Voiceover: Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. Each week we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other, so this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. 


Toni Rose: Hello, and welcome to episode 79 of the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, she/her pronouns, a program manager at MCP, and I am joined by an elementary school mentor, Jess Bille. Welcome, Jess. 


Jess: Hi, everyone. 


Toni Rose: It's so exciting to be in this space with you, and thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast. So before we get started, I really like to take, you know, just kind of see how my guests are feeling. So how are you feeling today? 


Jess: I'm feeling pretty good. I'm excited to be here, and I'm excited to chat with you. 


Toni Rose: Yeah. I'm also so excited that you are here in this space with me. So let's get started. Tell us more about who you are and how you started your Modern Classroom journey. 


Jess: All right, so I was first introduced to the Modern Classrooms Project at a district professional development in November 2020. The district I worked for was looking for strategies to support remote learning and came across MCP. From there, I did the free course, and I was instantly hooked. So my teacher bestie and I, Sarah Krasalski[a], knew then that we liked the model, but we weren't ready to take the plunge just yet. But by mid January, we just weren't satisfied with how we were teaching, especially remotely. So one day it was a Friday afternoon, I believe, and after school, we looked at each other and we were like, this just isn't working. So we decided that we were just going to take the plunge. So that was like mid January of 2021. We were on Zoom for 5 hours a day, so it was so hard to keep them engaged and learning, especially in math. So Sarah and I, we just decided to take the plunge. We spent tons of time planning and bouncing ideas off each other, and we were both ready to roll out some - certainly not the best version of the model - by the next week. Since then, I've never looked back. I was lucky enough that my district sent me to the Virtual Summer Institute in summer 2021. I loved working with my mentor, Cheyenne and having someone with experience to talk to. And after the Virtual Summer Institute was completed, I was confident enough to apply and become a DMCE in September 2021. Shortly after that, I applied to be a mentor and then completed Mentor Academy to become an expert mentor in December 2021. And I just signed up to take my first three mentees starting in March. I'm very excited. 


Toni Rose: That is all so exciting. I love the trajectory there, and I love the fact that you and Sarah were just like, hey, we're diving in headfirst and we're going to try our best, even though it's like a week later of you just doing all of this, right? Like looking it up and getting to know MCP a little bit more. And so, listeners, if you don't remember, Sarah K. is actually one of our guests from episode 73, Self Pacing in Elementary Classrooms. And I just love the fact that we're here with teacher besties, and that always just brings so much joy whenever I hear teacher besties just doing things together. And so, again, thank you for sharing that. So tell us a bit more about your school. I know that you and Sarah work together, but tell us about what grade you teach, how many classes you have, just anything that you'd like to share about your school. 


Jess: Yeah, definitely. Having Sarah has been such a huge support system through my journey with MCP, so I'm super lucky to have her. So I'm a third grade teacher in Lynn Public School District. It's in Lynn, Massachusetts, which is about 20 miles north of Boston. I've been teaching third grade for ten years now, and I've been in third grade my whole teaching career, and I teach all subjects this year. I currently have 18 students. The school I'm at is actually a smaller school in a huge city. So Lynn Public School is a huge district. It's got over 16,000 students and nearly 2000 educators. But our small school of Lincoln Thompson Elementary School, we have about 250 students. The demographic of Lincoln Thompson, it's a lot like Lynn Public Schools with a large population of Hispanic students. 80% of our students are considered high needs, and about 60% have a first language other than English. Before the Pandemic, we had shared technology in our school. So we had iPad and laptop cards that we would share. We had a computer lab in the school, and then in each classroom, we had a couple of desktop computers. Now we are a one-to-one district. 


Toni Rose: It's always so exciting. The one to one I just remember teaching as well and having the computer lab and the desktops in the classroom and how much that's evolved. So that's exciting that your students now have access to their own technology. And so listeners, as you can see, it's me and Jess right. Typically, we have a secondary perspective. And so I'm offering up my perspective as a secondary teacher as well as PD leader with teachers and adult learners. And so when I started implementing Modern Classroom, I worked at a charter school where we had one-to-one. So students had technology. We didn't have a computer lab or anything like that, but the students just kind of traveled with their technology with their laptops, Chromebooks, really. I taught learners with IEPS, 504s. They were emergent bilinguals or multilinguals. I had about three classes and 60 minutes long. And so that was my experience when I started implementing Modern Classroom in my own classroom. But then now I transition to adult learners, right? So I get to work with teachers all over the world, as well as all content, all grade levels. And so it's just been such an interesting transition from going to middle schoolers to adult learners. So there's definitely some similarities and then huge, of course, differences. But I'm excited to be able to share this experience with you all as well. And so, Jess, we've had a couple of questions about opening and closing routines. Typically, when teachers think about, or educators think about self pacing, right? It's just kind of like, oh, well, cool. We're just going to let our learners go and kind of like the opening and the closing routines get thrown out of the window because it's just a lot, it's a misconception that when it's self pacing, the students really are just like on their own. And so we've had just a couple of questions about the routines with self pacing as far as Modern Classroom is concerned. So how did you start your classes with your students? What were your opening routines with them? 


