Getting Primed with Michael Crawford In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome Michael Crawford to the show. Michael is currently a show writer at the Walt Disney Company and has also written for The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Disney Archives, Imagineering, and D23! In this episode, he will guide us through how his passion for Disney started for him and how that led to him creating a very popular blog called Progress City, USA. This blog is what would eventually find its way to Diane Disney Miller and help him make other contacts and connections that led to Michael writing and working for all those incredible Disney groups listed above.    Michael has also written a book called, The Progress City Primer. His book is filled with a cornucopia of Disney stories that span topics like Walt’s life, the wonderfully weird stories of Disney, and the Disney that never was. On the show, Michael shares with us some of his favorite stories from his book and the details behind them and even how he did his research to gather all these great stories.    Michael also has a podcast that he does with his brother that is bi-monthly called Progress City Radio Hour and if you enjoyed hearing Michael’s stories on our podcasts, and I know you did, then you should go check out his podcast as well as he shares even more stories and deeper dives into the wonderful world of Disney! We hope you enjoy today’s episode and as always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.  

My Disney Class podcast

Getting Primed with Michael Crawford

Planning for the Community of Tomorrow! In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie take a deep dive into Walt Disney’s plans for the Experimental, Prototype, Community of Tomorrow (E.P.C.O.T) or what later would be labeled as Progress City. This was an unfinished concept for a planned community developed by Walt Disney and designed by WED Enterprises in the 1960s. Its purpose was to be a “real city that would never cease to be a living blueprint of the future,” building on the latest technology and innovation from American industry this project would be the central component of Disney’s “Florida Project,” a massive property of undeveloped swampland located between Orlando and Kissimmee Florida.              In this episode, which will be part 1 of a two-part series, Howie and Ryan will talk through what they believe Walt’s vision was for the “Florida Project,” and why he wanted to make this his next great adventure and legacy. They will then dive deeper into what his plans were for the land his company was buying in Florida. Including the airport of the future, the E.P.C.O.T industrial park, E.P.C.O.T. the city, and even Walt’s reluctance to build another Disneyland / Magic Kingdom on this land.              We hope you enjoy this exploration of Walt’s vision for the E.P.C.O.T. that would unfortunately never be seen and we hope that you will join us on November 1st as we continue this topic. In part 2, we will pick up where we left off and discuss what happened after Walt’s death, why the vision and plan for E.P.C.O.T. changed and what the future of E.P.C.O.T. looks like.  As always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney.  

Planning for the Community of Tomorrow!

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Megan Zimdars to the show. Megan is in her 6th year teaching and is currently working with 4th graders at Boswell Elementary in Lebanon MO. Megan teaches Social Studies and ELA and does so in some of the most magical ways all in a classroom that is themed wonderfully to inspire students of all ages! On today’s show, Megan will share with us her story of how she became an educator and also how she became a Disney fan. We then hear how she combines these two passions to create engaging lessons and environments that her students love. Megan talks about how she decorates her classroom and why that is important and shares that this year she has a classroom that is castle-themed, awesome!  Megan also talks about how she divides her students up into houses, think Harry Potter, but instead of Gryffindor or Slytherin, Megan uses the four parks of Walt Disney World! She also will share some of the lessons she has used integrating the magic of Disney, like teaching Geography and culture using the pavilions at EPCOT.  Too far from Disney to have your students experience the park, you say? Wish you could bring your students to the magic? Well, Megan has figured that out too. She will share how she worked with our own Brian Collins to take her students on a virtual field trip to the most magical place on Earth.  We hope you enjoy today’s show and find Megan as magical and inspirational as we do! Remember, if you like the show and want to help us spread the word about it and build our already amazing community, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts!  

Magical Megan Zimdars

Howie and Ryan look at how Walt Disney approached taking risks and jumping into new things throughout his life. Just like teachers all over the world are doing right now as they start the New Year in their schools. As we discuss all the ups and downs of Walt’s journey to creating a magical escape that we all love and enjoy, we think you will find similarities in those ups and downs to the ones we all face as educators.  In today’s show, we will start the discussion and timeline of Walt’s life right around World War 1, when Walt traveled overseas to help out in the war effort any way he could. Even if this means he needed to lie about his age to go. We then discuss his first failed company, Laugh-O-Grams studio, and follow Walt out to California where he had dreams of being a director but eventually opened up the Disney Bros Studios.  Ryan and Howie will take turns sharing what they know about these stories and what they each have learned from Walt’s challenges, risks, and perseverance. Hopefully, we can all learn how taking risks, working hard, persevering, and ultimately jumping into, specifically, our profession of education, can reap big rewards.  We hope you enjoy today’s episode as we take a look back at Walt’s life and we also hope you can find the inspiration you may need to take that leap this new school year and create the magic for your students that we know you can! As always, we would love for you to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. If you have any feedback or would like to come on the show, please email us at MyDisneyClass@gmail.com, and don’t forget to join our Facebook community at Educators Who Love Disney

