Zach Diamond 0:03 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. Zach Diamond 0:28 Hello, and welcome to episode 129 of the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Zach Diamond. I'm a modern classrooms mentor, and also a middle school digital music teacher in Washington, DC. And I'm joined by two members of a sixth grade math team at Berry Middle School in Hoover, Alabama, Brooke Lee, and Rick Smith. Welcome Brooke and Rick. Rick Smith 0:52 Hello, Brooke Lee 0:53 hello. Zach Diamond 0:54 I'm so glad to have you both. And this is gonna be really exciting. I know that you're both part of a very involved teaching team that almost sounds like a PLC. So we're going to be talking tonight about teacher collaboration, working with other teachers, you know, specifically around the model, but also just in general, working with other teachers in ways that hopefully will benefit the students. So before we start that out, let's start by having you both just introduce yourselves individually, you know, separate from your teaching team. Before you get into the backstory of any of that. Just tell us a little bit more about yourself as your as a teacher, you're teaching journey, and you're also your modern classrooms journey. Brooke Lee 1:28 Okay, I'll start. My name is Brooke Lee. And this is my 16th year of teaching. I have actually always taught at bury Middle School, and I've always taught sixth grade math. So it's, so I've got some years under my belt doing sixth grade math. Um, so what made me want to jump into like trying modern classroom is just because I like being able to focus individually on those kids that need that extra attention, whether they be your low level learners or the kids that you need to reach for the enrichment. So I really liked that aspect. So it made me want to explore it. And I'm glad that I made that choice. Zach Diamond 2:13 Yeah, all right. We all aren't we all break? How about you? Rick Smith 2:18 Alright, Rick Smith here must My background is a little different. I came out of the business world, I sold telecom products and services to corporate and public safety accounts for almost 20 years. And my midlife crisis was going back to school and getting my master's so I could teach. So this is my eighth year, teaching sixth grade math at Barry, and I've loved every minute of it. I went through the MCP program training program last summer. And this was my first year implementing the modern classroom program. And I basically jumped into the deep end of the pool and haven't looked back. Zach Diamond 2:55 Yeah, that's so interesting. It's so great to hear that I feel like in a time when, you know, there are struggles around teacher retention, like it's so cool to have someone who found their calling in schools, you know, and career change like that. And then modern classrooms to make it even better. That's, that's really great to hear. I'm really glad to hear that. Rick Smith 3:11 Yeah. And I had, I had told one of our curriculum folks at the district that every since I've been at Berry, I've always enjoyed being a teacher. But after modern classroom, I've never enjoyed teaching more. It's that that's what it's done for me. Brooke Lee 3:26 And one other thing is that Rick and I, we have actually talked about because we have taught together for eight years, and we've talked about wanting to do kind of what modern classroom does. And then when this program was introduced to us, we were both like, yes, so we jumped on it quickly. And like what Rick said, we just kind of went with it and ran. And I'm also glad that we made that decision as well. Rick Smith 3:57 Yeah, absolutely. And I'll say this, too, but the training program, it was probably about halfway through where the light finally went off. At first, I was just kind of going through the motions. Yeah, this is a professional development. Yeah, this looks good. I'll just go ahead and do it. And then about halfway through it, the light went off and and I just I had an epiphany. And I just saw where this could benefit. Not only me, but the students as well so much. And that's when I was I was sold about halfway through the program. Zach Diamond 4:31 Brooke, I want to ask you another question. And based on something you said, which was that you were already sort of looking for something like modern classrooms. I'm wondering if you could tell me like more specifically, like, was it the self pacing? Was it the blended the videos? Like what specifically are you looking for? Brooke Lee 4:45 I'm just curious, I'll be more than happy. So actually, for seven years, I was part of a program that I helped kind of create for some of our math students that were not At performing at grade level, they were actually several grade levels behind. And it was a self paced and self directed program that we used. And that's where my heart is, is to help those students that are behind and to kind of help them get up to great levels. So it was not the same. Some of the things were similar to what modern classroom does with the self paced program. But I really liked being able to look at each of those students individually, because every one has a different learner. And different students have different needs. And I just, I liked it because it catered to those specific needs. And it also helped them to feel successful. But I wanted that for not just those kids, but for all the kids in my class, because let's be honest with math, we have a lot of kids that come in and say, Well, I'm not good at this, or I hate it. And it's because they didn't fully understand it. But I like having this approach because it is more catered towards them and on their level where they can feel more confidence and more success. Zach Diamond 6:14 That's awesome. I think that's a great response. Like I think that in a lot of ways, sort of the flashier parts of modern classrooms are like the blended instruction, instructional videos, it's modern, right. mastery based is like a educational buzzword. But I think that not to say that those aren't important, but they really exist in service of what you're talking about that self paced learning that you're getting to work individually with the kids who need remedial instruction, right? Or who need to be brought back on onto the grade level, or even those who are ahead, right, those who are ahead also need to be able to work at their own level. Faster, right. Self pacing, I think that it all exists in service of self pacing. So that's really that's really cool to hear that what you were looking for with that. And modern classrooms definitely exists to serve that need. I think that's a great transition also into my next question for you, which was that, again, before we start talking about your teaching team, which I know I'm kind of burying the lede here, that's the topic. But I was wondering if you could both sort of describe your modern