Zach Diamond 0:03 Welcome to the modern classrooms project podcast. Each week, we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self paced and mastery based learning to better serve their students. We believe teachers learn best from each other. So this is our way of lifting up the voices of leaders and innovators in our community. This is the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. Toni Rose Deanon 0:28 Hello, and welcome to episode 166 of the Modern Classrooms Project podcast. My name is Toni Rose Deanon, they/them pronouns, the Community Engagement Manager at MCP, and I am joined by Betsy Potash from Spark Creativity. I've been a huge fan follower, but sees work from the beginning from day one. And I'm so excited to be in the same space to talk, talk all about teacher PD and resources. And honestly, like this is something that we you and I have been trying to do as well, right, like the past year. So it's really nice to be here in this space with you. And so welcome, Betsy. Thank you so much. I'm really excited. So it's, again, exciting to be in this space with you. And thank you so much for saying yes to the podcast. So before we get started, like what's bringing you joy lately? Betsy Potash 1:11 Well, it's just the start of winter here where I am in Bratislava. And we've been having fires in the fireplace every day. And we've taught our kids how to play some new card games. And we're just kind of digging into cozy it's been really nice. Toni Rose Deanon 1:27 Oh, it is It is that time of the year, right like the coziness of it. And I love card games, my sister and I actually bought like three card games from target the other day because we just want to play card games. And so that's that's really exciting. Thank you for sharing. And so tell us more about who you are in case our listeners don't know who you are and how you got started with spark creativity. So talk to us about your education journey and what motivated you to create something really cool, actually. Betsy Potash 1:56 Wow, that is a big and fun question. So my name is Betsy Pradesh, I use she her pronouns. And I'm originally and Minnesota girl a long ways back in my journey. And when I think back on my own timeline of education, the things that I remember are the big, interesting creative projects that I did as a kid all the way back from like fifth grade being in the inventors Faire and inventing my pet Petter. And then like my plant collection and the mock trial, we did have Gustaf lobera, and my AP Literature class. And the same really in college like it was those big creative moments that had an impact on my learning, and that were really memorable for me. And so when I got into the classroom, I wanted to create that for my students too. But at first I didn't know how and I, I always say that the very first day in the classroom, for me was my most impactful like the one that really has defined my career for the rest of my life. Betsy Potash 2:59 I asked my colleagues for advice, what should I do on the first day, and they said, Oh, you know, just introduce yourself go over the syllabus, and I stood up there. And I read my syllabus out loud. Look down at the kids. And you could just see the glaze like dripping down their faces, they were so bored, and they were looking at the clock. And I couldn't change course, I wasn't experienced enough to just like come up with a new lesson on the fly. And so I continued to read my syllabus. And at the end of the day, I like ugly cried for hours in my office, I thought it would have to quit it was that bad. I was distraught. And instead of quitting, I was like, I'm never doing that. Again, I'm going to teach in the way that inspired me when I was a student, I am not going to stand up there and lecture to the kids, whether it's about my syllabus, or pretty much anything else. I'm going to find other ways. So that whole first year, first few years first job was like the process of finding out okay, I'm going to teach poetry through performance and slam I'm going to teach plays by having kids act, I'm going to bring in a theatre artist to do workshops with them, I'm I'm going to teach everything like that. And it brought me so much joy. And that was a joy. I was wanted to share and I wanted to spread and I I often felt in my subsequent jobs that that sometimes it was hard to find support for that. Sometimes I would hear back like okay, so they're happy. But are they are they really experiencing rigor, Betsy? Like, is it hard enough? They seem to be doing really well. I was like, well, maybe they're doing well because they love it. Because they're engaged. You know, maybe we should embrace the fact that creativity helps them do well, but, but I felt like I always got a fair amount of pushback. And so when it came time that I felt like I might want to want to start my own business support teachers in a new way. I thought, you know, how can I make teachers like me feel more supported? How Can I help them feel like they're not alone, even if they're the only one at their school, teaching in a different way, in a more creative way, I want to connect them to other teachers around the world. And I want them to feel like they're doing well. So that's what led to spark creativity. Toni Rose Deanon 5:16 I love all of that. That's such a great journey, Betsy. And even thinking about the first couple of days or first couple of weeks of school, right? We always tend to just say, like, oh, we'll just talk at students, right. And it's all syllabus, it's what the class expectations are. And, and I did that as well, the first couple of years of teaching, and I just thought, wow, I hate this as a teacher. I'm sure they hate it as well as good. And even as adult as an adult learner. Now, when I'm taking this certification course, and just being taught that it's just no fun at all right? So like, really creating a way to collaborate, and even a scavenger hunt, or creating like an active learner, as opposed to a passive one is, is one of my passions, and I expect for everyone to do it for me as well. So bummed when it's not like that. And I'm like, I don't want to learn like this anymore. So that that's really, really great. And I am also so intrigued that when students tend to do well, the next question, there's not really a lot of celebration. The next question