Spotlight 4 Success
We're shining a light on education success stories and talking about current trends and topics of importance to the education community. Join us in conversation!
Spotlight 4 Success
Six Sessions, One Mission
If you’ve ever wondered how a single moment can reroute a life, Joe Pizzo’s story will stick with you. We caught up in sunny Charlotte at NCMLE, where Joe and his colleague Ken Pasic submitted six session ideas—and were shocked when all six were accepted. That win set the stage for a wide‑ranging talk about what really moves the needle for middle‑level learners: hearing great language, seeing caring adults model curiosity, and feeling safe enough to try.
Website: Spotlight 4 Success
Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I'm Devin Pintozi, your host. We are here at the North Carolina Mid-Level Educators Conference in sunny Charlotte, North Carolina, with our special guest, Joseph Pizzo. We're going to go by Joe Pizzot uh today uh with Black River Middle School in Chester, New Jersey. Uh Joe, it's so nice to see you today.
SPEAKER_00:It's a pleasure to be here, Devin. Thank you so much, and thank you to your engineer Lorenzo.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, thank you. Uh so uh so tell us a bit about your journey. How did you end up coming to NCMLE today?
SPEAKER_00:One of our colleagues, um, Frank Rudneski said to my colleague uh Ken Pasic and to me, you guys got to go down to North Carolina because they have the greatest conference anywhere. You'll you'll thoroughly enjoy it, the people are wonderful. And we said, okay, we'll give it a try. So Ken and I talked, we do a lot of presentations together on various things, and we try to be cutting edge when we do those. So we said, it's another audience, maybe that that'll work out for us. And we decided that we had six presentations that we really wanted to do. And we would send those in, and maybe we would get two of them. So at least we would get to do two things that we want to do. And when our acceptance came back, the notices kept coming back. We got all six. Wow. And we were just floored. We said, Oh my gosh.
unknown:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:So we did four yesterday, we're doing two today.
SPEAKER_01:That is awesome. And uh so tell us a bit about your uh conference theme or that or not the conference theme, your uh breakout theme, what you're doing in in the sessions and how it's going.
SPEAKER_00:I did one alone and five with Ken. The one I did alone was uh reading aloud in the middle level because I think kids need to hear the language, and you can do so much with that. One of the ladies I I I was sitting with at my table before I came to join you said, thank you so much. The the ideas that you gave me I'm going to use in my classroom because these are things that I like to do, and she said they're fun. And the kids aren't going to realize that they're learning poetry.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow that's awesome. Uh, tell us a bit about your journey. Uh, you started out. Uh, what made you decide to become a teacher?
SPEAKER_00:As I was saying to you before we went on air, it was a strange journey, actually. I didn't know that I wanted to be a teacher. That was the farthest thing from my mind as a kid. I wanted to replace Mickey Mantle in center field for the Yankees, but I'm not the greatest athlete in the world. Then I thought, okay, I can replace Phil Razuto in the booth, I can be an announcer, but I was the shy kid. And I actually had the chance to meet Phil Razzuto, but was too shy to go up to him, despite my mom's prompting of go ahead, say hi. Just say hi, shake his hand. I said, No, mom, I can't. I'm just I'm I'm too nervous. And I remember I could see myself there in in Yankee Stadium, just shying away from this opportunity. But I've been able to pick up a little bit more confidence along the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it looks like it. I mean, here you are. And uh tell us a bit about that journey. So you decided to become a teacher. Do you have any special moments you could share that you experienced where you're like, wow, this is why I got into teaching?
SPEAKER_00:When I got into teaching, I really didn't know I wanted to do this. Uh I had put teaching down because we had to declare a major. Okay. And I said, well, all right, I'll I'll put teaching down. Maybe my aunt's a teacher, maybe this is something that I'll do someday. And I was in a math class, freshman math class of all places, and these two kids in the back are discussing the problems that we had the night before, and they said, Yeah, the number so-and-so, we just we couldn't get. I mean, it was it was it was terrible. And I overheard this. Now, the shy kid would never get up and go over to see these guys, but something pushed me. I have no idea what. I think it was divine intervention. But I was pushed over to these two individuals, and I said, Guys, do you need some help? And they said, Yeah, we we we can't get this problem. I said, Well, I solved it last night. Do you want me to help you? They said, Oh, sure, we'd love that. So I explained it. I said, Do you understand? They said, Yeah, thank you. Got up, shook my hand.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:I went back, sat down, and said, Hmm, I felt pretty good. Maybe this is something I could do. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for watching. Operating officer of American company. We are located here in our headquarters. We look forward to hearing from you. And uh, I understand, uh Joe, you're also involved in podcasting now, is that right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01:So tell us about that. How did that get started and what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00:I wanted to start a podcast for a while. And I I didn't know how, and I I just I do a lot of different things, and you know, you have to make time. So, colleague of mine got some um got a gift. He he was at a conference and he won a year subscription to WeVideo. And he said to the folks at We Video, I already have this at my school, but I know this guy who's been in teaching for 40-some years at the time I was, now it's 51. And he said, I think he would love this. Do you mind if I pass it along? And the gentleman there said, Oh, sure, we would like that. So I had software, I had somebody I could call or or text if I needed some help with the software, and I started that way.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Wow, and it just goes from there. Tell us about some of the guests you've had on, what's gone on with the uh with the podcast.
SPEAKER_00:I've interviewed Dr. Debbie Silver, I've interviewed Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick. Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick is the former president of National Council of Teachers of English.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_00:And when I met her, she's the nicest lady, as is Debbie Silver. Uh I found out that she's a Harvard University Graduate School of Education professor and now special programs person. And she has the kindest heart. After I had lost my mom, she knew I was taking care of my mom, and we were close. So she would reach out to me every week. She's in Massachusetts, I'm in New Jersey, but she would say, Joe, everything okay? Joe, you doing all right? I she sent me a link about a year or so after that. And she said, Here's a link for you. You might enjoy this. And I said, Oh, okay, I'm good, good time to listen to it. And I listened to this link, and it's BBC in London radio with five worldwide experts on Mark Twain. Oh she's one of those five.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, how about that?
SPEAKER_00:And you would never know. The more impressive people are, the more uh accomplished they are. It seems that the the less pretentious they are, and the nicer they are.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. That's a that's a great observation right there. Um tell us a bit about uh what you'd like to say to the NCMLE community uh today.
SPEAKER_00:NCMLE community, you guys are doing it right. You have uh people presenting in a lot of different areas, talking about a lot of different things. Uh my colleague Ken Pasic and I are talking about a wide variety of topics that you have felt are important, the history of education, uh the challenges that we as educators face, the culture in education, uh, what motivation is and is not, uh, the need for parental involvement, but we see these things and hear these messages throughout everybody's presentations. And the folks here understand what educators need. That's the key.
SPEAKER_01:That's wonderful. And uh, can you tell us the uh website or how how people can find out about your podcast?
SPEAKER_00:If you go on YouTube, I have a YouTube channel. Okay, and I think the if you search Joe Piso channel, and then I think the number is 2357. Uh but when you put in Joe Pizzo channel, three of us come up. Mine's the one with the picture, and I'm the oldest member. So you should be able to tell who I am just by looking at it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Joe Piso. Well, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. This is Joe Piso with the uh Joe Piso podcast, as well as a wonderful professor at Black River Middle School, uh, and also an adjunct professor, I understand. Thank you so much for being part of this program today.
SPEAKER_00:It's my pleasure. Devin, you you folks are doing nice work. May you continue on for a long, long time. Lorenzo, thank you.
SPEAKER_01:All right, thank you, and likewise.