How schools should be using their data For the past five years, Dr. Joy Smithson has been helping school districts build specialized reports using their data. Smithson is the lead data scientist for SchoolStatus, and she helps schools find trends in topics like absenteeism, state assessments. She also assists districts with narrowing in on students that may be “at risk.” Developing…This podcast is now live on your favorite podcasting app. Check back for a complete written summary. To hear our full interview about ways you should be using your schools districts data, listen to  Episode 104 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

The "Care Closet" makes sure students have the basics. So students can focus on learning. Melissa Mann is an educator at Moores Mill Intermediate School in New Market Alabama. A few years ago she recognized that students, sometimes needed items like clothing, shoes, food, and toiletries. So Mann decided to do something about it, and helped create the Moores Mills first "Care Closet". We wanted the kids just to know that we're here for you if you need us. -MELISSA MANN In Episode 103 of Class Dismissed, Melissa walks us through the challenges of creating such a hub to meet student needs. And she also gives us some tips on how to build trust with students so they are willing to accept help. Resources mentioned in the Bright Idea Segment Mann's story was originally featured on EdSurge. During Episode 103, she credits Two Fish Ministries with assisting them with starting their Care Closet. Developing…This podcast is now live on your favorite podcasting app. Check back for a written summary.

Why are teens stressed and worried at a time of their lives that should be happy and carefree? It's the million billion dollar question. How did we get to a point where some teens are so hyper-competitive that giving them a "B" on a paper or quiz, is like giving them an "F"? Why do some teens now overload themselves with advanced placement courses and extracurriculars, just to stay up past midnight cramming in homework? Dr. Cathy Vatterott is an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and she's been researching and writing about homework for more than 20 years. She believes much of our teens' excessive workloads and goals of "perfectionism" is caused by a desire to get into Ivy League Universities. "We as a culture, especially in highly- affluent communities, have bought into an idea, that if you don't get into one of these 10 colleges, you're going to be a failure, says Vatterott. "They've made this an incredibly high-stakes game for kids." What should teens be doing? Vatterott who recently published "The Teens are not Alright," says teens should be -  Experience learning as joyful and exciting. -  Read for pleasure. -  Play a game where winning doesn’t matter. -  Figure out who they are and what they value. -  Fall in love, not with a person, but with a passion. -  Discover not what the world can do for them, but what they can do for the world. -  Reflect, wonder, and dream. What can schools do to help? Vatterott helps coach educators on what they can do to help teens strike a balance and she says changing up homework assignments can have a huge impact. While she is not a proponent for eliminating homework entirely, she does believe schools should reduce homework and make sure that what's going home is meaningful. "We don't prepare kids to do five hours of homework in college by giving them five hours of homework in high school. The way we prepare kids is to teach them the skills that we need to actually be able to handle the work," says Vatterott. "It's not about time. Time is not the metric." She also suggests that schools should coordinate the workload across classes and switch to a modified block schedule with fewer but longer classes each day. To hear our full interview with Cathy Vatterott, listen to  Episode 102 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

Making a case for mathematics Jennifer Kinser - Traut is project director at the University of Arizona college of education. Earlier this month she published "Why Math?" in Mathematics Teacher. Before working with the Unversity of Arizona, Kinser -Traut, spent a decade as a high school math and science teacher. During her time in the K-12 system, she discovered that many of her students would enter her classroom with a negative attitude towards the need for mathematics. To combat the negative energy, Kinser Traut began starting each ninth grade algebra course with a two-day project titled "Why Math?" Her and the students met in the library computer lab, and students would have to find 1-3 reasons why they should care about math. Students would look for connections with mathematics in their chosen areas, such as nursing, fashion, or skateboarding. Kinser-Traut says prior to the "Why Math?" project, she would spend a lot of time trying to sell the students on math. She says her sales pitch was usually unsuccessful. She says doing the "Why Math?" project with her students turned the tables and required the students to come up with the reasons mathematics is essential. To hear our full interview with Kinser-Traut, listen to  Episode 101 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. Resources mentioned in the Bright Idea Segment. Here are some helpful links where students can explore the application of math in their area of interest. http://www.learner.org/exhibits/dailymath/resources.html https://mathigon.org/applications https://pumas.jpl.nasa.gov/examples/index.php All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

A Resolution Worth Keeping A few years ago, Catlin Tucker made an ambitious New Year’s Resolution. She decided to no longer bring grading home.  The California English Teacher says she loved her job, but she resented having to grade papers during her personal time. “It really robbed me of the time that my kids want with me.  You know, I have a nine and a ten-year-old and they want my attention. And it robbed me of that time and space and ability to relax and be creative that drives a lot of my lesson and project design. Tucker, an avid blogger, and author of several blended learning books decided to put her blended learning models to the test and see if she could create time in the classroom and make assessments real-time as a conversation between her and her students. Tucker managed to pull it off, “I have yet to take a stack of grading home, said Tucker during our Class Dismissed interview.” How did she do it? Tucker says she used three blended learning models. Station Rotation ModelFlipped ClassroomThe Whole Group Rotation Model Tucker says there are not a lot of credentialed programs that support teachers in learning about the different blended learning options. “What are the different models? When would I use a station rotation and what would that look like? And when would I use Flipped Classroom and what would that look like?” To take a deep dive into each of Tucker’s methods, listen to Episode 100 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app.  All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