is, well, maybe it's too easy. Is it really that rigorous, right? It just looks like they're just doing a lot of like fluff stuff, and kids can't be doing kids can't be doing this? Well. And Betsy you're not the first person. I've talked to you about this. And I think it's just so interesting that that's where our minds go to is like, Oh, our kids are doing too well. This can't be the right thing. It's too easy. And I'm like, okay, but Toni Rose Deanon 6:57 but then that kind of contradicts, like, we want our students to do well, but then we don't want them to do too well. So it's just, it's really interesting to that. That's the next question, right? And I'd really push for our listeners and our school leaders, everyone really to just take a step back, celebrate the good things, and then potentially have a conversation like, hey, what's what are you doing? What's happening? Can we repeat that or mirror it? Or, or, like, let other teachers know as well, right. So I really appreciate you naming that right, straight on. And so when we think about creativity, right, this is something that I struggled with as well, because in my head, I'm like, Oh, I'm not creative. I'm not creative. So as a teacher, I didn't provide space for students to be creative, because I thought I was really weak at that, and I couldn't model it. And therefore I just took it, like away. And so as an English teacher, myself, I, when I came across your one pagers, I was like, Yo, this is so simple. Toni Rose Deanon 8:00 I'm over, you're creating such a intense and complicated complex thing in my head that I thought I couldn't do. And then the one pagers came out, and I said, wow, like, this is such a great tool for all of my students, even for me, because my students loved creating visual representations of their skills of whatever we were learning, whatever we were reading. And then I also had great artwork to post around the classroom, which is always a plus, right? Because students really love that. And so whenever I plan for my classes, I always looked at your blog and listen to your podcast and what you're putting out for teachers like me. So what inspired you to create resources for teachers? You kind of alluded to this already. And so I'd love to hear more. Yeah. Well, Betsy Potash 8:44 after a lot of years in the classroom, doing it, I felt like I had discovered these things that worked really well. And that and that I just wanted to share and when I would have conversations with colleagues and friends, they were often things that I had stumbled upon that maybe I would meet somebody else who really didn't know about them. And so I started my little tiny blog and started to put them out there in a very small way. And I started my podcast, the spark creativity Teacher Podcast, I started to put them out a little more. And I started to have conversations with more people in the space. And I just found that if I could find a strategy that I love that I knew would work that and make it like, like you say, as easy to implement as possible. So it didn't feel like this big intimidating thing that you need a special master's degree to try. Right? Then teachers would try it and be like, wow, you know, this, this is a great gateway into trying something a little bit different. And the students responded to it. What next? What can I try next? And I just wanted to keep providing that next step and that next step, okay, so you tried one pager? Do you want to try hexagonal thinking? Do you want to try having your students podcast? Do you want to incorporate more choice reading Do you want to Do a Genius Hour project. And so as I was just trying to get like one step ahead and share the easiest possible methods to try something new that that I thought that I believe that teachers would find really rewarding, and that students would find engaging, and that would help them sort of become their best selves as English students. Toni Rose Deanon 10:20 And that to me, I know for you know, for me, it was a cognitive overload as a teacher trying to come up with all the ideas, right. And so when I found you, when I was teaching, an all I had to do was download, and then you had like, very concise directions of how to use it. And then you created also examples of how students can use it. And I was like, This is it, this is what I need to do. So whenever I had something that I was like, Okay, I want to be creative. I just always went to your resources to check it out. And see, okay, what can I do to have students not just right, I mean, writing is important, right. And at the same time, there are other there are other avenues for students to showcase their, their skills. And so I just was so, so excited to find you. I don't even know how I found you, honestly. Betsy Betsy Potash 11:11 I'm so honored. Toni Rose Deanon 11:12 And I also just remember listening to the podcast and saying, I really liked her voice. Let's say it was just very soothing. And, and so you know, you talked about podcasts, we're gonna go off script a little bit. And so how did you find your educators to be featured on the podcast, because something that I really appreciated about your podcast, too, is that these are just educators that we have never heard about, right. But they're doing really great things. And I love that I love the the the whole elevating educators who wouldn't have been elevated prior. So how do you find your educators? Betsy Potash 11:50 Well, that's a fun question. I think when I first started, I was working within a pretty small community of fellow teacher bloggers, so people who had made the step that they, they wanted to share what was going on in their classroom, so it was a little bit easier to find them. But then over time, I started a Facebook group creative high school English, which is grown extremely large. And so I got to know, many teachers in there, I became more involved in the Instagram community I, I eventually started a teacher membership, where I work really closely with a lot of teachers. And so that makes it much easier for me to just talk to a teacher about what's going on in their classroom. Like I'm thinking about one of my members. Last year, Caitlyn. She was creating the most incredible book club project in her class. And she kept raving about it in our Facebook group. And I was like, oh, that sounds amazing. I love it so much. He's like, Yeah, it kept my seniors engaged all the way until the last day. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, can you come on the podcast, and we'll talk about that. And she said, Sure. And you know, it was one of the most popular episodes of all time, because it was just a fantastic unit that she created in her classroom. And that's what we want to be talking about. Toni Rose Deanon 13:04 Yes because I think sometimes we get so focused on influencers, right, and like, the big names and all of that. And I just remember also being an educator of like, Hey, I'm doing some cool stuff, I'm not getting the elevation that I would like, but I don't also really care to share what I'm doing right. And so it's really interesting to hear from teachers who are doing all of the cool things. And so that's what I tried to do in the podcast to have like, okay, it's a balance of like, big waves, right, like folks who have a good following and a good, you know, blog are well known, right, and mixing it up with also just educators who are doing some really, really dope stuff. And so, okay, shifting back to her questions. Why is creativity important for teachers to implement in their classes? I, it's, it's wild Betsy, because I taught for 10 years, and I've been out of the classroom since 2021. And I think with like, the past three years, is when I realize how important creativity is, in everybody's lives. It doesn't just have to be an education, it can also be in our personal lives, like, so why is it? Why is creativity important? Betsy Potash 14:14 Well, I love this question. And I could go a lot of different routes in answering it. But I'm going to lean on my favorite TED talk of all time, because I doubt that many people listening have seen it. It's not one of those viral TED Talks. But it's by a guy named David Kelly. And he teaches like short workshops and kind of creative thinking for different leaders who are maybe not they're not necessarily in creative fields, like I'm doing air quotes. You can't see that on the podcast, but he's trying to help people see things differently approach things with like a design thinking mindset approach problems in their lives. And so he gives the example of this medical engineer he's he's this you know, wonderful, wonderful Expert and he creates MRI machines for children's hospitals. And it's super important job, right. And probably since he was like six, somebody has been telling him, he's not really a creative person. He's an analytical person. He's a math and science person. So that's how he's seen himself for 45 years. And he gets to this workshop. And he starts to think about things a little bit differently. And soon after he goes to a hospital, whereas MRI machines are being used for kids. And he finds out that nine out of 10 kids have to be sedated to go into the MRI machine, because they're just really scared, you know, they have to stay completely still inside the machine. And he's really upset because he was thinking like, I'm creating this helpful thing. That's like making it making the world better for these kids who are sick. And he sees it, they're terrified to have their scan inside the MRI machine. So he goes back, and he applies these design thinking ideas. And he's like, how do the kids feel? How can I change that. And he works with like children's museum experts and child psychologists. And he redesigned his MRI machine to be like a ride, like a, like a video game. And it's this whole experience kids come in, they hear a little short talk about how they're entering like this pirate ship, and they have to stay really still and really quiet so that the pirates won't get them. And it like, looks like a pirate ship, and they slide into the pirate ship, you know, and they have their scan and they come out and he's he visits, you know, to watch how it's going. And he sees a kid come out the other end and say, Mom, can we come back and do it again tomorrow. Betsy Potash 16:34 And it's just like this revolution, right? This is everything to these kids. And for me, it just crystallizes the fact that there are creative solutions to so many problems, if we just if we just feel empowered to think that we could find them. And it's like, the Dave would call it Kelly calls it the creative confidence. If you have creative confidence. You can do anything, you know, like you get out into your job. And somebody's like, oh, I need you to code a website for the company. And you're like, I can't go to website. Oh, wait, well, maybe I can I did these other interesting things that I didn't know how to do. And I learned how to do them. Like maybe I could code a website, start watching YouTube videos, like you take a quick class you, you learn about graphic design from a book, and then you make the website and you have that confidence that you can learn to do something different, and that you can do it really well, because you bring this like unique, creative spin to it that only you can bring. And that's, you know, honestly, I could talk about this for five hours. But But that's, that's gonna be my answer. Toni Rose Deanon 17:41 I think I think I know that TED Talk that you're talking about, which is wild when you started talking about the MRI, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, I've seen this. And so thank you for the reminder. And also the creative confidence. It's really difficult to get that sometimes. Right. Like you were sharing with David, that that's his name. Right, David? Here's the shear. Yeah, yeah. So he was saying, you know, people have always said that he's an analytical, not creative. And I think that's the thing, right, is, we are told, when we're young, what we are what we can and cannot do. And so sometimes we stick with that for the longest time. And we don't like to alleviate because of the whole othering of society, right? We're just so afraid to make mistakes, and to look like a fool. Because I also think with creativity, it is very similar to having fun, and being playful, right. And as adults, sometimes we forget to have fun and be playful, because we have all of these goals that we have to hit, or else it impacts our evaluation or it impacts whatever it is right that we're so scared to disrupt. And so I think it's really important to keep that in mind of embracing