Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / Future Focused, Not Future Flavored: Preparing Every Student for What’s Next | Shira Woolf Cohen and Alicia Woolf

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Future Focused, Not Future Flavored: Preparing Every Student for What’s Next | Shira Woolf Cohen and Alicia Woolf · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to EdTech
• 0:03
  podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
• 0:07
  Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
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  as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
• 0:12
  technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
• 0:15
  conversations with today's top EdTech voices,
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  we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
• 0:21
  and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
• 0:25
  and let's integrate this. Welcome to the Integrate
• 0:42
  This EdTech podcast. I'm Jeremy Mikla, joined
• 0:44
  by David Berner, co -host of the program. And
• 0:47
  we are delighted to have two different guests
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  with us here today. Although they know each other
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  and I think they know each other pretty well.
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  We have Shira Wolf Cohen and we have Alicia Wolf.
• 0:59
  And if you notice the Wolf last name, it is because
• 1:02
  they are sisters and off the... before we started
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  here, you described, I think Alicia, you said
• 1:10
  sisters first and business partners second, for
• 1:14
  sure. And I think that'll definitely see some
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  similarities and maybe some contrast as your
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  styles come out here on the program here today.
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  But just a little bit of background, Shira is
• 1:30
  an education and workforce development leader,
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  a professional. learning facilitator, author
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  of Future Focus Schools, co -founder of Innovages.
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  Did I say that correct? Yes, of course. Nice.
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  And, you know, a number of other things that
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  I'm sure you can help describe here in just a
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  moment, too. But your sister Alicia, she also
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  is a co -founder of Innovages. But in addition
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  to that, has her roots as a special education
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  leader. board certified behavior analyst and
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  an inclusive education strategist. So Alicia
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  and Shira, welcome to the program here today.
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  Would one of you want to kick off a little bit
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  of kind of giving us a brief background into
• 2:13
  your journey through the education space? Yeah,
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  I'm happy to chime in. I'll also give a quick
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  tip for everyone that's listening. The word innovative,
• 2:22
  it does get mispronounced a lot, but it is the
• 2:24
  combination of innovative and courageous as one
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  word, a word that we created on our own, made
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  it up. So it's an easy way to remember it. So
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  I'm so excited to be here with Alicia today on
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  your podcast. So I'm Shira Wolf -Cohen. I actually
• 2:40
  started working in the education and workforce
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  space as a college student. If we back up even
• 2:47
  a little further, like I was a terrible high
• 2:49
  school student and I really didn't like going
• 2:51
  to high school. I barely scraped by, I applied
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  to one college, but I was really awesome in my
• 2:55
  out of school time programs and summer camp and
• 2:58
  leadership experiences. And so I knew I wanted
• 3:00
  to be a teacher. I just knew it wasn't the types
• 3:02
  of teachers that I always had. And so I spent
• 3:05
  a lot of time in workforce development and education,
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  leading summer career development programs for
• 3:11
  young people, working with employers. and then
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  stepping into being a math teacher, and a vice
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  principal, and a principal, and then a school
• 3:18
  time leader. In that space, I worked to make
• 3:22
  sure that every young person was prepared for
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  what's next, building service learning programs,
• 3:28
  social -emotional learning programs, career development
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  programs as part of my school leadership role,
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  because I knew that every young person had an
• 3:37
  opportunity for their future. And so after spending
• 3:39
  19 years in one school community, I thought what
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  we were doing there was what everyone was doing,
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  but that's actually not the case. And so partnered
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  up with Alicia and with our third co -founder,
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  Joanna, who is also like a sister. And we started
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  InnovAGES with a mission to ensure continuity
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  of learning and inclusive opportunities for all
• 4:00
  young people. And we really do that by building
• 4:01
  the capacity of adults to implement innovative
• 4:04
  and courageous solutions in education. And Alicia
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  and I have known each other obviously our whole
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  lives. But the idea of preparing young people
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  for their future for both of us started when
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  we were young people. And I know Alicia will
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  tell you more about that. But it's something
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  that we integrate into our work with all schools,
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  all young people every single day, because there's
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  so much potential and purpose. Yep. Like Shira
• 4:29
  alluded to. I started my journey to being in
• 4:36
  education before I was done being a student.
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  I actually was a government and politics major.
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  I went to college for that. And then one summer,
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  Shira was like, come join camp and be a camp
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  counselor. And I was like, sure. You know, the
• 4:58
  rest is really history. But but what was really
• 5:00
  important to me was that I was working one on
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  one with a with a child with autism at that out
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  of school time opportunity over the summer. And
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  I just fell in love with working in education,
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  working with kids and specifically working with
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  students with disabilities. And so I changed
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  my major. I went into education and I became
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  a teacher. I worked for several years as a teacher,
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  got into a fellowship program and became a special
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  education specific leader, became a national
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  director of special education for a large teacher
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  prep organization, and then really found my passion
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  in teaching adults how to be great leaders, great
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  teachers. And so from there, I also got certified
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  to be a behavior analyst. And so a lot of folks
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  associate that with working with kids with autism.
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  And I did do that. But I also really love to
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  work with adults in helping with making sure
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  that teachers have inclusive opportunities in
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  the schools. that they work in, that all adults
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  have inclusive opportunities in their employment
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  places. And that's where my behavior analysis
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  comes into play. I also worked for a district,
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  a large district right outside of DC. And so
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  from there... you know, like Shira said, we started
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  in a vagus and I was, I was really pulled in
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  that direction, you know, to like, like you had
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  started, you know, it was always a dream of mine.
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  And I think of Shira's to work together as sisters.
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  And so, you know, that really was important for
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  us to bring. And like Joanna, who's our third
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  co founder is like a sister to bring our shared
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  values. together in this really mission -driven
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  way to start innovative. So innovative and courageous,
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  those are our two values that we were like, all
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  right, well, it makes sense to be called innovative
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  then. Yeah, I think that's really where a lot
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  of my experience as being an inclusive specialist,
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  making sure that, you know, I bring a lot of
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  passion and my values to the table and, you know,
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  that all kind of came together into Innovatious.
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  Let's give a shout out to Camp Gerrard. So Camp
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  Gerrard is the camp that I was the camp director
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  at. Joanna was actually assistant camp director
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  at and Alicia was one of the counselors. So that's
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  where I actually are. our true friendship blossomed
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  at this point almost 20 years ago. Yeah, that's,
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  I know a lot of teachers that have gotten really
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  their kind of feet wet being camp counselors
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  and you know at all sorts of different type of
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  outdoor adventure type camps and I think it just
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  really translates really great people skills
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  into the wanting and the desire to want to shape
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  the education of kids. We say all the time that
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  there are so many educators and leaders that
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  came out of the camp that we were a part of.
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  And they're sprinkled not just all over Philadelphia,
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  but like all over the East Coast and all over,
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  even to the fact where we went to a school the
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  other day and bumped into a parent of an old
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  camper who was just mind blown that we were continuing
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  to work together and continuing to do this work,
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  which is so crazy. So as you, you've been doing
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  this for a little while and can you give us a
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  little insight into Innovagious and like how
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  that correlates to preparing students for the
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  concept of future ready. We've been you know
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  we hear that term a lot but also like what comes
• 8:50
  up a lot recently is like preparing students
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  like what skills should students have when they
• 8:55
  leave high school right so you'll hear like profile
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  of a graduate or now we have like we Jeremy and
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  I were just at ISTE and so there's a pretty big
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  emphasis on profile of an AI ready graduate and
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  things like that. So as you kind of look at the
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  impact that you want to have on students and
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  particularly like not just college going students
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  or like CTE, but your whole method is to make
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  sure you're reaching all students. So how do
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  you do that as far as like working with staff
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  to make sure that students are future ready?
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  Yeah. I'll start and I'm sure Alicia has some
• 9:32
  ideas too, but I think like one of the things
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  that we recognize is that being a school that
• 9:39
  is future focused and preparing every student
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  for what's next doesn't actually mean that we
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  are teaching students about specific careers
• 9:48
  or pathways that they should be taking, right?
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  It's about preparing them for navigating like
• 9:53
  this world that's coming, that's continuing to
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  change with careers that we don't know that are
• 9:59
  even out there. And when we actually ask, you
• 10:04
  know, educators about what skills are most important
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  for young people to thrive, we're hearing things
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  around adaptability, communication, critical
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  thinking, using, you know, their intellect to
• 10:17
  think through kind of higher learning, having
• 10:20
  agency of their own learning, managing their
• 10:22
  time, right? It's kind of amazing. None of those
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  things that people are saying right off the bat
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  are around. They need to learn how to add. They
• 10:31
  need to learn how to write a five paragraph lesson,
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  right? And so when we're working with schools
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  and districts, we're not just working to say,
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  yes, we need to have these academic scores go
• 10:42
  up. We're also working with them to say, how
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  are we ensuring that young people know who they
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  are, that they know what their strengths are?
