Let's Talk, Teacher to Teacher With Dr. Gina Pepin
Welcome to the Let’s Talk, Teacher to Teacher podcast. My name is Dr. Gina Pepin - and I am so happy to meet you. I am a mom, teacher, professor, supervisor for teacher candidates, a reading specialist and a whole lot more! I am the 2023-2024 Region 1 Michigan Teacher of the Year and State Finalist - and also served in this role as part of the very first group of Regional Teachers/State Finalists of the Year in 2018-2019. But what I want you to know the most about me is… I have a great passion for early literacy and teacher preparation and the thing I am most proud of is of course our children… but my once in a lifetime chance to become a co-author, along with the extremely talented children’s author - Eric Litwin ! Together… we wrote: The Power of Joyful Reading: Help Your Young Readers Soar to Success. You can learn more about me - my experiences, how to hire me to speak at your workshops, schools, teacher programs etc… at www.ginapepin.com
I offer you practical make and takes - easy tips along with real life shared stories - so that you can easily create joyful shared reading experiences and other amazing strategies and approaches in your classroom, daycare centers, and homes right away.
I am here to help you make powerful changes - Let’s do this together.
Check out the Ride and Read program I designed along with 100s of FREE resources at www.ginapepin.com
Let's Talk, Teacher to Teacher With Dr. Gina Pepin
The Truth Be Told: “Fast Isn’t Fluent: When Testing Culture Caught Our Morning Announcers”
What happens when benchmark testing sneaks its way into morning announcements? In this heartfelt and humorous episode of Let’s Talk Teacher to Teacher, Dr. Gina Pepin shares a story of two second-grade announcers who mistook fluency for speed—and flew through the morning news like it was a ORF sprint.
Join Dr. Pepin as she reflects on how easily our students can misinterpret assessment pressures and why it’s up to us to reframe fluency as meaningful, expressive reading—not a race to the finish line. You’ll laugh, maybe tear up a bit, and leave with practical ways to protect the joy of reading—even during testing season.
Perfect for: Educators navigating benchmark season, literacy advocates, and anyone who believes reading should sound like a story, not a stopwatch.
Let’s slow it down—and teach with heart. 💛📚