No Tech Teaching Review

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Hey, and we are officially recording. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back

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to the Balancing Act podcast.

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I am Jamie Wanko here with my illustrious co-host, Joseph Vitale. Hello, Mr. Vitale.

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Illustrious. I love it. Pardon me. Hello, friend. How are we doing?

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Are you all right? Did you just have pudding an hour ago?

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All right i don't get the reference what what is the reference it's

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a movie or television um no it's like one of my one of my

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very good friends it's like anytime you you know have like a

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little choke session you have to say oh excuse me i just had pudding an

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hour ago because it just doesn't make any sense you would

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be recovered from the pudding i know got

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to recover hey we just found our episode episode title

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recovering from the pudding um yeah so

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it's good to see you again it's the bouncing act

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on human content uh we are excited to continue

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our journey and glad that you're joining us um so

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uh what's been what's going on in wonka world i what's interesting to me is

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we see we have last name culture in my building right everybody's like hey vitale

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hey wonka and you come on do not like last name culture i don't i want to know

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why i want to know why I don't understand.

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Does it grind your gears? It does grind my gears.

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You know, it grinds my gears. Yeah. I don't know. It doesn't seem.

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So I think that we do like such personal work. So I think that like when you

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cultivate a relationship with someone,

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part of the training that actually I've been attending this year has so much

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to do with, you know, DEI, which of course has been in the news quite a bit

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lately with whether or not it exists anymore.

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I actually just. Just a smidge. just once.

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It's been in the news just a little bit. Yeah. I actually just signed a timesheet

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for a payment for a committee.

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I'm sure you did as well for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the DEI committee.

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But so we've been getting this really fantastic training and it's from a professor

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who's actually from California through the NJCEE and New Jersey something,

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something, something, something.

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I'll have to look up what all those somethings mean.

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So many acronyms. Yes. And actually, she'd be a really cool guest to get on

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the pod. We should try to get her...

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And so she actually has her own podcast, and the title of that podcast is called Teaching While White.

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And it is essentially, like, the reasons behind why something like 80% of the

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teaching profession are white people.

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And so really what she has introduced us to is so many different reasons for that.

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But the background for this is a series of training that we've been going through

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to then, you know, turn it over and work with the kids on different projects

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regarding race and things of that nature.

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But the whole sort of premise is your identity and how you really identify yourself.

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And we have so many various identifiers.

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One of them, you know, is our name.

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And so, you know, it's almost I would liken it to if one of my own children,

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you know, I have three kids, you have two kids.

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Like if one of my kids came home and was like, hey, Jamie, what's up?

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How was your day? You know, so so you have these identities,

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you know, and what you're called is different, you know, based on who you're

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speaking to and where you are.

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So once I feel like I've developed a bit of like a relationship with someone

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or we know a little bit about each other.

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Now I've been, you know, in our building for two and a half years and I just

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feel like, Wonko, hey Wonko, hey Wonko, Wonko.

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There's just something about it that's very like coach, coaching culture to

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me that, you know, is just not really for me. So I would actually prefer,

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like, if it was just, the kids never say Mrs.

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Wonko. It's always Miss Wonko, like one word, Miss Wonko, which is 100% fine with me.

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So I think I'd feel more comfortable if my coworkers called me Miss Wonko more so than just Wonko.

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And I was recently outed about this. Did you know? Yeah.

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Do you know I was outed about this? Is that why you brought it up?

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Well, yes and no, but I was looking at our last names on our little feed here.

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And then I forgot that you were outed about this.

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And then once you mentioned it, I was like, oh, yeah, you were outed about this. I was like, oh, God.

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So there was another teacher who started at the same time that I started.

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And she is lovely. and we have had like lots of really nice conversations over

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the last couple of years and especially bonded a bit being new.

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And I had told her, she was like one of the only people that I had said,

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like, I really prefer my first name.

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So, you know, so she's been calling me by my first name and someone caught her

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recently and they said, what did you say?

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And it was just like and she she was like what now oh

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what and they were like what did you call her it was

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as if like they had never heard my first name before which in two and a half

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years probably was the truth I mean it was probably right like they had it um

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and she's like oh uh she she prefers Jamie like she was like almost like embarrassed

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I'm like you weren't supposed to tell anybody.

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Well because you're literally you're literally like it's weird

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because i never i i never really

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thought about it until you actually mentioned it

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to me and i was like wait a minute wait yeah because

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i also come from another building and it was not like that

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um and then all of a sudden you just kind of like

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fold it in and and again

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never really thought about it didn't you know didn't think

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didn't put two and two together and then all of a sudden um you know

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it's it's it's it's it's

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impersonal to me but maybe i'm sure that there's tons of people that it does

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not like no one would even think of it yeah and you also like you talked about

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like the coach mentality and and having worked in environments where everybody's

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like hey coach what's up coach how you doing coach what's going on coach hey

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coach hey coach yes and in case we're not Some of you,

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some of you are, some of you are not coaches anymore. Not that you like, it doesn't even matter.

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You're not like, you're not actually coaching right now. You're teaching English.

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So I don't know why you're calling someone, Hey coach, but you know,

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I think for me personally, it, it sort of harkens a voice club culture that I have.

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Don't appreciate. And as much as I can joke and laugh and take a joke and be part of one and.

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Not, you know, I'm not like the first person running to HR by any means,

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but it just, there's just something about it that just doesn't,

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I don't know if I feel like it's a little bit demeaning.

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There's just something to, I just don't like it. You know, it's kind of one

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of those things where it's like, I don't like it, but also I don't love my marriage name.

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So like, that's also part of it, which is really, it's very true that if you.

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You know, the, I guess if I wanted my children to have the same last name as

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me, so that was very important to me.

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So I'm sure that people could say like, oh, you could have just kept your maiden

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name and that would have been fine.

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But I'm somewhat old fashioned about that. But I do think that like,

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I had a lot of pride about being who I was for a really long time.

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And I finished my master's degree exactly three weeks before I got married.

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And so everything that I did, it was like Jamie Mesia, Mesia, Mesia, Mesia.

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And I had so much pride and self really worth like tied into my name that giving up my name,

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I wanted to because I know the traditionalist in me who got married in the Catholic

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Church and wanted to do all of those things.

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Now, I blink and I'll be married for 20 years. I genuinely thought it would be something that.

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Would not, it would not affect me or that I wouldn't think of it.

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And it's not true. It does.

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I still, you know, I spent 25 years as Jamie Micia and now 20 as Jamie Wonko.

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But yeah, so I guess it's a me problem. I don't know.

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We're going to have to reach out and, you know, have somebody try to solve me. Therapy is that.

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No, I thought it was really funny because you're like, I had

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the last person to like run to HR and do all those things like

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you might be the you might be the cause of people running to

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HR how dare you sir how dare you first

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of all how dare you um no of course not um but you know you definitely are one

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to be able to take a joke and fit right in and roll with the punches I just

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like just call me Jamie yeah yeah so anyway so this one lovely teacher kind

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of said it and outed me and then some of the other people were like what what are you what is it,

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I didn't say like, call me armchair.

