 16, 2021 10:00 - 54 minutes - 37.5 MB"This is a love story" are the first words of Penny Kittle's book, Book Love. They are words that may change how you see the students you teach. No one has been more influential on my classroom than Penny and I was so honoured that she was willing to sit down with me. In our conversation, we speak about the wonder of the classroom, the necessity of developing lifelong readers, the opportunities of challenging traditional ways of thinking, the role of Shakespeare and making joy your teac...
SPECIAL Episode: An Anthology of Occasional Poetry from a Wonderful Class of Students
February 04, 2021 15:00 - 46 minutes - 32.3 MBIn this episode, my students from this quadmester will share their own, occasional poems with you. This has been a wonderful group of teenagers and I have loved learning and growing with them. I want to especially thank them for their bravery and courage. Sharing something as personal as poetry takes incredible risk. Thank you for our time together. It's meant so much to me. Start Time | Title 0:00 | A Note from Mr. Del Monte 1:32 | “2Morrow’s Reality” 2:57 | “A Call for Ac...
Moving from Shame to Love with Psychotherapist Kristen Hodges
February 02, 2021 10:00 - 48 minutes - 33 MBThis week's conversation is meant to help teachers-- particularly white teachers-- move from feelings of shame that immobilize us to connecting with healthy guilt that can guide us forward. Guilt moves us to anti-racism work and that work is full of love. Our guest, Registered Psychotherapist Kristen Hodges, helps us understand the difference between shame-- the feeling that makes us feel like there is something wrong with us-- from guilt-- a healthy feeling that actually moves us towards...
Moving from Shame to Love with Psychotherapist Kristen Hodges
February 02, 2021 10:00 - 48 minutes - 33 MBThis week's conversation is meant to help teachers-- particularly white teachers-- move from feelings of shame that immobilize us to connecting with healthy guilt that can guide us forward. Guilt moves us to anti-racism work and that work is full of love. Our guest, Registered Psychotherapist Kristen Hodges, helps us understand the difference between shame-- the feeling that makes us feel like there is something wrong with us-- from guilt-- a healthy feeling that actually moves us towards...
WHY ARE YOU IN EDUCATION?? with TDSB Principal, Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Disrupter, Salima Kassam
January 26, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBThis question-- WHY ARE YOU IN EDUCATION??-- frames our conversation today. If you stop to think about that, what would you say? My guest, Salima Kassam is a principal with the Toronto District School Board and has given her life to the work of anti-racism and anti-oppression. She is as wholehearted as they come. In this episode, Salima reminds us that anti-racism is not a lens (that can be taken on and off) but is actually a stance. A stance becomes who you are whether we are inside the ...
Restoring a Broken System with TCDSB Human Rights and Equity Advisor Lavinia Latham
January 19, 2021 10:00 - 57 minutes - 39.6 MBThe second episode in our Anti-Racism series made me nervous. Lavinia is the most lovely person, but her role as Humanity Equity Advisor at the Toronto Catholic District School Board is to look at problems in the education system...and advise things that need to change. I knew what she would say was going to challenge me to now go out and be brave enough to take and demand action. Lavinia's experiences working for equity first as a lawyer--we discuss several cases that jarred me, big time...
Having Brave Conversations about Race, Equity and White Fragility with Superintendent Derek Chen
January 12, 2021 10:00 - 38 minutes - 26.5 MBIn this conversation, we speak with TCDSB Superintendent of Equity, Diversity, Indigenous Education and Community Relations, Derek Chen. Superintendent Chen speaks about the importance of being brave enough to have courageous conversations about anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, white fragility, and systemic problems that oppress non-white students in the education system. It's a powerful conversation, and one that I'm sad took so long to have. In having it, I realized that I will n...
SPECIAL New Year's Episode: Daring Greatly in 2021 with Chey Cheney and Pav Wander
January 01, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.4 MBWelcome to 2021, a year that has so much potential for teaching! We launch Season 2 through a wonderful conversation with Chey Cheney and Pav Wander, two Toronto teachers and hosts of The Staffroom Podcast who are just crushing it. Both Chey and Pav have taken huge risks, put themselves out there to inspire their students and, as we discuss, are daring greatly in the arena of classroom teaching. I left this conversation inspired to take my own risks this year. We also get into what ha...
Finding the Kin in Kindness with Katie Akelaitis
December 22, 2020 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBIn our Christmas Special, we talk about seeing differently, through the eyes of kindness. In this episode, mom, daughter and Vice Principal Katie Akelaitis speaks about how her father taught her to treat others as "kin," as if they were her own family, a lesson she practices not only as a vice-principal, but also as a mother to her three beautiful "little people". Katie will help you find your Christmas spirit and remind you that giving to others-- whether at school or at home-- is the re...
Finding the Kin in Kindness with Katie Akelaitis
December 22, 2020 10:00 - 29 minutes - 20.5 MBIn our Christmas Special, we talk about seeing differently, through the eyes of kindness. In this episode, mom, daughter and Vice Principal Katie Akelaitis speaks about how her father taught her to treat others as "kin," as if they were her own family, a lesson she practices not only as a vice-principal, but also as a mother to her three beautiful "little people". Katie will help you find your Christmas spirit and remind you that giving to others-- whether at school or at home-- is the re...
