Beyond My Years

Meet Our Host, Ana Torres

—

In each episode, Ana Torres, Bilingual and Multicultural Specialist at Amplify, gathers teaching tips, lively stories, and hard-won lessons directly from veteran teachers from around the world. As an educator for 30 years, Ana has a passion for biliteracy and multiculturalism. And on Beyond My Years, she’s excited to connect with legendary educators from all subject areas about their lives in education—and what they wish they’d known as younger teachers.

In this episode, we dive deep into the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s report card. Chester Finn, Jr., author of the new book Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP, joins Susan to discuss the NAEP assessment. Together, Susan and Chester discuss how the assessment works, what it is and isn’t, and what benefits and opportunities it provides as the achievement gap continues to grow.

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show Abbott Elementary. Joyce tells Ana all about her experiences working in a Title 1 school and what it means to know the community of Philadelphia. They also discuss how Joyce’s time serving in the military informed her work as an educator, how she transformed a challenging classroom during her first year teaching, how it has felt to witness the success of Abbott Elementary, and the passion she sees as her driving force. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric and Ana then discuss teaching tips and strategies for connecting with students.

Join host Ana Torres and her classroom insider, Eric Cross, to learn what the new Amplify podcast Beyond My Years is all about. Together, they dig into the essence of what it means to be an educator, the challenges that come with it, and how Beyond My Years will connect with it all. Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek into what’s ahead, including conversations with legendary educators (like one who was an inspiration for a hit TV show).