Zach Diamond  0:02  
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 the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon they them pronouns, a designated hype person here at MCP, and I am joined by a health, physical education and driver education. Teacher of 22 years in both middle and high schools. Debbie, welcome. Debbie,

Debbie Fry  0:48  
hi. Thank you for having me very excited. 

Toni Rose Deanon  0:51  
Yeah, it's so exciting to be in this space with you. And thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast as well as advocating for yourself. Because I know you had reached out to us, and you know you were like, hey, I'm interested in being a guest and having a conversation about PE, health, you know, and drivers, driver education. And so I am all about finding, you know, and elevating stories that we don't really hear much from. And so two episodes before this, we actually had another PE teacher on. And so it's just been really great having conversations with health PE and now driver ed as well. And so Debbie, before we get started, what is bringing you joy currently?

Debbie Fry  1:27  
Well, currently we are in a blizzard, so I'm having a snow day, and we do not get very many snow days. Where I am, I'm in coastal Virginia, so on the southern coast. So when we get snow, everything shuts down. So I am enjoying a day at home and having a snow day. And like I said, we don't get snow around here, so fingers crossed. My internet stays on and my power stays on, but, but, yeah, we don't. We get maybe one of these every year, but this one is a significant one. So this is going to be, I think, one for the record books.

Toni Rose Deanon  2:07  
Holy moly. Well, I hope you stay warm, and I hope that you're doing all the cozy things in this cold weather. So all right, Debbie, tell us more about who you are and how you started your MCP journey, or even just your education journey. 

Debbie Fry  2:22  
So this is my 22nd year in Chesapeake Public Schools. I have been in the same district for my entire career. My family, they are all educators. I have two brothers that started out as teachers. They've since moved to central office in the administration side. I have a sister in law who's an educator. I have a niece and a nephew who are educators. So it's kind of in my blood. But I started out at middle school, so I did about 12 years at the middle school, and then I transitioned over to the high school, both in the same geographic district. So I went from Indian River Middle School to Indian River High School. I have the most amazing admin team and the most amazing principal, and she was actually my principal at the middle school, and then she moved up to the high school. And a couple years after she moved up to the high school, she had a PE opening and contacted me, and the rest is kind of history with us. So I've been with Miss Dunbar now for 20 of my 22 years as an educator, and she is just the absolute best

Toni Rose Deanon  3:38  
my face, listeners, you can't see it, but I am shook it. That is beautiful. That is such a beautiful story, I can't even imagine how that would be seeing each other grow, right? Like you said, 20 plus 20 years, right? That y'all were together middle school and then high school. I love this concept of you being able to follow admin that you absolutely adore and love. That was something that I did as well as a teacher. And I get super excited when I when I get to connect with those school leaders again, just to see, like, how they're doing. And so for you to continue to work with the same admin, this is beautiful. Okay, so how did you come across MCP, and how, like, you know, you said your admin is very supportive. You spoke highly of Miss Dunbar, which is amazing. How did you find about MCP journey, and how does your school leaders support you so that you can implement this in the most efficient and effective way? 

Debbie Fry  4:38  
So my high school was actually picked as a pilot school for our district. This is our first year implementing. The middle schools are on year two. So we have, I want to say, probably four or five of the middle schools that are currently using it, and they wanted to try. Out in a high school. So our high school, and again, my principal, is amazing, and she's very instructionally based, and she also does not give anyone a pass. So PE music, anyone, she still values the instruction in those classes. So with the pilot school, she was just looking for some people to implement it in their classes. And you know, I have such a close working relationship with her that I do lunch duty with her every day. So we were in lunch duty in the cafeteria one day, and she said, Debbie, we have this new program. I think it's right up your alley. I know that you are big in student centered learning, and I think this would be amazing for you. I had been presenting at some drivers education and PE conferences on the benefits of a student led classroom and what student led learning looks like in the PE in the driver's education setting. And she knew that I had been presenting on that topic. And she was like, I think this will be a perfect fit for you. I can really see you utilizing this in your classroom. And so we went on a few visits and went to the middle schools and checked it out at the middle school, and immediately I fell in love with it. I could see and visualize how it could work in my classroom, and I was taking notes, and, you know, taking mental pictures of all of the things that they had going on there. And from there, we just continue to partner and grow my API assistant principal for instruction is also very amazing, Miss Lancaster, and she's been super supportive in getting everything that we need and just continuing to support us as we try to grow the program at in universe High School.

Toni Rose Deanon  6:52  
This, this makes me think too the importance of relationships and getting to know the teachers and your colleagues right that you work with. And I do have to shout out, Ms Dunbar, like this was a conversation during lunch duty, right? Like this wasn't even part of a professional development, it was just in passing, something that you do every single day. And for her to say, Hey, I know your focus, and I think this will actually work really well for you. I think that's so beautiful, right? It just kind of reminds us the again, the importance of relationships, the importance of getting to know what our teacher's strengths are and then being able to align it with what the teacher's values are as well. So I really, really love that. Thank you for sharing. I didn't even know that there were drivers ed conferences. That's a thing, or is that like part of PE because, yeah, I guess I'm curious too. Like, does driver Ed kind of go under PE in health? How does that work?

