Student Driven Learning with a Dash of Fun!

Transcript

Kris (00:00)

Hey everybody and welcome to the Learning Loop podcast, your best source for educational trends and insights. I am your host, Kris. Today our special guest is Lindsay, a fourth grade teacher in New Jersey. She is here to share her best practices for teaching today’s students. Lindsay will reveal tips on fostering strong relationships, making interactive lessons, and purposeful use of technology.

Lindsay has invaluable wisdom in helping educators and you empower your students and optimize learning in your classrooms. I know our listeners are going to gain a tremendous value from your insights, Lindsay. Thank you for taking the time and welcome to the show.

Lindsay (00:41)

Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here.

Kris (00:44)

Absolutely, so are we. I’ll start with an easy question and just a really basic one that just kind of helps set the stage for what’s happening in today’s world. What are some challenges that you face when it comes to instruction and learning in your classroom? And what are some ways that you’re overcoming some of those challenges?

Lindsay (01:02)

So I think the hardest thing for teachers right now is we feel like we have to be on all the time. And you just have to bring the energy, like the energy level like no other. So I think keeping them motivated and engaged during the six hours we have them is our biggest challenge. So what I’m trying to do is break up my lessons. You know, it’s not always me talking at the front of the room, like traditional teacher model. I give them a task.

I model it on the board and then I give them independent time to complete whatever it is that we’re working on.

Kris (01:37)

Fantastic. Yeah, I think there’s a lot of motion around this. There’s like some words around bite-sized learning or just kind of how to chunk up your instruction a little differently. And I think that, you know, not only has been a practice that has been in the past, but it’s also one that’s kind of coming back up as we think of the students we have today and you know, what they’ve potentially gone through. So I think that’s an amazing model just to take and to mold with.

Do you have any success stories of how that’s come to life in your classroom? I know you’re only on day six, but anything that you would want to share about how this really came to life and you were like, aha, this is the right way to do it.

Lindsay (02:17)

I’m trying to think this year, I’m lucky enough to have some repeat students because I was a second grade teacher and now I teach fourth grade. So my students that I had in second grade, I can see some of the things that I taught them in second and they remember it. Sometimes it’s just like a little song or a little rhyme that I’ve used before. And it was funny because I haven’t seen these kids in two years and I would just say the first part of it and they would, it would click.

So I like seeing like the aha moments, the click, and just some of those things that I see that they remember that maybe stuck with them for two years. Yeah.

Kris (02:56)

Yeah, well for sure. That’s like the, it warms my teacher’s heart to hear that of just like those memories that they hang onto, that you hang onto and you can just continue to help them in their educational journey, even through these little tiny moments still. So that’s awesome. Continuing on how instructional practices are really making a difference in your classroom.

How do you adapt your instructional methods to just meet the diverse needs in learning styles of your students? Do you have anything, any tips you might wanna share or anything that you do that has kind of been proven to work for your specific teaching style?

Lindsay (03:34)

So I think it took me a long time to realize that you need to spend the first, at least week getting to know your students. You got to find out what is interesting to them because what interests one is not going to interest the other. And once you really get to know them, do a lot of getting to know you activities and find out what they love, you can kind of tailor their education to them. So today we had a question in the math book about hockey and like five of my kids eyes lit up and I was like, that’s it.

That’s what I gotta do, I gotta relate it to hockey. So once you find their interests, and if you can see if you’re losing them in the lesson, you gotta try to swing it back around and get their interests involved, and then maybe that will help motivate them.

Kris (04:18)

Yeah, absolutely. You spoke really quickly about getting to know your students and really knowing who they are, what they’re interested in. What are your go-to get to know you ways that you start your year with? What are some games that you play or just activities that you love to facilitate to help to give you that information?

Lindsay (04:38)

So the first day we do an activity where it’s find someone who. So they walk around the room and you watch them, they gravitate towards their friends that they know, but then they realize they have to find someone who went to swim camp over the summer or was visiting a relative in another state. So they have to ask questions and they have to really find someone that maybe they don’t know.

So we walk around the room, they get to get out of their seats, and by the end of it, they know each other’s names. They know a little bit about each other, maybe questions about someone whose birthday was over the summer, things like that. So they have to actually talk to one another, and it’s not me leading the discussion, it’s them. It’s teaching them how to say hi to someone, what’s your name, and ask a question. They love that.

