Education EPISODES
Nov. 4, 2025
2024 New Jersey Teacher of the Year, Joe Nappi
Joe and Jamie talk to NJ Teacher of the Year, Joe Nappi. Between these three teachers they have nearly 70 years of collective teaching experience. Tune in to their “shop talk” about the changes in education and their up to the minute response to those changes. Mr. Nappi has an incredible back story…
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Oct. 28, 2025
3rd Annual Halloween Party Hosted by the Petty Patrol
Let’s celebrate this very special time of year, especially one for all of the teachers, Halloween. We are posing the question to the teacher, what is your Teacher Haunted House? Kids bring the extra energy, the trick and the treats and all the excitement that comes along with Halloween season.
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Oct. 21, 2025
Policies that Relate to Teachers with @TeacherpaywithK
Sit down and listen to Kristen, aka social media influencer @teacherpaywithK as she informs and updates hosts Joseph and Jamie about hot education topics like pension reform, the NJ Gubernatorial Race, and more pressing issues facing teachers across the country.
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Oct. 14, 2025
Lesson Planning: Outdated and Unnecessary or an Important Part of Teaching?
We want to hear from you! Shoot over an email and say hi: podthebalancingact@gmail.com Don’t forget to subscribe! Leave us a comment! Follow Facebook - podbalact JoeandJamie Instagram - @podthebalancingact TikTok - @thebalanc...
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Oct. 7, 2025
Educate and Rejuvenate with Kelsey Sorenson
Life coach, author, app creator, Club Creator, Kelsey Sorenson is flooding the conversation with hope, tools, smiles, stickers and all the brilliant things each teacher needs to not only be able to educate, but also remember to rejuvenate. Her monthly themes and teacher tips are brilliant as commu…
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Sept. 23, 2025
College Counselor Jen Foldvary
Our hosts Joe and Jamie both have Class of 2026 seniors this year, so they are all ears for any pieces of information on how to aid in the process of college acceptance and decision making, and college counselor Jen Foldvary has so much to share.
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Sept. 16, 2025
Is Social Media Ruining the Classroom?
Opening the school year can be a challenge even for the most seasoned teachers. Join our hosts as they discuss social media, handling daily schedule changes, classroom decorating, and interacting with their students each day.
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Sept. 2, 2025
Welcome Back to the Party, Season Three is Here
Join our hosts as they recap their summers and share with us all the sunny weather and rain filled storms they had to endure over the past two months while on summer hiatus. Big plans are in the works for season three, so grab a cup of coffee and join us for a welcome to the new school year, summer…
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June 24, 2025
Major Monumental Moments from Season 2
Join Joe and Jamie as they review and reminisce on Season 2 episodes of the Balancing Act Podcast. They will reveal their top three moments of the season, guests that left a lasting impression, and all the ways they plan to continue this journey in September with Season 3 of the podcast that has he…
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June 17, 2025
Part II with Dr. Noelle Santorelli, Relational Aggression and Mean Girl Moms
One session with doctor Noelle Santorelli was simply not enough, we needed a part II. Join our hosts Joe and Jamie as they talk to Dr. Noelle Santorelli about her research and work into the topic of relational aggression, and what it means for parenting styles, relationships, and systems within fam…
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June 10, 2025
Part I with Dr. Noelle Santorelli, Relational Aggression and Mean Girl Moms
Join our hosts Joe and Jamie as they talk to Dr. Noelle Santorelli about her research and work into the topic of relational aggression, and what it means for parenting styles, relationships, and systems within families and schools as people earnestly try to navigate this new way of dealing with eve…
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June 3, 2025
What is exhausting the teachers?
Teachers in this country are perpetually exhausted. But why?? Join our veteran host teachers with over 50 years of teaching experience between them to explore the reasons behind why teachers are so tired. Both in and out of the classroom, teachers are more tired than ever, but why? Our hosts have s…
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May 27, 2025
How much tech is too much? With Merve Lapus from Common Sense Media
Is this a tech “eat” tech world? Just how much tech is too much?Listen to our hosts discuss Ed Tech, social media and cell phones in schools, with Common Sense Media’s voice of reason, Merve Lapus. Lapus has a next level approach to how to parent and teach using tech, and some strong words of advic…
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May 20, 2025
And One More Thing: Teachers are the Reason for all the Extras in Schools
Jamie and Joe revisit the topics connected to parent volunteers in public schools, as well as the weight of judgement between working and non working parents. Such hot topics in the education space overlap into the parenting space and include how much of the “extra” that exists in education is from…
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May 13, 2025
Bianca and Chelsea from the NJAEA Pod Squad: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers
Bianca and Chelsea from the “NJEA Aspiring Ed PodSquad” podcast join us this week in an exciting pod swap experience. As hosts in their own right, these two ladies are navigating the education space and taking New Jersey by storm. TCNJ students and future teachers, Chelsea and Bianca share with Joe…
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April 29, 2025
Why are Students not Successful in School? with Mitch Weathers
Educator, speaker and author Mitch Weathers joins the pod to discuss his method for maximizing student success with the Organized Binder method. Students, teachers and parents have noticed the cognitive load placed on our kids year after year, but are baffled as to the process in which to build the…
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April 22, 2025
Middle School Minds Need Organized Systems
Whether it's grading, studying, or even navigating google classroom, organized systems don’t really exist for our students. How can we expect them to succeed when they have to adapt and change every hour of the day? Joe and Jamie discuss their methods for teaching and learning with middle schoolers…
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April 15, 2025
Never stop dating… your co teacher?
Jennifer Mazzochi joins the pod this week to discuss co teaching connections. Special education teacher and coteaching aficionado Jennifer Mazzochi explains how to make the unique relationship between co teachers thrive in the best interest of the partnership and the students in their charge.
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April 8, 2025
The Kids are Not Alright, but Why?
The kids are not alright— learned helplessness and lack of perseverance and grit are plaguing our schools and children across America— but why? Join Jamie and Joe as they explore possible reasons and solutions to the very big questions that keep many educators and parents awake each night.
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April 1, 2025
We’re Not Foolin’, We love AnnaK
Joe and Jamie welcome Insta sensation AnnaK, also known as ReadAwaywithMissK, as they share their love of teaching, reading, and being funny. Anna shares her experiences in the classroom beginning in the Bronx and continuing all the way down to Louisville. Anna shares with us her love of teaching…
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March 25, 2025
What Grinds Our Gears
Jamie and Joe are all about balance… and sometimes you need to bark out all your pettiest complaints to a friendly and compassionate ear to find your sense of zen. Listen to their hysterical banter as they swat things that drive each of them nuts both in and out of school.
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March 18, 2025
Believe’ment is Achievement with Ed DeShazer
Director Edward DeShazer joins us to discuss teacher well being, how to maintain boundaries and his latest book, Closing the Believe’ment Gap. His powerful belief in positive behaviors, teacher support and pouring it back into the teachers of America will inspire even the most critical cynic.
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March 4, 2025
Middle School Maniacs with Courtney Varner
Join Instagram and TikTok teacher/comedian Courtney Varner as she waxes poetic on all things she loves about teaching middle school. Straight from the snowy streets of Missouri, @Hi_Its_Me_Mrs._V joins forces with our hosts to share her secret to laughing her way through middle school.
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Feb. 25, 2025
No Tech Teaching Review
Listen as our hosts discuss their “no tech teaching experience” when their boss challenged them to discard their student chromebooks for weeks. Hear their open and honest reviews of their time without tech in their classrooms.
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