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.

Speaker 1  0:28  
Hello and welcome to the modern classrooms project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon they them pronouns, a designated hype person here at MCP, and I am joined by an elementary school teacher who loves Disney, Teri McNulty, welcome Teri.

Teri McNulty  0:44  
Thank you for inviting me. I'm really excited to be here. 

Toni Rose Deanon  0:47  
Yes, it is so exciting to be in this space with you today. And thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast before we get started. What is currently bringing you joy?

Teri McNulty  0:59  
That's a big question, I would say professionally, it's when I get to find new things to help students find their aha moments that always brings me joy. And I think personally, right now, funny enough, I would say Legos and puzzles.

Speaker 1  1:16  
Oh, that's dope. Legos and puzzles. Are you talking about like, those 500,000 piece puzzles? 

Teri McNulty  1:23  
Yeah, I have a, well, I have a 7500 puzzle piece piece puzzle going right now. But, yeah, I've gotten to some bigger ones right now. I've got it a little bit smaller so it's more contained.

Speaker 1  1:35  
Okay. And what has been like the the coolest Lego piece that you've put together.

Teri McNulty  1:42  
No shocker for anyone who knows me, but that would be my Disney Castle.

Speaker 1  1:46  
Oh, I love that so much. I really love how creative Lego has been with all the different things that you can create. I mean, there's even a way for you to get a custom Lego of like yourself. And I thought that that was so dope. But yeah, I really love this new hobby era that folks are finding themselves in with puzzles and and Legos. So that's really cool. Thank you for for sharing that. And also, because you are a Disney fan, what is your favorite Disney movie? I'm so curious. 

Teri McNulty  2:16  
 Oh, it's a tie. I have to admit, I am still a Cinderella person all the way through and through, but I'm kind of digging some Cruella, okay, and, yeah, not Disney, but then Rick, it's kind of right up there right now. 

Toni Rose Deanon  2:32  
So do you know all the wicked songs? 

Teri McNulty  2:35  
Yeah. Were you took the Sing along?

Speaker 1  2:43  
Okay, you went to sing? Yeah, I was gonna ask, were you one of those people who sang when you weren't supposed to be singing? And so I do love that there's an option to sing along. 

Teri McNulty  2:51  
Now, that was a lot of fun. That was probably the most fun I've ever had at a movie. There was about 14 people there, and we were just belting it as loud as we could. It was so much fun.

Speaker 1  3:02  
Oh, that's so great. That's so great. I've yet to go watch wicked only because the two hours and 40 minutes of all of that really just who that's a long time for my ADHD brain to sit and watch. So I told myself I was gonna wait until it comes out to where I could, like, stream it at home, and I can pause it whenever I need to put some captions on, so I can sing along. But that's that's really exciting. So again, just thank you for sharing with us. And I know with you know, everything that's happening in the world right now, I really just want to focus on not just I want to focus on some joys, just to keep us going, and, yeah, just to make things, I don't know, a little less stressful, if that's even possible. So thank you for entertaining my questions. And so let's shift now to our conversation. Tell us more about who you are and how you started your MCP journey. 

Teri McNulty  3:54  
Well, I teach at Fabien pre K school in Portland, Oregon. This is my 11th year teaching. I've taught third, fourth and fifth grades. I love learning new things, new ways to teach kids, new ways to get excitement going in the classroom. And a couple years ago, our district offered the virtual mentorship program over the summer through the district, and I decided I started doing some research, and I was looking into it, and it sounded like an opportunity for me to work with my students more, and so I gave it a shot, and the rest is pretty much writing itself. This is my second year implementing the MCP model. 

Toni Rose Deanon  4:40  
Oh, I love that so much. And you have such great experience with elementary school. And I'm curious, and I know that I'm kind of going off script, because I tend to do that, but I'm curious to hear, you know, in elementary school, I've never really taught in elementary school for a long time, and so I know that there's a lot of time for small groups. And. In and stuff like that. And so hearing an elementary school teacher say, like, oh, I had more opportunities to work with students. Can you share with us a little bit of a difference between what you were doing prior to MCP and then how that changed with MCP?

Teri McNulty  5:15  
So the curriculum that the district offers, we follow the curriculum as closely as we can with having to do differentiation. And when you give kids opportunities to talk, a lot of kids don't want to talk in front of other classmates because they're afraid they're going to say something wrong, or they need more time to think about it. And so when you're doing whole group lessons, which is what most curriculum is, it doesn't allow for students to have that individual time. And since I've implemented the model, I am able to have students working with other students who usually wouldn't work with other students before. I'm having students working with me so small group instruction at whatever differentiation level they're needing. I'm able to make those changes and be able to help more I feel help more students than I was before, because before, I'm standing in front lecturing and creating, trying to create this environment, whereas now I can create this environment in 15 different ways in the same classroom. 

