Connecting with your students CJ Reynolds admits that there are a lot of things that he has to focus on to be a better teacher. Some tasks are a struggle for him, like creating content, quickly responding to emails, and doing paperwork. But there is one thing that has always come naturally to him-- connecting with young people. As a teacher in West Philadelphia, Reynolds dials in on creating a meaningful relationship with his students. In fact, at the start of each school year, he delays handing out a syllabus and spends time telegraphing to students that he's interested in them. "On that first day, there's no talk of rules or policies or procedures," says Reynolds. "It is me trying to connect with students, and get them excited about the year." Reynolds really drills down with his students, "Where do you come from? What are you interested in? What kind of music do you like? What kind of movies do you like?" Reynolds believes that making an emotional deposit with students learning who you're teaching at the start of the year changes everything. If students start showing up in your class just to say goodbye at the end of the day or ask how your day was, then you're probably having some success. Inspiring colleagues Over the past few years, Reynolds has developed quite a following on YouTube. Over 45,000 subscribers tune in to see how he handles some challenging situations, like classroom management, trauma, and race. Now Reynolds is putting a lot of his thoughts in writing. In his new book, Teach Your Class Off, The Real Rap Guide to Teaching, Reynolds offers educators a way to hit the reset button and reconnect with what energizes them about teaching. Having difficult discussions In Episode 154 of the Class Dismissed Podcast, we ask Reynolds how educators should talk to students about George Floyd's homicide and the subsequent protest. Reynolds argues that these conversations should not be hard conversations to have. "When you create a community, within your classroom or within your school or amongst your faculty of having honest conversations no matter what. That when things come up you've already made the deposit into those students. They [students] already know that you care, they already that you're real," says Reynolds. To hear our full discussion with Reynolds listen to the latest Episode of Class Dismissed on your favorite podcasting app or iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017-2020

How can educators feel safe? Educators in Palo Alto, California, have created a list of demands to be met before they return to the classroom. I have to admit, when I first read the headline, "Palo Alto teachers list COVID-19 Safety Demands before returning to classrooms," I braced for a list of unreasonable requests. However, as I started reading through the specifics, it all makes sense. It's well thought out and should be at least discussed in all school districts throughout the country. This list which was proposed by the Palo Alto Educators Association includes but is not limited to plexiglass face shields disposable gloves smocks handwashing stations COVID 19 testing or antibody testing increased nursing staff deep cleaning of classrooms protocols on how students will line up, enter and exit classrooms sick time remain untouched if educators must quarantine Motivating High School Students to Take Action and Create Change In our bright idea segment of Episode 153, we speak with Kyle Willkom. The youth speaker has connected with schools in 47 states, and he joined us to give us tips on how to empower High School Students to Think Positive, Take Action, and Create Change. Willkom says educators want to inspire and motivate an entire school. But a lot of times what we're hearing is that they can inspire and motivate the top 10 percent of students who already active in the school. "How do we really from the bottom up, from inside out, change the way young people think about becoming leaders or impacting their school culture or environment and then taking action on it," says Willkom. This is part of the inspiration for Willkom's upcoming book, Action-Packed Leadership - Empowering High School Students to Think Positive, Take Action, and Create Change. To hear more about how Willkom motivates high school students, listen to Episode 153 of Class Dismissed on your favorite podcasting app or iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017-2020

What's the right move? A few school districts around the country are giving us a glimpse of what school may look like come August and September of 2020. West Bloomfield school district in Michigan announced its plans to have a mix of in-person and remote learning. Students would be split into two groups and each group would attend school in-person just two days a week. One group would physically show up for learning on Monday and Tuesday while the other group would learn remotely. The groups would swap roles on Thursday and Friday. All students would work remotely on Wednesdays and the schools would be disinfected on Wednesdays and the Weekends. Meanwhile, in Lousiana, Tangipahoa Parish announced their intentions to allow parents to choose if their children will learn remotely or attend in person. “I began to think about it and we’re going to have some families, no question, who are going to be fearful of sending their children to school in August for fear they could catch something and bring it home,” Superintendent Melissa Stilley told the Advocate. “Maybe a student has asthma or diabetes or an immune system issue and I think there will be a small population (of parents) who may be working at home and can have their children there doing full virtual learning.” No matter which decision school districts make going into the fall, it's becoming clear that there are no great options. In Episode 152 of Class Dismissed, we discuss the choices and reflect on the CDC's guidelines for reopening schools in the fall. Inquiry-Based​ Learning We also talk with Inquiry-Based Learning expert Trevor MacKenzie. MacKenzie has authored two books on the topic and just returned from an Australian Tour in which he was spreading the word about Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). For MacKenzie, IBL is all about getting the students to have a more active roll in the class and exploring students' questions and curiosities as entry points into the