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That's my God given name. Thank you. But call me laser.

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But it's fine. So now, you know, I go back and forth and I hear.

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So now a couple of people are like, oh, hi, Jamie.

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It's funny. Hello, Jamie. And I'm like, hi.

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You know, and it's like, I know your first name. I'm just not gonna,

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you know, I'm going along with the culture of it. So I get it. And it's fine.

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And, um, but yeah, for sure. You know, and you're Joseph Joe,

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but like people don't call you that at work ever.

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No, no. It's always Vitaly. Yep.

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Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, and I worked with you in another building,

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um, and people never called you that.

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Yeah. No, it's interesting. And I never really, I rebranded.

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I never really, you know, put a, it's funny too.

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Cause like my son, uh, for some reason, like he was playing,

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you know, little league baseball and it's like, we pronounce it vitality.

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And one coach said vital and like he became Joe vital, like only on the baseball

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field. That's the only place. Joe vital.

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Hey, vital. vital you gotta go to first vital but right field and it's like

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what who's this who's who's that kid.

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Um and then one of the greatest things happened ever he's a freshman on

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the baseball team and my son you know is good kid hard

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worker um we we call him a locker room

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guy be supportive like and and do your best to

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be on the team um by no means a superstar athlete but

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wants to be out there wants to be part of the team so um he's playing on the

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jv squad and uh it's just so funny we're playing on the jv squad and uh you

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know they're playing on the varsity field and then all the varsity guys are

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like not in the dugout they're like next to the dugout because,

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credit to the varsity coach who said hey you know what jv is

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going to be on the varsity field today i want all you guys to be there come to

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the game cheer him on and they were like chirping and like

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you know all the baseball stuff everything else so my

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son like hits a double and he gets on on base and

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somebody calls him the vitalian stallion and i

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and it i like i lost it i was like i don't know how he didn't lean into that

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and for that to become his entire persona we even made him shirts with like

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the rocky logo that said vitalian stallion and he like tried it on and never

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wore it again because he's a very like not a very showy kid but i was like.

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You have to lean into that. But like, he's just always vital,

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vital, vital, vital, vital.

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So my girlfriend, Colleen, always says, I guess they used to play like some

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kind of a game or like something in their family.

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And I guess everybody would kind of like do like a little part of a song or something like that.

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And she is like someone that never wants like, don't look at me, you know, don't.

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So I guess like somewhere along the line, it became like a don't pronounce me.

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Um so you know obviously it's like we know it's

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you know don't bring somebody up but so it's now it's something

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that we say like i'm sorry to pronounce you and joey

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to me is like a do not pronounce me oh yeah a hundred percent yeah no no yeah

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yeah yeah no no no no only it's not it's on his terms and there's nothing wrong

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with that that's just that's just and that's just his thing i mean a private

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pronouncement just not you know maybe not a public unless if it were if it were

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you, she'd be like, he'd be like, yeah, sure. Go ahead.

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I'd like a Vitalian stallion shirt. I mean, number one fan club of the Vitalian stallion. I know.

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My parents had a really, I don't know if this is terrible.

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This is like such an Italian, like large, large family kind of a thing.

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But I don't know. I can't remember if I'm related to this person or it was just somebody we knew.

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Right um but his name was his name

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was phil vital and he sold furniture nice

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and my parents like still will reference like oh that was philly philly vital

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and it just is you know so it is like and i know people have said like my maiden

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name is uh oh isn't it machia i'm like because it's a double c you know and

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i'm like i don't know that's what that's what i was told and wonko too it's Like, isn't it wanko?

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And it's like, listen, like, I didn't invent the name.

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Name. So I was told how to pronounce it.

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And, you know, it's like you just keep going. But yeah.

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So in our building, I don't know. I guess I, there are people that I,

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that probably, I mean, a lot of people don't even know what people's first names are.

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That's good. I'm telling you, they don't. I guarantee you that it was like the

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first time that people have even heard other people's first names.

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Yeah. Anyway. But yes, I guess I pay attention to, I pay attention.

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I can't help it. No, you do. I do. You're very aware. I'm too aware sometimes.

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I'm like, I wish I could be less aware, but yeah. Laissez-faire, less aware.

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Laissez-faire and less aware. Yeah, that's not me. Okay. Yeah.

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So yeah, we started out the school year. We've talked about this briefly,

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having no technology in the month of January.

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That's how our school year, that's how our calendar year started.

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2025, yeah. 2025, that's how our calendar year started.

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Um, the students were told to keep their devices at home, uh, to not bring them in.

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And then, um, that was supposed to be for the month of January.

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That was walked back to the first two weeks of January.

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Two weeks and two days. Two weeks and two days. And then, um.

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You know, teachers could basically at that point make the decision

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of whether or not they wanted to bring

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technology back into the classroom or uh uh

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if they wanted to continue to do a device-free tech-free

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um thing all the way through to the end um so i thought we since we have referenced

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that it would be good for us to talk about like what our experience was and

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how we kind of felt about that um you know and so i i guess i'll i'll kind of

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jump off to you i i think I mean,

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I think both of us have done work in the last couple of years,

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not to compare ourselves to the people that we work with,

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but I think that you and I have done work in the last couple of years to really

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balance what we do more, where it's not just like technology, technology,

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technology, technology, game, game, game, game, game, game, game.

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Like, I think we've done a very good job, like, varying our activities.

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I never did that. No, I never did that. I never, I never, I,

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so, so as one-to-one being,

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meaning there was one computer for every child in my classroom 10, 10 years ago.

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10 okay so this is not new to me um and

00:16:30.613 --> 00:16:34.033
i i never used it 100

00:16:34.033 --> 00:16:37.053
of the time yeah i would never think that

00:16:37.053 --> 00:16:39.913
anybody should be using it 100 of the time and shout

00:16:39.913 --> 00:16:45.013
out to a former co-worker of ours um which she's in a different building now

00:16:45.013 --> 00:16:50.733
she's like it's a tool not the tool and remember her saying that often and that

00:16:50.733 --> 00:16:54.513
always resonated with me and at the time i was teaching an elective and And

00:16:54.513 --> 00:16:57.133
it was a filmmaking, if you will,

00:16:57.293 --> 00:16:59.733
elective where we were doing- So it was your tool.

00:16:59.993 --> 00:17:03.193
Yeah, it was like multimedia publications. Yeah. I used to do filmmaking and

00:17:03.193 --> 00:17:05.533
we had a larger impetus across the building.

00:17:05.733 --> 00:17:09.913
I was doing technology coaching where we were focusing on that program and how

00:17:09.913 --> 00:17:14.613
to use it to do different types of student projects and make them more interactive.

00:17:15.213 --> 00:17:20.673
But when I was no longer teaching that elective because of the stage change

00:17:20.673 --> 00:17:24.413
and how people get certified, you need a business degree to teach a multimedia elective.