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  They know what their areas that they want to
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  improve on. They know how to access resources
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  to be able to learn more on their own, right?
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  We are also thinking about young people and students
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  as whole people, as leaders of today that are
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  also leading to the future. And it's not just
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  about saying this group of young people are college
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  going. And so let's put them in AP classes and
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  dual enrollment classes. And these students,
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  right, maybe they are on a CTE pathway and they're
• 11:20
  going to go into the traits like. We can't be
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  and should not be bucketing young people into
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  these pathways this early. And so when we are
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  working with schools and districts, we're working
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  on building the systems to identify where preparation
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  and future readiness takes place intentionally
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  in their school and. we're working to make sure
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  that every single educator in that building is
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  demonstrating a mindset every single day with
• 11:50
  young people that show them that what we're learning
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  and what we're doing is, yes, important for today
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  in this course, but even more important for the
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  future and for those connections. And that actually
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  can't just be the career counselor, it actually
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  has to be a lot of people. And so we do it in
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  a really comprehensive way, which reflects our
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  mission around continuity of learning, right?
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  And making sure that that learning is not just
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  happening in the classrooms, but is bridging
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  that gap. And it's not just happening for a specific
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  group of kids, right? And that inclusive piece,
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  it's for all students. And so that's just a start
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  of like what that future focused school that
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  prepares every student. for their future has
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  and a little bit of why it connects. But I think
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  the inclusivity piece is really important about
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  that. I'll let Alicia talk more around that.
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  But I think that's really key to this because
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  so many people are thinking about certain subgroups
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  of students and not thinking every young person
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  has the right and should be responsible for thinking
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  about who they are and what their future holds.
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  Just a follow -up question. I just was curious
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  like is so it's kind of the approach to have
• 13:03
  multiple ways that students can access all those
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  different skills. So you mentioned a couple different
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  things like soft skills, having opportunities
• 13:13
  to explore things like college or CTE, other
• 13:16
  opportunities. Is one of the big approaches is
• 13:19
  just to give access to all students like in those
• 13:23
  different areas? a thousand percent. Access is
• 13:28
  in a very basic level, right? Saying this isn't
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  just about one group of students or certain students
• 13:35
  who are gifted or certain students who are headed
• 13:38
  into trades. This is about every single student
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  and it starts in a very basic way of saying we
• 13:46
  need to make sure this is accessible. I think
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  inclusivity and making sure we're having efforts
• 13:51
  to be inclusive in that it goes beyond that.
• 13:55
  access for sure. Yeah, I think, um, I was going
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  to say it's not just about access, right? Access
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  is the first step, but include true inclusion
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  means that that students can engage with it.
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  They, that it's integrated into, um, the, the
• 14:13
  programming of the school, right? So when she
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  was talking about, she just mentioned, uh, really
• 14:19
  taking a look at the systems and trying to see
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  where this future -focused mindset or systems
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  can be built out. A lot of the times we'll start
• 14:31
  with or schools will ask us to take a look at
• 14:33
  like their career counseling or like a center
• 14:36
  or work with a specific person. And what we find
• 14:39
  is that the skills can't be taught in isolation
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  and shouldn't be taught in isolation. And so
• 14:44
  we're like, okay, so even though this person
• 14:47
  has been put in charge of maybe CTE or building
• 14:52
  a portfolio that students have to have, for example,
• 14:56
  in Pennsylvania. we have to find other spots
• 15:02
  that create that continuity across the day, where
• 15:05
  other content areas can connect these soft skills,
• 15:09
  like you mentioned, into their own content area,
• 15:13
  because kids can't just see it in one space.
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  I think the other thing that's really important
• 15:18
  here is special education teachers have been
• 15:23
  required to do this for years, for decades. It's
• 15:26
  part of the law. there's a space for that we
• 15:32
  often will ask schools and districts to say,
• 15:35
  what is your special education department doing?
• 15:37
  What kinds of tools and systems are already in
• 15:40
  place that your special education students are
• 15:43
  working on? Because at age 14 in some states,
• 15:47
  but definitely by 16 in every across the country,
• 15:52
  kids are required to have what's called a transition
• 15:54
  plan. Like they have to start planning for what's
• 15:57
  after high school. It's not just about college.
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  It's like anything after high school from housing
• 16:03
  to job skills to if they want to go to college.
• 16:07
  And so these things are already in place in schools.
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  And the idea of getting kids ready and making
• 16:15
  sure that they have these job skills or just
• 16:19
  life skills is not a new concept. And so I think
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  it's really important that we realize that there's
• 16:26
  strengths to build from and that there's other
• 16:28
  people in the building that also have been doing
• 16:30
  this for a long time. And then there's probably
• 16:33
  already some things to build from. And so I think
• 16:37
  that as we as we are looking at schools and talking
• 16:41
  to schools or talking out of school time programs,
• 16:43
  we're really just trying to build connections
• 16:46
  is really the start as well. Sher, would you
• 16:49
  add anything to that? Yeah, no, I think, I think
• 16:52
  that's right. And I think I'll just stamp again,
• 16:54
  like so many times we are looking first at general
• 16:58
  ed and saying, like, where are the starting points
• 17:01
  in there that we can even carry over to other
• 17:04
  subgroups? And I think in this case, there is
• 17:06
  just such a unique space to say, like, students
• 17:10
  with IEPs have been required, right? We've been
• 17:14
  required to plan for students and their transitions.
• 17:17
  And we can absolutely take a page out of that
• 17:19
  book. and say what we're doing for students with
• 17:22
  IEPs in transition and that planning, we also
• 17:25
  should be pulling that into our regular education
• 17:29
  and our programming there. And again, that's
• 17:31
  not one person's responsibility. It really is
• 17:34
  starting with a system and then building a mindset
• 17:37
  across the school. Yeah, and I like, it resonated
• 17:41
  a lot what you were saying. both of you, but
• 17:43
  then particularly sure when you had mentioned
• 17:46
  like not putting students in particular categories
• 17:49
  or things like that, because like thinking back
• 17:51
  to my own high school, like I wasn't a very serious
• 17:54
  student. Like I didn't know, you know, I didn't
• 17:56
  really know what was available or anything. It
• 17:58
  wasn't serious at all. But then like college,
• 18:01
  I was like going from my master's and then into
• 18:05
  my master's like very, very serious. And so it
• 18:07
  was a big shift for me just learning about what
• 18:09
  I could do or was capable of. So I really like
• 18:13
  that you know it's like exposing students and
• 18:15
  I don't think we really know what students all
• 18:19
  students are capable of just thinking about my
• 18:21
  own experience um or it's like I had no idea
• 18:25
  what what I could do back then you know yeah
• 18:29
  and let's be clear like the fact that there we
• 18:32
  have young people who are using college as the
• 18:35
  time to figure out what they're good at and what
• 18:38
  they want to do is backwards. That is a large
• 18:42
  ticket for exploring, right? And so spending
• 18:47
  40, 60, $80 ,000 a year to do some of the work
• 18:53
  that, quite frankly, Arcada 12 should be doing
• 18:56
  with young people so that they can make informed
• 18:58
  decisions about post -secondary is really important
• 19:02
  because we have so many young people who are
• 19:04
  number one, starting college, big ticket item,
• 19:08
  not finishing. still have all of their loans
• 19:11
  and a lot of debt, right? And we also have young
• 19:14
  people who are going in saying like, I wanna
• 19:16
  go to these schools for these names, right? Or
• 19:19
  for someone else I know went there and they maybe
• 19:23
  are not the best match for them, whether support
• 19:26
  wise, financial wise, and maybe they graduate,
• 19:29
  maybe they don't, but they are winding up. with
• 19:32
  so much deficit in their learning, in their life
• 19:36
  experience, in their financial stability. And
• 19:39
  so our responsibility as schools, and that's
• 19:43
  quite frankly, not just schools, as an education
• 19:45
  ecosystem, to do that preparation and start that
• 19:49
  preparation. No one's saying you should not go
• 19:51
  to college knowing, I know not everyone's gonna
• 19:53
  say, I exactly know what I wanna do. But going
• 19:56
  into college with no idea of what you're thinking
• 19:59
  about in the future, is not the right step either.
