Beyond the Bell
A college-and-career counseling podcast designed to provide students with tools and tips to look beyond the bell of their high schools into their futures (be it, college, careers, trade schools, or gap years) where bells do not exist. Beyond the Bell is hosted by Evelyn Lauer, who has worked in education for nearly 25 years, serving primarily as a high school English teacher, but also assuming roles as an instructional coach, college writing instructor, workshop leader, and journalism/media advisor. Lauer is also currently a graduate student at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where she is studying school counseling. She is a mother to two sons, who are in 10th and 7th grade. She also serves on the board of Friends of Amundsen High School. Topics discussed will include: college admissions, college essays, trade schools, gap years, finding one’s passions and future careers.
Lauer's work has been published in The Huffington Post, Education Week, The English Journal, Sentence, and elsewhere. She served as the PR/Publications director for the Journalism Education Association for six years and is currently serving that organization as a mentor teacher. BTB was highlighted in the New York Times Education Briefing during the pandemic. Episodes from 2020-2022 are about teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. They include interviews with educators from across the United States about their experiences teaching remote, hybrid, and in-person during the pandemic.
Beyond the Bell
Shanna Yarbrough
Middle school ELA teacher Shanna Yarbrough and host Evelyn Lauer discuss the dilemma of the three-percent Covid positivity rate threshold in New York City, the benefits of new technologies, and the challenges of summative assessments while teaching remotely.
Yarbrough has a BA in Creative Writing from UC Santa Cruz, an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Relay Graduate School in NYC. She began teaching as a NYC Teaching Fellow in 2014. She has also taught bookbinding and letterpress printing for about 10 years. She is currently teaching eighth graders at Highbridge Green Middle School in the Highbridge area of the South Bronx.
Follow host, Evelyn Lauer, on Twitter and Instagram, @evelynalauer.