Debbie Fry  7:47  
Yeah, so in the state of Virginia, it is part of the PE 10 curriculum, so it kind of goes under that PE umbrella. I joke all the time my content supervisor, he has the longest title in all of the city because he's PE health, driver education, wellness, drug education, like all all of the things family life, education. So there's so many things that fall underneath the umbrella of PE, but driver education is one of them, and it is part of the PE 10 curriculum. It is underneath the Virginia Department of Education. So we have a very specific curriculum that we have that way it's consistent across the Commonwealth, putting it out to the different schools and stuff. But yeah, we have some amazing educators that present at these conferences. I was blessed last summer to be able to present in New York. I've presented in Williamsburg, Virginia before. We have an amazing summer conference at James Madison University that also includes PE driver, education and health. So I've been able to present at that so it's been kind of a full circle moment of taking what was already my passion and finding an outlet for it and be like this can really work. I can see this is exactly what I align with and what I believe in. 

Toni Rose Deanon  9:14  
This is really exciting. Thank you for expanding my brain, because I had no idea that driver Ed is under PE. And is this something that is specifically for Virginia, or is it nationwide, where drivers ed is under PE? 

Debbie Fry  9:29  
So it's not completely nationwide, but in a lot of the states, it does kind of fall underneath that PE umbrella. Our area right around us, like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, that whole area, it does fall underneath that in some districts, it's a completely separate thing, and does not fall underneath the PE umbrella, but it just kind of depends on what state you're in and how they legislate it. Because not only is Driver Education. Different in every state, but even the licensing process 14 drivers is completely different in different states. So a lot of that also depends on what exactly their licensing process is.

Toni Rose Deanon  10:10  
That's so true. I always forget that states have different laws for a lot of things, right? And so, okay, okay, I'm processing all of this. Is really dope. I had a follow up question Debbie in this class the drivers ed specifically, is it opt in? Is it mandatory? How do students choose or take these classes?

Debbie Fry  10:32  
So it is mandatory in Virginia and PE 10, so they get at least the classroom portion of it. Each district is different. There are two components for driver education. There's a classroom component, and then there is a behind the wheel component. Currently in Chesapeake, we only offer the behind the wheel, I'm sorry, we only offer the classroom portion, and then they would have to go and take the behind the wheel portion through a private driving school. But there are numerous districts that offer the behind the wheel in the school district. So that part is optional. There is an option. There are some online options out there if you have a student that, let's say, transfers in from another state and needs the driver education because it wasn't offered. So there are some online options that are offered throughout the state for students to take it. But for the most part, there is going to be that when you are in PE 10, you take driver Ed and Virginia.

Toni Rose Deanon  11:39  
And how long does driver Ed last? Is it a whole year, or is it a semester, a unit? How does that work?

Debbie Fry  11:46  
So again, it depends. It varies by district. So there is a required 36 classroom periods of driver education in order to get the certification to have completed the classroom portion of it, that is up to the individual district how it's offered. So currently, right now, Chesapeake offers it as a semester based class, which is every day. So again, that kind of varies by school, depending upon how often it's offered. But usually it's you have two weeks in the classroom, two weeks in PE and it kind of rotates throughout the semester. I currently am teaching an AB schedule, so I have my students every other day for the entire school year. 

Toni Rose Deanon  12:29  
Okay, this is really interesting. And then for an AB schedule, how long are your classes? 90 minutes. It is 90 minutes. So you have a lot of time to play, to explore, to do all of the things that you need to do. You know, it's really interesting, Debbie, because when I was in the Philippines, I actually, I'm trying to get my license in the Philippines. And mind you, like you can use your US license for the three months, for three months a year. It's kind of like a visa, right? And you can renew it as well if you need to. But I was like, No, I want my license, and one of the requirements is that we go to a theoretical driving course and then a practical driving course. So the theoretical is, like, you have to go in class and learn all of the different signs, and, you know, it's very similar to the States, but also different. And so it was really fascinating. And I can't remember, like, I remember taking a driver's ed class in high school, but I don't remember what I learned, if I actually learned anything, because I was in this theoretical driving course being like, Wow. I didn't know that those lines meant this. I didn't know that that's what that meant. And it was just really interesting. And one of the things that they also went over is car maintenance, right? So they, like, talked about the brake pads, they talked about tires, they talked about, you know, being able to take care of your car. Is that also, I guess, just kind of shifting to your curriculum, right? What does your curriculum consist of? And you did say that there is a curriculum that is given provided by the Virginia Department of Ed So, yeah, tell us more about the curriculum, as well as, like, the requirements of for kids to pass driver's ed.

Debbie Fry  14:09  
So our curriculum is module based. So again, that was also something that was not a heavy lift for me implementing the MCP, because we were already module based, and kind of already had some of those things in place that made it easier for me to implement. But we have 12 modules, and it starts off with just the general licensing process. This is what you need to get your license. This is where you would go. These are the basic laws. And kind of goes over all of that. We also have a 90 minute parent team presentation that is required by law to help our students and parents kind of navigate the process, because so much has changed over the years with driver education and even just the basic of. How you hold the steering wheel. So because of air bags, they've changed how you hold the steering wheel. So it used to be you would be up here when probably I learned, when you learned, now it's moved down because of the air bags. So there's a lot of like, little things that are different, and the laws have drastically changed. So that parent team component kind of helps the parents navigate that with their students. And we have 12 modules. Again, it starts from the very basics of this is how you get your license. This is the permitting process. This is how long you have to hold it. This is what you need for practice all the way up into like, the actual like physics behind the driving, like, why your vehicle is going to react, how it reacts in certain situations. We talk about reference points, lean positions. We talk a lot about distracted driving and driving under the influence, and ways to help teams be able to navigate, how to say no and keep safe on the roads. And then we go into even what it takes to own a car, the maintenance behind a car, the insurance process of you know, what do you need to do to get insurance? How to safely interact with law enforcement, like what to do when you get pulled over in a traffic stop, because a lot of students have anxiety about that, and it just kind of, we tried to cover everything that you could think of that would make a new driver anxious and just give them the skills to be able to navigate that process. 