creativity, embracing mistakes, embracing failing, and thinking outside of the box. I think, I know for me, I I like feeling safe in my box. And so I want to continue doing the things that make me feel safe. And at the same time, I'm pushing myself to do things that are really challenging for me, for example, pottery, that's the I'm doing pottery classes. And it's so it is fun, and then we get to the glazing part and my pottery instructor is asking me what kind of design I want and all I could think about was I just want it to be green because I don't want to I don't want it to turn out ugly so I just one color and I'm good to go. And so I need to push myself a little bit more to be creative and and to say that if it turns out ugly, then it turns out ugly. The or maybe it is a beautiful ugly thing you know, and that's okay. And so. Okay, that's really great self reflection. Thank you. Thank you for sharing, sharing that I feel like I need to rewatch that TED talk now. Toni Rose Deanon 20:17 Okay, so we know when the pandemic hit that it's wild that it's like three years ago, I, it's time goes by so fast, teachers or educators had to adjust to blended learning hybrid environments, etc, right? It's still kind of going on now, depending on where they're located, depending on the numbers, right. And so I often hear teachers really struggle with the concept of teaching novels, with spaces like this. And especially I know here, modern classroom, we also do like self pacing, to allow for students to just access the content whenever they need, because of absences because of life. And yet, you were still able to really provide tips and resources to make it work. So how did you shift your approach during this time? Because you know, it's a huge shift. And then how did you find like Rockstar educators that like, are doing this work? And I know that you said, the Facebook group, so I'm guessing like educators were just sharing what they were doing during the pandemic? Betsy Potash 21:15 Yeah, I mean, the conversation was constant, I think all over social media all over the blog, podcast and book world, because everyone was just trying to come up with solutions as fast as they could. And I remember, you know, it was incredibly stressful time for everybody. Also, for me, both my young children needed to be homeschooled throughout the that year. And so I was homeschooling them. And my, like, the needs in my job didn't become less, they became much, much more because teachers needed me more. And so Betsy Potash 21:49 I just remember sitting in the upstairs of my cabin and recording like a an Instagram Live and talking about the idea of teaching online and off at the same time like that, you should just plan that anything you wanted to do was going to be like a hyper doc or a playlist or a Google slide with all the links. And if it turned out that you could teach it live great. And if it turned out that students were all at home, you know, not great, but fine, you had everything you needed, either way. And I felt like that was a really strong survival strategy for those first few months when teachers were just going back and forth. And I think, for a lot of teachers, it's still a strong strategy, because they, they want to be able to have the best when they come into the classroom. But they also want to have available what students need when they are sick, or they're gone for any reason, right? Not just for COVID. And I really admire that about what the modern classrooms project has put together this concept that, that students can follow along from anywhere, they can follow it along at their own pace. And I think, you know, for many teachers that I work with that they may not be doing that full modern classrooms, Project style, but that idea that like, you're just going to link everything up to the daily agenda slide, or you're going to have one big Google Doc that has all the key video tutorials that you want students to review. Like, that's very helpful. And it's also something that can carry over from year to year. And I think that means a lot to teachers who are trying to organize massive amounts of creative work and handouts and projects and rubrics and tutorials and YouTube links and everything else. Like it's, it's such a tech world for us now as educators. And so So to put that all in kind of a warehouse was a survival strategy in the pandemic, and is now just kind of like a helpful, helpful thing to do for everybody. Toni Rose Deanon 23:49 Yeah, and I was even thinking to when you were talking as far as self pacing is concerned, right? Like, yes, we have this like living document where we can upload all the things. And I think, also educators we tell, we tell educators all the time, relinquish that control, and at the same time, remind them that they still have control of how the structure looks in the classroom, right. And so when we think about self pacing, especially with novels, making it more accessible, so I know for me, I gave my students an option to listen to the audiobook. And if the audio book was not available, I made time to record myself reading the chapter that I wanted my students to read just so that they have access to it. And so just making making it more accessible, and then also naming to write saying, Toni Rose Deanon 24:36 Okay, it's self pacing, yes. Also know that on Thursday, we're going to have a discussion. So you have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to read the chapters or the excerpts that you need to read to, to to complete your master your practice sets or questions, or, you know, charts or whatever it is that we're doing, but on Thursday, we're going to have a discussion and then that kind of tell was mean to have like, Okay, did you read it? Did you understand the big concepts in the skills that we're covering and, and really making sure again that there's different entry ways that students can come in, regardless of what their abilities are and whether or not they've been in the classroom for the past three days or not? So keeping that in mind, too. And so how can how can creativity show mastery of concepts? And why should teachers think of different ways for students to show deep understanding of concepts and skills? Because I know as an English teacher, I did a lot of just writing and multiple choice questions. Toni Rose