Kris (05:28)

Absolutely. I think you hit on an important part too, where you’re going beyond just building relationships and getting to know students. You’re teaching them these soft skills that they’re going to need at some point, whether it’s in your schooling or the year after, or even outside of school. When we think about, you know, maybe they’re in a restaurant and they want to ask a question to somebody, or there’s somebody they want to say hi to. They’re learning these skills in a really soft way and in a way that is a…

is incubated in your classroom and really is modeled in an appropriate way. So I love that. It’s also one of my favorite games that I did as a teacher, just getting to know your kids and getting them to know each other too. So super, super fun. Thinking about you as a teacher and your community of teachers in your building or even outside of that, in what ways do you collaborate with other teachers and or administrators to help improve instruction within yourself or within your school or potentially even within your district.

Lindsay (06:32)

So our district uses Microsoft Teams, and we have a team for every grade level. We have an EdTech team. There’s pretty much a team on anything you can find. So what we can do is just bounce ideas off each other. And we really relied on that during COVID. We were uploading resources and asking like, hey, what are you doing for handwriting during COVID? So it was great to just get instant feedback through Teams. So we still use that. We use Teams every day.

We also have model classrooms in our district. So the district administrators will pick a classroom in a school and you can sign up for professional development to go visit that classroom and spend the day. It’s amazing. You get so many great ideas because so many times as a teacher I’ll say, I wish I could just spend the day in that room and see how you do it, you know, just to get ideas. And then we have, you know, PLCs, professional learning communities, Ed Camp style where you can sign up for like many lessons, maybe like 30 minute chunks of teachers teaching teachers, which is really, I think, the best way to learn.

Kris (07:35)

Absolutely, super powerful ways. And I love the model classroom too. I think that’s, you know, when we think of these fishbowl classrooms, if you want to call them that, or these classrooms where they can open the doors, it honestly is also a two-way street, because you’re learning from what this teacher is doing, and they’re also learning from potential feedback sessions and other things that come after that too. So I think that’s a great way just to share information in a much practical, very practical way.

That’s also really approachable for everybody to come into. So I love that. Are you considering being a model classroom someday?

Lindsay (08:11)

I was in another classroom and I did showcase Seesaw as one of the activities that they did. I showed them other platforms that we use. So it worked well. I got a lot of great feedback from it.

Kris (08:24)

Awesome, so amazing. Was that in your second grade classroom, correct? Yeah, that’s so awesome. I love that. Congratulations to you, and maybe there’ll be another one coming down the road. We’ll see. Where?

Lindsay (08:28)

Yeah, my second grade. Yeah.

Lindsay (08:33)

Oh, thank you. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on fourth grade yet, so maybe in a couple of years, yeah. Thanks.

Kris (08:40)

That’s okay. Yeah, it’s only been six days. You’re doing just great. When we think about the intersection between instructional practices and technology integration, what are your kind of thoughts on how you can really balance that as an educator? And what kind of things are you thinking of, thinking about what the students need, what your curriculum needs, and how you really have that perfect balance? Can you share any insights in how you find that? and what you really look for to know that you’re in that perfect balance.

Lindsay (09:15)

So I think this is the way that kids naturally gain information now, right, through technology. So we have to adapt ourselves. And technology and teachers, they empower each other, you know. And we can use technology for data, instant feedback, which I think is amazing. And we can really approach the students where they need once we’re getting that instant data and feedback. So I use technology now pretty much to make the learning environment fun.

You know, not to say that traditional textbooks and all those things are not fun, but we use the traditional textbooks, but then maybe we’ll do an activity using technology and then they get to, you know, be interactive and engaging and record themselves and talk to their friends. And if you think about the way kids play at home, you know, if you’ve listened to kids play Roblox or anything like that, they’re talking while they’re doing. And that’s why I think we have to kind of bring that way of thinking into the classroom.

Kris (10:13)

Yeah, I love your reference point there in like, what are they doing at home? And how can we start to pull that into our classrooms? Because I think, you know, if you have a student who gets to go home and they have so much fun on their technology device, you get to talk with their friends and network with everybody, they might find the school boring if they’re just sitting and listening to a textbook or something like that. And so I love that you’re being conscious of that and trying to pull some of those elements in as appropriate and also in a way that is going to keep students learning also with that too. Because like the question kind of said there is we want to make sure that that’s balanced with it and I think that you have the right mindset in how you’re finding that balance in what you’re looking for and how you’re pulling things in. I have one more question before we’ll ask our, throw you for a loop question here. 

Kris (11:14)

How did the use of Seesaw enhance the lessons that you taught with it versus the lessons that you taught without it? Like what was kind of the difference maker that you saw there? Whether it was student outcomes, whether it was your efficiency as a teacher, what kind of things did you notice the difference was if you used Seesaw in a lesson or if you didn’t?

