Zach Diamond  0:03  
Welcome to the modern classrooms project podcast. Each week we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self paced and mastery based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other, so this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the modern classrooms project podcast.

Speaker 1  0:28  
Hello and welcome to episode 215 of the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, they them pronouns, a designated hype person here at MCP, and I am so excited to be joined by Ryan Cordia and Roxanne Thomas school leaders at Northeast in Vegas. Welcome Ryan and Roxanne.

Ryan Cordia  0:48  
Thank you for having us.

Roxanne Thomas  0:50  
Hi

Speaker 1  0:51  
again. It's so exciting to be in this space with you. I've heard great things from Matt, so I'm excited to elevate your stories. Thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast, and before we get started, what is bringing you joy currently?

Roxanne Thomas  1:05  
So what's bringing me joy currently is the phase that we're in with modern classroom, is our teachers are getting to a very comfortable place in terms of having students at different places. And we're at a stage now where teachers are having having their more individual strengths be a parent in class, and they are more confident in having freedom and just delivering more personal strategies for instruction. 

Toni Rose Deanon  1:32  
Oh, I love that so much. Ryan, what about you? 

Ryan Cordia  1:35  
What's bringing me joy today we're in a vacant classroom because on Wednesdays, I decided to do snacks with the principal, so now we've had a constant flow of Bill and Mike up with just interacting with our staff on a personal level, and it's been fun today. So it's just nice to see educators as friends today.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:53  
Oh, wait is that every Wednesday that happens?

Ryan Cordia  1:56  
Yes, because we weren't having enough collisions, we weren't having enough human interaction. So I decided to do this for the rest of the semester, and I'm not sure I can keep it up. So get a finance system that I can sustain next. 

Toni Rose Deanon  2:08  
Yeah, I was wondering, how often do your educators take advantage of this space? Well,

Ryan Cordia  2:12  
they come visit on Wednesdays for snacks, but otherwise, we host some meetings in here. There's, there's really nothing else going on in here. 

Toni Rose Deanon  2:19  
Okay, okay, yeah, we love some snacks now, as an education former educator myself, when you tell me that they're snacks, I'm there. So love that. So tell us more about who you are and how you started your MCP journey.

Roxanne Thomas  2:33  
So I grew up in Las Vegas. I'm a product of the school district that I work in, and I taught English for about 10 years at a local comprehensive high school, and in my role as a teacher, I experimented and I innovated a lot with my instruction, playing a little bit with with project based learning. And as a classroom teacher, I strongly believed that every student was capable of learning every topic with the right level of support. So eventually, like through my career, when I had the opportunity to open northeast tech and work with Dr Cordia, he mentioned the idea of having a mastery based learning model at school. And instantly I was intrigued, because personally, I had experienced success from my own teaching experience. 

Ryan Cordia  3:21  
I've been in the profession for 20 years in three different states, and was principal at a Career Tech Academy similar to this for I don't know. I was there for about a decade as teacher, principal, assistant principal, and then the opportunity to open this school came up. We just opened last school year, and felt the pressure of opening a school in 2023 like, what are you going to do? What what innovation are you going to push? And so with talented folks like Roxanne and our first wave of hires, we all agreed that we were going to break the Carnegie units and we were going to walk the talk on if students learn at different rates and different paces, then we got to build a system that supports that. So we opened last school year, and didn't go real smooth. So then around December we we finally inked a deal with modern classroom project. And instead of us guessing at strategies, we actually had some real, concrete strategies. And so modern classroom project really helped us get this school from the idea into practical application.

Speaker 1  4:21  
How did you come across MCP? because I know that you had talked about like, Okay, we want to make this mastery based school, right? So how did you come up? Or, how did you all come across MCP?

Ryan Cordia  4:33  
most of our thought partners pointed us in this direction. So we work really closely with Arizona State no ASU prep digital, that's our, one of our partners, and work through Khan World School and some other places, and they just kept hearing modern classroom project over and over again as we were trying to develop our instruction model. And then took the free course, then made the administrator take the free course. And then eventually we found some money. Make a official partnership out of it.

Speaker 1  5:02  
Oh, I love this whole concept of, like, getting this the leadership to take the free course, just so that you all are aware of the ask of educators, right? I think I'm also curious, how did you two meet 

Roxanne Thomas  5:14  
so we mutually know each other, because my husband was an assistant principal for Dr courtier at his previous school with, yeah, with, and so that that's what the connection was, right there. I was familiar with who he was and his leadership style, and that in general, he was an innovator and a big advocate for for teachers and high level education in the school district.

Speaker 1  5:40  
Oh, I love that. It's like, it's a great, it's a great connection, right? So okay, Dr Cordia, we gotta use, we gotta use the titles here, right? I'm so curious, because y'all, y'all started this school last year, just opened it up. How did the hiring process go? And you both knew, hey, we want a mastery based school. So what were some of the like? How were you intention with? How are you intentional with your interview process, as far as getting teachers who are bought in with the mastery based concept?

