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. Hello and welcome to episode 220, and season seven of the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Zach diamond, and I'm a high school media production teacher in Washington, DC, and a modern classrooms implementer. And today I'm joined by Leslie Pittman, a Baltimore City Schools special educator. Welcome, Leslie. Welcome to the podcast. 

Leslie Pittman  0:49  
Hi. Thanks for having me. 

Zach Diamond  0:51  
Of course, it's so exciting to have you, and thank you so much for joining me. Today we're going to be talking about elementary sped. You are a sped teacher, a special educator, but before we get into the topic, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself, who you are, you know what you do in school and how you started your modern classrooms journey? 

Leslie Pittman  1:09  
Yeah, of course. So this is actually my sixth year in education, and I would for myself, consider me a lifelong learner. I enjoy finding new ways to improve my teaching craft. So with the opportunity to join the modern classrooms program during the summer, when it came up, I was really excited to start the project. And of course, you know, being compensated for that time definitely didn't hurt, but I was very glad to catch wind of some new resources that I could use. 

Zach Diamond  1:43  
Yeah, 100% I also was one of the lucky few in the early days that got paid to take the modern classrooms training, and I would have done it if I had had to pay I feel like, Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So tell me a little bit more about how well, tell me about what you do in school first, like tell me about your role as a sped teacher in an elementary school.

Leslie Pittman  2:07  
So I do resource which includes push in and pull outs to give students who have IEPs their services. I thought that it would be really great to use this platform for my math curriculum. I teach grades three through five. So my goal overall was I want all of my students to know how to do all four operations and to be fluent at the end of the year. So that was the lens that I came into the program with, and it really helped me to develop, like, a scope and sequence on how I was gonna show these, show these different operations and lessons in my room.

Zach Diamond  2:53  
So when you do the push in and pull out, like you're working with one kid or a small group of kids at a time, right? Yes, it's a small group, a small group. And so what does modern classrooms look like then? And especially, I guess, so I'm already getting right into the weeds here, but I'm really curious, because, like, they're they're in a class, right? And so you're doing additional stuff with modern classrooms on top of what they're already doing. So can you describe kind of like what the implementation looks like, what the modern classroom stuff looks like?

Leslie Pittman  3:28  
Yeah, of course. So what it looks like is the students going on to their laptops, and we have days where we're going to do the group work, where we're working on word problems and doing those sorts of things together. But then I wanted them to have an independent way to be able to learn their math concepts. So I developed, I developed a series of lessons going from addition to subtraction, multiplication and division, and then the lessons like increase in complexity. So I decided to use the math curriculum that we already had, you know, pulling from pulling from this lesson, pulling from that lesson. So maybe it started off with something simple, like their place value concepts, and we had a couple lessons on place value, and then it moves on to addition, and addition with multiple digits and regrouping and just kind of increases that way. I feel like it's been a really great way for my students, who were a bit, you know, understood the concepts to keep on going, but then it also showed me who needed help, yeah, and for us to really get some more one on one attention. 

Zach Diamond  4:41  
Yeah, that's that's cool. I mean, we're going to talk a little bit more about kind of data a little bit later, but that's interesting to hear because I'm not a sped teacher and I'm also not an elementary school teacher. But you know, it's interesting because, you know, I've taught middle school and now I teach high school. And like, being able to see the students progress on a tracker. It's like, how was I not doing this before? Like, you know, it just reveals so much about where they are and where they need support. How does that work when it's, like, one kid or like a really, I'm, I'm, I'm really curious, because, like, I use a tracker to manage really big groups. And so I'm curious to hear, like, when you have a small group and you're with them, like you have so much more contact with each kid, like, do they use it? Do you use it with them? Like, how does that work with when you're with the kids? 