Jess: So I am with my class of third graders all day, so from 8:15 to 2:15, I am with them. So we definitely have specific routines for each block, to begin each block. But the way my schedule worked out this year is that my math block is at the very beginning of the day. So right after our morning circle. During our morning circle, we focus on social emotional learning. Just like many adults. Many of my students don't like math, so it's really nice to start off that math block with a feeling of calmness. When morning circle ends, students know that they are able to get their devices and their math binders and come to their seats. And as they're doing that, I post our public progress tracker on the Smart Board. Together, we look at the progress tracker and we discuss which lesson is on track, who is working on revision, and who might be ahead of schedule. This time gives students ideas on who to ask for help or who they can partner up with for the day. I try to encourage them to set goals for themselves on what they'd like to accomplish. Some days I might start with a whole class mini lesson where I can clear up any major misconceptions before I release them to get to work on their own. Whenever I notice a lot of students are stuck on the same thing, I try to make sure I address it as a mini lesson before the next block. 


Toni Rose: All right, so follow up questions. When you have a lot of your students in the classroom with challenges as a topic or skill that you're teaching them, you say that you address those typically in the class block, right? So does that mean that you do it in the beginning of the class?
Jess: I guess it kind of depends. Most times it will be at the beginning of class. If it's something that I noticed from the day before, by the end of the block, I might say, okay, this is definitely on my to do list. First thing before we get started tomorrow, I really want to review this. If it's something that I'm noticing in the middle of the class period that's really urgent, I will stop and I'll make a quick announcement. But usually I try to leave the mini lessons to before the next block so that they're really starting with that idea in their mind and they can move forward with their learning. 


Toni Rose: I love the idea of a mini lesson. So when you say a mini lesson, Jess, how long does that typically take you? 


Jess: Probably five minutes. And I'm just explaining using the board, doing a quick example for them. 


Toni Rose: I love that - five minutes. It's really quick and it's concise and straight to the point. And I really love that you address the whole class when you notice that the majority of your students are struggling or they're confused or something. I know that I've definitely done that with my classes as well. And so I do something very similar that you do as well with my middle school students, is that I started out with a social emotional learning do now because I feel like our students are already conditioned to have a do now when they walk in. Right? And so when I started with Modern Classroom, I decided to shift gears from my do now, from content to just checking in with my students. And so they knew that every time they walked into my classroom, I had on the board, basically announcements, our agenda and some shout outs, as well as what to look for. My students all knew I had flexible seating, but my students knew that sometimes I would have seating charts for them, and I never made it into a big deal. It was already just, like up on the board. And I just tell them as they walk in, hey, there's a new seating chart just for today's class. Find your name, find that table, and they just are able to do that efficiently. So there's no need for me to be like, hey, student A, move here, student B, move there. It was easier for my students to follow, and they never question it because that was just like our culture. They just knew Ms. D. was going to change the seating chart whenever. And then there are times where they get to choose their own seats depending on the lessons. And so another thing, too, that I used to do, I was always at the door greeting my students as they walk in. And so if they needed their binder, their binders were right by the door. So as soon as they walked in, I would tell them, hey, you need your binders today and they will grab it. So my colleague, Emily, actually, she had like a dry erase board, and she just had the announcement on there like, “you need binders.” Instead of her saying it over and over, the students were able to read that as they walk in so that they knew before they sat that they were going to go grab their binders. And so that was another thing that I really like doing in our opening routines is that the students knew the expectations as soon as they walk in, they either have a new seating chart or they need their binders, or they just go straight to their seats and then they do their SEL do now. And so my do now consisted of just like five questions. So I asked them how they were feeling, and it was a drop down menu, and it was like a weather thing, right? Like sunny, rainy, stormy. And then my students gave me some feedback on what kind of words they wanted to add in, which was a lot of fun as well. And then I asked them, are you on pace, behind pace or ahead of pace? And then asking them, what is your goal for today? Right? Like, what do you want to get done today? And then the last one was basically like, hey, is there anything else that you'd like to tell me? So, you know, our students love telling stories. So this is a great way for my students to just kind of keep me posted on how they're doing outside of school, in school, whatever they want to share with me. And so this is a great way for me to get to know my students as well. And I really love that part. Another thing that I did was that after about five minutes, when students got settled, after five minutes, I had a timer on the board as well. And I'll share that out to the I'll share that out in the show notes as well, kind of like my PowerPoint template of the agenda announcements, seating chart, as well as the timer. And so after five minutes, I would have students, the entire class pause. And that's when I go over the pacing tracker. And I had a Google sheet as well as a PowerPoint slide. And so what I did was they all had access to the Google sheets, so they know exactly where they find that in their LMS. And I always told them to pull it up. But then I had a simplified version on the slide. So basically it's just three columns of students on pace, students behind pace, students ahead of pace. And then in that announcement or in that slide, I would have the lesson experts, I would have celebrations and shout outs. And so that was just part of the opening routine as well. And then I went over what the goal is for today, where students should be for today. And then, as well as our essential questions to keep in mind as they continue working on our unit as well as our statement of inquiry and, we were an IB school. So we were really intentional with having a statement of inquiry right in front of our students every single day. So they knew what we were working on for that unit. And so that was just a little bit of what I did for my opening routines. And it seems like a lot, but that was all done within like five minutes. So it was really cool. And so, Jess, how did you introduce your opening routine to your students? Like, what kind of adjustments did you have to make and why did you choose those specific opening routines? 


