Schools' Secret Weapon In mid-March, when coronavirus began sweeping throughout the United States, schools shuttered. For most districts, the decision to shut their doors came quickly. The result left millions of educators trapped at home with fragmented ways to communicate with parents and students. However, there were about 50,000 educators that had a secret weapon. They were already using SchoolStatus, a communication tool that allows teachers and administrators to send one-to-one text messages to parents without giving up their personal phone numbers.  "I can't imagine having done this without SchoolStatus," says Sanger ISD teacher Beth Sullivan. "I can text, call, and email parents with absolute ease! It's making a complicated time so much easier! SchoolStatus SchoolStatus was already a heavily utilized tool by 143 school districts. On any given day before COVID-19 SchoolStatus would facilitate about 125,000 messages between teachers and parents. Since COVID-19, the software company's usage exploded. They are now connecting teachers and parents close to a million times a day. SchoolStatus CEO Russ Davis says they're seeing 700 - 800 percent spikes in traffic. "We're doing as much traffic in a week as we previously did in a month."  Davis says it's not just the volume that's significant, it's also when it's occurring. SchoolStatus is seeing major increases on Sundays.   How SchoolStatus got a head start on the Coronavirus   Russ Davis, CEO SchoolStatus Employees at SchoolStatus began discussing COVID-19 almost two months before the outbreak in the United States. On January 22, their sales operations manager posted an article about the coronavirus in one of the company's Slack channels.  "I'm sure you've been following this, but in case you haven't, the virus was discovered about a month ago and originated in Wuhan China," he shared with all employees. "9 deaths, 456 confirmed infections, about 2% mortality rate so far." Just days later, on January 27, a marketing manager shared a Facebook post of a friend of hers that lived in Wuhan, China.  The post was a frightening perspective describing how they were trapped in Wuhan. Her friend couldn't get on an evacuation flight out of China, read the Facebook post. They also had a father-in-law that had contracted the virus, but hospitals in Wuhan couldn't take him because all the beds were full.  By February, weeks before any schools shut down, SchoolStatus CEO, Davis, began planning. He started emailing all-hands announcing guidelines on how to prevent the spread of the virus at their three offices. Davis ordered hand sanitizer, UV-C phone/device sanitizers, and he asked all employees to stay more than 6 feet from each other.  Most crucial, Davis had already established a robust infrastructure to be able to "flip a switch" and allow all employees to work remotely. All employees had laptops, Zoom, and Slack credentials, and SchoolStatus VoIP phone lines directly into their homes.  "I'm kind of a paranoid guy by nature," says Davis.  "To me, this is like years in the making. Whenever we started seeing it spread more aggressively outside of that region [China]. We thought this is coming and it's not going away. That's when we started putting our plans in place." Scalability Having much of the United States and the world suddenly shift to remote work and distance learning has reportedly put a lot of stress on cloud computing. Davis says their system is built to automatically handle a pretty heavy surge in traffic but in order to handle as much as a 900% increase they had to quickly make some manual adjustments. The SchoolStatus developers spent the last couple of weeks enabling those changes. Davis says, "Things are autoscaling now, so whenever we see bursty traffic, the system automatically scales up and whenever that traffic goes down the system scales back down."   Davis says of the millions and millions of messages...