Toni Rose Deanon  6:18  
Yes, I love to hear that. And and just the fact that your collaboration definitely has increased between students who would never normally collaborate, right, or never had the opportunity to collaborate or create, or had what's the guidelines to be able to collaborate with each other, right? And so being able to create this space has really been impactful for a lot of teachers, so it's really good to hear that coming from you as well. And so you know, some of our, some of my colleagues here at MCP came to observe you when you were implementing the model, I think, recently, and you were aligning it with, I ready. So, Teri, how do you do that? Tell us more about that thought process and alignment. Because, okay, I've I taught middle school English. I never used i Ready, and I know they have I ready for English. I believe I've never, I've never used it. I don't know much about it. So tell me make it make sense in my head, please.

Teri McNulty  7:13  
When I first started the mentorship program, I was trying to figure out what I could use in the classroom. I we've gotten a whole bunch of new curriculums, and we had previously used the i Ready math curriculum, so I have taught the curriculum before as a whole group and working with kids in that aspect of it, and I thought that would be a really good opportunity for me to see if it could work. So I started looking at the different opportunities that I already had online. They had a bunch of fluency work and other pages that kids could work on, that as a whole group, a whole group instruction I could never get to. And so I started looking into how we have the must do's, should dues, aspire to dues. And realized that the i Ready curriculum fit really well with all of those extra pieces and any of the spots where there might have been an extra piece needed, I was able to use other materials and fill that and so it just it flowed really smoothly with the way the model is set up. 

Toni Rose Deanon  8:23  
So I do I am curious, though, because I'm just assuming I already has videos created already. 

Teri McNulty  8:28  
Yeah, I don't use any videos through i ready. Okay, so I create my own videos based off of teaching curriculum. 

Toni Rose Deanon  8:37  
Got it. Got it. Okay, so you do have the opportunity to skip over those videos and just provide and provide the ones that you create for students, and the practice is still an iReady, is that? Is that? Am I? Am I getting that right?

Teri McNulty  8:49  
Well, the so the curriculum has workbook pages, and then there's also, like, fluency and practice, and they're all work. They're all workbook pages. Some of them are in an actual workbook, and some of them I print out and create a place for students to find them. And then, if they're waiting for me, the video part of I ready is called my path. And so the students can go on while they wait for me, they go on to my path. And so they're still working on what the curriculum says is a good idea. There's a certain amount of minutes that students should be working on it, and it's differentiated instruction for each student based off of diagnostic tests that they take at the beginning and the middle of the year. 

Toni Rose Deanon  9:31  
Okay, okay, okay, so now I'm thinking about data, right? How are you utilizing the i Ready data to help you figure out what lessons you're going to focus on or what lessons you want to highlight. How does that work for you?

Teri McNulty  9:46  
I usually create a small mini lesson at the beginning of every class that allows that aligns with where we should be on pace, and so the students are getting that particular lesson, and it's usually. Either about 10 minutes. It depends on if it's a new subject or not. If it's a new subject, it might take a little longer. Otherwise, it's kind of a review subject, and it's usually very interactive. So the kids fill out their little sheet in the morning that says how they're feeling and gives me kind of a little information about where are they on pace? So they're a little info sheet. And then I do my mini lesson, and then the students start working. So we have that mini lesson. First thing, 

Toni Rose Deanon  10:32  
oh, no, this is no, this is great too, because I know sometimes our listeners think about or question about question, the mini lesson part, right? The whole group part. And so I really like that you provide a space for the whole class to get a mini lesson, right? And like you said, it's very mini it's not 20, 3040, minutes long, right? It's mini lesson just to kind of align with what what lessons students are supposed to be on. So it's just really kind of, you know, you allowed the space, or you invite students to fill out the do now, to just kind of check in with themselves, and then this mini lesson of like, okay, let's get grounded together for the next 5 10, minutes and see where we're going, what we need to do and how we're going to get there, right? So I, I really appreciate that it's kind of a permission to to our listeners and to folks who are implementing that. Hey, if you still want to, you know, incorporate or implement so many lessons, you are still able to do that. So thank you for sharing that piece with me, because again, I've never worked with I ready before. I've heard great things about it. And so when teachers ask me, Hey, how do I do iReady? And MCP and I heard that you were able to do that, I was just like, oh my gosh, yes. Finally, I can go to someone who's a quote expert on this more so than I am, because, again, I've never done this before, and so you know, our next question is really like, how do you balance on screen and off screen activities in your classes? I heard you say that your do now is on paper. So students are filling that out and writing it out, and then I'm assuming that the iReady, like you said, it's workbook pages, but yeah, tell us a little bit more about the balance between on screen and off screen. 

