Middle School Walk and Talk Podcast

Middle School Walk & Talk Logo

This podcast series offers heart, hope, and health to members of our middle school communities. Hosts Phyllis Fagell and Joe Mazza model wellness as they walk and talk while recording each episode. Listeners are encouraged to take a walk, too, as they listen to discussions on self-care, student well-being, school culture, and more.

Middle School Walk and Talk is designed to support the concepts found in the book, The Successful Middle School: This We Believe, and is a production of the Association for Middle Level Education. Learn more about The Successful Middle School Program.

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About the Hosts

Phyllis FagellPhyllis Fagell works full-time as a school counselor in Washington, DC. She’s also a therapist who works with kids and families in private practice and an author and journalist. She’s the author of “Middle School Matters” and a frequent contributor to the Washington Post. She also writes for Psychology Today, Working Mother, Time, U.S. News & World Report and Your Teen, and her ideas have been shared in outlets including The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and NPR. Phyllis lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband and three children, ages 18, 16 and 11.

Joe Mazza

Joe Mazza is the principal of Seven Bridges Middle School. Mazza previously served as the Leadership Innovation Manager at the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, highlighted by his research on leveraging social media to build home-school partnerships. His work is featured in 15 publications relating to school leadership, family-community engagement, school innovations, mental health, and overall well-being in education. Joe lives in NY with his wife, four children, and rescue Oliver. Follow Joe at @Joe_Mazza and his school’s work at @SevenBridgesMS.