• 20:02
  And so there is this, you know, in between space
• 20:06
  where schools really and the education ecosystem
• 20:09
  of community partners at a school time programs,
• 20:12
  faith based organizations really need to work
• 20:14
  together to make sure that our young people when
• 20:16
  they graduate high school are making informed
• 20:19
  decisions that will have the best impact on their
• 20:22
  life and on the future of their career. Yeah,
• 20:26
  and I think you make a really good point here
• 20:28
  and as as educators We need to make sure that
• 20:32
  we have our focus towards that future where our
• 20:35
  students are going to be as well right and and
• 20:38
  so I guess as part of that, you know, we've It's
• 20:43
  fallen upon the counselors the CTE teachers to
• 20:46
  kind of have that focus here But but really it
• 20:49
  should be all educators and and so I guess you
• 20:52
  know if we look at it from that perspective should
• 20:56
  a classroom teacher be doing to help not just
• 21:00
  supplement and throw in little tidbits here and
• 21:04
  there, but to make sure that they are focused
• 21:07
  on helping to prepare students for those decisions
• 21:10
  that are going to need to be made, you know,
• 21:12
  by the time that they're graduating from high
• 21:14
  school. I think we were just talking about this
• 21:17
  yesterday to Shira. Teachers are asked to do
• 21:21
  so much. And just when they're like, okay, I
• 21:24
  got this curriculum down, they're like, okay,
• 21:28
  now add something else. And they're like, it's
• 21:31
  a lot of work to be a teacher right now. And
• 21:35
  I think what's important to know is like, you
• 21:38
  don't have to add anything else. You don't have
• 21:40
  to, like you said, have these bite -sized supplements
• 21:42
  that may or may not actually make an impact.
• 21:45
  I would say the first step. is to be able to
• 21:49
  look at what you're currently doing and see if
• 21:51
  there's any connection to some of those soft
• 21:53
  skills. it's not adding more, it's just going
• 21:56
  back and re -looking at what you're doing and
• 21:59
  seeing if, oh, this lesson, actually, I can teach
• 22:04
  a student some leadership skills in this, or
• 22:07
  speaking skills, or advocacy. And so it's really
• 22:11
  just looking at it through a lens with maybe
• 22:14
  a couple questions in mind. And I think, Shira,
• 22:18
  you've done a lot of work in naming what those
• 22:23
  questions and mindsets are. But I think, you
• 22:26
  know, first and foremost, I know we're putting
• 22:28
  a lot on teachers' plates these days, and I think
• 22:32
  I want to emphasize that it's not extra. It's
• 22:35
  just looking at it with a new perspective. Yeah,
• 22:39
  I think that's... Thank you, Alicia. I want to
• 22:42
  start by saying that the things that we're about
• 22:46
  to share and some of the ideas actually aren't
• 22:49
  about setting aside 45 minutes to do a lesson.
• 22:52
  They are about the actions that teachers and
• 22:57
  educators are doing every single day that demonstrate
• 23:00
  a future focused mindset. What we mean by that
• 23:02
  is they're demonstrating a mindset that shows
• 23:05
  young people that what we're learning today is
• 23:08
  not just important for today, but is important
• 23:10
  for your life. And so we actually have, we've
• 23:14
  identified nine specific things that are actions
• 23:20
  that teachers can take in their classroom. And
• 23:22
  none of these are about integrating and having
• 23:24
  a new lesson or finding a new curriculum. And
• 23:27
  we've actually done this as a walkthrough with
• 23:29
  school leaders, where we've said we're going
• 23:31
  to go into classrooms and we're going to collect
• 23:35
  evidence of if we see these things happening,
• 23:38
  right? And what we found was when we see these
• 23:41
  things happening, which I'll share in a minute,
• 23:43
  students are more engaged. and they see relevance
• 23:46
  in their learning. And isn't that the goal for
• 23:49
  all of us that we want our young people to feel
• 23:52
  those two things so that they can be agents of
• 23:55
  their own learning? And so those things that
• 23:58
  we identified, and I'll just rattle them off
• 24:00
  real fast so we have some ideas, are things like
• 24:03
  students having jobs in their classroom. Having
• 24:06
  a role to help be part of a system in that classroom,
• 24:09
  whether that's being the warmer up who puts on
• 24:11
  music as the DJ, whether that's being the paper
• 24:14
  passer out or whether that's being the person
• 24:16
  who does the sweep afterwards, like having roles
• 24:19
  in the classroom. We also can have visuals around
• 24:22
  the classroom that are not just about like, here's
• 24:25
  the anchor chart on how you add fractions with
• 24:27
  unlike denominators, but here's careers that
• 24:29
  use fractions. We can have visuals around the
• 24:33
  room. We can also call young people by professional
• 24:37
  names. When students are doing a science experiment
• 24:40
  and going through that scientific process, instead
• 24:43
  of calling them students or scholars, we can
• 24:44
  call them scientists. If we have students that
• 24:47
  are out there and they're talking to others and
• 24:50
  they might be interviewing people, they might
• 24:52
  be documenting and writing articles, we could
• 24:55
  call them reporters. So we can use this kind
• 24:58
  of language. We can name social emotional skills.
• 25:01
  I'm not saying we have to set aside time to teach
• 25:04
  those skills, but when we see a student who really
• 25:06
  managed their emotion or demonstrated a growth
• 25:09
  mindset, let's say it to students, right? Let's
• 25:12
  make sure they know and let's highlight their
• 25:15
  strengths, right? So many times I'm blown away
• 25:18
  and maybe that's because I was a straight C student
• 25:20
  in high school. But how is it that when a student
• 25:24
  gets a 75 on a test? we start with the 25 % they
• 25:29
  got wrong instead of the 75 % they got right,
• 25:32
  right? And so we have these things, again, none
• 25:35
  of them is setting aside time. A lot of them
• 25:37
  is about making connections to those soft skills,
• 25:40
  durable skills, cross sector skills, whatever
• 25:42
  you wanna call them, naming student leadership,
• 25:45
  being able to say, you know, this career often
• 25:49
  uses the topic that we are studying today in
• 25:52
  very micro ways so that students start to see
• 25:55
  those connections, right? None of these are about
• 25:58
  adopting a curriculum, jumping on an EdTech product,
• 26:02
  being able to set aside time. It's integrated.
• 26:06
  And these are the mindsets and the actions that
• 26:08
  we hope that teachers demonstrate every day that
• 26:10
  show young people the importance of the learning
• 26:12
  they're having. Yeah, so, you know, I think you're
• 26:17
  kind of hitting on what one of my follow up questions
• 26:19
  is going to be here and is, you know, when we
• 26:21
  when we think of preparing students for. what
• 26:24
  that life after high school is going to be. We
• 26:26
  focus on what high school teachers should be
• 26:29
  doing. And I think many of these examples that
• 26:31
  you just mentioned fit very seamlessly into the
• 26:36
  types of things that our elementary teachers
• 26:38
  are doing all the time. That's right. That's
• 26:41
  right. This is not this is we can't be asking
• 26:45
  young people what they want to be when they grow
• 26:48
  up. Right. That is not the question. The question
• 26:52
  starts in a very young age, right? And when I
• 26:55
  was a school leader, we had kindergarten, first,
• 26:58
  second graders learning about community helpers,
• 27:01
  going on career -connected field trips to learn
• 27:03
  about the firehouse, to understand the different
• 27:05
  people that worked in the doctor's office, to
• 27:07
  understand what it took to maintain a park, right?
• 27:11
  These things aren't about preparing students
• 27:15
  for their future. Preparation happens after they
• 27:19
  become aware. They've had a chance to be exposed.
• 27:23
  They've had a chance to explore. Right. And so
• 27:25
  you are absolutely right there. If we are again,
• 27:29
  if we are waiting till high school to start these
• 27:31
  conversations, we've missed the boat and helping
• 27:34
  young people develop who they are and who they
• 27:39
  want to be, what their potential is and what
• 27:40
  their passion and what their purpose is going
• 27:42
  to be. And those are things that really happen
• 27:45
  starting in a very young age for young people.
• 27:49
  young people have a voice and they want to give
• 27:52
  back. And we can start that very early. Yeah,
• 27:56
  that's right. I think you can ask the question,
• 27:59
  what do you want to be when you grow up? If they
• 28:00
  don't know what's out there to answer, like they
• 28:03
  know maybe a few like firefighter, right? Like
• 28:07
  a basketball player, right? The ones that like,
• 28:11
  you know, the ones that come to my teacher, right?
• 28:13
  Because they see teachers every day, but like.
• 28:15
  Even with my seven -year -old, I'll say, hey,
• 28:19
  did you know that there's somebody who studies
• 28:21
  rocks? Because he loves rocks, as many seven
• 28:24
  -year -olds do, right? I'm like, did you know
• 28:26
  that there's people that study rocks and they're
• 28:27
  called geologists? And he's like, no, I didn't.
• 28:30
  And so that was just a career conversation I
• 28:32
  had with him. No further really than that, but
• 28:35
  now he's calling himself a future geologist.