Teri McNulty  12:10  
So a lot of my stuff is, most of my stuff currently is off screen. So students are getting a chance to do that collaborating piece and really being able to have conversations with each other. The only parts that are really online are the initial lesson. So I have my mini lesson in front of the kids, usually whiteboard and marker, and we're working on a problem together. And then when they go and listen to the let they'll listen to a video about the lesson that they're currently on. So whether they're on pace, ahead of pace, behind pace, they are still listening to whatever lesson they're doing. And then the only other part of it that's truly online is where they find the information on what they're doing. And then, if they're waiting on me, they do the I ready my path. Otherwise, most of it is offline. 

Toni Rose Deanon  13:02  
Oh, that's so exciting to hear. I love that, you know. And something that I was doing, too, when I was asking this question, when I was writing this question out, is that when I was back in the classroom, I definitely struggled with like, the on screen versus off screen, because I felt like it was a lot of on screen for me, like the videos were there, the practice was on there. I really didn't want to print out any papers, because I was like, papers were killing trees. I don't want to kill trees. And so there was a lot of on screen for me when I was in the classroom. And so I'm just trying to have a better understanding of how folks are balancing this, just so that students are not necessarily on the screen all the time. And I think there's also this assumption that if you have a self paced classroom, right, blended learning, that students are on the computers majority of the time. And so I love this collaboration piece. So let's, let's skip to that question, actually, is that what? Yeah, yeah. What? What does collaboration look like for your students, and then for you as a teacher, do you collaborate with anyone? Do you have anyone as a thought partner? What kind of community or professional learning spaces are you in so that you continue collaborating with other adults? Because I'm just curious to see what kind of opportunities you're creating for students and for yourself in

Teri McNulty  14:18  
my classroom, the students and it was something we had to get used to. Was the collaborating piece. It took kids a little while to understand that it was okay to talk about math. We did start talking about recess and what we're doing after school. So the you know, unit zero, we had to kind of ground it of what we were supposed to talk about. But kids really enjoyed working in small groups, and I get more discourse through my students working together and coming back and talking to me than I did teaching whole group. And I also am getting more kids being willing to give answers when we're in that whole. Group setting, because they've had that opportunity to collaborate, and it feels a little bit smoother. And so collaboration in my classroom kind of looks like a different thing every day. It depends on who's working together. It depends on who's working with me. I have kids pulling sticks that need help. I've got kids asking questions. I have small groups back in my space. I have one on one students back in my space, as far as for collaboration for myself, last year was my first year implementing and I was teaching fourth grade at that time. This year I'm teaching fifth grade, so I had to kind of redo my math during the summer, but last year I was the only teacher in my building practicing this model. And so it was really hard at the very beginning. And then I found in our district, we have a little cohort group now, and so I started, I found them, and started collaborating with them, so we have monthly meetings. So that's been nice. And then now that I've moved up to fifth grade. My teacher, bestie, is trying this out for the first time this year, and I am talking my other coworker into trying it out. She's dabbling her feet a little bit just to see what she thinks before she looks into taking the class. So now it's kind of fun, because now my teaching partner is also doing this, even though it's her first year, so we're able to collaborate a little bit better. 

