Latest / Live in the Lab Schools / Ep #17: School's out for Summer

Transcript

Ep #17: School's out for Summer · Live in the Lab Schools

0:09
Ben Webb: Welcome to the pod.
0:10
Ben Webb: This week we are finishing off the year.
0:13
Ben Webb: And so we're gonna give our end of your thoughts and then we're gonna continue on and say, have a happy summer.
0:18
Ben Webb: My name is Ben Webb.
0:19
Ben Webb: This is Andy Govey.
0:21
Ben Webb: Stick around.
0:21
Ben Webb: This is Live in the Lab Schools.
0:28
Ben Webb: Hello, sir.
0:29
Ben Webb: How are you?
0:30
Ben Webb: Surviving.
0:32
Andy Goveia: Yes.
0:33
Ben Webb: Last few days.
0:34
Andy Goveia: Last few days.
0:35
Andy Goveia: We're recording this.
0:36
Andy Goveia: This is the last full school day of the year.
0:39
Andy Goveia: This is the Thursday of the end.
0:42
Ben Webb: First day of finals.
0:43
Andy Goveia: First day of finals you high.
0:44
Andy Goveia: And this was our first day without eighth grade.
0:47
Andy Goveia: Oh wow.
0:48
Andy Goveia: Down here.
0:48
Andy Goveia: They were presented and they are now high schoolers and they're gone.
0:52
Ben Webb: That's gotta be weird when you like for our seniors after they after the graduation, like the building's just like it it seems like more than a quarter empty.
1:00
Ben Webb: Yeah.
1:01
Ben Webb: But it just feels like okay.
1:03
Ben Webb: Smaller building.
1:04
Andy Goveia: My room's in our eighth grade hallway, and like their lockers are right outside.
1:08
Andy Goveia: And this morning when the bell rang, there was crickets.
1:11
Andy Goveia: And it's really the crickets are weird.
1:14
Andy Goveia: It's it's like I will I walked down around, I had to walk away, I couldn't do it.
1:16
Andy Goveia: It's just too quiet.
1:18
Andy Goveia: Um, I've just become so accustomed to the noise.
1:23
Andy Goveia: And so it was real a little weird.
1:25
Andy Goveia: We took our seventh graders out to lunch today.
1:27
Andy Goveia: Okay, walked them down to the potbelly noodles interchange on Main Street, and they got to have a little bit of freedom to go where they wanted to eat.
1:34
Andy Goveia: And cup we sat outside as teachers and they knew where we were, and they could grab us if they needed us, and they did a great job.
1:41
Andy Goveia: Got compliments from some of the restaurants, even on how polite they were.
1:44
Andy Goveia: So yeah.
1:45
Ben Webb: And it's weird for me because we're recording in your room.
1:48
Ben Webb: Yes.
1:49
Ben Webb: So, like I'm in your classroom.
1:51
Ben Webb: I see all your new furniture, uh I see the boxes getting ready for summer.
1:55
Andy Goveia: Yeah.
1:55
Andy Goveia: Uh, I just found out today I'm gonna get some carpeting to finish out my room.
1:59
Andy Goveia: So it won't be half tile, half or two-thirds carpet, one-third tile.
2:03
Andy Goveia: It's gonna be all carpet next year, uh, which changes my summer packing calculus immensely.
2:08
Andy Goveia: Yeah.
2:08
Andy Goveia: But it's fine.
2:09
Andy Goveia: Yep.
2:10
Andy Goveia: It'll be good.
2:10
Andy Goveia: It's gonna be fine.
2:12
Ben Webb: So this is end of the year.
2:14
Ben Webb: End of the year.
2:15
Ben Webb: Season one.
2:16
Ben Webb: Season one.
2:18
Ben Webb: Are there things that you wish you knew at the start of the year that you wish you had now?
2:23
Andy Goveia: Um just to throw that hot take out there.
2:26
Andy Goveia: That's well, in relation to what?