Jess: So I love what you said about the do now. So I was going to mention this. That was something that I added to my routine as I got more comfortable with the Modern Classroom model. So I guess I should say that I felt like I needed something more tangible. I talked about how I wanted them to set goals, and I really wanted them to look at the progress tracker. And we did. We had a class conversation about what's the on pace lesson? Where do you need to be today? Where should you be moving today? But I really wanted them to start to pick up those routines and be able to set goals for themselves on their own. So there are so many great examples of those do now that I've learned from all of these different MCP educators. And I saw one recently on the Instagram in January. It was a daily goal sheet that an educator from, I think it was Robbinsdale Area Schools had created to check in with their students, and I loved it. So I kind of created a version that was very similar to what I saw. So shout out to Ms. Manson for the amazing idea. And the daily goal sheet was very similar to what you were just saying, Toni Rose. So it had an academic and a social emotional check in. So it asked students to first reflect on what lesson they're on, what the on track lesson is, and what their goal for today will be. And then the second part asks how they're feeling internally. So the social emotional again. And I put a little Emoji rating skill in there and a place where they write anything they want to share with me. So this has been such an awesome adjustment to our routine. We do also do flexible seating in my classroom, but students because I'm with them all day. A lot of those routines that I've heard you talking about are done in those first maybe ten minutes of the elementary school day. While they're eating breakfast and coming in, they're finding their spots. So we do have a lot of very similar routines. They were first exposed to these routines from the beginning of the year when I rolled out a Unit Zero. So the Unit Zero, I focused on growth mindset because I wanted it to be something that was low stakes as the Unit Zero should be. And I wanted to really teach about growth mindset at the beginning of the year because I really feel like, what better thing to work on with the Modern Classrooms Project than growth mindset? So every day we would begin our block discussing the progress tracker, and we'd have a lot more in depth conversations at that point because it was really new for the students. So they would struggle to use their own individual pacing trackers or progress trackers. They would kind of forget to update them or they're not really sure where they're supposed to be or did I actually complete this? So those first few weeks of school that we spent doing the Unit Zero, we really kind of zoned in on what we needed, what I was expecting them to do at the beginning of the math block so they know just to come in and get those binders and that we're going to go over the progress tracker in the front of the classroom. 


Toni Rose: And you know what, Jess? Thank you so much for reminding me. We actually did get a lot of attention for the do now that we posted on Instagram, so we'll put that in the show notes so our listeners can check that out as well. I love that you incorporated emojis because I feel like that's such a thing now. Right. And everyone just loves using emojis, and it just brings me so much joy to do that. And it's quick for students to just circle which one they're feeling as well. Especially I feel like teaching upper elementary that the emojis work really well with the daily goal sheet and the do now that you have with your students. I really love the fact that you start out with growth mindset. Right. Something with our model is that we are getting our students to embrace revisions. So that means that they embrace their mistakes. Right. So it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to make revisions. It doesn't mean anything. It just means that you need another try at it, and that's okay. And so I think starting out with growth mindset is really good. And like you said, too, our opening routines, we need to practice that with our students. It's not like a one time thing where they'll get it right there, and then it's actually a consistent thing. Right. And even if you do have small changes, something that you add on, like, you know how Jess, you were talking about, you added on the daily goal sheet. Right. Even if you make some small, minor changes, students still feel like they know the routine as they walk in, like, yeah, you can add this on, but they know this is how it looks. And I think the beauty of our learners, our young learners, is that they're able to adapt to anything as long as you give them the opportunity to practice, the opportunity to get to know the routine and really just have them be part of the conversation as well. And so thank you for sharing that. I know for me, like, very similar to you, I wanted to just give my students the autonomy. Right. To just be to take control of their learning. I implemented some opening routines, and I just kind of showed them and modeled how that looked. And so my students were not used to coming in, doing their do now and getting right to work. Right. Typically, they were like, they have their do now and then the teacher lectures. And so there's a lot of practice that students need to pick up where they left off the day before. And so my students got a hang of that, maybe the second unit. So that would be like twelve weeks into the school year, because now at that point, they know, okay, this is what self pacing is. I know what to do next. So there's no need for me to wait around. And so a lot of my students utilize their time wisely. I had a couple of students who did not use their time wisely, and they just kind of played around, and there's natural consequences with that. Right. And so we talked about flexible seating, and my students knew that I had the right to move them if they were distracted. And so, again, it's just a lot of, like, practicing, being very clear and transparent about what the opening routines look like for your class. And then if you are to change anything, make revisions or add anything or take away something, having that conversation with students is really impactful as well, just so that they're aware and they're not getting caught off guard. 