Toni Rose Deanon  16:25  
Oh, I love that for you so much. I love the concept of having a thought partner and a teacher, bestie, and going through this together, as opposed to just going through it alone. And so I really, again, I just want to name the fact that you had mentioned, you know, we really had to teach our students that it's okay to talk about math, and then you also said, Yeah, you know, there were some times where they talked about recess, and then we had to shift right? And it wasn't more of a you weren't disappointed by it. It was just that no kids were kids talked about recess, and that's okay, because as adults, right? When we tell teachers, okay, you have 20 minutes to go do this. They will talk about everything but the thing they're supposed to be talking about, and, and there's a lot of reminders as well, right? And be like, Okay, this is a really good conversation. Let's pin it, and then let's go back to the the topic of the conversation that we're supposed to have, right? So I really love this, this thing that you said of, you know, what? We really had to push our students, to get them to understand it's okay to talk about math. It really is okay to talk about math. And there's sometimes where they get kind of distracted, because everyone does. I mean, it is what the distraction era now, because of all the things that we have, right? And so there's not a lot of again, like malice or upset or disappointment, right? Just kind of an acceptance like that happens. Here's a reminder for you to kind of shift back. Another thing that I wanted to point out too is that you said there's more discourse about the subject and the topic that they're having conversations about. And I really want to highlight that, because I've always told students, if you can talk about it, you can be about it, right? Because then you know what you're talking about. And if you can show that and make other peers or your peers understand, then hey, you've mastered it. You know exactly what you're talking about, right? And so it's really great to hear that there's more discourse happening, especially in a subject like math, right? Where it is very daunting to talk about math. Sometimes being able to build up that confidence, to be able to talk about it, is really powerful, because it just shifts the mindset when it comes to math, right? And you also said there's more practice. So when it comes to whole group, when people are when our when my students, come back into whole group, they feel more confident in saying the thing that they tried as a small group. Because, again, that's practice, right? And I love this, because someone who's neurodivergent like myself, I need process time, right? I need to go sit by myself and process it. I need to go sit with others and process it, and then I can be in a whole group space so that I can feel successful and feel like I can actually add on to the conversation. So I love that you're creating this space for your students, especially when it comes to math. And so, you know, you also mentioned that you implemented in fourth grade, and then the following year, you turn, you know, you shifted to fifth grade. How did you keep your sanity? I'm curious.

Teri McNulty  19:22  
I'm not sure if I did, to be honest, I found out the beginning of summer, when I was teaching summer school, that that was going to be a thing for fifth grade. And I said, Okay, first thing I thought was, oh, I gotta record all those videos again. That's the first thing I thought. And then I found out we were getting a new version of the curriculum. So it was about two weeks, week and a half, two weeks before school started, that we got access to the new curriculum. So it was a lot of weekends and late nights getting it set up because of the way I set it up. So. That's, that's on me. But I, yeah, it was, it was a, definitely a shift. It took a lot of Deep breath, deep breathing.

Speaker 1  20:10  
Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure it's a lot of acceptance too, of like, okay, this is different. This is something that I have to do. I could either be upset about it, or I could do something that'll lessen my load, right? And you, you also said that you have your your co teacher, right? Do start implementing the model, or at least start looking into it. And I'm assuming this is your second year implementing it. You have another teacher that you're kind of, you know, planning and talking through with. It has that helped a lot with your planning as well.

Teri McNulty  20:41  
It has talking with other people and realizing, you know what's coming up and when things need to be done, and if people are finding struggles, and especially the teacher, who, this is her first year, doing the implementation, she's coming up with struggles. And then it's making me think of, oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that. And so adding that, it's a new grade level, and these kids might be missing some things, and so trying to figure out, you know, what pieces of puzzles we need to plug in, it was really helpful to be able to have her to talk to about it.

Speaker 1  21:13  
So do you two plan together? Do you have a planning period together? How does planning look for you? I know you had asked about this. Do you want me to talk about daily? Do you want me to talk about the unit? Yeah. How does planning look to look like to you, and also like having that thought partner with you as well. How does that work? 

Teri McNulty  21:30  
Well, when I am planning, if we're talking planning the unit, planning, how, before we even implement it to the kids, I plan the whole unit at a time already is broken up, and they have lessons, and each lesson is broken up into three to five sessions. And so I have, I set up the whole thing at first, and usually my teaching partner and I actually the one who's their first year, we took turns putting stuff together. So we had a generic one that we started, that we used. Actually, we used my one from fourth grade. So we had the template, and then we went through and put everything together and laid it all out. And so she'd work on these lessons, and I'd work on these lessons. So we kind of work from the top and bottom and put it together. And then the in the videos, we have slide shows that we do. And so we each took sections on that as well, and then so I started at the beginning, and she started at the end. When we did the slide shows for the videos, we switched it, so then that way, we kind of knew what lessons were, so we were all together. So that kind of saved a little bit of time, and was really nice, because she has great ideas. She has been teaching way longer than I have. And so she's got some really good insights on things that have worked for her for years. And so we tried to come up with ways in the videos to implement things like that. And so it was really great to be able to have that collaboration to work on those pieces. So planning overall takes about a month. It was a lot because we do a little bit more, I put them in a Google slide, and so it gives that opportunity. On a daily we check in with each other and see how things are going. Ask if they noticed anything. In a lesson, we both take turns talking about what our kids at the end of the lesson they do the end part of their check in page. And so it gives them an opportunity to say, if they want to check in with the teacher, what they want to check in about, they have that opportunity to write that down. And so we kind of go through and we're like, oh, yeah, I have a whole bunch of kids who did this. And so then we talk about what we could do in a small group, or if it's a whole group. We talk about how we can, you know, do another little mini lesson the next day. And so the daily is a lot less. It's kind of a quick little go through the check ins notice if I've got kids who are behind, and then kind of figure out who I'm going to be pulling. If I'm like, oh, this person hasn't been here for a week. They're here today, I'm going to check in with them, and so just kind of like pulling those kids. So the daily is much easier. The daily planning seems to just go pretty nice because we have the whole unit already planned and set so there's no extra recordings or anything. There's no extra copies, because we also pre copy everything. So when we get ready for the unit, we have boxes where everything is color coded, and so they we just go and make all the copies for everything and lay it in the box, and then it just kind of, it's, it's the initial planning that takes the most time.