Deanon 25:37 And I definitely could have been a little bit more like intentional diversifying the mastery checks, per se. And so what are your thoughts on this? Let's see. Betsy Potash 25:50 Yeah, I think it was very formative for me the experience that I had, when I, when I left the classroom and started spark creativity, I learned that having the writing skills was really wonderful. I mean, it was it was a foundation for me and everything that I did, in, I guess we'll call it the business world. But it was, it was not everything, right, I started a podcast, I needed to be able to convey what I knew and what I hope for teachers out loud. I created infographics, I created social media, graphics and captions, I created blog posts, I, it was about much more than just the quality of the writing. And there were all these mediums that I needed to use to communicate my message. And the more the more that I've been in that world, the more that I see it everywhere. If you want to work on a political campaign, it's not just about the words, you know, it's also about the signs in the yards, and the stickers and the interviews that you give on talk shows in the in the little video trailers that you put together showing like the key moments of what your person that you're trying to support believes if you if you want to advertise anything, whether it's like a nonprofit or a big corporation, you need to understand how to convey that message with words, but also with imagery also with video also with campaign and so. And so I really think that students respond to seeing, Oh my gosh, I'm doing the thing with my knowledge that I see everywhere. I see this, when I open my phone, I see this when I watched the Super Bowl, I see this everywhere. And it, it shows them that these core skills of ELA are about much more than writing a paper and have term that only their teacher will see. And that paper is helpful. It's really important. I'm not suggesting that we stop ever assigning papers. But you can convey very much the same information with an infographic with like an Instagram style swipeable carousel that has research and opinion and argument and statistics, and imagery and video, right? I do that literally every day as part of my job. I'm trying to teach a huge dense concept through a swipeable Instagram carousel. And my experience has been that students really like conveying information in that way. They find it super fun and interesting to do all the research, and then create an Instagram carousel because for them that's like part of the language of their generation. And so for me, it's not, it's not tricky to connect the dots between ELA skills, and and all of these mediums that exist out there, it's still showing their mastery, it's just a slightly different frame for how they how they show it. Toni Rose Deanon 28:46 And like you said, it's real world application to right and kind of combining the English classroom and the outside life of students of what they see. And so I think that that in itself is fascinating. And it makes it more engaging and more relevant for students because then they can, can connect the dots themselves, right of oh, wait, we're making inferences, how can inferences show up in other ways? Oh, here's the theme. How can we? How can we show off the common theme of the things that we're writing or reading about right. And so I really, really appreciate that. And so now, Betsy, I have a question. How do you use AI to help you do all the things that you're doing? Betsy Potash 29:30 Well, I have been listening to many experts tell me how to use AI to do all the things that I'm doing and I don't use it at all. Toni Rose Deanon 29:41 Really? Betsy Potash 29:42 Yeah. Yeah, I haven't used any AI yet. I'm trying to stay up with how I could be using it and sort of, you know, stay in tune with how it works so that I can be current but still at this point, I it's just really important to me that what I put out really is me, and feels like me and so I haven't made any switchovers Toni Rose Deanon 30:08 Oh, man, that's amazing. That is amazing. I, ya know, that's really, really dope the reasoning behind it right? Like, I still want it to be me. And so I'm okay. Well, you know what, let's finish we're gonna take a quick break for an announcement. And when we come back, we'll talk a little bit more about Betsy his experiences and expertise. Zach Diamond 30:30 Hey there listeners, this is Zach dropping in to let you know that we have some learning experiences to announce for you this upcoming week. Check out the show notes for registrations and links. All the details are down there. First up, do you want to connect with educators of color who are creating student centered classrooms? If so, join the monthly shades of excellence meetup on Monday, November 27, at 7pm Eastern. Second, are you looking for ways to create interactive mastery checks? Check out our webinar using edge elastic and your modern classroom on Thursday, November 30, at 6pm. Eastern, again, registration links are in the show notes. Now we're gonna get back into it with Tony rose and Betsy. Toni Rose Deanon 31:19 All right, and we're back with Betsy. And so that just like really blew my mind that you haven't used AI because I'm over here, just like ai ai ai. So thank you for again, like calming me down. And I think that just like brought me it just reminded me of another point that I wanted to make, right. And so the one pagers that I mentioned before, those are all no tech, it's literally students like hand hand drawing things in handwriting. And that was such a nice pause from our tech heavy days in the classrooms. And I know that I appreciate that a lot more than for example, we tried to storyboard that. And it's a great tool, right? It just was such a distraction for students because they wanted to create this and they wanted to make this and then it just kind of lost focus of what they were actually creating, it was more so like, How can I create this thing that I really want it to look, you know how I want it, versus actually creating that, that that visual representation. And so something that would have taken just a class took us a whole week because of all the tech things that students wanted to get to get to know. And so the one pager was really, really dope because hey, here are crayons, here are markers