classrooms for me, like, you know, describe the details like the day in and day out the routines, the progress trackers, the mastery checks. Can you tell me a little bit more about your modern classrooms? How you run them? Rick Smith 7:21 Yeah, well, I would say me, of course, mine always starts with the Progress Tracker. That was a confusing component of the training program for me. But once I finally got it, it made complete sense. And now I really base everything off that mine is nothing fancy. It's a Google Doc. When I initially started, it, plan the the Progress Tracker for the entire unit, so the kids could self pace. One little adjustment I had to make for sixth grade was released a Progress Tracker for the week. So through the week, they can actually self pace. So they know what what's expected of them from should do, you know, must do and aspire to do standpoint. And they can work through that at their own pace. I've got the room spread out where they know where their practice where they turn in their practice pages, where they go to check their answers to see if they're on the right track. They know where to go, and when they're ready for the mastery check. So everything's kind of set up and, and labeled. So the students understand what they're supposed to do and where they're supposed to turn things in. With the mastery checks, you know, 70% is what's required to pass. Otherwise, they have to do the revisions, but the Progress Tracker has undergone lots of changes and adaptations, you know, to meet the needs of the students. Zach Diamond 8:41 Yep. And that makes total sense, right? Because like, like we were saying, right, that's sort of the main thing here, right? Is the the pacing. Yes. And so that I had the same experience where my Progress Tracker was the thing that kind of kept being iterated on, like, I got better at making videos, and I'm pretty good at it now. Doing it very quickly. Right. But like, the Progress Tracker is sort of the hub of everything. And so, yeah, you really tweak it a lot to make it as as meaningful and as useful as possible. Yes, right. Yeah. Brooke, how about you? Brooke Lee 9:10 So I'm actually a little bit opposite of Rick. So just to be honest, I have not the Progress Tracker whenever I was doing the training was the one that I was most nervous about. And even to this point, I still haven't fully grasped that I kind of Kelsey and I who she's a teacher on my team that teaches language arts that's also gone through the program as well. We do moreso have a team approach with that where we pull those kids together and do different things like study hall or a catch up or we try to do some of our small groups together. But one thing within my modern classroom that I read really like, and I feel like it helps make the environment more comfortable for them to learn in, I do flexible seating. And so I have lots of different options. And that also gives me a way to if I need to group particular students together, if we're on a certain topic where they may be behind. So I can group those four together, and we can sit at the circle table, or if I know that, I've got five kids that are off and running, and they can be self sufficient, I can put them either on the carpet in the front, or I've got a grouping in the back. So it gives me different options. And like Rick mentioned, a labeler, as well. So I've got where they put their completed must do should do use. So they are familiar with those type of things. And with my check ins that I have. And that's I guess that's kind of my way of tracking for right now is that do those personal check ins. With each of my students, I try to do that at least once a week. And for some of those students, I do it more frequently for the ones that you kind of have to keep a little bit more of an eye on. Zach Diamond 11:18 Right. So how in a week, how many, like lessons are must do their mastery checks? Are there? Is that is that the full unit one week? Or that's way shorter than the unit? Right? Like? Can you describe sort of the scope of things for me? Yeah, I Rick Smith 11:31 would say for me, it's a unit sometimes can, it's gonna last several weeks. Okay. So basically, I break the unit down into lessons. So each week, we generally will cover one lesson, gotcha. Sometimes we can get to within about a week, depending on the on the topic or the concept. But that's that's really, that's really how I break it down is it's each week is generally going to be a lesson. And one of the other benefits that I look at the Progress Tracker, we send out a our, our team sends out a newsletter to parents each week. And so the parents, a lot of times, we'll look at that, to see what kind of assignments are due for science or math or language arts. For me, all I have to do is link the Progress Tracker, because they can pull it up, they can look at the same thing the students look at. And they know Oh, hey, on Wednesday, you've got a mastery check. You know, are you ready. And same thing with the kids, they don't have to ask me when something is due, because it's on the Progress Tracker, they know which assignment is due when. So that's been a big, big help for me as well. Brooke Lee 12:39 That's like with with ours is similar. It's we on my team, we have an agenda. And I try to put those phrases in to make parents and you know, the students will also talk to them about it as well, because all this mastery check. And so those are available for them to see also, because I feel like the more you speak the language and the more that you just throw it out there that it's going to the parents are going to either ask questions to you or to the kids. So that kind of helps them understand what's going on within the classroom. Because sometimes I feel like the parents may not fully get the idea of how the modern classroom is run. So with that, with that language that's common between the classes, especially for myself, and then the Kelsey who teaches language arts, they're seeing it in two different places. So I feel like that's, that's good for them to see. And then one thing that I really like is that with Rick and I both doing this program, and I agree with what he said, it's sometimes it's one lesson, but like right now we're covering percent. So we can group some of our lessons together because they blend in with each other. Or if we've got those kids that are a little step ahead, they can go ahead and move forward. But we're still in the same concept. So they're pushing themselves a little bit more, but they're not totally getting off of what we're currently covering. Rick Smith 14:16 To piggyback on what Brooke just said, you know, sixth sixth grade is they're not quite mature enough yet to just take off and running a run, run with everything. So we kind of have to put the reins on them just a little bit. And kind of keep them all in the Senate within the same unit. You may