Toni Rose Deanon  16:42  
Holy cow. Whoever came up with this curriculum really like thought through what, what the barriers and what anxiety driven things could come up for a new driver, right? And so you have 12 modules you cover all of these things which are so useful, is definitely needed. And for listeners, you know, you can't see, right? But what Debbie was saying, you know, the steering wheel, it was a 10 and two, right? Like, where the 10 o'clock is a two o'clock, that's where your hands are. But now it's more like the four. And what is it like? Eight? Yeah, eight and four. And so that's really interesting to think about. The airbags. I had no idea about that, so you definitely just, like, taught me something new. But I was also thinking about just the screen, right? Like the screen the dashboard is so different now as well, for so many cars that I would say not have, you know, having my hands up is actually going to cover up some of the things that I need to see on my dashboard, right? So, wow, those are like things I never even thought about or considered that's exciting, okay? And so for students to pass Drivers Ed, what do they have to do? Is it a written test? Is it like, per module? Do they have a summative assessment? Like, what does that look like? And then, you know, you could even, like, throw in mastery checks that you do with your students, whatever you want to talk about.

Debbie Fry  17:56  
So there is a summative assessment at the end of each of the modules that the students take. But for me, with the mastery checks, I it's broken down into topics, and we do a mastery check after each topic. It's pretty, pretty quick, five questions, 10 questions at the most, and they need to obviously master that before they can move on to the next thing. Because, you know, if they can't master reference points and where they need to be looking while they're driving, we can't progress on to the next thing of lane positions or anything, how to navigate curbs or any of that. So it's I feel, especially for driver education, the mastery checks are very important, because I want my students to show mastery over that, and that builds their confidence, because so many teenagers now do not want to drive, because they have such anxiety about driving. And you know, 15 years ago, that was the first thing that you wanted to do when you turned 16, was get your license. Now, students just seem to not be as interested in a lot of it has to do with just the anxiety that they have about driving in the process. So having them master these things before they even get behind the wheel and they know they have confidence that they know these things and know the procedures helps ease their anxiety and transition them into being responsible drivers a little bit easier. So the mastery checks have been huge in Virginia. The the permit process, which is what students need to get their learners permit before they get their driver's license, is run through the DMV, but that is a test, and we spend a lot of time preparing students for that test, and the test has 10 multiple choice sign signals and pavement marking questions, and if they get any of those questions wrong, they automatically fail in Virginia, and they have to wait to retake the test. So. So, so we spend a lot of time in that first few weeks really trying to hit that stuff hard so that they have the background and the confidence for that. But then that's also something that as we progress, I bring in all the time to just review, to help them when it comes time for them to take that permit test.

Toni Rose Deanon  20:23  
Holy cow, 10 questions, and if they miss anything, they fail, right? They have to redo it.

Debbie Fry  20:29  
Yeah. So there's two parts. The first part is that 10 question part, and then the second part is just a general knowledge part, and they have to get 80% on that so, but they have to get 100% on that first part of it does not even let them continue.

Toni Rose Deanon  20:45  
And that's wild too, because we have so many road signs, we have so many light you know, we just so you can never get the same 10. You really don't know which 10 you're going to get. Which is okay, okay, that that's that is. That is wild. And I think, you know, Debbie, I was thinking too, you know, you said that cars have changed. You know, some laws have changed as well. How about the driver, like the test itself? Has it changed as well, or has it always been the two part 10 question first and then 80% next?

Debbie Fry  21:19  
So it has changed a little bit over the years, but probably for the last few years, that has been pretty standard. And then the one thing that has changed with us is that now, instead of going back to the DMV for students to take the behind the wheel test, they now can take that test with their behind the wheel instructor, which I think helps a lot, because that going to the DMV and getting in the car with a stranger and taking a test on the road with a stranger with so much on the line that would make our students very, very nervous. So that part has been very helpful for them, because they're familiar with the instructor, and the instructor has practiced with them, so they have a level of comfort with them. So that is one thing that has changed that I think has really helped the process for the students.

Toni Rose Deanon  22:14  
Well, it's really great too, that we are now taking into consideration like anxiety levels, right and stress levels, and then making it that much more accessible for students to be able to do and to succeed, right? So I really love, I love that concept too, like they can now do it with a behind the wheel instructor, where there's a little bit more comfort too. You know, when you were talking about the mastery checks, it really is a build up, right? Like you said, if you don't know what this is, you can't know what the next thing is. So you really have to master these skills before you can move on to the next thing. Okay. These are Wow. These are really great. Thank you again for just like continuing to expand my brain. How so, how do you? How do you then, I know we talked a little bit about mastery checks, right? How about self pacing and blended learning? How does that look in your driver's ed class.