Speaker 1  24:33  
I feel like this is a match made in heaven, right? I feel like you both are kind of matching your energies of just like, oh, this is how I function. This is how I function. Let's learn from each other. Let's be receptive of all the lessons that we are learning throughout the implementation, right? So I really, oh my gosh, that's so great. I am smiling so hard right now because I feel like in an ideal world, that is exactly what I would want, right? A thought partner that really. Just is open, receptive, all you know, open to learning, open to teaching. And so I really love hearing this. And I guess, you know, Teri, you said that it takes about a month to plan a unit, right? Who that's, that's, that's daunting. Like me hearing it, I'm like, oh, cringe. And I do want to say, or at least I want to ask, would you say that that's about the same amount of planning that you would do if you weren't implementing this model? 

Teri McNulty  25:26  
I feel like it would probably be more, because I'd be doing each lesson, and every day, I'd be reading the lesson ahead, and I feel like it's only when I'm talking about the month. It's not like every day, it's hour or two. Couple days a week, I record one or two videos. Sometimes I'll get into it, and on the weekend, I'll just throw up my computer and record a couple more. And the most part that takes, that takes the most time, is creating the Google slide deck for that the kids get and then the slide deck that we teach from, I feel like that's I put more energy into it. And so I feel like I'm getting more out of those lessons and videos that I'm creating than I would if I just flipped through the teacher guide. And so I feel like I actually implement it better, and I feel like I am teaching it more effectively, because I feel like I'm more bought in. 

Toni Rose Deanon  26:23  
Oh, I love that you're more bought in. So that means that you're you're more passionate about it, which then means your students are more passionate about learning, because they see the effort that you've put in, right? So, ooh, that's really cool. Teri, I love that. I love that so much. Thank you for sharing that, and thank you for kind of walking, you know, with us, walking through the planning that you do with your co teacher, and how long it could potentially take as well. And I know something that I really enjoyed about this model too, is that there's no surprises for anybody, right? I know when I was in the classroom, I and I've been teaching for, you know, many years, I'd be like, Oh, today I'll just teach about this and not really have a lesson plan. And then I would get frustrated because it didn't go well, like, what? That was my fault. And so now there's a lot more intentionality with this model, right? There's a lot more planning. You really can't not plan like you have to plan and like you said, you have the things printed out already, so you know where you want your students to be, and the students also know where they need to be. As far as the learning journey is concerned, for that unit, right? Transparency is key, and I love the transparency that comes with this model.

Zach Diamond  27:44  
Hey, there, listeners. This is Zach just jumping in with some announcements for you for March 2, 2025 you can join educators, Carol Madruga, Rob Barnett, an Leah Frederick for a live webinar where they'll share their expertise in transforming your math classroom into a dynamic, personalized learning environment. On Tuesday, March 4, at 7pm speaking of Rob Barnett, we're reading his book meet every learner's needs together as a community, and our second book club session is on redesigning courses, and it's sponsored by ScreenPal. On Wednesday, March 5, at 7pm Eastern, register and join us in sharing ideas, questions and resources. Finally, you can join parent and MCP co founder and chief product officer. You guessed it, Rob Barnett, parent and MCP chief growth officer, Aubrey White and parent and modern classroom expert mentor Laura Domingo to learn what you can do to support student centered teaching and learning in your own community. On Thursday, March 6, at 1pm Eastern, there will be registration linked in the show notes, of course, but for now, let's get on back into it with Toni Rose and Teri.

Speaker 1  28:59  
So Teri, you've shared with us a pacing tracker, and I really love that. And listeners, we're going to put that in the show notes. You'll have it talk us through this pacing tracker, because it's beautiful. It has all the things and how, how do your students feel about this, especially your elementary school students? 