here. Those have fun, have a you know, go at it. And students were able to practice just visualizing with their hands. And I think you know, the more that we work with our hands, the better it is. And so again, I appreciate that push of like, you know what it is good to just kind of go back to what we were doing before before technology came in and not saying that technology is bad, right. But also just like pausing, just pausing, figuring out a way for students to pause using the technology that they're using. And so thank you for that push. And so, okay, I know that your teacher audiences, majority ELA teachers mean, that's how I found you. And so tell us more about how other content teachers can use the resources that you're creating and sharing because I know sometimes when I'm working when I was in the classroom, and I was at a school, right, I'd be like, Oh, I found that really dope one pager. This is such a really great tool. And I get the pushback from other teachers who don't teach English that Oh, no, no, that's just something that you use in the English classroom. It's like, no, it's actually not everywhere. So how do you how do you, I guess, how do you attract other content teachers to use the resources that you're creating and sharing? Betsy Potash 33:56 Well, I would say there's a fair amount of crossover, especially between the humanities so English teachers and history teachers, I think can really collaborate a lot on how they're creating different kinds of opportunities for students. I also think between the languages you know, Spanish, French, Chinese English, you can do a lot of the same things. Teachers would have to translate the handouts or create the handouts in the language they want students using but especially if you're teaching some literature and grammar, whether you're doing it in English or Italian or Portuguese, like you're still trying to teach these concepts. Betsy Potash 34:35 For me, I think a lot of the forms that I'm trying to encourage teachers to experiment with like one pagers, podcasting, hexagonal thinking, research infographics or carousels like they're really not attached to English. I think one pagers are frequently used across the corporate world as a way of summarizing key information you could easily Betsy Potash 35:00 We pick a one pager about a science concept, or an engineering concept. I think the idea of it is that you're mixing imagery and language to engage both sides of your brain. And there's no reason why you wouldn't want to do that in any discipline, right? Similarly, in hexagonal thinking, Betsy Potash 35:19 you know, you take a bunch of cards shaped like little hexagons, and you put concepts on them. And then you connect those concepts to things happening in the world. So things happening in other disciplines, it's actually meant to be an interdisciplinary activity. So see, you're doing it for a book like 1984, you're going to put concepts on there that relate to the book, the characters, the quotes, but then when it comes time for students to actually move the hexagons around and connect them connect the six sides of one key idea to to aside from another idea, you also are going to want real things that happen in history that relate to 1984. You're gonna want things happening today to do with privacy and surveillance, you're gonna want things, things that happen in other books that are dystopian, you're gonna want a whole range of ideas, that's what's going to lead to the most interesting conversation that students can have around 1984. If you're just talking about like, does Winston feel this way about Giulia or something like that that's a much more limited conversation, than if you bring in all these other things happening in the world, and another literature and other disciplines. And I feel like it's the same in other fields of study, right? If if kids are studying science, and they're studying something, I'm going to reveal my lack of knowledge about science here. They're studying like some crucial concept to do with cells. And they've they've learned some key facts and some key terms. How much more interesting does it become if you start to bring in like a conversation about cloning that's happening here, Frankenstein, and the conversation around, you know, should Frankenstein have created a mate for his monster that they read in their English class, and then something else and something else? And it's just like a very much more holistic way of seeing the information? And so for me, many of these concepts that I talked about, well, I'm not necessarily trying to make a big push to attract like scientists to my blog, did they easily cross through disciplines? And that's, that's part of what makes them interesting. Toni Rose Deanon 37:26 And I really liked that, too, of just expanding the conversation, right, of just talking about like, Oh, this is, it's a very limited conversation, when it's just one thing that we're covering, right. But then when you expand it with other contents, I think that the conversation becomes way more interesting, like you said, right. And I really appreciate that too. Because I know, I am all about interdisciplinary work, right? I think our students find it to be so much more engaging, when they're like, Oh, we're learning about this in science, or, Oh, we're doing something in art about this. And then they see the connection, and they get a lot more excited, because then I think it also shows that, you know, your teachers are working together, first of all, and we want to create this whole experience for you knowing that this is not just English, but it can be seen in all the other content that you're taking, as well as like, outside world, right. And so I'm all about collaborating, I'm all about like figuring out a way to get another teacher in just so that we can expand this content, content and skills that we're learning and so thank you for sharing that. I think that's it's a such an interesting or just a really important perspective to to keep in mind. Because it's, you know, sometimes I think educators get really stuck in their four walls, right, and just like, oh, I have a curriculum, and I'm just gonna do my best for me, right, there's a lot of pressure. And so the creativity sometimes lacks because of that. And so again, push right for our listeners, like work