Jess: I think that sounds great. I think with the elementary level, I think a lot of these routines, we spend a lot of time at the beginning of the school year. I know at every level, like you said, it took a few weeks. I know at the beginning of the school year, September is really a big routine in the elementary, maybe even October. So we practice those routines so that they're just solid. And now when my math block starts, when our morning circle is over, and I say, “okay, time for math,” my students know exactly what to do. So those routines are so effective. 


Toni Rose: Yes. And even thinking about like, adult learners. Right. If you're leading PD with your teachers, having a consistent opening routine is really helpful as well, because everyone likes transparency. Everyone likes to know what is next and what they should expect. They like knowing what to expect. And so I know when I work with adult learners, our opening routine, and this is actually such a great thing, too. I always have to remind myself. Right. Like the things I do in the classroom. I can also do that with adult learners. And so since I was doing SEL check-ins with my students, I should also be doing SEL check-ins with my adult learners. And so what that looked like was it wasn't a do now, wasn't a form. But it's more like, you know what? Let's take the next five minutes to go into breakout rooms. If we're in a virtual space or like, in a table group, if we're in person, let's take the first five minutes to just kind of check in with ourselves. Right? This is something that I tell people all the time. It's like it's really important for us to name and acknowledge our feelings walking into a space so that we can be aware of our reactions, our words, our behaviors, and it actually loosens up the environment as well. And so I've noticed with my adult learners that, hey, I introduced myself. And then it's like, okay, the next five minutes, you're just going to talk in small groups and just kind of touch base and check in. And whenever they come back after the five minutes, the environment is just so much different, like either coming back with smiles or laughing. And that just brings so much joy when we're doing this work together. And so it's really good to be able to just check in. And putting that in part of your opening routine is really important for any age. Really. So cool. All right, listeners, we're going to take a quick break for an announcement. And when we come back, we can talk a little bit more about our closing routine. 


Kareem: Hi, everyone. It's Kareem here from the Modern Classrooms Project. I just wanted to share some exciting news about our big Virtual Summer Institute this summer. The summer of 2022. Now, as many of you all know, the summer is one of the most popular times for folks to learn our model. It's a time where folks can take a step back from their normal classroom experience and really rethink and redesign their approach to teaching and learning. And this summer, we plan to train 3000 educators this summer. Now, educators come through a variety of ways. You can enroll individually, you can enroll through a school and district partnership. And this year, we have some pretty awesome regional scholarship opportunities. These are scholarship opportunities for educators. If you're located in DC, New York City, Connecticut, Chicago, Seattle, the Twin Cities, or Tulsa, these are folks who can just apply if you're an educator in these communities. And if you get accepted, you get a full scholarship to our summer Institute and some really great perks, including a $500 stipend. So check them out. You can just go to modernclassrooms.org/scholarships to see the regional scholarships. And you can just go to our website and you'll see at the top announcement bar, you can learn more about our Virtual Summer Institute, see the variety of ways you can roll individually or collaborate with us on a school or district partnership. I hope everyone's doing all right. Good luck with the rest of the year. Thank you for all that you do. 


Toni Rose: All right. And now we're back with Jess, and we just got done talking about her opening routines and also what I do with my middle school students, as well as my adult learners. And so we'll continue talking about closing routines now. So we'll make that shift. Jess, are you ready? 


Jess: I am ready. 


Toni Rose: So one of our implementers asked “I want to get better about how I end class. I usually end class haphazardly.” So this implementer was curious if there was any end of class routines that you like and that you find effective. So how do you end your classes with your students? 