Debbie Fry  23:03  
So I have a set module in our learning management system, so we use Canvas. So I have short videos that are loaded into Canvas. The students watch the videos. They have guided notes that they complete, and then they have the should do activities. So everything that is must do is going to be the videos, the guided notes they must do, those the aspire to do activities are just going to be activities that are going to reinforce whatever they've learned in those videos. And usually what I do is I'll have a choice board of those, and they can pick a variety of different activities that they are going to do. Some of them are digital. Some of them are hands on, but again, those are things that they need to do before they take the mastery check. And then when they're ready, and they feel that they're ready, then we'll have the mastery check. And I have a specific area where they will take the mastery checks and for driver education, again, I have all of that in Canvas, so I have a bank of questions that will it will just pull randomly from. So they're also never getting the same mastery check twice, so if they have to go back and retake one, it's not going to pull the same questions for them, and their neighbor is not going to get the same exact questions that they will get. Because I don't want my students, if we're learning about the traffic signs and they get the stop sign wrong, I don't want them to only focus on the stop sign and just learn that one sign. So that way, it'll pull a variety of different types of questions for them to be able to go back and redo that mastery check. And that also helps with the their classmates helping them, because if they know that, if they have to go back and take this mastery check, and they're going to one of their peers. Help they know that, oh, I can't just concentrate on this one thing. We really need to go back and look and see what you didn't understand and see what you need help with.

Toni Rose Deanon  25:10  
Okay, that is really amazing. And it just, it mirrors the test that they're gonna have to take at the DMV, right? Like, yeah, you get to take it over and over again if you want it, but it's never gonna be the same. So I really, again, I love this whole concept of modeling and practicing and alleviating stress, right? Of like, okay, you've done it. You've done this over and over and over again. It feels familiar. So then when you get to the quote, unquote, real thing, it wouldn't be as bad or nerve wracking, right? So, okay, that is, that is really that's really cool. Debbie, that's really cool. So you create videos, and I'm assuming you also have kind of like a checklist or a pacing tracker where students know how to or figure out who they can work with, right what kind what does your pacing tracker look like?

Debbie Fry  26:00  
So at the beginning of each module, I have an overall like kind of pacing guide that would be for the entire module. This is what we're working through on everything for this module. I have soft due dates of that. This is what it looks like for you to be on pace. I want you to get through Topic One and Two by this date. And then I have a hard deadline, because with the limited amount of time that we have in the classroom with that two week window, if I didn't have those hard deadlines, it could really kind of stretch out. Now, again, that's always flexible. If a student has missed for whatever reason, they've had the flu or whatever, those are things that obviously, that are flexible within Canvas, that they can go back and access that. But I try for everyone to have that hard deadline. I have a public tracker that we use, that I put up on our box light, so as they are working through the module, they will just go up and they will click off on the tracker as they complete the task. I have a line that will show them what it looks like to be on pace, and that line will move as we move through the different topics. So it's going to change every day. And then I also started highlighting my students that were on pace. So that way, if a student is behind pace, they know who to look to to help them get caught up. And the on pace line and the highlighting the names, that was a game changer in my class, because that motivated they don't like to not be on pace, and they don't like to be behind. So that has motivated them to stay on track and stay on top of things, even more than me motivating them. And that's eventually, that's what we all want. We want the students to be motivated and motivate themselves without us having to constantly go back and say, Hey, you haven't done this mastery Check you haven't done this. I want them to do it on their own, and that has really helped with that in my classroom.

Toni Rose Deanon  28:07  
And I think you know the clarity as well, right? Like, hey, you know what? There's a line that shows you exactly where you need to be, and then highlighting, and that's your way of celebrating the folks who are on pace, and also just saying to the class, like, Hey, if you need help, these these kids have it right. Like, go talk to them before you come and talk to me. So I feel like those are two really easy bite size, like, things that folks can implement right away, right to make things clearer. And I think sometimes, as educators too, we tend to think about like, oh my gosh, how am I going to motivate my students, right? And the way that I see it just kind of like what you said, right? When things are clear, when it makes sense, when we're not overwhelmed, or, you know, have this cognitive overload, then we are way more invested and interested and motivated to complete the thing, because there is a clear picture and a clear pathway of where we're going. And so it seems like you are creating a transparent and clear pathway for students so that they can feel successful and excited to master the different concepts that they're learning in your class. Right? So thank you for creating that space so you know you teach, you teach PE, you teach health, you teach Driver's Ed. Do you input this model in all three of your classes. How does that work?