2:28
Andy Goveia: Anything?
2:29
Andy Goveia: Anything.
2:30
Andy Goveia: Open for them.
2:31
Andy Goveia: I wish I would have known if if someone had told me in August, take a breath, let things go that are out of your control.
2:45
Andy Goveia: That would have saved me, I think, an enormous amount of frustration throughout the year.
2:49
Andy Goveia: Um, because I had that realization around spring break that, like, this is out of my control, it's not worth it anymore.
2:55
Andy Goveia: Um, and so that and for nothing that's bad, again, we we have all these episodes where we talk about the great things we do here.
3:03
Andy Goveia: And like my frustrations and the things that I wish I would have taken a breath on and let go are not actual problems.
3:11
Andy Goveia: They're just things that get bother me.
3:14
Andy Goveia: And so if I had been able to tell myself in August, hey, take a breath, let it go if it's not under your control, that might have saved me some frustration.
3:21
Ben Webb: Mm-hmm.
3:22
Ben Webb: Fair.
3:23
Ben Webb: What about you?
3:24
Ben Webb: I I practiced something this year.
3:26
Ben Webb: I started saying no to a few things.
3:28
Ben Webb: Yeah.
3:28
Ben Webb: I I didn't do as good as I wanted to, but I feel like I I should have stretched certain certain parts out over the course of the entire year.
3:40
Ben Webb: I feel like I still backloaded enough of this gear where it was like, I'm surviving.
3:47
Ben Webb: Yeah.
3:48
Ben Webb: But I I made all of the papers do at the exact same time.
3:52
Ben Webb: I put all of this, you know, Stroud work that I wanted to finish in the auditorium until right now.
3:58
Ben Webb: And of course, I feel like I should have done better.
4:00
Ben Webb: I should know better.
4:01
Andy Goveia: Yeah.
4:02
Andy Goveia: Um hot take back at you.
4:05
Andy Goveia: What was a happy surprise you ran into this year?
4:08
Andy Goveia: Something that came out of left field that you were like, this is awesome.
4:12
Ben Webb: So, and I can I can do this.
4:14
Ben Webb: Um, so we we are a one-to-one school.
4:17
Ben Webb: I've talked about our laptops at UHI for a number of years.
4:21
Ben Webb: I've been on the tech committee, I've been a part of our shared governance model.
4:25
Ben Webb: The happy accident um that we've talked about a bunch uh at UHI right now is we have I'll let you do that first.
4:36
Andy Goveia: Is it making sense?
4:37
Andy Goveia: I'm so sorry.
4:38
Andy Goveia: That's okay.
4:38
Andy Goveia: This is why the the boom so it's I think we're gonna leave this in.
4:44
Andy Goveia: We're not editing this out.
4:45
Andy Goveia: Um, we're on my setup.
4:47
Andy Goveia: I don't have the arms like Ben does, and I cannot sit still.
4:49
Andy Goveia: So I'm gonna we're gonna go back to Ben and I just created noise you're gonna hear.
4:54
Andy Goveia: And that is what it's like to record with me.
4:57
Ben Webb: So to answer your question, um the happy surprise tech committee was technology-wise, we ordered laptops.
5:05
Ben Webb: I want to say we tried twice this year to order a specific model of laptop very similar to what we had before.
5:13
Ben Webb: Tried twice and they could not fulfill our order, whether it's they just don't want to make that product anymore or the RAM shortage, whatever the reason.
5:22
Ben Webb: Next year, our freshman class will be on MacBook Neos.
5:27
Ben Webb: I am so excited and terrified because that has been years and years of years in planning that just all of a sudden in March became a possibility and now is becoming a reality.
5:40
Andy Goveia: Shout out to Apple and the MacBook Neo.
5:43
Ben Webb: I I I I vividly remember sending something to our tech committee, to our tech team the day before saying, Hey, Apple's leaked this on their main website, it's happening tomorrow.