Teri McNulty  29:19  
Oh, that was a lot of work. It's, I know I wanted to use a game board because students are more bought into the game games and game boards, and it just makes things a little bit more fun. It doesn't seem like it's so much work. So I wanted to create a game board, and of course, I had to throw a little Disney in there, because I don't have a choice. It's just me. It makes things i Yeah, it's just who I am. 

Toni Rose Deanon  29:44  
Yeah, no, Teri, I was gonna say I love this, like, your personality shines through with everything you're doing. I mean, you know, listeners, you can't see this, but Teri's background, literally, there's like Minnie Mouse ears in the background. There's Dumbo the elephant, right? Like, it's so it's a whole vibe, and that the mix. Mouse like glove like, your personality is shining through. And this is what I tell listeners, or Yeah, listeners and teachers that I work with all the time is like, no, continue to show up as yourself in the things that you create, because this is also like something that brings you joy. So why not create that space with your students? So yeah, never like that. That that's great. Keep it up. I love the Disney theme. This is awesome.

Teri McNulty  30:23  
So what I did with the ideas so the kids get the kids make a copy of this, and so they it is a Google Doc. And so it does take a little bit more effort on my part, but I first copy for the kids, and then the kids share it back with me. And then if anything gets messed up, or I need to switch something. I just go into a name and switch it up. Makes it really quick and easy, because then whatever I see, they see, we can get it fixed. I set the very beginning. The very first page is the game board, and it has all of the lessons for the unit. So every every lesson has sessions, and so it's broken up. In between the lessons, there are check ins with me, and so when you click on each of the titles, so the first one says lesson one, session one, when you click on that, it automatically takes you to the page that you need to be on. And so you the kids don't lose their place. They don't have to find where they're supposed to be. They just know, using that little icon is that little game piece, they get to physically move that game piece to the boxes after they've taken their exit tickets, which is what I call the mini mastery checks. And then at the very end of the lesson, they have a lesson mastery check. And so when they go to each of the slides, it's they click on the link. It takes them directly to the side they need to be on, and it tells them exactly what they're supposed to do for their must do, should do's and aspire to do's. And of course, they're Mickey Mouse colored, and everything going to MCP is the Mickey Mouse colored. So everything is color coordinated. If they're must use, there's a link to the video. It's the first thing they get to watch. And I did leave a few videos in there. I even left some of the videos with mistakes, just because it's one thing I've learned is the mistakes are okay. And my kids actually get a kick out of it. And so sometimes I will purposely make mistakes, and sometimes they're accidental mistakes. And so if they're fine, then we add some marbles in our marble jar. And so that's been kind of fun, because then they're a little bit more engaged with the video as well. And then each one of the sections has pictures. If they're their workbook pages, it has pictures. The page numbers, the problem numbers, I want them to do, and it walks them through each of the steps. Anything that is not in their workbook is in a box that has a lesson number on it, and it's usually right in the front, so it's easy to get to. And each of the folders match the color of the print on the slide shows. So if it's a must do, it's in a black folder. If it's the aspire to do, it's in a yellow folder. If it's the should do, it's in a red folder. And so everything is color coded, including the boxes that they turn stuff into, and it's just for the purpose of ease for the kids. So again, transparency, there is no question about where something is supposed to go or where to find something. And then at the bottom of each slide, there's another link that says back to game board, and it clicks them directly back to that very first link in the Google Doc. And then the kids move their game piece. If they've gotten the okay from them to move on, they move their game piece. And then it starts all over. They click the link, it takes them to the second slide, so everything is very linked in there, so the kids don't have to have a lot of question about where to find something.

Speaker 1  33:48  
Yeah. And listeners, when you get a chance to look at this, you know, it's very clear, like, when the important dates are, there is a must do, should do and aspire to do for every lesson, which is impressive. And also, I feel like you said you're utilizing, I ready. So it's not like you're creating a whole new thing for each one. It is I ready. It's already there for you, so that students can continue learning and expanding their brains, right? So they're not just sitting there twiddling their thumbs, which sometimes they do as well. And so you're really gonna, you know, listeners like, again, take a look at this. It'll be in the show notes. You really, really love it. And my Okay, so follow up question, Teri, how often do students choose to do the should do and the aspire to do,

Teri McNulty  34:32  
that has been something that this year I've noticed a little bit more. Last year, most of my kids could get through the should do the aspire to do is we're a little bit harder to get to this year. It's been a little bit more of a challenge because I feel like the curriculum is a little bit more challenging for students, and so they're having a harder time catching on to some of the subjects, but we will that's where I take that on my. Self, and we bump a date here there to make sure that they get that opportunity. I also give them the opportunity if they want to take it home and try it, that they can take it home, and then I have the answer keys available for them to check their work. The idea is that they're checking and if they get it wrong, that's how we start that discourse and conversation. So that way I'm not having to correct everything they do. They correct most of the work, and I've had very little issues with them, just jotting down the answers. They actually are doing the work, and then they come check their work, they put it back, they go fix it, they come back and check it again. So then that way they're really, actually trying. I've got a lot of kids who are kind of excited about that, and so it kind of, again, brings more of that discourse. And then if they don't understand how to do a problem, and they don't have somebody in the class wasn't able to help them, they can grab one of those clips and wait for me, and then we can talk about it. And so it actually has been, it's been really good. 