have some that are maybe a lesson ahead because they're, you know, they're quick learners and they get they kind of get it. But we're all within the same the same unit. We have to stop and have a group discussion. We're all in the same, same place. Yeah. Zach Diamond 14:47 Yeah, I find that too. I also teach sixth grade and I also teach seventh and eighth grade and I do find that there's actually a pretty significant difference. Even between sixth and seventh graders. Sixth graders, they really do they kind of feel like just big elementary schoolers and some weighs in, they really do need the structure. And I also agree, like when I see students working so far ahead that like, you know, three or four or five lessons ahead, they're not usually doing it, right. Like they're kind of rushing and getting through things too quickly. And they wind up having to review a lot. And, and then usually they learned a lesson to not do that again, because then they have to just redo everything. And then like that, so Unknown Speaker 15:23 yeah, we learned that through experience. Brooke Lee 15:26 Yes, we did. We started off that way. And we were like, Okay, we need to back this up some because we were like, yeah, let's get all this go in. And we'll just have, you know, they can work ahead. But it's like what you just said, like, they were kind of getting it done, but not really. And then that's I did start seeing the frustration. And that's one thing that I don't I want my students to be confident mathematicians. And if I'm putting more stress on them, like that's, that's not what I want within this aspect of doing this program. So that's backed off as well tape with that. Rick Smith 16:04 Yeah. And let me just add this to, I think what happened for you know, the handful of students you might have in a class, who are going really fast. Once we put the reins on him, we were able to turn those students into more peer helpers, because they had completed everything. And so hey, what do I do now? Mr. Smith? Well, why don't you go help, you know, Susie, over there, because she's, you know, she's struggling a little bit, she needs some help. And it was kind of a beautiful thing to watch, you know, students helping each other. Brooke Lee 16:35 And that's, I call them my teaching assistants. And I kind of liked that, because they, it pushes that competitive side, which competitive as well. So they were wanting to get that position, because I just wrote it on the board. I'm ready to be a teaching assistant. And I didn't tell the kids what it was for the first couple of days. And they kept asking me, What is this? What is this? How do I do it? So I explained it. And I got some of those kids that, you know, kind of do enough just to get by, they were pushing themselves more so that they could be kind of those superstars in the class. Zach Diamond 17:14 Yeah, I just today, I was teaching a sixth grade class, I have a sixth grade class. And this This girl was, she was had too much she had finished her work. And she got a check for the mastery check. I put an X on the tracker when a kid finishes a mastery check and successfully moves on, right. So she was up to the computer and said, I'm gonna put the x's, I'm gonna be the XOR. And she was just standing there. And then she started being like, I'm going to be the teacher, I'm going to do the teaching. So cute. You know, like the kids, sixth grader was still young enough to like, get into that. And really have it be fun to have, that'd be a motivator for them. Very cute. Cool. Okay, so, almost 20 minutes in, let's get to the main topic here. I want to hear more about your teaching team, because the topic is collaboration, teacher collaboration. I don't really have any, like specific questions for you here except to say, you know, you can describe really granularly how it works. Like when when do you meet? Like, do you do curriculum? Do you do instructional practice that kind of thing. Or gonna be more general? You know, like, you go ahead, and I'll just like, let loose the reins. And I want to just hear about your work as a teaching team. And the collaboration that you all do, because it's something that that seems really important for you all. Brooke Lee 18:24 So one thing that's neat about our sixth grade math team is that, you know, Rick and I are we're fully engulfed in modern classroom and implementing that. And our other two colleagues, they've kind of dabbled in it a little bit. But it's, it still works, though. Like, we can still communicate and Rick and I kind of know how to make, okay, well, if they're doing this, then we're going to do this for our should days or our must use or aspire today's. So that works out. As long as I think communication is the key for that whenever you're working for those that may not be, you know, modern classroom, teachers, and just using that language to kind of help them understand where you're going. And that it really is the same thing. We're just presenting it in a different format. But, you know, that's everybody in their classrooms is going to be different. But I feel like the four of us work really well together with that. And then, you know, they'll, some of the times, they'll get things from us that we've used, and then same for them as well. Like, we'll use some of their materials. So we're really good with sharing. And I think that that's also an important thing for teachers too, because we love to share ideas with each other. And we, it's, it works. Yeah, I Zach Diamond 19:52 mean, that makes sense because instructionally you're teaching the same content, right? Right. Yes. You know, a worksheet on whatever standard. It happens to be. Is it worksheet on the standard, like a modern classroom and the traditional classroom should be teaching the kids to succeed on that. However they do it. Rick Smith 20:07 Yeah. So and we will generally. And we've done this really, last several years, we are for sixth grade math teachers we meet once a week, it's usually on Fridays, during our planning periods, we'll all get together. Hey, where are we right now we're on percents. And what do you want? Well, I'm, I'm on this lesson, I'm on that lesson. And so we collaborate about once a week. And as Brooke said, we'll work on to share things back and forth. And, of course, Brooke, and I, since we're both doing modern classroom, I'll just run down to her room, we'll have a little impromptu, you know, planning session real quick, it might be 510 minutes, but, you know, we're both invested in the program. So, you know, it's easy for us to have a little short meeting and get some great ideas. Brooke Lee 20:50 And even like, even if it's not like what Rick was just mentioning, it being our formal meeting, like, for example, in the gym this morning for morning duty we were talking about, okay, well, where are you? Will I combine these two lessons together? So really, we're