Zach Diamond  0:00  
Music. 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  0:25  
Hello and welcome to episode 200 of the modern classrooms project podcast, y'all. My name is Toni Rose Deanon they them pronouns. I am a designated hype person here at MCP. And what that means is, really I do community engagement, so I get to be in community, and I get to just celebrate and and empower and support educators all across the country and sometimes outside the country as well. And so, which is really dope. And I am joined today by our co host Zach, who we also used to teach together, which is really exciting. And as Yeah, and at DCI, so, DC, international school and so, and this is where we actually started implementing the model together as well. So it's kind of like back and I have known each other for a while, and it's been really great getting to know each other and this in this way, and so. And a treat for y'all listeners, we have a live audience with us, which is so exciting, and so they're just kind of here, hyping us up and sharing, you know, celebrations, as well as asking questions and reaffirming the community, really. So honestly, we're doing big things over here. 200th episode, live audience. And as you all know, my favorite question is, before we get started, what is bringing you joy currently? So Zach, let's start with you, and then our live audience, please share in the chat, what's bringing you joy lately? And we'll read it out loud as well.

Zach Diamond  1:54  
I mean, I feel like the answer for me is so obvious that it's almost cheating, but this live podcast episode 200 is clearly bringing me joy. It's been a long journey, right? And it's been an amazing, amazing journey. I really, really enjoyed making this podcast, and I just, I can't express how thankful I am to all the listeners for listening, right, for coming along with us on this journey. I edit this every Saturday, and you know, it's a lot of work. You and I work a lot behind the scenes Tony rose, but like, it's so fun. It's so worth it, and it's so good to see that people are listening and and are resonating with what we say and what our guests say, you know, I I'm not on all the episodes, and I listen to them when I edit them, and I listen to the guests, and I'm like, these people are amazing, you know? So, yeah, that's amazing. I'm, uh, I'm in Peru, I am here visiting my wife's family, and so we're, you know, it's summer vacation. We're just chilling, seeing family. We've been here for a month, and, yeah, I've been looking forward to this. So here we are, and definitely, definitely joyful to be here.

Toni Rose Deanon  3:01  
Oh, I love okay. And y'all, y'all gonna hear my dogs. They love to also participate in podcast recordings. So if you hear some barkings, it's, I have four dogs at home, so bear with us. So Avery shared something that's bringing me joy is giving my dog belly rubs while she lays down in the grass. That's adorable. Um, Allison, I've been traveling this month, and we took my puppy to the beach. He loves it, and it brings me joy. Yeah? Dogs, honestly. Podcast, yeah, this is a dog podcast,

Zach Diamond  3:32  
we I have a cat. We're a cat family.

Toni Rose Deanon  3:34  
Boo. Those are fighting words, honestly, sorry, not sorry.

Yeah, Amy saying it's a fair week, so my kids are showing their animals at the fair. I love watching them. Oh, that's so great. Cool. Cheryl's saying, being invited here at ending Summer Institute with so many new implementers, has brought me joy. Oh, a summer rainstorm. Y'all, I'm in Georgia, and we have had thunderstorms the whole like, the past two weeks, honestly, and it's been really beautiful coming from being in in Washington State, where we didn't have thunderstorms. So definitely grateful. I I took my dogs for a walk, actually, and got caught in the rain. And I was just like, oh, this actually feels really nice. It's not cold. Blake. Hi, Blake. 

Zach Diamond  4:24  
Blake says being able to wrap up the summer and start getting ready to go back to school, and you're like, I have a love hate relationship with with that feeling, but yeah, I'm ready to I'm excited for the coming school year.

Toni Rose Deanon  4:38  
Yeah, it's definitely and you've got a lot of changes as well, which is really interesting, too. Zach, so I'm excited for us to have that conversation, too. And then Frank, congratulations, Frank being accepted into the MCP Mentor Program. I know Frank you, and I was talking right like you, and I have been talking about this for a while, and so I'm so glad. And y'all. Frank texted me and was like, Hey, can you call me? So I was like, Oh my gosh, emergency. What is it? I was like, I'm actually at a conference. Let me call you as soon as I have a moment. And it was Frank telling me, like, Hey, I'm applying for this, and I need a thought partner. And I was like, oh yeah, this is an emergency. Let's do it. Let's have this conversation. I love it. Beautiful. Okay, well, I mean, I think again, for me, I goodness the podcast, right? Like being able to connect with all of you, being able to see your faces, being able to recognize a lot of your names and a lot of your faces as well, which means that you've been completely or super engaged in our virtual community, and probably as well as like, our in person events as well. So again, just thank you for showing up and being here. All right, let's go ahead and get started. Y'all, we already talked about how it's the 200th episode. This is so exciting. It's completely just, I never thought that we could, would could reach, would reach 200 episodes, because in my head, I was like, it's the model, like, how many, like, how many people do we need to have a conversation with about this, where people are just like, are they going to be tired of us talking about the same thing? But we've just kind of embraced where this journey has taken us, and we've invited in school leaders and community leaders and just thought leaders as well in education and education adjacent spaces too. So we're really excited to be able to elevate and amplify those stories. And so we are actually surrounded by a live audience again, so surrounded by some of our most avid listeners of the podcast, and we have some educators who are also here to share their success stories using blended, self paced and mastery based learning in their own classrooms. So Zach, do you want to talk about the quick updates for this upcoming season? 

Sure, and I also, I just before I do that, I want to piggyback on what you were saying about getting to 200 you had the idea to start doing seasons, and that's awesome. I love the seasons, but I don't know what happened. We're in season six now, and I feel like we just started doing seasons. I'm like, where did all this time go? That feels more monumentous than 200 episodes almost. That's like, a lot of seasons. That's a lot of half years. You know, I love it. I love the seasons, and I love organizing. Toni Rose does an incredible job. People, you'll never see the spreadsheet, but it's very organized,

which is hilarious Zach because I have ADHD and organization is definitely my weakness.

Zach Diamond  7:32  
Well, I would never have known the spreadsheet maybe is your superpower then, yeah, no, seriously, the seasons are great, and I just love, I just, I'm like, what I what was season three? Like, when was Season Two? Geez, that was, must have been so long ago. Must have been, like, right in the middle of the pandemic, anyway. So updates for the podcast. We have some pretty big updates for this new season and moving forward, the main one is that we're going to start actually publishing videos of the episodes on YouTube, so not videos of our faces, although I'll get to that in a second. We're going to be publishing the episodes on YouTube in addition to as a podcast. And I'm just going to put, like the static image right the logo of the podcast as the video, so people can listen there if they want to. But we are also, we are also going to start clipping little video shorts from the episodes and uploading those as well. Tony Rhodes, you're way more plugged into the social media, end of things, than I am. I assume that you'll be taking care of that part, posting those. I'll be putting them on YouTube. We're gonna start dabbling in a little bit of video. So that's the big the big update to watch out for, and I'm really excited to start doing that, to see the podcast sort of grow in those sort of different directions. Same audio as always, right? We'll always be publishing the podcast as an audio podcast as well, but branching out into some new media as well.

Toni Rose Deanon  9:06  
Yeah, and I know that Zach and I talked about this where it was like one of those things where we have to, we have to share it with people, or else we will never do it. 

Zach Diamond  9:14  
We needed to say it here so that we could be held accountable, otherwise we would never do it. We had talked about it a little bit before, but we needed this. We needed the push now. Now we need to be held accountable by you all, and we will, we'll do it. 

Toni Rose Deanon  9:27  
And I feel like we need a tracker for us too, like our own individual track, make sure that we are on point with this, because I know that we have added, you know, transcription to make we've actually just really thought about how to make podcasting more accessible for everyone, right? And so we've done transcripts, we've done blogs, we're trying to do short casts. And so we want to just make sure that our listeners have different entry points when we're when they're listening to the podcast. And the thing is that I really appreciate about this podcast too, is that Zach started this out. This is his baby, and he. Has just said yes to all of my wild ideas of like, I want to do this and I want to do that, and I want to do this other thing, and he's just like, yes to all of it. And so we're excited to just continue making this a better experience, not just for me and Zach as host, but for our guests and for our listeners as well. And so what you know and and, of course, we always try to tell our listeners to like, hey, email us. We're really open to feedback. Like we're receptive to feedback. We love feedback. We don't know what we don't know. So let us know. And we often, you know, get emails from folks that are like, Hey, you haven't covered this topic. Or I really need help with this topic. Or, you know what? I disagree with this thing that you said on the podcast, like that really creates a beautiful conversation. So please continue to do that. Zach and I really, really love engaging with listeners and also just being, just our brain being expanded, right? Like we welcome that. We love it. Our feelings will not get hurt with any of the feedback that you have for us, right?

Zach Diamond  11:05  
We've also gotten emails that are like, there's no audio for the first 10 minutes of the podcast, and that means for me that something's on fire. So if that happens, please let me know. Um, but yeah, I just edited one of the short casts. I think it was either this week or last week with Steve schlarman, who we he, he reached out to us and then became a guest on the podcast by asking us basically a question about how to plan for multiple preps. And you and I, Tony Rosa, were like, that's like, we need to talk through this the episode. It was, it's a challenge. He works really hard, so props to Steve. But yeah, we love getting those emails. I love reading from or hearing from listeners, and reading those emails and engaging with people. Yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  11:49  
well, all right, listeners and live audience. Um, we will take questions at the end. So you're more than welcome to ask any questions that you may have. Um, you're more than welcome to unmute or put in the chat as we continue to kind of just talk through all of our wins for this episode. And so, yeah, I don't know about y'all, but I absolutely love the Facebook group. I know Zach is not, you know, not what? What's the word you're not in, you're not in the Facebook world, and that's okay. We have, yeah, you're like, Okay, fine. I guess I'll like, sign on and see

Zach Diamond  12:25  
that actually is me, 

Toni Rose Deanon  12:26  
yeah, which I absolutely love, too, because I'm like, dang, I wish, I wish I could do the same. I wish I could say the same of like, oh, it's been so long since I've I've been on Facebook. But our Facebook group grew from, like, literally, like, I want to say 100 educators, to now we have almost 20,000 educators worldwide that is so dope to me and wild to think about like hey, we have educators who want to join this community, to share, to showcase and to celebrate and to ask all the questions. And the beauty about this thing too is that our community, consistently, I guess, like, cheers each other on as well as, like, call each other in as well, right? Like, if there's like, some kind of deficit mindset or a question that's asked, where it's being where things are not being said the way that it's being construed, right? Like, there's a lot of healthy conversations that are happening and so. And then if a new implementer is like, hey, I really need help with this, our community comes in and says, Hey, this is how I do it. Here's a picture of an example of how I do it. DM me, reach out to me, email me, share this with me, right? Like, it's such a beautiful again, just such a beautiful community. And I, I, and there's other communities that, or other groups that have actually been created outside of this group. So there's like, MCP, ela teachers, MCP math teachers, which I think is also really, really dope. Um, there's even one, I think, for like arts now, Zach, because I know you and I have talked about how there's not a lot of arts teachers, I know, but you don't. You don't get on Facebook. Zach, so I don't.

Zach Diamond  14:04  
I will, maybe now I will. 

Oh, maybe now?

It's the motivation I needed. If there is, I do want to check it out. I probably know a bunch of the people that are in there.

Toni Rose Deanon  14:14  
Yeah, you probably do. 

Zach Diamond  14:16  
Yeah. I just like 19 20,000 people. It's like, I don't, I mean, that's so many people. I think, first of all, it's like, clearly showing that the model we're on the right track, right like it resonates with teachers. It resonates with students. It's clearly validating, and speaks very highly of the of the importance of self paced, Master based learning. But also, I think that, like, if that many people like, we're not all doing the exact same thing in our classrooms, they're 19,000 different modern classrooms. You know, it's such a flexible model, and it's, I feel like just doing the podcast and speaking with people that are implementing you hear how different. How modern classrooms can be, and how flexible and how accommodating the model is. That's, I think that's awesome. People are talking in the chat about about hearing stories and advice, right? It's like, oh, it's just so cool to, like, get a little glimpse into somebody else's classroom and and be like, oh, yeah, I didn't even think of that, but totally modern classrooms can do that, you know, it's flexible, right?

Toni Rose Deanon  15:22  
And I think another thing that I really like, too, is that our community is very intentional with saying, I do this for my classroom, right? Like, for me, this is how I do it, and not necessarily, not necessarily saying you should do A, B, C, D, it's more like, here's my own experience, and here's how I basically overcame this challenge, right? And I just love it. I think another beautiful thing to Zach for me anyway, because I know you're not on social media, but in the Facebook group, of seeing folks like Cheryl, like you coming in for the very first time, and now you're a mentor, like being able to see the like, the ladder of growth, right? Of being like, Oh, I'm just now, I found out about MCP. I'm just implementing. I went through the VMP. Now I'm a DMCE I'm a mentor. And just being able to see that like step ladder growth, and I think, like Avery also is one of those educators as well who's now with modern classroom full time, right? And so it's just really exciting to see this grow in a way that I'm just like, Oh my gosh. I feel like, I feel like, Y'all are my students, and I see you growing, and I'm just so excited that you're excited, and like, let's just keep it up. And so I really appreciate that, and it's actually such a great segue too, because Allison was saying, like, I love reading the stories and advice in the group. And so we're going to go ahead and switch, because Zach and I will talk all day. So we're going to, we're going to stop talking, and we're going to, like, pass the mic on to a couple of our educators who just, I mean enthusiastically, was like, Yes, I would love to share my wins and what I've shared in the Facebook group and in the community as well. And so one of our community members in the Facebook group actually asked this question of, has anyone analyzed their state test score results comparing MCP to traditional teaching. This is my first year using MCP, and I'm still learning what works, but so far, my state scores aren't better. Now this is a reality, right? And this is why I'm kind of sharing this. I'm working so hard to get everything right, but some of my apathetic learners have gone down in score significantly. I don't plan on giving up, but I need to make more adjustments for accountability next year. Frustrated. So when I say like, this is such a beautiful post, because a this person is literally sharing how they're feeling and also saying like, Hey, I'm struggling, and I know I'm not going to give up. I just need some help, right? I need another perspective. I know that my students are I know I have some students who are apathetic, and so I want to be able to create a better environment for them. So I need help. And this is kind of what I was talking about earlier too, right? We've created this brave ish environment for folks to just be able to show up as themselves and share their their wins and their their struggles. And so Aimee Little is here, which is exciting with her co teacher and they, you know, she had commented, she basically was like, Hey, we use self paced with writing specifically. And this is the second year in a row we've had phenomenal results. 2023 scores for writing were 24% above average. 2024 scores, our scores for writing were 72% above standard. Don't give up. Adjust where you know it lacks, and definitely continue to hold kids accountable, totally worth the work, in my opinion. So it's funny because I reached out to Aimee, and I was like, Aimee, can you please just like, talk about this post that you shared? And she was like, Can I invite my co teacher? And I was like, Uh, yeah, duh, of course. Like, I don't that wasn't even a question. And so I'm really excited to just, yeah, welcome in, Aimee and Amanda, and I'm going to pin y'all so, so y'all can see, um, y'all can see them and yeah, join in. Tell us all the things.

Aimee Little  19:12  
Um, yeah. So I just want to preface by saying I hear a storm coming in. So if we lose connection, I apologize we hear the thunder already. But I do want to say that we the biggest win for us, I think, was the ability to differentiate. So the reason I invited, or I asked to invite Amanda, is because we have a double classroom. We're in a non traditional setting. There's 40 to 46 kids in our room with us at one for one class, and we both teach language arts together, and we have a special ed teacher in with us, so we're not in a typical single classroom, single teacher situation. So for us, it was really discouraging to be able to help all of the students where they needed met and. So we did a lot of research and professional development independently to try to find the best approach. And we we stumbled across this modern classroom project just a week before school started, and we were like, This is not a lot of time to get the mini lessons ready and do all of our recording, but we're going to do it, and we haven't looked back. It is honestly the best decision we've ever made for our classroom. When you've got 45 kids in a room, how do you help them at their level, individually? And it's just been amazing. And every year we go back and we revisit, and it's I love the flexibility about it. I think the differentiation is amazing, but we can also be flexible to our needs as well, and that's one of my favorite parts. And so this year, we've decided that we're going to differentiate even further so the students can work at their own level, at their own pace. We have differentiated assessments for them, and we're going to take it a step further and try to even meet the needs of them as readers. So yes, we're doing mostly writing, but we can, you know, they have sources that they have to read, and so the source material that we present to them for their writing assignments, we're going to differentiate and it, it's a step by step process, and I think that's why I reached out to that person on Facebook. Because we, we sometimes, I'm sure we all feel like failures at one point or another. And so, you know, to visit something after an entire year of work and say, Oh, we're going to go back and redo all of those videos. We We are this summer, actually, we were like, Are we, are we gonna go do these again? And we are, um, but that's, that's part of the job. You know, we take pride in that and and we're really just happy with how we have, I don't know, created the self paced environment. And I'm gonna let Amanda talk for a minute. 

Amanda Davidson  22:03  
Yeah, I think for me, the biggest one is seeing their mastery checks and getting to work with them. Because now that we're chunking our writing into small segments, we can see specifically where students are at instead of like, Oh, I just, I hope they got it during that lecture with all these 40 some kids, because with that typical model, we were really struggling and feeling defeated, not only else, but the students like we were just hoping they got it, and then you've got the essay, and then that's kind of it. It feels defeating by that point. So with the small chunking and seeing okay, this student is struggling on thesis statement, let's work. Bring up your notes. You know, they sit with us while we look over those mastery checks, and we will ask them, okay, let's go through your notes and see, did you take good notes? Number one, number two, did you have all of these parts we talked about? And so they have to physically take ownership of their work and identify it themselves, instead of us just giving them the answers. And I really appreciate the opportunity to sit with those students, one on one and say, like, oh, like, when they finally get the light bulb, like, oh, that's, that's all I had. I got it, like I did it. And so it's really exciting to get to experience that with them one on one, 

Aimee Little  23:12  
the little dances that they do, you know, like we teach seventh grade, and one of the things that we have found is they love stickers. It's it's so Elementary, but it's so simple. So last year, we gave them a sticker sheet where they could put, put all of their every time they would pass a mastery check, they would get a sticker. And so they could put it on like it was almost like an awards page. And so they could watch their stickers accumulate as they passed their mastery checks, and it was like a visual representation of all of the success that they had that year. And I just remember, like a couple students in particular, they just, they were, they were struggling with certain concepts, and they would bring their mastery check up multiple times, and just the joy when they finally did pass their mastery test. Mastery check was awesome. It was probably one of our favorite parts, was seeing the success on their faces, because it's more than just an essay to pass back like, it's a skill they're going to reuse multiple times. And that was one of our favorite parts. 

Toni Rose Deanon  24:13  
Okay, I have a question or a statement, and a question statement, honestly, is like, as educators, this was also me being selfish of like, now I finally have time to breathe and I can be out if I want to be out. Like, how amazing is that? That's so cool and question. So I just wanted to say that, like, this model is not just for students. It's also for educators to really honestly find that like work life balance, right? I know it's like one of those things where we say all the time work life balance. Work life balance is like, we don't actually know what that means as educators, and so when I implemented this model as well in sixth grade, ela, I was like, oh, wait a minute, they don't need me. I'm actually saving my voice. I'm saving my energy, and I'm so much more intentional with how I am navigating. Writing this time that we have together. And so I'm curious, too, whose idea was it? Were both of y'all already it seems like your relationship was pretty close, right? Because Aimee, you were just like, Oh, I'm not even going to ask Amanda. I'm just going to invite her. Whose idea was it to start implementing or start going through modern classroom and learning more about it.

Aimee Little  25:23  
Amanda found it, she found it, and she presented it. She was like, I wonder what this is about. And started to watch the modules, and we realized how it was. It's a lot of front loading and a lot of work up front so we were like, I guess maybe we better check with our administrators, because we weren't 100% sure on how, you know, effective it was going to and they were all on board. Honestly. They were like, you know, try it, you know, what's the worst that could happen? You fail, you try again. So we, we, we had a lot of support in that, in that aspect. So we really appreciated that. So Amanda found it, and it was like, the week before school started, we were like, Okay, we got to have a plan. How are we going to present the information? What order are we going to go into? And so the next year, when we were revisiting, there were moments where we were like, that didn't work. And so even in the moment, sometimes, you know, with the mastery checks, or we'll find errors, and you know, just, you know, the normal things, but we did see ourselves interacting with individual students more, and I think that was an amazing part of the flexibility of modern classroom is that when there's 46 kids, it's very hard to have individual conversations. Even in a general class, you know, in the in the 20 to 25 students, it's hard to have individual relationships with those kids. So one of the things that we implemented was one on one conversations, and we have a log so that we make sure that we can, you know, contact and check in with each student, if not, once a week, every other week, and we can just document like, Okay, this is where you were. So when our admin checked on us later, we were able to tell him where every student was academically, and that was we, I don't think we realized it until that moment, like when he checked in with us and was like, Hey, how's it going? And we were like, actually, it was really good. It's going really well. And so that was just, it's just we've been on board ever since I have nothing negative to say.

Toni Rose Deanon  27:25  
Oh, I love that. Because, I mean, even with any kind of model right, like, you could Plan and Plan and Plan and Plan and it still won't go the way that you plan. So y'all thank you for being here and sharing your wins and being together as a team. I'm always saying, like, folks, find your teacher, bestie, and do this model with them, because it makes it that much more fun and that much more engaging. And you have a thought partner. You have someone to be like, actually, that's not going to work. And then you also have someone who can laugh with you when things don't work. So thank you. Thank you for being here. Absolutely Okay, so now Zach, we're ready for our next one. Yeah,

Zach Diamond  28:03  
yeah. Our next response is from Colleen. And Colleen, I want you to say your last name so I don't screw it up.

Colleen Burkett  28:13  
Hi everybody. It's Colleen. Burkett.

Zach Diamond  28:16  
Burkett. Okay, that's what I was gonna say. I was like, maybe it's Burkitt. I don't know that's the one

Colleen Burkett  28:22  
everybody wants to say. I should have taken my husband's last name. It would have been easier.

Zach Diamond  28:28  
All right, let me read your comment, and then you can go ahead and tell us about it. Okay, sure, Colleen, you put a lot of like, numbers and figures in this one, so pardon me if I mess it up a little bit, but I'm do my best. Okay, you're in New York State. You teach chemistry. Let me preface this with that I only had two years of teaching before covid hit and tests were suspended for two years. First two years, I had 20% of my students score 85% or above. Less than 10% failed, and that's scoring less than 65% last year, after my second full year of MCP implementation, 45% of my students scored above 85% still less than a 10% failure rate. I was quite happy with that. Colleen, tell us about it. 

Colleen Burkett  29:13  
Hi everybody. I'm also going to apologize. I also have a major storm rolling through. So if you can't hear me, just, you know, try and flag it down or whatever. Um, so yeah, I, I teach in a very small rural district. I'm the only chemistry teacher, and soon to be this year, also only physics teacher. So this will be a fun year, um, but I, actually found out about MCP because they were trying to get the word out and doing like little, you know, like, I don't know they were like, giving like little, like introductions to different districts, and kind of just describing what it was and offering the. Mentored program with a with a grant for the summer. And so my curriculum director passed that along to me, knowing that I had during covid, attempted to do a bit of a flipped classroom situation. And she said, you know, well, you've already kind of got some of that down, you know, you've got the videos. Do you want to try, you know, see what this is about. And so I listened to the spiel, and I was like, Yeah, I kind of do a version of this already, but I don't have it as well thought out as this program seems to have. So I full steam ahead, went through the mentored program. Had a great local mentor. He was just a few towns away, and we were able to, you know, he wasn't chemistry, but we were able to really think through some major concepts and ideas together. And I then in September of 21 went full steam ahead into MCP for my on level regents chemistry course. So regents chemistry is just like New York State's like exam. Regents is the exam that you have to take at the end of the year. And, I mean it just right away, kids took to it like nothing else. I think they love the organization of it. They love seeing like a plan for a whole unit from the outset. You know, there, I think every day, we don't think about as teachers the stress that these kids have, like weighing on them from all aspects of their lives, and that sometimes, when they walk into a classroom and they have no idea what's coming that day, you know, they that does give them stress, and I don't think we give that enough credit. And so it's seen just knowing that every day there's a plan, and they can see it written on a piece of paper, and they know which days we're doing labs, and they know which days, you know that we're going to have tests and that they can, you know, do those mastery checks when they need to, not everybody has to be ready to do it at one time. It really lessens that overall stress. And I think that's been one of the biggest wins for my students, is just seeing the reduction in stress overall. I continue to survey my students constantly and ask about how they feel about the project, and, you know, they unanimously love it. I think I've maybe had one kid in three years who tell me they just don't like watching videos. But I'm like, Well, you don't you also don't want to listen to me talk. So, you know, right? But I did ask. So now, because of my position as chemistry and physics teacher, I'm essentially going to wind up having kids for potentially three years in a row. They'll go from, like the on level chemistry class to physics to college chemistry, which I teach, and it's like a dual credit enrollment course. And I asked my students, 90% of them are going from regents chemistry to physics next year, which is like unheard of. And I asked them if they want me to do the same thing. I said, if I can make it happen. I said, I'm not promising anything, because it is a lot of front end work. But do you want physics to run the same way? And they were like, Yes, please. And so that was great, and that's my plan. I've been working on it already, trying to get physics rolling. And, you know, I, I mean, it does help me too, because, you know, I think it was Amy was just saying it's all that front end work, but then you you have that time in class to work with kids individually, and then you don't have to be so tied down to like, Oh God, I have to finish this particular lesson today. You know, right? So that's been great in terms of the test scores. To just follow up with that in New York State, we want we have a, what we call mastery of the of the regents exam, which is an 85% or above, and actually for chemistry, that is quite difficult to achieve, because, unfortunately, New York State decided somewhere along the way that they wanted to give a negative curve on that exam. So like, if a kid actually mathematically scores like a 90% they'd actually get like an 86 on the exam. It's terrible, but so it's very difficult to score that 85% and above on the test. Not so difficult down on the lower side, but at that mastery level, it's hard, and I could not believe the difference, like I said, going from. You know, about 20% of my students able to get that mastery level prior to the MCP method. And now I'm at 40. 45% of my students achieving that.