• 28:38
  And so it's... It's interesting. And it doesn't
• 28:42
  have to be a heavy lift. But it does start younger
• 28:45
  than high school for sure. And like I mentioned
• 28:48
  earlier, in the special education world, by law,
• 28:53
  it has to happen before high school. So it's
• 28:55
  interesting to me that this is now a conversation
• 28:58
  that's starting to come beyond the walls of just
• 29:02
  working with students with disabilities. It's
• 29:04
  not about like, we have to start early because
• 29:08
  because of either in special education, it's
• 29:11
  like, no, we need to start early with everybody
• 29:12
  so that they are aware of how to answer that
• 29:15
  question. What do you want to be before they
• 29:19
  before they're asked? Yeah, I want to add right
• 29:22
  ahead. I was just going to add in one thing that's
• 29:24
  just like we actually don't know what the careers
• 29:27
  are that are going to be around like when when
• 29:29
  when my beautiful nephew Leon is going to be
• 29:31
  an adult. Like, we have no idea what careers
• 29:34
  could come up. So I also just want to say to
• 29:36
  adults that are listening, like, yes, young people
• 29:40
  are going to say they want to be basketball players,
• 29:42
  they want to be influencers, right? There's all
• 29:44
  these big things that they want to be. And instead
• 29:47
  of saying, like, no, you're not going to be that,
• 29:50
  let's actually look at what it takes to become
• 29:53
  that career. And then backwards plan to say,
• 29:56
  that's great. You want to be an influencer, right?
• 29:59
  Influencer requires you to be able to tell stories,
• 30:01
  to be creative, to be someone that initiates
• 30:04
  their own time, right? There's so many things
• 30:06
  we don't need to say like, oh, you're not going
• 30:09
  to be that. We can just say like, that's a great
• 30:12
  aspiration. Let's talk about and let's think
• 30:14
  about what it takes to get there, right? Because
• 30:16
  20 years ago, someone would have said like, oh,
• 30:19
  I want to be an influencer. And that wouldn't
• 30:21
  have been people would have laughed. They would
• 30:23
  have been like, you're not going to make money
• 30:24
  off that. But like, Fun fact is that Alicia and
• 30:27
  I have a brother who's an influencer and that's
• 30:30
  like, he's a writer and influencer. He is out
• 30:34
  there and he is creative and he is focused and
• 30:38
  he has to be innovative and he has to manage
• 30:40
  his own time and he has to write his own content,
• 30:42
  right? Like there are so many things that young
• 30:46
  people can aim to be and we don't have to put
• 30:50
  it down. We can just say like, great, let's foster
• 30:52
  the skills because those skills get applied to
• 30:54
  lots of other things. I think I remember my own
• 30:58
  son when he was probably that seven or eight
• 31:00
  year old age. And he said, dad, I really love
• 31:05
  science and engineering and sports. And so he
• 31:10
  developed his own, I think he called it a Syngineer
• 31:14
  Spore. Where he wanted to kind of his career
• 31:19
  path and future was gonna be all about combining
• 31:21
  those things together. sure and I just thought
• 31:24
  that that was really cool and and I remember
• 31:26
  then when he started applying for colleges he
• 31:29
  worked that into some of the essays and stuff
• 31:31
  that he did and just you know I think it showed
• 31:34
  people that how he's got this diverse things
• 31:37
  so that he's been able to explore and and how
• 31:39
  he's going to try to apply that going forward
• 31:42
  so it what you both were kind of talking about
• 31:44
  here I think about is about creating these opportunities
• 31:47
  for students to be able to explore without feeling
• 31:51
  that you have to pressure them into one track
• 31:56
  at some point, right? And, you know, some of
• 32:01
  the skills that we named, right, like, let's
• 32:03
  say even being a geologist, you have to know
• 32:05
  about science and, you know, you have to be able
• 32:08
  to maybe, you know, climb to different areas
• 32:12
  or be able to travel the world or whatever it
• 32:14
  is. Some of those talents. are not just about
• 32:18
  that one career. You can translate anywhere,
• 32:21
  right? So it's just about going with what they're
• 32:23
  interested in, helping them identify what are
• 32:25
  the skills that need to be there, and then maybe
• 32:27
  they don't end up being that. But you know what?
• 32:29
  A lot of those skills are transferable anyway.
• 32:31
  You have to be organized in many different trades
• 32:34
  that you go into anyway. That's right. And just
• 32:37
  one more question here on this topic here is,
• 32:41
  so a teacher that wants to be able to create
• 32:43
  those opportunities for their students in their
• 32:45
  classroom, is there a way that they can leverage
• 32:50
  education technology? And my brain is going to
• 32:52
  AI. You read my mind. You read my mind. I was
• 32:55
  about to give a shout out. So here's one to set
• 32:59
  up. How can teachers... you know, leverage some
• 33:02
  of those technology advances that we can use
• 33:04
  to, you know, kind of without creating more burdens
• 33:08
  or more work for teachers, but just to do it
• 33:12
  naturally included in the things that they're
• 33:14
  doing. Yeah, I'm going to start talking a little
• 33:18
  bit about some particular tools, but I think
• 33:21
  we also at Innovagist recognize that the implementation
• 33:25
  of EdTech, sometimes there's a gap. between the
• 33:30
  intended implementation and the actual implementation.
• 33:32
  And we have been doing some work around that
• 33:34
  too, to make sure that when schools adopt, right,
• 33:37
  they're going through the right process. But
• 33:39
  when we think about careers, there are so many
• 33:42
  ed tech products that are out there. So I'm gonna,
• 33:44
  I'm gonna give a few shout outs, right? So gonna
• 33:46
  shout out Zello. I just came back from Zello's
• 33:48
  Future World Conference as a content partner
• 33:51
  leading a district and state convening. And there
• 33:55
  are really working to not just have their product
• 33:58
  and their tool be something that is, you know,
• 34:01
  here's your 45 minutes to do this. They're really
• 34:03
  trying to build the ecosystem that surrounds
• 34:05
  that tool so that it feels more implemented and
• 34:09
  comprehensive. And so I give them a shout out.
• 34:11
  But I also we have an intentional partnership
• 34:14
  with a new product that's called Orchard Careers,
• 34:17
  and it is an AI powered career advising tool.
• 34:22
  And what I think for sets it apart, is exactly
• 34:26
  what we were just talking about, that there are
• 34:28
  so many interests of young people. We as teachers
• 34:31
  don't have the knowledge to be able to know what's
• 34:35
  out there or to be able to access all the careers.
• 34:38
  And so Orchard Careers, while it has some great
• 34:41
  career advising tools and planning tools and
• 34:45
  career readiness index, one of the things that
• 34:48
  really spoke to me was the idea that is also
• 34:49
  a research tool. So as a teacher, if I am uh
• 34:53
  teaching algebra two and I am launching a sub
• 34:57
  a topic or a unit and I want to find a hook for
• 35:00
  my young people I can go into orchard give information
• 35:03
  about the objective that I'm teaching and it's
• 35:06
  going to help me identify careers that match
• 35:07
  it it's going to give me firsthand videos from
• 35:10
  career professionals right all that sort of stuff
• 35:12
  and so I want to shout those two out because
• 35:14
  I think um They are really working to not be
• 35:18
  a set aside, but to be an integrated tool that
• 35:22
  teachers use that don't require teachers to have
• 35:25
  to really do a lot of intellectual prep. They
• 35:27
  can seamlessly integrate and they can be an added
• 35:30
  value, not a substitute for what they're doing.
• 35:33
  And so I think those are some tools that are
• 35:36
  out there that we know and we work with and we
• 35:38
  want to name, but also recognizing that. it's
• 35:41
  not just about the tool, right? It is about the
• 35:43
  way that the school is adapting it, implementing
• 35:45
  it. So I know Alicia is going to share about
• 35:47
  that framework that we've developed as well.
• 35:49
  Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think as we've been, you
• 35:55
  know, just naturally in the education space for
• 35:58
  a while, but especially in the past couple of
• 36:00
  years, there's been this big boom of ed tech
• 36:02
  and what we've seen is a lot of adoptions of
• 36:06
  ed tech and then, you know, it kind of peters
• 36:08
  out or like it's like, um not as implemented
• 36:12
  like it's there's an excitement maybe from the
• 36:14
  top um it's purchased and then there's an excitement
• 36:17
  of using in the first couple months or maybe
• 36:19
  even the first year and then after that it's
• 36:20
  just like not integrated or the teachers um are
• 36:25
  not exactly sure how to integrate it or it's
• 36:27
  a lot of work to learn um and so we have uh really
• 36:32
  kind of brought to the attention um of some of
• 36:36
  the companies and and some schools around like
• 36:39
  Okay, so first there's like a readiness, like
• 36:43
  there has to be a readiness for that product.