Lindsay (11:35)

Efficiency as a teacher, 100% because, you know, I’m sure we’ve all done this. You get a stack of papers that the kids have completed and you take them home, you bring them home and then you don’t grade them and you bring them right back ungraded. So I think Seesaw just makes it so much easier for me to check the work and pretty much as soon as they submit, I can check and I can troubleshoot in the moment. I can say, okay, let’s go back and look at this again.

Whereas they put the paper in the bin, I don’t get to it until later the day and maybe a couple of days later. So then they’re not getting the instant feedback that Seesaw is giving me. The other thing I noticed that really was a game changer for me is my quiet and shy kids. They maybe wouldn’t raise their hand at all and participate in the lesson. But then they would go on Seesaw and record themselves and it gave me a window into their brain. I could see their thought process and how they’re thinking.

their parents could listen to them and their parents got this window into the classroom that we don’t get. So we don’t get to see what they’re doing all day and they could watch the seesaw, they could comment and like it and their faces would light up if they see their parent left them a comment during the day. That was, I thought for myself as a parent, how much I would appreciate that. And not to mention seesaw is just fun. They love it. They love customizing their fonts and their colors.

They love adding pages and recording their voices. I tell them, when I was younger, the only thing I got like Seesaw was like those multicolored pens. Remember that they had like all the colors of the rainbow that you could press and then write with. And you were so excited to write because you had the multicolor pen. Seesaw is their multicolor pen, not to diminish it at all, but they love just changing the backgrounds and customizing it to themselves.

Kris (13:21)

I love that. And you’re saying all the things that leader, like, personalizing their learning and personalizing how they’re sharing who they are and letting their personalities drive that learning as it goes. I just love those examples. And I think those are definitely the core pillars of what CSO really brings. You’re really having that family connection. You’re allowing students to showcase things as they know. And it’s also just a really fun tool for every classroom just to bring in.

I’m going to ask you a question. This is a throw you for a loop question, so it’s going to be completely random here. If there was only one animal on earth that you could pet, interact with, or just spend your life enjoying, what animal would that be and why would you choose?

Lindsay (14:07)

I gotta go with the classic. It’s not very exciting, but I am the person that when I pass a human walking the dog, I wave and say hi to the dog before I acknowledge that there’s a person. So I could not, I don’t think I could go my lifetime without dogs. So I think I would have to choose the dogs. They’re just good for the soul.

Kris (14:26)

Okay. Yes, they certainly are. Is there a specific type of dog you would choose? 

Lindsay (14:32)

I’m a lab lover. I love labs. Chocolate lab, I have a, it’s a rescue, but I think he’s part lab pit bull right now and he’s 13 years old and he just looks at me with those big eyes and I feel like he understands me.

Kris (14:45)

Oh, so sweet. That is amazing. I think I would also side with you in that, you know, dogs are, they’re literally man’s best friend. And so I think that would be, that would be an amazing companion to spend Earth with, if that was what it came down to. But love it. Final question here, and this is our closing ceremonies here. We just want to ask and see if you have any last tips to just provide our audience. So…

Kris (15:11)

What advice would you give to a new teacher or somebody who’s tuning into this about designing lessons and delivering instruction? What kind of tips would you give them and say, hey, make sure you’re thinking about this, just so that we can close up our episode with just some really powerful resources.

Lindsay (15:29)

I think you should set your learning objectives and then pick multiple tools to reach them. Don’t just rely on one method. Also give yourself some grace. There’s going to be lessons that are amazing and there’ll be lessons that will totally spectacularly fail and you have to be able to laugh at yourself. Let your kids see you laugh at yourself. Let them see that you’re human and then they won’t be so nervous if they make a mistake. And I think sometimes people mistake a quiet classroom for great classroom management but

In my opinion, learning is loud. The kids should be able to talk while they’re working, you know, at a manageable level, but let the kids speak, let them talk to one another, learn from one another.

Kris (16:12)

Yeah, you’re warming my teacher heart again because those are definitely things that I would certainly share as well. I mean, I love the fact that you’re talking about learning is loud and learning is fun and learning is exciting. That’s really what learning should be. And I think that’s super great advice to just give to any teacher, whether they’re tuning in and they’re new or somebody who’s just trying to find a little refresh here as we kick off our next school year. Lindsay, I just want to say thank you so much for taking time here to be.

This in our episode, this has just been truly amazing just to kind of go through what your day is like, how you think about instruction, and how you’re really being mindful about bringing the student’s world into your classroom. We truly gleaned some amazing insights and I want to thank you for your time here today. Yeah, bye!

Lindsay (16:57)

Thanks, Kris. Bye.