Toni Rose Deanon  36:01  
I mean, I have to ask Teri that that's a lot of trust, right? That's a lot of trust with the answer keys and then creating, again, a community of learning and not cheating. How did you do that?

Teri McNulty  36:16  
Well, we talked about that, if you just write the answers down, you're not going to be able to do the exit tickets because the answer to the exit to exit tickets are not available. And if you can't do the exit ticket, then you have to sit down and explain to me why you did all of these beautiful pages, but you couldn't get the answer to the exit tickets. So then it turns more of that, that understanding of, oh, she's going to check up on me, and I have to be able to answer a question. And so it, it kind of gives them more of that information, and they kind of hold each other accountable every once in a while. Or here's somebody like, you shouldn't be writing that down. And then somebody is like, I'm not. It's kind of funny, but, and then so they're, you know, everybody kind of checks themselves too, but we turn it into the only way to learn is to explore, and that it's okay to make mistakes, and now is the time for them to make those mistakes, when they have somebody who's going to be able to help them fix those mistakes, and there's not as much issue if you make a mistake, whereas when you're an adult, if you make a mistake with your bank account, they don't really want to redo it. You kind of have to figure out that part. So we're trying to avoid that.

Speaker 1  37:30  
Yeah. I mean, these are life skills, honestly, right? Let's continue to explore and make mistakes, then we can learn. And like you said, it's a lot of accountability, right? And accountability is not bad. Y'all like, accountability is actually really good. The self awareness is important, and then just the awareness of others as well, right? Of of our peers really checking in and calling us in and being like, Are you sure you're supposed to be doing that? You know? And that just creates better, quote, unquote. Quote, unquote. Better citizens, right? Like better, just human beings in general. And so I thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate that. And so you know you talked about mistakes, and it seems like this is an environment where students are welcomed and allowed and like invited to make all the mistakes. And you said earlier too, that you know in your videos, sometimes you make mistakes accidentally, and sometimes you do it on purpose. And you mentioned marbles and the marble jar. Tell us more about that. 

Teri McNulty  38:29  
What is that we earn opportunities. I want kids like, when I do a good job the bed of the month, I get a paycheck as a teacher, as when you as an adult, when you're doing your job, you get, you know, you get paid at the end of a week, or, you know, it's something that that's kind of our reward. So I try to do whole class rewards, because I really, I do the individual students. I've done that before, but we kind of just, we try to work together. Because the whole purpose of this is to work together. We're supposed to be a team. We're supposed to be helping each other, and so if we work together, we can earn little parties. Sometimes it might be a movie, sometimes it might be a lunch, sometimes it might just be they're good with 15 minutes of time on a computer, like school, appropriate, of course, but they, you know, we earn little rewards, and they get to choose what they want. So you know, when they find my mistakes, and like I said, sometimes it was not meant to be a mistake, but they'll find it, and we talk about it as a class. So then that way, if it was a mistake that needs to be fixed, I can also record, re record the video, but for and that makes me not feel so bad about making a mistake when I record the video, because that was my biggest nervousness when I started doing this. But then they just, we get a marble in the jar, and get to earn, like 150 of them to get something, and that can take a while, so, and sometimes not so. Yeah, it's just kind of makes it fun that if there's a mistake, it's not a. Aha. Nobody is laughing. They're just excited because they found something, and they get to earn something for it. So it also keeps them, like I said, it keeps them more engaged in the videos, because they're listening to see or watching to see if they can see something. And so it kind of gets a gives more of that buy in at the same time.