curriculum. “Sometimes that teacher is in the front of the room and leading the way so to speak,” says MacKenzie. “Sometimes that teacher is that guide along the ride. Someone who facilitating and supporting learnings.” Makenzie, who trains educators around the globe on how to implement IBL says they’re trying to do is give the classroom experience over to the students. He says students should be able to take ownership of what they’re learning. Where does an educator begin? Makenzie pushes for a gradual release of responsibility from the teacher to the student. “I always start my unit design with a big overarching ‘Un-Googleable’ question and I make that question front and center in my classroom,” says MacKenzie. He’s even built an infographic where he models IBL like a swim coach teaching someone to swim. He even hangs the picture in the classroom for his students to see and he encourages teachers to download and print the picture for their own classrooms. MacKenzie is also really big on provocation. He shows students a lot of videos tied to their curriculum to spark interest and curiosity, but he’s ultimately determining wha questions his students have around the curriculum. Want to learn more? Mackenzie has authored two books on the topic. He says if you teach middle school or high school “Dive into Inquiry” is for you. If you teach younger students you may want to read “Inquiry Mindset.” To hear our full conversation about Inquiry-Based Learning with Trevor MacKenzie, listen to Episode 152 on your favorite podcasting app or iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017-2019

"If you don't understand how to reach a child, your intellect and your content knowledge will mean nothing." As an educator, it's sometimes difficult to know the challenges their students face outside of the classroom. Some students have a parent that's incarcerated or parents that are rarely home. Some students show up to school hungry and malnourished. Some students are effectively left to act as a head-of-the-household for their siblings. For years, Mississippi principal, Kristina Pollard, has worked with students facing unimaginable hurdles at home and she's learned that her students' social-emotional issues can manifest into inappropriate behavior. Equally as important, she knows that some of her teachers may begin at her school without a clear perspective on the challenges her students face. Pollard says that there are some things they do, to try to help with that. "Like taking our teachers on a bus ride at the beginning of the year so they can actually see where their children are living," says Pollard. She says some of her teachers are at a loss of words after the ride and there are other teachers who come from similar backgrounds that are not shocked. But either way, the goal is to formulate ideas on how to connect with those children. "If you don't understand how to reach a child, your intellect and your content knowledge will mean nothing." Pollard says you might be living check to check as a teacher. But you know where your next meal is coming from and you have gas in your car and you can go do your laundry. Pollard says, "We have children that are sleeping on the floor, that don't have windows, there's plywood up. And we don't know what they're eating. They don't have a regular meal, dinner time at 5:00, and homework at 6:00." Those little things we take for granted are missing for a lot of children. Using Restorative Practices Disciplining children that are facing trauma at home can be difficult for administrators. Teachers typically handle the initial discipline, but when the child is referred to the principal the administrator needs to use restorative practices. "Sometimes we issue consequences or none at all and that is infuriating and upsetting to teachers," says Pollard. But Pollard says she gets to talk to the students and get to the root of the issue. "If they can't read. If they're embarrassed to talk because they have a speech impediment. If their parents or mom and boyfriend have been physically fighting all night," says Pollard. We have to make decisions that are best for children, not always what the policy says. To hear our full interview with Pollard and learn how she uses Restorative Practices when working with students. Listen to Episode 151 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes. Other Show Notes CDC Reopening Guidelines for Schools Maryland's COVID-19 Recover Plan for Education If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus, please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Half-time high school? Back in March, when schools closed their doors and began aggressive distance learning, there was a belief that life would return to normal in just a few months. But now it's mid-May, and our risks to coronavirus have hardly improved. Educators are now brainstorming on how they can approach learning in the 2020-2021 school. Districts are considering delaying the start of the school, modifying attendance policies, reducing class size, and staggering schedules. However, Michael Petrilli recently penned an opinion piece for Bloomberg that highlighted what he considered a silver lining to the COVID crisis. Petrilli raises an obvious question: Why can’t our high schools look more like college? Does every high school course really need to meet in person every day, given the technology available to us? What if kids could choose an every-other-day schedule, where they attend class in person on even days and stay home (or work from the school library or computer lab or do an apprenticeship) on odd days? Or they select a morning or afternoon schedule rather than attending all day long? Does Petrilli have a point? Is the high school model out of date and due for a change? We discuss on Episode 150 of the Class Dismissed Podcast. Bright Idea Segment - Understanding Texts and Readers Best selling author Jennifer Serravallo is already a rock star in the education community. Her previous books, “The Writing Strategies Book” and “The Reading Strategies Book,”  have helped thousands of educators offer strategies for reading and writing.  