00:17:24.513 --> 00:17:26.493
I don't have that. And I'm not going back to school for it.

00:17:26.713 --> 00:17:31.053
It was not in, in my, uh, it was not on my bingo card to do that.

00:17:31.373 --> 00:17:33.953
So I was like, okay, I'm going back to civics and I'm going to teach that again.

00:17:34.033 --> 00:17:37.793
And when I literally thought the entire summer of like what I was going to do

00:17:37.793 --> 00:17:39.673
and how I was going to start my school year.

00:17:40.353 --> 00:17:45.953
And since I've been back in the classroom teaching civics, I have for literally

00:17:45.953 --> 00:17:47.553
the first month of the school year,

00:17:47.873 --> 00:17:50.773
not done anything technology related

00:17:50.773 --> 00:17:54.473
i've shown some videos on a on a smart board i've

00:17:54.473 --> 00:17:57.653
you know done things like that where like i've taken

00:17:57.653 --> 00:18:00.953
notes on the board and i've like had power like uh slide

00:18:00.953 --> 00:18:03.873
decks come up but i have not had

00:18:03.873 --> 00:18:07.073
them like wholeheartedly sitting on a chromebook doing

00:18:07.073 --> 00:18:09.873
an ed puzzle doing this thing doing that thing i focused on

00:18:09.873 --> 00:18:13.873
social emotional stuff as well as time management because huge

00:18:13.873 --> 00:18:17.313
huge lacking area for kids in middle school um team

00:18:17.313 --> 00:18:21.653
building activities where they were all working with different groups um and

00:18:21.653 --> 00:18:25.373
different students of across all different ability levels to get them used and

00:18:25.373 --> 00:18:28.493
comfortable having them have conversations with one another about certain topics

00:18:28.493 --> 00:18:34.033
problem solve through scenarios like i was having them do all that stuff in preparation for,

00:18:34.593 --> 00:18:37.533
all of the activities that we were going to do in class and then i kind of hit

00:18:37.533 --> 00:18:41.013
the the ground running pretty much like the last week in september like okay

00:18:41.013 --> 00:18:45.533
now we're going to get a google classroom now like like i can't i got asked

00:18:45.533 --> 00:18:50.113
on the daily where where's the can i join the When's the Google Classroom code?

00:18:50.733 --> 00:18:54.573
No, no, you don't need it. You don't need a Google Classroom code.

00:18:54.673 --> 00:18:56.893
Anything we do, we're going to do in class. We're going to do it on paper.

00:18:57.093 --> 00:18:58.213
We're going to use our notebooks.

00:18:58.673 --> 00:19:02.633
We're going to completely stay away from a technology tool because it was in

00:19:02.633 --> 00:19:07.113
the forefront every day where they were sticking their nose in other classes,

00:19:07.113 --> 00:19:08.973
which I witnessed, and I didn't like it.

00:19:09.653 --> 00:19:13.693
So I kind of changed what I was doing to go in the opposite direction.

00:19:13.693 --> 00:19:18.293
So then did you feel like the January transition for you?

00:19:19.297 --> 00:19:23.697
Was just, it was going to be like a non-issue. It was a non-issue for me.

00:19:23.857 --> 00:19:28.577
It really wasn't. It like, so I did the two weeks and two days. Okay.

00:19:29.077 --> 00:19:34.217
Um, I looked at what I had been teaching and what I had been going over and

00:19:34.217 --> 00:19:40.717
we just, you know, um, we just had a inauguration of a new president and there

00:19:40.717 --> 00:19:42.617
were activities that I wanted to do.

00:19:42.757 --> 00:19:47.097
There's a near pod that I really like, that goes over like the roles of the president.

00:19:48.277 --> 00:19:51.317
Excuse me, it talks about his cabinet. And I really like that.

00:19:51.357 --> 00:19:55.457
It's good. And I've edited it down and I've removed some activities and I've added some videos.

00:19:55.597 --> 00:19:58.697
And I'm like, all right, well, I'm going to do that because it's relevant and

00:19:58.697 --> 00:20:03.757
it's topical and it's timely and it speaks to the things that are happening in society right now.

00:20:04.177 --> 00:20:07.097
So like Chromebooks are coming back in.

00:20:07.217 --> 00:20:12.017
And then I immediately did like a little mini project. And now this week we've shifted to,

00:20:13.517 --> 00:20:18.097
we're doing stations where there's one piece of the station where they have

00:20:18.097 --> 00:20:21.257
to like use their Chromebook to do something, but the rest of it is all like

00:20:21.257 --> 00:20:23.877
one thing they did. And I took this from you, by the way.

00:20:24.637 --> 00:20:27.637
One of the stations is coloring about the executive branch.

00:20:27.857 --> 00:20:31.277
They're just like coloring the picture of the White House and a presidential seal.

00:20:31.457 --> 00:20:34.357
And I put like three, four questions on a piece of paper. Did you have a lot

00:20:34.357 --> 00:20:37.297
of white crayons for the coloring of the White House?

00:20:37.517 --> 00:20:40.197
I did not. They actually did some gray shading. It was actually very nice.

00:20:42.017 --> 00:20:45.557
But no, so we, we did like, okay, one of the stations is coloring.

00:20:45.697 --> 00:20:48.197
And what I did was, is we gave them some questions to talk about.

00:20:48.357 --> 00:20:50.337
And they were like, Hey, if you were president, what would you fix?

00:20:50.677 --> 00:20:53.057
If you were going to choose a cabinet, who would you pick? Yeah.

00:20:53.257 --> 00:20:57.197
And I wholeheartedly, and this was today, this was today. Yeah. We did this today.

00:20:57.477 --> 00:21:01.637
I wholeheartedly, my favorite station was sitting with those kids at the coloring

00:21:01.637 --> 00:21:06.797
station and having that conversation and saying to, and having them talk about like, oh yeah.

00:21:06.897 --> 00:21:10.017
Like one kid brought up like, oh yeah. Gun control.

00:21:10.017 --> 00:21:12.737
Like and then we talked about like okay well if you want to fix

00:21:12.737 --> 00:21:16.237
gun control you're gonna make some people angry why would people want to be

00:21:16.237 --> 00:21:19.017
upset well it's a violation of the second amendment and like people in the south

00:21:19.017 --> 00:21:22.217
because they like that's like gun culture we talked about that like we were

00:21:22.217 --> 00:21:25.917
in the northeast and it was just a very like there's there's been some very

00:21:25.917 --> 00:21:29.617
good conversations like what's the toughest part of the job and a lot of them

00:21:29.617 --> 00:21:31.957
said like not being able to like,

00:21:32.557 --> 00:21:37.937
be alone like i can't just go to the pizza shop and get a slice of pizza like

00:21:37.937 --> 00:21:40.957
you got to have somebody follow you around. So we had some really good.

00:21:42.505 --> 00:21:48.025
Fun structured discussions about the executive branch. So I didn't like,

00:21:48.185 --> 00:21:49.745
I, I didn't lose an activity.