Can we educate 40 million K-12 students remotely? With schools requiring students to stay home across the United States, educators scrambled all last week to quickly adjust to this new way of teaching in the world of coronavirus. Here on Class Dismissed, we will spend the next several episodes sharing and examining which methods of distance learning are working and which methods may turn out to be too ambitious. Class Dismissed co-host and Mississippi School Principal, Kristina Pollard, shares with us her district's plan to educate students remotely. What if your students don't have internet access? Pollard who serves a school that is 100% poverty is well aware of the digital divide that many of her students are facing. "They don't have internet access at home. We're already trying to figure out, what can we do as a district," says Pollard. Her district is rolling out a plan using bus routes to ensure that all students get breakfast, lunch, and a snack. "When we do that, we will have academic packets ready for our children," says Pollard. "And we're going to hit those bus stops just like we would when we were running those routes." The idea is not without its challenges. Last week, in Shelby County Tennessee, they were forced to suspend their meal distribution plan when an employee in the nutrition department tested positive for COVID-19. Pollard is also concerned about the social-emotional well being of her students during the COVID-19 outbreak. She says it's going to be important to provide some type of comfort to students. She says her K-6 students really rely on a routine, they look forward to going to school every day. "It's going to become a challenge I think by the third week. Students will miss their teachers. They'll miss the interaction with their classmates. It's going to go beyond the academic support," says Pollard. What do educators expect of parents? Longtime educator Lissa Pruett says parents do not need to fill their child's day with instruction just like at school. "You forget how much time children spend in transition during their school day, with car line, lunch, bathroom breaks, recess, and then PE or art," says Lissa. She says parents should not fill the day with eight hours of instruction. "Please don't do that, please don't do that to your children. That is not how long they would have been in active instruction from the highest qualified individual." Teachers should not overcompensate Lissa also recommends teachers keep their lessons brief. She notes that this is an unusual time and you're not going to be able to get everything done. "I can see where some teachers out there may be thinking, I've got to plan all this stuff because I don't want the parents to think we don't do anything all day," says Lissa. "I think that would be a mistake." Lissa says there are insecurities everywhere, but teachers do a lot within a day. Fun activities for kids during the Coronavirus Outbreak Parents all over the world are clamoring for fun activities to keep their little ones occupied and learning. Lissa, who had operated her own children's art studio over the past two decades is now offering many lessons through instructional videos online. Lissa made video bundle packages of her taking students through lessons.  There are crayon activities of a tiny monster where you can use items at home to trace circles and more advance lessons like watercolors and pencil art. "Most of the parents have emailed back and said their children were engaged with zero help from the parents for about an hour. The packages are available for anyone and can be viewed at bristlesstudio.com To hear our full discussion about how COVID-19 is impacting school districts, listen to Episode 143 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 distance learning please contact us info@classdismissedpodcast.com

Note: This episode was recorded on March 9. This episode includes in-depth conversations about COVID-19's impact on school districts in the context of the active coronavirus cases as of March 9.   We will air special COVID-19 coverage that will focus on K-12 education beginning March 23. Does blended learning make teaching easier or harder? Catlin Tucker has been a thought leader in the world blended learning. But a lot of the educators Tucker would interact with perceived blended learning as more work for teachers. "I couldn't understand why that was," says Tucker. So, as Tucker started visiting classrooms she realized teachers were still doing the lion's share of the work in the classrooms even when they were trying a blended classroom.  Tucker noticed that workflows were staying traditional and it was placing a lot of burden on the teachers.  For example, she says the teachers would set the assignment 150 kids complete it teacher collects those assignments teacher processes the work teacher inputs the data in the grade book the teacher passes the assignments back to the students. Tucker says she also observed a lot of teacher talking and students listening. But she feels there should be much more balance between the two. Blended Learning Requires a Mind-Shift Tucker goes about blended learning from a different angle. She says it requires a mind-shift around how teachers view their role and their students' role in education. "What responsibilities do we each own and which responsibilities do we each share?" Catlin Tucker - Courtesy of catlintucker.com Tucker says teachers should feel more like they are partnering with students. She suggests using models in dynamic ways to try and create time and space in the classroom. Hopefully, this will allow for teachers to move some of that work they traditionally would take home, back into the classroom. "I wasn't in the front of the room. I was sitting side by side with them, giving feedback as they worked." Tucker also suggests frequent conferencing with students about their goals and pulling them into a side-by-side assessment conversation where the teacher grades the work as the student sits next to them. Tucker highlights the topics in her new book "Balance With Blended Learning." In it, she talks about the value of forming a partnership with kids and she goes in-depth on metacognitive skill-building and real-time feedback. All tools that allow teachers to have more balance inside and outside of the classroom. "I think if we don't start to really shine some light on how we can approach this job in a sustainable way, we are going to continue to lose exceptional people from this profession," More of a coach less of a fountain of knowledge Tucker says that if teachers are moving into a blended space hopefully that means that they're starting to look at their role as a more of a coach and less of a purveyor of information. She suggests letting go of the traditional roles and not lead the class by talking and transferring information. Tucker says teachers need to use that time to give feedback and work with students one-on-one. It's all about balance Tucker is concerned about the number of great teachers that quit because of the toll teaching can take on a person. "I think if we don't start to really shine some light on how we can approach this job in a sustainable way, we are going to continue to lose exceptional people from this profession," says Tucker. Her goal is to help educators find ways to use technology in moderation. "How do we leverage technology to shift students to the center of learning?" For Tucker, the goal is to have students ask questions and investigate topics. She believes that the more we can shift students to the center of learning the less pressure there will be on the teacher at the center of learning. To learn more about Blended Learning with Catlin Tucker, listen to Episode 142 of the Class Dismissed Podcast.