When Families Teach Together with John, Nic and Lukas Notten
December 15, 2020 10:00 - 35 minutes - 24.5 MBThis episode shows that strong teaching has all the same attributes as strong families: an emphasis on following your passions, finding ways to serve others, collaborating together and, most importantly, a cohesion between what happens in the classroom and what happens in the household. In this episode, I talk with a whole family of teachers: John Notten, a retired teacher of 30 years and his two sons, Nic and Lukas, who are both just starting off in their teaching careers. The boys talk ...
Full Props to Hermione: Discussing Women in Leadership with WCDSB Director of Education Loretta Notten
December 08, 2020 10:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MBThis episode is framed around a question: How has being female prevented you from bringing your whole self to the classroom? It's an important conversation, and one that I am grateful to share a part. In this episode, we speak to Loretta Notten, the first woman to serve as Director of Education for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. Director Notten helps us unpack what it was like to be a woman in leadership in the early 90s, the challenges we continue to experience today, and s...
Unleashing Our Teachers to Follow Their Passions with Anthony De Sa
December 01, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MBGoing off the beaten path, challenging formal education practices, and untethering teachers to bring their own passions to the classroom are all the topics that we discuss with our guest, teaching legend and critically acclaimed writer, Anthony De Sa. This conversation is more raw than some of the others: you'll hear the frustrations that often accompany teaching, especially in 2020. But what Anthony reminded me of was that a teacher's passions--coupled with a willingness to break from tra...
Untether the Teacher with Author and Educator Anthony De Sa
December 01, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.7 MBGoing off the beaten path, challenging formal education practices, and untethering teachers to bring their own passions to the classroom are all the topics that we discuss with our guest, teaching legend and critically acclaimed writer, Anthony De Sa. This conversation is more raw than some of the others: you'll hear the frustrations that often accompany teaching, especially in 2020. But what Anthony reminded me of was that a teacher's passions--coupled with a willingness to break from tra...
Vulnerability, Making Mistakes and Coming to Terms with Who We Are as Teachers with Barb Russell
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBVulnerability, making mistakes and accepting ourselves exactly as we are are all topics that we discuss today with our guest and award-winning teacher, Barb Russell. 10 years as an emergency room Nurse followed by 25 years in the classroom has given Barb a unique and often hilarious take on what it means to work with young people . Through true stories that will tug at your heart, Barb's stories and experience embracing her mistakes is exactly what every teacher needs to hear. Barb will...
Embracing Vulnerability in the Classroom with Barb Russell
November 24, 2020 10:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBVulnerability, making mistakes and accepting ourselves exactly as we are are all topics that we discuss today with our guest and award-winning teacher, Barb Russell. 10 years as an emergency room Nurse followed by 25 years in the classroom has given Barb a unique and often hilarious take on what it means to work with young people . Through true stories that will tug at your heart, Barb's stories and experience embracing her mistakes is exactly what every teacher needs to hear. Barb will...
Humanity at the Highest with TCDSB Director of Education Brendan Browne
November 17, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBAt the very highest level of an education system are people, and people, no matter their titles are human. In this episode, we speak to Brendan Browne, father, son, husband...and Director of Education for one of the largest school boards in Canada. Yet, despite his role and responsibilities, Brendan--as he asked me to call him--listens to the inner voice informed by his trusted friends, family, and core beliefs. It is his humanity that shapes his actions, and not the other way around. T...
2. Humanity at the Highest with TCDSB Director of Education Brendan Browne
November 17, 2020 10:00 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBAt the very highest level of an education system are people, and people, no matter their titles are human. In this episode, we speak to Brendan Browne, father, son, husband...and Director of Education for one of the largest school boards in Canada. Yet, despite his role and responsibilities, Brendan--as he asked me to call him--listens to the inner voice informed by his trusted friends, family, and core beliefs. It is his humanity that shapes his actions, and not the other way around. T...
The Sacredness of the Classroom with Don Walker
November 10, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBCourage, authenticity, gratitude and the sacredness of the classroom experience are all topics that we discuss today with our guest and teaching legend, Don Walker. After retiring from 30 years of classroom teaching and administration, Don’s insights about the classroom and why it matters will leave you thinking far after the episode is over. Don’s storytelling will also make you feel as if you were sitting in his class...and loving every minute of it. Be sure to listen right to the end ...
1. The Sacredness of the Classroom with Don Walker
November 10, 2020 10:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBCourage, authenticity, gratitude and the sacredness of the classroom experience are all topics that we discuss today with our guest and teaching legend, Don Walker. After retiring from 30 years of classroom teaching and administration, Don’s insights about the classroom and why it matters will leave you thinking far after the episode is over. Don’s storytelling will also make you feel as if you were sitting in his class...and loving every minute of it. Be sure to listen right to the end ...
Introducing Wholehearted Teaching (Episode 1)
November 01, 2020 02:00 - 6 minutes - 4.45 MBWelcome to my new bi-weekly podcast: Wholehearted Teaching! If there is one idea that drives this podcast, it’s this: there is no separation between who we are when we're inside the classroom and when we're outside of it. Listen to our first ever episode in which I talk about what it means to live and teach wholeheartedly. Those who do so are changed forever as they live with more authenticity, compassion, resilience, joy and gratitude. You can find the whole transcript of today's epi...