00:21:50.505 --> 00:21:54.045
Right. But like, for me, it wasn't like a bit, it wasn't a big deal.

00:21:54.645 --> 00:21:58.105
Um, that that's just my take on it.

00:21:58.285 --> 00:22:01.585
Like, it just, it just wasn't like, okay, well, this is, this is a Tuesday for me.

00:22:01.685 --> 00:22:05.285
It's not like it, you know, I had to do some things out of order,

00:22:05.525 --> 00:22:09.205
like, okay, whoop-dee-doo, but I, and I, I still am now returning,

00:22:09.205 --> 00:22:12.945
but like, it's like, okay, Monday we did an ad puzzle, which introduced to what

00:22:12.945 --> 00:22:13.985
we're going to talk about in the stations.

00:22:13.985 --> 00:22:17.165
And then today and tomorrow stations. And then we're doing a,

00:22:17.305 --> 00:22:19.825
an infographic where we're going to look at this big graphic and we're going

00:22:19.825 --> 00:22:25.705
to like label things and talk about executive orders. Like it's like hands-on stuff.

00:22:25.845 --> 00:22:30.365
Like it can't just be the same thing all the time. Right.

00:22:30.725 --> 00:22:35.265
I mean, I think, so I think that the, I keep getting these ads for t-shirts

00:22:35.265 --> 00:22:37.985
that say, like, if there's no data, it's just an opinion.

00:22:38.805 --> 00:22:43.365
And I'm not really a numbers person. But what I would be very curious about,

00:22:43.525 --> 00:22:47.865
after having, you know, such a bold stroke, like we, we did,

00:22:48.045 --> 00:22:51.785
you know, so I want to know how many people made it the entire month?

00:22:51.965 --> 00:22:54.205
How many people did the two weeks and two days?

00:22:54.465 --> 00:22:59.365
You know, how many people noticed any kind of marked improvement in children's

00:22:59.365 --> 00:23:03.025
attention span or ability to attend to a task.

00:23:03.485 --> 00:23:08.425
You know, without any of that information or without any of that being measured,

00:23:08.425 --> 00:23:10.985
we don't really have any idea.

00:23:11.445 --> 00:23:15.445
So I did the two. So I've spoken about this.

00:23:15.585 --> 00:23:21.225
I teach a section of sixth grade language arts and four sections of eighth grade

00:23:21.225 --> 00:23:23.485
world history. You busy.

00:23:26.705 --> 00:23:33.105
Uh, yeah. So, um, so my language arts class is still not on tech.

00:23:33.325 --> 00:23:39.325
So I'm, we have not used the computer at all. Um, I still have not reintroduced

00:23:39.325 --> 00:23:41.165
the computers with them at all.

00:23:41.405 --> 00:23:45.425
Not one of them has asked me if we are going to use the computers.

00:23:45.685 --> 00:23:51.925
Um, I just think at this point they've assumed like we're never using them again. I don't know. I will.

00:23:52.085 --> 00:23:56.765
Um, but we're right in the middle of a beautiful novel studies with two different novels.

00:23:57.065 --> 00:24:02.825
And there is enough stuff for us to do from now until like, you know,

00:24:02.925 --> 00:24:08.405
three years from now, as far as reading comprehension and all things concerned,

00:24:08.645 --> 00:24:15.625
writing, reading, all of it, that I could probably never use the computer again. What is.

00:24:16.867 --> 00:24:23.167
Different for me with my curriculum in regards to my social studies classes

00:24:23.167 --> 00:24:27.327
is the, you know, the stuff, right?

00:24:27.507 --> 00:24:37.507
So, like, you know, the idea of having access to more and different and varied tools.

00:24:37.507 --> 00:24:41.987
Now, I could, and I did for a couple of weeks, for certain things,

00:24:42.147 --> 00:24:45.547
photocopy and photocopy and photocopy.

00:24:45.647 --> 00:24:51.647
But To me, if I'm using a piece of paper, right, we're going to go back to that

00:24:51.647 --> 00:24:58.767
old, is it really an enhancement or is it a replacement? What are we doing with these types of tools?

00:24:58.987 --> 00:25:04.667
And there are just certain experiences that I want my students to have that

00:25:04.667 --> 00:25:06.667
the technology affords them,

00:25:06.687 --> 00:25:15.247
that you are not going to get the same experience from a worksheet or a workbook.

00:25:16.247 --> 00:25:22.247
And even if it's in a conversation, we can still do that and have the computers

00:25:22.247 --> 00:25:26.567
be present in the classroom. So I've tried it both ways.

00:25:26.787 --> 00:25:30.827
You know, I if someone wanted to buy me like a bunch of novels for my world

00:25:30.827 --> 00:25:34.547
history class and told me like to give it another month, I certainly would.

00:25:34.887 --> 00:25:40.867
I think that the kids are far more conversational than people give them credit for. Agreed.

00:25:41.307 --> 00:25:44.887
But I think that the, just like you said, it's like, you know,

00:25:45.007 --> 00:25:48.547
sometimes you do have to have in small groups and sometimes you do need to have

00:25:48.547 --> 00:25:54.047
like, you know, an environment where you can, you know, foster those types of conversations with.

00:25:54.784 --> 00:25:57.984
And obviously, it's going to be different based on the time of day and the,

00:25:58.004 --> 00:26:01.484
you know, the boy-to-girl ratio or just the maturity level.

00:26:01.884 --> 00:26:06.984
But it's not impossible, right? But the certain things, like we've been trying

00:26:06.984 --> 00:26:12.424
to do a lot of note-taking and understanding what that means and what it looks like and outlining.

00:26:12.884 --> 00:26:16.484
And I also feel the responsibility of getting them ready for high school.

00:26:16.484 --> 00:26:22.544
And in many cases, you know, for many of the students, they're going to they're

00:26:22.544 --> 00:26:25.084
going to AP Advanced Placement World History 2.

00:26:25.104 --> 00:26:33.264
So I just, you know, I really had to evaluate if it was better with the computer,

00:26:33.264 --> 00:26:36.624
if it was more impactful with the computer.

00:26:36.624 --> 00:26:43.984
But I'm not doing anything different necessarily from what I've been doing as

00:26:43.984 --> 00:26:48.304
far as, you know, for 15 minutes we are and for 20 minutes we're not.

00:26:48.504 --> 00:26:51.104
And then maybe an entire class we're not.

00:26:51.624 --> 00:26:54.364
You know, so it really, you know, are we turning and talking?

00:26:54.604 --> 00:26:57.044
Are we standing up and doing round robin writing?

00:26:57.244 --> 00:27:00.644
You know, so whatever it might be. I mean, teachers are really good.

00:27:00.644 --> 00:27:07.984
And so, you know, this idea of, you know, being able to sort of pivot and just

00:27:07.984 --> 00:27:13.964
totally change the way that you're doing something, you know, is very possible.

00:27:13.964 --> 00:27:19.024
I don't think that I don't think there's a better group of people than teachers to do that with.