Debbie Fry  29:22  
So I recently started implement, I do implement it in health. We don't cover as much health in PE 10, but I was talking to my API the other day, just about, you know how things were going. And right now in high school, pe nine and PE 10 are both graduation requirements. So you have to have both of those, their credit bearing. In Virginia, you have to have both of them to graduate. So PE nine is just health and PE, and then PE 10 is health drivers ed and PE. So there are things that we have to cover in health. In. PE 10, but a lot of it the students get in PE nine. And right now I only teach PE 10. I teach an advanced weight lifting class, and then I teach an Adapted PE class. But things have been going so well that when I was talking to my API, I said, Hey, you know, I think I might want to pick up a PE nine class next year, and with my students being a B, that they have music on the day, that they don't have me, so most of them are pretty consistent in that if they're in a B P e9 they're going to be in a B P E 10. And that could give me students for two years that I could cohort through the modern classroom process. So I told my API, I said, I would I if we can make the schedule work, that's something that I think could be very beneficial to our students. So I do implement it in the health that we do do in PE 10. I recently started it in PE we have an amazing instructional coach, Kim Collins, who is one of the instructional coaches that was responsible for bringing modern classroom project to Chesapeake, and she had been coming in every once in a while during my driver's education class, and you know, it was very helpful, and was just kind of a sounding board for us. And she had been coming into my class, and then I saw her in the hallway one day, and she said, Hey, do you have a second? I said, Absolutely. And she said, How would you like to partner for a coaching cycle and implement it in PE because when I originally started this, I said, Oh, I can 100% see how this is going to work in driver education, but I don't want it to be too much. I also did this without a planning period, so that was a little bit stressful. So I was like, well, let's just start with Driver's Ed, because I can totally see how that's going to work. It's not going to be a huge heavy lift for me. And let me see how it goes, and then I can see how it's going to work in PE but let me figure out some things first before we get there. So I saw Kim, and she said, hey, you know, you're doing an amazing job. I need to partner with someone on a coaching cycle. Would you be down to have me come in and we can work together and figure this out in PE and she came in, and we came up with a plan. And I have not been happier. It's been amazing. My students have been absolute rock stars. With the whole process, Kim has been so helpful. And, you know, just kind of pointing me in the right direction and just giving me the confidence to be like, you can do this. I've seen what you do in the classroom. You can totally do this in PE, and that's kind of where we started with that. I also have an amazing content supervisor, my PE supervisor, Dr Bolden. He's come in a few times and observed and just, you know, worked with my students, and he's given me some resources of like, hey, you know, we have this that I think could really work for modern classroom. For PE, why don't? Why don't you let me get you a license for this and you can try this in your classroom. So he found me a virtual platform that has all of these videos with different sports. It's called hive class, and I pull some of those videos and use some videos that I create. And that's kind of how we started it in PE, so where I'm full in using it in my PE 10 class, in the classroom and in PE, and I've even started kind of implementing some of the practices in my weight training class. I can't quite tell them that it's modern classroom project, because I think that they would make all kinds of noises and be resistant to anything that's different. But you know, kind of the self pacing and like the aspire to do activities and the working with their peers and the recognition of students and things like that. I've really tried to pull in some of those concepts into my weight training class as well.

Toni Rose Deanon  34:29  
Oh my gosh, that's Debbie. That's so exciting. That's so exciting. I heard a couple of things, right? I think you really highlighted this piece of starting small. I want to start out with my driver's ed class first to really, kind of get my feet wet, to make me feel a little bit better about how to implement this model, right? And and then also shout out to Kim Collins for being a thought partner for you, because when we work with someone, it makes it that much more fun, right, and that less stressful, because you have that person that you're. Bouncing ideas from so I'm really glad that she was able to, like, help you out with creating this space for PE as well, right? And so, you know, you said you're doing weight lifting and then adaptive, is that? Right? Yes, yeah. And you're thinking about, and you're putting, and you're using some of the model, or some of the parts of our model, and weight lifting, which, oh my gosh, I love, love, love, love, love, I think that's so cool. What parts are you I'm putting in the weight lifting class? Because I'm so curious, are you doing the videos? Are you doing self pacing? Like, what is, what does that look like?

Debbie Fry  35:35  
So we're doing a combination of the videos and the self pacing. And I have students kind of all over the spectrum as far as what their goals are. In that class, I have some students that just needed an elective to take, and they were like, Oh, well, this sounds interesting. I've had Miss fry before. I'm gonna sign up for this class. And then I have students that want to, at some point maybe become professional body builders. They are that serious about it. So I've really tried to my students that need more. This has been a good way to get them those things that they need. So we can figure it out together. We can look for, okay, I've kind of plateaued here. What do I need? Let me find some different exercises. And I kind of look at that as like an aspire to so here's my basic workout, but I've kind of mastered this, and I'm ready for a little more challenge. How can I do that? And those aspire to dos, and us, you know, sitting down and looking up and saying, Okay, well, let's figure out a different workout routine for you. Let's look up some videos and find these videos, and I can show them to you, and then you can implement that. And then on the other end of my students that are maybe struggling a little bit more, I can partner them up with some of these students that are excelling, and they can motivate them of like, Hey, you can do this. You know, let's sit down. Let's figure out what your goals are. I've been there before too. Everybody was a beginner at some point at this. So let's really motivate each other to do this. And again, my students have really, really bought into the whole system. From my PE 10 students to my advanced students, they've really bought into the motivating and really talking each other up, and it's really been neat to see that and just see so much good in what they're doing. 

Toni Rose Deanon  37:35  
Yeah, and I was thinking too, Debbie, there is really no need to even tell the students that we're doing modern classroom, right? It's like, Hey, we're just gonna do something different. Or even just like, yeah, here we go. Like, let's see how it goes. Right? Without warning. Sometimes that's okay. It really just depends on how you how well you know your students. Something that I was thinking about is that I actually got into weight lifting my senior year of college, and so to hear that high schoolers have access to it, that's really cool. And then for them to say, like, oh, I want to do bodybuilding. And so these are, again, the foundations that you're providing for your students to be better aware, right, of how to tweak movements, how to tweak, like, whatever lifestyle that they're chasing after, right, which I think is really great. Bodybuilding is hard. I tried it Debbie, and I lasted two months, and I was like, No, thank you. Never mind. I like to eat.

