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PODCAST

Upgrade My Classroom

Kevin Mecchella

Thank you for listening to the Upgrade My Classroom Podcast! Kevin Mecchella, youth speaker and behavior change specialist uncovers the social and emotional strategies that help teenage students make great decisions and mitigate bad ones. On this show, you’ll learn from experts in the field of education, youth leadership and behavioral psychology how to create positive, lasting change for your teens. Our kids are faced with so many challenges and we have a responsibility to guide through the choices

education mental health

All Episodes

15:03

Ep: 113 - How To Build Resilience In Our Children

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/04/05

Bullying is an unfortunate reality for many students, and it can have serious effects on their mental health and wellbeing. In this episode I'll explain how we as teachers and youth professionals can help our students build resilience and deal with bullies in a healthier way with a simple three "R" framework. REFLECTION We need to ensure that students have some time to sit down, relax and think through the situation, rather than just staying in their heads. This will help them to better understand

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21:23

Ep: 112 - Help Your Children By Understanding The 4...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/03/29

As education professionals we know that we are, unfortunately, a small part of the success of our students. An overwhelmingly large factor is the influence parents have over their children. The routines, the values and the guidelines a parent instills at home all have a huge impact on the social development of our students. So today is going to be a short breakdown of the four stages of parenting. As parents, it's important to be aware of the four stages of parenting, namely the Commander, the

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45:36

Ep: 111 - Reaching Teens Through A Balance Of Fact...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/03/22

Reaching teens can be tough. I found someone who has figured out how to do it…very well! Today on the show I sit down with Dr. Matt Bellace and learn how he uses comedy to present scientific evidence regarding substance abuse. We discuss his background as a clinical psychologist and the convergence of his comedy career, all at the same time while pursuing his PhD. When he works with students, Matt focuses on helping teens find natural highs as an alternative to drug and alcohol abuse. Many high

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37:07

Ep: 110 - Helping At-Risk Youth Look At Their Time As...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/03/15

At-risk youth are students who need help avoiding the school to prison pipeline. This is what our guest Michy Morillo shares with us today on the show. Michy E. Morillo is an author, youth coach, and acclaimed keynote speaker with lived experience navigating the juvenile justice system. As a former juvenile delinquent and an expelled high school student, Michy went on to have a successful 20 year career in graphic design. Little did she know, being repeatedly incarcerated between the ages of 14 and

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26:05

Ep: 109 - Teach Teens To Manipulate Their Social...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/03/08

Social media has become a hotly debated topic, and as teachers and youth coaches, it's important to discuss the pros and cons it provides. On the one hand, social media gives teens instant and broad access to their peers and interests, plus the opportunity to make real money. It also offers access to amazing education resources. On the other hand, social media can be a highlight reel, leading to feelings of inadequacy, and it has made cyberbullying more pervasive. Additionally, algorithms can

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23:19

Ep: 108 - How To Help Students Redefine Stress

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/03/01

How we redefine stress can literally make stress a non issue! When it comes to our students dealing with the stress and anxiety that comes with things like college admissions, making the school team, or dealing with bullies, it's important that we teach students to redefine the stress by changing it's meaning.It's all about reframing things in a positive way and helping students realize that it's not the end of the world if they don't make the team or don't fit in with everyone socially. Take trying

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36:30

Ep: 107 - Advice For Parents From A CTE Teacher With...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/02/22

A CTE teacher has a lot on their plate. For that matter, teachers in general have a lot on their plate! But when it comes to multiple prep teachers, there are other organizational challenges that are much more obvious. I can somewhat relate from my previous career as a music teacher. At the end of the day, the more organized and systematic we can be, the better off we can be for our kids. Today on the show we hear from a true productivity expert! Khristen Massic works with multi-prep teachers to

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40:44

Ep: 106 - Teaching Students To Recognize Their Worth...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/02/15

No matter how old you are, I think we can all relate to not feeling worthy at certain times. The feelings of not being good enough, strong enough or smart enough are somewhat natural emotions that are designed to keep us in place which ultimately is designed to keep us safe. The problem is we are no longer hiding from lions trying to eat us! Today I brought on someone who really knows how to teach students to recognize their worth and value as a human being. Kate Garnes is a professional youth

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47:17

Ep: 105 - How To Regulate Your Nervous System With...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/02/08

Teacher Burnout is a real problem and has been on the rise for the past few years. The pandemic has certainly expedited this issue. So today on the show we learn how to prioritize our own well-being as teachers and education professionals. Our guest, Molly Rasanen, is a holistic coach who specializes in energy healing. Molly helps us understand how our bodies hold trauma and how this can affect our emotions and reactions in the classroom. She explains how we can gain control of our nervous systems