Roxanne Thomas  6:13  
So going into this, we knew that this was going to feel like a massive change for educators to go from being part of a typical school year with typical posting deadlines having rigid due dates, and then to take the training wheels off and basically encourage them to allow students to turn things in late if they are struggling to grapple with the content. So in the interviewing process, we did, we did be very clear with them. We told them that we are doing a huge change. We tried to gage their their ability to adapt to changes and roll with the punches. We asked them if they were willing to see this through until it worked with the understanding that it was going to be hard along the way. And another layer of this was we asked if they had a comfort level with with PBL, or if they were familiar with it. And that helped us understand if they were interested in the innovative aspect of what what we're doing here.

Ryan Cordia  7:12  
I think that's, uh, I wasn't brave enough at the school before mine, where I was principal that had been around for 60 years and very successful. And like people have loved it, like tradition was strong, the alumni was thick. It was it was a great place. It still is a great place. So for me to make this large of a change at that school, I wasn't tough enough as a leader to do that. So as we were hiring, we were very upfront that this is going to be different work. We're not piloting it, we're not trying it, we're doing this, and you've got to agree to this messy process while we figure it out, and then hopefully everyone else in the school district and the state and the country can replicate what we have figured out when we figure it out and knowing that we don't know those answers. And then it was, it was a big political win too. Like, I'm very proud of our school and the model we've created. I'm also pretty proud of how the political tight rope we had to walk to get the approvals. And we're the fifth largest school district in the country, 360 schools, 300,000 students. And so for one school to do something different is a pretty big ask for the superintendent to agree to. And so that time we like ask for our SIS and LMS and our data and our testing and all those departments, can we have an exception to all of your policies, procedures, regulations that took a lot of meetings. And I don't know if you've seen our school board in action or not, but getting out in front of the school board was pretty tough too. So they didn't. Nobody wanted this information getting to the school board around them. So I was not able to get onto their agenda until May. And so with that, the May before school started. And so we were, we were telling our applicants what we were doing, probably out of turn, but we did not tell any students or families what they were signing up for. So that was a big roll the dice too, that everyone had signed up for our school without knowing it was gonna be mastery based using modern classroom strategies.

Speaker 1  9:10  
That is. That's really fascinating. And I haven't had a conversation with school leaders yet. Who have you know, decided we're not piloting, we're not trying. We are doing and it's a brand new school as well. How did you, I don't want to say, persuade, but how did you get the superintendent to say, like, okay, yeah, this actually works. I mean, you said it's the fifth largest district, right? There's a lot of power and in tradition and you know. So how did you get to that point? I mean, you got May, right? You got in there May and then have the school year starting a couple months after how did that work for you? Any tips, tricks, anything like that, that you could potentially share with us? Because that's really dope.

Ryan Cordia  9:48  
So we did it a partner school, and I did they're doing a hybrid learning environment, where they were having kids off campus part of the week, and we were doing a mastery learning environment where self paced learning, and we went two different to. Directions. He went straight to the boss and pitched it and went for the home run. And the boss said, yes. So then everyone had to follow the direction. I went the other way. I went from the bottom up and worked with every single department and every layer of bosses and bureaucracy figuring out what was legal, what was within bounds, what wasn't, and got yeses on every rung of the ladder before I got to him. So that that was my approach. And anybody could have said no along the way. And then the other approach was, if you took the home run, swing and miss, then you're done. So trying to build some advocates along the way, was how I went with it.

Speaker 1  10:35  
Dr Cartier, that is, that is really dope for you to think about, like, no bottom up, right? Like, all the different layers, having conversations to see, like, what could work, what couldn't work. And then I think it's also good practice, right? Like, as you move up, you're like, oh, I can say it this way, or I can show, showcase this way. So I, I like that idea as well. And so Okay, when we're thinking about, you know, folks like saying yes, which is great. And then you, you were saying that caregivers, families, students had no idea. How did you define? Describe mastery based learning or mastery based school, so that it makes sense for everyone, all the stakeholders, 

Roxanne Thomas  11:14  
so similar to what I said earlier, earlier, I deeply believe that all students are capable of all learning with the right support, and that's how we started the conversation with parents. We strongly believe that your student is capable of learning everything, and that in some cases, your student might need some additional time. And starting from there, no parent refuted that they want to have their students part of a school system where that is the belief of the staff and of the administration, and then from there, we let them know how grading will be a little bit different at our schools. Instead of doing traditional A, B, C, D, F, students must earn at least a 70% C or better on every assignment to be able to constitute mastery, and if a student doesn't attempt an assignment, or if they are not successful in earning a 70% they don't get a grade until they do, and they also are not able to move on. How I've explained this to families is to force a student through the progression of a course would be similar to having a student who still hasn't mastered writing out the letters of the alphabet, progressed to writing a five paragraph essay. So that was some of the explaining that we, that we did when we helped get our families and our students on board to this and then within the school building, because the the time frame that we started communicating, this was so short because of the the arduous process we had to go through to get this approved. So the first the first week of school, we also started doing door to doors as an administrative team within our different programs to talk to our freshmen about how grading looks, what the expectation is for completing assignments, and how to access the the LMS, the course content. 