we're constantly feeding and pushing ideas on each other, and, you know, just really trying to all stay together. But also, if one of us, okay, well, I got to this lesson, and I had this problem. So what's something that you could tell me that helped out or, I feel like, again, like what I said earlier, just the communication with us, I feel like is the key. And with that blend of us doing a modern classroom, and then doing a more traditional approach. It works because we're constantly communicating and talking to each other. Rick Smith 21:46 In another benefit, this hasn't happened yet. But we have talked about this if, especially with broken eyes, since we're both doing modern classroom, if something were to happen, and one of us had to be out, suddenly, and there was not a sub or something, you know, my class could go to her she could, or our hers could come to mind. And they wouldn't miss a beat. Because we're both doing modern classroom. It's interesting. Brooke Lee 22:10 Speaking of being absent, just to plug this in, I really love modern classroom for this, because at this point, my kids are trained. And like, I've had to be out a couple of days recently for some things within my family. And I it was easy, plug it in, and they knew exactly what to do. And I got really great feedback from some of the subs, they were like, they didn't have to ask me anything. They went straight to work, they were doing everything that they were supposed to. So as a teacher, you know, that's one of your biggest worries, like, whenever I'm out of my classroom, please, I hope that they're behaving. And so I feel like that, with them leading their own learning within, you know, that setting when the teacher is not present. I tremendously appreciate that, because it's very helpful. Yes, Zach Diamond 23:07 yeah. Oh, my goodness, yes. It's like a It's It's so it's, it's unbelievable, really, like I recently, I had a, I had a sub for a class on Thursday. And there was a sort of a scheduling mix up my schedule is super complicated. But basically, I thought I was going to have this class on a Friday. But instead, they went, they wound up having the class on Thursday with the sub, and there was a summative, like a big end of unit assessment. And that was like, oh, no, this is gonna be a disaster, right? Like, they're, they're gonna have a sub what's gonna happen in every single one of them did it every single one. Wow. And I was just I looked at it. The next week when I came back to school, and I was like, seriously, I can just grade these like, and not even worry about it. It was amazing. I was they were sixth graders. I was so impressed with them. So 100% echo what you said. Brooke Lee 23:52 That's great. That is a win for sure. Yes. Zach Diamond 23:56 They're a particularly sweet little bunch of sixth graders. It was that same group with that girl who was the teacher for today. So great group of kids, but I was just amazed. Okay, so I was curious, when you were talking about sharing materials, at least for you to who are doing sort of more, more modern classrooms for formally, like, do you share instructional videos? I was I was also interested to hear how you use different types of trackers. So like in terms of sharing modern classrooms, materials, is that something you all do or not? It'd be also interesting if you didn't, Brooke Lee 24:28 well, one, and that was one thing that I forgot to mention about my classroom. Like I whenever we had COVID with the difference when we had the shutdown and then we had a staggered group where we had one group come a certain amount of days and then another group come the other. I started making videos and so I had all those a bank of them. And they've really come into play with this because I'll do a whole class instruction but If I have a kid that still like, I'm still struggling with this, and they'll say, Do you have one of your videos? So I, that's one thing that I also liked too, is having that option to have those different videos to send out which another good thing about our curriculum that we have as well. We have a plethora of videos, whether it be the ones through the textbook that were created, or there's links to different things like virtual nerd and then you know, we've got Khan Academy, things like that. So I feel like, also, you know, whenever the kids are struggling, it's good to kind of hit them with those different types of instructions so that one of them will click, but I do like that they asked for my videos, though. So I was glad to have that. And whenever I saw that, that was part of modern classroom, I was like, okay, yeah, I know how to do this. Zach Diamond 25:55 Yeah, definitely. My kids asked to not watch my videos, Rick Smith 26:00 Same Brooke Lee 26:00 Well, I always throw some jokes or humor in there, which my oldest daughter always tells me that I'm not funny. But all my all my students are like, you're so funny. And I'm always watching it to see what joke or sometimes I'll sing on them. Like, I don't want it. I don't want them to have the same thing on repeat. So I try to keep them entertained by throwing in different things. And hopefully not looking like a total idiot. Zach Diamond 26:28 Apparently, it's working if they're asking you to. That's fantastic. I mean, I try and do that too. But my kids are Yeah, they're always just like, this video is three minutes long. Mr. Diamond. Brooke Lee 26:42 You got to start seeing him like I'll sing Beyonce in the middle of them. Got to start throwing that. Away, watch it. Zach Diamond 26:51 That's great. So do you, Rick, you also make make videos as well, I guess it's my classrooms. Rick Smith 26:58 Yes. And like Brooke said, we, you know, I tend to do a combination of the videos that I make. And then our textbook does have a lot of virtual nerd videos, which I use virtual nerd for a couple of years, even before we got the textbook, and before modern classrooms. So when I saw that virtual nerd, I was so excited. So a lot of times when I post work for a lesson, I'll have a video along with the virtual nerve video, because sometimes they'll they'll students will say, you know, I don't really get the way you explain this. So they can go back and watch the virtual nerd. Oh, okay, now I get it. So different kids, you know, can can learn differently from different folks. And sometimes I've kind of got the Magic Touch, and sometimes I don't. So I'll give them two options. So they can kind of hear the same thing from two different sources. And that seems like it's benefited a lot of them. Zach Diamond 27:57 But each of you are putting videos in front of your students that that are made by you. Or I guess like the teacher that teaches the kids uses the videos. Rick Smith 28:04 Yes. Cool. Yes. So the ones from the textbook are like an additional resource. Zach Diamond 28:10 No, no, I meant, like, Brooke's videos, don't go to Rick's