Zach Diamond  35:10  
So more than double. Yeah, unbelievable. 

Colleen Burkett  35:14  
And and then, and then, of course, you have a few kids that are, like, a point or two away, and you're like, oh, no, um, but they're, you know, they work hard. My students, they want to learn. I think that's one of the benefits of being kind of in an upper level class, is that I have kids that want to be there, because nobody's forced to be there. So asking them, you know, to go the extra mile has not been difficult, and they really have risen to that occasion. So, yeah.

Zach Diamond  35:46  
I mean, it sounds like it definitely resonates with them. And something that you said, that I want to sort of talk a little bit more about, was the way that, like we, I guess we underestimate the stress that they're under from all the different classes they're in and all the different stuff that's happening in their lives, right? Yeah, that's I feel like, before modern classrooms, I, as the teacher, felt like lesson planning was me like orchestrating a performance every single day, a new performance, a different performance, right? And now, with modern classrooms, like the contents all in the videos, all the stuff is posted, everything is done. So when they walk into the classroom, I'm not like orchestrating. I'm not directing the class, right? In the sense of like a conductor directing an orchestra conducting, you know, mean, and that takes a huge load off of me as the teacher, but it also takes a big load off of the student, because they walk in and they know like, I'm not going to be like pulled through, or like directed through this performance today, if I need to sit down and chill for a minute, I can chill for a minute. You know, if I'm ready to learn, I'm gonna dive in, and I can maybe get ahead, or whatever the case may be. But there's this, like, there's this sort of layer of like, performance to traditional classrooms, or at least my traditional classroom that I feel like is just gone now that it's a modern classroom, and so, yeah, that really resonated with me. It takes, it takes a load off of both teachers and students,

Colleen Burkett  37:06  
yeah, and I think Toni Rose said it to something about, you know, that the, how did you say it, that the like the students, I can't even remember what you said now, but

Toni Rose Deanon  37:22  
I be saying a lot. Colleen, 

well, you were saying it while Aimee was talking. Now, I lost track of what I was going to say. But, oh, just, but, like, in terms of, like, teacher mental health, right? Like It, it feel, yeah, when I was just first starting, I felt very much like, you know, what am I going to do tomorrow. I'm not gonna have enough for these students who are, you know, working ahead and understand things. What am I gonna do with them? Right? And then, what are you gonna do with the kid who missed three days of school and doesn't know what's going on, right? Because chemistry is so sequential. If you missed, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, you're gonna have no clue what's happening. And so it has made a big difference in terms of, like, the culture of the classroom and all of that. And in, you know, some of the wins, the personal wins that I've had is, first of all, I've gotten two of my colleagues and a student teacher of mine to both adopt this method, and the students are excited that my colleagues are jumping in. And so that was exciting. I, because of this method, was nominated for and won the Outstanding high school science teacher of the year two years ago. And thank you, everybody. And then, because of that, I wound up being asked to write an article for the American Chemistry teacher association, and Toni Rose, thankfully gave me the go ahead to do that, and so I have a published article now where I give MCP the credit for helping me to develop this method. I mean, those are amazing things for being six and a half, seven years into a career, right? So I think that's, you know, personal and, yeah, my personal life, I feel like I've, like, my stress levels just down here now, instead of, you know, it's been, it's been wonderful. So, yeah,

Zach Diamond  39:15  
amazing. 

Colleen Burkett  39:15  
Thanks Everybody. 

Zach Diamond  39:16  
Yeah, congratulations. Look at this. Look at the chat popping off. 

Colleen Burkett  39:19  
Thanks, everybody.

Toni Rose Deanon  39:22  
Colleen is over here just like, flipping her hair. Like, no big deal. I did all of this. 

Colleen Burkett  39:29  
Well, I have to thank, like, I have to thank my administration too for being so willing to take the chance on it, right? Because they could have been like, girl, you don't know what you're doing, like, you know and or whatever, you know, they just, I mean, I was blown away by how much they just let me run with it. And now, when they come in and watch it, they're like, man, we wish everybody was doing something like this. So,

Zach Diamond  39:53  
yeah, I mean, but I keep hearing also, like, in everything that you've said, I. I keep hearing how much the students appreciate it too, like it's just really coming across. And everything you say is how much the students appreciate and want more modern classrooms, yes, which I think is also really, really amazing.

Colleen Burkett  40:13  
I at the end of the year, and you know, throughout the year, I'm constantly giving surveys and asking the kids, you know, to tell me what they think like, I want the feedback. If you don't like something, tell me so I can change it. And the kids just don't change it. We love it the way it is. We like this. We like, you know, and like, this is my favorite class. I've never liked science before, and I love this class or, you know, and you're just like, what I feel sometimes I like, I'm sitting back, and I'm like, nobody needs me right now, right? Like, everybody's just working together and doing their own things. And I'm just sometimes amazed by how independent they can be at 15 years old. So

Toni Rose Deanon  40:53  
I mean, honestly, Colleen this just kind of brings up the idea too, of like, it's not really the content, it's how we teach that content, right? That matters. Like, literally, I hated history and I hated math, and it was because of how it was taught. I could have been a math person, but math ain't math. And for me right now, because of the way it was taught, it wasn't something that I could relate to, and I didn't have the autonomy or even the space to make mistakes, because it was just like, oh, well, like, that sucks for you. We got to keep moving. And so I love this whole, this whole thing that you're talking about with transparency, right? And just allowing our students to really own their learning, because this is their learning experience. Y'all as educators, we already went through our learning experience. We got to create the space for our students like it's not always about us, as much as I would like for it to be, it is not about us, right? And so I really appreciate your time. Colleen, thank you for being here, and thank you for doing the work as well with with our students, with your school with your school leaders. So shout out to your school leaders. Get them to listen to this podcast, because you yay.

Colleen Burkett  42:00  
Thanks, everybody.

Toni Rose Deanon  42:05  
Okay, so we are, we're going to have Cheryl next, which I have talked about Cheryl for a couple, a couple of times already. So I'm actually going to share my screen, because Cheryl actually shared her scores, and so it wasn't, it's funny, because pictures are worth 1000 words, right? And so it was just more so like, Hey, this is what I did. This is how it looked for us. And so for listeners, you're not, you know, watching the video, it's essentially just the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and it's triangles that has the green, the yellow and the red. And you can see that as the year progress, there's a lot more green than there is red for both reading and math. So which is really, really, really dope. And so yeah, sure, let's, let's talk about what, what you did, how you did this, what you teach first of all, and where you're located.

Cheryl Fox-Vasquez  42:59  
So for this particular year, I taught second grade, and what you showed on the screen is for second grade, I am going back to fourth grade this year, and I'm super thrilled for that. But what I love about this is, for me, I don't compare my scores year to year from class to class, and the reason I choose not to do that is because I am my worst critic, and if my scores dip, it's not because of my teaching, it's more so of what's going on in the classroom. Every classroom is so different, and I feel like I do a disservice when I'm comparing myself from the class before to the class now, and so I have chosen to compare beginning of the year to end of the year. I look at the middle one and make adjustments, but that I don't even I never look at the score. I do look at that picture, and then at the end of the year, I take a look at those percentages so that I can see my growth. I am thrilled with math. I actually took on a new curriculum last year, and in that curriculum, it was zern learning. And what I did was I was able to take my students that were in the red and take them all the back, all the way back to the gaps that they were, that they were they had and learn, and they were able to work through those gaps to come up to their second grade level. And that is just amazing to me, how they were able to do that in the classroom, self pacing seven and eight year old little kiddos like they can do that. And a lot of that is, like, the the shout outs that you give, the, you know, the the they at the end of the year, we're just like, where's this student? Where is that student? Where are you at? Where are you at? And it was just a, let's, let's see how much we can finish. And it became a game for them. Um, and was absolutely amazing. I had a physical tracker for second grade, and they love to move their clips. Um, with the reading, what I was, I was looking at this, and I'm like, I know what. I know why Reading isn't so wonderful. And part of that, well, I think, I think the why is because I'm not able to use modern classroom with fidelity. I have to teach, you know, the phonics live. That's what my my district wants me to do. So I have to do that live. I can't do it in video. And so if kids are missing that phonics piece, or they miss a week at a time, which happens quite a bit, then they don't, they miss that, and that causes that gap. And so that's a real comparison between that self paced and not self paced as well in the I'm just like, those scores for me were just tremendous, and I've been doing modern classrooms since covid hit, because I'm a fixer, and I didn't ever want to get stuck like that again. And I found modern classroom through ditch that textbook, and have been doing it ever since. I absolutely love it.

Toni Rose Deanon  46:17  
Oh, and it just brings me so much joy, because I don't get to work with a lot of elementary school teachers. And so when I started seeing your posts, and then I heard about your stories, I was just like, hey, Cheryl, like, join in this space. Like, let's do a Q and A together. Let's like, I want to be able to lean in on your expertise and your stories as well, because you know what's happening in the second grade, right? Like, and now you're going to be in fourth grade. And so that is when I saw that photo, and I saw, like, majority of the math scores were green. I was like, in second grade, yeah.

Cheryl Fox-Vasquez  46:51  
And I can tell you why those three students that were in the red are not in the green. And it is not because of not learning. And so like, I can tell you exactly why, and I can tell you that because I meet my students every single day, those small groups, they want you to meet in a traditional classroom setting, I was never able to do it. And with modern classroom, I do it every single day, and I love one of them, one of the earlier ones, had talked about being able to meet with your students every single day and the success that you feel. And I just even when mentees are talking about, you know, going through modern classroom and meeting with their students, and it's just a tremendous difference in the day to day as a teacher, um, and I, I am, we're getting a new admin this year, and I have sent as much of the research I can to him, so he doesn't tell me to change my my classroom model. So I don't think he will. But, um, anyway, because I'm just like, Please don't tell me to change it, because then we're going to have problems.

Toni Rose Deanon  48:02  
Yeah, you're getting, you're getting ahead of it, right? Like, you're going to go ahead and say, like, Hey, here's how I do it, instead of them finding out and being so like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? You're not, you know, and then all the misconceptions and the assumptions, right? So kudos to you for go ahead and saying, like, Hey, I have new admin. So I'm going to go ahead and get my, you know, I'm going to go ahead and get my spill in and invite them in the classroom as well. And I know again, to Cheryl, you are just so great at showing up for our MCP community. We were in Oklahoma, and we did an in person event, and Cheryl drove like, an hour to come hang out with us, which I was like, Yes, we got to see each other in person. I love it. And so, yeah, thank you for continuing to show up. And also, just like, again, super interesting from an elementary school perspective. Of like, you know what? We're supposed to have small groups, and I couldn't do it because, you know, I'm a middle school teacher, and we have high school we have high school educators as well. What small groups are not our jam like, for some reason, when kids go to middle school and high school, like, small groups are just not a thing anymore, right? And so, and that's because we don't have the time, we don't have the capacity, or we don't know how to make the time, honestly. And so with MCP, it really forces us to create the time for small groups to create this time for one on one check ins. And it's really nice to hear from an elementary school teacher, which I assumed that, like all y'all do is small group, and now you're like, No, I had a hard time doing it. And so with modern classroom, I was able to do it. So again, thank you for your stories. Thank you for always just cheering people on and just your love and and the way that you nurture our community in the Facebook group and in person as well, it's just always so beautiful. So I really appreciate your presence, Cheryl. We're really, really, really appreciative of just you being in this space. So thank you. Okay, so we have our next. One. Kendall, are you here? All right, there you are. Okay. Zach, you want to go ahead and read Kendall and y'all Kendall, this was before Kendall joined our team, meaning MCP. So I also just want to say that, like when we say that a lot of us who work at MCP are former educators who implemented the model like that. It is true, and it is so funny to have Kendall join in as full time. And so, yeah, go ahead. Zach,

Zach Diamond  50:31  
alright, Kendal, I'm going to read your your comment, and then you can hop on. Just wanted to share a small win from quarter one to quarter 270. 6% of my students maintained their B or A average or improved at least one letter grade, with some even improving two whole letter grades. There's no doubt in my mind that the modern classroom has everything to do with the growth.

Kendal Giacomini  50:55  
Yeah, that's correct. That was a couple years ago, but I posted that when I was teaching sixth grade and seventh grade math, and, you know, sixth grade period is a is a transition phase for a lot of students, and they just were not quite sure what Middle School was about alone. So, you know, when they walked in on Open House night, and the first thing they said to me was, I don't like math. I was like, very nice to meet you. Like, welcome, thank you. But the data, the data is the data, and I know I need to take the data into account. However, more important for me because of that whole transition thing was my students feeling more confident and comfortable in their capabilities, in their math capabilities, because, you know, like TR said, I also was not a math person. I wasn't I hated math in school. I was like, I'll do anything to not do math. Once I started teaching it. Then I was like, Okay, so that's how you do that. That's why that works. And then, of course, becoming a math teacher, and then to becoming a math manager at MCP. Now it was a whole process. So really, my biggest achievement for me, what I felt was my biggest achievement, was seeing that student who walked in on that first day, like, this is a true story. She genuinely walked in and said, I don't like math. And I was like, alright, hearing her mother, towards the end of the school year say, like, my child's confidence has grown tenfold. They like math now. Math is their favorite class. I was like, that's like, I don't think that was me as a personality, because I think she had an early, early class in the day, and I was very tired, and I hadn't had my coffee yet. So I don't know if it was a personality thing for me, but it was definitely like that space that I gave them, or that MCP gives them to, to do it at their own pace, right? Like, I'm not forcing you to continue moving on. I'm not forcing you to, like, wait for other people, it was just that space. And then also, you know, seeing that student who, quote, unquote, is the reputation student, right? Because that they all exist in in our schools, people have preconceived ideas of who the student is. Seeing that student, when I gave him the space if he was having a bad day, I think someone mentioned on you like, if you're having a bad day, we can chill out, you know, for a second, seeing him put in the effort to actually start learning and start completing the assignments was the biggest, the biggest achievement for me, the student you know, had a lot of trauma at home, and just like was not ready to to be doing what everyone else was doing. And so we gave him that space, and we gave him we gave them, here's your task, here's your unit. Like, let's figure this out, you know, in your own pace. And so the data, yes, I did see scores raised, but more importantly, for me, at least, was that confidence being built.

Toni Rose Deanon  53:56  
So, you know, those Tiktok like, podcasts with women, and they just go, like, that's all I want to do, is like, yes, yes. It's really the confidence, right? Like, we want to build that confidence. Like, yes, data is cool. Now, yeah, I hate data. Let me stop saying that. I don't hate data. I love data. I'm shifting my mindset on it. I know it's important. And so really thinking about like, it's not just numbers all the time, right? It's also these anecdotes, like, emotions are data, stories are data. And so we also want to accept those as data points. So sorry, Zach, I just jumped in, but I was just like,

Zach Diamond  54:35  
Yes, I was just gonna say people who aren't watching have to watch now to see you doing that

Toni Rose Deanon  54:42  
well. Kendal, thank you so much for joining in, popping in and sharing your piece of your story as well. We're really happy that, you know, I got to see you teach, which was always so exciting. I love it when I get to meet people in person. And then you and I have hosted some things together as well. And so I. Love being able to work with you as an educator and as well as a full time MCP colleague slash friend, right? Like, because I love this. This is so fun. And Kendall was also on our podcast, so she talked about the resetting MCP in the middle of the school year. And so one way to get a hold of her is Goodreads, and that's something that I will never forget about, because it is brilliant. Like, why am I not giving away my Goodreads account? Why am I giving away my email? So appreciate you so much. Kendall, thank you. Thank you for being here. 

Zach Diamond  55:32  
Yeah, you also mentioned peloton in the shortcast, and I kept that ending in. I usually for the shortcast, I usually cut that in, that ending out, but I had to keep that one that was too much fun.

Toni Rose Deanon  55:43  
So great. So great. Thank you, kendal. I appreciate your energy. All right, so now we're going to bring in Avery. And so it's funny, because I don't even know how Avery and I got into the same virtual space, but I looked at his last name and I was like, Oh, definitely Filipino. So I need to really connect with this educator and have conversations. And then learning that he teaches high school ELA, which was like, Oh my gosh, even better, a Filipino English teacher, what implementing the model and implementing it well, right? So I was just like, Oh my gosh. Like, how did we not come across each other yet? And so I'm just really excited for you to be in this space. Avery, again. Avery was also in the podcast, so we'll link all of those past episodes with Avery and with everyone else who's been here that's been on the podcast. And so Avery, I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen because you shared some data with me that I was like, blown away as well, and it's beautifully done. So yeah, Avery, talk us through this.

Avery Balasbas  56:44  
Yeah. Thank MCP for this, because this is the research toolkit. So for those of you that don't know, go find the research toolkit. I believe you can. There's a web page for it, but I think it's at the end of the free course. Oh my god, this is thank you, Zach. And this is what, like, I love a lot about seeing that impact because, I didn't have the chance to look at test scores, but I did see the difference in student attitudes, in my relationships with them. I pride myself with my rapport with my students. I was a little offended when I'm like, wow, they didn't have a good relationship with me at the beginning of the year, and then, like, at the end of the year, you know, shot up. But I was just like, This just proves that, even more so, because of MCP, I fostered more community in my classroom, and I love that that was the results of all this. And the thing that really stood out to me about this, for those that are listening, there's criteria on here that's like, I understand what I'm learning, I enjoy learning. I'm capable of learning anything. This really just proved that this model empowers our students to take control of their own learning, metacognitively, learn about who they are, how they learn. And I talked about this in that episode that I was in as well, because we were talking about reflection as a form of data and as a form of like understanding our students. And it was just really powerful for me to see my students grow in a way that I didn't in previous years, I had a lot of students who typically fall through the cracks, and then at the end of the school year, after a full year of MCP, they're just like, Yeah, you know what, I think I'm gonna apply to AP Psych. And they've never taken an AP class before, advanced placement. And then now some of those kids are in college, and they're just like, I wasn't even thinking about college, but you know what, like, I'm capable of doing this. I'm gonna give it a shot. And so I think that was, like, one of the most beautiful things to hear from a lot of my former students who are now growing to adults. 

Toni Rose Deanon  58:25  
And I know that I'm just sitting here and all the goodness, because I know listeners. You cannot see the numbers, but for example, the statement of I really understand what I am learning. There's 20% before MCP implementation, and it goes all the way up to 81% with with MCP implementation. So this is like, really, really wild. Also, I think for me, one of the things that I really love about this is like, I enjoy learning, because I know this is something that I've had conversations with students about too, is like, there's a difference between schooling and learning. Students know how to school, right, and they they can do, they can play the game of school. And so it's just like, how can we then create this joy for learning once again? Because again, I feel like in elementary school, right, there's a lot of joy, and then, for some reason, when it comes to middle school and high school and like, higher ed, the joy is gone. There's just a lot of compliance and a lot of just like, Oh, I just, I guess, like, I just gotta, I just gotta do this. And so for listeners, I enjoy learning this statement. It had it went from 21% before implementation to 60% with full MCP implementation. So there's, like, a couple of statements on here too, and we'll put this in the show notes so that you can also take a look at it after you're listening. Because I know we have a couple listeners who who take us during your drive, as you drive to school. So we'll definitely put this in the show notes, and you can look at it after, after you drive. Okay, so no, and there's also the research toolkit that we will include in the show notes. So thank you so much. Avery for for sharing this, and just kind of, I. Again, focusing on the fact that, like, student attitudes, that is data, right? Like it doesn't have to be always test scores, or, you know, whatever, whatever scores that we're looking at. So I love this whole focus of confidence, really enjoying learning again and again, just like making learning that much more fun, like that is what we want, right?

Zach Diamond  1:00:24  
Yeah. And Avery you, you mentioned this. You call this one out, but I have a good personal relationship with my teacher. It went up from, I can't remember now, but it went up from 20 something percent to 60 something percent. I mean, that's such a change, right? That's such a big change that it has to be meaningful, right? That's not like a fluke of the data, right? That's like your teachers, or, sorry, your students, really responding and resonating with the modern classroom and with you as their teacher, right? 

Avery Balasbas  1:00:52  
One of the other things too, this is necessarily related to the relationship piece, but was because I was building MCP as like the kids were conducting the train, like I was putting the train tracks down while it's going right. I feel like we've all been there, because it's a lot of front loading. Like everyone mentioned, there were points in time where there are lulls in the curriculum. And, you know, my ahead of pace students are just like, Hey, can I am work on stats? Can I work on a push? Can I work on this? And I'm like, Yeah, you know, get out of my hair. Go do what you need to do. And I didn't realize the effect that that had on some of these students, because their time management changed. They started being able to prioritize my class, and when I was, you know, slacking, they're just like, okay, cool, I can work on this project with so and so. It's like, hey, let's work on our stats thing together. And it started creating this other form of, like, intrinsic collaboration, where students were working together on their other work. And when they all became seniors the following year, and I had a new batch of students, a lot of them were like, I can't work on my other things anymore. You know, when I manage my time properly? And so then they started realizing the importance of having an instructional model like this, and they started telling other like, to this day, I have some older students that are still at the school, and there, there are kids that are just like, why can't you do the class like Mr. B? And I'm like, Oh, I don't want to try to start drama at the school. But, like, a lot of kids are missing MCP because no one else really picked it up. But yeah, it's just really powerful to see that students started learning those other softer, hard skills that are almost unintentional. Like I wasn't teaching any lessons about time management or organizational skills, they just, it just kind of came along because the structure was so clear for them,

Zach Diamond  1:02:28  
right? Yeah. I mean, I think that that also goes back a little bit to it what we were talking about before. I was talking about this before, where the classroom feels like you're sort of orchestrating a performance. It's very performative, right? When you take away that layer, the structure becomes so much more simple, right? And if they don't know what to do, they just ask you, it's not like they're doing something wrong, right? They don't have to sit compliantly. They don't have to, like, play that part. They just come in and they do the thing. And once they learn what thing to do, it's pretty much the same every time, with new with new content, new work, new projects, right? Yeah. Yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:03:03  
yeah, yeah. I think another beautiful thing too is that for this upcoming season, y'all, we're trying to get more student voices in as well, because we know how important it is for students to talk about this model. So it's not just coming from adults, but coming from our, our, our main audience, right? And so Avery actually hosted a podcast with his former students who are now in college that we are going to air next for this upcoming season. So yay. How exciting. I love hearing from students because they're they keep it real. Yo. They're so real.

Zach Diamond  1:03:40  
They really do remember that I was going to Tyler Waugh. I'm gonna link that students. Yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:03:47  
yes, that. Those are my students. Those are my they were in eighth grade. I taught them in sixth grade, and so they went through the model when they were in sixth grade, and they had a lot to say. So that was a lot of fun, actually, to to have them there. Well, Avery, thank you for being here and sharing your wins and your stories as well and just continuing to spread the news about MCP. So I appreciate you so much. We are gonna we have two recordings, actually, from Meg and from Emily Dia, which I don't know if our community has ever gotten emails from or have ever met in person, but both are actually educators, former educators as well. And so I'm going to just play Meg's video and let me know if you don't hear it.

Meg McGregor  1:04:34  
Hi there. I'm Meg McGregor. I'm the VP of programs at the modern classrooms project, and before that, I was a high school physics, computer science and engineering teacher. When I first started using the modern classrooms model, I was teaching engineering to high school seniors, and in my class, I was really struggling teaching a really complex AutoCAD software to students with a variety. Experiences using complex industry level software programs. Some students played with Photoshop at home. Other students were still learning how to type. So we had a large variety of computer skills and mathematical skills in the room, and we were all trying to learn industry level AutoCAD software. It was really hard, so I shifted my approach to a blended self based, mastery based approach. And what really stood out to me when I first started using this model is the independence it fostered in my students, and also the way it let students really customize their own learning experience to meet their needs. I remember being floored when one of my high school seniors said to me, Miss McGregor, this is the first class I feel like has ever truly prepared me for college. That's just one tiny piece of my modern classrooms journey. After implementing with that group of students, I went on to implement in all of my other content areas, and was just floored my by my ability to actually differentiate for my students for the first time in my career. Congrats, MCP on the 200 podcast. It's amazing to see the reach that the podcast has had and that our organization has had on teachers like you. Thanks for watching.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:06:29  
Alright, so, and then we have one from Emily Dia. So Meg is one of the Meg was actually able, yeah, so my dog is saying yes, agreeing to all the things, right? And so Meg actually worked with Kareem and Rob in DC and the same high school. And so Meg was one of the original implementers, if I do say if I, if I, yeah, first, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's really dope to just be able to hear her experience as well, and then transitioning into this role to continue again, supporting educators to the virtual mentorship program. So and now we're going to listen to Emily dia, who was an English teacher, eighth grade English teacher, actually. So here is Emily Dia,

Emily Dia  1:07:16  
Hi everyone. I'm Emily dia. I'm the director of partner support here at the modern classrooms project. My pronouns are she, her? I Before this was a teacher for 20 years, mostly in seventh and eighth grade, English Language Arts. And I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. My work now is to support educators and schools and districts who are working to use modern classrooms model in their classroom and to support them in any way that we can. I joined MCP because this model as a teacher really allowed me to differentiate for the first time, and that was after 18 years of teaching. I started working less on nights and weekends. I started being able to use data to be really responsive to the needs of my learners in class. This model really changed everything for me. So I'm so thankful to celebrate this milestone on the pod with everybody, and hope everybody keeps being brave and amazing and leaning into this innovative model. Have a great year. Everybody

Toni Rose Deanon  1:08:20  
I love, just like, I don't know that, just like, calmed my nervous system down. So, okay, well, I know we are over our hour, which is, I think, Zach, Is this our first one where we have more than an hour recording?

Zach Diamond  1:08:37  
It's certainly one of the longer ones. Feel like I think we once reached an hour and 20 minutes.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:08:44  
Okay, okay, got it. Got it. 

Zach Diamond  1:08:47  
We have a record to break still, but yeah, for our commuters, for the commuters, there you go. We have a nice, big one for you, but it's episode 200 right? So,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:08:57  
yes, yes, 

Zach Diamond  1:08:58  
why not? Why not? 

Toni Rose Deanon  1:09:00  
Yo, we're open for questions, any stories, any other thing that y'all want to share, talk, any personal wins. Yeah, it's open.

Aimee Little  1:09:11  
I'll talk for just another second. One of the moments that you said everybody needs to find their teacher, bestie, and we have talked about that so many times that one of our favorite parts about teaching together is the CO planning that we get. Like, if I'm having a bad day, she'll take over, or, you know, if, if we're planning, and I'll throw an idea out there, and she'll bring me right back down to earth real fast. There's a lot of like, checks and balances in that system. And I just feel like it's, it's an an underused aspect of teaching. Like we, we have such a support system within our own building that a lot of us like, I know, I never took advantage of it until I started to work with Amanda, because, you know, we're just in our own isolated little room, and I just feel like, when you said that everybody needs to find their teacher. Bessie, i. Cannot emphasize that enough, it's just an amazing experience when you get to bounce ideas. And it's one of my favorite parts about the Facebook family that everybody has found with MCP. I love seeing the ideas that people bring to the table and their wins and successes, and even sometimes like the things that are working for them. We'll find it and like, tag each other or screenshot it, and be like, hey, you know, let's we should try this. Or, you know, sharing our own website, because we have new people who haven't jumped into MCP. And we're like, here's a, you know, here's what we have. If you can use it, great. If you can't, okay. But we know that was the most overwhelming part for us, too, and so just being able to share with people, I feel like, is one of the most rewarding parts of all of MCP,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:10:49  
thank you for sharing that, Aimee, because I know another thing too that we often get in the Facebook group is like, folks being like, Hey, I created this thing. Can y'all give me feedback, which there's definitely a need for right of like, oh, like, people are open to, like, just feedback and just being receptive and understanding that, like, I created this thing, and it may be perfect for me, it makes sense in my head, but Can y'all also look through it and give me some feedback, which I love y'all, because that In itself is again.

Zach Diamond  1:11:20  
Toni Rose, you still there? Am I still here? Well, while we wait for them to get back, I'm going to read out Cheryl's comment. Cheryl put a comment in the chat. Also, I want to read out Cheryl's comment because it resonated with me and it also I was going to say this after Meg's video as well. Cheryl wrote, being able to differentiate has been huge for the needs of my students. MCP has made so many things possible for my classroom and the requirements for the system. And I think that the this is me talking now the differentiation is like we talk so much about differentiation. It's just that we throw that word around so much, and we still struggle. We still struggle with the, like, vast gaps and the wide variety of learning levels in our classrooms. And yeah, having a model where we can accommodate all the different students, and not, like, provide one differentiated assignment, but really and truly, like cater to kids of different levels. It's just, it's just so huge, I think it's, it's one of the things that I don't know. We do talk about it a lot, but I feel like we got to talk about it more, right? Like this model allows us to do that in a way that is real, that is not a buzzword, you know, authentically differentiate. So yeah, thank you, Cheryl, for raising that up in the chat. Toni Rose back, but

Toni Rose Deanon  1:12:41  
I'm back, and I was just going to say, you know, in education, we love a good buzzword.

Zach Diamond  1:12:45  
So we do love a good buzzword.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:12:47  
We also love acronyms. We love all the things in education. And so I know that when modern classroom came to my life, because they were just like, oh yeah, like, do you want to implement this model? It really just changed everything that I thought I knew, which was wild, and the whole sense, I think when Colleen was saying, like, I just stand back and I'm like, wow, they don't need me, right? Like, that is such a beautiful feeling. And I think sometimes, as educators, we like to feel needed, and that's where, like, learned helplessness comes in, and I am frozen again. Am I frozen again? Okay, great, okay, I'm gonna get off my soapbox and let y'all talk, because clearly, there's also a storm coming here.

Zach Diamond  1:13:32  
Avery, do you want to you wrote your comment in the chat? Do you want to read it out or ask that question all that? 

Avery Balasbas  1:13:37  
Yeah, well, I guess, like firstly, comment because it just ties what you're talking about. Zach, yeah, I definitely felt like, after implementing MCP, it was, like, the first time I was meeting the needs of an IEP and case managers. Well, I mean, I was already cool with them at first, but after MCP, they're like, whoa. This is really clear. And every IEP meeting we had, like, I was probably one of the few teachers that did always show up. But then now I could be like, this is exactly where your student is at. And one of my families, especially their son, he's autistic, and when they came to back to school night, they were just like, I really appreciate that. There's no more, mom. I left it in my locker. It's like, No, you're home with us, and I can learn with him along the way. And I did not realize that this was having that kind of impact on our families, which is really incredible. And so the question that I was asking everybody, you know, what kind of supports do you think an MCP teacher needs or wants the most? Whether you know they're doing the solo, they're with their teacher, bestie, or they're seeking to foster an MCP community and get something started, what do you think teachers need or want the most? And thank you, Colleen, for sharing first with, like, someone who's in their content area. So you have ideas to bounce off of, but anybody feel free to answer, what do you think teachers need the most when you know, trying to get MCP going? 

Zach Diamond  1:14:51  
Yeah, I would love to hear from people about that. I mean, I definitely it's funny, because when I was mentoring a lot, i i. I don't mean to like, throw any shade modern classrooms, but I got a lot of mentees who weren't music teachers, because the arts tend to generally get lumped together, right? And I don't teach art, right? I don't teach ceramics or theater or anything like that. And so I really had to work hard to like, be understanding of these teachers who were putting things in front of me that I like, I didn't understand as a teacher, right? And I agree, because when I did work with me to teachers having I agree with Colleen, I should say someone in their content area, right, like someone who understands the content, and that stops being part of the discussion, right? We can really just talk about the the teaching layer of things, the MCP aspect of things, with the teaching, yeah, Colleen, you raised your hand go ahead.

Colleen Burkett  1:15:46  
Yeah. I was just gonna say so, even though my mentor was not a chemistry teacher, he, I believe, was a biology teacher. And so just having somebody that was familiar with the idea of labs and how to make labs work with with the MCP process was really, like, vital to me, because I that was the hard thing for me to wrap my brain around, was like, I can't have the way my classroom is set up. I have a separate lab and classroom. How could I possibly have self paced labs and then you have safety concerns and all of that. So it was really great to have somebody, even if he wasn't exactly in my contact area, but somebody who could help me think through that, and then just to clarify in terms of, like, somebody who thinks similarly to me, like, I'm very, like, very organized type of person, so I would like, I like to work with people that also have, Like, a higher level organization and want to be very planned out. And that was, you know, so finding that my mentor was sort of in the same way, helped me think through like his suggestions and how I could apply them to my own situation. So that was, I mean, doing the mentored program was perfect for me, because I had both of those things right from the get go. Yeah, 

Toni Rose Deanon  1:17:06  
I think what's really important too is that we really want our educators to advocate for themselves as well, right? Like y'all, some of y'all are an island on your own, and we have this, like, beautiful community, so we want y'all to reach out to us like we want y'all to say, like, hey, I need this. I do want to give a shout out to Blake, because Blake, I feel like you and I have spent a lot of time together in the implementer meetup. So I feel like you and I, I just have learned about your journey. And so y'all, Blake is a high school math teacher in Texas. See, I know this because I've seen Blake so many times. And you know, Blake would be like, Oh, I'm really struggling with this, and I really need this help. And so I was like, oh, bet I have a math teacher who could help you with this. Or, you know, even he was connected with one of our math educators in Hawaii, Joe, who's like, yeah. Like, let's talk about all the things, and I can help you with whatever you need help with, right? And so I don't know if y'all have seen Blake's comment, but just saying, like, always need a thought partner. I'm an island at my school, but there's the Facebook group, and I really enjoy the implementer meetup. So you know, if you have time, if you have capacity, join in, advocate for yourself. Tell us you're struggling. Tell us like, hey, these things are not working for me. I need help communicating these things, or I need help, like, creating a better strategy for myself and for my students. So, like, we, you know how we tell our students that we want them to advocate for themselves, because there are like, 20 plus of them, 40 plus of them, right? We want y'all to do the same as educators, like, literally just like, hey, I need your help, and we will be there however you need us to. And I know that one of our listeners, D Lopez, hi, so glad, or one of our audience members here, so, so thankful that you're here. You know, you named this this, this challenge for a lot of people actually like the admin, district support, right? Like MCP is hard to implement. If the district and school admin want things done a certain way. That's a reality for a lot of people, right? And so there's a lot of conversations of like, how did educators navigate this space so that their school leaders and their district leaders have a better understanding and not necessarily a misconception or an assumption of how the model works, right? Any of y'all here have that problem that you want to share out what you kind of did with admin, or if there's like, some resistance to it, because I was fortunate enough again, to our admin just like, trusted us, right? They were just like, go for it, do what you got to do. And if anything, they just, like, elevated us to make our own decisions, as long as we're following the standards and the curriculum. So yeah, anyone here in the group have any comments on that or any thoughts? 

Zach Diamond  1:19:53  
Well, Colleen says that your admin has been hugely supportive and loves the MCP method. And I also was going to say, like. So, you know, we had that experience as well. When you and I went through the training, it was actually the school like suggested it to us, right, like we and we really got to implement it pretty much freely. And it still is at DCI. So that has not been my experience, I guess, fortunately, yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:20:23  
and I think I was, I'm wondering too. D Lopez, I was just wondering, is your admin open? Are they receptive to having conversations? One of the things that I always ask or kind of have conversations with educators about, is like, hey, like, invite them in the house, in your classroom, right? Like, invite them in so that they can actually see it. And then one of the things that I always tell school leaders to when I work with them is, like, actually, instead of talking to the teacher, talk to the students, then you'll understand if they they know what's happening, or if they don't know what's happening, right? And for the most the majority of it right. I want to say even, like, 99% of the time, our students, who are in the in the going through the model, can tell you what they're doing, where they're supposed to go, when they're finished, if they were absent, what are they what are they supposed to do? What standards? What does mastery check look like? Like? Or say like, Oh, what are you learning today? Like our students are able to articulate exactly what it is that they are doing when the model is implemented, effect, effectively and efficiently, right? And so I think again, I would say, invite them in your classroom as well as like, say if they're if you know, see if they're receptive, we also have a leadership collaborative. We have a an MCP staff here who's a former principal who implemented the the model his virtual school, and so he's able to work with leaders who may have a lot of questions. So if they want to talk to another school leader, right? We have those as well. So thank you for reaching out, and I'm probably going to connect you as well, just so that you can continue having thought partners and strategies on how to get admin to support you in a way that you need to be supported. So Aimee, yeah, go ahead.

Amanda Davidson  1:22:18  
This one's actually Amanda, I'm jumping into this. Sorry, no, I was just gonna say we, we did have a very supportive admin, but I will say when we started off, parents were resistant, because they didn't really understand how the model worked and what was going to be happening. Because I think there's this assumption when you say self paced learning, like, well, then what's the teacher doing? Are you just sitting there? And so they kind of have this mentality of, like, who's teaching my kid, video, or you? And so we Amy's the very organized one in in this co teaching environment. So she was really great about putting together, like FAQs and like, setting up like a PDF that literally had, like, hyperlinks and QRS to a lot of the stuff from the modern classroom project. Somebody mentioned the, I think Avery mentioned the toolkit and having, like the visuals of those charts to show the growth and like the that it's much more than just, you know, test scores, you're also having better relationships with students, and so I think that's helpful for admin to see as well. And then also using the Facebook resource like if you can't get started with it right away, so you don't have anything built up to show your admin, maybe even reaching out to the teachers on there and seeing if they can give you some sample lessons or like links to their own websites that the admin can check out to see. This is how it really works. It's not just here, watch a video and then do the work yourself. It's so much more collaboration, and it frees you up as the teacher, to be one on one with the students, which is really, I think, so important and powerful for their learning process.

Toni Rose Deanon  1:24:00  
Oh, I love that so much. Amanda, thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I would also love to add on and say, like, look at your school's vision and mission and your values, and tie that in with how MCP can align with that, right? Like, hey, if they want every student to succeed, here's how the model will actually help with that, right? Like, hey, if they are focusing on blended learning or universal design of learning, right? Like, whatever it may be, find a way to connect and align the model with the vision mission and the values of the school. And then, when we're thinking about teacher observations as well, take a look at that observation sheet and figure out, like, a way to again, to align it with, like, what you're doing in the classroom with modern classrooms. So I know we also have a walk through, walk through tool so that school leaders can know what they're looking for. And I know I don't know Avery or like folks in MCP. Like, that's that's accessible for folks, right? Like the walkthrough tool, we can provide that for folks. Or, No, am I lying?

Avery Balasbas  1:25:07  
I think, Oh, it is okay. Well, I know people have found it on their own just through searching. It's not the most successful thing. But, yeah, yeah,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:25:16  
yeah. So we definitely have that so because, again, like school leaders, again, this is new, right? And sometimes when folks are resistant, it's because of fear of the unknown. And so when we create transparency and honesty and just being like, Hey, this is how I'm doing it, you're more than welcome to come in anytime. I will answer all the questions that you have come experiences like the students. And again, just creating this inviting place for admin, because, you know, they're humans too, right? They want to do well, and they want to make sure that everyone is successful. And so just creating the space of like, let's talk about it, right? Like, let's talk about it. And so if you need anything written, if you need an like, a one pager, or any like, anything, let us know, and we'll probably already have it for folks who have been an MCP. Y'all know we have a lot of resources, so we do not want you to do anything on your own. We want to alleviate the stress, and we want to support you as much as we can. Thank you, Kendall. Kendall shared a link as well. Thank you so much. Samantha is the walkthrough rubric, is what it's called. So we'll put all of these links in the show notes as well for our listeners, so you're not missing out, because you know FOMO. We don't love FOMO, so we'll have that for you. Oh, I love it. Okay, great. Anything else y'all, this feels really good for me. I think, yeah,

Zach Diamond  1:26:44  
I think now we have, we have met the longest episode, uh, point, benchmark,

Toni Rose Deanon  1:26:51  
beautiful. So Zach, yeah, wrap us up.

Zach Diamond  1:26:53  
All right. Well, thank you all so much for being here, and thank you to our guests for sharing your experience and your expertise and your wins with us. Okay, here comes the fun part. Listeners, remember, you can always email us at podcast at modern classrooms.org and you can find the show notes for this episode@podcast.modernclassrooms.org slash 200 we'll have this show's episode uploaded on the modern classrooms YouTube channel and the transcript uploaded by Friday. So be sure to check back in the show notes, all new links, lots of new stuff. So much fun. Okay, check back in the show notes to access those. They'll be uploaded by the end of the week. 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 the podcast. Thank you all for joining us live. Thank you to those of you who are listening not live. Have a great week, and we will be back next well, next, next Sunday. Thank you everyone. Thank you all so much for being here. 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 learn.modernclassrooms.org you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at modern classproj, 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. You.

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