Ryan Cordia  12:59  
And I'll throw in a couple different layers as we're reflecting down this memory lane, it was a different elevator pitch every time. From December, when I was interviewing assistant principals to come on board, I described a model that was very different than what we're living today. And then as we met with our new hire teachers in March, April, May, it was different. Every month we we sold a little bit different version of it, as is, we just kept living it. And what seemed to really land with the families is you can't fail here that you just keep working until you pass that that seemed to get us through a lot of the bumps of your systems are not clean, yet. Your teachers are doing different things, like, okay, but no one's failing like you only get to master the content, so we're not going to hurt anybody in the process. Learning is the focus, not the letter grade, which everyone agrees with, until it's like report card time, then like, no, no, no, show me that letter on there. So that was a battle. But I think what really the biggest piece to the the why of our school is our career focus. And we do career coaching with every kid every semester. So from week one of school, we had them explore within their career tech program, what level job they wanted. A level one is straight to work. Level two a credential. Level three is college degree. Those are access points. So what access point do you need to get the professional life you want? And that's the leaf you get. And we have them on the back of their ID badges. Every kid's got their their leaf of what their why for the school is, what they're going to go pursue the day after high school is over. And so we were able to leverage you want to be a residential architect, or you want to be nurse practitioner, whatever you've decided as your path, you have to get your high school credits done, and when you master those that are out of your way, to get access to the college courses or to the jobs or to the internships, and so like, that's, that's what we kept leaning on, is get your high school credits out of the way to get access to the professional version of yourself that you envisioned. 

Toni Rose Deanon  14:58  
So, okay, this is. Great. I love the career coaching aspect with every student. For Did you say semester of the year?

Ryan Cordia  15:05  
Every semester, they go through an official career coaching model, and we partner with Mark perna and TFS solutions for their career tree. So there's career trees all over, and every kid's got their leaf. So we every they can change their job whatever they want, but they always have to work towards something while they're here for these 720 days, I don't want anyone going to day 721 lost. And we're not saying College is the end game. College is means to an end or college isn't the only path. Like if the professional path for you is where you want to be, then we cheerlead and celebrate that. If you love going to work, then you're in the right spot.

Speaker 1  15:42  
No, I love this, right, when we're thinking about workforce and and just skills, right? And also love that you just gave permission to say, like, college is not the end all be, all for every single kid out here, right? There are other options and other opportunities for students,

Ryan Cordia  15:58  
for anybody, should just be a step to something, 

Toni Rose Deanon  16:02  
yes, yes, you're absolutely right, yes, yes, yes, yes. So okay, well, you said that they could change careers or just, like, change, you know, pathways, I guess, how do they how often do they change that are they are students exposed to different types of jobs? Because I know when I was in high school, like my only thing was like, Oh, I have to go to college. I didn't even know that I could go to you know that I had other options.

Ryan Cordia  16:27  
So we're a career tech ed magnet school. Everyone applies to our school in eighth grade to start with us as a freshman, and they apply to one of our 10 career pathways. They cannot change their magnet career pathway. So if they apply for diesel technician, they are in diesel technology for four years. But within that, there's 1000s of jobs that those skill sets can really foster and grow. So there our instructors job, and all of our jobs on campus is to like, what's your passion, what's your ability, and then how can you leverage those to generate revenue for yourself, even if you don't like anything to do with diesel technology, you can still earn a living for yourself if you have to in that field. And you could also go into sales. You can go into graphic design. You can do whatever you want within that skill set, but it's your job to figure that out as to what you want to pursue within that bubble of diesel technology or the other nine programs.

Speaker 1  17:22  
Oh, this is so cool. This is so so so, so cool. I love again, that that the focus on passion, right? The focus on ability and just the revenue, like you said, right? We were, we're all going to do something we don't want to do at some point in our lives. So how can we continue having, you know, creating that revenue for ourselves to continue living and also, like, what are some of the skills that we need to make shifts if we need to? So I really love that part. Okay, so I know that you had alluded Dr courtyard, that there was, in the beginning was a mess. I know, right? It's so great. I love it. And I was just wondering too, it's, it's, you know you were talking about how in the beginning it was a mess, it was a mess, but now you're, like, getting better. And I think that's the reality of it. When you're implementing something new, right? When you're learning something new and trying to make sure that it looks good, it's going to be messy, and learning is messy anyway. So how did you shift from the beginning? Or, like, what are some lessons that y'all learned when you were implementing the model in the beginning to now, because I know you said before, there wasn't MCP, wasn't a part of it, right? Not yet. And then all of a sudden, you're like, you know, instead of us just like, guessing what strategies we needed, we knew we need the support, and, yeah, talk us through that.