Debbie Fry  38:34  
That is the a lot of when my students plateau, a lot of it is nutrition. And they don't think that they're, you know, teenagers. They don't think about that, you know, they're thinking about that, you know, they had hot fries for breakfast. So they're not thinking about that nutrition part and that aspect of it. And, you know, again, being able to sit with them and look at that, and look at their goals, and, you know, for the first time, kind of have them really be reflective about, hey, if I want these gains, I'm probably going to have to change some things and make some different choices. And, you know, yes, everything in moderation, but if I want to gain muscle, I'm going to need to look at my protein intake and see what I'm eating, and maybe lay off some of the junk food and really try to show them how that can work. 

Toni Rose Deanon  39:30  
Yeah, it's really hard. It's really, really hard. Because I know for me, when I was training, I was like, eating every two, three hours, and I was teaching, I was like, There's no way. Like, I can't eat right now, this is ridiculous. And so that was like, I can't do it. And I also just, again, really like eating, and the what my trainer had me doing, I was like, I can't, I can't, I can't. It's just not. I was disciplined in going to the gym right and knowing about, like, proper movements and stretching and mobility and all of that. But it was a nutrition that's really difficult, and I think I. That's really fascinating that you're having conversations with teenagers about this. And I was like, in my, what, mid late 20s, when I was trying this out. So it's really, really cool that you have, you get to have these conversations, and get to have, you know, these spaces and opportunities for students to learn more about how their bodies show up based off of what they're doing. So, you know, prior to this, Debbie, you were talking about how you'd already centered and valued and prioritized student centered classrooms, right? And then modern classroom, this framework comes around, and you're like, holy cow, this is what I want. How has our model enhanced and added on to what like you already knew what you were already doing. I'm curious.

Debbie Fry  40:43  
So it's really giving me, it's given me the structure that I needed of being able to have a consistent model of what the students are going to be doing. So, you know, even the systems of just the classroom setup of and I got a pulled a lot of that from when we went on the learning walks through the different middle schools, of being able to see like how they have their classroom laid out and what their systems are for even, you know, just small things like turning papers in, or where Do you get notes from. So having the modern the training part of modern classroom really set me up for success in finding those systems that would work in the classroom. And again, the just the network of other educators is huge. Being able to bounce ideas off of other people. Or we have a Google chat that all of the modern classroom teachers are in, and we share different things, and, you know, somebody's lurking, looking for a tracker, a different type of tracker that works. Or, hey, you know, I had this amazing thing that I did, and this worked. So also, just having that network of like minded educators that you can pull from has been huge. And again, they don't, you know, we don't look at each other as, oh, you're just the PE teacher, or you teach math, or you teach this, we all come together. And good instruction is good instruction. And it doesn't matter what classroom you you're in or what you teach, good teaching and good practices or good practices. So having that network of being able to pull those best practices from has been huge.

Toni Rose Deanon  42:34  
Oh, my goodness. Good instruction is good instruction regardless of what you teach, what grade you teach that is, I feel like that should be the title of this podcast, honestly, and I'm hearing a lot of community aspect too, right? Of just being able to be in community like you said, have the same alignment you're aligning with how you want instruction to look and feel in the classroom and sound in the classroom, right? And I really, I really love that. And so, you know, you talked about the learning walks, and you mentioned the learning walks, I'm curious, how was that set up? Who set that up? How did you sign up to be a part of the learning walk? Can you walk me through that process? Because I know sometimes, I know this was something that I prioritized when I was a subject coordinator at one of my schools, is that I wanted the other English teachers to see each other teach, because then you can actually see it in action, as opposed to just hearing about it. And it makes a bigger impact, in my opinion, even if it's just for 15 minutes, right? So who logistically Right? Like, who came up with the plan for the learning walks? How often do y'all go on learning walks? What does that look like? 