students. Correct? Yeah, right. Yeah. No, and the virtual nerd thing. That's cool. It's like another sort of resource for them. That makes sense, Brooke Lee 28:21 is and I agree with what Rick said, where it's like a kind of get this, but not really. And sometimes, like what I was mentioning it, it is good for them to hear either a different voice or a different way, or reasoning, because we all know that there's multiple ways to work out a problem. So it's good for them to see like there's not just one set way. Zach Diamond 28:44 Yeah. And I think on the flip side of that coin, it's also good for them to see that, like, you're teaching them the real way. Right? Like what you're teaching them is actually real. Yes. Like, you're right, that there's a different way to approach the problem. And there's, you know, it's a different person's voice. It's different handwriting, or whatever the case may be right. But like, I'm teaching you something that's actually real, like, this is a thing in the world. It's not just me making this up, which I think is sort of like a, you know, that happens when I show my students musical examples of the things that I'm showing them. I'm like, they're like, oh, yeah, it does. It does follow the rule that you taught us. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm not just saying this for no reason. You know, like, this is an actual thing. I'm trying to show you how to make better music. This is a thing that people actually do. So I think that like your, your writing in both senses, right? It's like good to see a different perspective. And also, it's good to see that this is authentic. This is actually real. Yes. So I guess I'm curious when you said that. The other teachers on your team sort of dabble in modern classrooms, like what aspects are they are they using? Are they using videos because I feel like if I were exposed to teachers using videos anywhere around me, I'd be like, Oh, I'm doing that. But that's just me, like, what are they doing? That has sort of rubbed off on them from this collaboration. Brooke Lee 29:57 So for some of them, it As the videos and I feel like that is an easy starting point to kind of get a feel of it. And then some of the things like they've, they've been curious about the mastery checks. Will how is this different from a quiz or what? You only do this for a mastery check. But like for mine, I have multiple different things that I use for mastery check. And it also just depends on, you know, what we're currently covering one, it may be a paper and pencil one maybe where they come up, and we talk through a problem, and they have to explain the process with me. So it's one question or, like today, for example, they had to watch part of a Brain Pop along with some other things. And then they took the graded quiz that's on there included. We've got them within our textbook curriculum. So I feel like that's another thing that we're constantly asked about, like, well, how can I do this instead of a traditional quiz? Rick Smith 31:02 Yeah. And I think it's just more than they're curious. You know, the language arts teacher on my team, she also went through the training, but she just she kind of dabbles a little bit. She uses a little bit of a Progress Tracker, just kind of as a planning tool. This is what we're doing this week. And she does allow some of her students to kind of move ahead and self face, but just hasn't fully invested, you know, into the modern classroom program yet. She's she's getting there. Brooke Lee 31:35 And that's similar to the language arts teacher, as well, my team, she did the training the same time that Rick and I did. And she was like, I'm gonna start this off slow, you know, just to kind of get my feet wet and everything. But now she's like, she's, she's in it. She's on with it, and everything. And sometimes, I think it's also just that confidence within people. Because sometimes change is hard. Whenever you've been used to doing things a certain way, but once they kind of get their feet wet, and say, hey, I can actually do this and incorporate a lot of the things that I have done previously, just kind of tweak it a little bit, and then they hit the ground running. Zach Diamond 32:19 Yeah. I mean, that was my experience. I completely just dove in. And I know that a lot of guests on this podcast, say that, like we asked for a tip or a piece of advice, right? And they'll say, like, start slow. Start with one element of the model at a time. And I always think like, wow, that's not what I did. And I'm really glad that I did it the way that I did. But everyone is different, right? Like, teachers don't want to teach them their own way. And I guess some people are more open to the kind of change just like all at once the way that I was, and it sounds like you were if I'm not misinterpreting, like I know. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, it's like, it felt like easy change. You know, it didn't feel like forced into something that felt like this is just making my job, the same job, but easier, you know, right. That was my experience. But then again, like I said, a lot of people give that as advice, you know, if you're intimidated, if it feels like a huge, like front load to make 100 100 videos, right? To develop a tracker, if you're concerned about students getting off pace, start slow is also a perfectly good piece of advice, depending on the kind of teacher that you are. Neither is better or worse, right? It's just different. We're all just different. What about I guess this is sort of a two part question. But what about your admin? And I guess the other part of the question is, how many people in your school are using MCP? It sounds like the training was you did the training as sort of a cohort? Right? So how many teachers are there using MCP and your school? And how is admin sort of treating MCP? How is admin coaching you and, and responding to MCP in your school? Brooke Lee 33:55 So I know that we had 12 teachers go through the training over the summer at our school. I can't speak that all 12 of them are fully in doing it like how Rick and I are. Out would say more than half though, are you know fully using it and are not afraid like what we were just talking about just to jump in and do it. The other ones I feel like they're kind of testing the waters and doing a little bit here and there until they get a little bit more comfortable with it. And which, you know, that's that's okay for some, but I'm one if you're gonna do it, you go all in. So that's, that's kind of the approach that I think that you know, the ones of us who are fully, fully using it, use that approach. Rick Smith 34:52 Right, and is to speak to the admin component. They haven't been resistant to it at all, we've you know, we have a new admin this year, but our previous admin was always supportive of teachers, you know, trying something