Roxanne Thomas  18:34  
So in the beginning, when we first started this out, I I don't think mess is the correct word. It just wasn't up to par our kids. We didn't feel were being engaged at a level that was going to help them basically meet those goals that we had them map out and research for themselves in the first couple weeks of school, what learning looked like in our school was students sitting on Chromebooks for 40 minutes plus per class period. So teachers had done all of the legwork to develop high quality blended learning content, but it didn't include videos in all cases and and the kids were working in in vacuums independently, all by themselves. So one of the lessons that we learned is that videos that demonstrate skills are a very important part of mastery learning, and that group small group instruction and whole group instruction still has a vital place in day to day classroom structures. So part way through the year, we immediately started supporting teachers in laying out day to day structures, for example, always starting with an open or whole group doing a review, modeling what was expected for an assignment or unit, and then giving the kids independent work time, and finally closing that out with a whole group review. Once we started doing that, we started seeing less computer zombies and a little bit more engagement, and what we've evolved to now is our student. Get our teachers are starting to implement more small group instruction, so that they're still being the facilitator of knowledge, still being the source of high level learning, but students are still able to work at their own pace based off of what learning group they're in. 

Ryan Cordia  20:15  
So we've got four steps to our learning model, and teachers have some freedom within departments to work within those four steps. But for every unit, we took a project management tool from architecture, and we have students identify what tasks need to be done for that unit, and then set a reasonable plan to get all their work done and whatever time boundaries they think work for them. The second step is to complete tasks. The third step is a verification of understanding. So that's where the students have a discourse with the teacher or with peers while the teacher is listening. And that's so the teacher can verify the foundation skills are there. And then the fourth and final step is to apply those skills to some type of performance task. And so the way the it started is we were using Apex as our foundational curriculum for steps one and two, and teachers weren't really owning that part. They were like, go do your computer work and come see me when it's time for discourse and the fun stuff. Then when we switched in January, the first year from Apex curriculum to teacher created content. That's when we really leaned in on modern classroom strategies for how to create those content, how to do those strategies. And that's where school became fun again. It was always learning, it was always getting work done in production. But it didn't feel fun. It didn't feel like relationships were being built. So that was, that was a big miss, yeah,

Speaker 1  21:38  
and I mean, kudos to both of you for catching that right away, right? Of being like, hey, they're doing the thing, but there's also the engagement that needed to happen. So the 40% being on the computer was like, kind of an alarm, right? Like, hey, we need to make some changes. So, Roxanne, I have a follow up question. I love this concept that y'all had with the structure, right? Of you know, start out with the whole group, there's opening right? And then breaking it down, and what you're seeing now is that there's a lot more small group learning happening. Did you think that your teachers needed more guidance and support with small group instruction? Because I know that that's a very like elementary base, and I know some of a lot of our secondary educators struggle with what small group is supposed to look like. 

Roxanne Thomas  22:20  
Yes. So and still, teachers are developing in this area. There are still some that need more support, and we're working on that right now. But for our early adapters, the sequence that we went through was, first, let's start getting your students in groups based off of what activities they're doing. And to start teachers did that, and it was mostly a check for understanding, a check to see if you're on task. And then flip to the next group. What it's progressed to since then is the teachers actually pulling up a chair and modeling with that group of students of how to do things. So again, that's our early adopters. Some of them are progressing to that. I think as the school year goes on will create opportunities for our teachers to do instructional rounds and see each other teaching so so that they can start implementing what they actually get to see. Because to describe doing something like that is very different than if you actually get to see it happening in a classroom.

Speaker 1  23:16  
Oh my gosh, I just did a little dance. Because I love a good instructional round, because, like you said, it's easier, not easier, but it's it's much more impactful when teachers see each other in action, as opposed to us talking about it. And so I'm curious now, how do you anticipate on creating the logistics behind the whole instructional rounds? Because I know that's like a concern for a lot of school leaders and even, like instructional coaches. 

Ryan Cordia  23:42  
Before we get there, we got to know what we're doing. And you already alluded to secondary folks not knowing how to do these small group rotations and tier two supports very well. So we are going to a couple neighboring elementary schools and having some of their coaches come here so that we can figure this part out, so we know what to say and what not to say. And if we do rounds and just say, Hey, what'd you find? Like they're gonna find what they're looking for, but we need them to find what we're looking for. So that will be the step before the step Oh, that's oh my gosh again. 

Roxanne Thomas  24:12  
As far as how those rounds Look, we've done them a couple different ways, and everybody wants something a little bit different. Some teachers specifically only want to see other teachers within their own department during instructional rounds. Some teachers see the value of seeing what systems and structures teachers who teach another subject have going on. So we've done both. We've done content specific ones. So English teachers see other English teachers, math teachers see other math teachers. And we've also mixed it up. We do it based off of prep periods. So the groups that that we have going have mixed teachers. Sometimes it's science and math, sometimes it's science and an English teacher. And we we try to give equal opportunity to all teachers to be observed. This last round that we did, we were a little bit more intentional. I tried to select. Teachers who are showing a lot of different strategies for groupings and for student engagement, to send a message that there's also not one right way to do this. There are many right ways, with the hopes of our teachers not feeling self conscious like they have to meet a certain target, they can still be themselves and do what's most comfortable for them.