Now, Serravallo is out with a new guide designed to help teachers make sense of reading comprehension. “Understanding Texts & Readers” offers the tools for an educator to identify if a student is comprehending a book, even if an educator is not familiar with the book the student is reading. Are They “Getting It”? Serravallo says her goal is to make sense of something that is sometimes hard to make sense of. There are many different viewpoints on what it even means to understand comprehension. Ranging from the Rosenblatt Reader-Response Theory to a Proficient Reader Research, it can get murky for educators. “SOMETIMES THE CLASSROOM TEACHER IS LEFT THINKING, WHAT AM I REALLY LOOKING FOR? WHAT DOES COMPREHENSION LOOK LIKE? Credit: jenniferserravallo.com Serravallo says, “Sometimes the classroom teacher is left thinking, what am I really looking for? What does comprehension look like? What does it look like when a kid really gets it?” With stories, charts, and examples, “Understanding Texts & Readers” quickly helps educators determine if their students are “getting it.” In the book, Serravallo offers a quality of response mechanism, so teachers can look at a student's response and identify if the student needs some support. “If we know that a plot in a “level R” text is likely to have a flashback, then if a child is reading a “level R” text then we ask them to retell. If they’re only telling us in sequence, we can know that they might be missing something in the text,” says Serravallo. The ultimate goal is to make reading fun and create lifelong readers. “If you are not comprehending, then what fun is reading? And I think a lot of disengagement with reading is rooted in a lack of understanding,” says Serravallo. To hear our full discussion with Serravallo and get ideas for doing something similar in your school, listen to Episode 150 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes. If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus, please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

A teacher's passion. A musician's voice. A family's journey. Special education teacher Konrad Wert was a great teacher. In fact, he was awarded Teacher of the Year for his district in 2012. But like many educators, he was struggling with the workload. He was putting in 50-60 hours of work, and his family life was suffering. So Wert decided to take a break from teaching. He had another passion. Wert, a part-time musician, was known by the stage name of Possessed by Paul James. So in 2015, he and his family decided to roll the dice. Wert quit his job as a teacher, and he, his partner Jenny, their two kids, and their dog went on tour. The traveled from state-to-state in 26 foot RV playing shows and spreading a message about the overwhelming strain on teachers in the United States. But Wert and his family had company. Also in that RV was filmmaker Todd Tue. Tue shoehorned himself and his camera gear into the RV with Wert and his family. "Intimate is a very polite word for it," said Tue laughingly. Along for the ride, Tue was able to capture the meaningful conversations Wert was having with fellow educators. He documented Wert as he engaged with teachers, parents, and audiences in a discussion about the current state of Special Education and the epidemic of Teacher Burnout. On May 4th, Tue releases his documentary titled When it Breaks. In it, Wert must decide how his service is most effective. As an advocating artist or as a teacher in the classroom? In Episode 149 of Class Dismissed, we interview Todd Tue about why he felt so strongly about telling Wert's story. You can find Class Dismissed in your favorite podcast app or on iTunes. To watch When it Breaks visit whenitbreaks.com If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com Other Show Notes Did closing schools helps stop the Coronavirus? All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Staggered Schedules, Looping, more Social Emotional Learning? School districts around the globe reacted with lightning speed to modify learning during the onset of COVID-19, but they're now turning their focus to how they can safely reopen in the Fall of 2020. In Episode 148 of Class Dismissed we discuss some of the ideas being floated, including staggered starts, and setting aside time at the start of the year for remediation. There's also a push for bringing teachers out of retirement to help with substitute teacher and tutoring. One idea that many K- 4 classes may want to consider is looping. In an opinion piece published by Education Drive, Mike Rogers makes a compelling argument. He says that with looping, teachers hit the ground running in the fall by saving the time normally spent learning names and family information and establishing classroom routines. NPR also published a highly circulated story titled, 9 Ways Schools Will Look Different When (And If) They Reopen. In it, they discuss, modifying attendance policies, reducing class sizes, and increased focus on social-emotional learning. Listen to Episode 148 for a list of ideas being considered by districts. The argument​ for gaming with your kids In the "Bright Idea" segment of Episode 148, Jordan Shapiro makes an argument for gaming with your kids. The unknown surrounding new technologies often cause concern. In the case of iPhones and Xboxes, parents worry their kids are over-engaged. But  Shapiro is offering a different perspective. In his book, “The New Childhood” Shapiro argues that everyone needs to stop worrying about our children’s device usage and instead harness that usage for good. Shapiro, who teaches the Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University, says the reactions to smartphones and video games today are not much different than the way society acted to new technologies in the past. For example, when the printing press was invented and books were bound for people to take home there was an uproar that stories would become too isolated of an activity. “Because stories had always been told communally, whether that’s around a campfire or at church,” says Shapiro. While we forget that trains were once a new technology, Shapiro says physicians and neuroscientists were once worried about kids staring out the window of moving trains. “Because the images go by so fast and the human brain is not capable of taking in things at that speed,” Shapiro says back then the physicians were concerned about brain damage. Play video games with your kids Several years ago Shapiro was going through a transition in his life. He and his wife were separated, and he was worried about his kids. “They were little, and it was hard enough on