Jess: So I like to end my math block with the public progress tracker again at the end of the block. I feel is the most we get a lot accomplished with the public progress tracker for the next block, for the next day. So while the students are working, I have my teacher tracker that I like to go around, and I keep track of where everyone is. They have their own individual trackers that they're responsible for updating throughout the unit. So everyone kind of knows where they are on their own at the end of the block. I really like to come together as a whole group and share where we are, share those accomplishments. So when I call everybody back to their seats at the end of the math block, we update the public progress tracker together. So, for example, I might ask, okay, who made it to lesson five today? And then the students can raise their hand and we might give them a round of applause “Woohoo you made it.” And then I'll adjust the progress tracker in live time. So next to their name, I'll change whatever lesson four to lesson five. I like to do this in front of the class at the end because I think it's a really nice way to celebrate the accomplishments of students. It's also a good way to add ownership to the students who maybe didn't make as much progress as they probably could have during the block. So I might say to a student, for example, who maybe only made it through a video, how come you didn't get through more than the video today? What happened during the block? And there could be a reason for that. There could be no reason for that, but it gets them thinking in their brain about what they have accomplished during the block. So instead of using my own teacher tracker at the end of the day or when I'm home doing my work for the next day planning, I could update the public tracker there. But I really like to do it in class together because like I said, it does add that extra layer of ownership. And it also helps me stay reliable. It helps me make sure I don't forget to update it before the next day. So we'll talk about okay, so tomorrow's lesson on track is Lesson blah, blah, blah. If you're on less than this, you need to get to this and this. Some people are starting the should do tomorrow or I have a few who are on the aspire to do. After we're kind of done updating and discussing goals, I like to do shout outs. So I might say, “wow, I noticed Bobby back there. He did such a great job this whole time. I noticed he went to two students to ask for help. He came back to his computer, he got right back to work. He re-watched the video, and then he moved on to his activity and was able to pass on his mastery check. Way to go, Bobby.” And then we'll all kind of cheer for Bobby a little bit. Students, I also encourage them to “is there anyone special that you want to shout out to today? Is there anyone that helps you during the block? Is there anyone that you noticed that was doing an extra awesome job today that you really want them to be noticed for?” And then I'll add that. So I write that on the public progress tracker as well. So I usually have like a star or something or a section that says shout outs, and we'll write that at the end. So I love the closing. I love to close like this. I love to spend a lot of time looking into the progress tracker as we're closing. It's also the time when my students are eating snacks. So they're actually kind of like quiet eating and engaged while we're talking about the progress tracker, which is really kind of cool. So it's just been a really nice way to end the block. And students, they're really kind to each other and they get really excited about updating the progress tracker together. 


Toni Rose: Jess, you make me want to go back in the classroom and just redo everything I did as far as closing routines. That's amazing. I love the fact that you update the progress tracker together at the end of class because I feel like a lot of our implementers ask, hey, when do you have the time to update the tracker? And I think that that is a really great way to update the tracker together as a class. And then that way you can see accomplishments like you said. And I'm sure that just like brings so much joy to students is a lot to be recognized, right? And so I like that. And I know that if I ever go back in the classroom, I would definitely do that. I would end it with updating the pacing tracker together. And then typically I started my classes with shout outs. But now I'm thinking maybe it's better to do it at the end so that it's like real time, right? Like, Ms. D. saw what I did today and I'm getting that shout out today, and I really like that. And I feel like I should have done that because I do a lot of positive narration throughout class just to kind of recognize and acknowledge what students are doing. But I think the shout outs at the end would be really powerful as well. And then you take it up another notch by saying that you then have a community shout out. So how does that typically look with students? Do you limit it to just three to five shout outs, or do you just kind of say, like, whoever has shout outs can have shout outs? How does that look for you? 


Jess: So some days I will ask them, I'll say, who has a shout out that they want to give out today? And if I have a bunch of people raise their hand, I might pick two of them. And then I give the rest a post it, and I have them write a little note to whoever they want to shout out to on their post it, and then they'll deliver it to their desk, which is also kind of fun because it's like little fan mail, which is really nice. So I like to do that. I don't want to share too many shout outs at the end because I don't want it to take too much time away from the next block. I do try to keep even though it seems like I'm doing a lot at the end, I do try to keep this to like a five to seven minute period. So sometimes our kids can be long and winded when they're explaining who their best friend is and why they helped them that day and whatnot. So I like to try and keep it short and sweet. Give me the name of the student and tell me why you wanted to shout them out. Don't tell me a story. Don't tell me super long story if you want to write it down on a post it and we'll be happy to share them later. 


Toni Rose: I'm cracking up because you're so right. Our students absolutely love to just talk. And so as you were talking, I was thinking about possibly having sentence starters and just kind of like fill-in-the-blanks for shout outs just to kind of keep them short and concise. So I love the idea of post-it notes and then delivering it to their peers. I think that's also just as great as a verbal shout out. I know that one of our implementers on Facebook in the Facebook group shared a photo of a shout out wall where students were just shouting each other out about all the cool things they were doing in class. And that was another cool thing, too. I was going to ask you as well, how long does your closing routine last? And you said it - five to seven minutes. And it seems like we're doing a lot. But it's nice to know that in five to seven minutes you can do all of this. 


Jess: It's a lot of reiterating what they have already done and what I've already done. So that's why it goes so fast. It's not really new information because I have my checkboard, my checklist throughout that I'm checking. So I really know who’s made it to lesson five already. And they should know who’s made it to lesson five based on their own progress tracker. So that’s why is goes quickly, because I’m kind of just checking in my head, just waiting for verbal affirmations, so that’s why it goes along so quickly.


Toni Rose: Tell us more about  your checklist.


Jess: I use a teacher tracker, so it’s just a checklist that says what each step of the lesson. The video, the practice, the mastery check. So as they go through it, I’ll check it off. I’m usually sitting at my teacher nest area with all of my bins of mastery checks and activities, so I see when they're coming. In fact, they have to let me know when they are coming to get a mastery check. They're kind of right past it, like they have to get it from me. So I'm right there. So I do know. I'm like, “oh, you're starting mastery check three. Great job.” So I check it off that they finished the activity and then if they need to revise on a mastery check, I'll put like a little star next to it. That might be where, like, I write a grade. I write little notes to myself, even like, “Jennifer and Douglas need to work together on this tomorrow” or “make sure you talk about this first.” It's just like a little paper for me for all of my thoughts that I have during the block. So it kind of it's just a living document that I have with me at all times during my block. 