5:56
Ben Webb: Fast forward three weeks later, finding out we don't have computers for next year.
6:01
Ben Webb: Yeah.
6:01
Ben Webb: And then the happy accident of can we do this?
6:05
Ben Webb: The rush of like two weeks of figuring out can we do this?
6:09
Ben Webb: And then putting the order in on a Thursday, they were in our offices on the following Monday.
6:15
Andy Goveia: That's amazing.
6:16
Ben Webb: Yeah.
6:17
Ben Webb: So crazy, exciting, happy accident.
6:21
Ben Webb: I never even knew would be possible.
6:22
Andy Goveia: That's amazing.
6:24
Andy Goveia: Uh, my happy accident that it was this, my furniture.
6:27
Andy Goveia: We talked about it a little bit.
6:28
Andy Goveia: That like it was a it was a random, hey, do this if you want.
6:33
Andy Goveia: And I stumbled across the chance to do it, and thanks to 23,000 votes, got a brand what it feels like, a brand new room some days.
6:46
Andy Goveia: Looks great.
6:46
Andy Goveia: Thank you.
6:47
Andy Goveia: I don't know that I've actually been in here since this happened.
6:49
Andy Goveia: You should have been here the day it got set up.
6:50
Andy Goveia: It looked really good, and now it looks like it's been lived in for four months.
6:54
Andy Goveia: Um, it's been good.
6:56
Andy Goveia: No, the kids have responded well to it.
6:57
Andy Goveia: Engagement's up, which I have no actual metrics in to say that like it feels like kids are tuned in more now.
7:03
Andy Goveia: Um, so hey, furniture matters.
7:05
Andy Goveia: Uh going into summer, everybody knows teachers to some degree do something.
7:13
Andy Goveia: What is some summer work you're gonna be doing?
7:16
Andy Goveia: Exciting or otherwise?
7:18
Ben Webb: Uh school related or not school related?
7:21
Andy Goveia: Whatever you want to share.
7:22
Andy Goveia: Not school related.
7:23
Ben Webb: This just goes out to dozens of perennials I want to plant in our little side garden that we have along the alley of our uh next to our house.
7:31
Ben Webb: Uh work related, I'm gonna be starting a certificate program for the Apple uh learning coach.
7:38
Ben Webb: Hey, congratulations program.
7:39
Ben Webb: Yeah, so I got accepted to that, so I'm gonna do that over the summer.
7:43
Ben Webb: Um and then a little bit of like I'm gonna be using a little bit of what I learned with podcasting this year to create some videos for our freshmen as they're coming in.
7:53
Ben Webb: Like so basically making a technology corner, a technology help page.
7:57
Ben Webb: Oh, that's awesome.
7:58
Ben Webb: So I'm gonna try and do some videos and we'll try to amplify them to make them seem kind of like product videos.
8:03
Ben Webb: Yeah.
8:03
Ben Webb: Um, but then kind of release those gradually over the summer and hopefully have that content ready for our freshmen next year.
8:12
Andy Goveia: That's awesome.
8:12
Ben Webb: What about you?
8:14
Andy Goveia: Um I'm doing a committee here at school.
8:17
Andy Goveia: Um, we are we do for a lack of better phrasing, we do uh we call them transition meetings.
8:23
Andy Goveia: So between grade levels, right?
8:24
Andy Goveia: Um we get together and we talk about uh kids and what to look for.
8:28
Andy Goveia: And we usually historically have done those at the end of the school year where you're going to a meeting for 45 minutes and you're not quite you hear about these kids and then you get to the fall and you generally generally we forget a chunk of what we're told.
8:42
Andy Goveia: And so we were in a leadership team meeting back in April, and we just got on the subject of of scheduling things and running out of time, and we all kind of just went, Is it was there a better way to do this?
8:54
Andy Goveia: And we talked about well, what if we did it in like the first month of school?