00:27:19.164 --> 00:27:22.064
I just, you know, you spoke about data. But I'm missing, right,

00:27:22.224 --> 00:27:23.784
that's what I'm, but I'm missing, like, so.

00:27:24.864 --> 00:27:29.084
You know, so it's like you give an assignment to a class and you collect,

00:27:29.364 --> 00:27:32.564
you know, whether it is, you know, some sort of formative or summative,

00:27:32.664 --> 00:27:37.984
whatever it is, the assessment, how do you know how it went if you don't have

00:27:37.984 --> 00:27:40.924
a measure for what just did?

00:27:43.379 --> 00:27:46.359
I try to observe and listen, right?

00:27:46.499 --> 00:27:49.219
And I don't want to be critical of people in our profession,

00:27:49.219 --> 00:27:53.519
but like one of the things that I talked to, I had a conversation with our boss

00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:56.479
about like, oh, we're going to pull technology away. We're going to do what I'm like, okay.

00:27:56.699 --> 00:28:01.859
But like, I don't want it to seem disingenuous, but is it really going to move

00:28:01.859 --> 00:28:05.619
the needle if we don't do this the right way?

00:28:05.719 --> 00:28:08.039
If we don't discuss afterwards. What's the needle?

00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:11.459
That's what I mean. Like what, that was the other thing I was trying to say,

00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:14.079
like what, where, where are What are we trying to measure? What are we trying

00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:16.379
to improve? Like, what are we trying to improve?

00:28:16.899 --> 00:28:22.439
Because, and if it's, oh, you know, looking on GoGuardian, these kids are on

00:28:22.439 --> 00:28:24.819
their Chromebooks day and night when they go home and blah.

00:28:25.719 --> 00:28:27.899
They're not on their Chromebooks, and I've mentioned this before.

00:28:27.999 --> 00:28:30.679
They're not on their Chromebooks because we're given excessive amounts of homework

00:28:30.679 --> 00:28:34.259
and they have, you know, subject upon subject upon subject.

00:28:36.239 --> 00:28:40.639
Here's a bold statement. That's a parenting issue. That's not a I can control

00:28:40.639 --> 00:28:44.899
that in my classroom issue. If they're on their devices until all hours of the

00:28:44.899 --> 00:28:47.139
evening, that's a parenting issue.

00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:53.039
So having... I mean, is it easy for the child to lie to their parents to say, I'm doing homework?

00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:57.739
Yes. Sure. It is, especially if it is a school device. It's very easy to say,

00:28:57.959 --> 00:29:01.119
oh, well, they must be doing homework because they're on their school device,

00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:05.319
or it is just an unmonitored situation.

00:29:05.719 --> 00:29:09.179
It's an unmonitored situation. I'm not saying... That is my guess.

00:29:09.439 --> 00:29:13.419
Now, the second thing is we go one-to-one. I'm sure we remember college right

00:29:13.419 --> 00:29:16.239
back in a day in the nineties. Um, um,

00:29:17.533 --> 00:29:20.573
Or for you in the 2000s, because you don't look a day over 34,

00:29:20.573 --> 00:29:23.133
as your students told you today. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

00:29:23.333 --> 00:29:25.133
Beautiful scarf, by the way.

00:29:26.553 --> 00:29:32.053
So we remember the SAMR model, right? The SAMR model, substitution,

00:29:32.293 --> 00:29:34.253
augmentation, modification, redefinition, right?

00:29:34.413 --> 00:29:38.433
We are, goodness, how many years one-to-one are we as a district?

00:29:38.433 --> 00:29:41.633
I know you're doing it a little bit longer because the sixth grade curriculum

00:29:41.633 --> 00:29:43.533
was on Chromebooks or computer, whatever.

00:29:44.553 --> 00:29:47.793
Let let's be conservative and say what

00:29:47.793 --> 00:29:50.993
12 13 years no one-to-one no way

00:29:50.993 --> 00:29:54.073
we're not absolutely not longer or

00:29:54.073 --> 00:29:58.513
shorter shorter way shorter about five years okay so either way well we yeah

00:29:58.513 --> 00:30:02.693
we had carts right so weren't true one true one-to-one weren't you run to okay

00:30:02.693 --> 00:30:08.193
so yes but we didn't have the carts 12 years ago i had my own cart and the only

00:30:08.193 --> 00:30:12.913
people who had it in our school district or sixth grade social studies teachers.

00:30:13.153 --> 00:30:16.013
And the cards remained in the classroom.

00:30:16.413 --> 00:30:25.033
That was 10 years ago. When I was at my previous school, we did have cards that

00:30:25.033 --> 00:30:28.553
you could sign out and you could use Chromebooks. But that's not one-to-one.

00:30:29.013 --> 00:30:32.453
No, that's not what I mean. I'm not saying that. I mean, there were computers

00:30:32.453 --> 00:30:35.113
in my classroom when I did student teaching in 1000.

00:30:35.453 --> 00:30:40.773
I'm just saying it was not one-to-one. One-to-one meaning they're taking the

00:30:40.773 --> 00:30:43.353
devices home and going back and forth.

00:30:43.493 --> 00:30:48.253
We had very small pockets. We had second grade classes that were on iPads.

00:30:48.833 --> 00:30:53.193
We had eighth graders that were on iPads.

00:30:53.413 --> 00:30:59.853
And that's why I get confused because the eighth graders on iPads predated the

00:30:59.853 --> 00:31:02.253
rest of the grades all getting Chromebooks.

00:31:02.413 --> 00:31:05.593
The eighth grade had iPads and all the other grades had Chromebooks. Yes.

00:31:06.153 --> 00:31:10.213
Okay. Yes. But it wasn't, it was not, um, cause we were the first,

00:31:10.213 --> 00:31:13.013
so, uh, to be one, to truly be one-to-one.

00:31:13.173 --> 00:31:16.373
We were the first school in the district to be one-to-one. And that was,

00:31:16.493 --> 00:31:20.613
so, so let's just do a marker of time of five, we'll say five years. Sure.

00:31:20.893 --> 00:31:24.973
Either way. Okay. If it's, if it's five years, um.

00:31:25.613 --> 00:31:33.313
Like we are not like we're, we're still on, like, maybe we're just about dipping

00:31:33.313 --> 00:31:37.393
our toe into the augmentation portion of the SAMRA model.

00:31:37.553 --> 00:31:42.313
We're not redefining anything. We're not doing anything differently because

00:31:42.313 --> 00:31:46.613
the teacher doesn't have that ability.

00:31:47.573 --> 00:31:51.433
Like we would love to be able to dive in and go deeper and do that stuff,

00:31:51.453 --> 00:31:55.513
but we're not able to because we're not deep enough in an ecosystem and have

00:31:55.513 --> 00:31:59.413
the right programs in order for us to do those things.

00:31:59.653 --> 00:32:02.853
So what do people wind up relying on to do things in their classes?

00:32:03.113 --> 00:32:08.033
They wind up relying on or using things that automatically get graded.

00:32:09.277 --> 00:32:15.237
Well, I love that. I do love that. But you don't love only that.

00:32:15.457 --> 00:32:20.097
And there are many people that that is what they do.

00:32:20.257 --> 00:32:22.917
We're going to do a book kit. Then we're going to do a game kit.

00:32:22.997 --> 00:32:24.157
Then we're going to do an Edpuzzle.

00:32:24.377 --> 00:32:28.897
And it's like, where in that are you interacting with anyone?

00:32:29.177 --> 00:32:32.597
Right. But that's the other part of it is that you're saying there are a lot

00:32:32.597 --> 00:32:36.897
of people. Is it a lot of people? Is it the minority? Is it three people?

00:32:37.157 --> 00:32:40.937
How many people? Yeah. But I'm serious.

00:32:41.237 --> 00:32:46.017
It's like nobody really knows what I do in my classroom on a day to day basis.

00:32:46.297 --> 00:32:49.717
Right. So so and I know you do have it. You do have a fart cabinet,

00:32:50.097 --> 00:32:52.457
which is because it was an art cabinet.

00:32:52.577 --> 00:32:54.997
Somebody put an F on it. Now it's a fart. God bless the fart cabinet.

00:32:55.177 --> 00:32:59.597
But no, I'm serious. It's like, you know, you, if, right, like nobody really

00:32:59.597 --> 00:33:03.117
knows unless you've had like an in-class support teacher that you've been with

00:33:03.117 --> 00:33:09.117
for an entire year, you don't really know what someone else is doing on a day to day.

00:33:09.637 --> 00:33:14.917
And, you know, if you asked the students, they would say like, oh, nothing.

00:33:16.077 --> 00:33:20.237
So you can't ask them, right? I love this class. It was so fast.

00:33:20.397 --> 00:33:24.577
We didn't do anything today. I'm like, can you please stop saying that, guys? Like, please.

00:33:24.837 --> 00:33:30.217
You know, I know it's a nice compliment when they say how fast the class went, you know, for them.

00:33:30.357 --> 00:33:33.157
But please don't say, like, we didn't do anything because that's not true.

00:33:33.317 --> 00:33:37.157
But they're, you know, so who is defining these types of, I hate,

00:33:37.297 --> 00:33:42.057
you know, I just don't like the overreaching, nobody's doing this or everybody's doing that.

00:33:42.057 --> 00:33:50.537
Because I don't believe that that is a true reflection of what is really happening

00:33:50.537 --> 00:33:52.897
for the overwhelming majority.

00:33:53.157 --> 00:33:58.437
And if you're also trying to change behavior of teachers and students,

00:33:59.117 --> 00:34:01.877
these need to be larger conversations than just.

00:34:03.017 --> 00:34:07.497
And we've both made suggestions to our boss about, hey, let's write something

00:34:07.497 --> 00:34:15.397
in our PDP for next year about reliance on technology less in our daily practice,

00:34:15.677 --> 00:34:17.997
whatever specifically that's going to be. Right.

00:34:18.577 --> 00:34:24.057
I just wanted it, and I wanted it in connection to writing because I think pencil

00:34:24.057 --> 00:34:29.537
to paper is ultimately the best, you know, way to really to learn.

00:34:29.537 --> 00:34:32.477
And we know that, and that's been studied, and there is data about that.

00:34:32.717 --> 00:34:38.537
But there is. You know, so I think it was a very, very bold move.

00:34:38.817 --> 00:34:41.217
I think it is, for anyone that has,

00:34:42.254 --> 00:34:45.854
boss, no matter, you know, what type of work you do,

00:34:46.034 --> 00:34:50.454
you know, if you have a boss that is wishy washy, doesn't really make any kind

00:34:50.454 --> 00:34:55.394
of decisions, you know, is always sort of, you know, changing their mind or

00:34:55.394 --> 00:34:57.874
can't ever give a hard yes or a hard no,

00:34:58.254 --> 00:35:03.034
you know, that is a worse, more difficult situation to be in.

00:35:04.094 --> 00:35:07.014
100%. Than getting behind someone who says,

00:35:07.174 --> 00:35:10.714
you know what, this is what we're going to do and everybody has to do it and

00:35:10.714 --> 00:35:14.294
there's no turning back and we're all just going to go forward i would rather

00:35:14.294 --> 00:35:18.394
do that but at the same time at the same time if people like you and i sit down

00:35:18.394 --> 00:35:22.654
and have an honest and open conversation if it's drinking game this week everybody,

00:35:23.134 --> 00:35:29.354
take a shot every time joe says conversation i'm wasted sorry joe did i say

00:35:29.354 --> 00:35:35.474
conversation so many times you love it ew well sorry um wait a minute did you

00:35:35.474 --> 00:35:38.234
not know how fond you are of the word,

00:35:39.074 --> 00:35:44.614
conversation yes of a laissez-faire attitude towards it um no it's important

00:35:44.614 --> 00:35:48.974
it's important to be able to have an open dialogue dialogue i knew you were

00:35:48.974 --> 00:35:50.374
gonna say dialogue yeah with,

00:35:51.034 --> 00:35:55.554
and sit down and be like look i'm a stakeholder i'm someone who has uh take

00:35:55.554 --> 00:35:56.734
a shot joe said stakeholder.

00:35:57.354 --> 00:35:59.214
No, that's not part of my thing.

00:36:00.534 --> 00:36:03.794
But we are, though. We haven't been teaching for 10 minutes.

00:36:03.834 --> 00:36:10.354
We've been teaching for long enough where if we sit down with a boss and voice

00:36:10.354 --> 00:36:14.094
our concerns, it comes from a place of genuine concern.

00:36:14.374 --> 00:36:19.354
It's like being part of a president's cabinet. You don't want to surround yourself with yes.

00:36:19.734 --> 00:36:23.054
You don't want to surround yourself with yes man yeah it's a great idea let's

00:36:23.054 --> 00:36:28.034
do it boss yeah see let's do it like you don't want to surround yourself with

00:36:28.034 --> 00:36:32.174
people like that you want people that'll be like hey this is a good idea however,

00:36:32.734 --> 00:36:39.514
what i'm hearing is yes or one thing that i'd like to make mention of is um

00:36:39.514 --> 00:36:46.254
which allows us to be able to to have a broader sense of ownership yeah,

00:36:47.080 --> 00:36:51.680
in that process as we make changes. Right. I mean, I was part of a professional

00:36:51.680 --> 00:36:55.220
learning community, PLC, PLC, where are my PLC people at?

00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:59.780
PLC for a long time. You can also drink every time Jamie uses an acronym tonight.

00:37:00.060 --> 00:37:01.940
That's right. Because we are acronyms all over the place.

00:37:02.920 --> 00:37:07.320
BTW. You can't steal my game. I made the game about you. You have to come up

00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:08.640
with your own game next time.

00:37:09.020 --> 00:37:11.700
Okay, we're going to call. Don't be jealous of my game making.

00:37:11.940 --> 00:37:14.600
All right there, Scarfie Magoo. Get right over it. Okay.

00:37:17.080 --> 00:37:20.720
And this is a very relevant Valentine's Day scarf.

00:37:21.200 --> 00:37:25.780
It is. I love it. It was given to me by my one true love, who I've already mentioned

00:37:25.780 --> 00:37:27.440
about nine times in the pod.

00:37:27.620 --> 00:37:29.560
And just peek a little.

00:37:29.800 --> 00:37:33.540
Look at this. I love that. Yeah. I saw that today. It's got like a little XR.

00:37:33.980 --> 00:37:40.880
I know. It's my pudding. Don't pronounce me. Oh, I pronounced her gift from my lover, Colleen.

00:37:41.120 --> 00:37:45.680
So anyway, so if you have this professional learning piece.

00:37:45.680 --> 00:37:52.740
So to me, it would be perfect if we took a minute to, we don't have PLCs in

00:37:52.740 --> 00:37:56.680
our current building, but the idea would be that if we really did have these

00:37:56.680 --> 00:37:58.640
groups, you could do it by department also,

00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:02.360
to take, you know, and it doesn't have to be a survey, it doesn't have to be

00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:05.420
anything written down or formal, just kind of get the idea of,

00:38:05.540 --> 00:38:06.500
you know, how did it work?

00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:10.960
And how did it work, you know, by subject area? Was it different by grade level?

00:38:11.180 --> 00:38:15.360
Was it different, you know, throughout the month?

00:38:15.620 --> 00:38:21.060
Or did it, you know, how, and I want to know, how many people went the entire time?

00:38:21.380 --> 00:38:25.760
How many people did the two and a half weeks? You know, and then,

00:38:25.900 --> 00:38:31.600
of course, what, did they, did they think that it was the step in the right direction?

00:38:32.240 --> 00:38:38.820
And I do know, opinion, not data, but I do know a lot of the students had expressed.

00:38:40.580 --> 00:38:45.220
Their joy and appreciation and love and yes. And it was a yes for them.

00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:49.520
They were very happy not to have the computers, you know, so,

00:38:49.520 --> 00:38:52.860
um, you know, so it's, it's, it's one of those things where we can,

00:38:52.860 --> 00:38:57.380
I don't know, do you think we'll ever find out any more about it?

00:38:57.480 --> 00:38:59.780
Or will that just be one of those floating out there in the,

00:38:59.920 --> 00:39:02.340
you know, say, uh, yeah, I don't know.

00:39:02.580 --> 00:39:06.500
Um, but I'm glad you brought up the idea of the students because I think that

00:39:06.500 --> 00:39:11.140
that is an important aspect of this that like, we got to have that conversation

00:39:11.140 --> 00:39:13.140
with them to be like, well, what did you think of all this?

00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:15.960
Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. Sorry. True.

00:39:17.040 --> 00:39:20.200
No, we have to, no, you have to ask. No, you said the word again.

00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:24.960
No, I know, but we have to, we have to talk. Are you upset, Mr. Ray Talley?

00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:29.120
No, but it's an important point. We have to talk to them about it.

00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:30.360
If it's, if we're going to directly

00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:32.940
affect instruction and we're going to make it better for students,

00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:36.340
we need to know what they think about it absolutely and

00:39:36.340 --> 00:39:39.240
then at the same time we know it's not gonna it's not going anywhere

00:39:39.240 --> 00:39:42.220
really so i mean because fundamentally they

00:39:42.220 --> 00:39:45.440
poured you just know a structure what would

00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:49.640
that be structurally they've poured so much money into the

00:39:49.640 --> 00:39:54.360
devices people who fix the devices you know the techs working with the devices

00:39:54.360 --> 00:39:58.800
that and and taking so much money away from buying books and other parts of

00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:02.860
curriculum so it's sort of like your hands are tied infrastructure alone Between

00:40:02.860 --> 00:40:05.880
wiring and modem updates and all that stuff.

00:40:06.080 --> 00:40:09.880
Fiber optic cables and shared agreements with the town. All those things are

00:40:09.880 --> 00:40:16.420
done in an effort to make sure that our schools are able to be 21st century, future-ready schools.

00:40:16.600 --> 00:40:20.140
Yeah. So what's one program on the computer?

00:40:20.620 --> 00:40:25.880
So what's one program in your classroom that you could never live without?

00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:29.420
And what's one program that you could toss out and not think about again?

00:40:29.420 --> 00:40:36.400
Um, I think it's always been my, my go-to is Nearpod just because it has such

00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:43.300
a, a breath of, uh, activities that you can do a bunch of stuff with it.

00:40:43.860 --> 00:40:48.020
Um, and the one that I would throw out right now, controversial take would probably

00:40:48.020 --> 00:40:54.780
be GimKit because it, in, it's overused in a lot of classes because when I listened

00:40:54.780 --> 00:40:57.260
to the students and they're like, okay, we're going to play GimKit today.

00:40:57.260 --> 00:41:00.440
I did it once this year once it

00:41:00.440 --> 00:41:03.180
was a half day before break we're doing a

00:41:03.180 --> 00:41:05.920
trivia game i was like let's put all the trivia questions in game kit

00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:09.140
i'll let you guys play so we're doing a thing and we get them a little bit early

00:41:09.140 --> 00:41:13.820
so they want to play like this other mode and it's like you do like want you

00:41:13.820 --> 00:41:17.720
answer questions and you get like an amount of time to like jump around like

00:41:17.720 --> 00:41:23.040
super mario brothers style and like jump over obstacles and i really like i

00:41:23.040 --> 00:41:24.780
kind of misconstrued what they were saying.

00:41:24.940 --> 00:41:28.120
And I gave them like, oh, they wanted to answer. They want 10,000 health or

00:41:28.120 --> 00:41:30.680
whatever it was. So they answer one question.

00:41:31.722 --> 00:41:35.202
And then I watched them just jumping around for like three, four minutes.

00:41:35.422 --> 00:41:37.782
And I'm like, yeah, we're immediately ending this. I was like,

00:41:37.862 --> 00:41:39.242
I'm lowering your whatever.

00:41:39.462 --> 00:41:44.402
So I lowered it to like 100 instead of 10,000. And you would have thought I

00:41:44.402 --> 00:41:49.902
killed a baby because they all were like, but that's not.

00:41:50.142 --> 00:41:53.422
The objective here is to go through the trivia questions,

00:41:53.422 --> 00:41:58.022
not to jump around in the game, but they get to the point where they play these

00:41:58.022 --> 00:42:05.162
games where they want to do as little actual work as possible and then do the other walk around,

00:42:05.382 --> 00:42:07.402
interact with other people, play among us.

00:42:07.882 --> 00:42:12.862
No, I know it has its advantages. I get it, but it's rote memorization.

00:42:13.362 --> 00:42:17.882
It's the same thing that we've been doing time after time. What about you?

