Danah: This is Danah Hashem speaking and, for this episode, our 8th episode, we wanted to deviate from some of the patterns we’ve been following in this podcast so far because we want to pause to reflect on and honor the passing of one of our colleagues, Lori Johnson. If you’ve been following along with the podcast, you may know her from her episode with her daughter, Alex Johnson, on summer reading, from our introductory episode, or you may recognize her voice as the introduction to each of our episodes thus far. What you may not know is that Lori is the true originator of this podcast as a whole. It was her idea, her vision, and her passion for continued growth and exploration in our teaching that created the opportunities and the motivation we needed to get this podcast off the ground. She’s the reason this podcasts exists, and so it seemed important that this podcast acknowledge in some small way her passing.
On this past November 7th, we lost Lori suddenly and unexpectedly. The depth and breadth of this loss is overwhelming. This podcast represents the tiniest, most microscopic fraction of the ways in which Lori kindly and gently inspired us all to push ourselves to be better and to continue our learning. And so, in honor of all she did and all she left behind, we want to dedicate this podcast to Lori, and we want to take some time to reflect on the power for goodness that a loving, driven, and thoughtful teacher can have on the people and places around them.
And so many of the members of the LCA community who have contributed to and supported the production of this podcast have taken the time to share briefly about the impact that Lori had on their lives and pedagogy. As we hear their words, we’d like to thank you for being a part of this episode, and honoring Lori alongside us.
Rebecca: So, my name is Rebecca Lefroy, and I’m the newest hire here in the English department at LCA. Lori hired me in June, and I still remember my first meeting with her which was I think supposed to be a short meeting, but maybe went on for 2-3 hours in which we talked about all things education and, from that moment, I could see her enthusiasm for students, her enthusiasm for reading, her enthusiasm for, um, professional development and innovative pedagogy, and all those things were only confirmed when I came to work with her in September. Um, Lori and I taught middle school English together, and she had a whole wealth of information on middle school students and how best to teach them English. I would so often go to her for book recommendations for students. If you had a really specific need for a book for a student, she would know exactly what book would be best. She knew young adult literature inside and out, and was just so perfectly suited to that role, so, from a middle school english perspective, she will be missed hugely.
She was also my mentor, so we should be meeting right now, and, um, in our mentor meetings, we had such fun discussing not only nitty bitty practical things like how to use the portal and how to report, but bigger ideas about pedagogy, about how to wrap up a lesson effectively, about the point of homework, um, about individual students and how best to address their needs and help them. She was always so available to me. Not only did she give me that full hour, but she would interrupt what looked like much more important conversations with other people to come and help me. She noticed when I looked troubled or worried about something, and she would check up that I was OK. She had a huge heart for developing new teachers, and I’m very sorry that I only got to learn from her for a couple of months.
She also had a huge amount of energy. She had her finger in so many pies in the school, and I’m sure we’ll keep discovering more of those pies. She would come into school before me and leave after me, and I would be exhausted by the end of the day, but she would still be very merry and very jolly,

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