8:58
Andy Goveia: And so that generated about 20 minutes of just everyone building off each other to we got to the point of, well, let's invest some time in this and let's do this right.
9:08
Andy Goveia: So I'm I'm on that, we're calling it, I guess, task force, not committee.
9:12
Andy Goveia: Um, we're gonna get together and meet her here early in the summer to draft out what that looks like.
9:17
Andy Goveia: We're looking at targeting half day or so of transition meeting, but getting to look at end of year SEL data from this year.
9:27
Andy Goveia: We hope to have uh fall benchmark screener data, um, and also two or three weeks of classroom instruction data to bring to the table and go, okay, what do we see about these kids?
9:37
Andy Goveia: Set some uh win groups, uh, what individuals need.
9:41
Andy Goveia: We have that time built into our schedule, K8.
9:44
Andy Goveia: So setting some small group supports if needed, or if we have larger groups needing some similar supports, targeted tier one support.
9:51
Andy Goveia: Um, and so we're just gonna kind of get to reimagine what that looks like.
9:56
Andy Goveia: And then hopefully we're gonna get to also take that work and make those our regular day-to-days throughout the year, use a similar structure and format.
10:03
Andy Goveia: So we're trying to change how we do something to what be what we hope is better off for kids and us.
10:09
Ben Webb: Very cool.
10:09
Ben Webb: Yeah.
10:10
Ben Webb: And I've always been we also do like a tran smaller scale of that transition meeting between eighth grade and ninth grade at UHI.
10:18
Ben Webb: So I I I've always benefited from that Zoom that we've had.
10:20
Andy Goveia: Yeah.
10:21
Andy Goveia: Uh, we got to do that a week or so ago with uh Kayla.
10:24
Andy Goveia: Kayla Scherer, shout out to her.
10:26
Andy Goveia: Um, if this goes well for us, I might send up some notes to you guys about maybe us moving to that model instead, even eighth to freshman, of like, hey, here's a couple things to know really quick, and then let's talk after you've had them for three weeks and see what you really want to know and see.
10:38
Andy Goveia: Again, we only have 50 of your freshman class, but if we can give you a window into a third of them better, it it gives me a better idea.
10:45
Ben Webb: Yeah.
10:46
Ben Webb: Because I I some freshmen, they just they just want a fresh start.
10:49
Ben Webb: Yeah.
10:50
Ben Webb: And so I can use some of the data that you have, but I can also look at it and go, okay, this is their history.
10:55
Ben Webb: Yeah, they start, I I start off knowing a little bit about them, so it's been helpful.
10:59
Ben Webb: Yeah.
10:59
Ben Webb: And if there's any listeners in our other feeder districts that have kids coming to us, I think we'd also be happy to hear that as well.
11:06
Andy Goveia: Yes.
11:07
Andy Goveia: Give us give us data.
11:09
Andy Goveia: Um as we think, I mean, this doesn't need to be a long episode by any means.
11:15
Andy Goveia: Oh no.
11:16
Andy Goveia: You've had some great teachers' lounges to listen to.
11:19
Andy Goveia: Um next year, we said this a couple episodes ago, and I want to put it out there for any of you that listen.
11:25
Andy Goveia: If there's a topic or people or programs or something you want to hear a conversation about, and I think also we both would agree we want to move more conversational and dialogue and start with some big thing and just let it be a conversation between people discussing that thing.
11:40
Andy Goveia: Um, we've been doing a lot of interviews, which have been great.
11:43
Andy Goveia: Um, but if there's a topic, a conversation you want to hear about the lab schools, what they're doing, if there's a specific program or offering you want to hear more about, people you would want to hear from, uh, connections across the university.
11:56
Andy Goveia: Um, we want to feature what people want to hear uh and do it, we hope, well.
12:02
Andy Goveia: So please reach out uh on social media.
12:04
Andy Goveia: It's probably the easiest way, or our emails are there somewhere in our link tree as well.
12:10
Andy Goveia: Um, we'd love to hear what people want to hear.
