How To EPISODES

Jamie and Joe discuss their personal experience with S.A.D or seasonal affective disorder and mental health issues that arise in the winter months and how to combat them. Both long time teachers try to rely on their humorous levity to get through some tough times together. Join them to celebrate Joe’s big win in his 2025 fantasy  football league and look to the future for some sweet action.

Stand up and clap for the amazing New Jersey educator, Stefanie Lachenauer. Winner of the 2025 NJ State Teacher of the Year award, mindfulness expert, passionate published author of Let the Glitter Settle, and current middle school teacher Lachenauer joins the pod to share her wisdom, experience, and positive energy setting the bar way up high for the second half of season 3 guests.

For the first episode of 2026, our hosts will explore their podcasting year in review as they look back on all the highlights from the past year, like interviews with Nick Ferroni, Tyler Tarver, Noelle Santorelli, Mo Lapus, Courtney Varner and Courtney White. Listen for their 2026 word of the year and how choosing intention can set up the year for success.

Join our hosts as they talk all things executive functioning with Dr. Lethco, an expert in the field. She shares research and daily applications of researched tools that can improve executive functioning for neurodivergent individuals and so many others who are just trying to make their way through the daily chore of existing.

Joe and Jamie talk about the current holiday season and all the trimmings to boot! Listen as they talk about what it means to teach during this hyper-busy season and how much stress can come your way in and out of the classroom. These two veteran educators discuss their tips on holiday greetings and successfully making it through as a teacher in December.

Hosts Joe and Jamie hit the road all the way to Atlantic City, New Jersey to the 2025 New Jersey Educators Association Convention. Speakers, teachers, leaders, companies and the one and only Malala Yousafzai were highlights of this year's NJEA convention and Joe and Jamie were there to cover all of it. Listen as they speak to County Teachers of the Year winners, former NJ Teachers of the Year and so many other enthusiastic educators like themselves.

Leaning into the gratitude of the season, our hosts play a fun game of Thanksgiving: Would you Rather.  The hilarity of that is just a twist and turn onto the street of the newest learning challenge for teachers everywhere: learned helplessness in students.

Listen as our hosts speak to four day school work week teacher Courtney White. Straight from the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas, teacher sensation Courtney White shares all the benefits and positive outcomes she has encountered in her four day work week school district as a teacher and as a parent.

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 community builders for teachers new and seasoned alike.

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.

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 some strong opinions about the reasons behind this.

In today's society being a parent can be amongst the most difficult of all of life’s challenges. Raising children is not for the faint of heart, and Jamie and Joe discuss some of the issues facing parents these days that make them both say, I don’t get it! Being a good parent is everyone’s goal, but have we all lost sight of what makes someone good at this extremely unforgiving job? — 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 - @thebalancingactpodcast Youtube Channel - The Balancing Act - YouTube Part of the Human Content Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.

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, teachers, and the profession she “never wants to leave.”

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.