new, it may it may crash and burn. That's okay. Right? You just you do it. And if it works great. If it doesn't you learn a lesson, you can fix it and start over. So that's always kind of been my approach. I, hey, I'm going to try something new this time. But they haven't been against it. Which is that's a positive. Zach Diamond 35:30 Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think that teacher autonomy is such a big deal, you know. And that's why it's important for me to emphasize, like these different ways of approaching MCP specifically, are all equally valid. So folks, we're going to take a very quick break, Tony Rose has an announcement for you. And when we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about some of the collaborative work that Brooke and Rick have done. Toni Rose Deanon 35:55 Hey, listeners, it's Tony Rhodes here with an announcement. When we have additional seats available for our virtual mentorship program, we always pull educators from our waitlist first, if you've always wanted to join the virtual mentorship program, but couldn't get funding join our waitlist at modern classrooms.org/waitlist. Zach Diamond 36:16 All right, folks, we are back with Brooke and Rick to talk more about teacher collaboration. I am aware that one of the projects that your teaching team has taken on was developing and integrating a new math curriculum at your school, which sounds like a pretty major undertaking. I sort of understand that you worked to articulate MCp into the new curriculum. And I would really love to hear more about this project. Like how did those conversations go? How did the planning sessions go? What does the curriculum look like? Like what aspects of modern classrooms are in that curriculum? Just I'd love to hear more about the process of developing this curriculum and integrating MCP. Brooke Lee 36:54 Yes. Um, so our math has, it currently has undergone a couple of things like we did have to help write a new curriculum. And we were involved with that with the standards. And then we also recently, so not this year, but last year, we had a new textbook adoption. And I was actually part of that where I had to pilot it, and then also was on the selection committee. And with our new textbook, it flows in fits perfectly with the modern classroom setup, because we've got a lot of different ways that we can structure our teaching it, it actually has videos that are incorporated with it, we have different levelized instructional material that we can pull from each of our lessons that we're covering, we have things that we could easily use for aspire to dues for the enrichment, we've got ones that for reteaching, if we need to pull those small groups, and so I I personally really love our new curriculum. I've had two previous ones. And this one, by far has been the best. And it it flows, like I said perfectly with modern classroom, and you don't have to go searching in a ton of different places to find what you need. And with that, you know, we can easily plug into, okay, well, we're gonna use this for a must do or I can use this for a mastery check. And so it's really helpful. Rick Smith 38:41 And I will say is that the first year that we adopted this new curriculum and the new textbook, this was pre modern classroom. I was going through it and I'm like, Man, I don't know this is this is this is hard. This is hard math. For sixth graders, were lucky to get some of them to bring a pencil to class much less sit down and do some critical thinking, you know, about a math problem. And so I was I was resistant, like a lot of our teachers were. Then I went through the modern classroom training program last summer. And all of a sudden, I saw the benefits of the new curriculum. And I think you've already mentioned this, but how they just they were looks like they were made for each other. As Rick mentioned, there's so many features in this textbook that we can use for enrichment. There's even features we can use for remediation. For students that don't pass a mastery check. There's just so many tools at our disposal that fit right into any part of the modern classroom program, whether it's a mastery check, a practice page, additional videos, it's really been wonderful. Zach Diamond 39:49 I mean, that's awesome. And I think it also speaks to the flexibility of the model. You know that I love the idea of the lesson classifications, you know, the masjid and aspire to dues sort of work making their way into your thinking around the textbook. I think that's really cool. Because it's like, yes, it's part of the modern classrooms training and a part of the model. But it's also just like, it's useful for students. And so like ticking that framework into the textbook and saying, Okay, this is what we actually have to make sure our students are doing and learning. You know, I think that that helps you to sort of sort of focus your teaching, and also to prioritize for the students, right, when they're overwhelmed with work from other classes, you know, sixth grade, at least where I teach in DC is the first year of middle school. And so they're also learning to juggle like, all these different teachers, different rooms in the building, sometimes overwhelmed. And so you, if you can say to a sixth grader, this is an aspire to do, you don't have to do it, you can skip it. But it's something that they can deprioritize that's really useful for them. So it's cool that that would be a part of your thinking around a textbook that is probably not written with modern classrooms in mind. Rick Smith 40:51 Right. And one of the features that I really liked, you know, when I was going through the training program, and we started talking about mastery checks, you know, generally I was, we were told, it's about, you know, maybe three to five questions, for a mastery check. So they can demonstrate proficiency in that that area. And one of the features that we have in this new textbook is at the end of each lesson, they have a lesson quiz. And guess what, it's five questions. You know, that covers the entire lesson. So there, it's, it's just a such a neat feature, to be able to look at that and go, You know what, and it's editable. So if I need to add something or change something, we can change it. That's one of the best benefits of it. So I can, I can look at that quiz, I can go through there, and I can change it up to meet the needs of my students, then I can assign that to them digitally, through Google classrooms, they use your mastery check, and they take it at grades at forum. And it's, it's, it's just such a sweet program. Brooke Lee 41:47 Nice. That's one of my favorite features of it too. And it really does help having that available. But another thing that I particularly love is there's a mid topic one too, and it has a different it's almost like, you know, happy face medium, or I'm lost. And so that's a good like