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10:11

Ep: 104 - How To Teach Students Perspective Of Time

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/02/01

To teach students perspective of time is tricky. How can you teach students perspective when they have so little life experience to actually "have" perspective? On this episode, I discuss the importance of understanding our relationship with time, and how this is especially important for high school students. Time can be a double-edged sword, allowing us to be productive and feel like we're making progress, but at the same time it can make us feel anxious and even a bit fearful...as if we're running

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39:00

Ep: 103 - Teenage Anxiety: Learn To Set Boundaries...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/01/25

In today’s ever-changing world, it’s becoming increasingly important for us to understand how to help our students cope and manage anxiety. Anxiety is a real and very common issue among teens, and the fact is, we need to be better prepared to see early signs and offer coping mechanisms. In today's episode Brittany Richmond, a Youth Speaker and Anxiety Expert, shared her insights on teenage anxiety and how we can better help our students navigate through it. Brittany explained that a significant

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56:17

Ep: 102 - How To Guide High School Students Into An...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/01/18

Transitioning students from high school to college is tough. In this episode, I interview a colleague and great friend Mr. Dan Wendelken, an elementary band director from Long Island, New York. We have a wide ranging conversation surrounding his career now having taught elementary through college students. We start by discussing the differences between the emotional displays of elementary students and those of high schoolers. Dan explains that while elementary students are more likely to show their

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16:53

Ep: 101 - A Responsible Decision Making Framework For...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/01/11

The choices we have, dictate the decisions we make which builds the patterns of our lives. In this episode I break down the CDP framework; an easy and digestible process for high school students to begin to see that responsible decision making is something completely achievable. When making choices, it is important to understand the difference between a choice and a decision. Choices are something that is presented to us and decisions are something that has already been done. Furthermore, there are

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47:38

Ep: 100 - How To Facilitate Your Staff…And Students...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2023/01/04

Today on the show I got to sit down with my college euphonium teacher, Professor Michael Salzman. As a recently retired music coordinator of the Syosset School District, Professor Salzman was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the work of other music teachers. He shed some light on how to facilitate your staff in order to support and nurture vs. correct and reprimand. We also discussed the nuances of going from a colleague to a boss. We then spoke about some of the challenges he's faced

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19:26

Ep: 99 - What Teachers Can Learn From Business Owners

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/12/28

Teachers often have a lot on their plates, let alone being great teachers and guides to our students. Sometimes we get stuck in the trap of "I'll just do it myself" or "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself". But did you know that we can take some inspiration and lessons from other fields, like entrepreneurship, to help us manage our time and resources better and be more effective in the classroom? There are three major things that business owners have to do in order to run a

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12:23

Ep: 98 - How To Make A Change In Your Life...And...

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/12/06

Today I discuss how to make a change in life...and a podcast! So what is actually changing with the podcast....The title is now officially "Upgrade My Classroom". The context of the podcast is going to be all the things we had talked about previously but through the lens of a teacher. I'm going to be interviewing education experts, teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, youth leadership experts, and youth speakers to get their insights on what they're dealing with and the problems they're

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08:16

Ep: 97 - Design The Worst Day Possible [Experiment]

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/11/02

Designing the worst day possible can sound strange but can be a great experiment. Imagine this...you accidentally sleep in, spill coffee on your suit, burn your breakfast and get stuck in traffic...and that's all before 9:00 AM! The day continues to get worse after you realize you didn't get the promotion, your kid comes home sick, and on and on and on. It literally is the day from hell. So how can this possibly be a good thing?! Well it would be pretty rough if this was a real day but as a

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15:25

Ep: 96 - Mitigate Overwhelm When Taking On New Projects

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/10/27

How do we best mitigate overwhelm and dropping the ball when we take on new projects? Many of us struggle with creating effective time management skills that often lead to an overflowing cup. We take on too many projects but we're still bound to the same 24 hours in a day. Recently I revamped my youth speaking side of the business. I started this back in 2018 but on a much smaller scale. Going all in required a website, business cards, a crm, and more. Wanting to get this up and running quickly I

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16:00

Ep: 95 - The Difference Between Passion And Purpose

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/09/01

Are you trying to combine your passion and purpose? Would you love to get up in the morning knowing you get to do what you love and it's what you were put on this earth to be doing?! Of course you would! Let's be real...that sounds like a pipe dream. And the reality is that it may be. It may not be possible to have your line of work be the one thing that you're both passionate about and it be your purpose. The point of today's episode is to firstly give you some examples in my life of passions of

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11:33

Ep: 94 - How To Stick To Your Daily Routines

Upgrade My Classroom ·

2022/08/24

Sticking to your daily schedule can be tricky. There can be many things out of your control and sometimes one of your daily routines may take a hit. Maybe one of your family members really need you or maybe your work schedule changed last minute. Or maybe it's a simple issue with will power?! That's ok! It's not about perfection, it's about progress. Moving forward the only thing we can do is simply identify patterns and try our best to be proactive. Take a listen to today's episode in order to

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