Beyond Behavior: Bev Johns on Advocacy, Trauma, and Supporting Teachers Who Speak Up (Bev Johns)
About this episode
Dr. Joey Weisler interviews Bev Johns about advocacy, trauma, and the importance of supporting teachers in education.
📝 Episode Synopsis (for episode description) In this powerful conversation, Dr. Joey Weisler sits down with nationally recognized special education leader and behavioral consultant Bev Johns, whose four-decade career has helped shape special education law, classroom practice, and behavioral supports across the United States. Bev shares deeply personal stories—from teaching students who were once denied access to school altogether, to advocating for legislation protecting students from harmful disciplinary practices. Together, they explore what happens when behavior is misunderstood, why teachers’ calls for help often go unheard, and how trauma, anxiety, and invisible disabilities manifest in classrooms. Bev challenges punitive approaches and urges educators and systems alike to see behavior as communication—not defiance. This episode highlights the life-changing power of relationships, the necessity of documentation and advocacy, and the restorative role of the arts in helping students regulate emotion and reclaim dignity. Above all, Bev reminds us that supporting students begins with supporting teachers—and that education, at its core, is an act of human connection. 🤞🏻A…
More episodes of Classroom Narratives: Healing in Education
- Invitation Over Compliance: Design Thinking in Classrooms with Dr. Fred Estes
- “Changing the Narrative: Identity, Power, and the Weight Educators Carry” with Dr. Dwight “Kofi” Rogers
- “We’re Never Doing Too Much for Kids”: Rethinking Resilience with Dr. Rob Martinez
- “I’m Doing My Best”: Burnout, the Nervous System, and the Weight Educators Carry with Dr. Claire Plumbly
- Windows, Mirrors, and the Stories That Save Us with Dr. Katie Egan Cunningham
- Early Warnings: What Educators Need to Know About Preventing School Violence (with Bruce Liebe)
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Classroom Narratives: Healing in Education podcast page.