One teacher's classroom, family and conscience, out loud.
Traci Browder's Intelligogy The Podcast pairs stories from her own classroom with frank, hopeful talk about equity, racism and what children need emotionally before a lesson can land. Episodes carry day-named banners such as Monday Matters, Woke Wednesday and Thursday Thoughts, and Browder's exclamatory warmth runs through all of them.
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Intelligogy The Podcast is Traci Browder talking through the work of teaching, and the proof she reaches for is her own classroom. Her students greet her as Mrs. Browder, and her class sings and dances every day. She treats that routine as information. On a remote-learning morning when nobody answered her good morning, she knew something was wrong, pushed learning aside and asked everyone to unmute and talk. That story holds the show's central claim. Relationships come first, and a teacher who has invested in them can tell when something is off. Browder widens the circle on purpose, arguing that parents, principals, cafeteria staff and custodians all need reading too. Episodes carry day-named banners. Monday Matters is her series on rethinking social-emotional learning, and 'Monday Matters Rethinking SEL S5 E3' is a good first stop. She is firm that SEL is not a quick morning activity, since students need to know they are okay before teaching can take hold. Her ideas are practical: color-wars rounds naming snacks and movies purely for fun, with academic versions like rhyming races kept for another day. She also rallied educators around the globe on Twitter to post weather videos to a Flipgrid, so her class could see places like London, Canada and Australia in one snapshot. Give children everything from the heart, she says, and they meet and exceed academic expectations. Woke Wednesday mixes remote-learning practice and classroom moments with pointed talk about race. 'Woke Wednesday S5 E2 Inauguration Day' was recorded on January 20, 2021, and Browder says she can hardly talk for smiling as she marks the first female vice president. She reads from the inaugural address and presses anyone who doubts racism exists to have a conversation with someone who knows it does. Another Woke Wednesday entry features a show-and-share built around her sons, including Quentin, a college student who plays football. A Thursday Thoughts reflection from the last day of 2020 names racism, social injustice and the inequity the pandemic revealed, then turns to faith, hope and a plea to reach out to someone. Family is never far away: her mother lives with her, and her mother-in-law came to stay after a flood. In one episode she also mentions being deep in edits on her first book, to be published with DBC. The voice is effusive and earnest, and she will happily stop mid-explanation to back up and start again.
Made for: Suits a teacher or school leader who wants relationship-first classroom ideas and is comfortable with a host who mixes practical SEL talk with personal reflection on race, faith and family.
What sets it apart: Browder's evidence is her own classroom and family: a silent remote-learning morning, fun-only game rounds, a crowdsourced weather project. That lived detail sits right beside inauguration-day reflection on racism, so equity and everyday teaching craft arrive together.
Author, educator, speaker, consultant, co-founder of GritCrewEDU...Traci Browder, takes us behind the curtains of her classroom, into the living room with her family, and guides us to the heart of equity & antiracism awareness. Traci gives us the secrets to disrupting educational normalcy in this provocatively riveting podcast for educators. From new teachers to veterans to administrators, everyone walks away empowered, inspired, and ready to shatter ceilings to take students to new educational heights. Connect further with Traci by visiting her website, TraciBrowder.com; Twitter @TraciBrowder; or email [email protected]
A hoodie over a sleep shirt sparks the schoolwork question you might be afraid to ask.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A humane SEL reflection that connects weather, classroom care, and family experience to a wider sense of responsibility.
Monday Matters: Rethinking SEL treats social-emotional learning as more than a morning routine or a box to check. Tracy Browder presents it as the work of meeting, and trying to exceed, the social-emotional needs of students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the wider…
Mentorship for the real work of teaching.
Teacher talk with research, books, and bite.
Teacher talk, jokes intact.
Classroom craft and educator stories from West Virginia.
History lessons for today's school board fights.
Tracy Browder turns a virtual kindergarten talent show into a lesson about inclusion and student identity.
Tracy Browder frames Intelligogy's Monday Matters around rethinking SEL as meeting and exceeding the social-emotional needs of students, teachers, parents, administrators, and the community.
Tracy Browder says students cannot learn when sadness, hunger, disconnection, or barriers block connection.
Tracy Browder interviews her 15-year-old son Donovan about virtual school, ADD and ADHD, and his exceptionally gifted learning profile.
Intelligogy The Podcast's "Rockin' Remote Learning #3" shifts from classroom setup to the startup routines that begin a virtual class.
Traci Browder interviews Stephen Hurley about heat waves and then transitions into a discussion on educational equity and antiracism.
Traci Browder and Marlena Gross-Taylor discuss how the pandemic exposed that schools are still viewed as daycares by parents and community.
Traci Browder interviews Rae Heward about the Teach Better Tuesday series and their upcoming book 'Teachers Deserve It'.
Traci Browder interviews Stephen Hurley about his work with Voice Ed Radio and disrupting educational normalcy.