Speaker 1  25:19  
Yeah, and I think it builds up courage, right? That confidence too. Of like having a lot of teachers come in and be observed and see you in action, because I know sometimes with educators, it's like, no, no, I don't want to be observed. I don't want to be seen. So it's really great that you're creating these supports for teachers to just be comfortable learning with each other.

Zach Diamond  25:41  
Hey there listeners. This is Zach dropping in with the announcements for november 17, 2024 we're wrapping up our book club with screenpal and Kami. And the community has been reading UDL and blended learning by Katie Novak and Caitlin Tucker. We are on our last session together so you can get your must do reading pages for our fifth and final session on Thursday, November 21 at 7pm Eastern. Join Matthew Hickson, MCP, head of partner transformation, and Dr crystal Deaver, the former principal of the game development design school at Burleson, ISD, to talk about the results of a two year implementation study that led to rapid growth in student achievement at gddS on Tuesday, November 19, at 4pm Eastern leaders will come away with concrete strategies and impact data that can guide their vision for going school wide and making big gains with mastery based, self paced and blended learning strategies. Finally, we're hosting a panel with Screencastify on how to leverage digital tools and in person interactions to cultivate an inclusive community. On Thursday, November 21 at 4pm Eastern, join a panel of School Administrators and ed tech experts as they dive into the importance of engaging families and community members, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic, as they tackle issues like absenteeism and family engagement. They'll also address common misconceptions about digital communication and highlight how it can enhance, not hinder, in person, connections, registration, links and more information is available in the show notes. So go ahead and check that out. But now let's get back into the episode with Toni Rose, Ryan and Roxanne,

Speaker 1  27:23  
that's a lot of great information. I'm really excited too to see how this goes with how how it goes with the elementary school instructional coaches, because I think that's such a great way to get community to come in as well, and just to show us like we don't know what we don't know, right? Like you said, Dr Cordia, where it's like, I you know, we got to figure out what we're looking for. We got to figure out where we can learn and what we can improve on. And so I really like that. I never even thought to like invite Elementary School instructional coaches to come in and see the practice. So I really love that. Okay, so what are one to two tips that you both have for leadership. Who are interested in implementing this model and don't know really where to start, or even have to get how to get their educators bought in, or at least interested.

Roxanne Thomas  28:16  
I can answer the part about tips and tricks like I have a little bit of a list for this. So the first thing that I would do, if you're trying to onboard teachers, to do this is provide guidance on small group instruction straight out the gate, because if we want students to be able to work at their own pace and also have engagement with the teacher who is the content expert, that needs to be done through the form of small groups. The other guidance that I would give is to be clear on what type of content warrants a video. You don't want to fall into the trap of teachers creating videos with the names of people in history and the dates and the names of locations. What should happen in those videos is a demonstration of skills as example, math, a math teacher in their video should demonstrate here's a new formula. Here's how you apply the formula, and then from there, a student should be able to observe that video and apply the skill. So my advice would be to be clear straight out the gate with teachers, that videos should demonstrate skills. And then the final piece is giving teachers guidance on how to balance digital content with paper resources. Digital content in the form of videos, is very, very helpful. Uploading images and photos of like paper copy notes is valuable for kids, but sometimes it's more appropriate for kids to complete assignments on paper rather than digitally or the other way around. So it's all about finding balance. I don't think that the correct way is to do one or the other.

Toni Rose Deanon  29:45  
Roxanne, you got my brain is expanding because these are things that I haven't even considered, and I've been doing this work for a hot minute, so I'm really glad that you are naming the things right of hey, small group instruction is really important if this is what you want to create. Create small group instruction is really, really important. I think that's sometimes the last thing that people think about honestly, right? It's just like, oh, we want to create self pacing, so go for it. But then it leads a lot of our educators being like, Well, what do we do with our time now, right? How do I pull the small groups that I need to have conversations with? Or, how do I make sure that nobody that our kids are not falling too behind. So I really love that. And then the videos, the videos, you again, a different perspective, right? It's a demonstration of skills. And I love that, because I think sometimes educators I know, for me, I love to talk, so I can talk all day, and then my videos will be really long, and there's no demonstration of skills. And so I'm like, oh, duh. Let's switch that so that students can actually see and I think this is also really powerful for our families and community members as well, to be able to sit with their student and watch it if they need to, so that they can learn together. So it kind of really just makes learning that much more transparent and visual, which I absolutely love. And I know that's something that our, you know, our community is always, constantly asking for, is like this balance of, you know, digital and paper resources. And so I, I feel like you've just been reading all of our things that we we want to, we want to talk about, and we want to get better at. So thank you for sharing all of those. Dr Cordia, did you have anything else you wanted to add? 

