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Panther Pause

Panther Pause

By Panther Pause

Welcome to the Panther Pause…a podcast for Medina Valley ISD staff. The purpose of this podcast is to bring the Medina Valley ISD staff together on topics and tips with humor, food for thought and of course technology tidbits.
Currently playing episode

Episode 2: Grow your students' vocabulary

Panther PauseJan 07, 2022

Episode 3: Reading in a digital world

Episode 3: Reading in a digital world

Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.

Episode 3: Reading in a digital world

Welcome to the Panther Pause…a podcast for Medina Valley ISD staff. The purpose of this podcast is to bring the Medina Valley ISD staff together on topics and tips with humor, food for thought and of course technology tidbits.


A few things we’ll talk about...

  • To advocate for literacy
  • To advocate that old + new ways work for instruction
  • To advocate for learning new research to better meet students where they are.

A few things this podcast is not...

  • A session to advocate for e-readers.
  • A session to advocate that books should be replaced by technology.
  • A session that advocates for learning literacy only via devices.
Feb 16, 202213:25
Episode 2: Grow your students' vocabulary

Episode 2: Grow your students' vocabulary

Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.

Welcome to the Panther Pause…a podcast for Medina Valley ISD staff. The purpose of this podcast is to bring the Medina Valley ISD staff together on topics and tips with humor, food for thought and of course technology tidbits.This is JoAnne Parra welcoming you to episode 2 of the Panther Pause. In this episode we will talk about ways to build your students' vocabulary.

Jan 07, 202208:39
Episode 1: A new year

Episode 1: A new year

Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.

Season 1: A New Year

I am your host, Instructional Technology Specialist JoAnne Parra. As we look back at 2021 we all either tried to get back to normal or get accustomed to the new normal. Either way, the amazing thing about education is that we have 2 defined beginnings: back to school in the fall and a new year in January. A new year gives us the perfect opportunity for a hard reset after we’ve sharpened the saw. Whether you have created a new year’s resolution or not, something to consider is mindset.  We’ve heard for many years about growth mindset and many of us have growth mindset posters on the walls of our classrooms, but have you heard about a fixed mindset. While we desperately try to instill in our students a growth mindset, we may find ourselves unintentionally being in a fixed mindset. What’s the difference?


How can we move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset? Try to choose a positive word that you will focus on. It may be a positive word of the week, of the month or for the whole year. When you find yourself in a fixed state of mind, reflect on that word. For example, my word for 2022 is gratitude. This morning as I lay in a warm bed when I knew it was 25 degrees outside, I reminded myself to be grateful for having a career and for the strong cup of coffee that I would soon be sipping.

How can you bring growth mindset and a positive word into your classroom? Tools like Jamboard and Slides are great spaces where your students can create examples of growth mindset of their positive word for the year. Seesaw users can use the Drawing space.

Quote of the week: Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. Stephen Hawking.

Have a fabulous first week of 2022.

Jan 03, 202207:38