This is Jennifer Gonzalez, welcoming you to episode 271 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.

In this episode, we're taking a look at a tool that helps teachers solve some of their most challenging student problems.

The tool is called Ellis.

Thank you. Even the most well-prepared, experienced teacher can run into situations with students that leave them stumped. Students are coming to school with more needs than ever, and a lot of

those needs aren't strictly academic.

Anxiety, withdrawal, behavior issues, and learning differences that don't always have

quick or obvious solutions. These are problems that often send us to the internet in search

of answers, but the nuances of each individual situation can make it hard to find exactly what we need.

Ideally, we'd have a colleague with a lot of knowledge and experience who would listen

carefully to our problem, ask us questions to make sure they understood it, and offer solutions.

But even if we did, that person couldn't be right by our side all the time to troubleshoot

when we have follow-up questions.

Today we're going to look at a new platform that is trying to fill that gap, to come as

close as it can to being that trusted colleague who has deep knowledge about learning

differences in student mental health and is ready at any time to help us figure out the

best way to approach every individual situation. That platform is called Ellis. Ellis is a free chat-based

tool created by the Children's Health Council, and it's designed to give educators practical

guidance in those moments when something isn't working and you're

not sure what to try next. The CHC team believes so strongly in Ellis's potential to help teachers,

they asked if I would do a whole episode on it and they're sponsoring this episode. I almost never do

these kinds of episodes and I want you to know that even though it is sponsored, I only do these for products that I think are really unique and offer something valuable completely free to teachers. So this is definitely worth your time. In the next 30 minutes, I'll talk with Cindy Lopez, director of community Engagement at the CHC, about how Ellis works.

We talk about the technology behind the platform, what different use cases look like, and how Ellis addresses things like

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