Yeah. And again, life skills, right? Actively listening, right? Critical thinking skills. You can't just listen and take it and say, like, Oh, that was a mistake. But maybe I'm not gonna, you know, call it out or anything. It's like, No, we're gonna, we're gonna actually celebrate the fact that you saw this mistake and you were able to recognize that it was a mistake. That itself is a skill, right that itself is like a sign that students are understanding when they can pinpoint those mistakes. It's really like the error analysis that I used to do in my classes as well. I love those conversations because students really had to think deeper into why something was wrong, why was this not right? Just because your teacher is saying this is right doesn't necessarily mean it is right, so let's, let's think critically together. And also, Teri, I, I have to say, I really love how you just talked about how you did individual awards first and then realized that you needed to shift it to whole class, because you are building a community. This is a community. This is we want to collaborate. We want to learn from each other. We want to learn with each other. And so it's a community piece. And I know sometimes for me, I long for that community, right? Like I want to be in a community where in a space where I feel brave and save to make mistakes, to be called out for the mistakes that I have as well, and I know that sometimes, you know, being in the US, because, again, I grew up in the Philippines, right? So being in the US, right? There's a lot of like, individual mindset, right? Of like, Oh, I gotta do this. I gotta take care of this. I'm gonna look out for me. And so for you to teach our fifth graders, like, Hey, this is a community. We're looking out for each other. I love that, and I want more of that. And that really just soothes my heart so much. And so again, like, just, thank you for creating this space. It seems like it's so much fun being in your space. And I'm so glad that you know Michael was able to just say, like, Hey, check it out with Teri. Like, have a conversation with Teri, because Harry is doing some really great stuff. So again, I just, I want to celebrate that. I want to recognize that. I want to acknowledge that. And so thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And for any teacher out there trying to figure out how to utilize I ready with MCP or even just collaboration, you know, shifting from fourth grade to fifth grade with two weeks notice, or rather, this summer's notice, right? What are one to two pieces of advice? Do you have for them?iI think the biggest thing, when, for me, the most important thing, is to give myself grace. I have to know that it's okay. It's not going to work out exactly like I wanted it to the first time. I have to be willing to try something, and then realize that I need to adapt it, to fix it, to change it, and be okay with that, and just kind of take a deep breath and know that it's going to feel like a lot, but then it really starts, and that's for any curriculum that you use the model with it really will start just falling in place. You just kind of, you have to know that it's going to look like a really big project at the beginning, and then it just starts working its way out.

Speaker 1  43:31  
It's good character building, right? Teri, it really pushes you. I mean, it like you can't not reflect, like you have to reflect. You have to reflect on your past practices, what you're doing now, how it's like, you can't run away from it. And so this helps with emotional intelligence. Honestly, it helps reflection. It helps with like, facing your fear. I mean, there's so many things. So again, give yourself lots and lots and lots of grace, and then it and that also reminds you to give your students lots of grace the stakeholders also lots of grace, because, again, people are just really trying to do their best out here, and life is life thing. So thank you again for that. What do you hope to see in the future, and what goals do you have? Teri,

Teri McNulty  44:16  
oh, in the future, I would love to see more of my coworkers using this model, I think that there are a lot of my coworkers that would really enjoy this, and I think it would give them more opportunities to really collaborate with their students and really get to know them, and have that chance to get them growing more than just Depending on the teacher to give the information. And I think for me, I want to try this with some other curriculum that we have. I want to add this to my classroom. I want to bring another subject in. I really enjoy being able to work with my students this way, and I really want more. And. I'm trying to figure out which one I'm going to tackle next.

Speaker 1  45:04  
Oh, I'm so excited to hear the updates. You have to keep me posted with that. Teri, that's really exciting. How can our listeners connect with you? If that's possible,

Teri McNulty  45:15  
I think for now, the best way is, I am on the MCP Facebook page. I've been kind of taking a break from some of the social media for a little while. Little too much going on, so taking a break, so I think that's the best way for now, is through the Facebook page. 

Thank you, and we'll put the link in the show notes as well listeners, so you can just click on it and join as well, if you're not part of that already. And so with that being said, thank you so much for sharing your experience and expertise with us. Teri, that is just this is so joyful, fruitful for me. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And listeners, remember, you can always email us at podcast at modern classrooms.org, and you can and you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast at modern classrooms.org. We'll have this episodes, video uploaded on modern classrooms, YouTube channel and transcript uploaded by Friday. So be sure to check back to access those also, we are asking our listeners to to leave a review of this podcast has been helpful in supporting you to create a human centered learning environment through a blended, self paced and mastery based model. It does help other folks find it. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday. Thanks Teri, thank you.

Zach Diamond  46:32  
Thank you so much for listening. You can find links to topics and tools we discussed in our show notes for this episode, and remember, you can learn more about our work at www.modernclassrooms.org and you can learn the essentials of our model through our free course at learn.modernclassrooms.org you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. At modern class proj that's P, R, O, J, we are so appreciative of all you do for students in schools. Have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday with another episode of the modern classrooms project podcast. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai