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.

Toni Rose Deanon  0:28  
Hello and welcome to the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, they them pronouns, a designated hype person here at MCP. And I am joined by a speducator in Bronx, an anime lover, and I must say, a proud Capricorn. Dykeisha Hill, welcome Dykeisha, 

Dykeisha Hill  0:47  
Hi. It's nice to be here. 

Toni Rose Deanon  0:49  
Yeah, I remember our conversation in one of our shades of excellence, the lions meet up, where you were like, I'm a Capricorn. And I was like, Oh, that's gross. I You were basically like, which Capricorn hurt you or not all bad. It definitely wasn't you. And you were like, no, here all of the strengths of Capricorns. And I was like, Okay, maybe you're shifting my brain a little bit. So thank you for that. It's really exciting to be in this space with you. And thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast. And so before we get started, this is a question that I love asking our guests, because we want to start with what is bringing you joy currently? Right to kind of get us grounded on joy, and it kind of sets the tone for the remaining of the recording.

Dykeisha Hill  1:43  
Um, well, right now, what's bringing me joy is that we have a class trip happening on Friday, and it's a great way of like, capping off the week into, you know, Monday, which is no school, which is like, Yes, I'm working on some some art orders as well. Because, if you didn't know, I also have my own art business, so I'm working on some orders.

Toni Rose Deanon  2:09  
Yes, I saw that Etsy girl. I was like, Okay, we love that. So kudos to you for continuing to be creative and playful and doing all the things that bring you joy. Thank you so much for sharing. So dakisha, tell us more about who you are and how you started your MCP or your education journey, whichever one you decide to share with us.

Dykeisha Hill  2:31  
Okay, well, as an educator, how I started my journey was that I actually didn't want to be a teacher. Originally, my goal was, I thought it was going to be an animator at Disney, and that didn't pan out. And then I was like, Oh, God, I don't have a job. I have this diploma, this degree, I have this degree, what I'm going to do with it. And my mom, who is my biggest supporter, was like, No, get your butt up, go out there, find something. And she's like, why don't you just be a teacher? You're good kids. I did SYP program when I was 14 and 15, and I was like, You know what? Okay, so I did City Year, because that's how I actually started my education journey. I started City Year for a year, and then I got into the Board of Education, like, right after. So instead of me going to the graduation for city. Year I went straight in grad school, and then I did years Middle School, self contained, 12 to one to one and 12 to one. And then my second year, did ICT, that was at Albert Einstein. Shout out, Albert Einstein. And then I was like, Go, unfortunately. And this is where, again, my mom comes in. And I was so nervous going into that, that that room where, like, you have to give your resume and you have to figure out what school you want to go to. Because I'm like, Okay, I'm not quitting teaching. And I was crying. I was like, Mom, I can't do this. I don't, I don't want to do Middle School. I have one more more more resume left, and she's like, go. And that was eight years later, and I'm still at Bronx Haven High School.

Toni Rose Deanon  4:09  
So okay, we, we appreciate you sharing that story. You know, it's, it's interesting because our co founder was also, also went through City Year, and that was how he got into education, and I worked with a good amount of City Year folks in my classrooms. And I loved having City Year, which is like an extra adult, an extra hand in my classroom. And it was really, really great. So thank you for your service with that. You know, I was also thinking about this, this, you wanting to be an animator for Disney. How cool would that have been? And I also know how difficult it is to be an animator,

Dykeisha Hill  4:47  
yeah, yeah, I would have probably been one of the animators sleeping under the desk. Because if you know anything about the animation world, the art world, especially with like those big companies like dream. Works, you know Disney, you do something that's like your own thing. And they kind of like, Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna take that. You can't No. And I've been like, do I want to give up creativity for business? And I'm like, no. So in a way, I'm a little bummed that I never did did that, but I'm also kind of glad I'm still a teacher, because I still get to teach art, you know, to my students, and you know my love of anime. And they call me the anime teacher. They're like, Yep, it's her. I'm like, welcome. Ah, let me tell you about an anime here.

Toni Rose Deanon  5:36  
Yes, yes, and 

Dykeisha Hill  5:38  
you should see my classroom. 

Toni Rose Deanon  5:40  
Oh, you have to send me pictures, because I'd love to see that.

Dykeisha Hill  5:43  
Yeah, it's all anime. It's all anime figurines, anime during not a prep period, but like the students lunch, they some of the boys and some girls come in and they're like, miss, would we watch it on a Crunchy Roll? I'm like, I don't know. What anime Do you guys want to watch today, and we'll have debates on, like, who's the better anime character? And it's like, yeah, it's fun.

Toni Rose Deanon  6:08  
This makes me so happy, Dykeisha, because I've been in a couple of recordings now with educators who are just bringing their joy in the classroom, right? Like bringing what they're passionate about in the classroom, so that teaching and learning is that much more exciting for them, as you know, for them as teachers and so. And of course, our students love seeing us excited about the things that we're excited about, right? It kind of humanizes us, or it definitely humanizes us. And so that's really dope that you're bringing in anime, because that's something that you really love, and then having students be exposed to it. So, you know, there may be some students who have never been to a never been too exposed to anime, but now they're learning about it, and they're, you know, they're watching it with their peers and all of that good stuff. So So kudos to you for continuing to show up as much as you can in in the ways that you can for your students. So, you know, you mentioned that you are a self contained educator, and then you mentioned the acronym ICT. Now I understand education has a lot of acronyms, so for our listeners, also asking for me, what does ICT stand for?

Dykeisha Hill  7:12  
So ICT stands for Integrated co teaching. And what that is, is that instead of one teacher in the room, there's two teachers in the room. So there's a general education teacher who's usually, who usually has the license for the specific content. And then there's a special education teacher for me, personally, I don't have a license in any subject. I can teach any subject, honestly, as a special education teacher, I just chose ELA because, you know, I have a background in ELA and US history. So I chose those two to do. The thing is, is that usually with an ICT class, there's about 50% non disabled and 50% disabled of different various backgrounds, one. So like, for example, when I did Middle School with self contained meaning, there was like 12 kids in one class. They would follow each other. There was usually a para, a class para, or a personal para or a personal para aide. So I did that for two years. Well for a year, actually, I did 12 to one, which was like two Paras. One was a class pair. One was a self para, like to a student. And then there was a 12 to one to one, meaning there was me, the kids, two Paras and another para and they would follow each other around. So that's pretty much what that was like.

Toni Rose Deanon  8:42  
And so I have a follow up question, because that's a lot of collaboration and communication with the adults, right? How did you manage that? How do you make sure that communication is transparent? How do you make sure that you know the skills that are being taught are clear for everyone involved?

Dykeisha Hill  8:59  
Well, what I will admit, my first year teaching was definitely a little rocky, because I had to acclimate to the culture. There was a lot of negativity around the special education department, like, Oh, you have that class, or Oh, you have those students, and it's like, you mean you the student's name I have, or this student's name, and over time, I learned that they didn't need a hero, because I definitely came in with a hero complex, like, oh, you know, I can save them. You know, most of these kids are kids of color, and I'm a woman of color, so, you know, they'll, they'll see me, and it's like, they don't need that. They just need someone consistent. So to go back to your question of how I maintain, you know, behavior and expectations was that I literally just told them straight up. I said, when you leave Middle School, you go to high school, and whatever you guys do afterwards, you're gonna have a lot of people who look at you like, a number gonna have a lot of people who look at you like, oh, you're a black man. You're a black. Black woman, oh, you're this, oh, you're that, oh, you're the stereotype. So I said, I will never look at you like that. We're going to learn how best you learn. If you're visual learner, we're going to give you the visuals. If you're auditory learner, you know, there'll be times where you can, you know, read the book and listen to it. If you're tactile, need to touch. You know, sometimes I'll give you fidget toys and give you a brain break, because, you know, we tend to forget that our students are our kids first before they're, you know, students, these are children whose lives, you know, we have in our hands. And then that's when I started getting a rhythm like, okay, when you guys are not doing what you need to do, I'm gonna be straight with you disappointed. And I think that's what made them like okay? Because they didn't want to be a disappointment to someone that believed in them for the first time, which is unfortunate for our special education students in general, that they feel like they're not heard. And I hope you know later on in my career, whenever that happens to just change that, like special education, students are special because they learn different and they're awesome, and we all learn different, and we're all special. So I hope you know going forward in my career that I can, like, you know, do something with the curriculum and make it accessible to all students, regardless of their background. 

Toni Rose Deanon  11:21  
And it's such a great reminder to what you said about the hero complex, right? Because, because typically teachers go in there, especially in their first year, thinking, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be a hero for all the kids, right? Because I definitely had that mindset too going into Baltimore City Schools. Because, okay, thank you. This is real embarrassing to admit, but I do, you know that movie Freedom Writers? Yes, I do. I was a huge fan of Hilary Swank, and I thought I could do what she did, right? And there's a lot, yeah, I know it was real problematic. You know, it's a whole white saber complex, and then, like you said, a hero complex, right? And so I was thinking in my head, oh, I can do this in Baltimore City, and then really not understanding the community. So I was humbled very quickly. And that was a hard lesson for me to like, a hard pill for me to swallow, of like, Wow. I had all of these like misconceptions that the kids need me in this way, when in reality, like you said, students need me to be consistent. Students need me to to respect them, to get to know their stories, to to love on them as human beings, as opposed to just students right and thinking about like success rates and all of that good stuff. So thank you for for naming the fact that there is a lot of negativity and even like our inner beliefs and values when it comes to students with IEPs and 504, yes. So, you know, I'm curious, because I've often, you know, heard some educators as well, that some people start off as paras before they're like, Oh, I actually really like being an educator, right? And so how did you navigate having paras in your room, right? Starting off with self contained and you had paras in your room, and then shifting to now I'm working with a gen ed teacher, 

Dykeisha Hill  13:13  
yeah. So definitely it was an eye opener coming from City Year where, um, I was exposed to IEPs 504, you know, special education meetings. Um, it was definitely like, Okay, I have to, not only I have to share the room, you know, like, Yes, it's me as the teacher only, but I have to share a room with two pairs who the kids already get along with. They already have a relationship with them both. The paras were very nonsense, you know, like they were like, nope, nope, we're shutting this down if they see behavior issues. No. But they were really cool. They actually, really helped me to acclimate into the culture really quickly. They told me a lot about the students. One of the paras, her name was Ms Montanez. She had this folder of like, all the kids, of like, what they liked, what they didn't like, parent information, siblings, if they had it, things that worked in the past, things that didn't work in the past. And that actually helped me as a special education teacher, to have day data. Data is so important, especially for a special education teacher, because it's not just the IP we're looking at. We're looking at behavior. We're looking at emotional stuff. We're looking at things that happened in their previous school, like, you know, teachers who maybe weren't so kind to them. And you know, you know, there was a student, for example, who was autistic, and was my first time teaching an autistic student, and he liked to break things, you know, he gave him pencil, he broke it. But I realized, I said, Okay, he's a tactile student, though, like, yes, he's breaking these pencils because that's, you know, the tick that he has. But he's tactile. And I remember this lesson vividly. We. Did. I was teaching them about the Industrial Revolution, and I was like, I'm going to get these kids who could care less what's going on in England and the United States, to get them to care about teamwork. And I said, You know what? I'm going to make an assembly line. I'm going to have each student be a certain worker. I'm gonna carve out, actually created pennies out of cardboard and put a cent on them, and said that this is what you would get for the day. And, you know, I had the student who was the tactile student, you know, break something, and I fired him. And then, because I fired him, the assembly line went crazy. Kids were like, wait, I can't put this in the bag. I can't do this. And I said, let's bring it back. What happens when one person spoils it for everybody? What happens when you have an assembly line with kids and one kid gets injured, and what happens to everybody else? They suffer for it, and that clicked into them. Teamwork does make the dream work. It clicked in me to not just give them an essay about the industrial revolution, but let them experience what they could have experienced if they were kids back then. And the student who was, you know, he's autistic, his name was Michael. He said, thank you. And he didn't say anything after that. He just said, thank you. And I was like, Oh, you're welcome. He said, fun experiment. And I was like, wow. And some there's days where I think about him specifically, and I'm like, I wonder if he's doing well. I wonder if he's like, you know, breaking a pencil, or if he's like, breaking something to rebuild it back again. So that's pretty much my experience with, you know, going from self contained to like general education to like ICT, and I always, I have a lot of my goals in my class that haven't been seen, haven't been heard. And I say, You know what, let's not do an essay today. How about you? Let's do role play. How about you? Get into the character shoes, and they just look at me say, thank you. And it's it's teaching is a thankless job, you know that? So to hear a student tell you thank you for doing a lesson that let them be seen,

Toni Rose Deanon  17:16  
and also it clicks in their brain, right? Because as someone who's neurodivergent as myself, like what neurotypicals would typically get I won't get I'm like, there's still lots of missing pieces, and I need this to be taught, or at least set in a different way, right? Or shown to me in a different way. So I really appreciate you again, naming the fact that, like, hey, you know what it does not I wasn't annoyed with the fact that he was breaking things, if anything, I kind of took a step back. I reflected and saw that he's a tactile learner. He needs something in his hands. And then you also said, like, I wonder if he's, you know, breaking things and then building them up. Because sometimes we have to break things to rebuild them right in a better way. And so I love that you have this asset based mindset to daikisha of like, No, that's a strength that is like a trait, that is a quirk, that is something so then how can I utilize what I know about my student right into getting them to show off their strengths and to get getting to understand or make connections in their brain, so that it does stick, so that it makes it more intentional and meaningful, right? So, these are great things that you're pointing out. I do you know, I know that you and I had touched base about your passion for gamification, specifically within this sped population, right? But before we jump into that too. Dykeisha, how did you find out about MCP? Because I know that, like I you know, you showed up in one of our shades of excellence meetup, and I was like, Oh my gosh. I love your energy.

Dykeisha Hill  18:48  
Thank you so much. Thank you so much so how I learned about this was actually my assistant principal, and he actually gave this to all the teachers last year before the school year ended, and said, Hey, why don't you try this? And I was a little apprehensive, because I had ready was partnering with another fellowship, which was LCL, and I kind of was like, I like modern classroom a little bit better, actually, not even a little a lot better, just because it's more my speed, and it feels, it feels like, you know, modern classrooms is for a special education teacher, like it's, it's, it has a differentiation. It has the trackers it because I was kind of in that rut where it's like, okay, I'm teaching the kids. Are they getting it? Are they understanding it? And now that I use it, you know, I tend to teach three classes per week, and it's like, and I try to, you know, obviously, make sure I pick the three most important, you know, lessons that they that they need, so that there's no filter for them. And I had one. Student who I have for ELA last year. She never really came a lot to school. She kind of was like, in and out the room, like, Oh, I'll be back, miss. And you know, she's been, you know, kind of MIA, for like, a few days now, but, but, but before that, she was completing the work easier. She's one of those students who likes to kind of work on their own. She doesn't really like when, like, you know, we kind of do the pacing for her and and it's perfect for students like that who are like, I'm good. I can move on right to the mastery. And I said, yeah, if you master it, move on. Or you can do a should do activity, or you can do an aspire to do activity. And we have a lot of interns in our school. Um, so I said a should do activity. Could be an intern activity where you're earning money and you're learning, or you can move on to your final project, or you can help a student out. Or you could, just like, be on your tablet for a little bit and just like, get a brain break. And obviously, I would explain to admin why the students on their their tablet and show them like the things I've created and and the students love it. They love that they have a choice in completing something. And my brain, I color code everything. So on Google Docs, I put a yellow heart, a red heart and a green heart. I said, if you see a red heart. That means you can move past it. You don't have to do it. If you see a yellow, you could do it if you want to. And a green, you got to do it before you go. And the kids love it. Some kids were a little bit more like, really, but then they got used to it. They're like, Oh, I'm on lesson three. And then her friends like, I'm on Lesson two, and she's like, It's okay, I'll help you out. It's like, it does work, and it does make me feel like I can talk to other students who I really wouldn't talk to before and check in on them. I'm like, Where was this when I first began teaching, like I needed this in my self contained classes, modern classroom is so amazing. I Yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  21:59  
and kudos to your AP for bringing it to your attention, right? And you being receptive and being like, yeah, let me go check this out and see So, yeah, kudos to both of y'all for being open and receptive to trying a different thing. And I had the same sentiment as you. Dykeisha, you know, when I implemented the model my 10th year of teaching, mind you, I had kind of a moment of grief, or at least of anger and frustration, because, yes, I was doing so many great things my 10th year of teaching, and I wish I had it my last nine years of teaching, because I feel like my impact would have been a lot bigger if I had The model. So I completely understand that whole, you know, questioning of like, Man, where was this when I needed it the most, right? And the fact that I've gone to three schools prior to that, because that was my fourth school that I was teaching at my 10th year of teaching, and I was like, Man, this could have changed so much for me, for my students, and I also, you know, it's kind of like a mixed emotions, right? Like I was, I was amazed at how good I was doing as a teacher my 10th year of teaching. I was frustrated that I didn't have that the last nine years, and then I was grateful for being able to experiencing it, you know, to experience it the way that I was able to experience so thank you for sharing your story with that. So let's, let's dive right into gamification instead, right? Because you were like, Hey, I have this thing. I want to talk about it. So honestly, like, let's talk about it. Well, yeah, how do you Yeah, talk whatever you'd like to talk about that. Case, I have a whole bunch of questions, but I feel like I'm just going to open it up to whatever you want to start off with. 