checkpoint for the kids so that we can kind of assess like, Okay, we need to back this up and cover again, or if most of our kids are on the green ready to roll, then you know, we we may not have seen that from a couple of the groups that we were working with, but we can move forward easily. So there's like what we've been saying there's lots of really good things that it and they really were like, I really think that they were meant for each other the curriculum that we use and incorporating it with modern classroom too. Zach Diamond 42:41 Yeah, that's so cool. It's kind of like the Rick Smith 42:43 Resee's cup chocolate and peanut butter. Zach Diamond 42:47 Best candy. Yes. The those mastery check questions, I guess the quiz questions from the book, Rick, if they don't master the mastery check if they don't pass it? Do they just get like reshuffled and have new questions or new numbers in the in the same questions or something like that? Or how do you handle it when they don't pass the master check? Rick Smith 43:08 Yeah, we can, what they're able to do is they're able to go back and review that. And it'll show them what they answered and what the correct answer is. And then again, it's editable. So I can, I can have, you know, mastery, check one, two, and three. So I can go back and reassign them, you know, let's, let's try this. Again, here's mastery, check number two, same concepts, but just different questions. Brooke Lee 43:30 Another beauty and other beauty about it, too, we have a lot of ELLs and one of my classes, and with the lessons that are heavy in the word problems, I can give them those word problems in Spanish or whatever language that that they're more familiar with, because you know, word problems are difficult in math for some kids to get a grasp on. So that's another thing that I really like. And one other thing too, is that they can all be taking the same mastery check. But with those quizzes, it may have the question where did the same way but the numbers are different for the problems too. So I love that as well, too. Because we know we have to watch, watch those kinds of things. Rick Smith 44:19 If we didn't know that early on, I found out just kind of trial and error because I went before I signed something like that, whether it's a there's another thing called math Excel, and we can go through and work problems. And I'll go through it myself. So I know what they're looking at. And so I'll assign those to the kids. And then they'll come up and say I have a question about number 10. And I'm looking at Oh, yeah, I'll remember working this one. And then I was like, wait a minute, that's the numbers are different. Wait a minute. So it's interesting that it kind of shuffles it for him. So it's not like they can they have the exact same right questions. Yeah. Zach Diamond 44:52 That's cool. That's cool, though, because then they had to kind of do the problem again. Yeah, like do all the calculations again, or whatever the case may be. Yeah. That's cool. I'm curious. For the teachers who aren't totally using modern classrooms, especially those on your teaching team, in terms of collaboration, like, is the is that you know, that must should aspire to do sort of structure something you talk about at your collaborative meetings? Or is that just a just a Brooke and Rick thing? Brooke Lee 45:15 Um, it's kind of a combination of both. I think that at the beginning of the year, we, we really weren't pushing it that much. Just because with it being new, and we didn't want them to, you know, kind of totally be turned off with it. But now, I think that we're more comfortable with mentioning, okay, well, we're going to use this for a must do and they know what we're talking about at that point. Right. So it was kind of just more of a comfort level that we didn't, we didn't want to fully live here. Y'all are going to do this. But we just we wanted them to be embraced within it, but kind of been a slower process. Zach Diamond 45:56 Sure. That makes sense. You don't want to like evangelize. Right? Because you're right, no, like, sort of push push them away, almost. But it also, I guess, is it a broken record thing to like? Is it something that you do, we'll sit down and talk about together and plan out like this problem is going to be inspired to do or something like that? Is that something you'll plan out? Formally? Rick Smith 46:14 Yes, yes, we do. Yes. And we'll you know, we got to take turns, I'll come across something and I'll share it with Hey, did you see this? And she'll do the same thing. And so we're, we collaborate very well. Brooke Lee 46:28 Yes. And we are constantly discovering since you know, this is new for us, with our curriculum, and then modern classroom as well. That's, it's one good thing to have somebody same grade level, same subject, where you're comfortable to talk about those different things that you're seeing that are working, not working, or did you see this? That's, that's one benefit that I like a lot. Rick Smith 46:52 And I'm really not sure we've completely figured out all of the available resources within this textbook, it seems like almost every other month, we're discovering something new. We had no idea that that was even there. Zach Diamond 47:06 That's cool. Yeah, and I feel I have been using modern classrooms for I think, like four years now. It's my fourth year of modern classrooms. And I still feel that way about the model to, like, I still find new things about the model, I still find new things about teaching. I've been teaching my class for almost 10 years, it's just like, we're always learning, you know, you're I think it will be awesome to dive into a completely new curriculum, I guess it would, it feels like it'd be a lot of work. Brooke Lee 47:29 It was scary at first, but it just with us doing this, it just it it really fit perfectly. And I think that it was the perfect timing. Zach Diamond 47:41 That's great. That's great. I guess that's a pretty good transition into my next question, which is sort of to close us out what you all hope to see in the future, like, Where do you plan to go with this? What goals do you have, either individually, each one of you, or as a teaching team like together collaboratively? Rick Smith 47:57 Well, I know one of the things early on, we had Parent Night at the beginning of the school year, and I was trying to explain the modern classroom to parents. And one parent asked me well, how do you know that this is going to be successful? And I said, Well, I don't, but we're ripping the band aid off, and we're just we're jumping in the deep end of the pool, and we're gonna, we're gonna run with it. But I said How will knows when we get standardized test scores, then we'll know, we'll know if this thing works, or if it doesn't work. And we've had, we had a growth measure from a standardized test score in the fall, and we just had one in