Leslie Pittman  5:33  
So in the beginning, it was my intention for the students to use the tracker too, and they do have access to the tracker, so the benefit will be able to see who's done, who's done that lesson already, so that they can ask the other members of that group you know, so that they can the students can also act as masters in that subject. How it has worked out is the tracker is definitely a benefit for me, because I can keep track of their general mastery, even how far they've gotten along in a certain period of time. And so then that lets me know, okay, these may be my students that do need more support and we need to use manipulatives. They need just more direct coaching. And then these are the students that are doing okay with what's been implemented already. You know, maybe they need just, I'll definitely still do check ins on their general work, but I have some students that have really been able to, you know, Excel through the program, which is, which is great, 

Zach Diamond  6:42  
yeah, yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. And again, it's like, you can see that progress, and it shows you where you then need to support, right? That's really great. How does the model then help you to meet different accommodations in your students IPs, in the five oh, fours. You know, I as a gen ed teacher, I know that there are some very common accommodations, like frequent check ins and instructions read aloud, things like that that are in several IEPs. And I'm like, well, the modern classrooms model for me, just like checks that box without even have to think about it, right? And like, I get the time for the check ins, and, yeah, all the instructions are read aloud, because I'm using instructional videos, but so you have probably have a much broader range of accommodations than I do as a gen ed teacher, and so I'm curious how you use the model to meet all those different needs. 

Leslie Pittman  7:31  
Yeah. So I really do enjoy the program, because that is one of the really good benefits of it. It does inherently already do some of those things that are going to meet the students needs. So in the recorded videos for math, I'm modeling how to do that task or that concept, and then, you know, assigning them the problems to do. I do apply certain levels of like manipulatives. I've been able to find some online or, you know, they have manipulatives in the classroom that they can use while they're doing their assignments, you know, since, yeah, thank you. Since speech to text isn't really available on the screen, pal of quizzes, I usually in the videos, I just made a habit of stating the question, and then I'll have that same question posted immediately afterwards, so that it doesn't cause too much of a hiccup with my students that are still developing readers, but it's definitely been a good indicator of you know, where the students need more support and where they're thriving. So for my students who are developing readers, I if, if I'm doing the tutorial videos, I am directly asking the question, and then I have that the same question that I said posed in written form. And then the answer choices are usually just very, very simple, so that they can still do that part on their own. 

Zach Diamond  9:02  
Yeah, so do you find that the model provides you? So you're talking about having this sense of like, where students are at and getting that from, from the progress data and all that. And I'm wondering if you can use that data, you know, when you write progress reports and keep track of IEP goals, because I know that there's lots of data that goes into that process, and the modern classrooms model kind of gives it to us. And I'm curious like how that carries over to the more formal process of of IEP data collection and that sort of thing. 

Leslie Pittman  9:36  
Yeah, so I've definitely found that this, using this method of teaching helps me to get some really solid data on what the students are able to do and what they're struggling to do. Usually, if they're doing a mastery check, I'll have them have I'll be able to put how they scored on their first attempt, if they needed a second or a third attempt, what kind of. Accommodations that they did need, whether or not they needed to use manipulatives, whether or not they needed more one on one support in order to master that specific skill. So I think that having this sort of platform has been able to allow me to tailor specifically to what that student may need at the time, 

Zach Diamond  10:22  
and then so like, Are the kids also getting any other modern classrooms in their in their like, full group classes? Or is it just you 

Leslie Pittman  10:32  
right now? It's just me, but I definitely hope that you know this is something that continues to grow so that more teachers are implementing this. I do know another one of my colleagues who did the program, and she's an art teacher.

Zach Diamond  10:45  
Oh, okay, that's cool. I used to be a music teacher, so it definitely works for that kind of class. You know, I was wondering, I was asking, because I again, like, as a gen ed teacher, I have been to IEP meetings, and I could just point to my tracker and say, like, the student is behind on this specific skill, right? I just find it's very helpful for me to, like, have that input in a much more objective way. Do you find that as well, like, when you're, you know, discussing IEPs? Does this come up? 

Leslie Pittman  11:17  
No, I definitely agree. So it's going to be much more objective in, how are they able to recognize their place value? Are they able to, you know, manipulate numbers? Can they add multiple digits? Are they able to regroup? So it definitely based on, you know, the program that people decide to implement can give a much more specific realm to what, what they're struggling with, to really see how best to accommodate them.

Zach Diamond  11:50  
And then what, how does when you see that, like, what does that then sort of transform into, like, you check in with them more frequently, or you spend more time working on a particular skill, like, how do you then take that data and use it right as a special educator?

Leslie Pittman  12:07  
For me, it translates into who needs more individualized attention, who needs remediation on a particular skill, and then what alternate ways can I use to show this same concept? So I believe for one of the activities, it involved skip counting. So they were skip counting on the activity itself. I'm noticing that they may have some trouble. So then I'm providing an extra resource, a graphic organizer or an anchor chart with their numbers one through 100 so then they're able to skip count using that method. So it just helps me to figure out what new strategies that I can use so that they can solidify those concepts just a bit more. 

Zach Diamond  12:58  
Gotcha. And do you also use like lesson classifications and have things like aspire to do's or should do's for students who are pulling ahead.

Leslie Pittman  13:05  
I believe that the way that I tailored it, I had the should do's, yeah, aspire to do's and should do's in mine, it isn't on the activity, any specific activity itself. I believe it's just the way that I structured the lessons. So, for example, if the unit in addition, I might have made five lessons. Three of them are maybe the, you know, the must do's, you know, the general, the general sense of addition, multiple digits, and then the see if they and then one with maybe two digit, one digit regrouping. And then the, you know, the Aspire to dos are the ones that are more higher level. So my intention was that even for my students, who may be struggling a bit more than most, if they get three of those lessons done, then that still meets their requirement. They've still been able to touch on that concept and try to master a bit of that concept, even if they don't quite get to four digit, you know, addition with regrouping twice,

Zach Diamond  14:16  
I see, okay, tell me. Tell me. Then, like, how have the results been since you've started implementing the model? Are your students? Do you find that they're learning more or better or differently in any way, like, how have the results been for your students and for you?

Leslie Pittman  14:32  
Um, I think, I think it's hard, it's hard to tell since it's been, you know, the first year, but I think for me, it's been working out pretty well because it's allowed those students who who are grasping the concepts, to really work ahead. So I know a major problem that I was having before, or just in general, is the pacing, or is the you. Uh, making sure that we get to all of the core things that we need to get to. And so in this way, it's already prepared so that those who are understanding can continue to move on and not be held, you know, not be held back, because we're still trying to, you know, go with the whole group, and then those who really need some extra help can get the attention that they need. And then I just continue to touch in with my students who are moving ahead. So it's actually been able to help me see what students are really grasping it, and maybe even what students may need less may need less services, because they are demonstrating that with with certain tools, okay, they're able to do, you know, understand these concepts and succeed. So maybe their services don't can be reduced. 

Zach Diamond  15:58  
That's actually really interesting, because, like, we were talking about before how, how the model can help to sort of shine a light on where the kids are at right and and I'm curious, like I was, I had a strange question that occurred to me, which was like, if you ever used data, I guess you only work with this specific population, but I was Wondering if, like, the model could in some way contribute to, like, helping to identify learning disabilities and students who have not already got an IEP or a 504 plan. But now you're also making me ask the opposite question, which is, could the model help you to identify students who could be exited from an IEP or, like, have accommodations taken away, because actually, they can learn within this model just fine. Can you talk about that? 

Leslie Pittman  16:46  
Yeah, so, you know, just the same way as when you're, you know, just educating face to face, you know, as we're checking for understanding, we're going to identify those students that are having more trouble. So it really kind of works the same way with this model, you know, who is a little bit more behind more than most. How would the exit tickets looking? How many times have they gone back to the tutorial video? Did it help? You know, did the modeling and the being able to look back at it help them? Did they need extra resources on top of on top of that, like a graphic organizer, like a word, you know, word banks, or, you know, sentence framings, different, you know, different things that are going to show, like, just very varied levels of need. Are they able to answer the topics that they're receiving, you know, adequately. So I think it definitely can show who is needing more support, and yeah, on the opposite end, show, okay, like this person is getting it. I did have a student who came into the year with a with a lot of a lot of allotted time for services and be and she ended up being one of my students that was really progressing ahead a lot further than some of the other students. And so when we came around and had her IEP meeting, you know, I actually recommended that this student actually doesn't need as much as she currently has. So

Zach Diamond  18:16  
that's, see, that's awesome. That's really cool. That's that's that's really cool to hear. And I also, I really appreciate your, I guess, just this whole conversation, you've been framing this from the perspective of, like, how do we support the kids who need the support? Like, how do we find the kids who need the support? And not so much from like, this kid has an IEP, right? It's a very it's more like of a human approach, right? And when you just said it just now, it's like, yeah, we teach kids, and we we learn their their strengths and their areas for improvement and things like that. And I do think that the model really, really does help. And I appreciate that perspective coming from a sped teacher, right? Like it doesn't. It doesn't matter if they have an IEP. What matters is that they're learning, right? They're all, they're all learning in different ways, all the kids. And so I really appreciate that, um, kind of like, approach,

Leslie Pittman  19:08  
yeah, and I will say, I appreciate your appreciation, and like, that's really how, that's how I just try to walk through life. And because we all have areas of strength and weaknesses. I know for myself, like I shine in some I shine in some areas very well, but I have no sense of geography, so I need some support. I use the GPS always. And so we all have areas like that, you know. So I definitely always want to keep the mindset for them, like they can do whatever it is that they want to do. It's just about having good strategies. You might not be good at something now, but if you apply the good focus and strong strategies and you continue to do what works, you'll get better at anything you want to do. 

Zach Diamond  19:55  
Yeah, 100% and and I'm sure that the kids also, I. All right, awesome. So Leslie, what do you hope to see in the future? What goals do you have? I know you mentioned that you just started using MCP this year, and so I'm very curious to hear what's what's next for you, and what you see yourself doing in the future,

Leslie Pittman  20:15  
definitely. So I've really enjoyed this platform, and so I hope to continue to just amplify it, amplify what I've decided to do with it, so that my lessons really are super attainable for the students, and so that I'm being more efficient in my personal craft. And I would love to see you know more people become familiar with this platform and with this, you know, particular way of teaching, I think that it's really great, and it does. It has saved a lot of time ease of mind, especially as the year goes like we can tend to just get a really bombarded. So having a set plan has really helped me, um, but in for the future and what goals I might personally have, I would just say, you know, I keep my mind to all different possibilities, and so I'm looking forward to stepping into roles, perhaps where I can facilitate more making a positive impact, and in how education and equity is structured in our school system, that's something I feel really passionately about. But otherwise, you know, my general goals are just to travel and you know, I'm always just wanting to be an example, especially for my students, you know, especially just for young ones in general. Of you know, somebody who is living a joyous life and has inner peace and is able to bring that to other people. So I just generally feel like, you know life is meant to be enjoyed, and I want to give joy. So ultimately, that's just my main goal.

Zach Diamond  21:50  
I love that. Yeah, that's a good goal. I feel like that should be everyone's goal. I wish more people said that. I agree. I'm right there with you, especially the travel part. I love to travel, so that's awesome. And hey, we're doing our best out here trying to spread modern classrooms. That's why we have the podcast. So love it. Well. Thank you so much. Leslie, this has been great. How can our listeners connect with you? If they like to ask you more about your approach to just bed teaching in elementary school. 

Leslie Pittman  22:25  
Yeah. So if you want to connect with me to talk about education, music, theater, travel or just life in general, you can follow me on Instagram at Leslie, L, E, S, l, I, E, underscore, J, bird, 

Zach Diamond  22:38  
all right, and I will link that in the show notes. Thank you so much. This has been great. Thank you for this little peek into your into your day to day. Leslie, thank you so much. 

Leslie Pittman  22:47  
Thank you 

Zach Diamond  22:49  
absolutely listeners. Remember, you can always email us at podcast, at modern classrooms.org, and you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast dot modern classroom, org, slash 220, we'll have this episode's recap and transcript uploaded to the modern classrooms blog on Friday, so be sure to check there or check back in the show notes for this episode if you'd like to access them. Also, we're asking our listeners to leave a review if this podcast has been helpful in supporting you to create a blended, self paced, mastery based learning environment that does help other folks find the podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. Thank you Leslie, have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday. 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 atlearn.modernclassrooms.org 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