Dykeisha Hill  23:42  
Okay, so one, I love game, right? I maybe not right now, but I do love games. I, you know, got a war, kingdom, hearts, Legend of Zelda, you name it. I played it or I will, will play it eventually, and I actually teach for an elective. I teach game design. And when I'm not teaching game design, I'm teaching an art class. And I decided, I said, You know what? How about I make the modern classroom the trackers like a game like Monopoly, where the students have a digital tracker, and obviously, if they want a physical copy, I can print it out for them, and they have a piece on Google slides that they can digitally move wherever they're at, and each box will literally tell them. Lesson One, introduction, there's your video with it. Lesson one practice, Lesson One mastery. And I literally have it. If you mastered it, you can move forward, or you can move two spaces to a should do, or an aspire to do, or a conference with me. If you didn't master go back one space and redo the lesson or do an Edpuzzle, or a Near Pod, or a puzzle deck, you know, Pear Deck, something like that. And I love that the kids, some of them, well, most of them see it also as a game too, because they get competitive with themselves. They're like, okay, by the end of Friday, I should be at lesson three. And if they're on lesson one because of, you know, um, attendance, which we do have that issue in our school, you know, I always tell them, Okay, it's, it's okay, you know, you're still in lesson one. So, you know, here's a Near Pod so that we can move you to lesson two, so that I can see the mastery. So it is literally like a game for them. And I also like it as a game too, because I'm like, That's how my brain works. It's like, all right, and it helps me see it visually, like where students are at. I even added an absent corner where students who aren't don't show up to the class. I put their marker down there so I know, like, who's absent, and I also it also helps me learn who's a chronic absent person. So I know like, Okay, you might need more extensive support than what I'm giving most of the kids. So instead of doing like, three lessons, you're just going to do the one lesson, because you need that lesson for everything. And it helps. It does help the kids who are more prone to like, not come all the time, and they still see it as a game. You know what I mean. So it's like the students at level three, the students at level one, the students still at the menu, you know, to and it's really fun. It makes me feel like I look forward to next school year when I might, you know, tweak some more things with, you know, modern classrooms. This is my first year using it. I'm definitely like, now, used to it now, and I have some ideas for next school year.

Toni Rose Deanon  26:53  
Oh, I'm so excited to hear that, because I know when I talk to educators too, right? They're like, Oh, man, next year is going to be so great. I'm like, Oh, I love that. We're already planning for next school year.

Dykeisha Hill  27:03  
Yeah? My head, of course, in my head, of course, not on

Toni Rose Deanon  27:06  
paper, yeah, of course, of course. Like, that's where all of our great ideas are anyway, right? It starts in our brain, and then we start writing it out and making it actually happen, which I'm so excited because, then, because, then what, what that makes me the reason why that makes me so happy to hear is that I'm like, Oh my gosh, you're gonna stay one more year. That's really great. You know what I'm saying? Because it's like, it's so hard for teacher retention now and to make teaching sustainable. So to hear teachers get excited about what they're going to do next year, I just know, like, this model really is bringing so much joy for people, for our teachers and and just the fact that there's the excitement that the school year hasn't even been over, but then there's also this excitement of like, Oh, next year, this is how I'm going to do it differently. And I just really love that. Another thing that I heard you say is the absent corner, and in my head, I was thinking, Wow, what a great visual for the teacher, right to see like, Oh, these are my students who are absent. Is very quick, and it's also in your face a lot of the times. I know, prior to implementing this model, daikisha, I was so stressed about absent students because I knew that I had to catch them up. And I was like, I don't have time to catch them up. I have to go to this lesson.

Dykeisha Hill  28:14  
Now. It's like, I don't, and it's like, I don't know, and it's like, I don't. And then they, and it's unfortunately they, then they fall through the cracks, and they just like, say, well, if I'm failing right now, I'm just not going to come at all until, like, literally, next school year, and then and for and unfortunately, the kids who tend to be absent a lot are my sped students, like special education students, and it's like, no, how do I get you to come to school and at least want to come to school. So instead of doing like, you know, the boring stuff, I'm like, You know what, like, my first peer class, we're doing the hero's journey. Well, we're doing the anti hero right now because we finished the hero's journey. And I'm like, You know what we're doing, um, the anti hero. And I'm gonna use Deadpool and sometimes Batman and Harley Quinn, because I love those things. And that gets a lot of kids like, oh yeah, there's an anime that, like, has the anti here. And I'm like, Now, prior to the, you know, your your work, and they do, and then they start coming a little bit more. Like I had a student who, unfortunately, now he's start, he's starting to come, um, more. And I wish that he was coming in a little bit earlier before, because then, you know, it would have been like, you know, it's not too little too late. I'm proud of him for coming in, and I'm gonna tell him. I said, you know, I'm proud of you for coming in now. And I said, you know the grade that you have, right? And I said, right now, you know, it is game over, but you know, we can take that cartridge out, blow it again, turn on our, you know, Nintendo 64 and we're gonna start a new file where you're now gonna get into the habit of trying to come in at least 10 minutes before, you know, the beginning of the period, so I can work with you more. And he said, I got you miss. And it was like,

Toni Rose Deanon  29:59  
and sometimes I don't. He takes that, right? That like that one on one, check in with the child to say, I see you. I care about you, and I want you to show up. What can we do to get you to show up and you messed up before? I'm not gonna make you feel ashamed or make you feel bad about it. We're just gonna start over. We're gonna start over. And that is a Okay, right? Just acknowledging and then hyping them up, and then building up that confidence as well, and just just showing that you care, right? And it's so interesting, like it's so so, so important, especially for our students who are struggling with school because school is hard.

Zach Diamond  30:39  
Hey, there, listeners, this is Zach. I've got some announcements for you for this week. Do you want to start building your own modern classroom and work one on one with an expert educator? If you're in Chicago, St Louis, Alabama, or any of the districts we're partnered with, you can sign up now for the virtual mentorship program. The next session runs from October 20 to January 19, and the whole program is virtual and self paced. See if there's an opportunity in your area by going to modern classrooms.org/apply-now. That's modern classrooms.org/apply-now. Looking for virtual connection, we've renamed the implementer meetups to the CO lab. Join our first one on Wednesday, September 10, at 7pm eastern to connect with other modern classrooms educators and talk about building authentic relationships with students through unit zero and beyond. Ready to transform your classroom? Dive into our Back to School toolkit, your go to guide for building a self paced, blended and mastery based learning environment. Don't miss out on the tips and strategies that will make this school year your best one yet. Registration links and more information are available in the show notes. And I just want to say Dykeisha is dropping some incredible gems here, and I am going ham on these show notes. So check them out. Lots of Wikipedia links to like video games and comic book characters and stuff. So yeah, check out those show notes. If you haven't seen them already. Let's go ahead and get back into it with Toni Rose and Dykeisha.

Toni Rose Deanon  32:13  
And you know, another thing too that came up, came up for me is that, you know, you, you were mentioning Deadpool and Batman and Harley Quinn, that's making it culturally relevant for students, right? Because our students know about those characters. And then you say, Okay, what about anti heroes in your own little world? Like, what are you exposed to as far as anti heroes? So then that brings in again, their interests, their passions, you know, and they're still utilizing the skills that you want them to use, but just in their world, in their world, right?

Dykeisha Hill  32:46  
Yes, and I'm telling you my classroom, and I'm going to take a picture of it tomorrow, and I'm going to send it to you, but I have manga in my classroom.

Toni Rose Deanon  32:57  
Yes, my students love manga. 

Dykeisha Hill  32:59  
I also am a collector of manga since I was like 14, and have been ever since I've stopped obviously now because it's like, Okay, gotta make space. But my kids are like, miss, I never realized that this character, like from demon slayer or something like that, who's fictional Samurai, is a lot like my sister, you know. And it's like, great, you see how? See, you just made a text to self connection, and you were complaining just before, miss, we're gonna do them like you just made a text to world, text itself. Boom, yeah. Now do it again, yeah. And they're like, Okay, 

Toni Rose Deanon  33:38  
how that's so beautiful. And I love that you mentioned demon slayer, because my brother in law is obsessed with demon slayer. It's all he talks about.

Dykeisha Hill  33:47  
I love it. I can't wait. I can't wait for the movie. I am obsessed. My students already know I'm again. I'm going to take a picture, I'm gonna show you, but I love rendoku. He is my favorite of the hashira. I have rest in peace to him. I have like, um rengoku and tengan and guitar like on my desk next to Aaron, Yeager and Levi. And my students are just like, miss. I'm like, and I want you to pay attention to my wall. I have sukuna. I have Goku youth, k urameshi. I have almost every anime you can think of Afro Samurai, because a lot of my students of color, along with myself, were like and he was actually purposeful, like the Afro Samurai one. I had to put that in my classroom. A lot of my students are men of color, and they're men of color who love anime. And, you know, obviously they've been exposed to anime with white characters, you know, characters who don't look like us. And I said, You know what, I'm gonna get my tech guy. I need you to print this poster out for me. I need to be glossy, because I want him to be just as, you know, represented as. Is the white anime that I have up here. And every time a student of mine comes in, they will look at that poster and say, Thank you for having that up there, because that was my first experience exposure to anime, seeing a character who looks like me being represented, especially the voice actors also black. Samuel Jackson, so it's like, I'm like, No, he is up there. He will remain up there until I retire.

Toni Rose Deanon  35:25  
You are putting me on because I didn't even know Afro Samurai existed. So thank you for putting me on for that, because I know growing up for me and I'm probably going to age myself, which is fine. I grew up in Dragon Ball. Z, because my brothers love Dragon Ball. Z, so Goku, like they they acted it out growing up and like they love all the things that deal with Dragon Ball. Z, right. That was my first two, yeah. And then I grew up with Sailor Moon. I love Sailor Moon. Okay, be okay, right, okay, no, because I watched it now as an adult, and I was like, How is this girl 13 years old? Exactly?

Dykeisha Hill  36:07  
I, yeah, sailor, Moon, Dragon, ball, z and Pokemon, those are my three Pokemon, yes, yeah. And then I Yeah, also Yu Gi, oh, yeah, oh, I love Yu Gi, oh, he's up there too. And my kids, they like to make fun. They're like, you. Like you, yeah. I'm just like, um, if I take my car, my deck out and I start dueling you and you see a dragon behind me, don't question it, because now You're upsetting me right now. And my students like, Oh, she gonna fail you with that magician. I'm like, Yes, I will.

Toni Rose Deanon  36:37  
That is amazing. I love that so much. I mean, we could talk about anime all day long. Because, again, like, I love when educators come into this space with me and just Kiki it up with me about the things that they're so obsessed with in the most in the most positive way, right? Like, hey, no, I love anime. So I know all about anime. So this is just, again, very nostalgic for me, because I'm thinking about my childhood, growing up with a lot of anime, and then having my four brothers were obsessed with it. So thank you for sharing that, and also just, you know, reminding us that with with the game tracker that you created, right as well as the relationships that you've been establishing with students, there is so many more opportunities for educators such as yourself to differentiate for students, right? You really have to take a step back and say, Is this lesson really the most important thing, if my student has been absent for three weeks, like, what is really the most important thing that they need to do so that they can feel successful and that they are successful, right? And I think sometimes as educators, our ego and our pride gets in the way, and we're like, No, we did this, so they got to do all these things, right? Because, you know, as a gen ed teacher, I also sometimes struggled, and I'm also sped certified, so I so I was like, the gen ed teacher and the sped teacher in the classroom, right? So sometimes I really struggled with no like they need to do this whole entire thing. I want them to do this whole I spent all this time doing this thing. They're gonna do it all right, and then quickly realizing that with this model, nah, that's actually not true.

Dykeisha Hill  38:17  
Yeah, I can give you an example of that too. I believe it was my second, third year teaching, and this is my, my first, first co teacher. And so we create, well, I created this game. It was, it was called innocent or guilt. And the reason why I made this was because a lot of our students on the regions were struggling with the second part of it, which is the argument essay. And that is where a lot of our students take the most time to do. They struggle with it the most. They don't know what side they want to do. A lot of our students are neutral, and they can't be. And I just said, Wait a minute, whoa. We I need to create something that's fun, realistic to a point, and just shows like you see how this can be a real world situation, so innocent and innocent or guilty is basically a mock court game inspired by Phoenix Wright. And I have the Phoenix Wright games. I love Phoenix Wright. I played on my switch. I love the whole logic behind it. Obviously, it's not like how a real court works to a point, but it has the basics, a prosecutor who's the con there, they don't agree with the, you know, the argument, and you have the DA, who's like, they're for it. They're trying to, you know, defend their client, and so I had it where I animated everything to you can pick a DA you can pick the prosecutor, literally Miles Edgeworth, Prosecutor, Phoenix Wright, the Ace Attorney. They both have the same court cases, but how you approach them is. Based on the profession. So if you're Miles Edgeworth, you have to, you know, be against the argument. And for some of my students, I added videos. I added where you can click this button and it would take them to another slide. I even said, This is how a real court works in different countries. So if you click different countries, you can see that's how a court system works in India versus, you know, England versus, you know, American justice system versus Asian, you know. So that way they can see like, even though some things are different in different cultures, the thing is that innocent to proven guilty, the prosecutor is always con, the DA is always for but they tend to work together. And a lot of my students, it switched for them. They're like, Oh, that's what I was missing. And a lot of them ended up passing their regions, you know, with that, some didn't, you know, because they fell asleep. But you know, the ones who did were like, that game helped them, you know. And I also needed for extra credit too.

Toni Rose Deanon  40:59  
But no, this is it's so clever. It is so clever because you're right, argumentative essays, or any argumentative writing. I know that it was a struggle for my students. And so you creating a game so that students can practice these skills once again, right? To make it more interactive, to make it more real world, right, for them to really understand. And so listeners, we do have a, we do have a link for the innocent or guilty court game that dakisha is talking about. So you'll have that in the show notes, and you'll be able to look at it. It's really cool. I mean, it shows, like anime characters on here, like things to click around, and it's it. This is so clever. I really, really, really love this. And for listeners who don't know what Regents is, Dykeisha, what is regence?

Dykeisha Hill  41:45  
So basically, regence is the state regions from New York State that says a student must pass in order to graduate for high school. There's the ELA regions, math regions, science regions, there's, you know, all the subjects for my school specifically, the only regions that we do not offer is chemistry and earth science. But we do offer ELA. We offer global us, history, math, algebra, one and two and living environment. The only regions that students have to take that is in English is Ela. So unfortunately, for ENL population, they have to take it in English. It's not offered in any other language, like unlike math and social studies, it's basically a big test. There's three parts to it. I can speak more for the ELA exam, since that's the one that I I'm like more known for so with Ely, for example, there's three parts. There's the multiple choice, where they get, like a reading comprehension passage and they get a poem. The part two, which we were talking about before, is the argument essay. They have four documents. They have to use three out of four. They have to pick a position, they have to have a counter claim rebuttal and all that jazz. And then there's text analysis, which is the third part. They have to read a passage. They have to figure out the central idea and how it's being developed using a literary device.

Toni Rose Deanon  43:14  
Okay, okay, that sounds about pretty like it aligns with the different types of state assessments, right? So it's just regions in New York. So thank you for clarifying that. So you know we're talking about gamification, and I know that students get really excited. Even as adults, we get excited and we get points and rewards for things, right? Like my sister's biggest motivator is, if she's shopping somewhere and you have a reward system, reward point, she's signing up for it, and then she's going to continue shopping at that place, because then she can get all the points right. So I understand, like psychology, right, or just in our brains, the point system, the reward system, it works. So then, how do you ensure that those systems where you know the rewards and the points don't create anxiety or frustration for students, especially, you know, with student, students with sensory sensitivities or emotional regulation challenges, how do you ensure that everything is pretty regulated?

Dykeisha Hill  44:14  
So what I try to do, and again, everything I do is always trial and error. The first thing I did was do a point system. So I said, well, for example, the should do and aspire to do activities. You don't have to do them, but they will be worth 10 points to your final grade. So let's say, for example, we have a student who's out of 45 you do at least two, you know, should do activities, then that's 20 points. And look at that. You got a 65 you pass the class, and you gain something for it. But again, it's always optional. Then I tried with like candy, like, you know, snacks, because sometimes our students, you know, don't eat at home. They come. To school hungry, other factors. So I always like, I never like, say, like, if you do your work, you get food. Because some of our students do equate food to like, um, you know, uh, like, oh, I have to do this in order to eat. And I never want a student to think, if I do work, then I will be fed. I'm like, No, I'll feed you no matter, no matter what you do. Just make sure you throw your trash in one of the five garbage cans designated in the classroom. But you know, I might give like a special candy to, like, you know, someone who got like this amount points, like, everyone will get something. But like, you know, this person might get like the Hershey bar, where everyone else gets, like, a smaller version of that bar, you know. Or a student who did really good with their tests, they might get, like, a mini bag of candy, but everyone's gonna get some sort of candy. And I'll always say, do you want? Do you want? I know some students have allergies, so I'm like, I can't even give this to you. I got you, you know, maybe next week. Boom, boom. So that make that way that everyone feels like I can earn something from daikisha, whether it's points candy, maybe that candy will help them bulk up, you know, and even if they don't do their best, you know, I always say, hey, you know I see, I know you're tired. Take, take, take some candy. Just don't eat it in front of the other kids that I don't teach, because I don't need them coming in my room like I'm a bodega,

Toni Rose Deanon  46:17  
oh my gosh, coming into the room like a bodega. That was me, because I definitely had lots of snacks, like, I love Costco, so I would just buy in bulk. And that was, like, just part of my budget, was just having snacks and food for the kids. And you know, I was thinking as you were talking, right? Because I did teach students who had challenges with emotional regulation, right, or a behavior or just emotional dysregulation, honestly. And so what I would do with my students is I would celebrate little wins, right? Like the smallest win, I am celebrating it, so they know that today, right? So they know that I noticed them, right? Because sometimes they, you know, I would have some kids who would have an outburst. That's not fair. I can't believe you're giving them this and you're not giving it to me, right? But an ultimate that, and that can happen, right? That can happen. It's like, one of those moments where I as the adult would take a step back and be like, Okay, let me see, is this unfair? Is it unjust? Am I really ignoring this kid? You know, like all of those questions that I sift through, and then I'm like, Okay, how can we shift this? How can I make sure that I'm also celebrating you, so that you don't feel like I am not paying you the same amount of attention, right? So, so keeping that in mind to, like, celebrate little wins, right? Like, if this student I taught sixth grade that he should so, like, if this student took, typically takes 10 minutes to write something down, right, and then they took seven minutes to take it. That's a celebration. That's a win. Two minutes down.

Dykeisha Hill  47:53  
Yeah, that's your assignment, 

Toni Rose Deanon  47:55  
and it may not be the best thing in the world, but like they did it, so I'm going to celebrate the fact that they did it. Now we're gonna have a conversation about, you know, mastery and, like, understanding the skill. But hey, first, like effort, we're celebrating it. That is great. Thank you for trying. I appreciate that, right? So again today, right, right. And I think it just depends on the students, right, knowing the IPS, knowing what the accommodations are understanding that students are more than their accommodations and their IEPs. That's another thing that I want to remind our educators too, of like, hey, they are identified as blank, but that doesn't mean that that is their full picture, that it doesn't mean that you cannot do certain things because you have misconceptions about what a student who is identified that way could and could not do, right? So just as a reminder, too, that, like, it's good to know our students as human beings. So thank you for sharing that, because there's a whole thing of, like, intrinsic and extra, is it? Yeah, extrinsic motivation, right? The intrinsic of like, I want to learn because I'm having a good time, extrinsic meaning, like, I'm gonna get a piece of candy. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do, right? Like, yeah, yeah. We can't, every day have intrinsic motivation.

Dykeisha Hill  49:12  
And I really try to tell them that, like, look, not every day I'm going to have candy. So you know, there's something else that you know has to give, you know. And some of them are like, no candy. And I'm like, Look, do I look with the bodega to you? And they're like, Yes, I'm just like, all right, smarty pants. Um, so we're just gonna figure out something else, you know, maybe that'd be that might be extra points on an assignment, or, uh, or for a student who may, like, not come all the time, like you said, You know what? I'm gonna take the lowest assignment that you've done so far that's not locked, and just ignore it like we're not even, you know, looking at that. And sometimes that actually is what boosts their grade too. And they're just like, oh my god, I'm like, see, so rewards don't always have to be something that you eat. It could also be something that helps you, like you can get a second chance. But you have to take it, you know. Don't take advantage. We have to take it, you know.

Toni Rose Deanon  50:03  
Yeah, and it's that feeling too Right, like, do you feel good? Do you feel happy and confident and successful in doing the task and showing that you've mastered the skills? Right? That, in itself, continues to be a motivator for our students, once they feel that right, once they feel that they're valued, they're seen, that cared for, and then they're celebrated when they do do little things like man that that feeling they will not want to disappoint you, so that I love that. So you know, before we get off, I do have another question for you, how do you balance the fun and engagement of gamification with the need for structured, explicit instruction that many students in sped require. Because I know sometimes it's like, Oh, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Are they really learning this? How do you make sure that you have a balance of that?

Dykeisha Hill  50:53  
So what I tend to do is I so for our school, we have benchmarks that happen every three weeks, just that shows mastery. So I tend to kind of put the fun in the benchmarks, and I tend to put, like, what they need, the explicit instruction in the actual lessons. So like lesson one, two and three, for example, um, their first lesson was understanding what the anti hero is. That was lesson one. Lesson Two is okay. Now that you understand what the anti hero is we're going to do a three reprotectal. We're going to read the use of medicine by Joe meno, and we're going to use what we know about the anti hero to ask ourselves, who is the anti hero in the story, and how do we adapt it to our own lives? So first you got to know what the anti hero is. Watch a video. We see dead pool, Vegeta, you know, Batman, Odysseus, things of that nature. Okay, perfect. What do you know about the anti air hero now and then? The second lesson is like, okay, um, the second pro, the second read of the story, is now the characteristics of an anti hero. They have to be sympathetic. They have to be redeemable. They have to, you know, have a turning point. They have to be selfishly motivated. They have to be complex. They're not like Captain America, who's like, altruistically good. And they can't be like, you know, the joker who will kill you without batting an eye. They're like the dead poles the, you know. Let's think about a historical person, maybe a war veteran who kills, but, you know, didn't start out that way. And then the third lesson is like, now you're gonna create your own anti hero. So I always try to do it sequential order. And then the benchmark is where the fun happens. It's like, okay, now that you know what an anti hero is, you know how to spot one. Now you're gonna take your anti hair that you created and write a story based on them, right? I love that. Yeah, and it could be visual. It could be, you know, if you're a tactile student, it could be like a game that you create based off them. Or if you're more visual, it could be like a Google slide. Or if you like to write, it could be like an actual Google Doc. So there's different ways that the kids can approach that same benchmark that not only speaks to them, but it's like they got the seriousness of it out the way, and now they can take what they learn and apply it to the benchmark.

Toni Rose Deanon  53:12  
And that's also building on motivation, right? Of, hey, you know what? Let's learn about the skills. Let's learn about the different things, and then you get to apply those skills into something really, really creative, something that you're really passionate about. It gives something, it gives us something to look forward to, right? Like, oh, I know I got to do all of this, and then once I have it, then I can go do all of these things. And I that's, that's so great. I love that you were, like, the fun is actually in the benchmark, and not the other way around, right? Because typically, I hear the fun is during the lessons, and then the benchmark is where it's like now you got to sit and write an essay, you know? Yeah, I like that shift. I really like how you approach that. So thank you for sharing that. Thank you. Thank you, man. Okay, dikesh, I knew this is going to be a whole vibe, so I I'm excited about this conversation. What do you hope to see in the future and what goals do you have?

Dykeisha Hill  54:08  
Um, I definitely see myself still teaching. I see I still see myself with a business, but in terms of like education, I definitely see myself either staying as a classroom teacher, or, um, staying a classroom teacher and writing curriculum. I'm, I'm very, very much interested in, like, writing curriculum for gaming, because I don't see it often. Um, I actually have a gaming book that talks about gaming in ELA, and they actually mentioned, like, My Hero Academia and one of them, and I'm like, Oh, give me that book. So like, at some point I definitely want to learn how to do curriculum writing, and, like, you know, teach other teachers how to use games in their in their classroom, especially teachers who are, like, brand new to teaching, and they're like, What do I do? How do I get them engaged? Like, let's play a game. Make it fun. Let's get them out, off their feet and and not in front of just like the board and you're lecturing, and they're just like, oh, blah, blah, blah. Let's get them, you know, invest it's gonna, it's gonna hurt a little bit because, you know, they're like, what? But then, you know, you put things, you know, in the classroom, you get their input. Hey, what can we do next time? And you know, that's what I'm hoping to get more

Toni Rose Deanon  55:23  
bringing joy back in the classroom, right? With the game, with game base, yeah, inner child, yeah, it Yeah. It is, because it is also healing our inner child as adults, because then we get to play more, because we sometimes forget to play more, our life is so interesting and overwhelming that we forget to laugh and play so Exactly. Ah, yes, okay, a lifer in the classroom. That is what I aspire to do as well. I love being in the classroom, so to hear you say that I am really excited and jealous at the same time, and I am excited to see how it goes with game based curriculum, because you're right. I don't see that often, so I would love to see the kind of work that you come up with. So daikisha, how can our listeners connect with you? And we can also put a link of your Etsy shop. So if people want to see the kind of stuff that you're creating, we'd love to put that in the show notes. But other than that, how can our listeners connect with you?

Dykeisha Hill  56:24  
Um, well, you can connect with me via email. So that's dai keisha.hill@gmail.com for my school email. That's D hill at Bronx haven.org and ask for my Etsy shop. You can find me as our arty nerd shop.

Toni Rose Deanon  56:44  
Yes, we love, we love, we love, and we'll have all of that in the show notes as well. So you all don't have to figure out the spelling or anything like that or google it, right? So we'll have all of that in the show notes. Thank you. I am so grateful that you crossed my path and that you were able to join this space with other educators of color, so that I can have this conversation with you, because you have a skill set that I do not have.

Dykeisha Hill  57:14  
Thank you so much.

Toni Rose Deanon  57:16  
Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your experience and expertise with us. I know that our listeners have a lot to to learn, and so I just really appreciate your time. Thank you, listeners. Remember, you can always email us at podcast@modernclassrooms.org and you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast.modernclassrooms.org 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. If this podcast has been helpful in supporting you to create a human, centered learning environment through a blended, self paced and 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. You

Zach Diamond  58:04  
you. 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 course you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. At modernclassproj, 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