Ryan Cordia  30:11  
We have different roles here. And as principal like, I'll take this on from just a high level leadership standpoint, and I think that you got to lead from the front. That if you really are serious about this, you've got to take the training and you've got to walk the talk and lead by doing the the tough part of this is you are not the expert, and you haven't done it this way yourself in most cases. And I have never taught this way. So for me to pretend like I have is not genuine, and the old everyone sees right through that. So you got to lead from the side, and most of these things too, like you got to believe. You got to show that you have confidence that things are going to work. You're not focused on results. You're focused on processes, even though your data is going to come in questionable from for the beginning, until you until you figure it out, and then just start walking like it's going to take time to figure this out, no matter when you start. So get a coalition to willing and believe and don't stop.

Speaker 1  32:21  
I think that's that's a really great reminder, too, of just being vulnerable enough to say that, hey, I'm not the expert on this, right? We're all learning together. Because I think sometimes our ego and our pride get in the way, and we're like, No, we know all of this, and it can create a not so great environment and and so now, I guess you know you're, you're playing with a lot of different things and like, really trying to figure out, like, what works, what doesn't work, right, and you are just continuing to improve throughout the time. I'm also curious, how does this impact now that you're, you know, you're implementing the model you have a mastery based school. How does this impact teacher evaluations? Do they? Are they the same throughout the rest of the district, or are you making some adjustments on maybe the language of teacher evaluation? Because I know a lot of our teachers also ask about this.

Roxanne Thomas  33:10  
So what I let teachers know, and this is based off of advice from schools in Arizona that we visited that were also trying something new, and the advice that they gave was to be upfront with teachers before instruction even starts, and let them know that experimentation is safe here and that there will be some leniency. It is, it is okay if all of the check boxes from the nepf, which is what's used to evaluate teachers, are not present, we can talk about it afterwards and then fill those gaps, we're also more frequently in classrooms than we would typically be at a school that isn't trying something new. So there's a lot of opportunities for for teachers to be able to like show that they know how to be a good educator. So so again, lots of leniency and grace and giving teachers time and opportunity to to experiment. 

Ryan Cordia  34:02  
I don't put a whole lot of weight in teacher evaluations. I feel like they make people sad one day a year, and they never really make anyone happy. And then everyone compares, and then you have your favorites, and it's just really not a fun process for me, the conversations about the school year, where you get any real change, so that four point scale at the end, I don't know. So all that to be said that it's easy during peace time to say like we don't worry about that. We we focus on what we're doing here. We know it's different. We're not going to have all the same rubric language line up exactly what's happening in the room, because it's different. So I'm perfectly fine with that as a site level. But then when we all have bosses, we have to answer to, and my boss is cool when it's peace time. But then whenever our formative assessment data comes in, or whenever she's tasked with providing her tier one walk through data like, then it's where we need to see more tier one direct instruction. Like, no, we don't like it's not. That's not this model. Or how come these three kids aren't doing the same thing as these other kids? Like, Well, it's because we're self paced. Or why isn't there more whole group conversation and collaboration? Like, well, that's just not the way this works. So there's when, when the going gets tough. That's when I got to do a lot more political maneuvering, and I try my best to keep it out of the teacher's hair, but it's easy when it's when it's going well and it's it's a lot of work on my end to protect them when it's not.

Speaker 1  35:25  
And that's reality, right? Of just like being able to balance it, balance it all out, and also just thank you for protecting teachers piece as well, where, like, they don't have to worry about that, you're going to stand by them, and you're going to stand by this model as well, and then figure out a way to make it all aligned with the district's needs and wants, right? So thank you both for doing that. I think that's really dope, because I know, again, in our communities, we hear educators often say, like, our leaders don't understand what we're doing, or I really want to implement this, and I cannot because it doesn't align with the teacher evaluation, like it always docks me from like, you know, getting good scores in that evaluation. And I also just really love the fact that you said teacher evaluations are not the greatest thing, right? Because I feel the same way. Hi,

Ryan Cordia  36:11  
this is Sophia Bradley, and she didn't know she was on camera today. I don't know to see if I'm lying or not. Like Sophia, do you feel like there's teacher evaluation pressure? Do you stress about teacher evaluation using modern classroom?

Sophia Bradley  36:22  
No, not really. 

Ryan Cordia  36:25  
Okay, good. I hope not. No, not at all I said, but teachers don't feel that. But I want to make sure I wasn't lying. 

Sophia Bradley  36:30  
I don't feel the pressure.

Speaker 1  36:33  
I love that. Sophia, what do you teach? 

Sophia Bradley  36:36  
Science. 

Toni Rose Deanon  36:37  
Science, yes, I love that. And thank you for popping in. And you for popping in, and you didn't even know you're going to pop in. But I just have a quick question for you as an educator in under the leadership of Roxanne, Dr Cordia, how do you how? How does that? How do they protect your peace first of all, and how do they bring in joy for you to continue showing up in this space? I put you on the spot for that one, huh?