00:42:18.022 --> 00:42:19.462
What would you keep? What would you throw away?

00:42:20.562 --> 00:42:22.862
And by the way, I also, I'm sorry,

00:42:23.162 --> 00:42:27.162
I do love GimKit. I think it's a great tool. I think it's wonderful.

00:42:27.602 --> 00:42:31.582
I think the interface is good. I think that the, the, the stuff that they have for it is great.

00:42:32.302 --> 00:42:35.822
Yeah. And who doesn't love something the kids love? I, the only time we ever

00:42:35.822 --> 00:42:39.682
have GimKit in my room is if the kids, and this happens a bit,

00:42:39.962 --> 00:42:44.262
um, when the, when the students are in charge of making something for the rest

00:42:44.262 --> 00:42:46.642
of the class, that's, they love that.

00:42:46.762 --> 00:42:49.802
And I, but I'll usually limit it to only one, um, one group.

00:42:49.802 --> 00:42:55.242
And then I say like, oh, five minutes because I can't really handle it any longer

00:42:55.242 --> 00:42:57.362
than that because of exactly what you said.

00:42:57.522 --> 00:43:02.362
There is just, it's a game. And games are fun, but it's not,

00:43:02.382 --> 00:43:05.242
it's just not, yeah, you know.

00:43:05.502 --> 00:43:07.542
So yeah, so no shade to GimKit.

00:43:08.542 --> 00:43:14.822
It's sort of the gamification of school that has gone, you know, the pendulum swings.

00:43:14.862 --> 00:43:17.342
When I was a new teacher, they would always say, and the pendulum swings,

00:43:17.402 --> 00:43:18.122
and the pendulum swings.

00:43:18.282 --> 00:43:21.082
And that is for sure like one of the ones where i'm like can somebody on

00:43:21.082 --> 00:43:23.902
the other side push that back because it's just gotten it's gotten

00:43:23.902 --> 00:43:26.922
a bit too far um i really i love

00:43:26.922 --> 00:43:30.182
like all of the constant updates to google classroom i really

00:43:30.182 --> 00:43:35.122
like using oh yeah i love if we were going if we were going that route then

00:43:35.122 --> 00:43:39.902
yes yes i kind of thought of like an external program outside of oh sure google

00:43:39.902 --> 00:43:44.562
workspace but the way that we yeah the way that we organize everything i um

00:43:44.562 --> 00:43:49.022
i love like even their recent integration of the YouTube videos, add questions.

00:43:49.322 --> 00:43:52.942
I just like the way that that's all set up. And I love how they're always keeping

00:43:52.942 --> 00:43:55.082
up and adding things and updating.

00:43:55.382 --> 00:44:00.662
And that I really always look to as sort of my, it's my guiding light for sure.

00:44:01.242 --> 00:44:08.502
And get rid of, oh my goodness, what's the one where the music's like... Kahoot.

00:44:12.061 --> 00:44:15.921
Cahoot yeah bye overused

00:44:15.921 --> 00:44:18.841
it's just it's everybody it was fun in the very beginning

00:44:18.841 --> 00:44:21.661
i was like wow this is cool let's do this yeah we'll do some stuff and then

00:44:21.661 --> 00:44:25.681
like you see everybody using it and then it's like well these kids are gonna

00:44:25.681 --> 00:44:28.501
hate this after a while and they do it's like all right we're gonna do a gim

00:44:28.501 --> 00:44:34.121
kit okay you know what's one feature that i will never tire of um when you and

00:44:34.121 --> 00:44:37.721
you can do this with anything anywhere anytime but i love it the most for my

00:44:37.721 --> 00:44:41.241
textbook being able to listen to the textbook.

00:44:41.461 --> 00:44:45.021
Oh yeah, that's great. I just, I love that so much.

00:44:45.121 --> 00:44:49.941
And I just realized as my new foray into being a language arts teacher is,

00:44:50.141 --> 00:44:56.401
you know, I read to the kids and I do believe that being read to and listening to someone who can,

00:44:57.181 --> 00:45:01.001
you know, the cadence is on the, you know, all of it is, you know,

00:45:01.021 --> 00:45:05.561
is being read properly and when the right inflection and pronunciation of everything.

00:45:05.901 --> 00:45:11.261
But what is really nice as a teacher is being able to play a part of the book

00:45:11.261 --> 00:45:14.461
and just saving your voice.

00:45:14.721 --> 00:45:20.581
So I guess, you know, that part of, so there are things that I think save teachers

00:45:20.581 --> 00:45:25.661
and anything regarding technology that saves teachers time, I think you and

00:45:25.661 --> 00:45:27.901
I can both agree is for us.

00:45:29.301 --> 00:45:30.881
Right? Work smarter, not harder.

00:45:31.141 --> 00:45:34.461
And God knows teachers are the hardest working people of all.

00:45:35.021 --> 00:45:42.241
So in our, you know, couple of weeks, what I did notice was it was certain,

00:45:42.401 --> 00:45:49.761
certain spaces creating unnecessary work for me that wasn't being impactful

00:45:49.761 --> 00:45:56.061
enough on the children that it was inconveniencing me unnecessarily. Agreed.

00:45:56.481 --> 00:45:59.701
Yeah. So that's something we didn't even talk about. That might be a conversation

00:45:59.701 --> 00:46:03.461
for another time. Absolutely. And last shot of the night. Be careful.

00:46:03.881 --> 00:46:06.081
Tip your Uber driver. Yes. Make sure.

00:46:07.561 --> 00:46:10.061
We got to get, you know what we should do? I actually have a friend of mine

00:46:10.061 --> 00:46:12.461
who's got one of those like blood alcohol meter level things.

00:46:12.601 --> 00:46:15.781
We should do that and then get somebody to do a breathalyzer. No.

00:46:16.521 --> 00:46:19.881
Yeah. Oh my goodness. I mean, a shot of ice cream, a shot of whipped cream,

00:46:20.001 --> 00:46:21.821
whatever, you know. Whoa. Okay.

00:46:23.021 --> 00:46:26.821
So yeah, we, again, we appreciate you guys joining us today.

00:46:27.041 --> 00:46:27.901
Jamie, I appreciate you.

00:46:28.261 --> 00:46:31.381
Joe, I appreciate this conversation. Or should I call you Wonka?

00:46:31.501 --> 00:46:32.821
Wonka, I appreciate you. Wonka.

00:46:33.681 --> 00:46:37.561
No, please. You and your last name. But no, we appreciate you.

00:46:37.681 --> 00:46:41.361
This is once again, The Balancing Act on Human Content. And we will be back

00:46:41.361 --> 00:46:44.201
with another episode next week. Thanks a lot for joining us. Bye.

00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:58.160
Music.

00:46:57.681 --> 00:47:02.361
Look for the balancing act podcast every week on your favorite podcast platform

00:47:02.361 --> 00:47:06.661
new episodes drop every tuesday thank you for being a part of our audience.

00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:21.449
Music.