the winter. And also, I don't remember the exact percentage, but most of the kids grew in math. So that that told me that gave me a good benchmark to say what we're doing is working, that was kind of at the halfway point. So we've got two more standardized tests coming up in the spring. And we'll have a really good indication of just how successful this thing has been. And as you mentioned, we're going to I'm constantly tweaking what I'm doing with the modern classroom, just to make it better. So we'll know here in the spring, but so far, at halftime, it's looking really good. Brooke Lee 49:09 Right? I agree with that, too. And we had data meetings after we had those two assessments. And I remember my numbers because I just teaching math, you know, you're, that's, that's your thing. So my on my team 77% of my students are, are already proficient. So I really feel like that's really good. You know, considering it, that was the halfway point. So, to me, I feel like this has been a success, and I will for sure, keep using it and want to incorporate more. And my hope for me personally, is I'm going to finally not be so hard on myself and try the tracker a little bit differently. Like I know, I have my plan with what I want to do but I think I've just been hesitant with it because I think I've been overthinking it too much. And actually got a good idea from a colleague today, because we had a meeting with some of the modern classroom, people that came to visit our school actually today. So it's good to hear and good to have those people in your school that you can get those ideas off of, because as a teacher, you know, you're always constantly wanting to make things better for your students. And I feel like with this program, that that's one thing that is attainable. Brooke Lee 50:33 Yes, yes. Rick Smith 50:35 100%. Zach Diamond 50:36 I also agree 100%. It is, like, it doesn't always feel perfect every single day. But it's like when you're in it. It's like, Yes, this is the way right. Brooke Lee 50:46 Well, the things that I love the most are, you know, those kids that, like, for example, I had a kid that he started out with me on second grade level. And he is currently pushing towards end of fourth grade. And that's been within half a little over half a year. And he is feeling successful with using this model because it is more directed towards him. And he can feel those successes and not feel constantly like Well, I'm just terrible at math. So I'm just never gonna get this Zach Diamond 51:24 only ever had the experience of falling behind further in math is right, it's able to catch up and feel successful. Yes, that's amazing. Yes, that's amazing. Rick Smith 51:33 And I'll just I'll, I'll close by sharing just one neat story I was I shared this with Rob, last night. When we were we were all having having dinner with some of the modern classroom folks. I have a young lady and one of my classes that she's testing somewhere around a late fourth early fifth grade level. And her confidence is just absolutely horrible in lab. So I had been working with her one on one and told her Hey, why don't you come up here and start working with me individually, as we start working on some of these assignments. And I'll, I'll be sitting there to make sure you're doing things correctly. So she had done that for two or three days. And we were sitting there working some problems. And all of a sudden, another student walked up and said, Hey, I need help with number five. So I looked at the girl and I said, show her how to do number five. And she just sat back and watched. And she was explaining how to do the problem. And she basically explained it exactly the way I explained it to her. And it was just it was a beautiful thing to watch. And I don't think with a traditional teaching model, I would have ever seen that. But with modern classroom, I get to see that all the time. And it's so neat. Brooke Lee 52:44 It promotes that confidence, because like what you were saying she's not going to be one of those kids that raised her hand to answer a question, because she still was a little bit apprehensive about her confidence as herself as a mathematician. So that's it. It is awesome to see those kinds of things. Yeah, yes. Yeah. Zach Diamond 53:04 I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not a math teacher. But I would imagine that students aren't thinking of themselves, like what standard of math Am I on? When it's about their confidence, but if they're like, getting, you know, checks on the tracker, like, if they're making progress, that's what makes them feel successful, right? Like, oh, today I mastered X, Y, Z standard, right? Like just making that progress, feeling successful in the small things like moving through the lesson getting that tivities done getting the check, you know, Brooke Lee 53:35 or even just if they just score well on the mastery check, and they don't like. They're like, what I got all these right. And I'm like, Yeah, you did. Rick Smith 53:46 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I can just tell from the look on this, this girl's face. That's probably the first time in her life that she's actually been able to teach somebody how to do a math problem. Yeah, she's always been on the other end of that the receiving end. Right. And it was just a neat thing to see. She was so proud of herself. Zach Diamond 54:03 Yeah, I bet. I bet. Well, that that is fantastic. Brooke and Rick, how can our listeners connect with both of you? Brooke Lee 54:12 So my email is b l e at Hoover, h o v e r dot k 12 dot h l.us. Rick Smith 54:24 And mine is our I Smith as MIT H at Hoover. H O ve r dot k twelve.al.us. Zach Diamond 54:38 All right, and I'll have both of those email addresses in the show notes for the listeners. That was incredible. Brooke and Rick, thank you so much for joining me tonight. Rick Smith 54:48 Thank you for having us. Brooke Lee 54:49 I enjoyed it anytime. Zach Diamond 54:51 Absolutely. listeners. Remember you can always email us at podcast at modern classrooms.org And you can find the show notes for This episode at podcast dot modern classrooms.org/ 129. We'll have this episode's recap and transcript uploaded to the modern classrooms blog on Friday. So be sure to check there or check back in the show notes for this episode if you'd like to access those. And of course, thank you all for listening. Have a great week, and we will be back next Sunday. 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 dot modern classrooms.org. And you can learn the essentials of our muddle through our free course at Learn dot modern classrooms.org. You can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at modern class prize that's p r o j we are so appreciative of all you do for students in schools. Have a great week and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the modern classrooms project podcast.