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
Leland Mallet and Rebecca Pollard
Journalism educators Leland Mallett and Rebecca Pollard discuss their experiences with the extreme cold, snow, and power outages in Texas recently and the effect on schools -- and their student media coverage of it all.
Mallett has been advising yearbooks and newspapers since 1999. He is the newspaper, yearbook, and photo adviser at Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas. Legacy’s publications have won Crowns, Pacemakers, and Stars. Mallett serves as the Webmaster for the Texas Association of Journalism Educators (TAJE). Mallett won JEA’s Distinguished Yearbook Adviser award in 2018. In 2015 he won the Texas Adviser of the Year award from ILPC. He has also won the Edith Fox King Award, TAJE Trailblazer, Dow Jones Special Recognition
Adviser and JEA's Yearbook Special Recognition Adviser. Leland loves the art of telling stories in any media. But really, he’s just going through life trying not to look like a moron.
Pollard, MJE, advises the yearbook at Lovejoy High School, in Lucas, Texas. She loves all student media, which is why she has advised at five different schools and all mediums in 21 years. Her programs have won top state and national awards including Pacemakers and Crowns. She is a recipient of the JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser in 2019, Medal of Merit in 2020 and ILPC Edith Fox King Award in 2013. She is a JEA mentor and also serves on the planning committee for the Gloria Shields/NSPA Media Workshop.
Connect with Leland and Rebecca on Twitter: @mallett and @rebecca_pollard.
You can follow host Evelyn Lauer on Twitter and Instagram @evelynalauer.