with your work with your colleagues. It's a lot of fun when you try and figure out how the book that you're reading in English can actually go really well with the PE curriculum. You're really, really cool. Okay, so this month, Betsy, we're focusing on time management and how teachers can protect their peace and their time. So what are one to two tips that you have for teachers as they focus on managing their time? Betsy Potash 39:20 Okay, I love this question, because I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately. I think the number one tip that I would give is to check your email only one time per day and I want to I want to explain this a little bit. So when I was in the classroom, we had this software called first class and I it was at several schools that I taught at I don't know how widely used it is, but it has like all these little conferences on your desktop like one for every class one for all the teachers one for announcements about student life, one for academic and just everywhere. There's like all these little conferences and every time I had a second before school, I would sit down at my desk, I'd open first class and there'd be little red flags on all the conferences, meaning I was behind already, like I hadn't checked all the emails and all the conferences, and I would like, quickly try to get all the red flags gone and empty out my inbox. And then my students would leave. And then there would be five minutes before the next class and I would open first class again, and I was trying to get to all the red flags, you know, and I would do it at lunch. And I would do it after school. And I would do it at 10 o'clock at night. And what that meant was my agenda was just constantly somebody else's agenda. And I never, I never was like getting myself in the mental space, I wanted to be in five minutes before class, I was like dealing with some fire and trying to put it out at lunch, instead of just relaxing and like, getting in my flow, I was again, like quickly responding to 10 parents or something like that. And, and not only does it kind of mess with your mental space and your productivity, but you just, you don't get the chance to work on those big things that are really important to you. And so what I would, what I would do now is I would have one thing, the most important thing that I was hoping to accomplish that day, and that would be what I would work on first. And that is how I do it. Now, in my own life. I never check emails, the first thing that I do in the day I my first thing is like Croute, maybe it's create a podcast, and that's going to take me three hours. I don't want to do that last after I do like 15 minutes on social media and 20 minutes on email, and 10 minutes on Instagram, like, my mind isn't going to be ready for that big important thing. After I do all the little tiny things that don't matter as much. I want to do the big thing that really matters to me. And so for teachers, what's the big thing? Is it that you just want to grade that stuff. So it's not hanging over your head? Do that first, like don't save it for 4pm? Is it that you want to plan the most incredible unit on the outsiders that was ever planned, like, work on that in your free time, that there will be time for email later. Betsy Potash 42:05 And if you do the email all in one block, at least for me, it protects my headspace. Because if I have an email that's a little bit troubling, and I, I respond to it, and I deal with it, and then I move on to the next one. And I respond to it, I deal with it. And I do that with 20 emails or whatever all the issues are dealt with at the same time. And so I don't I'm not brooding over one issue while I'm doing something else, and then checking again and then brooding over that issue. Not that every email is negative, of course, so emails are just fun. But but there's enough that are that are weighty that I don't necessarily want them intermingled with every single aspect of my day. And I really recommend the same for teachers, because you're going to have a lot of priorities coming into your inbox, and they're not necessarily yours. Toni Rose Deanon 42:54 And I really liked that concept to what you said, have your agenda become someone else's agenda. I think that that is again, another good thing for me to remember. I feel like you're you're teaching me right, all of these things. You're just reminding me as well, because I just Yeah, I Oh, Betsy, I used to pride myself in answering all the emails and having zero emails all the time. Yep. So I'm slowly but surely, like relinquishing that I've just like, I don't need that, actually. So now I'm looking at my emails. And it's like 50. So if you emailed me lately, sorry, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get to it at some point. And so I really liked this creating space, because I used to also check my emails in the morning first thing in the morning, and like you said, I didn't even realize it. That was what's happening is that my mental capacity is dwindling. Every time I answer an email that is not really that important right now. And so again, it's just such a nice reminder. And it's got me reflecting on my own morning routine of just trying to figure out what does what is my priority. And in one of the podcasts, too, that just came out. Our teacher Desirae was saying, focus on that one thing. And when you get that one thing done, celebrate it. Toni Rose Deanon 44:18 And I really, really liked that. So I think for me, I'm still trying to figure out how to prioritize all the things that I need to do. And I think this is also just such a nice reminder for educators who constantly get multiple emails a day of just take that take, what 25 minutes to go through your emails at the end of the day. And then if you know, you still have more emails after 25 minutes, oh, well, you answer it tomorrow. Betsy Potash 44:44 Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's nothing more tricky in the email world and like just flipping open your phone and opening your email when you're like at your kids soccer game or something and seen some crazy thing that you weren't expecting to have to do like really difficult thing that you weren't expecting to have to do. And then suddenly feeling like you have to do it while you're at the soccer game. Like, it's just, it