Toni Rose: Yeah. And I think sometimes that's a tool that teachers, implementers who just starting with Modern Classroom that we sometimes just forget about. Right. I mean, even when I was doing Modern Classroom, I didn't have that checklist, although I feel like that would have been so helpful for me because I already walked around with a clipboard, so I might as well have a checklist to just kind of make sure that I take note of where my students are. And so thank you for sharing that. Another thing, too. Before we close out on our opening and closing routines, I've asked one of the program managers about their closing and opening routines. And Lisa shared with me that she knew of someone who actually had a different opening routine on Fridays. And so I kind of wanted to let our listeners know that that's okay also. Right? Like, every Friday, students know that this is the type of routine that's going to happen. And so Lisa was sharing with me that for that implementer, what they had was that it was a grade and progress check, and that was their opening routine. So the kids crafted an email to families, to their own families to update their families and caregivers on process and goals for that week. And I feel like that was such a great idea because I was sending those emails to caregivers, and CCing the student. And so I just sent a weekly email updating every one of the progress. And of course, all stakeholders had access to the public pacing tracker that I had. But it was really nice for me to do a weekly email as well to caregivers so that they kind of know what's happening. And I know with this movement, I've seen a lot of implementers do craft that email or have their students craft that email to their caregivers. So that's one less thing that teachers have to do. And so do you do anything like this, Jess, where one day is a little bit different and you have a different focus, or would you say that every day is pretty similar? 


Jess: So every opening routine is pretty similar in the fact that we do the daily check in, and we just quickly look over the progress tracker. Like I mentioned, we do our morning circle right before math. So on Fridays, I actually do soft start Fridays. And a soft start is when students play, like, board games and things like that with each other. So it's just kind of a start way to roll into a Friday, which happens to be kind of a high stress day for a lot of students. Spelling tests. Sometimes we have reading assessments. Fridays are just a lot of assessments. So a soft start is a really nice way to slowly welcome them into the classroom. And they can use that soft start time. If they felt like they needed to catch up on some math work, they could do that. They could re-watch a video, they could do an activity. If they felt like they wanted to study for a spelling test, they could do that then. But it's a really nice way for them to enter the day on Friday. And so when they come into math on Friday, they're almost even happier than they are throughout the week when working on that morning circle. It really kind of like you mentioned with your adult learners, you like to just let them talk for five minutes and they come back and they're so much happier. That's how we are after morning circle. We're just all kind of, like, relaxed and we just all talk to each other. And we've built this community in our classroom. So it's even more so on soft start Fridays because they're just super excited to be playing logic games with each other and board games. And it's just a lot of fun. 


Toni Rose: And I love the concept of soft start on Fridays. Right. I mean, it's just very inviting. And the students all have options that they get to choose what works best for them and what they need right there and then. And even with your third graders, it's nice that it shows that our young learners are able to prioritize and able to choose and make those decisions as far as what they think is best for them right there and then. Yeah. And I have to be completely honest, I didn't really have a strong closing routine when I was teaching. It was more so like, I always looked at my time. My time management was really great, and I was very efficient with my time. But I knew, like, five minutes before class ended. That was when I would just kind of, like, start telling students, like, hey, you have five minutes left and make sure that you do ABCD, all of that. But we never had, like, a class discussion at the end. Now I'm thinking again, if I were to go back in the classroom, I would do that a little bit differently. I'm just making sure that we have that time to just celebrate one another, share accomplishments, and just kind of just check in again. Right. And it would be nice to cycle back to checking in and seeing like, okay, how are we feeling right now at this moment? Right. And so I know that I didn't get a chance to do that with my students, but I'm definitely being more intentional with my adult learners as well. So my closing routine when I lead PD with adult learners is that we start off with SEL. Right. That's the opening routine. You have that conversation, you create that community, you get to know each other just a little bit so they're not complete strangers. And then at the end is another collaborative discourse of, like, okay, now that we've learned all of this, how are you feeling about knowing about these things? Right? Or like, what are your next steps? There's always that chance to have that conversation, and that's what I try to do with my closing routines. All right, cool. So we're going to shift gears, Jess. We're going to talk about, like, virtual or hybrid you started in November 2020 or just at least you were introduced to MCP, which is like COVID season. And so how did your opening and closing routines change depending on the format of your class? So whether it's virtual, hybrid, in person, did it change or did it stay the same? 