• 36:47
  And then there needs to be some onboarding that
• 36:50
  happens, right, in the first couple weeks. But
• 36:53
  then the true integration that happens is like,
• 36:56
  where is this product living in the reality of
• 36:59
  the work, right? It's not something that... you
• 37:03
  have to be excited about all the time to be able
• 37:06
  to implement or you have to like really be geared
• 37:08
  up to like have as a separate time in your day
• 37:11
  to do it really needs to fit into the system
• 37:13
  and then it needs to be sustainable like beyond
• 37:16
  the people that purchase it. And so I don't share
• 37:18
  if you have other thoughts around how that could
• 37:21
  fit into like future focus mindset and making
• 37:24
  sure that we are we're we're being really intentional
• 37:27
  about the ed tech products that that we're putting
• 37:29
  into schools and for kids. Yeah, I mean, I think
• 37:32
  so many schools are, you know, there is most
• 37:36
  districts have adopted an ed tech platform to
• 37:38
  support future readiness. And in most cases,
• 37:44
  what happens is the students have their 20 minute
• 37:47
  period a day or one time a week that they are
• 37:50
  responsible for doing the activities in the platform.
• 37:54
  And the teachers oftentimes see it as a time
• 37:57
  to check their email or to do something else.
• 38:00
  Instead of seeing and positioning themselves
• 38:03
  as the facilitator of the use of this product
• 38:07
  and making sure that we're seeing it more beyond
• 38:10
  just, hey, I did it to I did it. And what I learned
• 38:16
  is going to inform this, that or the other. Right.
• 38:19
  And so just to recognize that this is not just
• 38:24
  the responsibility of ed tech products. to make
• 38:27
  sure that they're in tech products are being
• 38:29
  used right but it's also the responsibility of
• 38:31
  schools and leaders to make sure that they are
• 38:34
  you know ready for the product that they are
• 38:37
  confident in what they got as onboarding and
• 38:40
  that they're providing guidance for you know
• 38:42
  their teachers and how to integrate so it can
• 38:44
  be sustainable. And as you've worked with uh
• 38:48
  schools with teachers and you kind of help design
• 38:50
  things it do you see a real shift from like a
• 38:55
  move from just students being compliant and just
• 38:58
  kind of doing what they're told to do in that
• 39:01
  type of system, do you see a shift over to where
• 39:04
  they have they have more opportunities to explore
• 39:07
  purpose and be engaged and figure out like what
• 39:11
  actually resonates with them? Yeah, thousand
• 39:13
  percent. Yeah, I think we have to go in that
• 39:16
  direction if regardless, I mean. I know we talk
• 39:22
  right now, we talk a lot about generational differences
• 39:25
  and this current generation of kids is on a lot,
• 39:32
  on all the time. And what I mean by that is it's
• 39:34
  like, there's things going on all the time that
• 39:37
  they're interacting with. And if we go, we say
• 39:39
  like, let's just sit in the classroom and listen
• 39:43
  to a teacher talk about these things for the
• 39:45
  next six hours. I've actually seen it. kids actually
• 39:50
  physically get up and just won't do that anymore
• 39:54
  at all. And I would say that's something that
• 39:57
  as we integrate tools into the classroom, we
• 40:00
  have to think about how are we engaging students?
• 40:04
  Because they're not just sitting there. They
• 40:07
  won't just sit there and get the information
• 40:10
  anymore. And so I think it's really important
• 40:12
  that they're interacting with the tools, that
• 40:16
  students are the ones that are in the driver's
• 40:21
  seat of some of these tools. At the same time,
• 40:23
  we need to be really careful and cautious about
• 40:26
  what we're putting in front of our students.
• 40:28
  And I think there's lots of districts that are
• 40:30
  coming out with policies and screen time and
• 40:31
  AI. But I also think that the responsible use
• 40:36
  does involve students being able to interact
• 40:38
  with EdTech because that is what they're going
• 40:42
  to be doing in the future in their workspaces.
• 40:45
  workspaces right now and across the world are
• 40:48
  full of technology. And so we have to give these
• 40:51
  tools to students to be able to interact with
• 40:53
  them and learn the skills to use them. So how
• 40:57
  do we how do we treat this thing? Because I think
• 40:58
  this follows. But if you have a student that
• 41:00
  says when they're learning something in class
• 41:03
  and they say, when am I ever going to use this?
• 41:07
  Is that like a resistance thing or is that a
• 41:09
  legitimate design question? I mean, yeah, I think
• 41:16
  it's a legitimate design question. I think us
• 41:22
  as educators thinking through not just in our
• 41:26
  intellectual prep, right? And so there's two
• 41:28
  things. Obviously our educators are lesson planning.
• 41:31
  And actually, in a lot of cases these days, they're
• 41:33
  not lesson planning because the lesson plans
• 41:34
  are written for them. But what they actually
• 41:37
  need to do is they need to digest it. They need
• 41:39
  to process it. They need to think about how it
• 41:41
  applies to their specific setting. And so, yes,
• 41:45
  asking how they can use this in their future
• 41:47
  is the larger question, but there are more detailed
• 41:51
  questions around the strengths of our students
• 41:54
  and how we can pull that out during this lesson.
• 41:57
  Right. There are more questions around the skills
• 42:00
  that students will need to complete the task
• 42:03
  that we can uplift and highlight. Right. And
• 42:06
  so those are the more deep questions around more
• 42:10
  you know, obviously focus on how it's connected,
• 42:13
  but how we're fostering something now that's
• 42:16
  connected for their future. And so I think that's
• 42:20
  really key for our educators to not just be thinking
• 42:24
  about what are my needs of students in understanding
• 42:27
  this math concept or being able to complete this
• 42:30
  assignment, but digging in further to say like
• 42:34
  not whether or not they'll be successful, but
• 42:36
  what do they need to be successful and what do
• 42:38
  they have? versus what do I need to foster so
• 42:41
  that they can be successful and navigating this
• 42:43
  larger assignment and tackling this word problem
• 42:46
  and being able to understand the directions for
• 42:48
  the science experience. Those are the more design
• 42:51
  questions that we can be asking that lead to
• 42:53
  the connections. Oftentimes when we ask that
• 42:57
  design question that you started with around
• 42:59
  where do students use this in their future, teachers
• 43:02
  struggle to answer that question without saying
• 43:07
  like in a one sentence answer or saying like
• 43:10
  you might have this scenario instead when we
• 43:12
  dig into those skills we know we're fostering
• 43:15
  them and they can be used from topic to topic.
• 43:17
  Yeah I would answer with not the content like
• 43:21
  how am I going to use this in the future it's
• 43:23
  about it's about the skills you're using to do
• 43:26
  whatever content it is right like this is a really
• 43:28
  hard math problem and you're like there's times,
• 43:32
  no matter what you're doing, that you're gonna
• 43:34
  have to persevere, right? And so it's often not
• 43:38
  about the content the way I would say I would
• 43:41
  answer. Like if a student asked me that, and
• 43:43
  I have been asked that, I was a math high school
• 43:46
  teacher. And I would say it's actually not really
• 43:50
  about the actual problem. It's about... the fact
• 43:53
  that you keep going and that you know not every
• 43:56
  problem that you're going to have is going to
• 43:58
  be one that you can solve right away and and
• 44:01
  and so really uplifting some of those skills
• 44:02
  and and most of the time that was a that was
• 44:06
  accepted as a pretty good answer and we would
• 44:08
  keep going and then we would talk not about did
• 44:10
  you solve the problem but like what did you do
• 44:12
  to be able to keep going and that teaches them
• 44:15
  a little bit more about themselves and you know
• 44:18
  adolescents like to talk about themselves too
• 44:20
  so When I was in the classroom too, and David
• 44:25
  and I both come from our background as social
• 44:28
  studies teachers, I remember being in my classroom
• 44:33
  and feeling like I had control over what was
• 44:36
  going to take place in that space because I knew
• 44:39
  it best for myself and I just projected that
• 44:43
  onto my students. I think I was very tunnel visioned
• 44:48
  in that outlook. But really, I think one of the
• 44:53
  things if I could go back and what I would try
• 44:55
  to do is to build more partnerships outside of
• 44:59
  my classroom walls and really try to, like we
• 45:04
  were talking about here just a moment ago, is
• 45:08
  finding those different ways to. bring these
• 45:13
  different opportunities to students to explore
• 45:16
  outside of the walls of the school. And it really
• 45:20
  comes down then to being able to build those
• 45:23
  partnerships with other businesses, industry,
• 45:28
  non -profits, community groups that exist in
• 45:32
  our communities. you know, I look at it, what
• 45:36
  can a school really do to try to strengthen those
• 45:40
  partnerships between the school and those community
• 45:45
  organizations? I'm just gonna say this. Partnerships
• 45:50
  are not negotiables for schools. Like, we as,
• 45:54
  and I say we, meaning like I put my school leader
• 45:57
  hat on to say like, we cannot do it alone. I,
• 46:02
  when I was a school leader, We had partnerships
• 46:06
  with parents. We had partnerships with community
• 46:09
  members. We had partnerships with government
• 46:11
  officials. We had partnerships with community
• 46:13
  based organizations. We had partnerships with
• 46:16
  different companies, right? We had so many partnerships
• 46:20
  because my teacher simply couldn't do it alone
• 46:23
  and I don't think they should have to. And so
• 46:26
  I think the first thing I will say is that it's
• 46:28
  really important to know that there is not one
• 46:31
  right answer for what a partnership is. There
• 46:35
  is a continuum of partnerships that could start
• 46:38
  very simply at a touch point, right? A literal
• 46:42
  connection, meaning some examples could be a
• 46:47
  firefighter coming and talking to your second
• 46:49
  grade class, right? Taking your students to a
• 46:53
  field trip that highlights in some of the employees
• 46:57
  that are there, right? There could be some simple
• 46:58
  connections all the way to having a collaborative
• 47:03
  partnership which we've seen where schools and
• 47:07
  a non -profit or schools and an out -of -school
• 47:09
  time provider or schools and a industry partner
• 47:12
  literally partner ahead of time to plan out a
• 47:16
  unit of study where that unit of study has shared
• 47:19
  responsibility in teaching, shared responsibility
• 47:23
  in where students are learning, and that happens
• 47:28
  between the partner and the school. So I think
• 47:30
  for schools something to keep in mind is that
• 47:34
  one of the first resources that they can learn
• 47:36
  from and partner with is families. Families have,
• 47:40
  they have careers, they have hobbies, they are
• 47:44
  business owners, they're community members, and
• 47:47
  so I always say like one of the first steps in
• 47:50
  building partnerships is finding out who your
• 47:52
  families are, what their hobbies are, who they
• 47:55
  work for, right, what their careers are, so that
• 47:59
  we can start to tap into them. And the second
• 48:02
  thing I'll say is Schools really need to do that
• 48:04
  in a coordinated way. Thinking from the partnership
• 48:09
  perspective, there is a lot of partnership burnout
• 48:12
  when schools or teachers are not coordinated,
• 48:16
  right? The principal says, hey, everyone in my
• 48:19
  school, every teacher, here's a list of all of
• 48:22
  our career partners, right? And every teacher
• 48:25
  is reaching out to them separately to coordinate
• 48:27
  something. That also doesn't lead to strong impact
• 48:31
  and strong relationships. So number one, starting
• 48:34
  with families. And number two, making it a coordinated
• 48:38
  effort so that your partners don't feel burnout.