really can throw you. And so if you can just keep it contained in like that one place where you want to be doing your work and really helps. Toni Rose Deanon 45:21 So Betsy, do you have your mail app on your phone? Or no? I do. I do have my mail app on my phone. But honestly, I really tried to stay out of it. Yeah, yeah. Cuz I think that that's one thing to have, like, I just here I just watched tick tock videos that are like take your your mail app off your phone, so you don't get distracted. Because I know for me, I'm constantly always checking my email. And I think I need to disrupt that routine. And so I just got to toy around with and figure out what will work for me. I know something to like, emails are just such a time sucker to and so something that I've tried to do is unsubscribe to all the things that actually don't need to come to my emails, because I think, yeah, those that also takes up space. It's like, oh, I can just delete it, or like, oh, maybe I should read it. And it's like, no, you actually don't read any of this, like unsubscribe. Oh, good. Okay. So, Betsy, what has been your favorite part of your journey and education so far? Betsy Potash 46:25 Well, I think that right now is my favorite part of my journey in education. I mean, I have love different things about all the stages, my first year of teaching was so so impactful for me, I, I feel still so connected to the kids that I taught that first year, that was the year I was spending, like 18, or 19 hours a day, at my job, you know, just, if I wasn't teaching, I was at the La Public Library, checking out books on teaching, or watching teacher movies, or like, combing the internet for information about slam poetry, like it was my whole life. And that that really defined what came later. So that was really impactful. But now I have that inside me, and all the more teaching that I did, and then all of the work that I've done with teachers in the last 10 years, and I just feel so empowered to share what's really exciting for me. And so you know, it is just a joy to wake up every day. And think of some way that I can help teachers. And I mean, I couldn't love my job more. Toni Rose Deanon 47:30 I love that so much. Because I know I'm in this, this feeling right now of missing my students so much. And just missing those interactions with kids. And then also realizing that I also really, like really, really enjoy being with educators, because I think we are some of the best people that I know. And so thank you again, for that perspective to have, you can, you know, you loved your first year of teaching that was really impactful for you. And then like where you are now. And just like, it brings you so much joy to think about ways on how you can better support educators. I think I'm going to steal that Betsy, just on a sticky note for me. You're having fun supporting educators, okay. Remember that? Remember that? Toni Rose Deanon 48:21 So what do you hope to see in the future? And what goals do you have for education? For them? There's a small question to finish. Betsy Potash 48:31 I mean, I see places where teachers are being empowered to teach in the ways that they believe would be right for their students, where they can look at their class, see what the needs are, and teach those needs using the skills that they have and the gifts that they have. And nobody's trying to make their classroom into some kind of weird little cookie cutter classroom. That doesn't work. And I I know it's possible because I see it happening. And I just wish that more and more we could go to that that more and more schools would say you are teacher, way to go, you've put so much into this. We believe in you, we have faith in you, we want to give you the resources that you think you should have. And we want to cheer for you, you know, and is that so hard? I know it can be done. And I just I want to see more and more schools go to that and I'm just trying to support teachers while they're waiting to feel that they have some people cheering them on and trying to get them what they need. I know you're doing that too and all of modern classrooms product is doing that a lot of us are doing it and I just more and more hope that the systems will join us. Toni Rose Deanon 49:48 Yeah, that would be so ideal, right? Just bring in more joy bring out like bring in more celebrations because our teachers are doing really well. credible things. And I feel like our teachers are more empowered when we give them that autonomy, because when they have autonomy, then they give their students autonomy. And it's like a whole cycle, right? And what a beautiful, beautiful goal and what we want to see in the future. That would be really nice, Betsy. Okay, so how can our listeners connect with you? Betsy Potash 50:26 Well, your listeners probably like podcasts, because here they are. And I also have a podcast. It's called the spark creativity Teacher Podcast, and they can find it anywhere. Or they can find me at now, Spark creativity.com Toni Rose Deanon 50:40 Beautiful, and we'll all like will link all of that in the show notes that you can just easily click on it and follow Betsy and all of their amazing work. And so, again, thank you, Betsy, this was so great. I knew we were going to have a conversation that was insightful and impactful for me and also our listeners. And, again, thank you for your patience and flexibility of trying to sit this recording up because you're like on the other side of the world and so timezone is really, really difficult and challenging. So I appreciate us reconnecting and just having this conversation. And so, listeners remember, you can always email us at podcast at modern classrooms.org. And you can find the show notes for this episode at podcast dot modern classrooms.org/ 166. We'll have this episode's transcripts uploaded by Friday, so be sure to check back to access those. Also we are asking your listeners to leave a review of this podcast has been helpful in supporting you to create a blended self paced, mastery based learning environment. It does help other folks find it. Thank you all for listening. Have a great week, and we'll be back next Sunday. Thank you so much, Betsy. Thank you so much. Zach Diamond 51:50 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 @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.