12:13
Ben Webb: Absolutely.
12:14
Ben Webb: And I think especially over the summer, I think there's gonna be a lot of people who they finally get some downtime.
12:20
Ben Webb: I'm gonna guess that a bunch of people are gonna find us and find this channel and find this uh station over over the summer.
12:28
Ben Webb: And so now that you kind of have a taste of what our schools are like, we'll continue to revisit traditions, we'll continue to revisit the work that's being done with pre-service and and all of the different entities of our mission.
12:42
Ben Webb: But I think again, we've both have talked about we want to get more topical and more granular.
12:48
Ben Webb: I think specifically about there's those uh college students they got assigned.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Dr.
12:52
Ben Webb: Meyer had uh had them listen to our podcast and like they had to listen in for specific things.
12:58
Ben Webb: So there are if there are specific topics that benefit the listeners, we'll go there.
13:03
Andy Goveia: Yeah, let's do it.
13:04
Andy Goveia: So yeah, yeah, we want to hear from you.
13:06
Andy Goveia: Um this summer, we're gonna record one episode this summer.
13:09
Andy Goveia: So we'll hit you up season two.
13:11
Andy Goveia: You'll get that in early August, we hope.
13:14
Andy Goveia: Uh, we'll have a conversation with Dean of the College, Dr.
13:17
Andy Goveia: Uzigelder, our principals, Carmen Bergman and Andrea Markert.
13:21
Andy Goveia: Um, we are in the process of discerning what senior leadership looks like for the lab schools.
13:28
Andy Goveia: And so as we hit next school year, we're gonna get a conversation with them so you can hear it before the school year starts about what the year is gonna look like from leadership, what you're gonna see, things they're excited about, ways to partner with different members of our community, parents, etc.
13:42
Andy Goveia: Um, and so season two will kick off with that interview, and we're gonna get that done so that around the start of school, that'll hit to kick off season two.
13:52
Ben Webb: But otherwise, it's summer vacation for us.
13:55
Andy Goveia: It is.
13:55
Andy Goveia: We're gonna take time.
13:56
Andy Goveia: Hey, at the end of this episode, you're in for a real treat.
14:00
Andy Goveia: Um, before we sign off, stay tuned.
14:04
Andy Goveia: Uh, you're gonna hear a short conversation I had with some of our littlest learners.
14:10
Andy Goveia: Um, I had the chance to talk to two of our preschoolers and I asked them about their experience with preschool this year.
14:16
Andy Goveia: And Owen and Grant did a phenomenal job of telling you all what you should know about preschool.
14:25
Andy Goveia: So as we were exhausted, we're tired, everyone's in that season of uh, let's get to summer, um, there are two five-year-olds that would love to tell you at the end of this episode how their year went and what they love about learning.
14:39
Ben Webb: It's pretty awesome.
14:41
Andy Goveia: It's it filled my bucket yesterday.
14:43
Andy Goveia: Oh, we need that at the end of the year.
14:45
Andy Goveia: Yes, it was awesome.
14:47
Andy Goveia: So, to our listening community, this has been season one of Live in the Lab Schools.
14:55
Ben Webb: Have a great summer, everyone.
14:56
Ben Webb: We'll be back soon.
15:01
Andy Goveia: All right, I am here with some of our littlest students here at the lab schools.
15:07
Andy Goveia: Could you both tell me your names?
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Owen Grant.
15:11
Andy Goveia: Awesome.
15:12
Andy Goveia: Owen and Grant are in our preschool at Metcalf, and we thought it'd be really cool here at the end of the year to hear from some of our youngest learners what they thought was pretty cool about their school year.
15:25
Andy Goveia: So, Owen and Grant, are you ready?
15:29
Andy Goveia: All right.
15:30
Andy Goveia: My first question for you both is, and Owen, you can go first, okay?
15:34
Andy Goveia: What do you wish every adult knew about preschool?
15:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, yeah, um, the classroom is beautiful.
15:42
Andy Goveia: The classroom is beautiful.
15:43
Andy Goveia: What do you like about your classroom?
15:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, that the centers are fun.
15:47
Andy Goveia: The centers are fun?
15:49
Andy Goveia: I love that.
15:50
Andy Goveia: Grant, could you tell me what you think every adult should know about preschool?
16:00
Andy Goveia: What do you mean it could be?
16:02
SPEAKER_01: It could be toys.
16:09
Andy Goveia: Yeah.
16:10
Andy Goveia: I love that.
16:11
Andy Goveia: I'm gonna ask a question, Mrs.
16:13
Andy Goveia: Margo didn't ask you.
16:14
Andy Goveia: Is that okay?
16:15
Andy Goveia: What is your favorite thing about your classroom?
16:22
Andy Goveia: Come on.
16:22
Andy Goveia: If I asked you, if I was like, Graham, go to your favorite place in the classroom, where are you going?
16:32
Andy Goveia: The art station?
16:33
Andy Goveia: Okay, and then Owen, what about you?
16:35
Andy Goveia: Where are you gonna go if I said go to your favorite spot?
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh art?
16:38
Andy Goveia: Art?
16:38
Andy Goveia: You both like art?
16:39
Andy Goveia: Why?
16:40
Andy Goveia: Why do you like art?
16:42
SPEAKER_01: I paintings.
16:47
Andy Goveia: Same for you, Owen.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, and also there's like a lot of stickers, and we could make like ice cream and um titties.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:00
Andy Goveia: So you need to be creative.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
17:11
Andy Goveia: That's awesome.
17:11
Andy Goveia: Alright, are you ready for my next question?
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:14
Andy Goveia: Could you tell me, and Grant, you can go first as what do you want to be when you grow up?
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Basketball baseball.
17:25
Andy Goveia: A basketball and a baseball player?
17:27
Andy Goveia: That's amazing.
17:28
Andy Goveia: Owen, what about you?
17:29
Andy Goveia: What do you want to be when you grow up?
17:31
SPEAKER_01: A violin player because it's like beautiful.
17:36
Andy Goveia: It is very beautiful music.
17:38
Andy Goveia: Is there something you learned in preschool this year, Grant, that would help you be a basketball and a baseball player?
17:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a little bit.
17:46
Andy Goveia: Give me one thing.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Um I can actually do math why I'm doing baseball and dribble and basketball.
17:59
Andy Goveia: Yeah, you can.
18:00
Andy Goveia: And then Owen, is there something you learned in preschool that'll help you be an amazing violin player?
18:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, I heard a violin before.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: And then say like um like in a string and do like space.
18:14
Andy Goveia: That's amazing.
18:16
Andy Goveia: Alright, and my last question.
18:18
Andy Goveia: What was your favorite thing about coming to school this year?
18:22
Andy Goveia: And Owen, you can go first this time.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Because I feel like we got to like um see my classroom.
18:35
Andy Goveia: Yeah, getting to see your classroom and meeting all your friends.
18:38
Andy Goveia: And then what about you?
18:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's meeting my fourth grade buddies.
18:46
Andy Goveia: Meeting your buddies.
18:46
Andy Goveia: What did you like about meeting your fourth grade buddy?
18:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, I like them all things.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, hey, there I guess that the years that we did feel like that's awesome.
19:06
Andy Goveia: Alright, is there anything else you want people to know about preschool before I let us go?
19:22
Andy Goveia: Okay, can you both talk into my phone here and tell everybody to have a great summer?
19:28
Andy Goveia: Go.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Have a great summer.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: Have a great summer.
19:35
Andy Goveia: Live in the lab schools is a production of the ISU Laboratory Schools recorded on the campus of Illinois State University.
19:43
Andy Goveia: Connect with us on Facebook or Instagram at Live in the Lab Schools.
19:47
Andy Goveia: We'll see you next time.