Debbie Fry  43:49  
So our professional development team is the one that kind of organizes all of this, and our instructional coaches are real big in the implementation of, like, the scheduling and stuff. So Kim Collins is huge in that Dr Jataune Jones, who is one of the Professional Development Coordinators, she lays the groundwork for it. Of you know, being able to the things that you don't think about, like being able to secure subs for your classroom while you're participating in these learning walks, the transportation of getting us to the other schools, all of that stuff she has kind of handled that we also this year, we were able to go and see it at another high school. So we're in southeast Virginia, and we were able to go to Fairfax to see a high school up there because it I've taught at both levels, so I see that like I said, you know, good instruction is good instruction. It doesn't matter middle school or high school, but there are things that are specific to a middle school that and then specific to. High School. So that was also very helpful, being able to go see another high school that did it. They offer them throughout the year and it, they basically just send it out as a Google form of that. Are you interested in going on this learning walk? There's different schools that we can go to. You can also sign up to be a classroom that they visit. So I've signed up for the first round for people to come to high schools, because we're trying to get other high schools on board and implementing so I'm hoping that pretty soon, we're going to have that, you know, first high school learning walk and see what that looks like. But anytime anyone is interested, the first thing that I tell them to do is, I'm like, get with Kim Collins and sign up for one of these learning walks, because that is where you're going to see, see it in action, and see that it works. Because it can be a little bit abstract. As far as your you know it, you have to give up a little bit of control in this model, and teachers don't always like to do that. And being able to see that, yes, it can work, and see it firsthand, and talk to the students and talk to the teachers, and the teachers have been so welcoming to us. And, you know, opening their classrooms, and even the students have, you know, they don't always like when strangers come in their classroom, but they have been so welcoming at the Learning waltz that we've been on. So I've been on two different ones. I've signed up to go on another one, because again, the more that I can see it in action, the better that's going to make me and we've had a couple of the national visits. I just had one last week, and that was exciting. The first one that I had, CO we had a complete network outage, so had no internet. So I had all these people in my classroom, and we had to completely pivot to a paper pencil activity, and I had no the entire building had no internet. So that was a little bit stressful, but we got through it. And then this past week, I had my first one in PE and my students have been just amazing. Even some of the people that you know have pretty regularly come into my classroom, like like Kim Collins and my supervisor, Dr Bolton, it's almost like they've become part of the class. So now it's at first, it was a little stressful for the students, but now they've really been welcoming to the people coming in and interacting with them and talking about the whole process as well. 

Toni Rose Deanon  47:48  
Oh my gosh. You said a lot of great things. Debbie, one thing that made me chuckle was you said, you know, teachers have to relinquish a little bit of control. I feel like it's more like, a lot of control, because, you know, it's a lot more transparent, it's a lot more clear, and a lot more opportunities for feedback and reflection, right? So there's also this vulnerability, piece of like, no, your students are going to tell you what's working, what's not working, right? And they're really going to be a part of the planning and the learning, and they become active learners. And so you're going to have students who ask questions, you're going to have students who challenges your should do and aspire to do. And I think it's such an uncomfortable yet beautiful space to be in, right? So there's also, it seems like there's a lot of intentionality with planning and with supporting educators specifically to make sure that you all feel successful and supported, right? So kudos to your admin team, your school leaders, for prioritizing that so that you all feel comfortable and shifting and shifting into a different way of teaching and learning, right? Because we do need that support, a lot of support, actually. And then the whole concept of pivoting, right? As educators, we're so good at pivoting. It is so nerve wracking, and it is so impressive how often we have to pivot based off of our students needs, based off of our needs. So thank you for also just kind of pointing that out too, of like, you know what? Nothing is perfect. Things are going to mess up and we're going to pivot, and it's okay. So thank you for sharing all of that. Another thing that you shared with us too, and our listeners will have access to this in the show notes, is that you shared a team, roles, table, sign. Tell us more about that resource. 

Debbie Fry  49:39  
So I use this in both my classroom and in PE and it's been very helpful, kind of organizing the students. So I also with the blended learning and the videos and stuff, there's still like lab type of activities that we have to do. Um. And that's where the team roles will come in. So I've also kind of shifted how I feel about the labs, because I used to feel that I had to do A, B, C and D before I got to the lab, because we had to cover all of this before we got there. But with the self pacing, they might not all be there at the same time, so I've kind of had to shift of that. Well, this lab, in this hands on activity, doesn't have to be at the end. It's going to reinforce the learning or introduce the learning. Wherever they are, they're still going to learn no matter where I have this lab in our flow of the topic, and that's where having the students be on teams has helped, because I know that I can put my person that has it. They're going to be that team leader, so they're going to be the coach, and they're going to be able to identify what needs to be done, all of the things that they need to do, they're going to be my leader. And my students take their roles very, very seriously, and the roles are fluid. So you know, just because you're a coach on this one task or this one time, that doesn't mean that you're going to be the coach every time, and it might be, you might be a student that works ahead of PACE quite often, so that is just going to be a natural role that you fall into. But we started out with, I assigned the roles and the teams, and then each team created their own team name, and we did posters, and they assigned the roles how they felt the roles would be assigned. And one of the things that I do with my students is they get Jolly Ranchers when they turn their exit tickets in. So I didn't know how big of an impact the Jolly Rancher would have when they went to name their teams. I had two different teams that wanted to name their team, the Jolly Ranchers. So they did this whole sign with Jolly Ranchers and and everything. So that was a that was unexpected and a very pleasant surprise, that Jolly Ranchers would have that big of effect. But again, I started it in the classroom and in driver education, and saw that it worked, and saw that the kids really took their role seriously, that, you know, my equipment manager was going to be the person that they were going to make sure everything's organized, and everybody had all their equipment and everything that they needed. So when I decided to start implementing that in PE, I did the same thing. So we took these roles and we transitioned them to PE, and the way that I have it structured in PE, because I don't want everyone to have their Chromebooks during PE, because that just creates chaos, not that it isn't already chaos, because I always say that I work in controlled chaos every day, but I didn't want them having to go back and forth between Chromebooks and all of this different stuff. So I have one person, my equipment manager. They're in charge of the Chromebook. So for their team, they'll have one Chromebook. They can watch the videos together. They each have their own set of headphones that they keep in my classroom. I have a little envelope that they put them in. So they store their headphones because we are also a completely device free. School is fall as far as cell phones and air pods. We do not have any cell phones or air pods. So any of the headphone activities, they have to be wired headphones. So again, our admin purchased us headphones. My kids store those in envelopes. They've been very responsible with them. I think I've replaced maybe two pair. And it's not because they lost them, it's just because they use them a lot. And so the equipment manager would have the Chromebook, and PE I have splitters that they can plug in, and they can all plug in and listen. So like up to five people can listen to one thing from the Chromebook, and they can watch the videos right there. And that person is in charge of the Chromebook, and then the coach is going to be the person that gets everybody organized with whatever activity that we're doing. And again, these roles are very fluid, so they can change, depending upon where you are in the module and what we're doing and what you've mastered and what your teammates need. And my students, again, take the roles very, very seriously. They love the team concept, and it's also really helped with them just motivating each other. 

