13 episodes
TBD: Teaching Based Discussion H&J Productions
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- Society & Culture
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4.0 • 12 Ratings
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Two high school seniors (Heath Monsma and James Catanzaro) talk to their teachers about a variety of topics including: what they were like in high school, how and why they developed their teaching style, and the ongoing challenges of online school.
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Jonathan Glawe
On perhaps the final episode of TBD, Heath gets the chance to talk to Mr. Glawe, Pioneer's Director of Orchestras and 2021 Michigan String Teacher of the Year. The discussion ranges from Glawe's trailblazing partnership with Upbeat music for the virtual school year to his Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band.
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David Leach
On this episode of TBD, we sat down with Pioneer director of bands and music department chair David Leach. Mr. Leach has become somewhat of a Pioneer legend over the last twenty years winning countless awards for the band and himself. This run includes being part of the program that won the Grammy award for best public school band in the country not once but twice. However, we talk to him about who his idols were growing up as a band kid in Ann Arbor and which experiences from his career meant the most to him.
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Jeff Kass
On this episode of TBD, we talked with Pioneer English teacher Jefferey Kass about the philosophies towards school that he developed at a young age, his career as a sports radio personality in California prior to teaching, the novels and poetry he has written, and much more. The interview provided some perspective on how the pandemic has reshaped our priorities and left us with a greater appreciation for our high school experiences.
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Barbara Martin (Martini)
After a two month hiatus, the TBD podcast is back and better than ever with an energy-filled interview with Ms. Martini, one of Pioneer's Spanish teachers. We discuss what it was like to grow up in a large Italian family, the origins of her teaching principles, and what happened behind the scenes for teachers over the summer.
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Debra Fitzgerald
On this episode of TBD we talked to Debra Fitzgerald, who is an English and Journalism teacher as well as the Newspaper Advisor. She is also a former student of Ann Arbor Pioneer, although she had a much different high school experience then either of us. We discussed her career before teaching, coronavirus, and the "real world", especially how little high school represents it.
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Rita (Peg Lederer)
On this episode of TBD we sit down with Rita, the Spanish Department Chair at Pioneer, who teaches Spanish 2 and Spanish AP. We discuss her roundabout way of ending up as a Spanish teacher, online school, and potentially releasing a Spanish language version of this podcast.
Customer Reviews
This podcast is a journey into being human
When I first saw this podcast, my first though was "those two finally did it". As a pioneer opimist alum, I know that we had been trying to make a podcast for a long time. But, in my time at Pioneer, we never did. I gave it a listen and I couldn't stop smiling. As a college student in 2021, it was really interesting to hear hearfelt and honest stories from my old teachers. As a somewhat adult, I got to see my old teachers as humans, something I could never do in high school.
To James and Heath--congratulations guys! I can tell from the questions you ask and the things you talk about that you have grown since I last knew you and I know this is only the first in a long list of great things you will do!
Worth a listen!
Listening to Heath and James talk to their teachers about what they were like as teens is entertaining—and inspiring. The teachers’ candor and humor makes for terrific storytelling. I especially enjoyed Roldan, Sabo and Kass. Great podcast idea and well executed. You will see teachers in a new light (and that’s a good thing).
Go listen!!
I absolutely love this podcast. James and Heath do such a great job getting their teachers to open up and share really interesting stories with us. I love hearing about the journey each of their teachers took to end up where they are today and how they decided to become a teacher. I especially enjoyed the Roldan episode and hearing about how her childhood affected her teaching style. Overall, stop reading this review and go take a listen!