In this episode of The Wired Educator Podcast, I interview Traci Browder. Traci is an amazing educator that can help all of us make the greatest impact on students' lives through the challenges of teaching in a pandemic. She is an expert in remote instruction, creating and curating incredibly helpful content for teachers in this time of need. She was named teacher of the year her first year teaching, and once again in another district. She hosts the amazing Intelligogy Podcast. She leads important chats and discussions ranging from leadership, instruction, curriculum, and race. She produces content for educators six days a week. In short, Traci is amazing, and I am so proud to share her with you in this episode. She has helped me so much personally and professionally. This is a powerful episode. You will leave feeling awesome about yourself, your impact, and you will have a guide of where you need to go. I love this episode and you will too.
Traci Browder is a trailblazer in education inspiring and mentoring teachers and changing the lives of children for more than 16 years. She was Teacher of the Year her very first year of teaching and was chosen as Teacher of the Year a few years later in her current district.
Mentoring new teachers, helps them understand the importance of building and sustaining relationships critical for student success. Veteran teachers who are perpetual learners also find Browder to be a vital asset while in pursuit of refining their craft.
Browder is known best for her innovative, out of the box teaching style with a mixture of Montessori, gifted/talented, and special services all rolled into one classroom environment.
Establishing a family in her classroom is the pillar of her classroom success and has been well-received by parents. She finds focusing on social and emotional needs in the beginning and throughout the school year creates a safe and trusting environment. Students feel comfortable and soon become eager to take risks. She teaches children not just academics, she teaches them how to be successful and contributing members of society.
Her classroom is a live learning lab in which teachers in her school district have come to observe her unique style of teaching as well as teachers on her campus. She has created a professional learning community in which all teachers on her grade level now go in and out of each other’s classrooms – with their students in tow. Teachers teach side by side or are observing and dialoguing in real-time. This powerful method of sharing students and best practices is transforming the classroom experience for the students and teachers at her school.
Technology has been a central point of connecting her classroom to parents. She initiated working closely with district tech support to use Twitter, a private YouTube channel, and a blog before they were commonplace in her district. Through this partnership, parent consent forms were designed with approval from the district’s technology department.
The initiatives were so successful that she was invited to design a course to present at her school district’s curriculum conference under Alan November’s technology strand. Mr. November invited her on stage after she initiated a conversation with him on a break during his speaking engagement to share what she had done during the school year and he told everyone this would be the session not to miss!
Browder possesses a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Dallas Baptist University and is a former reading specialist and instructional coach. She has served as part of curriculum writing teams in each of the three districts in which she has worked. She’s written ELA, Social Studies, and Math curriculum and has served on multiple textbook adoption committees. Browder has a long list of trainings and professional development in each school district in which she’s worked.
Traci Browder is many things to many people. Wife to her best friend, Quinton. Mom to her amazing sons, Donovan & Quinton. She enjoys reading, writing, painting, and spending time with her family.
Mentioned in this Podcast: Unthink Before Bed: A Children's Book on Mindfulness, written and illustrated by Kelly Croy