Chalk + Ink: Season 1 Episode 2

Interview with Brenda Maier, Author of The Little Red Fort, Peeping Beauty and The Little Blue Bridge and Talented and Gifted Elementary School Teacher

Thanks for listening to the second episode of Chalk and Ink, the podcast for teachers who write and writers who teach. 

It was an absolute pleasure to talk with Brenda Maier, talented and gifted elementary teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the author of The Little Red Fort, Peeping Beauty and The Little Blue Bridge. If you've been procastinating when it comes to writing, you'll be inspired by Brenda because she manages to balance a full-time teaching job, writing and raising five kids.

In addition to inspiring listeners to prioritize their passions, Brenda shares ways to push students' critical thinking with perspective exercises and encourages people to read widely so that we can can increase kindness and empathy in our world.

Brenda recommends that all elementary school teachers have these four titles in their classrooms:

1) What If, a picture book about resilience written by Samantha Berger and illustrated by Mike Curato.

2) Alma and How She Got Her Name, a picture book that encourages each child to tell their story by Juana Martinez-Neal.

3)The Wall in the Middle of the Book, a picture book about assumptions we make about characters by Jon Agee.

4) We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, a deceptively simple and lyrical picture book told from the perspective of a Cherokee Nation citizen, written by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Frane Lessac.

​Happy listening!