Episode #126: Helping Students Feel Safe, Seen, and Stretched with Julie Schmidt Hasson

        <br />Dr. Julie Schmidt Hasson is a professor teaching graduate courses in educational leadership, a researcher, and a teacher advocate who researched the ways teachers influence students’ lives. She interviewed hundreds of people about the teachers they remember. This research became the Chalk and Chances project with what those stories mean for teachers, and the information and inspiration that educators need in her upcoming book, “Safe, See, and Stretched in the Classroom.”  <br />Background and where you grew up<br />I grew up in Central Florida. My mother and grandmother were both teachers, and I loved playing school as a kid. I earned my bachelor’s degree from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, where I met my husband, Brian. We were married in 1990 and have two children, Connor and Cailin. I spent twenty-five years as an elementary school teacher, assistant principal, and principal.  While working in school administration, I earned my doctorate degree in educational leadership from the University of South Florida. In 2015, I left my principal position to become a professor at my alma mater, Florida Southern College. In 2020, I accepted a faculty position at Appalachian State University and moved to Boone, North Carolina.<br />What it was like for you as a student and how your 1st-grade teacher, Mrs. Russell impacted you<br />I was a highly anxious kid. I struggled with dyslexia and was terrified to walk into my first-grade classroom. I just knew I wasn’t ready for first grade. Lucky for me, I ended up in Nancy Russell’s class. Because of her patience, persistence, and creativity, I learned to love reading. I know that if my teacher had shown frustration instead of patience, I would have seen myself differently as a learner. Because of Mrs. Russell,  I grew to love school. So much so that I became a teacher, just like her. After fifteen years in the classroom, I  became a principal. And Mrs. Russell was on the faculty of the school I led. I got to spend three years reconnecting with my fi