Why this educator believes he became a better teacher without a desk. For some, your teacher’s desk is a must. Not only is it functional, but it’s also a symbol of your leadership and authority in the classroom. To others, the teacher’s desk is an obstacle; A barrier between you and your students. A large desk also takes up a big chunk of real estate in your classroom. In Episode 141 of the Class Dismissed podcast, we caught up with Matthew Morris.  Back in 2015, Morris wrote an article about why he got rid of his desk in his classroom. Readers from all over the world applauded his post, which is on his website and Medium.com. An unintended barrier Morris says it pushed him to walking around, help students more, and it allowed him to be the lead learner. "It did disolve a little bit of the barrier between teacher and student," says Morris. Morris believes that being forced to move around the classroom made him build better relationships with introverted students. He admits that when he had a desk he would sometimes quickly go and grade quizes while the students were working independenly during class time. But without a desk, things were different. Morris would go and sit near students that were often quiet or maybe struggling with the work. "Those students would actually ask me more questions about the work," said Morris. In Episode 141, we ask Morris if he has any regrets about ditching his desk. Where does he keep his stuff? Where does he grade papers? And most importantly, what did it mean for his relationship with his students. Listen to the latest episode of the Class Dismissed Podcast on your favorite podcast app or iTunes, and find out if Morris is still managing his classroom without a desk today. Other show notes This high school cheer squad is caught between two worlds -- Divided by a border. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

It's the #1 Environmental Issue Purdue University Professors Dr. Daniel Shepardson and Andrew Hirsch believe that we need to do more when it comes to educating K-12 students about climate change. Shepardson, who is with Purdue's Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Science says currently climate change is not well covered in classrooms. "It tends to be addressed in a piecemeal fashion," Shepardson says students may touch on it a bit in earth science or biology class, but that's not enough. "There's not really a clearly defined conceptual framework to help teachers to teach about climate change." That's why Shepardson and his colleague, Hirsch recently co-authored “Teaching Climate Change - What educators should know and can do” in American Educator. They argue that climate change is the #1 environmental issue. "If we don't address a warming climate then we are going to find ourselves having to deal with extreme heat, extreme storm events and food security may become a problem," says Hirsch. Battle through the political storm For some teachers, educating students about climate change can be a political minefield. "Regardless of whether you accept the fact that changing climate is driven by manmade activities, the climate is nonetheless changing, says Hirsch. "Farmers can tell you that, insects know that, birds know that. There are quantifiable measures that need to be considered. It's not a matter of politics, it's a matter of adapting the situation that is changing." However, the pair say that educators shouldn't really open the classroom floor for debate on climate change. They know it's common for teachers to present both the scientific perspective and the skeptic's perspective on climate change, but they argue that allowing debate is a mistake. This is because there is a scientific consensus on climate change. "We don't debate other science concepts like photosynthesis or earth system science," says Hirsch.  "It's accepted science and that's what should be taught." Hirsch says the debate should be about how we deal with the issue. "That's where teachers can engage students in debating the ways we mitigate and adapt to our changing climate. To hear our full interview with Hirsch and Shepardson listen to Episode 140 of the Class Dismissed Podcast. You can listen to the latest episode of Class Dismissed on iTunes here. Other show links Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Map (COVID-19) American history textbooks can differ across the country, in ways that are shaded by partisan politics. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Dr. Ben Burnett served as a school administrator through Hurricane Katrina but he never imagined he would face two more powerful tornadoes later in his career. In Part 1 of our interview about what to do when a natural disaster strikes your school district, Dr. Ben Burnett reflected on how he and his colleagues kept students and teachers focused after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Burnett was the principal of a middle school in Lamar County Mississippi during the devasting hurricane, but a few years later he took on the responsibilities of Lamar County Superintendent. But even Hurricane Katrina could not fully prepare Burnett for what happened to one of his high schools just eight years after Katrina. Dr. Ben Burnett On February 10, 2013, Oak Grove High School, near Hattiesburg Mississippi was struck by a powerful EF4 tornado that cut a path three-quarters of a mile wide and had maximum sustained winds of 170 mph. The tornado demolished a field house and caused significant damage to much of the large high school. Burnett says that as he first rounded the corner to survey the damage at Oak Grove High School, he thought, nobody ever prepared him on how to manage in this situation. Fortunately, the storm struck on a Sunday, and while there were a few people in the school, there were no fatalities or injuries. However, the cleanup expenses would run into the millions and the disruptions to instructional time and extracurricular activities had to be addressed. By 2017 Burnett had retired as Superintendent and he was now the Dean of Education at William Carey University. Unbelievably, a powerful EF3 tornado struck at Burnett's new job site. It was his third natural disaster. In the early morning hours of January 21st. The tornado packed winds of 145mph and damaged 58 of the 60 buildings on WCU's campus. Remarkably, Burnett's William Carey University story is one of resileence. They adminstration moved quickly and had students back in class in just two days. To hear the full story on how Dr. Ben Burnett responded to both tornadoes, listen to Episode 139 of the Class Dismissed Podcast. This is part two of a two-part interview. Tune in to Episode 138 to hear Burnett talk about Hurricane Katrina. You can listen to the latest episode of Class Dismissed on iTunes here. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

Dr. Ben Burnett served as a school administrator through two powerful tornadoes and Hurricane Katrina. Most school administrators are fortunate enough to make it their entire career without witnessing their campus destroyed by a natural disaster. Some administrators may have experienced it once, maybe even twice. But probably only a handful can say they've faced a natural disaster striking their school on three separate occasions. Dr. Ben Burnett is one of the few. Dr. Ben Burnett "I try not to talk about it," he jokes. Burnett worries that if word gets out no one will want to hire him in the future. After all, it's a record that no one really wants. But it's also a job experience that no one really has. “The only source of knowledge is experience.” Albert Einstein Over his 30+ year career in education, Burnett has helped clean up and rebuild schools after three major storms. Hurricane Katrina (2005) - Principal of Oak Grove Middle School Hattiesburg EF4 Tornado (February 10, 2013) - Superintendent of Lamar County School District Hattiesburg EF3 Tornado (January 21, 2017) - Dean, School of Education at William Carey University Oak Grove High School (2013) - Credit: Warren Kulo AL.com Historic Weather Events There are no simulations for dealing with events of this magnitude. Katrina needs no introduction and the tornado that struck Burnett's Oak Grove High School in 2013 was featured on the Weather Channel's "Tornado Alley". "One of my first thoughts as Superintendent when I rounded the corner and saw Oak Grove High School had a big path taken out of one of the sections was nobody prepared me for this." On Episode 138 of Class Dismissed, Burnett will walk us through his lessons learned. How did they get the campus ready after Hurricane Katrina? How did students get back on track after missing three weeks of school? How do you react to the unknown? In 2005, Katrina exposed all sorts of problems that arise when you don't have power for weeks on end. Burnett reflects on how the district struggled to distribute paychecks. "The school district had to find a generator and cut checks plugged up to a printer," Burnett recalls.  "There were at least a thousand employees who were depending on those checks. He also reflects on how he was nearly brought to tears when the students returned to school. This is part one of a two-part interview. Tune in to Episode 139 to hear Burnett talk about the 2013 and 2017 tornadoes. You can listen to the latest episode of Class Dismissed on iTunes here. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 - 2020

How can you make science cool? Lynn Brunelle is a four-time Emmy Award-winning writer for “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” and she describes her time working on the Nye’s show as similar to working for a combination of Mr. Wizard and Saturday Night Live. “It [Nye’s show] tapped into my love for writing funny things,” said Brunelle. Brunelle said she enjoys making difficult concepts accessible and fun. “In my experience, if it’s funny, and you laugh, you remember it,” said Brunelle. Over the past several years, Brunelle has shifted her energy into writing science books directed towards kids and those that educate them. Her works include “Pop Bottle Science,”“Big Science for Little People” and she’s releasing a new book which will be available April 3 called “Turn This Book into a Beehive.” The latter is packed with 19 sensory-driven experiments and activities that offer a deeper understanding of what it’s like to BE a bee. Brunelle says “You actually do turn the book into a beehive!” The book comes with a removable book jacket and paper nesting tubes that turn into a home for the mason bee, with each “room” providing space for 10-12 mason bee babies. Ignite that love for science when they’re young In our conversation in Episode 40 of Class Dismissed, Brunelle talks about the importance of encouraging more girls to learn STEM and she tells us the age kids usually decide if they’re going to be interested in science. Brunelle believes that everyone is a science person because it’s all based on how the world works. “I think we need to rebrand this and show how cool it is.” Said Brunelle. You can listen to our full conversation with Brunelle on iTunes here. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2018

Why the structured essay writing we're teaching in school is not necessarily what employers want. Learning to write an essay in school is standard. You brainstorm, research a topic, develop a thesis, outline the piece, and begin writing. Jill Pavich, Ed Pioneer In the end, students create a well thought out composition that is grammatically correct and punctually sound. While learning those fundamentals is crucial, do those skills transfer to today's workplace? After twelve years in the classroom, Jill Pavich began following up with past students, and she learned the answer was no. Pavich interviewed several "star students." She asked one of them if what they learned in her class was transferable to the real world. "She [the former student] said a lot of that writing gave her the just-in-case knowledge, but it wasn't giving her any applications," said Pavich. "She had to reteach herself what it meant to write for slide decks, and what it meant to write scripts for videos, or to write for blog posts, or LinkedIn posts, things she was doing for her clients." Knowing that the discipline of writing an essay was not connecting to a modern world, Pavich decided to do something about it. She started EdPioneer, and now helps high school English/Language Arts teachers make writing more authentic, more relevant, and more real. To hear our full interview with Pavich and get some ideas for making writing real in your classroom, listen to Episode 136 of Class Dismissed. You can find Class Dismissed in your favorite podcast app or on iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020

It's demoralizing, and here's what you can do to prevent it. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a beautiful story, and it is one of the most commonly taught books in the secondary curriculum. But educator, Jennifer Buehler, can’t help but wonder how many students relate to the characters. “At the end of the day, that book represents white America’s vision of racial progress and injustice,” says Buehler. “It’s a really different thing to get a story that asks questions about racial justice that’s not coming from the white perspective.” Buehler, a former high school teacher and current associate professor of English education at Saint Louis University raises a question that all educators should consider. What does it mean if you never see yourself in a story? She says it’s a common problem in schools nationwide because it’s a hard shift for teachers to make. “Our curriculum remains pretty traditional nationwide. It requires teachers to be reading out of their comfort zones and exploring new authors and new texts. And it involves parent and administrative support.” says Buehler. Money is a factor as well. “To bring different books into the classroom you have to be able to pay for those books,” Buehler says. Is it hard to find diverse books? According to School Library Journal’s 2018 Diverse Collections Survey of 22,000 school and public librarians, 15 percent said they find it “very difficult” or “difficult” to find appropriate titles to round out a diverse library collection.  The librarians surveyed cited finding portrayals of “characters with disabilities, Native or Indigenous peoples, and English language learners” as the most difficult. What can teachers do? Buehler knows teachers have a desire to make a change. She also knows that a lot of the “classics” already in the classroom are not bad books. “They [the books] just can’t meet all the readers’ needs, they can’t do all the work that literature should do,” says Buehler. Buehler suggests that teachers need first to make sure administrators are aware of the challenge. She advises teachers need to do their homework and know the books that they want to champion. “You have to have your own argument, that’s appropriate to your own educational context, for what change is needed and why,” says Buehler. Another major challenge is money for new books. Buehler suggests organizing small fundraisers. Teachers may also want to consider using PledgeCents or DonorsChoose. She also cites a foundation named “The Book Love Foundation,” which dedicates their time to putting books in the hands of teenagers. To hear more from our conversation with Buehler listen to Episode 135 of Class Dismissed. You can find Class Dismissed in your favorite podcast app or on iTunes. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2020