We live in a world where we applaud kids that do amazing things at a young age, but Rich Karlgaard is not focused on those early achievers. Karlgaard is the publisher of Forbes Magazine and author of Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement and he wants to start a national dialog about why it's important to recognize that some people's prime comes a little later than others.. Late Bloomers begins with Karlgaard highlighting a 53-year-old woman named Joanne. When Joanne was in school, she was described as a "high-mediocre" student. Many professors do not remember Joanne but one professor described her as a student that would often stare off into space while in class. After attending school, Joanne got into a bad marriage, worked as a receptionist for a bit and went into a spiral of depression after her divorce. For a time, she was even on public assistance. But Karlgaard say Joanne is a great example of a late bloomer. "At age 35, while taking a train, Joanne, otherwise known as J.K. Rowling, dreamed up Harry Potter," says Karlgaard. Why do parents push so hard? If being a late bloomer is ok, then why do we see parents, coaches, and teachers push kids to be an early achiever? Karlgaard's theory is that the predominant rewards in society are coming from two industries, software, and high-end financial services. "I like to say Google and Goldman Sachs," says Karlgaard. "Now, these Google and Goldman Sachs, who do they look for in college grads? They look for college grads that have gone to most elite universities." This has created the idea that the greatest rewards go to those that attend elite universities and have the best test scores. Consequently, it leads to parents and educators pushing kids towards doing whatever it takes to get into the best universities. Karlgaard says his goal in writing Late Bloomers is to start a discussion about applying unneeded pressure on students that may just need more time. He's concerned that our current trajectory is causing financial indebtedness, anxiety, depression and sleep deprived kids. What we're getting wrong Karlgaard says we have a very narrow idea of what a K-12 education should be. "That it should be a conveyer belt and at the end of that conveyer belt it deposits these kids into the best possible colleges that they can get in to." Karlgaard acknowledges some kids are going to succeed on that conveyer belt. He knows some will get high test scores, and they'll manage the homework, and that's great. But he wants to make sure society understands that if kids are not succeeding, then "Plan B" is not to double down. "There's overwhelming research that the conveyer belt is missing more kids than it's hitting," say's Karlgaard. "Many kids, their talents, deepest passions, and purpose, are never going to be revealed on that conveyer belt." This is what motivated Karlgaard to spend five years researching and writing Late Bloomers. What can we do? If we see kids succeeding at an early age, by all means, we should applaud the success. But we also need to be sensitive to the signs of kids that rebelling against the current system. Karlgaard says to watch for kids... Mentally dropping outRetreating to the basement and playing video gamesClinical anxiety or depression Dropping out school It use to be much easier to be a late bloomer, says Karlgaard. We didn't have social media, where kids compare themselves to the curated versions of other kids. Karlgaard says educators success should not be measured by how many kids you get into Havard. "Success is measured 20-30 years down the road when you see your students are well functioning, healthy, happy, fulfilled contributors to their families and society." To hear our full interview with Karlgaard, listen to Episode 99 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. All Rights Reserved.

Rebranding the assignment Amanda Lacy will admit, she was not excited when her principal assigned her to teach a group of high school students that were struggling with reading. Her new class consisted of juniors and seniors who had failed the state test as tenth graders. "I was hoping they made a mistake. I went into the principal's office and said, 'Oh, you wrote the wrong thing down on this piece of paper,'" said Lacy. Lacy says teaching the course is a difficult job. The kids are embarrassed to be in the remedial reading class and they don't like to go. When Lacy took over the course at her school in Gainsville Florida, the class was named Read 180. Lacy says the name had a negative connotation amongst students. "They would make self-deprecating comments, they would tease one another," says Lacy. "A student I had in the first period walks into the 6th period and yells, 'Read 180'". Lacy says they treated it like it was a joke. So Lacy did what any marketing professional would do. She changed the name of the course. Read 180 was now known as Critical Thinking and Reading for College Readiness. Ditching the old content Lacy also wanted her students to be interested in what they were reading, so she surveyed them with questions like What are you interested in?What do you care about? List five things that you're good at. Complete this sentence: After graduation I hope to... Lacy learned that a lot of kids were interested in sports, some liked military stories and some liked reading about food. Going forward, Lacy began to tailor her content to align with the student's interest. On Monday's, students would use the computer lab to find articles in the Washington Post or New York Times and they had assignments tied to the article they selected. Much of what the students were reading was tied to current events that interested the students. They would also participate in what she called "A Few Minutes of Me." Much like an open mic night, students would recite slam poetry, read Bible passages and even give beauty tutorials. Practice Patience Lacy admits the changes didn't happen overnight, but as the students began to enjoy reading, they experienced better results. A few years back 100% of the students passed the reading exam. "It changed the tenor of the class," says Lacy. "Success is very inspiring. When the students in the class saw that other students were doing it and that they could do it, it started happening more." To hear our full conversation with Lacy, listen to Episode 98 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