• 48:41
  And we take things off of our teachers' plate.
• 48:44
  Not every teacher has to reach out to this certain
• 48:48
  doctor's office or dentist's office that does
• 48:50
  tours for students. There's maybe one coordinator
• 48:54
  who is the reach out that says, actually, I already
• 48:57
  had third and fifth grade. Do this so we've asked
• 49:00
  him as much as we can and so just a few tips
• 49:03
  that I wanted to share And I'll say I know that
• 49:05
  we talked about like making sure that things
• 49:08
  are not siloed that every teacher is a career
• 49:10
  teacher But also there are certain folks in school
• 49:13
  buildings. They might be called different things
• 49:15
  in different places But that are that is part
• 49:19
  of their job is to build community engagement
• 49:21
  community partnerships and so coordinated uh
• 49:25
  also means that there can be like a leader who's
• 49:28
  coordinating those things um like in uh in Maryland
• 49:32
  we have community schools and so there's like
• 49:34
  community school liaisons or coordinators there's
• 49:37
  tight title one schools usually have somebody
• 49:39
  who is you know in charge of building partnerships
• 49:43
  specifically um and then like I mentioned earlier
• 49:46
  in special education there might be might not
• 49:49
  be one per building but in many places there
• 49:51
  are there's like a transition they call it transition
• 49:53
  um coordinator who is supposed to be building
• 49:57
  partnerships with community organizations that
• 50:01
  are specifically to support students with disabilities,
• 50:04
  but that doesn't mean they can't share like with
• 50:07
  other people in the building and build that in
• 50:09
  a coordinated way with another school leader.
• 50:12
  So I think that there are people in certain schools
• 50:15
  that also are probably actively or can be actively
• 50:19
  coordinating this as well. And as I'm listening
• 50:22
  to your responses here that this popped into
• 50:24
  my head and then I'll ask the question first
• 50:27
  and then I'll kind of like follow up with it
• 50:29
  a little bit here too. At what age should a student
• 50:33
  begin their LinkedIn page? Oh my gosh. I actually
• 50:38
  love this question. I've never been asked this.
• 50:43
  The reason I'm asking is like one our resumes
• 50:46
  like. and CB is a thing of the past. And two,
• 50:53
  by making these connections earlier on, are students
• 50:58
  really setting up a network for themselves that
• 51:02
  will help continue whatever they decide to do
• 51:06
  after high school, right? The continuity of their
• 51:09
  education. Yeah. Well, first of all, my mom has,
• 51:12
  I just wrote on my to -do list for my daughter
• 51:14
  when she gets back to start her LinkedIn page.
• 51:21
  My daughter is 16 and a half and so she also
• 51:25
  has been like I don't just do this work for work
• 51:29
  I like literally do this work in my life and
• 51:32
  so my daughter has since she was five years old
• 51:35
  been sewing and creating and now she teaches
• 51:39
  sewing and she makes things and she gets designs
• 51:42
  and she creates her own designs right and like
• 51:44
  so She's got a lot going on in terms of her marketing,
• 51:47
  communication, fashion, design. But that stuff
• 51:50
  has been happening from very early. But when
• 51:53
  I think about LinkedIn, I was just trying to
• 51:55
  think about who I'm connected to. And I actually
• 51:58
  am connected to some high school students, high
• 52:01
  school students who were my past students and
• 52:04
  are now in their high school, flexing a lot of
• 52:07
  their leadership muscle, you know, running clubs
• 52:10
  and things like that. But now that you ask that,
• 52:14
  you know, LinkedIn is where we're making a lot
• 52:16
  of connections to, right? And so what is the
• 52:21
  purpose of our young people and encouraging them
• 52:24
  to have flat resumes that might not get out seen
• 52:27
  versus having them building a live breathing
• 52:31
  LinkedIn profile that shows all the work that
• 52:34
  they're doing? So you're also pushing some of
• 52:37
  my thinking around how we might use LinkedIn.
• 52:40
  I would say Age appropriate for me would be the
• 52:44
  same age appropriate and using other social media
• 52:46
  platforms because it is social media. But I think
• 52:49
  this as LinkedIn it would have a different purpose
• 52:52
  for young people. That's just my initial thought
• 52:55
  and that was a new question for me, but you definitely
• 52:57
  push my thinking. Maybe I'll try with my daughter
• 52:59
  first and then think about how that gets integrated
• 53:02
  into some of the conversations, scope of programming
• 53:06
  and lessons and activities that young people
• 53:08
  are working on in their high schools. Yeah, I
• 53:11
  think the same. I haven't even started thinking
• 53:13
  about LinkedIn at all for my seven year old.
• 53:16
  No, no, I wouldn't expect something. No, but
• 53:19
  I think same. I think as soon as, you know, like
• 53:23
  probably high school is right, because that's
• 53:24
  when they, they can, you know, start looking
• 53:27
  for jobs or things like that. But I do think
• 53:31
  though, what I'm like, if It doesn't mean that
• 53:34
  there couldn't be some sort of exercise before
• 53:36
  you're ready to actually be live on LinkedIn
• 53:38
  where you could talk to kids about what would
• 53:40
  you put on your LinkedIn page, right? And that
• 53:43
  could be interesting too. Yeah. Yeah. So one
• 53:47
  more here on this path. David and I are both
• 53:49
  in Minnesota and we're in very rural areas of
• 53:53
  the state, you know, where there are fewer businesses
• 53:56
  and industries and the ones that do exist there,
• 53:59
  they constantly feel like they're being inundated
• 54:04
  with requests and, you know, they get overwhelmed,
• 54:07
  you know, financial resources and human resources
• 54:11
  to constantly kind of turn and try to find ways
• 54:14
  to help out the school. So what do you think
• 54:17
  like smaller districts could do to still build
• 54:20
  those partnerships that are productive? So I
• 54:24
  want to start with a few things. Number one,
• 54:28
  I'm going to say it again that schools can't
• 54:30
  do this alone. And so when we look around the
• 54:32
  country, there are workforce investment boards
• 54:34
  all over the country that are serving in some
• 54:38
  coordinated capacity roles for districts. And
• 54:41
  so my first thing I would say is that as a school
• 54:44
  or district, if you are not in a relationship
• 54:46
  or aware of what your local local workforce investment
• 54:50
  board is doing to support this, please reach
• 54:54
  out to them. I'm also going to say that. I think
• 54:57
  COVID taught us a lot about the value of virtual
• 55:02
  learning and virtual partnerships. And so as
• 55:07
  a school leader, we were putting on panels a
• 55:11
  lot. And we always were asking employers to come
• 55:14
  in person. And it kind of blew my mind that we
• 55:20
  actually could start asking employers to join
• 55:22
  us virtually. It would take way less of their
• 55:24
  time. It's way less of a lift. And even in some
• 55:28
  cases we could record what they were saying or
• 55:31
  doing. And so there have been instances where
• 55:33
  we have had dentists literally zoom in with the
• 55:39
  permission of the patient that's there and the
• 55:42
  cameras are in people's mouths. Or a plumber
• 55:45
  who is fixing a toilet in real time and it's
• 55:48
  on video. And so I also want to just uplift the,
• 55:53
  it doesn't have to be personal and one -on -one
• 55:57
  all the time, and especially in rural areas.