Toni Rose Deanon  54:50  
Oh, man, okay, yeah, the roles give students a purpose, right? And also a direction of how to show up in the class. And. Like you said, I love this concept of it's fluid. They could be one role. They could be another role, really, depending on where they are. So it changes. And I think again, because it's clear, because it's transparent, because it makes sense. Students are more than happy to continue to do the things that you're putting out in front of them, right? So thank you for sharing this. And of course, again, we'll share this in the show notes, so you can you can all see it. 

Debbie Fry  55:23  
And I want to just real quick give a shout, because I did not come up with the team roles on my own. I have a colleague, Dr Kim Morton, who presents all over the country at different PE conferences, and she is also very big on student centered learning and just creating the right environment for students to learn. She's very big on the classroom layout and setup and just creating a good space for kids to learn. She is actually the one that came up with these teen roles and has allowed me to share them. But again, you know, use all of your resources. They're such amazing educators out there, and they're always so willing to share for what's best for students and teachers. So she's also been somebody that I've partnered with that has been amazing to work with.

Toni Rose Deanon  56:14  
I mean, it seems like you're reaching out to connections and thought partners and community, right? To have, again, a thought partners, so you can think through all of the challenges and barriers and all the things that you could potentially create for your students. So I really love this, and I love that you're shouting out all the people who have impacted and supported you, so that you can feel successful and confident in implementing something new, right? So, oh my gosh, for you know, it's really interesting the universe I was, you know, in my head, I was kind of manifesting more PE teachers in my life. Because I feel like I don't talk to enough PE teachers, right? And so I feel like I've gotten to know a good amount of PE teachers now within the month, and I'm so grateful for it. And so for PE teachers, health teachers, driver's ed teachers, who are hesitant about implementing this model, what is one to two pieces of advice that you can give for them?

Debbie Fry  57:12  
I would say the first piece of advice is to start small, and you will see the benefits of it. So even just making a couple changes. So like previously, when I would talk about what does it look like to teach in a student led classroom, I said the first thing is, let's stop looking at students sitting in rows. Let's get them out of the rows. And in PE that's a big deal getting them out of rows. That's how you know, that's just how it is. And again, that controlled chaos. So even just, you know, being intentional about how you're setting up the classroom and getting students out of rows so they can collaborate together, and just creating that welcoming learning environment. So, you know, just starting out small, if it's just taking one or two things, and then you'll see the benefits, and you'll be able to grow from there. But I think the most important thing is trusting the process of that this works, you will see results. I have seen results. My students have just amazed me this year, and they have been so open to trying new things, and just the results that I have gotten, just from a few small changes, have really changed how my students are learning, how I'm teaching. And again, just trust that process. If you trust the process, you will get results. 

Toni Rose Deanon  58:41  
Yeah, it's gonna be chaotic. It's gonna be messy. It's not gonna work out the way you planned it, and just continue going anyway, right? So thank you for that reminder. Thank you for that permission also. So Debbie, how can our listeners connect with you? Because I'm sure I will be sending this out to any and every PE teacher, driver's ed teacher that I come across from now on. So how, yeah, how can our listeners connect with you? 

Debbie Fry  59:08  
So my email is Deborah dot fry at CP schools.com and it's Deborah is D, E, B, O, R, A, H, dot F, R, y@cpschools.com and please feel free to reach out with me. I have people from all over you know emailing me for resources from conference presentations, and I will share everything that I have. And please send all of those other PE teachers send them my way too, because I always love to find a community to bounce ideas off of, because PE teachers are amazing.

Toni Rose Deanon  59:45  
Yeah, I was gonna say, Debbie, Don't tempt me with a good time. Okay? Because now you're gonna get emails from me and say, like, hey, Debbie, here's another PE teacher. Here's another one. Have so much fun, and it seems like, again, you're you have a lot of knowledge, and we. Sources that you're just so eager and willing to share with others. So thank you again for that, for that invitation, right? So with that being said, thank you so much for sharing your experience and expertise with us. Debbie, I really appreciate your time. And thank you again for reaching out and advocating for yourself and saying like, Hey, I got this topic that you haven't covered. And so listeners, if there's something that we have not covered, because, you know, I have, I have gaps, right? Um, so definitely reach out to to us and let us know that you want to be a guest and talk about whatever it is that we have not covered. So again, Debbie, thank you for your time. I appreciate you.

Debbie Fry  1:00:37  
Thank you so much. This was amazing. 

Zach Diamond  1:00:44  
music. Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode, and remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org and you can learn the essentials of our model through our free course at learn.modernclassrooms.org course@learn.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