When You Start With One Story This Happens
Schoolutions: Curious Educators. Evidence-Based Strategies. Classrooms Where Every Child Thrives.
01/14/26
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Start Monday With One Story | Transform Student Engagement Through Storytelling 📚✨
One simple shift can revolutionize classroom belonging and student motivation. Start with ONE story. ONE perspective. ONE moment. Stories aren't just content—they're entry points that help students see themselves, stay engaged, and go deeper into learning. When we incorporate stories, we raise the humanity in our classrooms.
Perfect for teachers, new teachers, education coaches, school administrators, instructional leaders, teacher mentors, homeschoolers, parents, and school counselors seeking effective teaching strategies for student engagement, active learning, and inclusive classrooms.
💬 How do you use storytelling in your classroom? Share below!
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - One Next Step for Monday
0:05 - Start With One Story
0:15 - Stories as Entry Points
0:25 - Building Engagement Through Narrative
0:35 - Raising Humanity in Classrooms
🚀📚 Watch the full Part One (https://youtu.be/665GvsiS6pU) & Part Two (https://youtu.be/5D7cqLpwzLw) of our @schoolutionspodcast S5E20 interview.
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
📧 Connect: schoolutionspodcast@gmail.com
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl
Don't forget to 👍LIKE this video if it helped you, 🔔SUBSCRIBE for more teaching tips, and 💬SHARE with fellow educators!
#StudentEngagement #ClassroomBelonging #TeachingStrategies #StudentMotivation #ActiveLearning #InspiringStudents #CulturallyResponsiveTeaching #InclusiveTeaching #EffectiveTeaching #TeachingTips #InnovativeTeaching #EquityInEducation #ProKidMindset #WholeChild #NewTeachers #TeacherCoaching #EmpoweredEducators #EducationTransformation #TeacherMentors #InstructionalLeaders #Homeschoolers #ParentInvolvement #FamilyPartnerships #SchoolCulture #StudentParticipation #AttentionInClass #ThrivingStudents #InstructionalStrategies #LessonPlanning #TeacherImpact
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Previous Episode
When Your Teacher Sees You: One Student's Turning Point
January 12
•18m
In Part One of my S5E20 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh shares how inclusive teaching can profoundly impact the student experience and foster a sense of belonging for all students, emphasizing that education for all hinges on deeply connected learning. She discusses how a Spanish teacher's innovative language learning approach helped her overcome feelings of invisibility in the classroom.
In this part one deeply personal conversation, Michelle reveals:
✨ Why 54% of students feel culturally unseen in classrooms
✨ How invisibility shows up as "silence in the curriculum"
✨ The difference between learning for compliance vs. connection
✨ Gloria Ladson-Billings's culturally responsive pedagogy framework
✨ Why humanizing ourselves as teachers unlocks classroom belonging
Stay tuned for Part Two (on Friday), where Michelle offers digital storytelling tools.
Some resources mentioned:
➡️Storytelling Can Bridge Cultural Gaps
🎤How Cultural Representation Improves Education
➡️ Gloria Ladson-Billings
➡️ StoryCorps
➡️ Smithsonian Learning Resources
➡️ Zinn Education Project
➡️ PBS LearningMedia
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction: What Does Invisibility in the Classroom Look Like?
1:00 Meet Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh: A Year in the Making
1:46 Today's Focus: Storytelling Can Bridge Cultural Gaps
2:13The Research Foundation: Gloria Ladson-Billings & Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
2:53 Taking Us Back: 9 Years Old, Newly Arrived from Jamaica
3:14 Education as Priority: Coming to America for Better Opportunities
4:00 The Adult Lens: Looking Back as an Educator and Researcher
4:44 Invisibility Wasn't Loud—It Was Silence in the Curriculum
5:31 Learning for Compliance, Not Connection
6:04 Succeeding Without Being Fully Seen
6:42 The Shock: When Friends Met Her Indian Family
7:00 The Statistics: 54% Students of Color, 82% White Teachers
7:24 The Representation Gap in Education Today
8:00 Enter Ms. Fernandez: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade Spanish Teacher
8:51 Education Beyond Performance and Perfection
9:17 Prioritizing Connection Over Transaction
9:42 The Learning That Stuck: Songs, Café con Leche, and Las Tiendas
10:34 Standing Up Out of Respect: A Cultural Moment
11:42 Permission to Be Different While Honoring Culture
12:17 Reflecting on Teaching Refugees in California
13:00 The Equal Playing Field: Learning Spanish Together
13:42 Lightning Round Begins!