• 56:00
  It's hard for transportation. It's hard for the
• 56:03
  lift of how many employers there are and how
• 56:06
  much they're getting asked. And so let's definitely
• 56:08
  tap into recognizing that the world has a lot
• 56:11
  of remote working and we can incorporate that
• 56:16
  type of zooming in, that type of virtual relationship.
• 56:19
  I've even seen some virtual internships right
• 56:23
  for companies that do virtual work for young
• 56:25
  people and so let's not limit ourselves only
• 56:28
  to the locations around us but let's open ourselves
• 56:31
  up to the places that are having that type of
• 56:34
  work and are you know really reaching all over
• 56:37
  the country. I want to jump in there really quick
• 56:40
  with one resource and I don't know if you've
• 56:42
  ever heard of explore by the seat of your pants.
• 56:45
  Okay I have not tell me. Absolutely fantastic
• 56:50
  and what they do is it focuses more on stem careers,
• 56:54
  but it is it's all of these. scientists, engineers,
• 57:01
  people in the field. Like they've got someone
• 57:04
  who works with like penguins in Antarctica and
• 57:07
  that person is available to join live with students
• 57:10
  in the classroom to have these interactions.
• 57:13
  And if you can't do that, they also record them
• 57:15
  all to YouTube and they're all available for
• 57:18
  free for teachers to follow along with and to
• 57:21
  bring those people into the classroom space.
• 57:24
  I just bookmarked it. There are so many amazing
• 57:27
  resources. We're going to add this to our list
• 57:29
  because that's a great example of like we don't
• 57:32
  have to be one on one to get the especially when
• 57:36
  we're talking about the exposure and exploration.
• 57:40
  Obviously, when we move into students preparing
• 57:42
  and training, we're going to need more, you know,
• 57:45
  two way. But I think in this space, right, what
• 57:47
  you just mentioned is also very similar to like
• 57:49
  Skype a scientist, right, which is like kind
• 57:51
  of old school. I've been going on for a long
• 57:52
  time and I'm sure it's probably changed his name.
• 57:54
  But I used to use that back in the day when we
• 57:56
  were studying certain topics, we would Skype
• 57:58
  in scientists to our classrooms. This was before
• 58:00
  COVID, right? So that young people could learn.
• 58:04
  So I think similar and then what a great resource
• 58:06
  that is. So I just I just checked out the exploring
• 58:08
  by the seed of your paints. I love it. OK, so
• 58:13
  the next thing that we've got for you here is
• 58:16
  we're going to challenge you a little bit and
• 58:18
  have you decide whether these are future focused
• 58:21
  or future flavored, like not. They might have
• 58:25
  the appearance of future focus, but they're not
• 58:28
  really so. And there's 10 of them. So I think
• 58:31
  what we'll do is we'll just alternate. So OK.
• 58:33
  Alicia, we can start with you. And so I'll give
• 58:36
  you this one and then we'll just go back and
• 58:38
  forth. So, future -focused or future -flavored.
• 58:42
  The first one is every student receives a Chromebook,
• 58:45
  but instruction remains unchanged. Oh, future
• 58:48
  -flavored. We gotta have intentional. That's
• 58:51
  future -bland. Sure, not flavorless future. Unseasoned
• 58:58
  future. That's right. A school holds one annual
• 59:02
  career day. Absolutely future flavored, very
• 59:07
  small flavor. Students complete interest inventories
• 59:12
  but never use the results. Future flavored. I'm
• 59:19
  struggling with flavored because I don't feel
• 59:20
  like there's a lot of flavor in that one either.
• 59:24
  A business gives students a real community problem
• 59:27
  to solve. Future focused if... the teacher takes
• 59:32
  on the problem and it's integrated and connected
• 59:35
  to learning objectives in their classroom. Seems
• 59:37
  like a natural project -based learning opportunity.
• 59:40
  That's absolutely right and hopefully they're
• 59:42
  solving some community need and addressing that
• 59:44
  which would also mean that it is a project -based
• 59:47
  learning experience that also is service learning.
• 59:51
  Okay, next one is the school adds an AI course
• 59:54
  but AI is prohibited everywhere else. Future
• 59:58
  flavored, future flavored. We'll get you a future
• 1:00:03
  -focused one eventually, I think. Next one is
• 1:00:07
  students create digital portfolios that include
• 1:00:11
  reflection, skills, and work samples. Future
• 1:00:17
  -focused if it's intentional and integrated into
• 1:00:21
  throughout all of their years. Okay. A makerspace
• 1:00:25
  is available but only as a reward for students
• 1:00:28
  who finish their regular work. Future flavored,
• 1:00:32
  future flavored. Well, we did help to to create
• 1:00:35
  like a lab, right? Yeah, career and innovation
• 1:00:39
  lab at Middle Years Academy here in Philadelphia.
• 1:00:42
  Yeah, so I feel like we have lots of experience
• 1:00:45
  turning that into future focused. That's right,
• 1:00:47
  but I can I just say this like we cannot have
• 1:00:51
  career activities be and be a reward. If that
• 1:00:55
  was the case, I literally would still be trying
• 1:00:58
  to get through high school. because we need it
• 1:01:01
  to be what is an inspiration and engagement strategy
• 1:01:04
  for all students. Okay, next one is, and I think
• 1:01:10
  this is for Shira, so identify the transferable
• 1:01:14
  skills students are practicing during academic
• 1:01:16
  lessons. Yes, I mean they also can't just identify
• 1:01:22
  it, they also have to foster it. and reinforce
• 1:01:25
  it. But yes, that would be an amazing strategy.
• 1:01:28
  Future -focused, for sure. Okay. Students choose
• 1:01:32
  from several ways to demonstrate mastery. Future
• 1:01:37
  -focused. Future -focused, I would say. It sounds
• 1:01:40
  a lot like universal design, too. We got you
• 1:01:44
  one. We got you one. And this is our last one.
• 1:01:49
  It's more advanced courses, but provides no new
• 1:01:53
  career exploration. It's not even future -flavored.
• 1:01:58
  It's just learning -flavored. All right. Well
• 1:02:02
  done. I love that. I think that's great. I'm
• 1:02:06
  going to use that. I hope you guys are OK, because
• 1:02:08
  I really love that term, future -flavored, because
• 1:02:10
  I think that's what a lot of people are doing.
• 1:02:12
  They're not. future focused, but that's a great
• 1:02:14
  term. So I'm going to use that as well. Hopefully
• 1:02:16
  you guys don't mind it. Feel free to liberate
• 1:02:19
  anything you want. I hate to say the word stealing
• 1:02:21
  in the education world because it sounds liberating.
• 1:02:25
  I love that. OK, yeah, I'm going to do that.
• 1:02:27
  Yes. Educators are liberating all the time. Lots
• 1:02:30
  of yes. Exactly. I love that. You know, part
• 1:02:33
  of our nature. We're going to move into our lightning
• 1:02:35
  round, but we're going to do this with a little
• 1:02:37
  bit of a twist. So with our lightning round,
• 1:02:40
  you know, feel free to answer as short or as
• 1:02:42
  long as you need to, to get the point across.
• 1:02:45
  And again, it kind of goes alternating between
• 1:02:47
  David and I who will ask these questions, but
• 1:02:50
  I don't want you to answer for yourself. I want
• 1:02:52
  you to answer for your sister. That's spicy,
• 1:02:56
  I love that. And then you can confirm or deny
• 1:02:58
  the response, whether it's true or not. Okay,
• 1:03:02
  so I think I'll start here with Alicia with this
• 1:03:06
  one here, so you get to answer for your sister.
• 1:03:09
  What is one future focus change a school could
• 1:03:13
  make this year without adding a new course position
• 1:03:16
  or expensive platform that is what you think
• 1:03:19
  Shira would say? I think Shira would say that
• 1:03:24
  the jobs are one of those nine things that she
• 1:03:26
  answered earlier. What do you think, Shira? Did
• 1:03:29
  I do an okay job? Yeah, I think that's right.
• 1:03:32
  I think it's about adding in the future -focused
• 1:03:35
  mindsets for our teachers. Perfect. Okay, so
• 1:03:41
  this is a two -parter, so you both have to answer
• 1:03:43
  this. So this would be for Alicia. The top place
• 1:03:48
  for a Cheese Steak Sandwich in Philly. Oh, I
• 1:03:53
  have to answer it for her? No, I think it's reverse.