Jess: So I taught this model last year 100% virtually. We were 100% virtual until April, I believe so. My first experience from mid-January until April was all online. My routines were similar in the fact that I think it's important to begin and end each block with the public tracker, with the progress tracker, especially in the morning. It was a really good way to say it was a really good reminder for my third readers to say, “hey, remember you're on this lesson. We did this yesterday. You don't need to go back and question it, just get right started.” But I will say I didn't spend as much time in the closing routine last year. I kind of did a lot of it on my own after class. So I didn't have as much of the shout outs. I didn't have as much of that. Like, “who made it to this? Who made it to that?” I would kind of talk about like, okay, I know that a few people you guys made it here. All right, great. I'm going to update this later. And then I would kind of put it away and move on to the next thing. And I also didn't really spend much time, like, doing whole-class mini lessons like I said that I did at the beginning of the year because I felt like it wasn't as effective. During Zoom, my students were on Zoom for 5 hours a day, so it was really hard to teach them on Zoom, especially to try and teach them like a misconception when all students are doing different things. So if I noticed a misconception last year, virtually, I would pull someone in a breakout room and I would kind of talk to them. I mean, I would be repeating it a lot. If I could bring a few people into the breakout room who are having a similar issue, I would. But I really didn't want it to be more than like four people in the breakout room because I really found that their attention just completely was diminished the more and more people that were there. So I really kind of tried to keep those mini lessons to really really mini lessons. And I also didn't have any do now check-in. I had like a morning poll on our LMS, so I would always ask them, like some kind of question in the morning, and we would still do a morning meeting. But we didn't really like, do any goal setting with our progress. So I think that that's definitely something that has really come alive since we've been back into the classroom and especially my closing routine that's really kind of come alive since we've gone back into the classroom as well. 


Toni Rose: I really like the shift that you mentioned. Right. So when you're in Zoom, you do a poll instead of a form. I wish I would have thought about that. I still continued with my form when we went virtual. And so at my school, we had longer periods, like longer class periods, but we were told to just keep the students in, what's the word? Synchronously for about 10-15 minutes and then letting them go to get their work done but staying online in case our students needed us. And so the 15 minutes really had to be intentional with my students. So it was a lot of just like I knew I only had 15 minutes with them. So we did the opening routines. I still continue the announcements, the agendas, the pacing tracker, and then we would do a community building activity, like a question of like, “okay, what's in the chat? Tell me what Netflix show you're watching right now” or “what show you're watching right now that you think everyone should watch.” So in the chat, students will have those conversations, which is really great. And then I go over what they're going to do for class when they get off of Zoom with me. And so it was a really quick 10-15 minutes and we didn't check back in at the end. I believe some teachers did do that check-in at the end. But again, I needed to work on my closing routines. And so I would just really utilize the 10-15 minutes that we had in the beginning when I was teaching virtual so that I could check in with my students, make sure that they're good. And like you said, Jess, you had a really good point, right. Like live lectures online, that never works. I was able to watch some teachers still continue to lecture online. It's just really difficult to engage students. Right. And so you were able to just break it down into small groups and you saw that was more effective for you. And that was what I saw as well. And so in my announcement in the pacing tracker, I would say, hey, these four students are actually going to stay with me while everyone else go and do their work on their own. But like, these four students come stay in this call and we're going to briefly go over some of your misconceptions and some of the mistakes that we went over. And so it was never seen as like, “oh, you're in trouble,” but it was more so like, “oh, Ms. D's going to help me with something.” And I think that's really important, too, on how you rolled that out. And so I worked a lot. I did a lot of one to one when we did virtual, just because I felt like that was much more impactful for my students. And then I was able to spend that time with them, which some of them really needed. And so that was a shift as well. But I really liked that you said you used poll a lot, which I probably should have done, and then lots of small group when you were doing virtual. I don't have any experience with hybrid. I can only imagine what that entails. And so, Jess, you were virtual and then you just were back in the classroom in person. 


Jess: Yeah. It was zero to 100. We did no hybrid, but I think I'd actually prefer it that way. Yeah, I would have to agree with you. I know I was an instructional coach where we went virtual and then hybrid and then in person. And the hybrid part was just so difficult. It was such a difficult format. 


Jess: So I guess I should say when we did come back in person, there was still the option for students to stay home. So I did have four students that were remote while the rest of my students were in person. So that was kind of like a little hybrid ish because I had to be in two places at once, which was really hard. But the model made that so much easier because I felt like they were actually learning, like I wasn't leaving anyone behind. So I'd like, have a few minutes to check in with my zoomies. I'd call them zoomies, and then I'd have to send them off on their own. And then I'd work with the kids in the room, and they were always on Zoom and I'd always be there. So if they needed to come back had, any questions at any time, I was there to support them, but I felt like I should include that. 


Toni Rose: Yeah. No, that's a really good point as well. Right. I'm a firm believer that with this model, it doesn't matter the formatting or the structure. Right. Like, students are able to access, are able to come and enter the learning environment whenever however they like. So I have a follow up question with your zoomies and your roomies, did your roomies, the students in your room, were they on Zoom as well or not at all? 