Sophia Bradley  37:04  
I feel like the joy is kind of built in. I don't know. I love coming to school, which I know a lot of teachers probably don't feel that way, but I genuinely do, mostly because of the environment. And that wouldn't be that way without both of them. 

Yeah, it really does make a difference when leadership shows up for educators, right? Like, where it's like, no, we're going to give you the autonomy we trust you. And there's experimentation, that's okay, and there's a little bit of leniency, right? So I love that you look happy, you seem happy, you I mean, this is great. So I love that you were able to pop in, just from the teacher's perspective, too. And so, okay, so how, how has MCP supported y'all implementation? I'm curious, because I know that you have all worked with Matt, and you've seen Matt in person, and I know that, Dr Cordia, I've seen you in the leadership collaborative as well. I don't know. Roxanne, were you in that one as well, too, the leadership collaborative. Yeah. Okay, so how, how has MCP supported you in implementation, and how do you continue to stay engaged in the community as well?

Ryan Cordia  38:08  
So I'll take it from a leadership 10,000 foot, and I'll let Sophia and Roxanne talk about practical application, because we live in different bubbles. So I just pretend I know what I'm doing, and it's, it's really nice to have Matt on our team to coach me on leadership and like. What I really needed the last three months is reassurance that trust the process it gets easier. The burden of creating all the content on the front side is a little unfair and overwhelming, and then there's a big relief and success that come pretty quickly behind that, and the fact that our students aren't progressing as efficiently as we like, weighs very heavy on me, but they're learning, and they are progressing through content that they would probably just get to skip in another model or maybe even reduce the amount of complexity to it. So it's nice to have a one on one resource that I can reach out to anytime to really keep my belief and my self efficacy and my vulnerability in check. And then on the practical side, it's really cool to have everyone with a catalog and Encyclopedia of resources they can access at any point. And then the mentorship was very valuable as we got off the ground. But I take full advantage of modern classroom and who they have been to us as individual school and individual people. It's never felt like we were just pieces of a giant organization or any kind of profit structure. Was always like, how can we help Ryan? How can we help Roxanne? How do we get Sophia? What she needs? How does northeast accelerate on the West Coast different than anyone else? So that's how that's that's been my experience. 

Sophia Bradley  39:46  
Yep, I feel the same. I think all of the well, the mentorship was the biggest piece, 100% because we were kind of doing it before the mentorship, but then going through that program and. Really solidified everything, and then having just all of the resources available when we need them is key. I think also the idea that everybody here is so doing it, and having that backboard to bounce ideas off of really helps as well.

Roxanne Thomas  40:21  
And I'll mirror what Sophia said, having mentors assigned to our teachers based off of the content that the mentor was teaching and our teacher was invaluable. I also had a mentor when I was going through the process, and when I spoke with them, I talked to them through the lens of an administrator. How can I support teachers another layer of support that I appreciate for modern classroom is Matt is very communicative. He would send spreadsheets with updates of who was signed up for modern classroom, how far along they were in the process. And what that allowed me to do was identify which teachers were maybe struggling to get through the content so that I can swing by and say, Hey, how's it going? How can I support you? And it like a lot of the questions revolved around how to use a Progress Tracker and how to scaffold content down a little bit more, how to how to provide supplemental resources for a student that wasn't mastering a concept. So the mentor and then Matt's communication were both helpful. 

Ryan Cordia  41:21  
One last thing is, every single person, yourself included from the organization, is 10 out of 10 hype on what's going on and the National Movement, and then making us feel like we are way ahead of what we are actually doing, and feeling proud of our work when we just see the cracks. So it's just been a very, very positive experience, emotionally too.

Speaker 1  41:43  
Honestly, I wish y'all were in rooms where we just talk about northeast and like, all the cool things that y'all are doing. And so I was like, Matt, when can I go with you so I can see all of this in action and also take all the photos and the videos that we can also, just like portray, right and continue to amplify the work that you're doing. So thank you all for just sharing all of this with us. Just your process. Is there anything else that we should cover that people should know about northeast tech, about how you, you know, went through this process from the educators perspective or the leadership perspective?

Ryan Cordia  42:17  
I'll take this one. This is, I think this is the right work, and I believe that we're at the very tip of the spear, and we're not close to tipping point, but we were very much on the front side of an evolution that with blended learning, we can support every learner at their own pace, and we can take care of every kid through the process and As we figure out how to be really good at the pedagogy and the motivation, we can get them moving more efficiently through but the SIS, the LMS, the bureaucracy, the procedural structures, athletic eligibility, AP tests, I mean, all these things that we do in schools are barriers that we can work within somehow, But it's up to us to figure that out, so it becomes easier for everyone else to follow our path. So it's it's a burden and a privilege that we've got. We were able to open a school and hire staff under this idea, and we are trying our best to to make a plan that people can then replicate around the country, and please come out anytime at school to see us in action. I mean, you don't want to see any three of us. You want to see our kids, and when they start talking to start talking about their leaf and what, what their passion is, that's, that's when everyone's hooked. 