Jumping in with Walt Disney

  In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome back the Director of CTE at Georgetown ISD, Bretton Schulz. For the last show of Season 6, we had Bretton on and shared some interviews Howie did with some of the students in Bretton’s CTE program but we ran out of time to hear everything Bretton had to share about the incredible program and we had a couple more student interviews we knew you would want to hear as well. So we’ve invited Bretton back and we are finishing our discussion about what CTE is like at Georgetown ISD and we are going to share a few more student interviews and stories.  In this second part of the interview, Bretton finishes discussing the many different pathways students can take in their CTE program and what some of the highlights are for each of them. He also discusses how these students have had doors opened to them in both the college and career paths they are on because of the education and hands-on experiences they received in these CTE classes. Bretton will also share some of the work they are doing to form partnerships with community businesses and other support they receive from their community. Plus, after we finish hearing from Bretton, we get to hear from two more Georgetown ISD students doing great things in their CTE pathway! You definitely won’t want to miss this show as it is packed with stories of great educators and incredible students doing awesome things in CTE. Also, don’t forget to go back and download and listen to our previous podcasts that are also packed with great stories from previous guests and lots of Disney fun and facts.  

CTE with Bretton Schulz Part 2

CTE Georgetown TX

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan look at integrating career exposure and guidance into classroom teaching. Just think about all the different types of storytellers there are just working for Disney Imagineering. There are engineers of all kinds of course but they only make up a small number nowadays in the vast careers that help make the magic. Other Imagineering jobs include writers of all kinds, color and palate specialists, agricultural specialists, painters, graphic designers, the list goes on and on.  So what are we as educators doing to help expose students to all the careers out there besides the doctors, lawyers, baseball players, etc?  Are we showing students that you don’t have to make it to the major leagues to be part of professional baseball? What about being a Pitchcast Operator, Statcast 3D Operator, Communications Coordinator, Data Scientists. These are all current jobs listed to be filled by major league baseball. So you get the point, there are more opportunities than we think students know about and we think that it’s part of our jobs as educators to expose them to those opportunities.  So whether you have a passion for working for Disney, Major League Baseball, or whatever career, there is a way that you can become part of that story. We just need to make sure our students understand this, so they can see the possibilities and find the drive to work towards a career in their passion.  As we start year 7 of the My Disney Class Podcast, we want to take a moment and thank all of you who are part of our listener community. Whether you started today with this episode or have been here since Season 1, Episode 1, we really appreciate you joining in and helping to strengthen this wonderful and supportive group.  Also if you haven’t already, remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don’t forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better!  

Being Part Of The Story

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome the Director of CTE at Georgetown ISD, Bretton Schulz. For those of you that may not know, CTE stands for Career and Technical Education. At Georgetown ISD they describe their CTE program as one that uses integrated instruction and curricula, current technologies, and state-of-the-art equipment. They also have business partnerships, creating a learning environment that empowers all their students to enter the constantly changing workforce. So as you can see, this is more than the old school shop classes that CTE has evolved from. Though we love a good shop class and the hands-on experiences that it provides, CTE has grown from not only giving students the opportunity to use their hands to create but they now do it with purpose and geared toward a specific career. Ryan and Howie have always expressed their passion for Disney Imagineers and how they create the magic but Imagineering too has changed and evolved over time and is very similar to CTE as there are vast many jobs and skills needed by lots of different careers and fields to help bring the magic to the Disney parks. Who knows, there may be future Imagineers in Georgetown ISD’s CTE programs right now as we speak or one or two in your school’s CTE program. You never know! Speaking of those students, Howie was able to meet a few of Georgetown ISD's finest. They were gracious enough to answer a few questions and share some of the incredible stories about what they have accomplished during their time in the CTE program and even discuss some of the competitions they have been and are currently in. You’ll even hear from one student that just placed 1st in the nation in her culinary event! You definitely won’t want to miss this show as it is packed with stories of great educators and incredible students doing awesome things in CTE. Also, don’t forget to go back and download and listen to our previous podcasts that are also packed with great stories from previous guests and lots of Disney fun and facts.  

CTE with Bretton Schulz

 In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan are waving their flags in celebration of the fourth of July! They love the good ol’ USA and so did Mr. Walt Disney himself! Walt was quoted saying, “Actually, if you could see close in my eyes, the American flag is waving in both of them, and up my spine is growing this red, white and blue stripe.” In the show today, Ryan and Howie are going to talk about Walt’s passion for American History, especially that of one President Abraham Lincoln, and how Walt’s passion is represented in the parks today. There are so many examples of references to American history that it’s impossible to discuss them all in one show but Howie and Ryan are going to limit themselves to just some of their favorites. They will talk about Main Street USA, Tomorrowland, and of course Liberty Square. Hopefully, you will hear some hidden magic that you didn’t know and you will for sure hear how American history is honored throughout the parks.  Happy 4th of July to all our listeners who celebrate it and remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don’t forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better and will give us the fireworks we need to help make My Disney Class Podcast be the best it can be!  

Patriotic Disney

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Howie and Ryan welcome their partner and pal, Brian Collins back to the show to participate in some summer dreaming! Howie was inspired by a song in the 2008 Tinkerbell Album titled, “Come Fly With Me” and in this song is a line about dreams. So on today’s show, Howie, Ryan, and Brian are going to share what their childhood dreams were and what dreams they have now for their futures and the future of My Disney Class.  You will hear how Howie originally thought he would run one or all of his dad’s four companies. Ryan shares how he used to create an amusement park in his backyard for the neighborhood kids and Brian gives us a glimpse at when the first seed was planted on his path to becoming a Disney Imagineer.  Also in this episode, there will be some behind-the-scenes peeks at what we are hoping to pull off for our My Disney Class community. Whether that’s future guests for our podcasts or future P.D. Magic trips, we're excited about what the future holds and we hope that you are too! Remember to join the fun and supportive community we have in our Facebook group, Educators who love Disney, and don’t forget to rate and review our podcast on Apple music. Your support and feedback will only make us better and will give us our bearings as we start navigating the future waters of these dreams.  

Summer Dreaming

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie’s dreams of summer vacation are becoming real, and with that comes a fun list of to-dos to do! So in this episode, Howie and Ryan are sharing their plans for this summer and giving their thoughts on what teachers should make time to do this summer as well. These suggestions run the gamut from organizing your classroom to bingeing your favorite Disney + shows and movies. Though after the year we all had, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention taking some time for self-care and reenergizing.  We also look at how some summer planning for school can be beneficial for the year that’s coming up and how you can take advantage of your summertime to find professional development that you actually are interested in and find value in. As well as using some of that summer free time to think about making some changes to your classroom. Whether that’s physical changes, organizing and changing the layout, or maybe philosophical changes. Either way, My Disney Class has you covered and we can’t wait to get to the summertime fun. Like Olaf says, “Winter is a good time to stay in and cuddle but put me in summer and I’ll be a HAPPY SNOWMAN!” Hope everyone enjoys this brief look into Ryan and Howie’s summer plans and we hope you have some great summer plans as well. Please head over to our Facebook group, Educators Who Love Disney, and tell us all about them.

Summer To-Do List

In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Kevin Roughton. Kevin is a middle school history teacher at Jurupa Middle School in Jurupa Valley CA not too far from Disneyland! He is an educational speaker, author, and was also selected as an Outstanding Middle School Educator of California Counsel For The Social Studies.  Let’s just put it this way, he’s a great educator and he’s on a mission to share his experiences and Disney and gamification to help better our profession.  In the show today, you will hear how passionate Kevin is for his students and for the educational profession. He explains how he has been working on creating a classroom that is fully immersive and engaging to students while still providing a challenging curriculum that inspires his students to not just be observers of history but actual participants. From day one in his classroom, students are shown how they are historians as Kevin has created a theme and story, masterfully, that is carried throughout the school year. Kevin also shares with us how he fell back in love with Disney, specifically Disneyland and the Imagineers that make the magic. He talks us through this journey and how it has shaped his instructional practices.  Through this journey of improving his practice, Kevin decided while listening to an Imagineering presentation, that he should write all of what he has learned and gleaned from Disney down in a book so others could benefit in their instructional practices. This book is near completion and should be available this summer. The title of the book is Teach With Magic. Use Disney Imagineering Techniques To Make Your Classroom The Most Engaging Place On Earth!  Both Howie and Ryan got a sneak peek at his book and we can tell you that you are not going to want to miss this opportunity to hear Kevin share what he has learned from Disney through his actual life stories and experiences in the classroom.   We hope you enjoyed hearing Kevin’s story as much as we enjoyed talking to him and like always make sure you leave us a review in Apple Music or wherever you listen to this podcast and also come join in on the fun and share your educational experiences with us over on our Facebook group, Educators Who Love Disney.  

Teach With Magic With Kevin Roughton

 In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie are dreaming of those lazy summer days just around the corner but with that comes the reality that school is not out yet. The last month of school can be really challenging for us educators and also for our students! In this episode, Howie and Ryan discuss activities, tips, and lessons learned that will hopefully help you tackle those last few weeks of school and leave you with enough energy to enjoy that well-deserved Disney vacation.  We all know that Disney has the ability to wow its guests and captivate customers for decades. Did you know that Disney’s return rate for visitors to its parks is around 70%, that’s incredible! Don’t you wish we could get 70% engagement and loyalty from our students, especially in the last few weeks of school? Well, in this episode, we will take a look at some of the things Disney does and try and see if we can apply those techniques to our classrooms to make those last few weeks of the school year just as engaging and enjoyable as the rest of the year.  We hope you enjoy today’s episode and we hope you know that the My Disney Class community is always here to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out. Whether you need help with a lesson plan or idea or you are just looking for someone to listen and support you, we are here. While Ryan and Howie will be the first ones to tell you they don’t have all the answers, they will definitely try to bring Magic to you in any way they can. Thanks again to all our listeners and remember to leave feedback on iTunes / Apple Music and join our community of Disney-loving educators over on our Facebook page, Educators Who Love Disney.  

End of Year Engagement and Magic

 In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie welcome Jaime Williams to the show. Jaime is originally from Albertville, AL. Her research interests are in the areas of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources with a primary focus on how personality characteristics, especially aggression, can have a detrimental effect on a firm or on other people within an organization. Her dissertation is titled, “The Inclusion of Aggressive Personality as an Antecedent of Abusive Supervision.” As that isn’t impressive enough, Jaime is a big Disney fan too! This puts her high on our list of course of educators that are doing incredible things that we think you need to hear about. On the show today, you are going to hear Jaime talk about how she uses Disney in the classes that she teaches at the University of Mississippi. That’s right, in her spare time, insert cough and chuckle here, she is an instructor in the Business School at the University. We think you are really going to enjoy her examples and reasonings to why Disney is such a great model for teaching business and HR concepts that her students need to learn so they can be successful in the corporate world. Being the Disney fan she is, Jaime has some really good examples that she’s backed up with loads of research and facts that even us veteran Disney fans might not have known about! We loved hearing her passion for education and had fun discussing her Disney fandom as well and we think you will too. Shereceived her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, History, and English from Ashland University and an MBA at the University of North Alabama. She is currently finishing up her Doctoral program at the University of Mississippi. As always remember to keep the conversation going over on our Facebook group Educators Who Love Disney and don’t forget if you like the show or any of our episodes, head over to Apple Music and rate and review our podcast. This helps get the word out to other educators and we would love to continue to grow our wonderful community.  

Using Disney To Teach Business And HR With Jaime Williams

 In today’s episode of My Disney Class Podcast, Ryan and Howie look to help educators who are still teaching remotely or may teach remotely from time to time. On the March 1st show, Howie and Ryan tried to tackle the difficult task of teaching in the new normal of social distancing, face masks, no group work, etc. that educators all over the world are trying to adjust to. They attempted to take a couple of their hands-on lessons from their book Designing Disney Inspired Classrooms and convert them to lessons that could be done in these new conditions all while still keeping the engagements, expectations, and fun at a high level.  They both hope they achieved that and if you listened to the show, they hope that you walked away with a couple of ideas or at least a feeling that your not alone in these struggles! On today’s show, Howie and Ryan pick up with this idea of teaching in a new normal and adjusting lessons to fit new restrictions. This time they tackle updating lessons to be taught in the virtual world remotely, both asynchronous and synchronous. They again choose lessons from their book, this time a few new ones, and attempt to modify them to be done remotely through Zoom or whatever online platform you use. Ryan also speaks about his personal experience teaching the last year all virtual and is open about the successes and failures he experienced.  We hope you enjoy today’s episode and we hope you know that the My Disney Class community is always here to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out. Whether you need help with a lesson plan or idea or you are just looking for someone to listen and support you, we are here. While Ryan and Howie will be the first ones to tell you they don’t have all the answers, they will definitely try to bring Magic to you in any way they can. Thanks again to all our listeners and remember to leave feedback on iTunes / Apple Music and join our community of Disney-loving educators over on our Facebook page, Educators Who Love Disney.  

Magical Lessons Gone Virtual

Bi-Monthly podcast for Disney Classroom ideas on creativity, innovation, problem solving, PBL, STEM, STEAM and MakerSpace projects. Resources provided on each podcast and interviews with Innovative Educators and educational leaders

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My Disney Class podcast

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