Jess: No, they were not. I had my four students who were on Zoom pretty much displayed on the Smartboard. And then I had an extra camera that I would shoot out to see some of the class because I wanted them to be able to see some things other than just me and my computer space. 


Toni Rose: Yeah. And that makes sense. That sounds very similar to what I did at my last school. Okay. So is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners, Jess? 


Jess: So I was going to say that I think that I know a lot of people worry about using a public progress tracker because it can be divisive and make kids who are behind and feel bad about themselves. And as you know, I use the public tracker a lot. It's one of my favorite tools, and I've actually never had any issues with it. I've taught my students from the beginning to treat the public tracker as a guide and a way to find a friend to work with or a friend to ask for help. They know that just because they're behind in one unit, that doesn't mean they'll be working behind in every unit. And I'd really like to stress that. I really like them to know that, “you know what? Maybe multiplication is really hard for you, but next unit, when we're learning about fractions, you might be ahead of pace the whole time because every unit is a fresh start for them.” So every unit was a fresh start for them to be on track. So I liked that. Also, I think that a major misconception is that when you're doing the Modern Classroom model at the elementary level is that you don't have any whole group experiences. And that's not true. You can make as many whole group experiences or as little whole group experiences as you want. I think it's more about them being meaningful. So having mini lessons or we would play like, whole group games. Those are something like we'd stop the individual, we'd stop the self pacing for a day. And I'd say, let's do something whole group. I think that it was important that I build in those experiences. And I think a lot of teachers think, well, I'm just supposed to let them go. But there are a lot of times that I am still working with them throughout that block as a whole group. 


Toni Rose: And those are really good points to Jess because some implementers actually do self pacing, let's say on Monday and Tuesday and on Wednesday. It's a whole group experience. It's a whole group shared experience, really. And then we have some implementers who have like 90 minutes blocks. And so they do like 30 to 45 minutes of self pacing. And then the rest is either whole group or collaborative work, just so that it's not all self pacing. Right. And thank you for sharing about your public pacing trackers. I think it all depends on how the teacher rolls it out. Right. So if it's something that you're so excited about, you're so passionate about, and it's something that our students can collaborate with one another and a way to celebrate each other and a way to just kind of like see where they are. I think our students really grow to love it. And our caregivers and other stakeholders also learn to appreciate the pacing tracker as well, just so that they know for a fact it's not a way to reprimand them. It's not a way to make them look any type of negative way. And so, you're right. Just how a teacher rolls out the pacing tracker is super important. And I like that you pointed out again, going back to the whole group as well, listeners like, before you've heard me say there's no right or wrong way to do Modern Classroom. And I was immediately corrected and called in, which was great by one of our mentors. And I really appreciate this. And the mentor was like, actually, there's like a wrong way to do Modern Classroom. I think there's just multiple right ways to do it. And I was like, oh, that's even better, right? There's so many right ways to do Modern Classroom, and it's really up to you. It's really up to your students. You get to decide how that looks for you and your students. And I think that's the beauty of this model as well. What goals do you have for the rest of the school year, Jess? It's like slowly but surely getting there. What do you have in mind for the rest of the school year? 


Jess: So I am taking on my first group of mentees, which I'm super excited about. And then my in class goal is that I would like to have all of my units completed for next school year. So, I mean, I've grown so much over the last year that when I look back at my first couple of units of last year, I'm like, “what is this?” I feel like they just look so amateur and kind of all over the place. So I reached the year-mark about two units ago. So now I'm just kind of tweaking. So I'm in a really good spot. So I'm really excited to really tweak everything from here on out. And then next year, being able to start with a whole year's worth of great lessons and videos. 


Toni Rose: Yeah. And Jess, we're so excited to have you as a mentor. Cheyenne is amazing, and so I know that she's able to mentor you, and I know you're just going to crush it as well. And also finishing or planning your entire unit for the year. That's amazing. Kudos to you. It's really commendable. I love it. And so last but not least, how can our listeners connect with you, Jess? 


Jess: So I am on the Facebook Group. My name is Jessica Bille, and you can send me an email at modernclassrooms.org 


Toni Rose: awesome. So I'm sure our listeners will reach out to you. And again, if you are not part of the Facebook group, we have now reached over 9000 members in the group, and our engagement is still so high. People are getting all of the ideas and all of their questions and all of their shout outs and all of their challenges answered in the Facebook group. So if you want more thought partners, Facebook Group is definitely where it's at. That's where a lot of our mentors are as well, our DMCEs and just implementers from all over the world. So with that being said, thank you so much for spending some time with me, Jess, and sharing your expertise and experiences with our listeners. Listeners remember, you can always email us at podcast@modernclassroom.org and you can find the show notes for this episode at Podcast.Modernclassrooms.org/79 thank you all for listening. Have a great week and we'll be back next week.


Voiceover: Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode. And remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org, and you can learn the essentials of our model through our free course at Learn.Modernclassrooms.org. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at modernclassproj, that's P-R-O-J. We are so appreciative of all you do for students and schools. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast.






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