Toni Rose Deanon  43:27  
That was like, another thing that I was going to ask too, is, like, dust, student voice, right? Like, what have they been saying about this model? Are they all for it? Is it taking them a while because, you know, they're, they're freshmen, like you said. So they've had traditional schooling for many years. How are they adjusting

Ryan Cordia  43:43  
better this year, as we've gotten better, they've gotten better. Last year, we heard a lot of I don't learn from the computer. Their teachers don't teach your schools wack but it's like now, whenever I hear from a parent and the community, I don't cringe or I was braced last year, like, oh no. How's it going this year, I've been hearing from everyone, like, our kid loves it there. They feel at home, they feel successful, they feel welcome. It's, that's where they want to be. That's, that's my perception this year. 

Roxanne Thomas  44:15  
Yeah, there was a challenge with getting the kids to buy into the videos themselves and it like it. They were like accusatory, saying, My teacher is not teaching. And we would correct them and say, No, your teacher developed all of the content, and your teacher developed this video, where if the video didn't exist, they'd be standing in front of the classroom doing exactly the same thing. So yes, your teacher is teaching you, you're not, you're not utilizing the resources that they made. And now, just yesterday, as an example, we went door to door to all of our math classrooms, and we're seeing our kids with their Chromebooks open, playing the videos. They have captions on they have headphones on it. They're finally transitioning over to using the resources, and they're having success with it.

Sophia Bradley  44:58  
I see it direct. Uh, increase benefit of it this year, because last year I taught 10th graders, and they had been to a regular comprehensive school for ninth grade, and got used to that, and then they came here and were thrown into something new for 10th grade, and majority of them were struggling pretty, pretty hard in science in 10th grade, but this year, 11th grade, they came in knowing what to expect, and they're doing fabulous. They're doing so much better just adapting to the model and being receptive to it, and they're having a great time too.

Ryan Cordia  45:35  
Everyone needs some quantitative data. So if you need a data point, we've got 500 freshman seats. We had over 2000 people apply for those seats this year, and I don't believe there's any secrets in the community. So if there wasn't community support, I don't think we'd have that outpouring of people wanting to join our team.

Toni Rose Deanon  45:53  
Whoa, 2000 Yes, that's incredible.

Ryan Cordia  45:58  
So we're full. I mean, if we were not getting it done, we would have empty seats, and that that's not okay for a school like ours. So to have 1500 students who wanted it didn't get access, hurts our heart, but it also validates the work we're doing here. Yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  46:13  
most definitely. And you know, again, just a nice reminder for folks who are listening to that, when we're implementing something new, there's going to be bumps. There's gonna be a lot of bumps, actually, in the beginning, and also just that the whole thing of change is scary sometimes for everyone involved. And so giving all stakeholders lots of grace when we're implementing something new and giving it time also to get better, right? Because I think sometimes in education, we're so quick to say, like, Oh, it didn't work last year, so we're not going to do it again. And I love that you all are just like, No, we're going to keep going or seeing improvements. This is actually great. And another thing that I hear often, too from educators is that students will complain about, hey, I don't do videos, but then the teacher teaches in real time, whole group, and they're like, actually, no, this is worse. We don't want that either. So So Dr Cordia and Roxanne and Sophia, if our listeners want to connect with you, because I'm sure we'll get we're going to be sharing this out to, you know, our community and folks that we connect with. And if they're like, Oh, I really want to have more questions. How can, how can they connect with you? 

Ryan Cordia  47:24  
Northeastcta.org. Is our school website, which you can link in there, and then Instagram handle is northeast CTA, and that's what they can see the student life too. That's the cool part.

Roxanne Thomas  47:34  
Yeah, northeast, you're going to see that we have over 25 clubs and student organizations that pop up with our school name, 

Toni Rose Deanon  47:41  
northeast CTA, on Instagram and then as well as your school website. So we will definitely include that in our show notes, so you could just click on it and see all the great things that are happening at Northeast tech. So 

Ryan Cordia  47:54  
if anyone wants to come out, they can email me directly.

Speaker 1  47:58  
Okay, great, and we'll have the email that I have for you, right? Dr Cordia, okay, great. I'll put that in the show link as the show notes as well, so you all can just say, hey, we heard your episode that was really inspiring. Now I have 10 million questions. Listeners, remember, you can always email us at podcast at modern classrooms.org and you can find the show notes for this episode of podcast at modern classrooms.org, modern classrooms.org/ 215, we'll have this episodes, video uploaded on modern classrooms, YouTube channel and transcript uploaded by Friday. So be sure to check back to access those also, we are asking our listeners to leave a review of this podcast has been helpful in supporting you to create a human centered learning environment through a blended, self paced mastery based model. It does help other folks find it. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday.

Zach Diamond  48:49  
Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode, and remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org and you can learn the essentials of our model through our free course at learn.modernclassrooms.org you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at modern class proj, that's P, R, O, J, we are so appreciative of all you do for students in schools. Have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the modern classrooms project podcast.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai