Teachers just might be the world's foremost expert on asking questions, but in this first-ever episode of Jim Questions Everything, we get to hear Samantha Reichard, veteran teacher and Real Time Teaching Coach in Charlotte, NC, answer questions about why she became a teacher, how failure helped share her career, and what it takes to be an effective educator in today's world.

Samantha Reichard serves as Lead Real Time Teacher Coach for Center City 1 Learning Community in Charlotte, NC. After graduating from the State University of New York at Fredonia, Samantha began her teaching career at East Union Middle School in Union County, NC as an eighth-grade English language arts teacher. After two years, she moved to Charlotte, NC and served as a sixth- and seventh-grade language arts teacher for five years before becoming a multi-classroom leader and real-time teacher coach. Following that, she worked on expanding the model of Multi-Classroom Leader and Real-Time Teacher Coaching (RTTC) for four years at Ranson IB Middle School. This led her to transition into her current role working in an RTTC Train-the-Trainer model with the Center City 1 Learning Community in Charlotte Mecklenburg School District, where she serves as a resource for 29 inner-city and Title I schools.

During our discussion, Samantha takes us back to her days as a middle school student struggling to catch up with her peers and explains how her challenges led her to become a collector of other people by surrounding herself with those she could help in dealing with their own academic issues. What began as a kindness to her fellow students has developed into a lifelong love of teaching. As we learn about Samantha's journey, we learn about our own biases and assumptions that tend to keep us back, and we also learn way our foundations can change, even if our destiny seems foretold.

Towards the end of this episode, Samantha asks Jim, in turn, about his decision to use his own voice to dismantle biases while also acknowledging the privileges he is only just now fully recognizing.

Not bad for a first episode. Thanks for tuning in.

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