me, I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be on them to go through such a giant shift in their life.” Shapiro wanted to find a way to spend time and bond with his kids. So he tried sitting on the couch and playing video games with them. “And that gave me the opportunity to talk about so many other things cause we were just sort of sitting next to each other playing,” said Shapiro. But he also believes he was helping his kids create narratives about their digital life. “I was both using the digital world to help them make sense of their none digital life, and I was also preparing them to have a much more stable and healthy digital world,” said Shapiro. To hear more of our conversation with Dr. Jordan Shapiro listen to Episode 145 of Class Dismissed. You can find Class Dismissed in your favorite podcast app or on iTunes. If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Heidi Mesmer is challenging educators to think big when it comes to reading comprehension. Mesmer, a professor of literacy at the Virginia Tech School of Education, says there are many foundational reading skills. Such as print concepts, fluency, and phonological awareness. In a recently published article in EDWeek, Mesmer questioned why we only talk about phonics? Mesmer says, "the foundational skills are an integrated whole, and they have to be taught together." She wants to be clear, phonics is important, but the focus in classrooms is so heavy on phonics, she believes it's isolated from the other important reading skills. "Phonological awareness is not phonics," says Mesmer. "Phonological awareness is actually the ability to orally identify and manipulate units of sounds or to hear those differences. So it's just the sound part." Mesmer says that the skill to hear words and break them apart is crucial to learning phonics. She points out that phonics is putting a sound with a symbol or letter. "But if you don't first have an insight or recognition that words actually have these smaller constituent parts, the whole system makes no sense to you." If you're not sure how phonics fits within your daily instruction, or crave a more effective process for teaching phonics, Messmer recently wrote a book on the topic. "Letter Lessons and First Words" provides a research-based vision of what lively, engaging phonics instruction can look like, along with practical, classroom-tested tools to make it happen in your classroom. To hear our full interview with Mesmer, listen to Episode 147 of the Class Dismissed Podcast. You can find the latest episode of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes. If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Teachers, professors, educators, and instructors are suddenly in a place where they need to teach from home to their students. Actor and Voice talent, David Lawrence XVII decided to create a free digital course designed specifically to educate teachers on how to select and set up a camera, microphone, lighting and all other gear they need to teach and to create a safe and effective online class culture. ”A teacher’s superpower is teaching, not knowing the ins and outs of cameras, mics, lights, and keeping our kids safe on Zoom,” Lawrence says. The course will be free for a month, after a month the course will be $49.00. Lawrence offers ways teachers can improve their online presence without having to purchase new equipment. For example, in a lesson about smartphones, Lawrence shares some settings that a lot of people are not familiar with. Such as the built-in autofocusing and auto exposure settings. "A simple tap and hold on the screen on your phone as you're getting it set up, will not only automatically focus on you but it will set and allow you to adjust for the permanent setting of the lighting," says Lawrence. "It makes all the difference in the world in how professional you look when you use your phone." To hear more tips from Lawrence, including how to improve your audio and what type of background educators should be using their videos, tune into Episode 146 of Class Dismissed. You can find the latest episode of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes. If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

A parade for students during COVID-19 For Principal Kristina Pollard, success with students both before and during the COVID-19 shutdown has always revolved around relationships. So when she and her colleagues considered having a parade for their students the decision was a no-brainer. On Wednesday, April 1st she and her teacher's from the Forrest County School District put signs on their vehicles and fell in line behind a school bus that was running food delivery to students scattered throughout the district. The teachers honked horns and stood up through their sunroofs and shouted "we love you" to the students that were lining the streets. "When the students realized their teachers were in those cars, oh it just melted my heart," Pollard says students were jumping up and down and waiving and the parents were just as grateful. Teachers were shouting we love you and we miss you and parents were saying back we love you too. "They were just so grateful because we put smiles on little one's faces," says Pollard. "We felt like we were some sort of healing power." Pollard says the parade was a relationship booster with the students and it got teachers out of the house. How to parade safely during coronavirus Pollard says teachers were asked to pull up in the school parking lot 10 minutes before the school's food delivery was about to run.  As a safety precaution, teachers were required to stay in their vehicles. Some of the educators had spouses or family members drive for them. This allowed teachers to wave from their vehicles without being distracted. The message of safety was also passed on to the students. Signs read "keep calm and stay safe," "we are social distancing," and "we are disinfecting." The event soothed the minds and hearts of the teachers because they could see their colleagues and know that everyone was ok. "Anything we can do that's safe, healthy, and within our governor's guidelines, we're going to try it," says Pollard. You can find the latest episode of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes. If you have a great idea about learning during coronavirus please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020