• 1:03:56
  Oh, she's going to answer. OK. I'm going to answer
• 1:03:58
  for you. Well, I think that there's obvious ones
• 1:04:02
  that everybody would choose. But I think Shira
• 1:04:07
  would say that she doesn't have any favorites.
• 1:04:13
  That's what I think you would say. So I'm going
• 1:04:16
  to throw a contender out there. Cafe Carmela
• 1:04:19
  is kind of new to the game here in Philadelphia,
• 1:04:22
  and they are a rising star with their cheesesteak.
• 1:04:26
  That was a hard one for me, because I don't know.
• 1:04:27
  I know, because yeah, she's from Maryland. Yep.
• 1:04:30
  So this might be difficult, too. I don't know.
• 1:04:32
  We'll see. But Shira, what seasoning is essential
• 1:04:35
  for a Maryland crab boil? Oh, obviously Old Bay.
• 1:04:41
  Right, Alicia? Am I right? Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay.
• 1:04:49
  It's like me with Frank's red hot sauce. It just
• 1:04:52
  goes on everything. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And
• 1:04:55
  all things pretty, pretty like up and coming
• 1:04:57
  here in Philadelphia, too. Lots of lots of french
• 1:05:02
  fries with Old Bay. All right. So I think we're
• 1:05:06
  on to Alicia with the next one. Does that sound
• 1:05:10
  right? Am I going in the right order? Sure. Okay,
• 1:05:15
  so when Shira was in elementary or middle school,
• 1:05:18
  what did she want to be when she grew up? And
• 1:05:20
  I'm asking that question because I know you kind
• 1:05:22
  of talked about it as a trap earlier on. So I'm
• 1:05:25
  putting you into the trap. Well, she should know
• 1:05:28
  this. I should. I've only ever wanted to be one
• 1:05:32
  thing. You were my first student. I know, but
• 1:05:35
  I was okay. Anyway, when you were in high school,
• 1:05:37
  I was like five. So, how would I, no, I'm just
• 1:05:44
  kidding. You've always wanted to be a teacher,
• 1:05:45
  but specifically, I know that you want to be
• 1:05:49
  a teacher on a beach. That's right. So I'm still
• 1:05:52
  working on the teacher on a beach scene, but
• 1:05:54
  I definitely wanted to be a teacher. Alicia just
• 1:05:58
  alluded. We are like over 10 years apart. And
• 1:06:01
  so she was my first student. I was babysitting.
• 1:06:03
  I was like pretending to teach with her, all
• 1:06:05
  the things. That's right. That's right. All right.
• 1:06:11
  The next one here is, so Shira, what can employers
• 1:06:14
  teach educators? What can employers teach educators?
• 1:06:20
  And this is what Alicia would think, is that
• 1:06:22
  right? Yeah. So I would think that Alicia would
• 1:06:25
  say that employers can teach educators how to
• 1:06:30
  support young people in, in like holding a job,
• 1:06:36
  like what it takes to hold a job. That's what
• 1:06:39
  I'm going to say. Yeah, I mean, I think I think
• 1:06:45
  that employers can can teach educators like all
• 1:06:49
  of those things. I think employers are educators
• 1:06:51
  anyway, so that's pretty close to what I would
• 1:06:54
  say. OK. Let's do the next one, and I think this
• 1:07:02
  one goes for Alicia again. I seem to be asking
• 1:07:04
  you all the questions, and David seems to be
• 1:07:06
  asking Shira. That's just how it goes, I guess.
• 1:07:09
  What's one non -educational book, series, or
• 1:07:13
  movie you think your sister's been into lately?
• 1:07:17
  Well, I know that you're a Bravo girl. Everything
• 1:07:21
  Bravo. All Bravo. And I'm not, so it's hard for
• 1:07:24
  me to name one, but Shira's always talking about
• 1:07:28
  like Real Housewives, Bravo stuff. Yeah. I'm
• 1:07:32
  going to go with that general. Yeah, I know.
• 1:07:34
  Bravo. Yep. Bravo. Below deck is my favorite.
• 1:07:37
  And so it goes along with the beach theme and
• 1:07:40
  the water and what, right? And so maybe they're
• 1:07:42
  going to need a below deck principle one day
• 1:07:44
  that I could join. Okay. Last one here of the
• 1:07:50
  lightning round. You both have to answer for
• 1:07:52
  each other. And I'll just tell you that We now
• 1:07:55
  have a integrate this podcast guest playlist.
• 1:07:59
  So these playlists. But Shira, what would be
• 1:08:03
  Alicia's keynote walk up song if she's doing
• 1:08:06
  a conference for us tomorrow? And Alicia, what
• 1:08:09
  would be Shira's? OK, I got Alicia's. I'm going
• 1:08:17
  to go with I also really love this song, and
• 1:08:19
  I think it demonstrates a lot of our innovative
• 1:08:21
  values. The song is Try Everything by Shakira.
• 1:08:29
  I love that song, and it's also from Zootopia.
• 1:08:32
  Yeah, I was gonna say a Zootopia song. Yes, I
• 1:08:34
  love it. What about me, Alicia? It's my walk
• 1:08:38
  -up song. Well, I know, I always overthink things.
• 1:08:44
  This is why it takes a long time for me to answer.
• 1:08:48
  But I know that, like, I can see you dancing
• 1:08:52
  to it. I can see you dancing to it. I'm just
• 1:08:58
  having a hard time picking the song. Can I phone
• 1:09:00
  a friend? Can I phone a sister? No, come on.
• 1:09:03
  You want to ask me? I'm going to say. I'm going
• 1:09:05
  to ask you. How about this girl is on fire, Alicia
• 1:09:10
  Keys. OK. That comes in my head as well sometimes
• 1:09:15
  when I'm getting like, all right, here we go.
• 1:09:19
  That's what I'm going to say. They will both
• 1:09:21
  be able to play with it. Sorry, I don't know.
• 1:09:23
  Okay, I love that. And we'll send it to you too,
• 1:09:26
  so. Cool. Yeah, you know, we're kind of at the
• 1:09:30
  end here. I just, again, thank you guys so much
• 1:09:33
  for hanging out with us and having such great
• 1:09:36
  conversation. It's amazing how fast the time
• 1:09:39
  just goes by when, you know, you've got great
• 1:09:41
  people to talk to. So before we do let you go,
• 1:09:44
  I do want to give you a chance to plug anything
• 1:09:47
  that you have coming up, anything with Innovagis
• 1:09:52
  or websites or contact information, socials,
• 1:09:56
  that sort of stuff, and just give you that chance
• 1:09:59
  right here. Yeah. Well, of course, you can always
• 1:10:02
  reach Alicia and I. Our website is innovagis
• 1:10:06
  .com. You can reach Alicia and I at aliciaat
• 1:10:08
  or shiraat innovagis .com. I would say some things
• 1:10:12
  you should check out our website. There are a
• 1:10:15
  ton of resources on there. We also offer several
• 1:10:18
  leadership continuing education courses around
• 1:10:22
  leading future focused schools, around building
• 1:10:24
  community partnerships, special education leadership,
• 1:10:27
  MTSS. And this fall, we are offering a community
• 1:10:32
  of practice for school teams to join virtually
• 1:10:35
  to continue to build both skills that are important
• 1:10:39
  for young people. So if what we talked about
• 1:10:41
  today is of interest, feel free to join us and
• 1:10:44
  you can learn all about that on our website.
• 1:10:46
  And Alicia, anything else you want to add? No,
• 1:10:49
  I mean, you covered it. I think our our website
• 1:10:52
  in particular has lots of resources and like
• 1:10:55
  free resources to download, especially some of
• 1:10:58
  the things we talked about around community engagement
• 1:11:01
  today as well. Perfect. I've started a list of
• 1:11:05
  things to link in the show description, so we'll
• 1:11:08
  add all of those things and people will be able
• 1:11:11
  to just click on them when they are listening
• 1:11:13
  or watching the program. Awesome. It was so great
• 1:11:16
  to join you all today. We really hope people
• 1:11:18
  visit our website, pick up a copy of Leading
• 1:11:21
  Future Focus Schools, and just connect with us
• 1:11:24
  so we can continue the conversation. That's right.
• 1:11:27
  Wonderful. Thanks, Alicia. Thank you, Sheera.
• 1:11:30
  Thank you. Thanks for listening to Integrate
• 1:11:33
  This. Want to take your learning further? Head
• 1:11:36
  over to our YouTube channel for quick tutorials,
• 1:11:39
  deep dives, and more ed tech tips you can use
• 1:11:42
  right away. Don't forget to subscribe and catch
• 1:11:45
  new podcast episodes every Thursday on Apple,
• 1:11:50
  Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Until
• 1:11:53
  next time, keep exploring, keep innovating and
• 1:11:56
  keep integrating this.