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Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience.

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I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students,

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leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education.

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Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration,

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we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools.

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Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started.

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Alright, happy new year to our listeners of the Classroom Narratives Podcast!

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We have had such a productive season, and it is thanks to listeners like you that this project continues to take off and fly here in 2025.

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I wanted to begin by celebrating and reflecting on the voices that we have heard back in our last season,

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including professors such as Patrick Zwosta, therapists and life coaches such as Monica Langer, Pamela Rosenblum, Caren Cooper,

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and mass casualty activists such as Paula Reed from Columbine, Sarah Lerner from Parkland,

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as well as Charlene Rich Schwarzkopf talking about 9-11.

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We've also heard from extraordinary teachers such as Enma Leyva, Colleen Crisan, as well as Jen Rafferty.

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We've also included the voices of students themselves, including those enrolled in Honors Global Literature through St. John's University in New York City in Fall 2024.

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So I also wanted to open this segment by honoring some of my own personal accomplishments at the end of last year,

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including the successful December 2024 Dissertation Defense towards my English PhD through St. John's University.

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And the purpose of my dissertation is used to explore how writing classrooms can help students process their emotions through careful and thoughtful teaching practices.

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And for those who are interested, my projects introduction and abstract can be found on my website as linked in the show notes.

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I also wanted to celebrate the release of a new standalone segment for my biopic series called The Throne in the Classroom.

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So The Throne in the Classroom is an unpublished biopic television series scripted into 23 full length, 30 to 60 minute long episodes that I wrote down using my time very productively during the COVID-2020 lockdown.

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And a team of South Florida filmmakers and I produced a five minute trailer in 2022, which you can find on my website.

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But what I'm celebrating here today is the standalone segment serving as a single scene from The Throne of the Classroom that I call a sanctuary of the outsiders, referencing one of my favorite texts, which is John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

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And of course, this scene also took a village of cast and crew members to bring together. So this podcast episode is also acknowledging them as well.

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So this particular scene carries really significant meaning for me because what it does is draw upon the voices of students who I taught back in middle school five years ago.

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And the scene captures their thoughts and feelings at the time as it related to their own feelings of isolation and struggles with mental wellness.

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And I invite you to watch this short film with an open heart. And if it moves you to please share it widely, drop a comment or like in the video link.

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And my goal is to amplify the voices within the story and inspire others to prioritize listening, empathy and action.

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So telling this particular story has been very meaningful to me because what it has done is signaled the most mentionable experience I have ever felt in knowing I would lose as an educator.

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And the scene itself is dedicated to any teacher who has experienced disillusionment within the profession while still struggling to truly validate their change of hearts.

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And what I'm hoping that this film does is affirm the connection that we all have held at that stage in the field and attempting to still seek meaning again.

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And our speakers this coming season will also continue to bring light onto the challenges faced within our system.

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And with that, I wanted to remind our listeners that the objective of this podcast is to humanize voices and education.

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And sometimes that requires speaking with individuals who have at one time witnessed themselves at the lowest point in their lives.

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What I've learned in starting this podcast is that people don't communicate their way out of pain, but rather they communicate through their pain.

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So let's be a part of a system, whether it's by being a listener or even my guest, that provides a space for people to work through those stories with all of the support possible.

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And this podcast also exists in the space that embraces dialogue around uncomfortable topics such as burnout, suicide, surviving mass casualty and systemic disillusionment from academia.

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And for those who are willing to lean into that discomfort, this podcast is here for your support and guidance.

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And you may be entering these conversations with real personal fears and your presence by coming here and showing up has become the first step in making tangible and beneficial changes, starting with the person in the mirror.

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So if you're here today, thank you for joining us. And I'm looking forward to hearing all about your change on this journey that we're all on together.

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So recording this segment at the start of the new year has me thinking quite a bit about how we play so many different roles and the books of so many different people and some people's books.

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Were there hero and other people's stories or their villains and someone else could easily see another person as a victim when all they're attempting to do is survive.

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The binaries are endless. The paradoxes are endless. And people will always find ways to validate you in their books through which ever archetypes they so please.

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So while everyone else is writing their versions of you this year, just put them away and have a story. Just have a story this year.

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Make your story your own. And in doing so, be sure to also own all the parts to that story as you navigate the potentials of what's to come for yourself.

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And with that, I'm so excited to welcome on our new guest for the upcoming season, which are going to include a phenomenal lineup of principals, politicians, community liaisons, life coaches, suicide scholars, expert professors in education and English.

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And of course, those in positions of working directly with the clients of education, which would be, of course, the students.

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So thank you so much again for tuning into our new season segment here for 2025. And remember, we can humanize education and own all of the moments in our lives through one conversation at a time.

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Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast. If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you.

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Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts and stay connected with us on the at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook.

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Remember, together we can transform our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.