14:00 Top Resource for Storytelling: Start with Listening
15:00 Storytelling Requirement: Beyond Textbooks and into Lives
16:00 "When You Share Your Story, You Become Human"
16:42 What Would Ms. Fernandez Say? A Look of Pride
17:00 Wrapping Part I: The Spanish Spelling Bee Memory
17:33 Preview of Part II: Getting Practical with Digital Tools
18:00 Closing: Your Homework—Share One Story This Week
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
Next Episode
Part Two of my S5E20 @schoolutionspodcast conversation with Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh, learn about effective digital media and edu tech tools that give students creative agency, fostering interactive learning.
In this episode, you'll discover:
🎯 Why traditional curriculum fails and how storytelling bridges the gap
📱 Digital storytelling tools: Canva and Adobe Spark
🎤 The guest speaker strategy that actually resonates with students
👨👩👧👦 How a 10th-grade interview assignment preserved family legacy
✨ The difference between "supporting" and "RAISING" classrooms
🚀 One actionable next step to start Monday morning
Michelle shares how a simple 10th-grade assignment—interviewing an elder family member—became an irreplaceable treasure when her grandfather passed two years later. This is storytelling as legacy, connection, and curriculum combined.
💫Check out Part One & Digital Tools Mentioned:
• Canva for Education
• Adobe Spark
• Microsoft Clip
Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction: From Why to How—Taking Action with Storytelling
1:00 - Welcome Back to Part Two with Dr. Michelle Chanda Singh
1:46 - Reminder: Listen to Part One First!
2:00 - Bridge Building Solutions: Why Incorporate Storytelling into Curriculum?
2:22 - Storytelling Makes Teaching Human, Simply Put
2:48 - Traditional Curriculum Misses the Mark: The Gaps
3:09 - Storytelling Democratizes Education
4:00 - Seeing Ourselves as Whole Human Beings, Not Victims
4:26 - Digital Storytelling Tools: Capturing and Creating Stories
5:00 - The Power of Canva: Student Agency in Storytelling
5:31 - Removing Barriers: Not Every Student Wants to Raise Their Hand
6:00 - Adobe Spark and Free Educator Accounts
6:42 - Collaborative Memoir Writing: NCTE Session Inspiration
7:00 - Funds of Knowledge: Interviewing Family Members
7:42 - The 10th Grade Assignment That Changed Everything
8:00 - Meet Michelle's Grandfather: The Father Figure Who Made It All Possible
9:00 - Recording the Interview: A Moment of Intuition
9:42 - Discovering Family History: Seeing Grandpa as a Teenager
10:00 - 2 Years Later: Grandfather Passes Away
10:42 - Creating the Funeral Slideshow: Videos Become Legacy
11:00 - Stories Passed Down to Great-Niece's Twins
11:42 - Guest Speakers: Beyond the Perfect Resume
12:00 - Kids Need Real Human Stories, Not Just Credentials
12:42 - The HBCU Guest Speaker Example: Pastor and First Lady
13:00 - Models Who Look Like Them: 90% Black or Caribbean Descent
13:42 - "How Did You Get From Here to There?" The Stories That Matter
14:00 - Mentorship Through Lived Experience
14:42 - Balance: Expertise AND Human Touch
15:00 - Michelle's Quote: "Stories Resonate, Connect, and Cultivate Community"
15:42 - One Next Step for Monday: Start Small
16:00 - Stories as Entry Points to Learning
16:42 - Video Clips, Podcasts, Student Grandparent Stories
17:00 - Storytelling Is NOT an Add-On—It's the Foundation
17:42 - Connection to Learning, to Each Other, to Content, to Teachers
18:00 - "We're Raising the People. We're Raising the Humanity."
18:22 - Closing: Emotional Engagement
18:42 - Olivia's Reflection: Try One Story-Based Entry Point
19:00 - Preview: Next Week with Maria Walther on Read Alouds
19:42 - Credits and Thank You
20:00 - How to Connect and Share This Episode
When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.
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