Going big with a tiny home For the past two years, Joe Romano and his students have been building tiny homes to provide housing for those experiencing homelessness in Washington. The Architecture and Design educator teaches ninth graders at the Annie Wright School in Tacoma. His lessons show students how to give back to the community through thoughtful design and construction. Romano will admit, that before this ambitious project his background in construction was limited. "I personally have some experience with construction with building fences, building decks in my back yard, but I've never seen a house from a pile of lumber all the way into a built structure." However, Romano was inspired by the work of a non-profit called Sawhorse Revolution, which is based in Seattle. The organization gave Romano guidance and even some funding the first year. Getting the pedagogy right The pedagogy for the project is key for Romano. He starts by teaching students about human-centered design. Then he transfers that skillset into designing a tiny home for those experiencing homelessness. "So we'll do some work around the factors and the experience of homelessness in order to inform design decisions we make, but also to understand why we're tackling this project." Students go through a lot of steps before construction starts. They draft a house on paper and then transfer that into SketchUp. They do site visits and interview residents. And they get feedback from professional architects and make revisions. They usually hit the ground running and begin construction after Christmas break. Credit: Joe Romano Giving back Romano says his students understand the gravity of what they're doing. t The home that they're constructing this year will ultimately end up at the Nickelsville community in Seattle. It's a student project that could change someone's life. "They see the difference between their everyday lives and the lives of the people in those communities," says Romano. "They understand the impact that they can have." Romano says the ninth graders are doing 80-90 percent of the work and that some days he's just fetching tools. He says they do contract with a master carpenter for some of the more difficult tasks like cobbling together the rafters. One of the ways Romano accesses his students is he has them put together a portfolio of the project. They take pictures and write reflections about teamwork, challenges, and the skills learned. "And then they'll write a final reflection when they're sitting in the house, about the total project," Romano says it's heartwarming for him to see his students thoughts in writing. "I never know how much they value the meaningfulness of the work we're doing except from these portifolio reflections." To hear more about the tiny house project, listen to Episode 97 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app. All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

In 2013, math teacher, Karine Ptak and her colleagues at Frederick High School in Maryland faced a significant challenge. Their students had an "alarming failure rate" on the Maryland State High School Assessment in Algebra with Data Analysis (HSA). Ptak and three of her colleagues knew they had to create a new approach. They targeted what they called the "middle range kids." "Kids who defintly have the ability but somehow have been left behind," says Ptak. The educators started surveying a group of students and they learned two key things. Traditional class structures were not workingStudents were not doing their homework No More Mandatory Homework After polling their students, Ptak and her coworkers learned that 73 percent of their students didn't do the homework because they didn't know what to do. And 21 percent said they did not have the time. Ptak says, a lot of their students had to work after school and a lot of them had to watch younger siblings. So the teachers decided to make a drastic change. They eliminated mandatory homework and they decided to use class time differently. The Traditional Math Class The typical math class structure was for the teachers to do a lot of lecturing, go over a few examples, and then send the students home with math problems to work through on their own. Students that were not able to do the work at home often began to shut down. So the teachers mixed things up. They got rid of the warm-up period where they would review homework from the day before. Doing so allowed for instruction on new lessons to begin earlier in the class. "We did the bulk of the practice happened towards the middle of class," says Ptak. Students had the opportunity to work on their own, they worked in groups, they worked online." This gave students access to technology in class, which was important because many students did not have that access at home. Developing...This episode is now live and available on your favorite podcast app. Check back for a written summary. Show Links and Resources A high school teacher came up with a brilliant way to talk to her students about mental health, and it's going viral. High-Impact Solutions for Struggling Mathematics Students All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019

Educator, author, and consultant, Jeffrey Benson, is making a case for educators in a position of leadership to carve out time and jump back into the classroom. Even if it's on a limited basis. Benson is speaking directly to "anyone whose job it is to change other peoples way of working." For Benson, this means instructional coaches, assistant principals and possibly principals. Why jump back in? Benson argues that getting back in the classroom builds credibility and leverage with your staff. "They'll respect you more, they will listen to you more. When you bring things up they're going to say, well he/she knows what the work is like," says Benson. But Benson also points out that getting back in can benefit the students. He says many of those in leadership positions were once master teachers. How do you find the time? Benson says the first step is for the leaders at the school to agree to make the effort. "Let's say we need four hours to get back in the classroom during the week. How do we carve four hours out of this person's schedule?" Benson suggests some duties are going to have to be reassigned in order to make getting back in the classroom a possibility.  "Can we give the person a couple of lunch duties? Can we take them off of the beginning of school duty? Can we pull back on the number of people they're coaching? Benson also is a proponent of these leader teaching to an area of strength. Doing so will reduce prep time and will benefit the students. "The students that have you will probably benefit greatly from your expertise and wisdom." To hear other time-saving ideas from Benson, listen to Episode 95 of the Class Dismissed Podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcasting app Stories mentioned in Episode 95 School Districts Are Banning Teachers From Using DonorsChoose Teachers are Fired up About District Bans on DonorsChoose All Rights Reserved. Class Dismissed Podcast 2017 – 2019